Jyushin Thunder Liger
Liger in November 2015
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| Birth name | Keiichi Yamada |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 30, 1964 Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan |
| Residence | Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | C.T.U Ranger Yellow Fuji Yamada Jyushin Liger Jyushin Thunder Liger Keiichi Yamada Kishin Liger |
| Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Billed weight | 95 kg (209 lb) |
| Billed from | Tokyo, Japan |
| Trained by |
Kotetsu Yamamoto Tatsumi Fujinami Yoshiaki Fujiwara Stu Hart Tokyo Joe |
| Debut | March 3, 1984 |
Keiichi Yamada (山田恵一 Yamada Keiichi, born November 30, 1964), better known as Jyushin Liger (獣神ライガー Jūshin Raigā) and later Jyushin Thunder Liger (獣神サンダー・ライガー Jūshin Sandā Raigā) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist who primarily works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Throughout his career, which has spanned more than three decades, he has wrestled many of the world's top wrestlers and has performed in major events for promotions across the globe. He is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most revolutionary junior heavyweights of all time.
Keiichi Yamada was an amateur wrestler during his high school years. In his senior year, he lost to Toshiaki Kawada in the finals of a national championship tournament. After graduating high school in the early 1980s, he would apply to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) dojo in the hope of becoming a professional wrestler. He was not accepted because he did not meet the height requirements the dojo had at that time. Yamada, determined not to give up his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, left for Mexico and began his training there. By his own account, he was almost starving while studying in Mexico, due to this NJPW officials who were visiting took pity on him and asked him to come back to Japan to train in their dojo. In the NJPW dojo, he trained alongside the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto. While continuing his training, he had his debut match in March 1984 at the age of 19, wrestling against Shunji Kosugi. He began studying various martial arts styles because he wanted to add something new and different to his wrestling style, which is how he learned his Abisegeri kick. In 1985, Yamada participated in the Young Lion Cup and got to the final of the tournament before being defeated by Shunji Kosugi. In the beginning of 1986, Yamada participated in the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship League but lost to Black Tiger. On July 19, 1986, Yamada faced Nobuhiko Takada in a losing effort in his first of many IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship matches.
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