Jushin Thunder Liger Announces His Retirement
The 54-year-old's legendary career is coming to an end.
Legendary Japanese junior heavyweight Jushin Thunder Liger has announced his professional wrestling retirement.
The 54-year-old broke the news during a press conference earlier today, stating that while he plans to keep wrestling all around the world until the day he steps away, he'll be calling it a day after next year's New Japan Tokyo Dome shows on 4 and 5 January.
Liger wrestled IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori on yesterday's NJPW 47th Anniversary card, rolling back the years with an ageless performance that ended in a spirited defeat. He will go down as one of the most influential wrestlers of all time, with his matches against the likes of The Great Sasuke, Shinjiro Otani, and Pegasus kid in the '90s rightly considered classics.
Debuting in 1984, Liger is a trend-setting junior heavyweight. His first IWGP reign came in 1989, and he has held the belt a further 10 times since then, with his most recent reign ending 19 years ago. American fans may know him for his sporadic WCW appearances in the '90s, or even the NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn bout he worked with Tyler Breeze in August 2015, though his legacy is such that even those unfamiliar with Japanese wrestling should at least understand his importance.