Why its #3: Before lightweights caught fire in America with WCW in the 90s, Japan was turning out the lights with unbelievable lightweight matches on a yearly basis. There is probably no better example of this than the Super J Cup tournament which was the brainchild of Japanese lightweight legend, Jushin Thunder Liger. This one night tournament was to be a showcase for emerging stars and featured pre-prime appearances from Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. Add in top Japanese lightweights (The Great Sasuke, Jushin Liger,etc) and this inaugural tournament was absolutely loaded with wrestling talent and drop-dead amazing matches. Best Match: Chris Benoit vs. The Great Sasuke. This match was the tournament final and also one of the few matches ever to get a five star rating by The Wrestling Observer. That is probably all you need to know about the quality of the match but if you are a wrestling fan in general and havent seen this contest then do yourself a favor and watch the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08pXe-jZEuA An incredible match that still holds up to this day and was a highlight of the top- selling Chris Benoit DVD that the WWE released in 2004. Winner and aftermath: Benoit pins Sasuke to win the tournament in a thriller but the entire bracket consisted of top-notch matches. After the win, Benoit would make his return back to North America and catch on with ECW and later WCW and WWE. The Super J Cup would have several more tournaments in later years featuring future superstars like Chris Jericho and highlighted some great lightweight talent around the globe.
