Perhaps the most instantly recognisable masked wrestler of all time, Jushin Liger is a pioneer in every sense of the word. A gifted amateur wrestler, high flying innovator (he is credited with inventing the shooting star press) and a born showman, Liger took his unremarkable 5 ft 4 frame and wrapped it in an incredible, superheroic costume. With an outlandish Kabuki-esque mask (which has the added effect of making Liger appear considerably taller than he actually is), the real-life Keiichi Yamada developed a distinct personality that matched his eye-catching ring attire and thus, a legend was born. Based upon the successful anime series of same name, the Jushin Liger gimmick was a hit with Japanese kids, whilst adults enjoyed Yamadas incredible technical abilities. Like Tiger Mask before him, Yamada took what should have been a lame, cash-in gimmick and turned it into an iconic career. A classy individual, who stepped away from NJPWs Junior Heavyweight title scene (after holding the belt a record 11 times) in order to encourage the creation of fresh stars, Jushin Liger is the type of wrestler that keeps the business as great as it is. He has worked as hard and sacrificed as much as anyone in wrestling ever has and, even after it finally paid off for him, he still did what was best for the business. Today, Liger is a fixture of indie wrestling the world over and is a major attraction in North America, Mexico and Japan. Even at age 49, a time when most wrestlers are seeking retirement, or merely trading in on past glories, Jushin Liger is still working as hard as ever.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
