10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Jushin Liger

8. The Super J Cup

Tournaments are very important in Japanese wrestling culture and happen with more frequency than they do in the United States. Tournaments are used instead of traditional storylines to determine number one contenders and even champions. It is a tried-and-tested method that (usually) yields positive results. New Japan's longest-running Junior Heavyweight tournament is the Top (renamed Best) of the Super Juniors, a round-robin style tournament where wrestlers score points based on wins. The winner (if they are not already IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion) receives a title shot on a major card in the future. The tournament has been running every year since 1988. Liger himself has won the tournament three times, joint most in history along with the supremely underrated Koji Kanemoto. Although he had success in that particular tournament, his greatest tournament accomplishment was inventing the Super J Cup, a one-night tournament that pitted the best lightweight wrestlers from several promotions against each other. Liger came up with the idea in 1994, a time when NJPW, WAR, FMW and M-Pro were all on fire. When the card was announced, it sold out the 13,000 capacity Sumo Hall in Tokyo, proving to NJPW higher-ups that Junior Heavyweight wrestling could, in fact, draw. The first tournament is considered one of the best ever. Won by Chris 'Pegasus Kid' Benoit and featuring the likes of Eddie 'Black Tiger' Guerrero, Hayabusa, Dean Malenko, Negro Casas and Taka Michinoku, it boasted many high-calibre matches, including a five-star main event. The tournament ran four more times, in 1995 (which Liger won), 2000 (again, Liger), 2004 and 2009.