10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger

9. Trained In The Hart Dungeon

Great Sasuke Jushin Liger Botch — Twitter

Having made his in-ring debut in 1984 at the age of 20, Keiichi Yamada spent the next couple of years looking to constantly improve his craft. And at that point in time, where better to train than in the legendary Hart Dungeon?

Like so many other all-time greats, Yamada not only wrestled for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, but he also learnt under the tutelage of the Hart family patriarch. The future Jushin Liger would spend time training with Stu during 1987, and he'd later return to work once more for Stampede in 1989.

It was here that Yamada struck up a friendship with Owen Hart - and the two would go on to deliver some truly stunning matches in Japan only a couple of years later.

Just a few of those to have passed through the doors of the Dungeon over the years include huge stars such as Billy Graham, Jake Roberts, Dynamite Kid, Roddy Piper, Brian Pillman, Davey Boy Smith, Chris Benoit, Greg Valentine and Fritz Von Erich - which gives an indication of the quality of grapplers to come out of the Hart Dungeon along with Jushin Liger.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

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