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WRESTLER OF THE DAY: JUSHIN LIGER


RIPPA

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We end with the man who I constantly forget is one of my all time favorite wrestlers. Without fail - when I am trying to make my Top 10 I make the list and realize that I fucking forgot Liger. No idea why.

 

I guess I just take his amazingness for granted. I really wish I aged as well.

 

I think my absolute favorite fucking part about Liger is had has wrestled EVERYWHERE. So many matches... I will stay away from the obvious... for now

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/SQrrW6JBmGs

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God Rippa made me watch that Savage match.  And that made me sad since I love both guys a ton and Savage is too hurt to do much.  And the elbow drop.  Sigh.

 

I am going to post a Yamada-Rollerball Rocco match to wash away the sour taste.

 

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It took me way too long to re-find this but basically this and Kaz Hayashi/Raven are in contention for greatest super short match ever

 

 

EDIT

 

JUSHIN LIGER vs. YOSHITSUNE – Michinoku Pro Fukumen League 2007 Quarter Finals (9/1/07) (RIPPA)

Oh yeah… this is an outstanding match… that last three minutes. I always say that Raven/Kaz Hayashi from Worldwide was my favorite three minute match. This might be number two. This is from (assuming that the internet isn’t lying to me) Michinoku Pro’s Fukumen League. This is cooking right away as Yoshitsune gets introduced and charges the ring doing a missile dropkick from the entrance ramp over the top rope and into the ring. He then immediately hits a tope con hilo AND a Space Flying Tiger Drop. THAT is then followed with a 619 (Yeah, this is from aught seven and in aught nine it’s still going strong. Soon matches will be nothing but spears and 619s.) and a springboard 450 splash. Liger kicks out and you get the sense that he is thinking “Well FUCK THAT!” Hunch is correct as Liger shoteis the fuck out of Yoshitsune as a transition. Liger starts running through his big moves (running Ligerbomb, Brainbuster) but he can’t get the pin. Liger is visibly distraught so he attempts what I am going to assume was a top rope brainbuster. Yoshitsune turns it into a top rope 619 and then does kind of a reverse La Magistral for the upset. The Michinoku Pro boys including Great Sasuke hit the ring to party on. Bell to bell this was clocked at three minutes and thirty seconds. Someone had their thinking caps on as there was no way Yoshitsune could be counted on to not go all wacky in a longer match. I am guessing Liger was like “Oh hell no. There is no way I am dealing with this new fangled shit for 20 minutes. Let’s do this my way.” and the flash upset pin works oh so much better. I love evil bitter old man Liger.
(from DVDVR 170)
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We end with the man who I constantly forget is one of my all time favorite wrestlers. Without fail - when I am trying to make my Top 10 I make the list and realize that I fucking forgot Liger. No idea why.

 

I guess I just take his amazingness for granted. I really wish I aged as well.

Ditto.  Liger is such a constant, so consistent with his work in different countries and styles and decades, that it's shockingly easy to take him for granted.  "Oh, and the Liger match was awesome" on any show ever is kinda like an Attitude-era Raw where you go "oh, and the Rock cut an amazing promo".  They make that shit look so effortless, every single night, that we forget just how miraculously talented they really are.  

 

I think the moment that shows his distilled awesomeness the best isn't any of his legendary highspots (which are justifiably legendary, and worked into airtight psychology much better than most spot monkeys do), it's that hilarious moment right before the finish of the 1994 Super J-Cup semifinals.  Great Sasuke pulls an ouchy Sabu botch by slipping on a springboard and splattering face-first onto the mat, right before what in hindsight was obviously supposed to be a dragonrana for the three count.  Liger SAVES everything brilliantly by sarcastically clapping for his indy-underdog opponent's Botchamania highlight.  It perfectly puts across this feeling of "Can you fucking believe this jabroni seriously just did that?!" arrogance from him... which promptly comes back to bite him in the ass, since Liger is more focused on mocking his opponent's shame than remembering that Sasuke is a real physical threat.  He's playing to the crowd and showing off and practically doing hand puppets and generally taking nothing seriously, and in reality he's brilliantly improvising and buying time for Sasuke to get his bearings back and catch him for the flash pin.  That moment could've been a match-killing mistake for lesser performers, but Liger seamlessly changes gears to work the unplanned moment into the overall story that he's telling.  And he does it so smoothly that I've seen a lot of fans that thought the spot was actually intentional, despite the fact that a careful rewatch pretty clearly shows that Sasuke is obviously going OH SHIT I'M SIN CARA and simply committing a fuckup.  

 

 

Also: if I were recovering from having my skull cracked open and getting a malignant tumor carved right out of my living fuckin' brain, I doubt I could even accomplish so much as getting out of bed without collapsing in agony and peeing all over myself.  But THIS is how Jushin Thunder Lyger celebrates passing his two-month anniversary of goddamned brain surgery

 

 

Truly he is a greater man than you or I.  

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I only knew the WWF for my first year or so of wrestling fandom.  Then I saw bits and pieces of WCW and was like "Oh, this is okay".  Then I saw Liger at that one Clash with the NWA Tag Title tournament and was like "Wow, that was really cool".

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Oh the joys of spelling his name a 1000 different ways in various DVDVRs

 

http://youtu.be/7Tya_b98s5c

 

http://youtu.be/8Pm3Rihd2Fs

 

 

#$#$#$#$#$#$ Jyushin "Thunder" Lyger/ Chris Benoit vs The Steiner Brothers- NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING- 1993- [DEAN RASMUSSEN]: Someone posted this on matches board and I was too curious to put off watching it.  I'm sure I've seen this before but I'm guessing that it was 10 years ago that I saw it.   The key to this match is Benoit taking a PREPOSTEROUS batch of hellish suplexes but even more key is Scott Steiner bumping like a complete psychotic cretin. Rick Steiner is a dick to little juniorheavyweight style Lyger and Lyger sells Steiner offence like a little junior heavyweight bitch, but the Steiners are both pretty magnanimous in their full frontal selling of the junior tag offense.  It makes me wonder why they didn't have Benoit and either Steiner have a substantial fued when Benoit had ascended to the point of carrying either Steiner after each Steiner had completely fallen off and were killing time in the WCW.  God knows Benoit owes a giant stylistic debt to Scott Steiner and God knows that they work together really well in this match- as Benoit lands straight on his neck quite a few times and then actually SELLS landing on his neck.  Rick and Benoit on the mat is pretty fun and you could see the missed opportunity there for the late 90s WCW.  Actually, the first deathdrop is Rick German Suplexing Benoit and Benoit selling it like it looked.  They do goofy stereo spots of powerslams and Frankensteiners and it leads to Scott and Benoit have a cool sequence together where Benoit counters all of Scott's moves and sets up Scott taking the first of two Superplexes. Steiners Lariat-to-German to TRANSITION~! and Benoit accepts a manly ass-beating.  You forget how truly nasty the Steiners offense was in their prime.  The second rope fallaway slam was especially nasty.  Rick punching Lyger in the face on the apron was even nastier.  So Lyger was always the greatest guy on earth on the apron, it seems.  He gets the crowd all worked up and the hot tag is actually all heated and Scott takes a SECOND superplex and takes the double diving headbutt and takes the fucking GNARLEY Lyger bomb after Lyger reverses a toprope suplex.  Steiner then fucking MURDERS Lyger with a Steiner Squaredriver and gottdam, Scott Steiner useta rule.

- DVDVR159

 

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I went digging through the dreaded Dailymotion and found some gems. 

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dqf1a_jushin-liger-vs-masahito-kakihara-new-japan-may-19th-2002_sport

 

Versus Kakihara? That's got to be interesting. 

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dgbwx_2003-01-26-koji-kanemoto-jushin-liger-vs-yoshinobu-kanemaru-tsuyoshi-kikuchi_sport

 

Hey here's more Liger being a dick in NOAH, accompanied by UltraDick Kanemoto. Poor, poor Kikuchi.

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1y3yzu_njpw-jushin-liger-vs-koji-kanemoto-1-4-00_sport

 

I FOUND IT!!! BLACK LIGER!!! 

 

After watching again, I don't really get the point of this. Is Black Liger supposed to be a different character or something? Because him shotei-ing and no selling for five minutes before DESTROYING Kanemoto and doing a Muta pose doesn't make much sense... but it sure as hell is enjoyable. The shot of Kanemoto staring up blankly at the lights while spread-eagle on the mat is hilarious.

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I'll always remember watching WCWSN with my brother in our basement. They did some intro package for Liger and we were like... WTF? Human beings can do that? Let alone how awesome he looked with his mask and get-up. He'll always be one of my favorites.

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