The Daily Liger: It really is daily this time now, and the hardest part of this.

Look, I know that I said this would be a daily feature and it hasn't been. So i figure I'll get this re-started with the most difficult match to pick.

It is, to my mind, almost impossible to accurately explain the Liger history without bringing up his greatest Japanese opponent: Chris Benoit. This isn't the time or the place to get into a kind of discussion about what Benoit's last days mean for him as a wrestler.  That might be a later post, I think. But for right now the best thing we can do is discuss Liger vs Benoit. THis is the match WCW used to intro Liger to American Audiences. Because it was against Benoit, a guy they had been tangentially pushing at about the same time, it worked like a charm. Enjoy.

The Daily Liger #3: The Break-Out

For many of us, we discovered Liger when he came to the United States to face Brian Pillman which i covered in this post: http://themajestyofwrestling.blogspot.com/2012/02/daily-liger-1-introduction-and-20th.html . But in actuality his true breakout, the one that proved to fans all over the world that this was a Jr. Heavyweight worth watching, came against Naoki Sano. Sano has had a really interesting career in that he was sort of the gatekeeper to Liger's junior title runs, and then went on to a career competing in shoot-style indies before giving up the ghost altogether and becoming a MMA artist before going back to pro wrestling with a run in NOAH. Here, watch Liger vs Sano.

The Daily Liger #2: vs Eddie Guerrero (or is it Silver King?)

As anyone who has watched puroresu for longer than a few minutes, the Tiger Mask lineage is something to be beheld. From Satoru Sayama to Mitsuharu Misawa to Koji Kanemoto, it's always been a place for young rookies that the Japanese system sees something in to get their career started on the right foot. But just as important has been Tiger Mask's eternal rival, the evil Black Tiger. Now the lineage of this whole thing is far too complicated for me to go into now, but believe me when I tell you that it's as equally valuable a lineage. Some of the best of the best have slipped on the Black Tiger mascara and embraced their inner heel. Here is a perfect example of that. Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger. From the J-Cup in 1996.

The Daily Liger #1: An Introduction and a 20th Anniversary

Because I am the sort who likes to create new content for this blog, here we go. Every morning I'll post a match from the man, who for my money, is the best junior heavyweight to ever lace up a pair of boots.

We'll start with this video:

And i know what you're thinking. We need a match here right? Easy. We'll start with the best match to really introduce this man to American fans. It's not nearly enough for it to be a good match. WHat you need is someone that the fans can get behind, someone that the fans can care about. This match is that time. Liger was coming in to WCW presented as the foreign menace, out to keep the World Light Heavyweight Championship from WCW's all-american phenom Flyin' Brian. Even now, 20 years after it happened, the match is still compelling. The way they structured it still works.


Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger 2/29/92 by Hook_Line_and_Sinker