We continue our countdown to Jyushin Thunder Liger’s retirement.

<– 30 Years of Liger in 30 Days: 2013      30 Years of Liger in 30 Days: 2015–>

Wrestle Kingdom 14 night 1: January 4 tickets! 

Wrestle Kingdom 14 night 2: January 5 tickets!

After a disappointing loss to Rob Conway in 2013, Liger’s issues with the NWA, or to be precise, its president Bruce Tharpe would go on through the entirety of 2014. The manic Tharpe would tear at posters of Liger and even burn his photograph at one point, obssessed with destroying his legacy, and in the process introducing the man he held as his ‘Crown Jewel’, then NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Chase Owens, to take him on. 

Tharpe and Owens hit Liger’s buttons a little too hard as it turned out. In Osaka at Power Struggle, Owens would aggressively target Liger’s back, but it wasn’t enough. A Vertical Drop Brainbuster was followed by an emphatic second, and Liger vowed to keep his fires burning bright for a long time to come as he held up the last championship he would win in the cerulean blue. 

Watch Jyushin Thunder Liger vs Chase Owens here!