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

<– 30 Years of Liger in 30 Days: 2014      30 Years of Liger in 30 Days: 2016–>

Wrestle Kingdom 14 night 1: January 4 tickets! 

Wrestle Kingdom 14 night 2: January 5 tickets!

By 2015, after 26 years under arguably wrestling’s most famous mask, and championships all over the world, there were very few ‘firsts’ left for Jyushin Thunder Liger, but summer did see several for the legend.

In March he would wrestle for the ROH Television Championship for the first time, and in summer he would wrestled in a WWE ring for the one and only time in his career. An incredibly active international year for Liger would continue into October as he challenged Revolution Pro’s British Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles. The memorable bout saw Liger fight fiercely against Styles’ sustained leg based offense; though he would resist Styles’ Calf Killer, a Styles Clash led to the end of the bout and the champion retaining.

Liger would round out the year with another championship challenge, this time against his partner and friend Tiger Mask. Though the two had been firm friends and partners for years, competition has always been intense between the two masked men, and with Tiger often feeling salty at the end of the year, an NWA World Junior Heavyweight Match was made for Road to Tokyo Dome at the end of the year in Korakuen Hall. 

Despite this being a friendly competition and sportsmanlike in nature, Liger was taking the match entirely seriously, appearing in Battle Liger guise for what would be the last time before facing Minoru Suzuki in 2019. Liger would reign in Shotei palm strikes, but when he went for one too many, Tiger would catch him into a double arm submission to retain.

Watch Jyushin Thunder Liger vs AJ Styles here!

Watch Jyushin Thunder Liger vs Tiger Mask here!