Posted January 19, 201114 yr comment_5462288 I'm hoping someone can answer this for me. Am I crazy, or have I read somewhere that there were plans to put the IWGP title on Liger in 2000? Was he briefly pushed as a heavyweight? Did something happen to kill that? I'd love to hear this story if anyone has more info.
January 19, 201114 yr comment_5462308 Liger was junior heavyweight superman starting on the January 4th Dome show. The big payoff was Liger jobbing to IWGP champ Sasaki in a short non-title match in the semi-main of the April 7th Dome show. At the end of the next tour Ohtani finally pinned Liger in a tag, and Takaiwa beat Liger for the junior title after he (Takaiwa) won BOSJ. Liger still got to be in the G-1. Before long he was pretty much regular Liger just in a black outfit. Liger vs Kanemoto, which started it: http://theditch.us/LigerVsKanemoto1-4-00.avi Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs Ohtani & Kanemoto, the tag I referenced: http://theditch.us/LigerTanakaVsOhtaniKanemoto4-30-00.avi
January 19, 201114 yr Author comment_5462310 Liger was junior heavyweight superman starting on the January 4th Dome show. The big payoff was Liger jobbing to IWGP champ Sasaki in a short non-title match in the semi-main of the April 7th Dome show. At the end of the next tour Ohtani finally pinned Liger in a tag, and Takaiwa beat Liger for the junior title after he (Takaiwa) won BOSJ. Liger still got to be in the G-1. Before long he was pretty much regular Liger just in a black outfit. Liger vs Kanemoto, which started it: http://theditch.us/LigerVsKanemoto1-4-00.avi Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs Ohtani & Kanemoto, the tag I referenced: http://theditch.us/LigerTanakaVsOhtaniKanemoto4-30-00.avi New Japan had transitioned plenty of juniors into heavyweights over the years. Is there a reason you think they never gave this a serious go with Liger? Did Liger have potential to draw on top?
January 19, 201114 yr comment_5462312 Liger was never seriously considered as a heavyweight headliner that I know of. I mean, Sasaki is as short as it gets for Japanese heavyweight champs and he has 10CM on Liger, plus a thicker frame/build. They transitioned bigger/taller dudes to heavyweight status. Who knows what would have happened if Liger was 10-15CM taller and could pack on proportionately more muscle, but it is what it is.
January 19, 201114 yr comment_5462354 Yeah, if you watch early Yamada you realize how tiny he really was. He jacked his physique beyond all reason for his body type, probably even more than Benoit and Eddy did.
January 19, 201114 yr comment_5462357 How big he got can be seen in the rare instances where he wrestled shirtless as 'battle Liger', notably for G-1 2001.
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