Japanese Wrestling Legend To Appear On AEW Collision
One of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time will be appearing on AEW Collision for the finals of a prestigious tournament.
If you watch AEW regularly then you probably know they love tournaments about as much as any wrestling company in the history of the business. Currently, AEW has three different tournaments running at the same time.
That’s because the Men’s & Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament are running at the same time along with the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament for a title shot at the Tag Team Titles. The Owen Hart Cup tournament will conclude this Saturday on AEW Collision for both the men and the women.
In the Men’s Owen Hart Cup tournament final, CM Punk will face Ricky Starks. As for the women, Ruby Soho will face the winner of the Rampage match between Willow Nightingale and Athena. There are spoilers for that match if you want to know who won.
There will be a special guest for the Finals of the Owen Hart Cup tournament because NJPW wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Jushin “Thunder Liger” tweeted about how he was traveling to Calgary for AEW Collision. Liger’s tweet was in Japanese and translates to this.
“I am at Haneda Airport now. From now on, I will go to Calgary, Canada via San Francisco. I was invited as a guest at Owen Hart’s memorial tournament ☆ I’m looking forward to Calgary after a long time.”
いま羽田空港です。これからサンフランシスコ経由でカナダ・カルガリーまで行ってきます。オーエン・ハート選手のメモリアルトーナメントのゲストに呼ばれました☆久しぶりのカルガリー、楽しみです❤ #カナダ・カルガリーpic.twitter.com/hWpX9FTSpr
— 獣神サンダー・ライガー ☆ Jyushin Thunder Liger (@Liger_NJPW) July 14, 2023
The reason AEW is bringing in Liger is because he had two classic matches early in their careers in New Japan. Liger won both matches against Hart and they never got the chance to wrestle again.
Jushin Thunder Liger retired in January 2020 after 36 years as a pro wrestler that is regarded by many to be one of the best cruiserweight/light-heavyweight wrestlers ever.
It’s not known if AEW wanted Liger to be a surprise for Collision or if they are okay with the legendary wrestler announcing it on social media this way.