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WWE News: Jushin “Thunder” Liger Officially Announced for WWE Hall of Fame 2020

By John Canton • Published 16th March 2020
TJR Wrestling

Congratulations go out to Japanese wrestling legend Jushin “Thunder” Liger, who was officially announced for WWE’s Hall of Fame this year. This was reported several weeks ago, so this was expected. There are questions about whether WWE’s Hall of Fame ceremony will go on as scheduled on April 2 in Tampa, but for now it hasn’t been postponed or canceled.

Liger retired earlier this year at the Wrestle Kingdom 14 event in Tokyo. Liger is one of the greatest cruiserweight wrestlers ever and made a name for himself on the North American wrestling scene when he worked for WCW in the early 1990s. Liger only wrestled one match in WWE when he defeated Tyler Breeze at NXT Takeover Brooklyn in 2015.

Here’s part of what WWE.com wrote about Liger:

The masked marvel emerged in Japan in the late 1980s, enchanting fans from the moment he emerged from the curtain, clad in a dazzling red-and-white body suit and a striking mask with three protruding horns. But as impressive as he was on first glance, Liger was even more remarkable once the bell rang. Inside the ring, Liger was an innovator in every sense of the word. His high-flying, hard-hitting style has influenced generations of competitors, and is credited as the inventor of the Shooting Star Press.

Liger made his way to the United States in 1991, arriving in WCW and engaging in an epic rivalry with Brian Pillman over the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, the precursor to the Cruiserweight Title. Liger and Pillman’s incredible bouts are still talked about to this day as some of the most influential in sports-entertainment history.

Liger appeared for WCW sporadically throughout the 1990s, taking on competitors like Rey Mysterio and Dean Malenko. Meanwhile, in his home country of Japan, he established himself as one of the greatest competitors of all time, becoming an 11-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, even after a brain tumor almost took his life. He went nearly four decades without competing in a WWE ring, until he made his WWE debut at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn in 2015, defeating Tyler Breeze in a battle that brought the NXT Universe to its feet.

Jushin “Thunder” Liger retired in January, making him a grappler with the distinction of having competed in five different decades. And now, he will add another incredible accolade to his résumé: WWE Hall of Famer.

Here’s a tweet from Triple H congratulating Liger.

That means the WWE Hall of Fame class as of right now looks like:

* Batista (Confirmed)

* New World Order’s Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman (Confirmed)

* The Bella Twins (Confirmed)

* “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith (Confirmed)

* Jushin “Thunder” Liger (Confirmed)

The 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, April 2, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., and will stream live on WWE Network. Will it actually start at that day and time? That’s not known right now with the world in state of flux due to the Coronavirus pandemic. What we do know is if WWE holds a Hall of Fame ceremony then Liger will be a part of it this year.