Jushin Thunder Liger shocked the wrestling world on Saturday night by coming out of retirement to wrestle Joey Janela at WrestleCade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The 61-year-old Japanese legend, who officially retired in January 2020, stepped back into the ring for a brief four-minute match against Janela during the annual WrestleCade weekend festivities at the Benton Convention Center.
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Liger’s last official matches took place at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020, where he competed over the two-night event to wrap up his legendary in-ring career. In what was billed as his final match, Liger teamed with Naoki Sano to take on Dragon Lee and Hiromu Takahashi.
The iconic masked wrestler debuted for New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1984 and adopted the Jushin Liger gimmick in 1989, based on the anime series of the same name. Throughout his career spanning over three decades, Liger wrestled more than 4,000 matches, won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship a record 11 times, and performed for promotions around the globe including WCW in the United States.
Liger was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest junior heavyweight wrestlers of all time.
His surprise appearance at WrestleCade instantly became the talked-about highlight of the weekend, catching fans both inside the building and across social media completely off guard.
