Japanese wrestling legend Jushin “Thunder” Liger was confirmed for the WWE Hall of Fame on Monday, joining Batista, The New World Order, John Bradshaw Layfied, The Bella Twins and The British Bulldog as part of the Class of 2020. Liger is best known for his run as the longest-tenured wrestler in New Japan Pro Wrestling history, competing in the company from 1984 all the way up to this past January at the Wrestle Kingdom 14 event. Regarded as one of the best junior heavyweights of all time, he held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship a record 11 times, successfully defending the championship on 31 occasions for a combined 2,245 days. He held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships six times and won the Best of Super Juniors tournament on three occasions.

Though he is recognized as a former WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, Liger’s affiliation with the WWE is limited to one match at the Wrestling Summit event in 1990 (a cross-promotional event at the Tokyo Dome involving the WWF, All Japan and New Japan promotions) and a match with Tyler Breeze at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015. American wrestling fans will know him best from his time in WCW, where he wrestled 52 matches from 1991-99.

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