Jushin Thunder Liger wrapped up his three-decade pro wrestling career earlier this year, but he’s still a presence in the wrestling world. Since his retirement, he’s been a commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling and a guest commentator for Stardom, and in March 2020, he joined the ranks of wrestlers with YouTube channels. The Beast God has a ways to go before he’s as legendary on YouTube as he is in the ring, but it seems like he’s already pretty great at the social media platform.
Liger launched his channel on March 13, and it already has several videos up. Two of them have English subtitles, one in which he talks about who he thinks are the top three “most lovable wrestlers” and the other a documentary-style video about his morning routine. In Liger’s opinion, the most adorable wrestlers are Masakatsu Funaki, who started training with New Japan when he was fifteen, Minoru Suzuki (“He can’t tell a lie,” and “Maybe this is bad for his reputation, but he has a good heart. I think his fans know that and that’s why they like him.”), and Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who Liger describes as “easily moved to tears” and easily pranked.
While that video is Liger sharing stories, vlog-style, the morning routine video is more visually interesting, and a very chill and soothing watch. It’s a little kayfabed (a sleeping Liger’s face is blurred, and he puts on his mask immediately after he wakes up) but seems like a mostly legitimate look at the how the man behind the mask lives his day-to-day life. We see him feed the dojo’s outside cat, make miso ramen for breakfast, work on his 25-year hobby of making very impressive clay models of kaiju, and train shoulders in the gym. The whole video is about eighteen minutes long and falls squarely in the genre of low-key YouTube videos to relax/quarantine to.
