The end of the 10+ year storyline.

The main event is the end of a 10+ years storyline. It's the end of everything, the end of an entire era. He has been on-and-off as an ace, but no one held the title as much and with as much prestige so far as Jushin Liger did. However, none of that would have been possible without Mitsuharu Misawa. It started at Sunset Spirit II, in 1988. Pegasus Kid defeated Keiichi Yamada which lead him to a 5-year character transformation to Jushin "Thunder" Liger, just to be able to defeat and conquer Pegasus Kid and regain his championship. However, even that was not quite enough. Even though he defeated Pegasus Kid at Sunset Spirit VII in December 1993, he could never keep him down. Compared to Pegasus, Liger was clearly missing an edge, which lead to Pegasus Kid coming back for more. He needed help badly, else he would lose his spot as the ace of the junior heavyweight division of Royal Ring: International. Mitsuharu Misawa was there for him. He was there to help him and give him the edge that he, oh so badly, needed. At Valentine's Symphony 1994, Liger was finally able to conquer Pegasus Kid, retaining his championship in the main event of the tour. Many people thought this was the end of Liger's redemption arc, but sadly worse things happen afterwards... however that will come later. Through out the rest of the year 1994, Liger successfully held the IRWA Junior Heavyweight Championship, defending it against numerous & countless amount of amazing junior talents, but at the same time Pegasus Kid was on his side giving himself a bigger edge with a more aggressive attitude. What people thought was the end was simply the beginning. At Valentine's Symphony 1995, a year after Liger won the big battle, Pegasus Kid came out to challenge him for a Junior Heavyweight Championship match at the Anniversary Show. Liger was clearly super hesitant, however, he had the mentality that the ace cannot refuse and shut down a challenge what so ever. He accepted the challenge, and it sadly costed him everything. Everything. After the match while Liger was walking to the back & Pegasus was celebrating his victory, he broke down crying on the ramp. Everything that he worked for. All gone. His status of ace, his championship. It wasn't enough. The hero could not defeat the villain, and it made LIger snapped. He took some time off and while doing so, Pegasus just kept growing stronger and stronger, winning also the Openweight 6-Man Tag Team title while holding the Junior Heavyweight title. At Classical Summer 1995, Liger made his return and defeated Pegasus Kid for that title. However, on that night, he had to look deep down inside himself to find what would help him win. It was not Jushin "Thunder" Liger. It was Kushin Liger. Kushin Liger defeated Pegasus Kid. A few weeks after the match, Liger admitted in an interview that he never wanted to go to that side again. Pegasus hearing that, took that to his advantage. He jumped Liger at Ring Kings 1995 for a championship match at Sunset Spirit IX, but this time, Liger was prepared. Jushin "Thunder" Liger successfully defeated Pegasus Kid, kept his Junior Heavyweight Championship, his status of ace, his pride, his confidence. He kept it all. He couldn't be any more prouder of himself. However, that only lead to further bad things for him. His ego became massive following the win, to the point where he was incredibly cocky with everyone, including his fellow team & stable members. At Valentine's Symphony 1996, the event of the heart breaks, Liger became overconfident & too cocky which lead him to losing the Junior Heavyweight Championship to the legendary Tiger Mask. After the match, backstage, Liger once again broke down. He says he couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't be the hero that the people wanted him to be. He couldn't save the day anymore. However, what he was not realising was that he became the villain. At Anniversary Supercard 1996, Misawa, Funaki & Liger won the IRWA Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships, however after the match Liger stole the championship belts and completely trashed them, which made them unavailable for multiple months following the incident. It got onto the nerve of everyone in the stable known as "HONOR", but especially Misawa. However, he tried to kept his mouth shut as much as possible, even though he did kinda threw a fit at Liger, even if rightfully so, but that didn't help things at all. Liger's attitude kept getting worse and worse. On the first day of Cry of War 1996, Mitsuharu Misawa was about to challenge Mike Awesome for his IRWA Heavyweight Championship, however LIger cut him off and decided HE was the one who was going to challenge him for the heavyweight championship. Misawa could not believe it, however Mike did accept the challenge. On the second day of the tour, Mike Awesome retained the heavyweight championship against Jushin "Thunder" Liger, in front of a dissapointed friend Mitsuharu Misawa. On the first day of the next tour, Dragon Warriors 1996, Liger accidently costed the win by distracting Masakatsu Funaki which lead to Misawa telling Jushin that on the next day he is going to help him get his sh*t together. However... nothing happen. We did not see Liger nor Misawa on the next day of the tour. A week later, it was announced that Mike Awesome would defend the IRWA Heavyweight Championship against Mitsuharu Misawa... with Jushin "Thunder" Liger in his corner. Mike Awesome successfully defended the IRWA Heavyweight Championship against Mitsuharu Misawa at Classical Summer 1996, but not cleanly, no. Liger accidently once again distracted. Misawa snapped and fired Jushin "Thunder" Liger from the stable HONOR. It was not an easy task to do for Misawa. They have been best friends and on the road for countless years, however Liger was not respecting the code of HONOR from the stable. There for, he had to go. Misawa felt a bit of guilt. He felt like if he would have never helped the thunderous one to grab the edge he desperately needed to defeat Pegasus, none of that would have happen but sadly none of that mattered anymore. He was gone from HONOR. We did not see Jushin for multiple months after that, until Ring Kings 1996 in October. After Misawa's 6-man tag match against Holy Demon Army & Meng for the championships that Liger trashed, Jushin returned and brutally assaulted Misawa. He ended the assault by hitting his best friend with a tiger driver, straight in the middle of the ring. Misawa was left, looking at the celling & lights, heart broken. His best friend turned on him badly. He kept going around backstage afterwards, telling everyone and making sure that they "know" that he was way better than Mitsuharu Misawa, he should be a heavyweight, owning all the titles possible. Liger once again attacked Misawa at Ashes of November 1996, on its third day, but this time HONOR was able to make the save. He took the mic and the time to sit on the ramp like a maniac, challenging Misawa at Sunset Spirit X to a No Disqualification Match. At Sunset Spirit 10, Mitsuharu defeated Jushin in a one of the best matches that the wrestling fans has ever seen. After the match, Liger crawled to Misawa in the ring, apologising sincerely for all the pain that he has caused. Misawa walked off without saying a word, staring at his former best friend. On the second day of Valentine's Symphony 1997, after Misawa's match, Liger entered the ring in front of a suspicious HONOR. He took the microphone and begged Mitsuharu Misawa to let him back in. He kept trying to apologise to him for everything that has ever happen until he got his microphone ripped from his hand by Misawa. The only words that was said by Mitsuharu Misawa: "Rematch." Before he walked off to the back, leaving Liger alone in the ring. At Anniversary Supercard 1997, Liger defeated Misawa in another all-time classic match under 60 Minutes Ironman rules which lead to Jushin asking once again if he could join the stable, and once again apologising. After some long thinking, with the fans cheering him on, Misawa agreed. They shook hands and they all let Liger in, even though they were a bit cautious near him. On the first day of Cry of War 1997, Liger proudly picked up the win for his team. Misawa finally found what was missing from Liger in a long time. It wasn't an edge, a vicious attitude nor anything. It was what he started seeing again at Sunset Spirit 10. His inner fighting spirit. He spent the next few months trying to fully gain back the respect and trust of his peers which he managed to do successfully. Once he felt he was ready, he decided to have one more run. After defeating Dr. Wagner Jr. in Ireland on the second day of Wrestling Showdown 1997, he called out Yoshinari Ogawa. He wanted to face him for his Junior Heavyweight Championship on the next tour. He got all his wishes. Jushin "Thunder" Liger was back. He defeated Yoshinari Ogawa on the first day of Kingdom of Fighters 1997. He was on top of the world. He got everything back. However at Championship Collision 1997, he challenged Nobuhiko Takada to a heavyweight championship match. Takada accepted on the condition that he defends the junior heavyweight championship against an opponent of his choosing. Liger accepted, without knowing who Takada was picking, he wanted to face the winner of the Ringmaster '97 Mitsuharu Misawa at Sunset Spirit 11. Who did Takada pick? His worse enemy and the man that made his life hell; Pegasus Kid. He successfully managed to pick the win against Pegasus, however, Pegasus brutally assaulted him afterwards the match which lead to an injury. He was still able to face Takada for the heavyweight title, however he was not as successful there, in fact, his injury only got way worse and he had to take multiple months off to heal. At Anniversary Supercard 1998, Liger made his return with Misawa. They wanted to win and hold the IRWA Tag Team Championships. At Cry of War 1998 - Day 1, HONOR was fully back and they captured the tag team championships. Misawa could not be any prouder of Liger. They held the titles for almost a year, with eight defences, until they lost to Yoshihiro Takayama & Akira Maeda on the first day of Valentine's Symphony 1999. After the match, Misawa & Liger had a moment, hugging it out and sadly walking together to the back. On the third day of Wrestling Showdown 1999, Liger broke his silence. He knew what was going on. He knew Mitsuharu Misawa was leaving in a few months. It makes him sad to see him go, however he didn't want him to go without one last match with him. Misawa accepted. All the years of heart break, character change, path of becoming an ace and a solid pillar of Royal Ring: International, all of this... this era. It's coming to an end. This is the end. This is the end of an era. Mitsuharu Misawa takes on Jushin "Thunder" Liger in what may very well be their last match against each other. End of an era.
This is the end.