獣神サンダー・ライガー
Yamada returned to NJPW on August 19, 1987 against Nobuhiko Takada in a losing effort. Yamada debuted his Shooting Star Press in a match against Masakatsu Funaki, for which he had gotten the idea from reading the manga "Fist of the North Star". Throughout 1987 and 1988, Yamada improved with each match, occasionally getting shots at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, most notably against Owen Hart on June 10, 1988, and against Shiro Koshinaka on December 9, 1988. He would also take part in the first ever Top of the Super Juniors tournament where he earned 31 points, not enough to progress to the final. Within months of his second Canadian excursion, NJPW called him back, as they needed him for a gimmick based on an extremely popular anime superhero, "Jushin Liger", created by manga artist Go Nagai. NJPW had done this previously with Tiger Mask, which had become a huge success. Yamada was given a superhero-like full body costume, resembling the superhero type featured in tokusatsu and anime programs.