All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJW)
When people talk about classic Joshi Puroresu(Japanese women's professional wrestling) they are usually talking about AJW. All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling began on June 4th 1968 when Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. Within its first year of operation AJW secured a television deal with Fuji TV
AJW The Early Years
In its initial years AJW's WWWA World Women's Title championship matches were dominated by a tradition of a Japanese face (good girl) battling a foreign heel (bad girl). Foreign women to capture the title included: Sandy Starr, Sarah Lee, Sandy Parker, Bambi Ball and Jackie West.
This pattern continued until the mid 1970's when the popularity of Mach Fumiake and the Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) secured a shift to Japanese women facing off against each other. After that, only a few non-Japanese women won the championship belt. Canadian Monster Ripper (Rhonda Singh) twice, on July 31, 1979 and March 15, 1980, Mexican La Galactica, on May 7, 1983, Mexican Ayako Hamada twice, on May 11th 2003 and May 2nd 2004 and American Amazing Kong Jan 4th 2004.
AJW in the 1970's
"Mach" Fumiake Watanabe, was a finalist in a teen idol singer contest "Star Tanjoh". Mach Fumiake became the first female pro-wrestler in Japan to release a record. On March 19th, 1975 she defeated Jumbo Miyamoto to become the WWWA's youngest champion at the age of sixteen. Mach wrestled for AJW for three years, leaving to pursue music fulltime.
The Beauty Pair (Maki Ueda and Jackie Sato) also became national musical celebrities as their song "Kakemeguru Seishun" in 1976 sold 400,000 copies.
The era of The Beauty Pair ended when Ueda was forced to retire due to back problems. Her final match which she lost was a loser-must-retire match against partner Jackie Sato in February 1979. AJW's popularity declined until a new boom era started in 1981. The three women to change the course of women's wrestling on this occasion were Jaguar Yokota, Mimi Hagiwara, and Devil Masami.
AJW Wrestling The Crush Gals
In 1983, a new pop music / wrestling duo arrived in the form of Crush Gals (Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo). The pair were huge stars with number one hits. Combined with incredible wrestling prowess the pair were a phenomenon. Crush Gals feuded against Gokuaku Domei (Dump Matsumoto's Gang including: Crane Yu, Bull Nakano) during the 1980s, bringing very high ratings to AJW's weekly television program.
AJW Competition
The promotions popularity spawned new women's promotions to emerge to cash in on the popularity of AJW's. The first competition Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) was started in 1986, by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi.
AJW The 1990's
By the 1990's there were several new women's promotions established in Japan. Responding to the new women's promotions AJW became involved in co-promoting starcards. All the best female wrestlers from different organisation were brought together. AJW remained the dominant force of joshi puroresu throughout this period with stars like Manami Toyota, Kyoko Inoue, Aja Kong and Akira Hokuto.
AJW struggled financially in the late 1990's, loosing money in the Japanese real estate crash, defections of talent, and increased competition for fans from rival promotions.
The Crush Gals Chigusa Nagayo formed rival promotion GAEA in 1994 which steadily grew in popularity as her wrestling became more experienced. In 1997, AJW great Kyoko Inoue left AJW and later started the NEO Japan Ladies' Wrestling promotion after feuds over payments due to her. Arsion was formed by AJW business manager Hiroshi Ogawa in 1997.
In 2005, AJW closed its door after 37 years of wrestling, making it the longest running promotion in Japan.
Related Links
AJW Historic DownloadsAJW Beauty Pair
AJW Crush Gals
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