Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame
The 1980's professional wrestling phenomenon was not only a huge spectacular in the USA but also in Japan.
At the forefront of the frenzy, an unlikely duo referred to as "The Crush Gals."
The tag team duo of Lioness Aska (also written as Asuka) and Chigusa Nagayo known as "Crush Gals" was formed in 1982. The pair were formidable grapplers with tomboyish haircuts and great singing voices ( true rock n' roll wrestling phenomenon's.) Quickly the pair became icons of Japan’s female pro-wrestling world and icons of the sport that were comparable to that of Hulk Hogan in the United States in the 80's and emulating the success of The Beauty Pair from Japan in the 70's.
Not only did the Crush Gals rule the wrestling world in the 80's but also the music charts. As pop culture icons the pair hit the top 10 with a succession of catchy tunes that became popular hits.
Imagine your favourite singer also being one of the most talented wrestlers in the world, times that by 2 and there you have it...The Crush Gals.
Crush Gals frenzy in the 80's
The next few years of the 80's saw the pair battling to win and retain their tag team straps and the tag team division became the true money maker for AJW.
During the mid-80's the pair dominated the tag team division of All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJW). The Crush Gals first WWWA Tag Team title run began on August 25, 1984 when they beat "Dynamite Girls" Jumbo Hori and Yukari Ohmori to win the belts. The Crush Gals title reign lasted for five months when they were defeated by Dump Matsumoto and her partner Crane Yu.
Over the next few years the heel stable "Gokuaku Domei, led by Dump was The Crush Gals main foes and the pair battled to win and retain their tag team straps and the tag team division became the true money maker for AJW.
In the February 25, 1985 match where Crane Yu & Dump Matsumoto defeated The Crush Girls for the WWWA World Tag Team titles it was the typical "Good Guys" versus "Bad Guys" scenario as the Crush Gals drew thousands of adoring, screaming teenage fans that carried pom-poms to cheer on the pair. The "Bad guys" were played to perfection by the huge punk style Dump Matsumoto and Crane Yu who made formidable opponents. Tv Ratings for the weekly AJW show followed suit and the feud drew high ratings for AJW of 12.0 regularly. Even today these matches are revered by wrestling fans who want to see women's wrestling in its glory day. Matches from this era were replayed on TV as (AJW) Women's wrestling Classics and have since established new fans of The Crush Gals.
Dump Matsumoto and Yu Crane were forced to vacate the titles.
Dump formed a new tag team with fellow heel a young Bull Nakano (who later went on to singles fame in the WWE ).
On May 16, 1985 The Crush Gals defeated Bull Nakano & Dump Matsumoto for the WWWA World Tag Team titles. The Crush Gals had become tag team champions for the second time.
Chigusa Nagayo then went on to feud with Dump Matsumoto and on August 28 1985 the pair embarked on one of the most memorable matches in Joshi Puroresu history, the famous hair match.
The ending had Chigusa covered in blood, KO'ed by Dump, who proceeded to shave her head as thousands of fans screamed in disbelief. Lioness Aska was at ringside and entered the ring to help fend off further attacks & console the upset head shaven Chigusa. This was Joshi Drama at its finest!
The Crush Gals still remained the tag team champs and held the tag titles for 7 months (DEC 1985) when injuries forced to vacate the tag team titles.
The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki) claimed the vacant tag titles holding them for two months until March 20, 1986 when The Crush Gals the The Crush Gals racked up their third title reign by defeating Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno for the WWWA World Tag Team titles. Lioness Asuka unfortunately had an injury which prevented her from being able to wrestle in a WWWA Tag Team title defense against Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto on August 23rd 1986. Lioness's spot was taken by Kazue Nagahor and together her and Chigusa lost to Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto.
The Chigusa / Matsumoto feud was still what everyone wanted to see however and the attack by Matsumoto in September led to a second hair match being scheduled. The match happened on November 6 1986. History looked like it would repeat itself as Chigusa was viciously beaten and bloody but out of nowhere Chigusa pulled off a rollup pin. Chigusa had gotten her revenge and victoriously cut Dump's hair.
In 1987 The Crush Gals went to the USA and did a stint for The World Wrestling Federation (later to become World Wrestling Entertainment WWE ). The Crush Gals did not receive the same push that the team of The Jumping Bomb Angels got but did wrestle on TV. The Crush Girls had matches against Lielani Kai, Judy Martin, Donna Christianello, Penny Mitchell, and Black Venus, amongst others.
The re-match between the Crush Gals came on January 22, 1989. Lioness Asuka won the title cleanly and kept it until her retirement. The Crush Gals were to win their third WWWA Tag Team titles on March 4, 1989 from the young team of Mika Komatsu and Yumi Ogura.
Chigusa Nagayo was the first to reach the mandatory retirement age of 26 for all AJW wrestlers. Chigusa’s retirement show (Wrestlemarinepiad 1989) was a huge event held on May 6 1989, drawing a large vocal crowd. Chigusa’s retirement card consisted of Japanese wrestlers (incl: Manami Toyota, Etsuko Mita) & American wrestlers (incl: Queen Kong, Madusa, Leilani Kai). The wrestling extravaganza also had a great live concert by the Crush Gals where the team performed their hit songs to the screaming crowd as well as the girls performing in a marathon wrestling contest where they wrestled everyone in the company.
Lioness Asuka hit the retirement age also in 1989. It definitely wasn’t a good business ploy to have your two most popular stars forced in retirement whilst still at the height of their popularity and the AJW business took a sharp fall in fan following for several years afterwards as a result of this policy.
In 1994 Chigusa Nagayo returned to wrestling circles with the forming of the GAEA wrestling promotion. August 24, 1994 a press conference was held to announce the new promotion and to audition the rookies that would go on to become the first crop of GAEA talent. Chigusa was supported at the press conference by Kaoru Maeda and Bomber Hikaru the founding members of GAEA. As the head trainer at GAEA Chigusa started to produce her own talent. Top initial class students included: Meiko Satomura, Sugar Sato, & Toshie Uematsu.
GAEA’s first card was on April 15 1995 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The promotions first event was a sell-out hit titled "Memorial First Gong."
In 1996 Chigusa Nagayo ventured back to the United States having established an inter-promotional deal with WCW. Chigusa was repackaged as a face painted wrestler called "Zero" and had Sonny Ono as her manager. GAEA grapplers Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu were to take out the women’s WCW title and the WCW cruiserweight women’s title respectively battling against women wrestlers such as: Kaoru, Kato, Madusa and Malia Hosaka.
November 2nd 1996, GAEA established the AAAW title (All Asia Athlete women). Chigusa Nagayo was the first AAAW Champion. GAEA was to become one of the leading forces in women's wrestling in the late 1990's however the hey day had seemed past and none of the women's promotions were drawing crowds to the extent that they were in the Crush Gals era of the 1980's.
In December, 1998, Lioness Aska debuted in GAEA a heel (villain). A new feud was established against the Crush Gals. On April 4, 1999 Chigusa & Asuka battled against each other for the first time in ten years, by December 27, 1999, however the Crush Gals re-united. The union again proved successful and the pair went on to win their fourth tag team championship titles together as the 13th champion title holders of the AAAW championship on April 30, 2004. The Crush Gals reign was short-lived however as they lost their titles on May 5th 2004 to Aja Kong & African / American Amazing Kong.
Asuka retired on April 3, 2005 the last time the girls fought in the ring together. Chigusa fought on April 10, for GAEA’s closing show when GAEA closed its doors after 10 years of business.
“We always talk about what we can do to make women’s wrestling in Japan better,” says Asuka, “but recently we feel that time is not on our side anymore. We have had our share of injuries, so that’s why we decided to leave the mat for good.” “...Sometimes, at night, I think about it and try and imagine what Chigusa is going to look like up on the mat,” Asuka says. “I see myself crying. Last time we split I think I was smiling. This time I want it to end it in tears.” said Asuka shortly before her retirement.
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