The Dragon vs. The Warrior
We are now entering the 1980’s. Both New Japan and All Japan are doing very well business wise. For NJPW, Antonio Inoki is still their top draw but there are two new stars on the horizon: “The Dragon” Tatsumi Fujinami and “The Revolutionary Warrior” Riki Choshu. Both men would have one of the greatest rivalries ever, most especially for their battles that defined the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
One of the men that will forever be synonymous with New Japan Pro Wrestling because of the amazing career he’s had there is Tatsumi Fujinami. Along with Inoki, Osamu Kido, and Kotetsu Yamamoto, the four of them would become the “founding fathers” of early New Japan and build the promotion up to become the leading pro wrestling brand in the country. Right from the beginning he was already under Antonio Inoki’s wing way back in JWA and initially started off as a junior heavyweight. As his career progressed, his skills would improve and became one of the best technicians not only in Japan but in the whole world, winning many titles in the process too such as the NWA International Jr. Heavyweight Championship twice and both the WWF International Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Championships. As he began to gain popularity, Fujinami would move up to the heavyweight division and was groomed to become the next ace after Inoki. He would cement his status in the main event scene by defeating Big Van Vader on May 8, 1988 for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship, a title he would go on to win five more times throughout his entire run with the company. Fujinami is also accomplished in the tag-team scene, becoming a 5x IWGP Tag-Team Champion four times with his long time partner Kengo Kimura and once with his student Osamu Nishimura.
Another man that would dominate the main event scene of NJPW from the 80’s up until the early 90’s was Riki Choshu. After his amateur wrestling career, Choshu was recruited by Inoki to join the dojo and there he was trained by Masa Saito. He would become one of the most influential men in pro wrestling, inventing the famous Sasori Gatame submission hold or better known to many as the Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter as popularized by Sting and Bret Hart respectively in the US. While Choshu would also slowly become one of the top guys in the company, he felt like he was still being overshadowed by Inoki and Fujinami, so in a six man tag where he was teamed up with them against the trio of Abdullah, Bad News Allen, and SD Jones, Choshu turned his back on his team and personally attacked Fujinami which would ignite their long standing rivalry against one another. In 1982 Choshu formed one of the most dominant stables in Puroresu “Revolutionary Army” or better known as Ishin Gundan. Looking back on it, the stable was stacked with legendary names with Choshu on top as the leader along with; Masa Saito, Killer Khan, Animal Hamaguchi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Tiger Toguchi (aka Kim Duk.) Terrorizing not only NJPW, but also AJPW. In 1984 Choshu created Japan-Pro Wrestling, the first renegade wrestling promotion in the country, most of the roster were also members of his Ishin Gundan stable and they mainly partnered shows with AJPW until it’s closure in 1987. When JPW closed, some wrestlers went back with Choshu to NJPW while others stayed in AJPW. On July 12, 1989 Choshu won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time beating Salman Hashimikov. He would have memorable bouts against both Fujinami and Vader for the belt around those years, headlining multiple NJPW shows. He is also a 3x IWGP Tag-Team Champion among many other accomplishments.
Both Fujinami and Choshu would continue to have long decorated career all the way to just the last decade. Around the 90’s, Fujinami was still one of the top main eventers having iconic battles with Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as well as other high profile Tokyo Dome bouts but would eventually pass the torch to the next generation of talents, Choshu did as well but was also highly regarded for being the booker at that time which helped in establishing New Japan’s spot as the number one promotion in the entire country building up stars and help the company made a lot of money. After their respective NJPW runs, they would run their own promotions and events, last year Choshu retired from in-ring action while Fujinami is still active in the independents. If it wasn’t for them, New Japan wouldn’t be where it is today, at some point Inoki is going to slow down, he was lucky he was able to find two eventual top stars that replaced his spot and become great wrestlers of their own with a memorable legacy.
Triple Crown Contenders
As the 80’s began to roll around for AJPW, Giant Baba is starting to lower his status from main eventer to midcarder, primarily because of his health issues catching up to him. He did not need to fear though as two of his best students would carry on his torch and lead the promotion with their partnership and eventual rivalry: Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu. Having backgrounds in amateur and sumo wrestling respectively, after learning in the AJPW dojo they were sent to the Amarillo, Texas territory of The Funks to further hone their crafts and upon returning to All Japan, are set to become the next main event players of the promotion.
When Jumbo won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Nick Bockwinkel on February 22, 1984 it solidified his status as a superstar caliber wrestler. Throughout the rest of the 80’s, Jumbo became the beloved ace of All Japan, winning more championships in the process including tag-team gold with Yoshiaki Yatsu and even Tenryu before they became rivals. Facing off against gaijins like Stan Hansen, Ric Flair, Harley Race, and Terry Funk just to name a few, while also having matches with native veterans like Rusher Kimura. Winning the Champion Carnival numerous times in the decade too. On April 18, 1989 he made history once more as the reigning NWA International Heavyweight Champion he defeated Stan Hansen, the reigning PWF and NWA United National Champion, unifying all three belts into one to form what is now known today as the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and since then, would become the top prize for AJPW. Jumbo was a 3x champion of the belt with a total combined day run of 659. You have to see it to believe it, his charisma was very much infectious to the fans and could easily get their attention with his mere presence alone. Not only that but his tough not easy to waver attitude in delivering his matches, captivated the audience, actively rooting for him in the process against the menacing opponents. As they say Jumbo walked, so the Pillars could run. Paving the way for next generation of All Japan wrestlers with his style of performance.
Unlike Jumbo who was seen as the one with most potential seemingly from the get-go, Tenryu had to work his way up to the cards after his return from excursion. Starting out in the midcard but then would team up with Jumbo ironically enough in a successful duo winning tag-team championships in the process. When the team broke up, Tenryu began his run as a heel and soon enough would have a rivalry with Jumbo especially when the Triple Crown was created. Their matches together would set the standard for the main event scene of AJPW moving forward with emphasis on technical wrestling and storytelling. On June 5, 1989 Tenryu defeated Jumbo in what many considered was an all-time classic for the Triple Crown. He reigned for 128 days with two defenses before dropping it back to his rival. The following year he would cause a massive controversy by leaving All Japan and having the first roster exodus to form a new promotion: Super World of Sports but that was short lived, didn’t last long but would try out another promotion this time a much more successful and renowned company in Wrestle and Romance (WAR.) Because of his past actions though, it left a bad taste in Giant Baba’s mouth and he was blacklisted in AJPW until Baba’s death in 1999. He would spend some time in NJPW, even winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and then made his return to All Japan when they were in dire need of wrestlers with star power after another mass exodus would leave them with only four wrestlers. A little fun fact, Genichiro Tenryu holds the distinction of being the only Japanese wrestler to have pin fall victories over Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba!
In terms of fighting styles and personalities, Jumbo and Tenryu couldn’t be any more different from one another, but it is exactly that contrast is why their rivalry and partnership worked on so many levels. They laid the foundation for what was to come in AJPW and making it the home of consistent high quality performances for matches especially in the upper cards. While their prime careers may not have been as long as most of their peers, what they’ve accomplished in that timeframe was some of the best wrestling the country has seen. Jumbo has sadly passed away in 2000 while Tenryu kept wrestling and formally retired as recent as 2015.
Roar of the Tiger
On October 2, 1969 the first ever episode of the Tiger Mask anime aired on Japanese television, an adaptation based on the wrestling manga of the same name. Since then, Tiger Mask would go on to become one of the most popular media franchises in the country, so much so that it became an actual professional wrestler. New Japan was trying to find ways in growing their product so they decided to integrate the Tiger Mask character into their roster and they decided that the man behind the mask was none other than one of Inoki’s best students: Satoru Sayama. Thus the original Tiger Mask wrestler was born! Since then there have been many wrestling gimmicks that are similar in concept, the other successful one was Jushin “Thunder” Liger, but if it wasn’t for the success of Tiger Mask, they wouldn’t even exist in the first place.
Mixing martial arts and highflying moves into his arsenal, Tiger Mask would soon become one of the highly acclaimed workers in the New Japan roster around the 1980’s. Later on he would find his greatest opponent yet in the form of Tom Billington or better known as Dynamite Kid. Originally from Lancashire, England, Dynamite would train under Stu Hart in Canada and began his career in Stampede Wrestling. As he became more popular due to his innovative highflying offense, he would start touring in other territories too including Japan. On April 23, 1981 marked what would become the greatest junior heavyweight rivalry of the decade when Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid met for the first time in a New Japan ring. Two years later however, their match at Sumo Hall would become one of the all time-great classics and one of the first matches to gain the attention of Dave Meltzer to give it five stars. Now I know, the star rating system itself is a polarizing topic but for a moment, take out your biases, because that review from the Observer Newsletter was the reason why Sayama and Dynamite’s matches would gain a lot of attention and the popularity of their matches even grew further not only in Japan, but around the world.
The modern day style of wrestling with high levels of athleticism was revolutionized by Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid. If you look back on their matches now, they were so ahead of their time and are doing things that we mostly see as common place in the ring today. Back then, their highflying moves and technical prowess were even overshadowing those of the heavyweights, which for a long time juniors were seen as merely opening acts, but because of their undeniable charisma together and the great performances they’re putting in, they managed to overcome the odds and give a proper platform for all junior heavyweights that would follow in their footsteps. For three years, Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid would have multiple matches against one another whether in singles or tag-team action. They may not have the same length of rivalry as Rusher Kimura and Haruka Eigen, but those three years were enough in establishing a strong presence in the scene which is still influential to this day.
The Original UWF
In 1984 NJPW wrestler Akira Maeda defected from the company to create the original Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) promotion. Maeda grew tired of what pro wrestling became, focused on the theatrical side and wanted to bring back the old school feel of “real fight” to the sport, so he founded an alternative wrestling company and brought along other former New Japan wrestlers with him such as Rusher Kimura, Ryuma Go, Mach Hayato, and Gran Hamada. Later on their roster grew bigger with the likes of Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Satoru Sayama, Kazuo Yamazaki, and Osamu Kido. There were also various gaijins in the alumni of UWF names like Dave Finlay, Dutch Mantel, El Texano, Negro Navarro, and Sweet Daddy Siki just to name a few. The UWF presented what we mostly call these days as “worked shoot” matches where they tend to focus less on the dramatization of matches and prioritized technical strikes and submission holds, similar vein to what would become as mixed martial arts (MMA) many years later. The promotion itself only lasted for a year due to creative disagreements between their top stars Maeda and Sayama. When UWF initially folded, most of the wrestlers returned to New Japan being involved in an invasion storyline, a war of promotions with different philosophies in wrestling. This culminated in one of the most iconic matches in company history on April 26, 1986 a ten man gauntlet match between representatives of both NJPW and UWF. Team New Japan was led by Antonio Inoki along with Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hashino, and Umanosuke Ueda while Team UWF was led by Akira Maeda along with Takada, Fujiwara, Kido, and Yamazaki. It is one of the best multi-men tag matches ever in wrestling, the crowd helped immensely in the presentation for they were loud throughout the whole thing, cheering for their favorites in beating the outsiders. In the end, Inoki was once again the hero of the day for vanquishing his opponents and the crowd went wild!
In 1988 Maeda was suspended from New Japan after intentionally shooting on top star Riki Choshu in a match. This led to him being out of the promotion again and revived his old company this time called “Newborn UWF.” Takada, Yamazaki, Yoji Anjo, and Tatsuo Nakano followed him and a year later, Yoshiaki Fujiwara along with his two trainees Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki also left NJPW to compete in Newborn UWF. One of the greatest Japanese martial artists of all time, Kiyoshi Tamura also started out his career in this version of UWF. It set a lot of rules that are common place in combat sports today. Only submissions or knockouts are allowed as clean finishes to have decisive winners, as well as the 5 knockdown rule wherein if a fighter was knocked down five times in a match he loses. At the time, UWF gained their credibility and reputation as “real fighting” in comparison to NJPW and AJPW. But once again, the promotion was short lived. Due to Maeda’s pride not wanting to collaborate with other pro wrestling promotions due to difference in styles and the economy in the country was not at its best state, Newborn UWF folded in 1990, but many of its stars would run their own promotions inspired by the movement started by Maeda.
More Legends of the 80’s
The Great Kabuki (Debut: 1964) – At the age of 16 Akihisa Mera already began competing for the JWA but would leave to the US to gain more experience. In 1981 thanks to wrestling manager Gary Hart who created the persona, The Great Kabuki character was born. Complete package of the face paint and his long hair, mixed with the Japanese demon masks for his entrances while also incorporating elements from martial arts with his nunchuks, The Great Kabuki would become one of the most notorious heels in the US territories which he would eventually bring to Japan. Kabuki is also the first wrestler to use the Asian mists as a part of his offense, since then many other wrestlers would use the same tactic in winning their matches. In Japan, The Great Kabuki had a constant presence in AJPW throughout the 80’s and 90’s, mainly winning gold in their tag-team division. He has wrestled for six different decades his entire career, finally retiring in 2017. Kabuki was one of the first successful “character-based” gimmicks in Puroresu and if it wasn’t for him the likes of The Great Muta wouldn’t exist.
Kuniaki Kobayashi (Debut: 1973) – Kobayashi was a graduate of the NJPW Dojo, at the age of 17 he made his debut for the company, in 1980 he was sent to various North American promotions for his excursion. Upon his return in 1982, he would begin his long standing rivalry with Tiger Mask. Kobayashi was a heel who was against these hero-like figures and called himself the “Tiger Hunter” while also joining Riki Choshu’s Revolutionary Army. In AJPW, Kobayashi continued his feud with Tiger Mask but this time around it was the second incarnation played by Mitsuharu Misawa whom he feuded with. On August 20, 1987 he defeated Nobuhiko Takada for the vacant IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, a reign that would last for 129 days before losing it to Hiroshi Hase. Later on Kobayashi would feud with other legendary junior heavyweight figures such as Liger, Koshinaka, and a young Owen Hart. He fully retired from active competition in 2000. One of the most underrated junior heavyweights of all time, with how great the Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid matches were, Kuniaki Kobayashi’s matches with the first two versions of the character often gets overlooked but his style blended well with either of them and they had a lot of classic matches together, carving out a solid career for himself both in NJPW and AJPW.
Shiro Koshinaka (Debut: 1979) – A graduate of the AJPW dojo, Shiro Koshinaka competed for the company in the first seven years of his career, in fact he was the debut opponent of one Mitsuharu Misawa. However, since returning from excursion, his place in the All Japan card didn’t go anywhere so he decided to jump ship towards New Japan where he got treated better in their junior heavyweight division. Koshinaka is the inaugural IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, winning the belt on February 6, 1986. He became one of the staple members of the junior heavyweight division around that time and had a lot of classic matches and rivalries with other stellar workers. After his run in the junior heavyweight scene, Koshinaka was a successful tag-team wrestler in NJPW, in 1987 he won the IWGP Tag-Team Championships with Keiji Mutoh. He also created the Heisei Ishingun stable later on in 1992 filled with wrestlers who have strong background in martial arts. After 2003, he left New Japan and became a freelance wrestler. I feel like because of his lack of success in the Western side of the world, Shiro Koshinaka often gets overlooked by the fans. He was one of the best workers in Japan during his prime, nowadays he mainly just does his signature hip toss but he was more than that when he was still capable of delivering classic matches.
Masanobu Fuchi (Debut: 1974) – When talking about All Japan Pro Wrestling, usually the first two names that may come to our minds are Giant Baba and Mitsuharu Misawa, but there is one man that is literally forever synonymous with the company and that is Masanobu Fuchi. Since his debut on August 22, 1974 Fuchi has competed for AJPW, not exclusively as he had a few matches here and there for other promotions, but for the most part it was solely AJPW from the start of his career even to this day. He is the longest tenured worker of the company’s history and will likely go down as such because no other wrestler can match his dedication towards AJPW. He is the greatest junior heavyweight in the history of the promotion as well, winning the belt five times throughout his career, having the record of the longest reign as well at 1,309 days from 1989 to 1993. While Fuchi was never really a main eventer, he has worked with pretty much all the top stars through the years and gave them all great matches while putting them over in the process. Masanobu Fuchi is the personification of loyalty and will forever be the cornerstone of AJPW.
Killer Khan (Debut: 1971) – Masashi Ozawa is a Japanese wrestler who is famous for portraying the Mongolian character: Killer Khan. Making his debut in the final years of the JWA, he would join NJPW in 1973. It was actually Karl Gotch who gave him the Mongolian persona which became a huge hit in the US as a menacing heel. His most well known stint there was with Andre The Giant, whom years prior they were actually a tag-team for Georgia Championship Wrestling but as soon as they got into the WWF they became one of the most memorable rivalries in the early 80’s. During their match, Khan’s kneedrop off the top turnbuckle caused Andre to break his ankle, because of his injury Killer Khan got tons of heat for putting the fan favorite on the shelf. Upon Andre’s return, both men had tons of matches against one another, culminating in a “Mongolian Stretcher match.” They also brought this rivalry over to NJPW, where Killer Khan mainly fought other gaijins like Dick Murdoch, Hulk Hogan, Adrian Adonis, and many more. He spent the final years of his career with AJPW. While most of his success was in the States, Killer Khan still had a solid career in his actual home country and is one of the best big men in Puroresu.
Gaijin Invasion
As the wrestling business in general continues to grow in the 80’s, especially in the US where it has become a part of mainstream media, likewise in Japan the entire scene is booming with both NJPW and AJPW finally getting into the top tiers of wrestling promotion in the same vein as JWA two decades ago. Inoki and Baba are still the top draws of their respective companies, while as mentioned earlier also creating new stars that would eventually take their place in the process. It is not only the native wrestlers that are garnering a lot of these success though as more gaijins would invade both promotions and make a name for themselves in the country, some even having far more success than they ever could get in the States.
Because of these wrestlers aren’t really “legally contracted” to one promotion, they were able to compete in both NJPW and AJPW but some are more linked towards a company more than the other based on how their careers turned out. For example, without a doubt two of the biggest gaijins (literally and figuratively) in Puroresu are Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody. These two would go on to become national stars in Japan with their characters being influential not only to the wrestling business but other forms of entertainment like manga, anime, and movies. Hansen and Brody have wrestled in New Japan but it is in All Japan where they truly prospered and gained a lot of accolades. Winning a plethora of gold and having many competitive matches with a lot of the top stars. Hansen is a 4x PWF World Heavyweight Champion, 4x Triple Crown Champion, and 8x AJPW World Tag-Team Champion among many others. Brody on the other hand didn’t win a lot of belts in Japan but he didn’t need to as his character alone is already well established and his mere presence in the card is already a draw attraction for the fans, plus he was also still frequently exchanging tour dates between Japan, US, and Puerto Rico so he wasn’t consistently staying in one place to keep his appeal strong. Stan Hansen though would become an AJPW lifer, having a good relationship with Giant Baba throughout his career. His matches against Jumbo and Tenryu helped in solidifying their status as the next top stars of the company, while his matches against the Pillars served as him being a “gatekeeper” from them and when they are finally able to beat Hansen, it means they are prepared for the big stage. Both him and Brody were notorious for their stiff in-ring style which resulted in a lot of brutal yet also highly entertaining matches which mid 80’s to 90’s All Japan would become known for. Also since Stan Hansen’s popularity in Japan grew, so was his signature move the Lariat which is pretty much commonly used in the world of Puro as an homage to him. When Brody tragically died, a tribute event for him in Japan was an instant sell out, while for Hansen to this day whenever he visits the country he is always received with cheers and adoration from the fans, but quite the opposite of what they did in their primes, striking fear into their hearts.
While Hansen and Brody were terrorizing in All Japan, for New Japan their first big gaijin superstar (other than Andre and Hogan in the past) was Big Van Vader. His debut in the company is an amazing story on its own, on December 1987 after finishing his main event match against Riki Choshu, Antonio Inoki was challenged by a debuting Vader in the Sumo Hall. Inoki being the fighting champion that he was, accepted the challenge despite being fresh off a hard fought match himself, in under five minutes Vader squashed and dominated him for most of the match and pinned him clean in the ring. It has been years since the last time someone pinned Antonio Inoki and this caused a massive riot from the crowd that led to NJPW being banned from the Sumo Hall for many years! That’s about as real as it can get for those people, seeing their fan favorite lose not just to anybody, but this giant gaijin who made a mockery out of their hero. That ladies and gentlemen, is how you book a proper heel, we wouldn’t be seeing those kinds of reactions reach to that level anymore unfortunately. While Vader also had a great career in the US, it is mainly in Japan where he found most of his success, being the first gaijin to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when it became the company’s premier belt as well as having memorable feuds with the likes of Fujinami and Choshu, elevating them to become top stars. Another infamous moment involving Vader was on February 10, 1990 where he faced Stan Hansen in NJPW, it was quite possibly the stiffest match you can imagine and I think you all know the moment I’m talking about where Vader’s eyeball literally popped out of his socket due to Hansen’s strong strikes but despite this they were able to finish the match and still became friends afterwards. Crazy how the world works sometimes. For the rest of his career, Vader would continue to be a respected worker in Japan and even having a decorated run in AJPW as well winning their Triple Crown Championship in the late 90’s, that time around feuding with the Pillars. When talking about some of the legitimate strongest and toughest athletes ever in wrestling, only few could reach the level Vader had.
With the arrival of new gaijins, matches did not only get stiffer but also bloodier. The hardcore style was slowly gaining attention among the Puroresu scene although it will take a while before we get to the era of death matches, but these bloody brawls would pave way for that. We can’t talk about hardcore wrestling especially in Japan without bringing up Abdullah The Butcher. It may seem unfathomable to the modern day fan but there was a point in time when Abdullah was one of the most popular figures in the entire country of Japan, borderline celebrity even. Appearing in numerous television shows and commercials. His appeal to the Japanese fans was strong, his aesthetics look different from that of the typical gaijin, also his wrestling style was way ahead of its time, sure it may not have aged well especially in his later years, but to his credit prime Abdullah could actually work and was pretty athletic for someone his size, incorporating basic martial arts in his moves too way before he started focusing on stabbing everyone with forks. His battles against The Original Sheik (Ed Farhat) are huge influences to the hardcore scene. Then they would team up and even have more crazy brawls against The Funk Brothers, Dory Jr. and Terry who both had fantastic careers in Japan as well particularly for AJPW. Since the 70’s, The Funks had a great relationship with Giant Baba, often sending a lot of his young wrestlers to train in their Amarillo territory. Their wrestling careers in the country spanned for decades.
Later on Tiger Jeet Singh would become a prominent evil gaijin as well in both the top promotions. Having memorable angles such as invading All Japan with his group of wrestlers which led us to some good and bad moments, such as that of Giant Baba vs. Raja Lion, the latter whom was tasked to damage Baba before his eventual match against Tiger but this led to what many considered the worst match in wrestling history, with Raja Lion looking like he was not even trained for basic wrestling, plus his height didn’t even make him look imposing unlike Giant Gonzalez who also barely had any wrestling skills but at least looked the part of a menacing big man. Some other notable infamous moments that I’d like to share was Antonio Inoki shooting on The Great Antonio, a local Canadian icon, who worked a few wrestling matches in Japan but was a notorious no-seller so Inoki did what he did and literally kicked him in the face multiple times for not only selling his moves, but being stiff with his own strikes towards Inoki. So yeah, the point is not all gaijins are created equal.
I would like to highlight the careers of these two specifically because well, they are two of the biggest icons in pro wrestling and both of them had successful careers in Japan. Ric Flair in his many times as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would have Japan as one of his frequent destinations, having World Title matches with the likes of Jumbo, Tenryu, Fujinami, and many of the other stars that would follow them. Also he was a part of the infamous “Collision in Korea” event in 1995 with the partnership of NJPW and WCW where he headlined along with Antonio Inoki, the largest wrestling event of all time with a total of 355,000 in attendance for both days combined. Obviously though we have to take into consideration as this was booked in North Korea and most of the people there were probably forced to attend out of the orders of their government but hey, history is history and it’s actually not fabricated numbers.
Then there’s Hulk Hogan, arguably the most popular wrestler ever, but before Hulkamania even ran wild, he was already somewhat of a big star in Japan. Hogan would make frequent trips in NJPW during his days with the AWA and had a lot of matches early on with Antonio Inoki and Andre The Giant. He is in fact the first American and second overall gaijin to win the IWGP Championship but this was back then when it was still a trophy belt awarded to the winner of the IWGP Tournament, a precursor to the G1 Climax so it is not officially counted in the lineage of the belt later on in 1987. Unlike in the US where Hogan worked more of his “heroic” style and pumping up the crowds, in Japan you could actually see him put his working boots on and have some fantastic matches with the Japanese wrestlers. That’s the thing about Hulk Hogan when they say he was a “bad worker” because I disagree. The man knew which style he’d go with based on his audience. Obviously in America he did not need to do much to gain the attention of the fans as his mere presence alone, doing his usual antics and waving the flag would get massive cheers from the audience, but in Japan he had to wrestle and compete because the audience love to see fighting spirit from the wrestlers, in a way getting to relate to their favorites with their struggles and the eventual comeback for the victory, making it a more compelling story.
Joshi’s Popularity – First Wave
The Beauty Pair have laid down the blue print for joshi and now with more new stars on the horizon, the scene became even bigger than it ever was before. Now the popularity of joshi actually lasted for two decades so I am going to personally call this one the “first wave” with these batch of wrestlers but there is one particularly who stands out the best in the beginning. Way before WWE had their own “women’s revolution” of sorts, someone was already blazing the trail for high quality women’s wrestling matches over in Japan and basically became the standard bearer for how joshi matches are presented for years to come, that woman is the great Jaguar Yokota. As mentioned previously, she cites Jackie Sato as her inspiration into becoming a professional wrestler and at the age of 15 made her in-ring debut after receiving training from the AJW Dojo. She is the inaugural AJW Championship, which was the secondary belt in the company below the WWWA World Single Championship, also to note she was still wrestling by her real name at this time “Rimi Yokota” and on February 25, 1981 it all turned full circle for her as she defeated her idol Jackie Sato for the WWWA Title, fully establishing her position as the next top star of the promotion. Around 1983 she went by the ring name Jaguar Yokota and her first reign with the belt lasted for 801 days. She would be defeated by luchadora La Galactica but won it right back 25 days later, then started an even longer reign for an estimated between 901-925 days, basically solidifying her position as the ace, only had to vacate the title due to retiring.
As I’ve mentioned on my feature of her in the Top 50 List, Jaguar had an on and off relationship with retirement. She had to hang up the wrestling boots at the age of 24 due to injuries. After this she became the head trainer of the AJW Dojo and she would become a top class teacher as many of her students would go on to become superstars of the industry and they’ll be mentioned later on in the second wave of joshi’s popularity in the 90’s. On November 20, 1994 at the Big Egg Wrestling Universe an event hosted by AJW, she came out of retirement for a tag-team match and according to her, this was the match that inspired her to have a full comeback. She would run her own promotion in the late 90’s called JDStar, have another retirement, then went back to wrestling as a freelance again.
Jaguar Yokota is widely recognized as one of the all time great workers in pro wrestling history, male or female. She is the foundation of what joshi wrestling is to so many people and brought the work of her idols to another level and made joshi a respectable form of performance art in the same level as the men. A revolutionizer before it was even cool.
What I find interesting with the rise of joshi in popularity, it seems like with each new star(s) they take the torch from one to another and take the level even further than it was. For example The Beauty Pair instantly became bigger than Mach Fumiake in wrestling, Jaguar would then be inspired by the duo and brought a whole new level to the joshi scene, but it was all leading up for the entrance of the greatest women’s tag-team of all time, Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka: The Crush Gals. This may seem like an exaggeration now, but there was indeed a point in time where the Crush Gals were literally two of the most popular public figures in all of Japan and even receiving some attention in the States due to their sheer fame. Chigusa and Tomoko Kitamura, who would become Lioness Asuka later on, already made their debuts in the past and were home grown talents of the AJW Dojo. In 1983 they teamed up and the Crush Gals were formed, not so long after that their matches would gain a lot of attention because of their dynamic chemistry with each other and played off well against their opponents. AJW received astronomically high TV ratings because of the Crush Gals and soon enough they’d be well known all over the country, getting into mainstream success by appearing on numerous magazines and other television shows, even creating music that would reach the top of the charts. They turned up the volume even higher with the ongoing idol culture in the country, changing the landscape of not only the wrestling business but the entire mainstream industry, that’s how much fanfare they received in their primes. I think it is fair to say that from a popularity stand point, the Crush Gals were even bigger than any main eventer from NJPW and AJPW at the time.
The Crush Gals also had a decorated run as a tag-team winning the WWWA World Tag-Team Championships four times, for a total combined reign of 644 days from 1985 to 1989. They also toured in the US particularly for the WWF. Around the late 80’s, they would separate and feud with one another, still maintaining their spots on top only this time they’re feuding. Chigusa would turn out to be the more successful of the two, but Asuka ain’t no slouch either, fighting over the WWWA World Single Championship and brought the belt to even higher esteem with their matches together. When the 90’s rolled on, both of them would still be a strong part of the joshi scene although by that point, they were facing the next generation of ladies that would follow in their footsteps which we will get into further more later.
Jaguar and the Crush Gals wouldn’t be as successful if it wasn’t for their best rivals. We have to give credit to these wrestlers too as they may not have achieved the same level of fame as their contemporaries but without them, things just would not look the same. The first is another team: The Jumping Bomb Angels. If you’re familiar of the old WWF women’s division back in the day, you might know some of their matches from that time around the late 80’s where they feuded with The Glamour Girls over the WWF Women’s Tag-Team Championships, the precursor to the belts they have in the company today. Before they even went there though, Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki were already a successful duo in Japan and were one of the top rivals of The Crush Gals. Their matches with each other pioneered women’s tag-team wrestling in terms of high quality in-ring performance and storytelling. On January 5, 1986 the Angels defeated the Gals for the WWWA World Tag-Team Championships.
Another wrestler who I feel is often forgotten by many nowadays is Masami Yoshida or better known by her ring name Devil Masami. She is one of the top rivals of Jaguar Yokota during her dominant run as the WWWA World Single Champion. Masami played the nasty heel, very much different from Yokota who was the clean cut babyface. An age old combo but it was a combination that worked flawlessly. They had a lot of matches together throughout the 80’s whether in singles or tag-team competition. After Jaguar vacated the belt due to retirement, it was Devil Masami who won the WWWA World Title beating Dump Matsumoto and she was also the reigning All Pacific Championship at the time. She continued wrestling until in 2008 when she retired for good.
Lastly, we got Dump Matsumoto, one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time in my opinion. She was the perfect heel to go up against the likes of Jaguar and The Crush Gals. While the fan favorites had these “girl next door” vibes going on for them, making them marketable and appealing towards the audience, Matsumoto was the intimidating force of evil that went against the heroes. She basically created the motif for the characters of many wrestlers that followed after her, particularly the likes of Aja Kong and Bull Nakano, and even in the US with Awesome Kong. She proved that women’s wrestlers didn’t have to be the typical attractive type all the time to become successful, sometimes you need a little bit of that spice for the formula to work as well. She is the founder of the Gokuaku Domei which was the leading heel stable in AJW and were the nemesis of the Crush Gals during their time at the top. Matsumoto is a 2x WWWA World Tag-Team Champion and 1x AJW Champion, never able to win the big one in her career, she is still one of the most memorable acts in all of Joshi and served as the perfect villain for the heroic ladies to overcome.
Sources:
CAGEMATCH.net
WrestlingData.com
Puroresu Central
SLAM! Sports
Online World of Wrestling
The Great Hisa’s Puroresu Dojo
Voices of Wrestling
NOAH’s ARKIVE
Joshi City
nippon.com
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Thanks for reading.
Mersi de sfat!!!