David Bridges
Get able to grapple with one of the pivotal eras in skilled wrestling historical past, now lastly getting the Netflix remedy in The Queen of Villains. The Japanese semi-biographical drama, which first hit screens in 2023, facilities on none aside from Dump Matsumoto — the baddest heel wrestler you’ve in all probability by no means heard of, however positively ought to have. She was the last word foil to the beloved Crush Gals, the unstoppable idol-pop duo of Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagoya, who mixed healthful appeal with severe in-ring expertise and a few fairly good J-Pop.
These three icons, together with Matsumoto’s gang of misfits often known as The Atrocious Alliance, helped catapult All Japan Ladies’s Professional-Wrestling into the massive leagues and revolutionized the game for each women and men. So, earlier than The Queen of Villains drops stateside, we’re supplying you with a crash course on the legends, the rivalries, and the epic matches that took these girls to the highest in Japan.
What are AJW and Joshi Proresu?
For some context, The Queen of Villains takes us again to the chaotic, high-stakes world of Nineteen Eighties professional wrestling, specializing in Joshi Proresu — the Japanese time period for girls’s wrestling that cuts by gender divides in a approach you received’t discover in WWE or All Elite Wrestling. In contrast to its Western counterparts, Joshi wrestling didn’t deal with girls’s matches as an afterthought. As an alternative, it put them entrance and middle, demanding the identical degree of fast-paced, hard-hitting, and emotionally charged storytelling that male-dominated promotions like New Japan Professional Wrestling and All Japan have been recognized for. It’s a sports activities meets spectacle, with an depth that rivaled something the fellows have been doing.
Based in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga, All Japan Ladies’s Professional-Wrestling (AJW) was the place for joshi wrestling in Japan — and for a very long time, the one one. That is the corporate that booked the legendary clashes between Matsumoto and the Crush Gals through the mid-80s, fascinating the complete nation. AJW first discovered success within the early ’80s due to stars like Jaguar Yokota and Satan Masami, however it was the unprecedented mainstream fame of the Crush Gals — and their explosive rivalry with Matsumoto — that actually took issues to the subsequent degree, even topping TV rankings throughout Japan.
AJW dominated the Joshi scene till the Nineties when the pressured retirement of the Crush Gals began a sluggish decline. A collection of dangerous investments led to chapter in 1997, and the corporate misplaced media offers till it will definitely folded in 2005.
AJW was an absolute breeding floor for innovation, giving us a few of the most iconic strikes in wrestling, courtesy of its stars like Manami Toyota, Bull Nakano, and Kyoko Inoue. Ever heard of the Jackhammer? The Air Raid Crash? How concerning the Vertebreaker or Demise Valley Driver? Yeah, these have been all created by Joshi girls, and so they’ve grow to be staples of the wrestling world. These trailblazers weren’t simply redefining girls’s wrestling — they have been reshaping wrestling as an entire, leaving an enduring imprint on the game’s DNA that’s nonetheless felt within the ring at this time.
AJW matches might be onerous to search out entire on the web however when you’re curious concerning the firm’s physique of labor, you could find a match information on Cagematch.
Who’re the Crush Gals?
Within the Nineteen Eighties, The Crush Gals have been the faces of professional wrestling in Japan, rivaling the same cultural zeitgeist Hulk Hogan had within the US with Hulkamania. Fashioned in 1983, Lioness Asuka (Tomoko Kitamura) and Chigusa Nagoya captured the hearts of Japan with a mixture of youthful appeal, fierce in-ring ability, and an enormous following of teenage fangirls — to not point out their profitable run as pop idols. Collectively, they dominated the scene, profitable AJW’s World Ladies’s Wrestling Affiliation Tag Crew Championship 4 instances.
Nevertheless it was their blood feud with Dump Matsumoto and her Atrocious Alliance that actually solidified their legacy. In 1985, their rivalry pulled in a jaw-dropping 12.0 TV ranking on Fuji TV, that means that round 14 million folks in Japan have been glued to their screens each week. Simply to place that into perspective, even throughout WWE and WCW’s Monday Night time Wars within the ’90s, the perfect they might pull was 8.1 and 6.0 rankings, respectively. The Crush Gals have been larger than large — they have been a phenomenon.
Mashable High Tales
The Crush Gals’ rivalry with Dump Matsumoto hit its dramatic peak on August 28, 1985, with one of the vital matches in wrestling historical past — a brutal hair vs. hair showdown between Chigusa Nagoya and Matsumoto. It’s a must-watch for any severe wrestling fan. Whereas the Gals lastly triumphed over Matsumoto’s secure within the 1987 Tag League the Finest match, by then, Nagoya and Asuka had made names for themselves as singles stars.
So, what does AJW do with a duo that’s launched their firm into mainstream superstardom? Drive them to retire at 26, in fact. Yep, regardless of the Crush Gals’ insane reputation, AJW had a strict rule that ladies needed to cling up their boots by that age. The rule was partly pushed by societal expectations in ’80s Japan, the place girls have been anticipated to cool down and embrace home life. Plus, contemplating the bodily intense model of Joshi wrestling, early retirements may need been a sensible name — AJW ran 250-300 exhibits a 12 months and professional wrestling already has a troubling untimely loss of life price.
Regardless of this, AJW by no means noticed the identical degree of success after retiring the Crush Gals and but the corporate nonetheless saved the coverage in place.
After their pressured retirements in 1989, each Nagoya and Asuka took a break from wrestling, however it didn’t final lengthy. Nagoya made some temporary returns within the ’90s with AJW and JWP Joshi Puroresu, ultimately founding her personal promotion, GAEA Japan, in 2000. Asuka returned to AJW in 1994, although not with the identical star energy she had within the ’80s. The 2 reunited in GAEA, reforming the Crush Gals for semi-regular matches till GAEA folded in 2005.
Nagoya would retire two extra instances, along with her most up-to-date send-off match occurring in 2024 with West Coast Professional in San Francisco. As for Asuka, her profession was sadly minimize brief in 2004 on account of a neck harm, along with her remaining match fittingly being one final tag group bout with Nagoya.
Crush Gals Suggestions:
Who’s Dump Matsumoto?
Dump Matsumoto in 2019
Credit score: Etsuo Hara/Getty Photos
Dump Matsumoto (actual identify Kaoru Matsumoto) was the dwelling nightmare of Nineteen Eighties professional wrestling and the last word heel. Along with her menacing face paint, wild hair, and a group of weapons that may make even essentially the most hardcore wrestler flinch, Matsumoto redefined what it meant to be a villain within the ring. We do not get The Highway Warriors with out Matsumoto.
Her brutal, no-holds-barred preventing model was a stark distinction to the pop-idol appeal of the Crush Gals, cementing her because the quintessential “monster” heel of her time.
Main the Gokuaku Domei, also called the Atrocious Alliance, Matsumoto and her gang of misfits have been completely positioned because the nemesis of the fan-favorite Crush Gals. They didn’t simply play the a part of villains — they have been the villains, bringing excessive violence and chaos wherever they went. Matsumoto’s use of chains, kendo sticks, and sheer brutality pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in girls’s wrestling on the time. Her matches weren’t simply intense; they have been groundbreaking, ceaselessly altering the panorama of the game and redefining what joshi wrestling could possibly be.
After the feud that cemented her as one of the iconic villains in wrestling, Dump Matsumoto tried her hand on the international stage. In 1986, she popped up within the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), pairing with Bull Nakano as “The Devils of Japan.” Their time within the U.S. could have been temporary, however it showcased Matsumoto’s heel brilliance to an entire new viewers.
She didn’t steer clear of AJW for lengthy, coming again for numerous matches and storylines within the late ’80s. However by 1988, she formally retired—properly, form of. Like most wrestling icons, Matsumoto wasn’t achieved. She got here again to the ring a number of instances over time, and as of now, she’s nonetheless holding a foothold within the wrestling world.
Dump Matsumoto Suggestions:
var facebookPixelLoaded = false;
window.addEventListener(‘load’, function()
document.addEventListener(‘scroll’, facebookPixelScript);
document.addEventListener(‘mousemove’, facebookPixelScript);
)
function facebookPixelScript()
if (!facebookPixelLoaded)
facebookPixelLoaded = true;
document.removeEventListener(‘scroll’, facebookPixelScript);
document.removeEventListener(‘mousemove’, facebookPixelScript);
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window,
document,’script’,’//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1453039084979896’);
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
Brandon Fletcher
Ethan Carter
