Chigusa Nagayo
| Chigusa Nagayo | |
|---|---|
Nagayo in December 2016
|
|
| Born |
December 8, 1964 Omura, Nagasaki |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Chigusa Nagayo Zero |
| Billed height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 87 kg (192 lb) |
| Trained by | All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling |
| Debut | August 8, 1980 |
| Retired | April 10, 2005 |
Chigusa Nagayo (長与千種 Nagayo Chigusa?) is a Japanese female professional wrestler best known for her mainstream popularity in the 1980s as a member of the tag team The Crush Gals with long-time partner Lioness Asuka. She was the founder of the GAEA Women's Professional Wrestling organization (known simply as GAEA). She briefly competed as alter-ego Lady Zero in GAEA. Nagayo appears in the 2000 documentary Gaea Girls made for the BBC by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams. Nagayo has been called "the most popular woman wrestler of all-time".
Formed in the early 1980s, the Crush Gals were possibly the most famous and beloved women's tag team of all time. During the mid-'80s they had four runs as WWWA World Tag Team Champions at All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), and were pop culture sensations. They had several top 10 pop singles, and their main event feud against Dump Matsumoto's heel stable, Gokuaku Domei ("Atrocious Alliance"), drew consistent ratings over 12.0 for AJW's weekly television program on Fuji TV. The feud was highlighted by events such as the first women's hair vs. hair match in Japan between Nagayo and Matsumoto on August 28, 1985, and a vicious run-in on September 10, 1986, when Matsumoto and her gang interrupted as the Crush Gals performed a concert in the ring, and proceeded to cut up Nagayo's clothes, leading to a second hair vs. hair match. The success and popularity of the Crush Gals inspired many young Japanese women to enter professional wrestling. Later in the decade, Nagayo achieved the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship, finishing Yukari Omori with a moonsault, on August 22, 1988. Nagayo lost the belt to her best friend and Crush Gals partner, Lioness Asuka, on January 22, 1989, after a historic and emotional feud.
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