Chigusa Nagoyo vs. Dump Matsumo

There is a scene for everything. That's just the way it is.

If there are more than 10 people into anything (dog shows, child beauty pageants, toys... you know... anything.) then it will stand to reason that not only will these people begin gravitating towards each other, but if there are enough  involved, schisms and fragmentation will soon begin to show themselves within the group. So it goes without saying that in that kind of an environment a body of criticism will begin to grow no matter how obscure or random the subject matter.

Pro Wrestling is no exception. Over the years wrestling fandom has developed its own forms of critcism. Funny, obscure, fan-boyish, self depreciating and oddly insightful, written by people who genuinely enjoy wrestling but who also know society at large views them and their particular hobby as being just above serial killers and people who masturbate on trains. (A great example of this type of writing lives at The Death Valley Driver Video Review. Check out the review of of The Magnum T.A./Tully Blanchard I Quit match as an excellent example of the genre in all of its run on sentancey glory.)

I mention this, because without these people doing their thing I would never have found out about about the Crush Gals, The Atrocious Alliance and about classic Joshi Puroresu at all. I never would have found out that in Japan, All Japan Womens Wrestling was for a time marketed to teen aged girls almost exclusively and not only was it extremely successful, it was also awesome.

The Atrocious Alliance makes its way to the ring

First a little history All Japan Womens Wrestling (AJW) was founded in 1968 after the previous women's wrestling federations had folded largely due to internal disputes.  At the time AJW used a classic heel vs. face set up for the championship. Japanese heroes (faces) would battle foreigners or Gaijin villains (heels) almost exclusively for the title.  The belt would be traded back and forth, going to one valiant Japanese hero to evil cheating foreigner and back again. Following a formula used by all wrestling federations in Japan since it gained immense popularity during the post World War 2 years

During the early 1970's a new formula emerged when 15 year old Fumiake Watanabi joined the AJW. Fumiake was brought in soon after getting noticed as a finalist on a televised idol program called "Star Tanjoh" in a kind of throw it against the wall and see if it sticks experiment that wrestling is known for. Soon after she joined she started training and was given the name Mach Fumiake as a play on the incredible speed she demonstrated in the ring. Being a quick study she soon started wrestling in actual matches. What happened next nobody say coming...
Mach Fumiake(1.  2.)caught on in a huge way, not only wrestling regularly in front of huge crowds but also performing as an idol singer, releasing several hits on the Japanese pop charts. This not only pleased old fans but it also brought new fans, namely teenaged girls, in droves. And with them the first true golden age of women's wrestling in Japan was born.


This Golden Age was built around an all new formula. A young star/idol singer/good girl who would routinely battle evil Japanese wrestlers. Because of the immense popularity of the new idol wrestler there was less need to import foreign workers into the AJW to generate heat. Homegrown stars were doing it all on their own now.
During her brief career Mach Watanabi became champion of AJW, becoming the first Japanese to take the title from another Japanses wrestler, while charting several songs on the Japanese pop charts creating an army of young female wrestling fans.
This Formula was further refined when the Tag Team of Maki Ueda and Naoko "Jackie" Sato were put together to form the Beauty Pair.  Once again not only were they just wrestlers and idols singers, but the new refinement was the fact that Sato and Ueda were not only tag team partners but also BFF's. AJW's new found teenage audience lapped it up and once again they had a created a sensation with its combination of wrestling and pop music.

Gokuaku Domei video game on Sega

This leads us to The Crush Gals. In the Early 80's Lioness Asuka and Cigusu Nagoyo were successful wrestlers for AJW, each holding titles at separate times and generally being pretty popular with the fans. It was decided that maybe they could become more popular if they joined together . What ensued over the next couple of years was a wave of popularity that could only be compared to what the WWF had with Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania phenomenon going on in the States at the time.



Who can say what exactly happens when some little quirk of the imagination goes molten. Right place? Right time? Could It be done with just  about anyone who had to have been there at the right moment?  Was it the unique personalities that caused a storm about them? A combination of both? Who can say, but each wrestler brought something unique to the table. Chigusa Nagoyo brought the sheer charisma that drew in the wrestling fans, While Lioness Asuka brought the better wrestling chops to make compelling matches fans could get behind. But what they needed to truly put them over the top was a worthy adversary.

And in the 80's was there a better adversary to good girls than a crew of punks? Enter Dump Matamuso and the Gokuaku Domei, also known in English as the Atrocious Alliance. What Dump brought to the table was, the dischord, the malice and the menace. She was rarely seen without her crew of thugs that included tag partners Crane Yu and Bull Nakano. Dump would often enter the crowd, wildly swinging her kendo stick sending the fans running and screaming out of the way. Once inside the ring things got no better. Her matches were famously described as not matches at all but bear maulings. Hijinx ensued as the cheating heels would infuriate the fans and insult their sense of justice and propriety with cheating antics such as the use of chains, chairs and outside interference. Faces like the Crush Gals and the Jumping Bomb Angels would be would be seemingly overwhelmed, facing seemingly impossible odds. This would make the fans incite the crowd and get behind the heroes even more. Wins would be triumphs and losses were injustices that needed to be avenged. It was this combined with characters you could get behind that kept fans coming time and again.



The battles between the Crush Gals and the Atrocious alliance lasted for YEARS. But what is widely considered by many to be the crowning jewel of this feud happened on August 28th 1985 in a hair vs hair match between Chigusa Nagoyo and Dump Matamuso. In what at the time promised to the culmination of the feud between these two rivals. The stipulation was that the loser of the match would get her head shaved. What actually transpired was 30 minutes of chaotic carny play fighting masquerading as hateful violence.

The fight was a tumultuous fiasco and a glorious sight to behold, not in a technical sense, the wrestling its self was nonexistent with more of the aforementioned bear mauling, but it was special in a more important sense. Aura. Spectacle. Mayhem. Violence. Teenaged schoolgirl screaming.

The Match begins and Dump starts cheating early and often using just about every trick in the book, outside interference, weapons and the general gullibility, impotence, and obliviousness of the referee. (the most important traits of any wrestling referee- well that and a glass jaw)  Chigusa fights back using extra reserves of FIGHTING SPIRIT(I have not really found an adequate definition of fighting spirit and why it's so important  anywhere on the web. But fighting spirit can best be exemplified by a certain conservative Japanese tendency to keep fighting when it is pointless and futile to do so. I.E. Kamikazes or to demonstrate unspeakable cruelty towards defeated enemies. It probably also explains their Stan Hansen fetish.)  Back and forth action took place, with Dump Masumoto and allies dominating VIA treachery, blooding Chigusa in the process. She retaliates and is  forced to fight back at the level of the Atrocious Alliance, using weapons of her own, clawing and fighting her way back into the match. Ultimately it was too much. Chigusa was knocked down DQ'd before she stand back up. (but not pinned,, these distinctions are very important to the wrestling psyche) and then the fun really begins.
What happens next is kind of hard to explain. Not really it is easy to explain but I don't really want to.What I will say is this, What happened was wrestling at its carny finest. Everyone plays their part to perfection, the arrogant and bullying heels, The good girls ashamed and defiant, the crowd going absolutely fucking insane screaming and crying and turning the atmosphere into a unorganized unholy circus that truly must be seen to be believed.

To the left is the video of the match check it out.




Bonus video Dump Matsumoto Ramen commercial!