| Chigusa Nagayo |
| Statistics |
| Ring name(s) |
Chigusa Nagayo
ZERO |
| Billed height |
165 cm (5 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight |
71 kg (192 lb) |
| Born |
December 8, 1964 (1964-12-08) (age 43)
Omura, Nagasaki |
| Trained by |
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) |
| Debut |
August 8, 1980 (against Yukari Omori) |
| Retired |
April 10, 2005 (against Meiko Satomura) |
Chigusa Nagayo (長与千種, Nagayo Chigusa?) is a retired female professional wrestler best known for her mainstream popularity in the 1980s for her 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.
Career
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, the 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.
In 1989, Nagayo reached age 26, the mandatory retirement age for female wrestlers in Japan at the time; however, she came out of retirement in the mid-'90s to form GAEA Japan. She wrestled as one of GAEA's main eventers and top faces. In December 1998, Asuka debuted in GAEA and played a heel, allying with Nagayo's rivals and winning the presidency of GAEA from Nagayo in their first match together in ten years, on April 4, 1999. Eventually, however, on December 27, 1999, the Crush Gals were re-united, and went on to win their fourth tag team championship together in spring 2004.
On April 3rd, 2005, Nagayo and Asuka teamed up for the last time, defeating Chikayo Nagashima and Sugar Sato on GAEA's 10th Anniversery Show; Asuka retired afterwards because of neck injuries. Nagayo retired a week later after losing to her protégée, Meiko Satomura in the main event of GAEA's Eternal Last Gong Show, the promotion's farewell card.
Championships and accomplishments
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Links
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