{"id":68382,"date":"2020-06-11T14:14:29","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T18:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=68382"},"modified":"2021-01-08T18:01:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T23:01:30","slug":"legends-of-ajw-bull-nakano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/06\/11\/legends-of-ajw-bull-nakano\/","title":{"rendered":"Legends Of AJW: Bull Nakano"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>All Japan Women\u2019s Pro Wrestling (AJW) is one of the biggest pro wrestling companies in the history of Japan.\u00a0 The all women\u2019s promotion housed some of the biggest women\u2019s stars in wrestling history.\u00a0 Legends Of AJW will take a look into the careers of some of AJW\u2019s legendary talents.\u00a0 This edition focuses on AJW&#8217;s biggest export and their longest-reigning 3WA Champion Bull Nakano.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Out of all the AJW legends throughout history Bull Nakano may be the most well known, this is thanks to her stints in the\u00a0<strong>WWF\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>WCW\u00a0<\/strong>where she had many great matches.\u00a0 Her WWF stuff even today holds up unlike most other matches from that era but it&#8217;s clear to see that Nakano and <strong>Alundra Blayze <\/strong>had good matches long before that was a focus for the women.\u00a0 Despite her exploits in the US Bull Nakano was an even bigger star in Japan and her run in AJW is one of the best of any woman in company history.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano - August 29,1994\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jexq1O08oTI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Atrocious Alliance<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67749\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67749\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-67749 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/04\/Condor-Saito.jpg\" alt=\"Joshi\" width=\"600\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/04\/Condor-Saito.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/04\/Condor-Saito-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67749\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nakano (Right) Accompanying Dump Matsumoto To The Ring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/thejoshipod\/episodes\/Episode-22-Bull-Nakano-ecalco\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Joshi Pod<\/a> Nakano actually mentioned that she wanted to be a babyface idol style wrestler before her debut.\u00a0 Instead, she was placed under the learning tree of the legendary heel <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2020\/04\/09\/legends-ajw-dump-matsumoto\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dump Matsumoto<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and became a part of the Gokuaku Domei (Atrocious Alliance) stable.\u00a0 When\u00a0<strong>Crane Yu\u00a0<\/strong>retired Nakano became Matsumoto&#8217;s regular tag team partner and became involved in her legendary feud with the Crush Gals.\u00a0 To keep in line with the alliance&#8217;s villainy Nakano often had interesting haircuts and attires, babyfaces had very standard gear and haircuts, and liberally used her signature nunchucks to cheat during matches.\u00a0 During her time in the faction, Nakano would have mostly tag team success as she held the WWWA Tag Team Championships three times once with Matsumoto, once with <strong>Condor Saito\u00a0<\/strong>and lastly with\u00a0<strong>Grizzly Iwamoto\u00a0<\/strong>and won the 1985 Tag League The Best tournament.\u00a0 As well as her tag team success Nakano&#8217;s involvement in the feud against the Crush Gals gave her a prominent place in one of the biggest feuds in the company and helped establish her as a top name.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bull Nakano making her entrance in April 1988. That\u2019s a hell of a look <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E4%B8%AD%E9%87%8E?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u30d6\u30eb\u4e2d\u91ce<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E5%A5%B3%E5%AD%90%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B9?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u5973\u5b50\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gxFuRcpqgh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gxFuRcpqgh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Wrestling Stuff (@joshiclipsetc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshiclipsetc\/status\/1174689782062047232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bull Nakano: History Making 3WA Champion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68383\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Bull-Nakano-WWWA-CHampion.jpg\" alt=\"Bull Nakano\" width=\"340\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Bull-Nakano-WWWA-CHampion.jpg 340w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Bull-Nakano-WWWA-CHampion-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Bull-Nakano-WWWA-CHampion-279x420.jpg 279w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If there was one word to sum up Nakano during this period it would be simply &#8220;dominant&#8221;! Nakano held the WWWA World Championship for an AJW record 1,057\u00a0 \u00a0days &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2020\/04\/26\/the-1000-day-reign-wrestlings-longest-world-champions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joining a rather short list of 1,000+ day world title reigns<\/a> &#8211; besting the likes of <strong>Manami Toyota<\/strong> and<strong> Kyoko Inoue\u00a0<\/strong>in title defenses.\u00a0 At the time Nakano was practically unbeatable with her two biggest losses coming in cage matches where she wasn&#8217;t pinned her opponents simply escaped the cage.\u00a0 To Nakano&#8217;s credit she also changed up her in-ring style to keep up with the new talents that were coming through and moving AJW towards the high pace, high intensity, crazy bumps style it would become famous for.\u00a0 She was the star that AJW needed as when she won the title in January 1990 the company&#8217;s main event scene was shallow as many big names like <strong>Chigusa Nagayo\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Lioness Asuka\u00a0<\/strong>had retired leaving the company without a true top star.\u00a0 Nakano was chosen to fill that gap and it&#8217;s safe to say she took the ball and ran with it, anchoring down the top of the card while AJW built up the new legends like Kong, Totoya, Inoue, and others.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheGreatSG\/status\/930921047465103360<\/p>\n<p>Nakano started her run as a heel, leading the Gokumon-To faction, but as her reign went on she became a tweener babyface.\u00a0 This was aided by her marquee feud with the\u00a0<strong>Jungle Jack\u00a0<\/strong>pairing of\u00a0<strong>Bison Kimura\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Aja Kong<\/strong>.\u00a0 Kong was not yet the monster she would become at the time the feud began but as it went on she unleashed her anger more and more.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1222328589133070336<\/p>\n<p>Kong and Nakano would meet in some incredibly violent matches during their feud spanning a year plus including two separate cage matches. The feud established Kong, Kimura and Nakano&#8217;s regular partner Kyoko Inoue as top stars but more importantly, it allowed Nakano to embrace her cool babyface side as fans were able to respect her while directing their ire at Kong and Kimura.\u00a0 The feud reached a climax when Nakano &amp; Inoue defeated Kong and Kimura in a tag team hair vs hair match.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/887417004465979396<\/p>\n<p>By the end of the feud, Nakano had proven without a shadow of a doubt that she was the top star in the company and was practically untouchable.\u00a0 It became a very familiar sight for her to end shows standing victorious soaking in the chants of the crowds who adored her as she continued her mammoth title reign.\u00a0 The main issue with most long title reigns is that they never end in a way that fans can feel satisfied with.\u00a0 That was not to be the case with Nakano&#8217;s reign.\u00a0 In November 1992 Bull Nakano did battle with her former stablemate and 1992 Japan Grand Prix winner Aja Kong.\u00a0 The two threw everything they had at one another with Kong even kicking out of a rare Bull Nakano moonsault.\u00a0 In the end, Kong hit Nakano&#8217;s own signature move (the top rope legdrop) to put Nakano away and end her historic reign as Nakano passed the torch to Kong who became the new top star in the company.\u00a0 This would mark the end of Nakano&#8217;s time as a full time AJW talent as she would make her way to America and the WWF.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Representing AJW During Inter-promotion Warfare<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bull Nakano taking care of the JWP Team by herself. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AJW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#AJW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E4%B8%AD%E9%87%8E?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u30d6\u30eb\u4e2d\u91ce<\/a> @bullnakanokeiko <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EqrTipjMjU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EqrTipjMjU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Vash\u2600\ufe0f (@LuchaVash) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LuchaVash\/status\/1191331760258326531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 4, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Bull Nakano would make infrequent appearances in AJW going forward, often in tag team matches, to help as they faced off against other Joshi promotions\u00a0<strong>JWP Women&#8217;s Wrestling (JWP) <\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (LLPW)\u00a0<\/strong>as well as the women&#8217;s division of\u00a0<strong>Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW)<\/strong>.\u00a0 Bull Nakano still had her presence and whenever she stepped in the ring with other companies top stars there was an energy in the building akin to\u00a0<strong>The Rock\u00a0<\/strong>vs\u00a0<strong>Hulk Hogan<\/strong>.\u00a0 Anecdotally, this writer recalls watching a tag team match involving Nakano and LLPW&#8217;s ace\u00a0<strong>Shinobu Kandori\u00a0<\/strong>at LLPW&#8217;s first-anniversary show.\u00a0 The LLPW crowd went insane for both women merely LOOKING at one another, that right there sums up Nakano&#8217;s star power more than anything.\u00a0 During this time Nakano turned 25, the age at which it was mandatory to retire from AJW, but the company considered her so important to their cross-promotional fight that they allowed her to continue performing and did away with the rule.\u00a0 To put this in context AJW had made cultural icons like\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2020\/03\/29\/legends-of-ajw-the-crush-gals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Crush Gals<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>retire and many other huge stars but Bull Nakano was, in kayfabe, too important to lose.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Aja Kong &amp; Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto &amp; Shinobu Kandori ( AJW 3\/27\/94)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QVv4G6Ww9cU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While her appearances at this time weren&#8217;t very frequent Nakano was still a big star and this was evidenced every time she stepped in a ring.\u00a0 She also did some of the best work of her career during this time, which is impressive given she was featured in America at the time as well.\u00a0 According to Cagematch Nakano would have her final match in AJW on February 4th 1996 and officially retired in 1997 due to a serious knee injury.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top 15 Moves of Bull Nakano\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t8OpTv1FLbQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Bull Nakano will go down in history as one of the best women&#8217;s wrestlers of all time.\u00a0 Not many can match the presence and aura Nakano had at her peak.\u00a0 The fact AJW kept the title on her for almost three years says so much about how great she was as their ace who could help get others over in defeat.\u00a0 She was involved in many high profile and unforgettable feuds and even went on to conquer America in a way many other Japanese stars have failed to do.\u00a0 Bull Nakano was special, Bull Nakano was a legend, Bull Nakano truly was a legend of All Japan Women&#8217;s Pro Wrestling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All Japan Women\u2019s Pro Wrestling (AJW) is one of the biggest pro wrestling companies in the history of Japan.\u00a0 The all women\u2019s promotion housed some of the biggest women\u2019s stars in wrestling history.\u00a0 Legends Of AJW will take a look into the careers of some of AJW\u2019s legendary talents.\u00a0 This edition focuses on AJW&#8217;s biggest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":70078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7205,13,5302],"tags":[2904,1670,2897,7206],"class_list":["post-68382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-history","category-international","category-joshi","tag-ajw","tag-bull-nakano","tag-joshi","tag-pro-wrestling-history"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}