Chigusa Nagayo

is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for her mainstream popularity in the 1980s as a member of the Crush Gals with long-time tag team partner Lioness Asuka. In 1995 she founded GAEA Japan and in 2014 created its successor Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling. Nagayo is often regarded as the most popular and one of the greatest and most influential female wrestlers of all time. and thereafter Chigusa Nagayo was the most popular woman in wrestling for an extended period until her first retirement in 1989. Through 1981, she only wrestled eight times due to the promotion having too many wrestlers.

Crush Gals (1983–1986) On January 4, 1983, Nagayo was matched against her future partner and one-half of the future Crush Gals, Lioness Asuka.

In 1985, the Crush Gals began a rivalry with Dump Matsumoto's heel stable, the Atrocious Alliance. After winning both the 1987 Japan Grand Prix and the WWWA World Single Championship, Nagayo was awarded the 1987 All Japan Women's MVP award. Nagayo finished off the year on December 26, by competing against Devil Masami in Masami's retirement match. On January 5, 1988, Nagayo and Yukari Omori had their last singles match against each other for the WWWA World Single Championship, with Nagayo winning.

On February 25, 1988, two of Nagayo's main rivals, Dump Matsumoto and Yukari Omori retired. To mark this occasion, Nagayo and Lioness Asuka teamed up to take on the oddball pairing of Dump Matsumoto and Yukari Omori. Later that night, Nagayo pleaded with Matsumoto to team together one time before they retired. They wrestled a five-minute exhibition against Asuka and Omori. The show drew a 13.3 rating, making it the most-watched wrestling event in Japan in 1988.

Nagayo held the WWWA World Single Championship up to August 25, 1988, when she lost the title to Lioness Asuka, who vacated it upon winning it due to Nagayo's arm injury. Stampede Wrestling and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Nagayo and Lioness Asuka met in a WWWA World Single Championship rematch on January 22, 1989, with Asuka winning. On March 4, 1989, the Crush Gals won the WWWA Tag Titles for the last time from The Calgary Typhoons of Yumi Ogura and Mika Komatsu. They vacated the titles in May.

In 1989, Nagayo reached age 26, the mandatory retirement age for female wrestlers in AJW at the time. She said was encouraged by Kōhei Tsuka to return to wrestling. During this time Nagayo returned to the ring sporadically: On April 15, 2005, Nagayo, Ryuji Ito and Sanshiro Takagi defeated Mayumi Ozaki, Abdullah Kobayashi, and Shadow WX in a Fluorescent Lighttubes & Barbed Wire Alpha Death match. She also produced and wrestled at Devil Masami's retirement event in December 2008.

Sendai Girls & Marvelous (2013–2024) Having spent five years being mostly inactive, Nagayo returned to the ring in late 2013 to participate in a storyline at Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling, where she took Meiko Satomura trainee Kagetsu under her wing. On December 11, 2013, Nagayo announced that she would return to the ring at her self-produced event on March 22, 2014, when she would face Dump Matsumoto in a six-woman tag team match. In the match, Nagayo, Kagetsu and Takumi Iroha defeated Matsumoto, Kaoru and Yoshiko with Nagayo pinning Matsumoto for the win. At the end of the event, Nagayo announced she was planning on starting her own promotion named Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling.

Setting up Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling Nagayo began signing wrestlers for Marvelous in early 2015. In May 2015, Nagayo revealed that Marvelous was also scheduled to feature male wrestlers, while also announcing that she was returning to the United States to hold tryouts for the promotion, which was scheduled to launch in the spring of 2016. On September 12, Nagayo and Atsushi Onita defeated Dump Matsumoto and Taru to become the inaugural Bakuha-ō ("Blast King") Tag Team Champions. The title was promoted by Onita as part of his Chō Hanabi Puroresu shows. Marvelous held its first event on May 3, 2016. Thereafter, Nagayo would wrestle for Marvelous a few times a year until 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. which significantly disrupted professional wrestling events in Japan for many years.

Third retirement In March 2024 Nagayo announced she would be once again retiring from active in-ring wrestling following a retirement match that pitted Nagayo, Queen Aminata & Takumi Iroha against Masha Slamovich, Mio Momono & Sandra Moone for San Francisco-based wrestling promotion West Coast Pro. She came out of retirement 5 months later, wrestling Chi-Chi at a Marvelous show.

Other media Nagayo appears in the 2000 documentary Gaea Girls made for the BBC by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams. On November 19, 2018, Nagayo saved a woman from assault in a carpark in Susukino.

Championships and accomplishments All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling AJW Junior Championship (2 times) All Pacific Championship (2 times) IWA World Women's Championship (2 times) WWWA World Single Championship (1 time) WWWA World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Lioness Asuka 1981 Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament Japan Grand Prix (1987) Tag League the Best (1986) – with Yumiko Hotta Tag League the Best (1987) – with Lioness Asuka AJW Hall of Fame (Class of 1998) Cauliflower Alley Club Other honoree (1996) Chō Hanabi Puroresu Bakuha-ō Championship (1 time) Bakuha-ō Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Atsushi Onita GAEA Japan AAAW Single Championship (2 times, inaugural) AAAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Lioness Asuka Oz Academy Best Wizard Award (1 time) Best Bout Award (2023) Tokyo Sports Best Tag Team Award (2015) with Atsushi Onita Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1997)

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager)Loser (wager)LocationEventDateNotes Dump Matsumoto (hair) Chigusa Nagayo (hair) Osaka-Jo Hall - Osaka, Japan AJW show Chigusa Nagayo (hair) Dump Matsumoto (hair) Osaka-Jo Hall - Osaka, Japan AJW show