chigusa nagayo today

[twisted]

Hello, this is my first message;
I live in italy, and haven't been able to see a joshi pro match for many years, since italian tv stopped airing the All japan joshi pro wres matches. I would be very curious to know how is Chigusa nagayo today. I recall her wrestling style when she was a Crush Gal, very fast and athletic with great moves. Is she any different today? Can anyone describe her style? I see she has gained some weight, has this slowed her down?

Thank you very much

Stefano (florence, Italy)

[Karis La Momia]

Chigusa Nagayo has gained weight and has slowed down. So, she is quite different than in the 1980's. Her style is also different. In the 1980's she wrestled the "pure workrate" style. Now she wrestles "Gaea" style. Her matches don't make as much sense as in the 1980's. And the overall quality of her matches isn't as good as in the 1980's.

[PUNQ]

One can't really compare today's Chigusa to the good old one. She has always been a ring leader, but she has really slowed down and has put herself in more comedy based matches these days with comedy-queen Sakura Hirota. Ever since she became the boss in her own promotion her performance has been very uneven. Some good matches, but for the most part she has been lazy.

BTW, when did they show joshi on Italian TV?


--PUNQ--

[twisted]

In reply to PUNQ: italian TV -not the Main channels, but some private TVs- aired joshi pro wres matches during the 80s and in the beginning of the 90s, if I recall. The matches they showed began in the Beauty Pair era. My first match was, infact the wwwa title bout between Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda. I also recall Monster Rippers' matches, Tomi Aoyama (she had a great Giant swing and some wonderful drop kicks), Nancy Kumi and so on. the shows went on until the burst to fame of the Crush Gals, and everything sadly stopped at a time when Masked Yu retired. I recall a match where she was a referee.
Anyway it's a shame to know that Chigusa's style has worsen; She was so athletic (and very pretty too): I loved her kicks, her sasori gatame, and she had a gembaku gatame even better than that of Jaguar Yokota's, with an incredibly high bridge.
I feel so envious that all of you around the world can watch joshi pro and see all the new stars. I'm sure there are many wonderful fighters around. I favor the technical and high flying/acrobatic ones -so I think I weould be a fan of Manami Toyota, right?

Stefano

[delfinkid]

>I feel so envious that all of you around the world can watch joshi pro and see all the new stars.

Most of us buy tapes to watch joshi puroresu. Why don't you buy tapes then?

>I'm sure there are many wonderful fighters around. I favor the technical and high flying/acrobatic ones -so I think I weould be a fan of Manami Toyota, right?

I think you would be a fan of Momoe Nakanishi, Ai Fujita and Manami Toyota. Nakanishi and Fujita are at their best right now, while Toyota's best work was from 1992 to 1997.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

I'll agree, Nagayo has slowed down, but why would she want to do comedy matches with the queen of Comedy Sakura Hirota. Also explain to me what a comedy match is.

[delfinkid]

>No matter how slow she is, she is hot.

Are you serious?

>I'll agree, Nagayo has slowed down, but why would she want to do comedy matches with the queen of Comedy Sakura Hirota.

Because she is lazy and isn't nearly as good as she used to be. So, she'll work the easy comedy matches.

>Also explain to me what a comedy match is.

A match that is supposed to be funny. But, most of the time, comedy matches aren't good or funny. Ebessan from Osaka Pro is on of the very few comedy wrestlers that is actually good and funny.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Originally posted by delfinkid
>No matter how slow she is, she is hot.

Are you serious?

>I'll agree, Nagayo has slowed down, but why would she want to do comedy matches with the queen of Comedy Sakura Hirota.

Because she is lazy and isn't nearly as good as she used to be. So, she'll work the easy comedy matches.

>Also explain to me what a comedy match is.

A match that is supposed to be funny. But, most of the time, comedy matches aren't good or funny. Ebessan from Osaka Pro is on of the very few comedy wrestlers that is actually good and funny.

>Are you serious?
To each his or her own, I have always had a crush on Nagayo since the Crush Girls were in the WWF/E

Everything else thanks for the explanation.

[twisted]

I thank everyone for the replies; you know, Chigusa was my 'firstlove', and even though she's fatter and slower, I gues I would always like her; What are the techniques she favors today? Has she abandoned karate kicks, sasori gatame and gembaku gatame ?
And what about Asuka; she still seems quite fit and almost the same size she was on her Crush gal days. From the pictures I can see she still employs her Giant Swing. Is there some other japanese wrestler who uses this move today?

As for buying tapes, I guess that partly I'm too lazy to check them on the Internet, and partly it's the difficulty of finding VHS in the Pal system. I luckily have many tapes I recorded myself on TV with the italian commentaries, so I can watch those, but I am always curious to see the evolution of this sport, and I sense that things have changed a lot, stylistically, with all these promotions crowding the scene....

stefano
PS
On a personal note I have to thank joshgi pro wres, for it was the first thing that prompted me to start Judo about 20 years ago. Since then I have always been a 'seriou' Judoka, but once in a while I have often tried some Pro wres moves (kaiten ebi gatame is one of of the most fun to do).

[Panic R.A.]

There are sites around that you can get PAL tapes from, like Matwarz's and others...

You should also check out the British "Gaea Girls" documentary from a few years back, that shows you a lot about Nagayo and her philosophy to wrestling, and would also introduce you to Meiko Satomura, who is Nagayo's succesor somewhat (they both have the red outfits, and Meiko seems to have modelled her body language on Nagayo).

As for Nagayo's current moves, she still uses kicks and submissions, but her moveset would be more power orientated, her moves include the "Super Freak", a gut-wrench spinning powerbomb, the "Running Three", which is just a running, throwing thunder-fire bomb. Plus she uses Death Valley Drivers and Hawaiin Smashers to finish matches sometimes.

Here's her profile page from the English GAEA site: http://www.gaea-inc.com/prfl/nagayo-e.html
Excuse the bad English, it's a feature of GAEA's site.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

GAEA Girls is a great film, I seen it when it was in Chicago. Not only that, and if you can find it, check out some of Nagayo's matches in FMW. go to: http://www.tokyopop.com

And if you can't stand the announcers, mute the TV LOL.