AJW Kamikiri Death Match: Dump Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo 11/7/1986
by Jeremiah, 6/19/2003
--Alright, again, it's been awhile since my last review, but I'm trying. Today's review is some more joshi (Japanese women), and it's a pretty famous Hair vs. Hair match between Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto. Out of necessity, I'll have to give some brief backstory. I'll make it as quick as I can and present it as accurately as I can....I've tried to learn as much as I could about joshi, so this should be accurate, but please don't flame me if I happen to get something wrong. If you don't want to read this bit of history, skip down about 3 paragraphs and continue onward.
--Just like in North America, joshi was in a golden age in the 1980s. This was called the "School-Girl Era", aptly named since the biggest and most vocal fans of AJW were young schoolgirls. Like WWE right now, AJW was pretty much the only game in town for joshi in the 80s, in fact it was the only game in town since women's wrestling came to Japan in the 60s...several other promotions tried and failed, before a number of them (JWP, GAEA, LLPW, etc.) finally made it starting in the early 90s. A big reason why the Schoolgirl Era was so popular was the mandatory age limits in AJW at the time. Until the early 90s, AJW had a mandatory retirement age of 26 years. Because of this, the schoolgirls could easily identify with all of their favorite wrestlers....because they were basically the same age!!! The youngest wrestlers were 15 and 16. 26 years old, while definately older than 15 or 16, was still young enough that all the schoolgirls could still identify with them. In this was, AJW managed to stay amazingly fresh and popular, while at the exact same time creating what would eventually be their own competition later on. With the mandatory retirement age, you had 26 year old talented wrestlers out of work. So many of them, being forced into retirement, simply started their own company. Chigusa Nagayo herself created GAEA, in fact. Also, because AJW was the only game in town, the competition when it came to holding tryouts for new wrestlers was particularly intense. AJW stayed popular because they always had the best workers, but other great workers also felt the squeeze. This is the exact situation that led Megumi Kudo being let go by AJW in the late 80s, only to go to FMW and be probably the biggest individual draw in women's wrestling in the 90s.
--The biggest impetus for the Schoolgirl era was the fued between Dump Matsumoto and her crew vs. the Crush Gals, Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka. Matsumoto was the big, mean, killer heel. She wasn't that attractive, she listened to heavy metal, wore garish clothes, and was a big bully. Bull Nakano and Crane Yu were exactly the same way, for the most part. The names Dump, Bull, and Crane were all in reference to heavy construction (and destruction) equipment. For the reasons listed above, they immediately got over as heels, because every schoolgirl knew bullies that acted just like them. So when the Crush Gals started fueding with them, all the schoolgirls IMMEDIATELY were able to identify with them, especially Chigusa, for whatever reason. Probably cause she was smaller than Lioness. The Crush Gals had to face bullies that were bigger and tougher than they were. They were outnumbered most of the time. The bullies cheated. The Crush Gals had all the same problems that the schoolgirls did. The schoolgirls basically lived and died with what happened to their heroes every week.
--All the stuff listed above is just supposed to emphasize one thing. Dump Matsumoto was, and still is, the greatest heel to ever grace joshi. She was every schoolgirl's nightmare, and Chigusa was their vigilant hero. I just thought everyone would want to understand the backstory a little better. It helps to understand the match a little better.
--And finally, let's get to the review.....
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto Hair vs. Hair Match 11/7/1986
--First, we get some highlights of stuff that led to the big match.
--8/28/1985.....Chigusa appears to get a victory but the ref doesn't count it, and Dump lays out Chigusa with a chair right after that, and Chigusa can't answer the ten count. Dump, Bull, and Crane all beat the hell out of Chigusa while the schoolgirls shout for Asuka. Chigusa gets shaved as the result of the hair vs. hair stipulations, with Asuka hugging Chigusa while Dump personally does the shaving on Chigusa. The schoolgirls in the crowd are visibly sobbing and crying, that's how much they identified with Chigusa.
--9/10/1986 Chigusa is in the ring singing a song when Dump and crew jumps her from behind. Dump has scissors and starts cutting up Chigusa clothes while other wrestlers try to break it up. Streamers are flying everywhere, and I think Chigusa is bleeding as well. Unlike today in wrestling, when something like singing a song or a contract signing might as well be a neon sign saying "Somebody is getting attacked!", it was actually quite common for joshi wrestlers to sing songs and shit at times (they even got recording contracts!), so this actually quite the big deal.
--9/12/86 We set up the match with a press conference 3 days after the attack on Chigusa. Press conference. Blah blah, pictures, etc. Chigusa has her head down, Dump is cool as ice. Dump gets right in Chigusa's face, just cause she's a shit disturber. Now Chigusa gets some attitude and pushes back. Dump holds up a rubber chicken for the camera and guts it, and now we're brawling. Dump cracks the reporters with her kendo stick lol.
--Here we go....bell rings and the schoolgirls get started already CHI-GU-SA, CHI-GU-SA!!!!! Chigusa can barely even get through the crowd and into the ring, and the whole place just goes fucking nuts as soon as they see her in the ring. Dump enters with her entourage bearing her flag, an extremely cool looking flag looking quite suspiciously like the flag of Strongbadia. After some ceremonial stuff involving crossing swords and bowing to emphasize how big this match is, we finally get the introductions. NA-GA-YO, CHI-GU-SAAAAAAA!!!!!!! The streamers go flying as the schoolgirls go crazy...holy fuckin shit, that's alot of streamers!!! I should probably point out that in joshi, and Hair vs. Hair match is the biggest match that singles wrestlers can have to settle a fued. This makes sense, since how often do you ever see a woman shaved bald? Just wanted to point out that slight difference to emphasize how big the match is.
--Chigusa offers a shake and Dump spits water in her face, just in case there might be somebody out there who doesn't have the first damn clue what's going on. The ref tries to get in Dump's face for this, but she kicks his ass all over the ring before the bell!!! The ref taps a gusher when he BLADES and Chigusa offers to help him. CHI-GU-SA!!! The ref wraps a fucking towel around his head to stop the bleeding so he can ref the match, but Dump starts kicking his ass again. Think emotions are running high here at all? Ref threatens Dump to get her to settle down.
--We FINALLY start the match and Dump immediately avalanches Chigusa for 2. A sequel get 2 but Chigusa bridges out. Dump kicks her ass some more for a quick 2 count. CHI-GU-SA, CHI-GU-SA!!! Dump works a headlock and turns Chigusa around so that the ref is behind her, then pulls a foreign object out of her tights and works Chigusa over with it. Ref tries to check her but finds nothing. Dump eventually gets a 2 count from all of her cheating, but Chigusa gets a sunset flip for 2. Dump immediately pounds her down again. Delayed piledriver gets 2. The schoolgirls are just screaming their damn fool heads off here. Choking by Dump, and she kicks the refs ass some more when he tries to break it off. . Chigusa takes advantage with a spin kick and a missile dropkick which gets a SUPER-HOT 2 count. Schoolgirls thought she won there. CHI-GU-SA, CHI-GU-SA!!!! Dump gets a Boston crab and uses her ceremonial sword to choke Chigusa before introducing her to several turnbuckles, and Chigusa bails outside. Chigusa stumbles around the outside and blades at some point before finally collapsing against the railing. Dump is right on her though and wraps a chain around her throat and drags her to the ring. There's so many people on the outside and the schoolgirls are jumping up and down and screaming so much that the camera can barely follow the action outside the ring.
--Back inside, Chigusa fights back, but Dump cheats again by grabbing a pair of scissors. That gets 2, but Chigusa is pissed!!! She's hulking up!!! Right hands, Dump laughs at her, before a Chigusa spin kick stuns her. Chigusa is weak as well though and Dump recovers first and gets 2. CHI-GU-SA!!!! Dump tries a German suplex, but Chigusa reverses and takes her to the mat. SHARPSHOOTER BY CHIGUSA!!!! CHI-GU-SA, CHI-GU-SA!!!!! Chigusa is at about .4 Muta right now, making for a pretty decent visual. Dump scrambles for the ropes and makes it. Dump tries her own legbar, but Chigusa starts kicking her right in the face to break it up. Dump switches to a half-crab, then simply sits on Chigusa, but she bridges out at 1!!! Bull Nakano hands Dump a fork while the ref is momentarily distracted, and Dump stabs her with the blunt end of it. Chigusa fights Dump off and hits an enziguiri. Dump recovers first again and tries a clothesline, but Chigusa ducks and tries a German, but that's blocked and Dump uses her strength to take Chigusa to the mat. BIG lariat by Dump gets 2, and another sees Chigusa BARELY kick out. Dump tries....something....but Chigusa gets a surprise roll-up, which she's too weak to hold onto at the moment. Piledriver by Dump, and then she grabs a small trash can or bucket or something from ringside and assaults Chigusa with it. The ref tries to break it up again (he was also at about .4 or .5 Muta in this match), but Dump kicks his ass again. This again leaves Chigusa enough time to get up though, and she sneaks up from behind and gets a surprise (although extremely shitty) roll-up for the 3 count. *1/2.
--Postmatch, the schoolgirls are just going fucking nuts, it's crazy. The face wrestlers who surrounded the ring come in to hug Chigusa. Dump grabs the mic and talks some shit (presumably, I don't speak Japanese), and then Chigusa talks some shit back. Dump and Bull walk the aisle to leave, but Chigusa yells at them from the ring to remind them of the Hair vs. Hair stipulations. I don't speak Japanese, but that was pretty obvious. So Dump and Bull come back and kick EVERYBODY's ass. They finally sit down and Dump gets her hair cut(w/Bull doing most of the cutting!!!). Dump doesn't really care about the haircut, she just glares at Chigusa the whole time. When it's almost finished, Dump and Bull attack Chigusa again, but fellow Crush Gal Lioness Asuka finally makes her appearance (remember, she didn't make it to the ring to save Chigusa on 8/28/85). Dump tosses some of the other faces around, but Asuka gets right in her fucking face and is like "What, bitch?". Dump glares at Asuka and eventually leaves the ring as the schoolgirls and other people pelt Dump and Bull with garbage on the way back. Now THAT is heel heat, folks!!!!
--Chigusa gets the belt, then hugs the referee.
--Chigusa tries to sit down and recover. Somebody is asking her a bunch of questions. She smiles and laughs.
--Backstage, Dump gets the rest of her head shaved. She doesn't change expression the whole time. And that's the end of the tape, folks!
Official Grade-- C. Very historic match, and I wish I could go higher, but I honestly can't in good faith. An extremely intense match with tons of crowd heat due to the schoolgirls and the history between these two, but the match was not that great. I probably described the details to make it seem more exciting than it may have been. Honestly, the best way to describe this match is Hogan-Andre in terms of build, heat, and storyline, and a much slower version of a Vader-Sting match in terms of match layout and structure. I definately recommend the tape for historical purposes and if you're really into joshi like myself, but for those people who just want to see great matches, this really isn't for you.