| Crush Gals | |
|---|---|
 .jpg) Lioness Asuka (left) in 2006, Chigusa Nagayo in 2022 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members |
|
| Name(s) |
|
| Billed heights | Lioness Asuka: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Chigusa Nagayo: 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Debut | 1983 |
| Years active |
|
The Crush Gals were a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo. Formed in 1983 in the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion, the Crush Gals would become an extremely popular and influential unit throughout the 1980s, helping to propel both themselves and AJW into mainstream popularity in Japan. The Crush Gals, who combined youthfulness and an exciting wrestling style with pop music, became teen idols and developed a cult following amongst teenage girls in Japan. Helping the Crush Gals to achieve their initial success was AJW pitting them against contrasting antagonists such as Dump Matsumoto and her Atrocious Alliance stable; a group made up of slightly older women portraying violent, imitating face-painted characters inspired by the Sukeban subculture.
The Crush Gals were one of the primary attractions to AJW until their forced breakup in May 1989; AJW's internal policy that their performers must retire upon reaching the age of 26 saw both Asuka and Nagayo taking a hiatus from professional wrestling. However, both wrestlers would return within three years to professional wrestling (although outside of AJW), and in 2000, the pair would reunite in the promotion Nagayo created herself, GAEA Japan. This final run would last until 2005.
Individually, both Asuka and Nagayo would have long, tenured runs in professional wrestling, but their time as the Crush Gals represented the most popular era of their careers. Wrestling historians have compared their joint popularity in Japan in the mid-1980s to that of Hulk Hogan in the United States in the same period.[1][2][3][4]
- ^ Von Bandenburg, Heather (2019). Unladylike: A Grrrl's Guide to Wrestling. Unbound Digital. ISBN 978-1-78965-034-1.
- ^ Alvarez, Bryan; Meltzer, Dave (26 March 2024). "Wrestling Observer Radio: RAW with an incredible final angle, Wheeler Yuta, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter (Podcast). Event occurs at 4:17. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Laprade, Pat; Murphy, Dan (11 April 2017). Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women's Wrestling. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77305-014-0.
- ^ Solomon, Brian (2015). Pro Wrestling FAQ: All That's Left to Know about the World's Most Entertaining Spectacle. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-1-61713-627-6.