Grimmas Posted September 13, 2014 Report Share Posted September 13, 2014 Discuss here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 While Lioness had the better later career, I'm not sure it was better than Chig's early stuff. She'll be on my list for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJH Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 Chigusa was hands-down the greatest beneficiary of the AJW Classics run... she had everything you want in a top babyface: charisma, sympathetic selling, strong offence, etc, and if I were to break down Joshi into generations she absolutely has a chance of being my #1 for the '80s, even above Jaguar. Asuka I'm much less fond of but what I'd do to have got Chigusa/Jaguar right before the latter retired, and perhaps even more-so Chigusa/Bull in early '89. I'm on my lunch break now but I'll chip back in during the week having watched a few of her matches with something more substantial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...TG Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Just watched a Chigusa match from 1993 comeback and was blown away by her presence and charisma. If anyone has any recommendations from her prime, I'd appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Watch the two Dump matches in Loss's joshi thread. Amazing stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew79 Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 If anyone has any recommendations from her prime, I'd appreciate it. Here's the must-watch Chigusa: Â Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami (08/22/85) Â Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka (The Crush Gals) vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki (The Jumping Bomb Angels) (03/20/86) Â And her singles matches against Lioness Asuka and Yukari Omori from 85-87 are also worth your time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 I'd recommend the two Leilani Kai matches, as well as the Hokuto match. Some of this stuff may have disappeared from YT recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microstatistics Posted December 12, 2015 Report Share Posted December 12, 2015 For me, she is up there with Kobashi and Steamboat as contender for best babyface ever. One of the best wrestlers of the 1980s from what I have seen so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo's Roomie Posted December 13, 2015 Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 She was a great babyface, but I was also surprised how much I enjoyed her as a shitkicking heel in the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlag Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 In 2016, Chigusa was one of the wrestlers I came out hating the most after watching many of her hyped up matches. After watching lots of GAEA, I've come around to her as she is undoubtedly one of the greatest rookie squash workers of all time, and is in some expertly laid out tag matches. Her big matches are still a mess though, I'm afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadaveri Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 Â 15 minutes ago, Jetlag said: After watching lots of GAEA, I've come around to her as she is undoubtedly one of the greatest rookie squash workers of all time Do you have some examples I can check out? I've just started looking more deeply into GAEA and I really enjoyed the 02/16/97 tag I think you recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlag Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 11 minutes ago, Kadaveri said: Â Do you have some examples I can check out? I've just started looking more deeply into GAEA and I really enjoyed the 02/16/97 tag I think you recommended. I'm doing a series of 1997 GAEA reviews which feature some strong Chiggy performances on my blog. The best I've seen so far was her & Hokuto vs. KAORU & Maiko Matsumoto, which I reviewed over at the GWE board. There is more good stuff coming up as I'm reviewing 1 1997 GAEA show per week from now on. Â I also watched all of 1998 GAEA and the Chigusa matches that stood out to me enough to write them up on here were: vs. Maiko Matsumoto, 10/23/1998 vs. Toshie Uematsu, 1/15/1998 vs. Makie Numao, 2/22/1998 vs. Sonoko Kato 2/21/1998 Â Â Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadaveri Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 That's fantastic thanks I'll get right on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted April 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 After watching the 80s stuff this time, she blew me away as the greatest babyface worker of all-time. I can't imagine leaving her off my list, but I need to see more 90s to have any idea where to put her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 Completely agree about her being one of the greatest babyfaces of all-time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makai Club #1 Posted April 10, 2021 Report Share Posted April 10, 2021 Early Chigusa has definitely risen in stock after watching more and more of 80s AJW. And that run is one of the greatest babyface runs someone could have. She was really versatile as well. The Dump hair matches were built around her selling for Dump in a chaotic brawl with a screaming crowd and crooked ref while the Devil Masami Budokan Hall match was mostly built around submissions. Two matches that couldn't be more opposite from each other. But I've virtually watched nothing of her second run post return except one or two matches that don't even come to mind currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted April 11, 2021 Report Share Posted April 11, 2021 Chigusa from like 84-87 was as great of a run as you can have. See everything from that stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted April 11, 2021 Report Share Posted April 11, 2021 Chigusa is solidly on the list of wrestlers I regret omitting the last time around. I need to take a fresh spin through '80s Joshi to figure out where to situate those workers. I think Masami was the only one who made my final 100, which feels wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 I ranked Chigusa 26th in 2016 and I'm happy with that, but its about 20 spots too low. Chigusa has maybe the most impressive peak I've ever seen. From 84-87 she's in some of the best brawls of all time, some of the best classic clean title matches of all time, some of the best tag matches of all time, she's the most over wrestler on the planet (Show me 1000s of people literally crying at a Hulk Hogan match) and stylistically she's basically creating BattlArts hybrid pro/shoot style one night mixed with the most incredible emotional spectacles in the history of wrestling another night. Her 84-87 is so good it basically gets her in the top 10 alone and everything else is gravy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 That is some massive praise, but I'm not gonna say you're wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 I know, but I really believe it. When I went through all of the old Samurai Classics, there reached a point where eveytime I got to a Chigusa match I was expecting it to be awesome and she delivers time and again. And they aren't all the same like I said. The Dump matches are 100% different from the Lioness matches or the Devil match. She hits about the highest possibly peak and within it shows about the widest variance of high end match type possible. Like Misawa vs Kobashi is "different" from Misawa vs Kawada. But its all of the same style. Chigusa vs Dump and then Chigusa vs Lioness are in different universes from each other. Its the best brawling AND the best title match of its era happening at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelZ Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 She snuck up on me in a way, but when I look back on it she has tons of high-end matches and I never, ever regret watching any match she is in. You can't ask for much more than that out of a high-end candidate. I haven't been let down by a Crush Gals tag match yet, and I have two on deck to watch right now, so I am jazzed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 42 minutes ago, elliott said: I know, but I really believe it. When I went through all of the old Samurai Classics, there reached a point where eveytime I got to a Chigusa match I was expecting it to be awesome and she delivers time and again. And they aren't all the same like I said. The Dump matches are 100% different from the Lioness matches or the Devil match. She hits about the highest possibly peak and within it shows about the widest variance of high end match type possible. Like Misawa vs Kobashi is "different" from Misawa vs Kawada. But its all of the same style. Chigusa vs Dump and then Chigusa vs Lioness are in different universes from each other. Its the best brawling AND the best title match of its era happening at the same time. Nobody ever talks about the Lelani Kai matches. Those were always my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 Those matches are awesome. Theres one against Yukari Ohmori I really like too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadaveri Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 I've been watching everything on tape of the 1986 Japan Grand Prix this week and you can add having great matches with 17 year olds while maintaining hierarchy to Chigusa's portfolio. She has a wonderful performance against Kazue Nagahori here where she controls like 90% of the match as she should. But it's not a squash. She balances being totally focused yet relatively relaxed about the whole thing. Like she knows Nagahori is way below her skill level, but she's not gonna take any risks of even getting hurt because this is a long gruelling Round Robin tournament so she needs to pick up those 2 points as cost-free as she can, and this approach lets Nagahori get just enough to show some fighting underdog spirit and get herself over a bit, without ever looking like she might win. I don't this match could possibly have been better without undermining its purpose within the promotion's wider narratives, achieving that's exactly what I'm looking for in GWE. Chigusa's so so good and it blows my mind that anyone ever thought that Lioness was better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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