- "Are you ready for Action!?"
Initially coming together in 1983 in an undercard match, both Nagayo and Asuka found they had near-instant chemistry and had an excellent performance as a Tag Team. AJW seized on this, bringing the two together, where for much of their first year together they began a protracted, relentless feud against The Dynamite Girls, who they faced three times: Once in a loss, once to a 60-minute draw, and finally in 1984, in another near-time limit bout, they finally conquered their foes and won the WWWA Tag Team Titles for the first time...and then ran into their greatest enemy: Dump Matsumoto and her Atrocious Alliance. Matsumoto's group of Monster Heels made a perfect contrast for the Crush Gals never say die attitudes and fearsome competitiveness.
To say that 1985 was the peak of the group's success is massively understating it; The Crush Gals vs. Atrocious Alliance Feud drew ratings on Fuji TV that no professional wrestling event in North America has ever been able to reach; consistently drawing ratings over 12.0 for many of their matches, their popularity exploded in such a way that it sometimes interfered with their real lives; Nagayo occasionally had to move because of the sheer number of fans that were waiting outside their homes. They even managed to release their own pop single that sold over 100,000 copies! It all culminated in a shocking hair vs. hair match against Matsumoto, and ultimately the 1985 Tag League The Best, where they finally stopped the Atrocious Alliance once and for all.
Then in 1986, everything came to an abrupt end. The Crush Gals were no more. Both Nagayo and Asuka had their own feuds to go through, but eventually both ended up facing each other not a year later for a #1 contender’s match that went to a 30 minute draw that ultimately ended with both women exhausted, and Lioness Asuka given the victory only by the very slightest of margins. From then on, they would only rarely see much ring time together unless it was to face each other for the WWWA World Single Championship, only ever tag teaming again for special occasions, though they managed to capture the WWWA Tag Team Championship one final time in 1989, after which AJW’s mandatory retirement age kicked in for both, and they left the company. They both then ended up in GAEA Japan, where their feuds continued, until GAEA’s 10th anniversary show, where the Crush Gals finally hung up their boots (at least, as a tag team) in 2000.
The Crush Gals have an excellent case for being one of the most influential professional wrestling groups of all time, having inspired dozens of future wrestlers; both male and female, the world over. They've also japanese pop culture as well; having been the loving recipient of shout-outs for decades, and arguably created the blueprint that many future joshi promotions have taken with popular acts. They held the WWWA Tag Team titles four different times for a combined 664 days, were famously Tag Team The Best winners in 1987, and the AAAW Tag Team Title once.
Crush Tropes
- Author Avatar: in GAEA Japan, both Chigusa and Lioness traded places as the promotion's biggest attraction.
- Action Girl: While the Beauty Pair is probably the Ur-Example for modern Joshi, it's pretty clear that these two are the blueprint for which many future Joshi tag teams and stables used.
- Arch-Enemy: The Dynamite Girls early on in their careers due to the sheer amount of toil they had to put in just to measure up to them, but then after they won the titles it almost exclusively became the Atrocious Alliance. Especially so after the Chigusa/Dump hair vs. hair match.
- Audience Surrogate: A big part of their appeal; they looked an awful lot like a good portion of their largely high-school girl fanbase and got to live out the fantasies of many a girl their age: beating up their bullies in style while also being pop stars with their best friend.
- Captain Ersatz: Present and accounted for in the Fire Pro Wrestling series.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Nagayo almost always wore red to the ring, and Asuka usually complimented it with Blue or another, darker color.
- Humiliating Wager: The Chigusa/Dump hair vs. hair match ended in a shocker as it was Chigusa who lost; Fans were openly wailing and weeping over the result, and jubilant when they finally beat the Atrocious Alliance.
- Groupie Brigade: Had at least one all over Japan, to the point that Chigusa had to move around in order to actively avoid being seen in public.
- Iconic Outfit: Their matching striped leotards. They wore plenty of variations, but the striped leotards often ended up being their calling card and much of their promotional photoshoots feature them.
- Leotard of Power: Standard for the time period, though they became the most well known for it.
- Lightning Bruiser: Though the Crush Gals were sometimes smaller than their nemesis', they often powered through their foes through sheer strength and speed.
- Line-of-Sight Name: They took part of the team's name from the Gals Magazine.
- Japanese Pop Music: Had a brief but successful run at it. Famously, Chigusa stated she'd never sung prior to the recording of their first single.
- Shout-Out: The Crush part of their name is a shoutout to a nickname Akira Maeda once used.
- They've been shouted out plenty of times themselves, any time women's pro wrestling is shown in Anime from the late 80's and into the 1990's, the characters will typically wear something similar to what the Crush Gals did.
- Tag Team: Japan's most successful tag team. Ever.
- Tomboy: Both wore their hair short and had largely power wrestler movesets.
- Worthy Opponent: When Dump Matsumoto began her first retirement tour, Asuka and Nagayo on separate occasions got on the mic to beg their enemy for the chance to face her one last time. She obliged, and the event was the most watched wrestling event of the year.
