Dump Matsumoto & Risa Tachibana Talk about the “Frenzied ’80s” “The ‘Evil Queen’ era made us what we are today.

Women’s Professional Wrestling” that made the whole country go wild.

The Netflix drama “Queen of Evil,” which depicts the life of the “deadliest heel wrestler,” Dump Matsumoto (63), was a huge hit. Women’s professional wrestling in the 1980s is attracting renewed attention. Why did the “Crash Gals,” the tag team of Chigusa Nagayo (59) and Asuka Lioness (61), who were absolutely popular at the time, and the “Gokuakuju Alliance” led by Dump become a huge boom that sent the whole of Japan into a frenzy? Dump and Risa Tachibana (53), one of the top idols of the time and one of the biggest fans of women’s professional wrestling in the entertainment world, talked about their days together.

Dump: I first met Risa in 1988, when I quit All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (All Women’s) and entered the entertainment world.

Tachibana: Yes, we often worked together on variety shows back then. Actually, I once went to the venue as a guest for a TV broadcast when Dump-chan was still a member of the League of Extreme Evil. …… I ran away from Dump-chan with a bamboo sword (laughs). Do you remember that?

Dump At that time, I used to hit anyone I could. I knew that Risa liked women’s pro wrestling and often came to the venue. She was a fan of Gongon (Yumi Ogura, 57), who was Bull-chan’s (Bull Nakano, 56) classmate.

Tachibana: Gongon was my entry point into women’s pro wrestling, and I got more and more into it. I really wanted to become a wrestler, and my mother and teacher were really angry with me when I told them in a three-way meeting at junior high school that I would become a women’s professional wrestler instead of going to high school. Even though I hadn’t entered junior high school yet, I was still obeying the three prohibitions for all girls (alcohol, cigarettes, and men …… are also prohibited for junior high school students) and competing with my friends in the gym during recess to see how many times I could perform Asuka’s signature move, the Giant Swing. However, in those days, women’s professional wrestling was more popular than idol shows. The odds were high, so my dream did not come true.

We work so hard to make people think badly of us.”

When the Crash Gals were formed in ’83, they quickly became popular. The following year, in 1984, Dump formed a diabolical alliance with Crane Yu (62) to compete with their peers Nagayo and Asuka. In contrast to the baby-faced (good guy) Crash Gals, Dump was blonde, wore poisonous makeup, and played the role of a villain wielding chains and bamboo swords.

Tachibana: The appearance of the villainous alliance made women’s pro wrestling much more interesting.

Dump: The company needed a baby-faced antagonist for show business, and that was part of the impetus. But no matter how popular she was, I thought, “What’s so good about Crush? I thought. I really hated it when Crush’s fans came to the All Women’s office in Meguro and sang noisily in the ring before matches. When I was a rookie, I lived with Asuka for a short time, and I was in the “dropout group” with Chigusa, who was not very successful. But after becoming a member of the League of Extreme Evil, we had separate waiting rooms, accommodations, and buses for transportation. …… We didn’t speak to each other for several years except when we fought in the ring.

Tachibana: What gave you the idea for the style of the League of Extreme Evil, with blond hair, leather jackets, and bamboo swords?

Dump: The only foreign wrestlers were Mexicans, so I thought I would stand out if I wore my hair blonde. The makeup was to hide the dimples and was inspired by the popular rock band KISS. I got the idea for the leather jacket from the posters of the Kools and Yokohama Silver Fly that were posted in my sister’s room, which at the time looked like a “pile-up”. The first weapon was a chain, then a whip, then shinai (bamboo swords), and so on.

Among the fights between the Crash Gals and the League of Evil, the August 1985 loser’s hair cut death match between Dump Matsumoto and Chikusa Nagayo, held at Osaka Castle Hall with 10,000 spectators, is a legendary match that is still talked about to this day. Dump attacked Nagayo with a deadly weapon, causing her to bleed profusely. The sight of the defeated Nagayo being cut off in the ring had a powerful impact.

Tachibana: I was watching from the seventh row from the front.

Dump Were you already in the entertainment business?

Tachibana I was in the second grade of junior high school at the time, and had not yet made my debut. My school teacher led me there with my friends. There was a barrage of blood splattering in front of me, and I was saying, “Oh my God, stop!” and watching closely (laughs).

Dump There were a number of big matches, but I think the most memorable was the haircut match. Some people were so excited to see Chigusa get beat up that they had to be carried away in an ambulance. What made me happy was that some businessmen were crying when they saw Chigusa getting his hair cut. So even adults are crying.

Tachibana: I had interacted with Chiko-chan (Nagayo) and Ton-chan since I was active, but I couldn’t get close to Dump-chan. That’s how much of a heel he was.

Dump: You work so hard to make people think badly of you that it would be a problem if they liked you. But I was surprised when a security guard guy goof-punched me when I was going back to the waiting room after cutting Chigusa’s hair. When I grabbed him, he reverted and said, “It’s your fault.

Tachibana: What? He was a security guard, right?　I wonder if he was a fan of CRASH (laughs).

Dump: When we were leaving the venue, the bus was surrounded by about 600 CRASH fans. When the bus was wobbling and almost knocked over, I thought I was going to be killed. The harassment from the Crash fans was really bad. I bought a new Fairlady Z for 3.5 million yen and drove it to the office of an all-girls club, only to have “Death by dump truck” painted on it the same day. When I erased the graffiti, the next time, they scratched me with a 10-yen coin as hard as they could. When I rode my bike to the office, I got a flat tire, and when I rode my bicycle, I lost my saddle. All I could do was laugh.

Bills were scattered all over the place.

Tachibana It was the times, wasn’t it? It was only a show, but maybe they had lost touch with the boundary between it and reality. When I appeared in “Meisei” (an entertainment magazine) with two members of CRASH, I received a letter with a razor in it saying, “Why are you, a Gongon fan, in the picture with me?

Dump But the hardest thing for me was the envy of my friends. The heels were told that they didn’t need to be popular, but in the end, Crush and the League of Villains became the main attraction for all the women, and the older wrestlers were not amused. The older wrestlers were not amused. They harassed me a lot, saying, “Don’t put the villainous ones on TV.

In the 1980s, the world of women’s professional wrestling was flashy and vibrant. There is an anecdote that from ’84 to ’85, when the popularity of Zenjo reached its peak, popular wrestlers received fight money in bundles of cash.

Dump: When I went to the match sites, there were bills (satsuma) scattered all over the place, like sales of merchandise. For some reason, the only pay for the All-Women’s Championships was the match fee, but at its highest, it was about 5 million dollars a month. I appeared on TV and did other work besides wrestling, but I wonder where all that money went. ……

Tachibana: Dump-chan and I used to work together in variety shows. It’s hard to imagine now, but we would go to hot springs or overseas for a two-hour special every week.

Dump I once went on location to Canada with actor Masaki Kyomoto (65) and the three of us.

Tachibana We were still in our teens when we first met, but we played together a lot from then until we were over 30 and had children.

Dump Risa likes to drink, and she drinks a lot. The first time we drank, I think I was only about 20 years old, and when I told her it was late and she should go home, she slapped me and said, “I don’t want to go home yet.

Tachibana We haven’t seen each other since I had my child. …… but we met again last year.

Dump I was surprised to hear that he was sick (rectal cancer).

Tachibana: When you were sick, I called you many times in tears, didn’t I?

Dump I remember. I only have the impression that Risa calls me when she’s drunk (laughs).

Tachibana That’s true (laughs). For a while, I lost my purpose in life due to my illness, and I tended to stay at home, but it was women’s professional wrestling that saved me from that. I talked with Dump-chan many times on the phone, met Noriyo Tateno (58) and Jumbo Hori (62), and went with them to the 40th anniversary concert of CRASH, where Gongon and all the other wrestlers of the past were there. I was back in my youth, singing and dancing with them, and I was filled with emotion. I thought to myself, “I shouldn’t stay at home, I should enjoy the present.

Dump: If I had not joined Zenjo, I would not be where I am today. I had a lot of bad experiences, but I am glad I did women’s professional wrestling.

Tachibana I was able to do well in the entertainment industry, which has its ups and downs, because of women’s professional wrestling. It was because of all the good friends I had.

Dump But I wondered if Risa and I could no longer drink alcohol ……, but she is still drinking (laughs).

Tachibana Because I was told to refrain from drinking, but I wasn’t told not to drink (laughs). Dump, how are your knees?

Dump I’m on a diet and it hurts. It’s a little tough to walk long distances.

Tachibana We both have to take care of our health.

Dump It’s been 40 years since the Zenjo boom. You have to be in good health to go out drinking!

From the November 15, 2024 issue of FRIDAY