Today the fans of professional wrestling are used to seeing
international female stars like Kairi Sane, Asuka, Io Sky,
Hikaru Shida on their televisions. But in the 1980’s of WWF
(now called WWE) NWA or even AWA; the Japanese faces were
men like the Great Kabuki and Tiger Mask. That all changed
through VHS tape trading (ask your parents) done by fans in
Japan and the United States. That led to names like Bull
Nakano, Lioness Asuka (not the modern one) & Nagayo Chigusa
(known as the Crush Gals) and the legend known as Dump
Matsumoto becoming seen by the masses.
Now in 2024 we get to see how the ladies all got to their
legendary status in the NETFLIX series QUEEN OF THE VILLAINS
(debuting September 19th.) The five episode project is the
partnership of writer/producer Osamu Suzuki (who grew up
watching the sport in Japan), teaming up with director
Kazuya Shiraishi.
Episodes one and two takes the viewer from the troubled
childhood of wrestling fan Kauro Matsumoto (played to
perfection by Yurigan Retriever) to her chance audition with
All Japan Women’s wrestling in the early 1980’s where she
meets her tag team idols “Beauty Pair" (Jackie Sato and
Maki Ueda). Along the way we get to meet Asuka (Goriki
Ayame) and Chigusa (Katara Erika) along with a locker room
of hard working ladies traveling through Japan and appearing
on TV and music videos (again, ask your parents) while the
men running the promotion fight for its very survival.
This needs to be said big time. This is not a straight
biography of Ms. Matsumoto. It is about the entire women’s
locker room. I was intrigued how the creative team showed
how the sweet and innocent Kauro morphs into the maniacal
Dump persona (SPOILER ALERT it doesn’t happen until episode
three). The ladies go all out in the wrestling ring as do
the men behind the scenes; namely Jun Murakami as Takashi
Matsunaga, Daisuke Kuroda as Kunimatsu Matsunaga, and Takumi
Saitoh as Toshikuni Matsunaga, the brothers who founded All
Nippon Women's Pro Wrestling. Plus Takuma Otoo plays Shiro
Abe, the promoter and referee for the wrestling promotion.
This show should be watched alongside the critically
acclaimed (and long canceled) GLOW; as they take place in
the same time frame (at least episode 4 and 5 of this
program.)
Thanks so much to Netflix Japan, namely Yuki Shiba. Alan
Wojcik can be followed on Twitter/X @MyNameIsWojcik or
Facebook.com/KayfabeWrestlingRadio
