Bull Nakano in the 1980's

I really dig Joshi puroresu from the 1980's & the 90's. Bull Nakano is one of my favorites but, I never got to see any of her work in the 80's. I started at 1990 with her feud with Aja Kong & Bison Kimura. It's been a long time coming but I finally got to check out the beginning of her career. In the interest of getting a good sampling, I opted for more matches rather than all of the very best bouts. But to make time, I chose matches 15 minutes or less. The exception is the 04/08/86 match which I have on DVD. Everything else I found pretty easily online. OK let's go!

Bull vs Yumi Ogura (03/17/84) - Bull is not yet corrupted by the evil forces of chaos! She looks like a normal, unassuming girl here in 1984 and goes by her birth name, Keiko. How sweet! See pic below. But all's not as it seems. Keiko already has a nasty streak. She's biting Ogura and throwing away her ring seconds when Ogura is trying to recuperate on the floor. 

Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs Yumi Ogura & Keiko (Bull) Nakano (07/1984) - Holy work rate Batman! There's nothing complex here but lots of action. It just goes to show that you don't need fancy moves. Intensity and working hard go a long way! Jumping Bomb Angels obviously are working at a higher rate since Ogura & Nakano are younger. This is a lot of fun.

Dump Matsumoto & Keiko Nakano vs Devil Masami & Lioness Asuka (10/27/84) - This has 1/3rd of a million views online!? Is that because of that Dump Masumoto show awhile back? Transition match as Keiko isn't Bull and she's got a regular haircut & outfit BUT is teaming with the dastardly Dump Matsumoto. Devil Masami is such a badass from the start. I loved when she denied Bull's drop toe hold and clocked her in the head! Homie don't play dat! This was a great match! I grew up with "garbage" or hard core wrestling so I might even be tempted to call this a near classic. I loved how it descend into a back alley street fight! 3 on 2 with everyone carrying weapons - you can't get better than that sometimes! And it's under 15 minutes too! Perfect length! RECOMMENDED

Bull Nakano vs Yumi Ogura (07/1985) - Bull has gone over to the dark side! She's sporting a hair cut not even the coolest disaffected teenage would dare wear. Yumi's got a better hairdo too! Anyhow, this is the violent punk chick versus the clean living technical wrestling gal. It's great! Yumi is trying for inside cradles and different pin moves in between getting thrashed by Nakano. First appearance of Bull's nunchaku much to Yumi Ogura's dismay. Excellent showing from both women. I think both have come a long way since the first match.

Dump & Bull vs Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno (10/10/85) - This is a fun under 10 minute match. Yamazaki is on fire! She's doing all kinds of great moves. Everyone is working their butts off to put on an exciting match. Simple but effective stuff from Bull & Dump.

Itsuki Yamazaki, Noriyo Tateno & Yukari Omori vs Dump Matsumoto, Bull Nakano & Condor Saito (04/08/86) - This was a really exciting match with Dump being one of the best heels of all time. The Angels were fantastic but Yamazaki was the real stand-out. Bull was very good and here’s a good match to show Dump was quite a good worker. She sorta gets an Abby the Butcher level of working vibe but it’s not true. She's very athletic and cuts a good pace. Another great Bull & Dump match!

Bull Nakano vs Dump Matsumoto (05/1986) - Crazy wild fight! Not sure of the story here. Maybe Bull was trying to take over the gang? It looked like some of the other members were on her side for a little bit. Bull is fighting from underneath most of the match but she finds her openings and lets Dump have it. A very good match...very intense and blood thirsty. This has almost 900k views online. Wow! Stick around for the post match when Dump goes wild in the stands!

Bull Nakano vs Yumi Ogura (05/15/88) - Amazing from the start! Bull shoves the ref to the mat & powders Yumi! This is a lot of fun for a Bull Nakano fan like me. Overall it's not as competitive as their other encounters. Here in 1988, Bull is the main baddie, the Queen of Mean so, it makes sense Yumi was no longer on her level. 

Bull Nakano vs Yumiko Hotta (06/08/88) - Bull has some great kabuki makeup on and Hotta is wearing a budget Robocop chest plate & shoulder pads! Yes! Maybe she should've kept them on as Bull jabs her arm with a spike immediately. Then starts biting at it like a vampire. Hotta storms out to the ring side microphone and demands a new ref. A legit referee comes out to replace the heel ref (one who was always with Dump Matsumoto). Then the two refs start fighting! This is great fun! This all felt more like a segment you'd see for TV than a proper match however it was a real joy to watch.

Bull & Iwamoto vs Fire Jets (07/19/88) - Great follow up to the above match. Bull & Grizzly slice & dice the Fire Jets early on. Hotta's got scars from the previous fight with Bull. This was best 2 out of 3 falls but was under 10 minutes. Everything feels very urgent and real as a result. I really liked that. There were no holds applied or hot tags trying to be worked. This felt closer to a fight. It was really good stuff.

Bull & Dynamite Jack (Crane Yu) vs Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno (09/1988) - Good action match. JB Angels still had a lot of gas in their tank but they went down a little too quick for my liking. I think they were getting phased out/retired by AJW shortly. I know Yamazaki was in JWP in '90 for instance. Anyhow, good action from them but nothing too memorable from Bull & Dynamite Jack.

Bull vs Lioness Asuka (05/14/89) - We have entered the heavy metal Bull Nakano era 🤘 During the proclamations at the beginning, Bull comes over an elbows Lioness right in the f-ing face! 30 seconds later Lioness elbows Bull in the head and busts her open. A little later, Bull disassembles the ring ropes to use as weapons. It's not a long match so I won't say anymore. I don't want to spoil it!  you're a fan of either, you want to see this! Being a Lioness Asuka fan, I get the feeling this match was her idea! I can see her telling Bull not to pull any punches. This was great pro wrestling. RECOMMENDED

These matches were a lot of fun! I definitely think I'll watch more in the future. I have a few other matches in mind for later. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the reviews. I hope they gave you some inspiration to check out some early Bull Nakano yourself. Also I hope you dig the pics! You can see how Bull went from nice young wrestler to punk to evil kabuki to heavy metal queen. At the very least, watch the RECOMMENDED matches 🙂

Thanks for reading!!