Fuji Television used to get phenomenal ratings for the then weekly AJW TV show, which aired on Saturday afternoon, but they've done us a real disservice by not making these full matches available. This Crush Gals tape is unfortunately one of the only examples of vintage 80's AJW that's available on commercial tape. It's great for what it is, but that's a bunch of highlights of great matches many of us would like to see complete in great quality and don't have the opportunity to unless you can find someone that had taped it when it originally aired.

Someone could definitely write a really good book about the Crush Gals and their importance to the sport, but I'll try to keep it short. The Crush Gals were both the most popular and the most idolized women's tag team of all-time, the best tag team of the 1980's, among the best faces of all-time with Chigusa being the most popular women's wrestler ever, the second and third best working women of the 1980's, one of the pioneers of the fast-paced style that women's wrestling is currently famous for, the most successful women's wrestlers at becoming cross over stars in the pop music business during their wrestling careers, and the women, particularly Chigusa, who inspired most of the stars of the 1990's to become pro wrestlers.

Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka) vs. Devil Masami & Tarantula for Devil & Tarantula's WWWA tag titles from 10/27/82. I'm guessing this was the Crush Gals first shot at the tag titles. The Crush Gals were in their third year at this point. They displayed their famous fast-paced style in this match, but it was clear that their move sets were not as nearly developed as they would be a couple years later. Devil was a really strong heel in this match, hitting everyone including the ref with her rod. She did some good high spots before pinning Chigusa with a piledriver to retain the titles. 2:56 shown

Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo for Asuka's All Japan singles title from 1/4/83 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. I'm guessing this was Asuka's first title defense against her partner Chigusa. The great thing about the Crush Gals is that they were the best of friends for about 363 days a year, but once or twice a year they would have a high profile singles match against each other, and they could pull the rivalry off so well that you would think they were arch enemies. The main thing that allowed them to do this was their incredible intensity. They both portrayed an incredible desire to win, a winning is the only thing type attitude. These two were way too good to be so young. This was a heated match that went back and forth with high spots and near falls before Lioness did a blockbuster then the infamous rookie cover for the win. Very good match, great considering neither woman was 20-years-old. 3:00 shown
Aside: If you are looking to check out a battle of the Crush Gals, the one you need to see is 2/26/87 Kawasaki. This was an unbelievable match with tremendous heat, stiff kicks, crisp execution, great build with the teasing of big spots, and, of course, super work. The main psychology was that both women were equal, so it's great spots back and forth for the 30:00 time limit then and extra 5 min. Extremely exciting and intense match. Definite ***** and one of top matches of its decade.

Crush Gals vs. Dynamite Girls (Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori) 2/3 falls for Dynamite's WWWA tag titles from 8/25/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. This was a fast-pace Crush Gal style match with tons of near falls. Hori was pretty choice and Lioness, as usual, was the better Crush Gal here. The significance of this match was that the Crush Gals took a major step forward by winning the WWWA tag titles for the first time. 4:36 shown

Crush Gals vs. La Galactica & Lola Gonzalez for the Crush Gals WWWA tag titles from 10/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. This was a wild brawl. Asuka was busted open and the heels bit the cut. The fans, who really got behind the Crush Gals as always, didn't appreciate all the cheating by the heels, and some of them even threw things into the ring. Dump interfered, helping the members of her army by using a screwdriver to Asuka's head. Gonzalez, who also got busted open, was finally pinned after a Chigusa wheel kick and a Lioness backdrop. This appeared to be the worst match on the tape because good Mexican women wrestlers are few and far between, but it showed the Crush Gals weren't only in tough brawls when they faced Dump herself. 4:54 shown

Crush Gals vs. Dump Matsumoto & Crane Yu for the Crush Gals WWWA tag titles from 2/25/85 Tokyo. This was Dump at her peak as a heat generator, with the fans popping big for all the Crush Gals comebacks. A wild match with both Crush Gals bleeding and all kinds of interference by the Dump army. Dump's team was eventually DQ'd for beating up the ref. Dump gave Chigusa a hair trimming after the match, building up to their big hair vs. hair match.

Crush Gals vs. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano from 5/16/85 Omiya Skate Center. Crane Yu was the ref. Crush Gals did simultaneous suicidas then Chigusa pinned Bull with a Japanese back rolling clutch cradle hold. This showed how big a move a "simple" dive through the ropes used to be. 0:43 shown

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami for Devil's All Pacific Title from 8/22/85 Tokyo Budokan Hall. This appeared to be a very dramatic great match. The following Lioness vs. Jaguar is the match with the big rep now, but I've heard this was actually the more awesome of the two. Chigusa brought the schoolgirls to their feet with all sorts of bridging suplexes. However, the main thrust of this slugfest seemed to be realism. There were a lot of stiff strikes that were sold big by both women leading to a double KO finish. 2:08 shown

Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota for Jaguar's WWWA Title from 8/22/85 Tokyo Budokan Hall. This is as good as ring work gets. An all-time classic and arguably the best women's match of the decade. They worked a lightning pace with precise execution and futuristic moves. The crowd was super hot, reacting to everything. There were two spots that stand out over all the other great ones. One was Lioness reversing a tombstone, bouncing off the ropes, and hitting a jumping tombstone for an incredible near fall. The other was near the finish, where Jaguar is trying to suplex Lioness off the top, but Asuka blocks it and drops Jaguar off the top with a front layout superplex. The second spot is somewhat common now, but it was very innovative at this time. Asuka then misses a diving splash and Jaguar puts her away with a henkei fisherman suplex. Outstanding! 3:51 shown

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto for the vacant All Pacific Title from 4/5/86 Tokyo Budokan Hall. Not surprisingly, this was a brawl. The thing that stood out was Bull bringing a barrel into the ring and whipping Chigusa so Dump could hit her with the barrel. Chigusa beat Dump the way she always did, with a flash pin. Chigusa won the vacant All Pacific Title. 1:53 shown

Lioness Asuka vs. Devil Masami for Devil's WWWA Title from 4/5/86 Tokyo Budokan Hall. This was one of the slowest paced matches because Devil was involved, but it was real solid with the fans getting really into it. Devil retained her title when the match went to a draw. 2:42 shown

Crush Gals concert footage. Kind of boring, but they couldn't make a complete Crush Gals tape without showing them sing. I prefer Mimi Hagiwara or Jumping Bomb Angels singing, though it's not like they are going to supplant Helloween in my CD player.

Crush Gals vs. Jumping Bomb Angels for J.B. Angels WWWA Tag Titles from 3/20/86 Osaka. This was really exciting. A great fast-paced match with bodies flying all over the place. Chigusa pinned Tateno with a German suplex in the third fall to capture the straps for the Crush Gals. 4:22