is a Japanese retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

better known as . She began competing in

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that y ...

(AJW) as a teenager under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was a

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

, who often teamed with her mentor

Dump Matsumoto , better known by her ring name , is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler. She came to prominence as one of the leading female wrestlers in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling during the 1980s. The longtime leader of the stable Gokuaku Domei ...

. In Japan, she held several of AJW's singles and tag team championships. After being phased out by the company in the early 1990s, she traveled to North America, where she first competed in Mexico's

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

(CMLL), becoming its first World Women's Champion. In 1994, she made her way to the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF), where she had feuded with

Alundra Blayze Debrah Ann Miceli (born February 9, 1964), better known as Madusa, is an Italian-born American monster truck driver and former professional wrestler. She is currently working for National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a producer. In 2015, she h ...

over the

WWF Women's Championship WWF may refer to: Non-profit organizations *World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund, a nature conservation group *World Water Forum, an international forum for water issues *Working Women's Forum, a training, trade and credit union in In ...

. After holding the title once, she also competed in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

(WCW). In 1998, Nakano began competing as a professional golfer, and in 2006, she joined a tour with the

Ladies Professional Golf Association The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Infor ...

(LPGA).

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (1983–1996)

Nakano's career as a professional wrestler began in

(AJW) organization in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

when she was 15 years old. After winning the

AJW Junior Championship The AJW Junior Championship was a tertiary singles title in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. The title started in 1980 and was retired in April 2005 when the promotion closed. The prize was contested among wrestlers with less than two years of e ...

at the age of 16 in 1984, Information also available a
Solie's Title Histories
her

was changed to Bull Nakano. In July 1985, she won the

AJW Championship The AJW Championship was a tertiary belt in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. The first champion, in 1980, was Rimi Yokota. During the title's history, no one held the belt more than two times. The belt was abandoned in 2005 after ...

, which she held for the next three years. Meanwhile, she teamed with

—who was also her mentor—as a pair of

villains A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

. With Matsumoto as her partner, Nakano won the

WWWA World Tag Team Championship The World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA) World Tag Team Championship was the top doubles championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) from 1970 until it closed in 2005. During those years the title was held by many of the most famo ...

in August 1986. Nakano and Matsumoto also wrestled for the

in 1986 against the team of

Velvet McIntyre Velvet McIntyre (born November 24, 1962) is an Irish-Canadian retired professional wrestler. After beginning her career in 1980, she wrestled in American independent promotions before joining the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). She ...

and

Dawn Marie Johnston Dawn Marie Johnston is a former professional wrestler, better known by her ring name, Dawn Marie. She was active in the 1980s and early 1990s. She wrestled primarily in Japan, National Wrestling Federation (NWF), World Wrestling Federation (WWF), ...

. After Matsumoto's retirement, Nakano won the WWWA World Tag Team Championship a second and third time, with

Condor Saito Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vult ...

in 1987 and

Grizzly Iwamoto The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

in 1988. As a singles wrestler, she won the 1988 Japan Grand Prix tournament in June. One year later in June 1989, she also defeated

Mitsuko Nishiwaki Mitsuko is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings The name Mitsuko is generally written with the kanji characters 光 and 子 which, when translated into English can mean "light, child" or "shining, child".http://www.20knames.com/femal ...

to win AJW's

All Pacific Championship The All Pacific Championship was the secondary singles women's professional wrestling title in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling or AJW. The belt was started as the Hawaiian Pacific Championship in 1977 and was renamed the All Pacific Championship ...

, which she lost to

Noriyo Tateno (born December 1, 1965) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who is best known as one half of the tag team Jumping Bomb Angels with Itsuki Yamazaki. She worked in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, WWF and has been working in Ladies Le ...

in November. Several months later in January 1990, Nakano won a tournament final to win the vacant

WWWA World Single Championship The was the top singles women's professional wrestling championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) from 1970 until it closed in 2005. It was also known in ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' and other London Publishing wrestling magazines as ...

. She held the title for nearly three years, before dropping it to Aja Kong in November 1992. Afterward, AJW's use of Nakano in storylines and matches decreased.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1992–1993)

After she stopped working for AJW, Nakano traveled to Mexico in June 1992, where she was a finalist in a 12-woman

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

and later defeated

Lola González María Dolores González (born March 2, 1959) is a Mexican professional wrestler, known by her ringname Lola González, who has competed in the Universal Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association for over three decades. At one time ...

to become

's first World Women's Champion. She lost the title to

Xóchitl Hamada is a Mexican semi-retired ''Luchadora'' or professional wrestler. She is the daughter of professional wrestler Gran Hamada, the sister of wrestler Ayako Hamada and the sister-in-law of Tiger Mask IV. Hamada was once married to Mexican wrestler ...

in March 1993.

World Wrestling Federation (1994–1995)

She then made her way to the United States and competed for the

(WWF) once again. Debuting as an associate of

Luna Vachon Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon ( ; January 12, 1962 – August 27, 2010) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon.Lisa S. Davis,Ex-wrestler Luna Vachon, 48, found dead", ''Tampa Bay Online'' (August 31, 2010). Over ...

, Nakano competed against the

WWF Women's Champion WWF may refer to: Non-profit organizations *World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund, a nature conservation group *World Water Forum, an international forum for water issues *Working Women's Forum, a training, trade and credit union in In ...

in August 1994 at

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's secon ...

, but failed to win the title. Nakano eventually defeated Blayze for the title on November 20, 1994 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

at the

Big Egg Wrestling Universe The Big Egg Wrestling Universe was a professional wrestling event held by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) inside the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on November 20, 1994 and was attended by 32,500 fans. However, some sources claim the event was at ...

event. Nakano held the title for approximately five months, until losing it back to Blayze on the April 3, 1995 episode of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' ending her reign at 134 days. The WWF had planned on bringing in

Bertha Faye Rhonda Ann Singh (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler. After training with Mildred Burke, she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper. In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede ...

to feud with Nakano while Blayze got plastic surgery on her nose and

breasts The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...

, but Nakano was found in possession of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and quickly fired from the company.

World Championship Wrestling (1995–1996)

In 1995, Nakano also traveled to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, where she was part of the joint

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

/ World Championship Wrestling (WCW)

Collision in Korea Collision in Korea, officially known as the , was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event jointly produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event featured 15 matches over two evenings on April ...

event in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

that set a record for attendance at a professional wrestling event with 150,000 spectators. At the event, Nakano and

Akira Hokuto is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known as . Career Born Hisako Uno, Hokuto became a professional wrestler in the wake of the enormous popularity of tag team the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka), and was responsi ...

defeated

Manami Toyota is a retired professional wrestler, best known for her work with the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. She is considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Following AJW's closure, she continued to work ...

and

Mariko Yoshida is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name . She is best known for her work with the ARSION professional wrestling promotion, where she was also head trainer. Professional wrestling career Yoshida debuted for All Japan ...

. Later that year, she competed at WCW's World War 3 pay-per-view event, teaming with Akira Hokuto to defeat the team of

Cutie Suzuki (born October 22, 1969, as ), better known by her ring name , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who mostly wrestled for JWP Joshi Puroresu. In 1990 she was featured in an all female wrestling game based on her titled '' Cutie Suzuki ...

and

Mayumi Ozaki (born October 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently working for Oz Academy. Career Ozaki debuted in a tag team match in August, 1986. In her career, she held the WWWA tag titles with Dynamite Kansai from April 11, 19 ...

. Nakano—with

Sonny Onoo Kazuo Sonny Onoo (born July 29, 1962) is a Japanese-American professional wrestling manager, and actor better known by his ring name Sonny Onoo. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling between 1995 and 1999 as the m ...

as her manager—continued her feud with Blayze, who was now known as Madusa, at WCW's Hog Wild event in August 1996; Madusa defeated Nakano in the match with the stipulation that she was then allowed to destroy Nakano's motorcycle. In subsequent years, Madusa called Nakano "a good-hearted person" and an "incredible talent", with whom she had some of her best matches.

Retirement

Due to injuries, Bull Nakano retired from professional wrestling in 1997. On January 8, 2012, Nakano produced her own professional wrestling event, titled "Empress", which saw her recreate her most famous matches with her old opponents. The event ended with Nakano's official retirement ceremony, though she had not been an active wrestler for several years.

Rise Wrestling (2017)

It was announced at

Rise Wrestling Rise Wrestling (stylized as RiSE Wrestling or RISE Wrestling and often referred to simply as RiSE) was an American, independent women's professional wrestling promotion. It airs events on Internet pay-per-view (iPPV by subscription) and hosts l ...

's Bellatrix 26/Rise 4 event on September 15, 2017, that Bull Nakano would join the promotion as a facilitator, along with

Cheerleader Melissa Melissa Anderson (born August 17, 1982) is an American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Cheerleader Melissa. She is best known for her work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where she worked as Alissa Flash and Raisha Saeed ...

and Madusa, Nakano's former rival. Nakano turned heel during her appearance at Rise 6 on December 1, when she attacked Melissa during her match against Kikyo, and formed a modified version of her heel faction, Gokumon-To; aligning with Kikyo, Dynamite DiDi, and

Kris Wolf Kris Hernandez (born August 12, 1984) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Kris Wolf. She wrestled for World Wonder Ring Stardom in Japan, where she is a former High Speed Champion, as well as a founding member ...

. Nakano appeared later in the event as a heel manager for Kris Wolf in her match against

Shotzi Blackheart Ashley Louise Urbanski (born March 14, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and singer. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Shotzi (shortened from her previous ring name Shotzi Bla ...

(who had Madusa in her corner), and provided interference that led to Wolf defeating Blackheart.

Golf career

Nakano became a professional golfer in 1998. In November 2004, Nakano played in the Futures Tour Qualifying Tournament in Florida, but ended the tournament in 250th place of 251. The following year, she ended the tournament in 261st place of 271. As a result, she failed to qualify for the

(LPGA). Nakano later qualified for the LPGA and joined the Duramed Futures Tour in January 2006.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) **

( 3 times) – with

(1), Condor Saito (1), and Grizzly Iwamoto (1) **

Japan Grand Prix The Japan Grand Prix was an annual professional wrestling tournament held by the promotion All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) to determine the number one contender for the promotion's highest achievement, the WWWA World Single Championship. ...

(

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

) **

Tag League the Best __NOTOC__ The was an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament, founded by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), which held it from 1985 to 2004 (with no tournament taking place in 1990). After the folding of AJW in 2005, the tournament wa ...

( 1985) – with Dump Matsumoto **AJW Hall of Fame (1998) *

CMLL World Women's Championship The CMLL World Women's Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Femenil de CMLL'' in Spanish) is the championship in women's professional wrestling that is most highly promoted by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) ...

( 1 time) *

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four We ...

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

( Class of 2001) *

( 1 time) **

Slammy Award The Slammy Awards is a concept used by WWE, where awards, similar to the Academy and Grammy Awards, are given to professional wrestlers and other individuals within WWE, such as commentators and managers. Introduced in 1986, there have been 13 e ...

(1 time) *** Most Devastating (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

)

References

External links

*
Online World of Wrestling profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakano, Bull 1968 births Japanese female golfers Japanese female professional wrestlers Living people People from Kawaguchi, Saitama Sportspeople from Orlando, Florida Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture WWF/WWE Women's Champions Golfers from Orlando, Florida 20th-century professional wrestlers CMLL World Women's Champions