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 (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 has ...

over the WWF Women's Championship. 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 All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (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 as ...

. With Matsumoto as her partner, Nakano won the WWWA World Tag Team Championship in August 1986. Nakano and Matsumoto also wrestled for the

in 1986 against the team of Velvet McIntyre and Dawn Marie Johnston. After Matsumoto's retirement, Nakano won the WWWA World Tag Team Championship a second and third time, with Condor Saito in 1987 and Grizzly Iwamoto 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 to win AJW's All Pacific Championship, which she lost to Noriyo Tateno in November. Several months later in January 1990, Nakano won a tournament final to win the vacant WWWA World Single Championship. 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 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, 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, 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 W ...

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 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 defeated Manami Toyota 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 W ...

. 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 n ...

and Mayumi Ozaki. Nakano—with Sonny Onoo 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's

Bellatrix Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in the constellation of Orion, positioned 5° west of the red supergiant Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). It has the Bayer designation γ Orionis, which is Latinized to Gamma Orionis. With a slightly va ...

26/Rise 4 event on September 15, 2017, that Bull Nakano would join the promotion as a facilitator, along with Cheerleader Melissa 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 (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

* All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling **

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) ** All Pacific Championship ( 1 time) ** WWWA World Single Championship ( 1 time) ** WWWA World Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with

(1), Condor Saito (1), and Grizzly Iwamoto (1) ** Japan Grand Prix (

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 (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

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

** CMLL World Women's Championship ( 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 ( Class of 2001) *

** WWF Women's Championship ( 1 time) ** Slammy Award (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