Thread by @Kadaveri

For anyone watching this show who wants to see the real-life matches it's based on, I'll post links in this thread and explain a bit of the history. There's a mix of truth and fiction here, though sometimes the real story is even wilder than the fiction!

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1830380113306722427

I'll also go through how ppl were depicted and note if it's true, false, or a bit of both.
EPISODE 1:
Kaoru Matsumoto's father was a cheating alcoholic who abused his wife and she hated him?
TRUE: In Kaoru's own words, she became a wrestler because "I wanted to kill my father."

Kaoru was from a poor family, and she raised money as a child by collecting empty bottles to sell? TRUE.
Kaoru was a wrestling fan as a child? TRUE. Though from what I've read, she was more a fan of Mach Fumiaki (a wrestler not depicted in the show) than Jackie Sato.

EPISODE 1 MATCH 1 - Jackie Sato vs. Maki Ueda (Loser Must Retire)
A real match. You can watch it here!
The match was a 'shoot', i.e. had no predetermined winner? FALSE. Jackie winning was the "script" as Maki was retiring anyway for other reasons.

So this stuff in the Netflix show about some matches having no predetermined winner is just made up?
FALSE. The show fudged the details, but AJW did do a mix of normal 'fake' wrestling matches and "shoot pin rules" contests, the audience weren't explicitly told which was which.

What do you mean "shoot pin rules"?
I answered this here: and MoskowDiscow provides extra details here:

https://x.com/Kadaveri/status/1837249759389602262

https://x.com/MoskowDiskow/status/1837278470843388363

It took a long time for Kaoru Matsumoto to become a wrestler? TRUE. Even more true than the show depicts actually. She first tried out for AJW in 1976, after failing her first two tryouts, was accepted in 1979, and debuted in late 1980.

Kaoru Matsumoto & Chigusa Nagayo were best friends in the early days? KINDA. Well, they were friends, but from their interviews I don't think they were ever BEST friends like the show depicts. Kaoru was actually closer with Tomoko/Lioness Asuka than she was Chigusa.

EPISODE 2 MATCH 1 - Kaoru Matsumoto vs. Monster Ripper. AFAIK, not a real match. I have to caveat that whenever I say this that there are footage gaps, so it's possible we just don't have it on tape rather than it's outright made up for the show.

EPISODE 2 MATCH 2 - Chigusa Nagayo & Yukari Omori vs. Ayumi Hori & "Lovely Yoneyama". Not a real match, Lovely is also not a real wrestler. I suspect she's a stand in for Nancy Kumi, who has a reputation for being a real nasty bully, so I think Netflix dodged depicting her

EPISODE 2 MATCH 3 - Jackie Sato vs. Rimi Yokota. A real match! You can watch it on my 80s Joshi set here

AJW double-crossed Jackie by having Yokota beat her for real? KINDA. It's true that Yokota beat Jackie for real. But it wasn't a real screwjob, the match was shoot pin rules. Jackie wasn't tricked into it, she just lost. Albeit, it was obvious Yokota would win with those rules

EPISODE 2 MATCH 4 - Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka. A real match. It happened on 1/4/83 and you can watch it here: It was also under shoot pin rules.

Chigusa planned to retire after this match? TRUE. The story is the match was so good because Chigusa decided this was her last match so went all out, but when she went to the boss to say she's quitting, he praised her performance so heavily she changed her mind before saying it.

EPISODE 3 MATCH 1 - Crush Gals vs. Dynamite Gals. Probably based on a real match that happened on 8/27/83. Sadly, there's no available footage of it for me to show you.

Jaguar Yokota and Lioness Asuka got their nicknames in the same meeting? FALSE. Lioness was still wrestling as 'Tomoko Kitamura' for at least 3 months after Rimi Yokota became Jaguar Yokota. But that's ok, it's just a TV drama not a documentary.

EPISODE 3 MATCH 2 - Crush Gals vs. Devil Masami & Kaoru Matsumoto. Afaik, not a real match. If it actually happened in 1983, would have probably looked something like that though.

EPISODE 3 MATCH 3 - Crush Gals vs. Jaguar Yokota & Lovely Yoneyama. Obvs not a real match as Lovely doesn't exist. However, it is slightly reminiscent of this real match - Crush Gals vs. Jaguar Yokota/Noriyo Tateno, which you can watch here:

So Jaguar Yokota wanted a "unscripted" match with the Crush Gals so she could beat them easily, but tapped out to Chigusa Nagayo's sharpshooter? FALSE. This is 1 scene I thought was stupid tbh. Jaguar (a real skilled fighter) would have steamrolled Chigusa if it was real

EPISODE 3 MATCH 4 - Crush Gals vs. Devil Masami & Masked Yu. Not a real match. I guess the show created it because the debut of "Dump" was not that dramatic in real life. She announced her name change after running a 10km race, which you can see here:

EPISODE 4 MATCH 4 - Crush Gals vs. Devil Masami & Dump Matsumoto. A real match! And a famous one for being the moment the Devil Army break up and Dump starts her own group. You can watch it here:

Shiro Abe refereed that match and passed Dump weapon's behind her back? FALSE. It looked to me that they were borrowing from a scene that happened in a different real match - Crush Gals vs. Dump Matsumoto & Rossy Moreno 1/5/85, which you can see here: vk.com/video640112534…

The Japan Grand Prix was a tournament where all the matches had no predetermined winner? FALSE. This was an unnecessary embellishment imo. Of course it's AJW so things weren't necessarily all 'scripted', but afaik the winner of every match was known and agreed in advance

EPISODE 4 MATCH 2 - Devil Masami vs. Lioness Asuka. A real match! You can watch it here: This was also the opening of the Japan Grand Prix tournament.vk.com/video640112534…

AJW got its prime time TV slot back with the Japan Grand Prix? FALSE. AJW got its prime time slot back in July 1984, the Japan Grand Prix didn't start until March 15th 1985. We're well into the boom period by this point in real life.

EPISODE 4 MATCH 3 - Chigusa Nagayo vs. Crane Yu. A match that would definitely have happened due to tournament rules, but I don't believe it was ever televised.

EPISODE 4 MATCH 4 - Crane Yu vs. Dump Matsumoto 4/25/85. A real match! Except it wasn't the "semi-final", it was just part of the round robin stage. You can watch it here: vk.com/video640112534…

Another note on this match. It wasn't a "no predetermined winner" like the show depicts, but the scene of Crane Yu being screwed over is actually loosely based on fact.

https://x.com/Kadaveri/status/1837514718795157919

So was Dump Matsumoto actually an asshole in real life as well? FALSE. Everyone got into the odd fight in AJW, but everyone who was there seems to agree Dump was a really nice person behind the scenes who didn't tolerate bullying. Her persona was an act.

Jaguar Yokota was being put out to pasture as the Crush Gals became the top stars? FALSE. She was never as big a star, but Jaguar was still a very popular wrestler and the company loved her. She was NOT forced to retire. She retired out of choice after injuries started piling up.

Asuka was angry at Yokota for retiring? TRUE. She'd wanted to have a shoot pin rules match with Jaguar, as probably the only wrestler who could beat her. The scene in the show is based on a real incident during Jaguar's retirement ceremony, see here: vk.com/video640112534…

EPISODE 5 MATCH 1 - Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto Haircut Death Match - 8/28/85. Obviously this is real... but if there's anyone reading who still hasn't seen it you need to go fix this: vk.com/video640112534…

Dump went "off script" in the Haircut Deathmatch? FALSE. The show made this up for some reason. I think what they were trying to get across is virtually everyone watching assumed Chigusa would win. Her losing and getting shaved was one of the biggest shocks in wrestling ever

Chigusa and Asuka didn't always get on? TRUE. They had their ups and downs and were never really best friends. The show doesn't go into details, but by 1986 Asuka and Chigusa really disliked each other. Asuka quit Crush Gals that year, costing the company a load of money.

EPISODE 5 - MATCH 2. Dump Matsumoto's Retirement Match. A real match. You can watch it here: vk.com/video640112534…

Oh and as a bonus. The scene in Episode 4 where Dump crashes a variety TV show? That also actually happened, although it was Bull Nakano with her. You can watch it here:

SORRY I MISSED A MATCH
EPISODE 4 - MATCH 5. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka 4/7/85. A real match! But not a semi-final, just part of the round robin stage of the tournament. You can see it here: vk.com/video640112534…

These wrestlers really bled all over the place after being stabbed with scissors on a prime time TV show aimed at schoolgirls? TRUE. I don't know what else to tell you. There was some trickery to make it look more brutal than it really was, but it wasn't CGI or fake blood

In their rookies days Chigusa & Kaoru once sneaked out of the AJW dojo at night and went to a disco together? TRUE. Here's a translated interview of Dump telling the story: