is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. She started her career in 1995, working for the Gaea Japan promotion, where she became a one-time AAAW Single Champion and a record five-time AAAW Tag Team Champion. She was also notably one of the four founding members of the

Oz Academy is a Japanese '' joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Mayumi Ozaki. The promotion's full official name is . In addition to the contracted members of the roster, Oz Academy has also employed some of the top f ...

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

. Following the folding of Gaea Japan in 2005, Nagashima affiliated herself with Oz Academy, now a full-time promotion, where she has become a three-time Oz Academy Tag Team Champion and a one-time Oz Academy Openweight Champion, holding the record for the longest reign in the title's history. Nagashima remained with Oz Academy until August 2015, after which she became a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

Early life

Nagashima grew up a fan of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

and began practising

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

and

amateur wrestling Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, finishing third at the class of the All Japan Women's Open Championship games.

Professional wrestling career

Gaea Japan (1995–2005)

Instead of continuing her amateur wrestling career in a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, Nagashima took part in an audition held by professional wrestling promotion, Gaea Japan, which she passed with flying colors. Nagashima eventually made her in-ring debut at Gaea Japan's inaugural event on April 15, 1995, wrestling

Toshie Uematsu is a female Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for her popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. She was one of the members of the first class of wrestlers trained by Chigusa Nagayo when Nagayo formed the GAEA Japan promotion. Uematsu f ...

to a twenty-one-minute draw. On April 29, 1996, Nagashima defeated Sonoko Kato in the finals of a tournament contested between Gaea Japan's rookies. On July 31, Nagashima turned on the Gaea Japan Seikigun ("regular army") and joined forces with

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

, Carlos Amano and Sugar Sato, forming a

, which later became known as

. As a result, Nagashima began working as a villainous character for the first time in her career. Nagashima also made guest appearances for the

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

promotion, where she and Sato won the

AJW Tag Team Championship The AJW Tag Team Championship was the secondary tag team championship (professional wrestling), title in the Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestl ...

, Nagashima's first title in professional wrestling, on September 1, 1996. From 1998 to 2001, Nagashima and Sato also won Gaea Japan's tag team championship, the

AAAW Tag Team Championship The AAAW Tag Team Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship formerly contested in the Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion Gaea Japan. The title which was originally known as the AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team C ...

, three times. In May 2000, Nagashima and Sato ended their longtime partnership with Mayumi Ozaki by quitting her Himiko stable, the most recent incarnation of Oz Academy, and returning to Gaea Japan Seikigun. On June 2, 2002, Nagashima first won a tournament during an afternoon show to become the number one contender to Gaea Japan's top title, the

AAAW Single Championship The AAAW (All Asia Athlete Women's) Single Championship or AAAW Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship formerly contested in the Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion Gaea Japan until 2005 after the promotion wa ...

, and later that same day, during an evening show, defeated

Meiko Satomura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. She is known for her time in American promotion WWE and in Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling. She is the former two-time Sendai Girls World Champion and a former one-time NXT UK Wom ...

to become the new champion, while also becoming the lightest champion in the title's history. She lost the title to

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

on October 20. During the next two years, Nagashima went on to win the AAAW Tag Team Championship two more times, once with Meiko Satomura and once with old partner Sugar Sato. Nagashima's five tag team title reigns are a Gaea Japan record. On April 10, 2005, Gaea Japan held its final event before going out of business, during which Nagashima and Sato defeated

Ran Yu-Yu is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . Best known as a tag team wrestler, Yu-Yu held the JWP Tag Team Championship a record seven times, the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship three times, the AA ...

and Toshie Uematsu, the final AAAW Tag Team Champions, in a non-title match.

Oz Academy (2005–2015)

Following the folding of Gaea Japan, Nagashima affiliated herself with Mayumi Ozaki's Oz Academy promotion, which she now had turned into a full promotion. During 2005, Nagashima also made several appearances for the Hustle promotion, working under a

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

as "Blanca X". In early 2006, Nagashima, along with several other Oz Academy workers, made her first trip to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, taking part in events held by

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

. Back in Oz Academy, as representatives of the Oz Seikigun, Nagashima and fellow Gaea Japan alum Sonoko Kato became three-time

Oz Academy Tag Team Champions The Oz Academy Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Oz Academy professional wrestling promotion. The championship was introduced on July 13, 2008, when Carlos ...

. In early 2008, Nagashima returned to Mexico's AAA, taking part in the Reina de Reinas Universal Tournament, from which she was eliminated by Mari Apache. On September 23, 2011, Nagashima turned on the Oz Seikigun (正規軍) and joined the villainous Seikigun (正危軍), another incarnation of the original Oz Academy stable, after the stable's leader Mayumi Ozaki had announced that she was only going to be defending the Oz Academy Openweight Championship against her stablemates. On February 26, 2012, Nagashima defeated Seikigun stablemates

Hiroyo Matsumoto is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer. Emi Sakura gave her the nickname of because Matsumoto broke a wall in the Ichigaya arena during her Ice Ribbon debut. She is best known with other ...

, Ran Yu-Yu and

Yumi Ohka , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Originally trained by the now defunct JDStar Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, Ohka now works for Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave. She is a former two-time Wave S ...

to become the number one contender to the Oz Academy Openweight Championship. On March 25, Nagashima defeated Ozaki in a Dress Up Wild Fight 30 minute Time of the Trial match to become the new Oz Academy Openweight Championship. Initially a reluctant member of Seikigun, Nagashima embraced her "dark side" only after cheating to successfully defend the Oz Academy Openweight Championship against Hiroyo Matsumoto on August 19. Nagashima made her second successful title defense on January 13, 2013, against Seikigun's newest member,

Mio Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestling referee and semi-retired professional wrestler. She started her career in March 2007, working alongside her sister Io Shirai on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Jos ...

. On April 24, Nagashima lost the Oz Academy Openweight Championship to Akino in her third defense, ending her reign at 395 days, the longest in the title's history. Afterwards, Nagashima came to odds with her Seikigun stablemates, which led to a

Hair vs. Hair match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

on September 15, where Maymi Ozaki, waging both her own and the stable's

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Mika Nishio's hairs, defeated Nagashima, forcing her to have her head shaved. Nagashima finally turned on Ozaki and the Seikigun on January 12, 2014. On February 9, Nagashima suffered a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

rupture in her left knee, forcing her to undergo surgery on February 18. After a full year of being sidelined, Nagashima returned to the ring on March 1, 2015, in a match, where she was defeated by

Hikaru Shida is a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, actress, and model. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a former three-time AEW Women's World Champion, with her first reign being the longest in the title's history. She ...

. On July 19, Nagashima announced she was leaving Oz Academy and becoming a

following August 23. In her final match under an Oz Academy contract, Nagashima defeated

Ayako Hamada is a Japanese Mexican professional wrestler. During her 20-year career, Hamada wrestled for various promotions, including All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Gaea Japan and Pro Wrestling Wave in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and L ...

Freelancing (2015–present)

Nagashima's first major match since becoming a freelancer took place on September 23, 2015, when she unsuccessfully challenged Ayako Hamada for

Pro Wrestling Wave is a women's professional wrestling, or Joshi Puroresu, promotion created in 2007 after the dissolution and closure of JDStar. The company was formed by Mikiko Futagami, or Mikiko Futagami, Gami, former JDStar wrestler Yumi Ohka, and former JDS ...

's Single Championship. On September 19, 2016, Nagashima and Megumi Yabushita, representing the Crysis stable, defeated Keiko Aono and

Kyoko Inoue is a Japanese female professional wrestler currently signed to World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. She has held the WWWA World Single Championship three times, and is the first woman to win a men's title in Japan. Inoue is the founder of NEO J ...

to win World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana's vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) – with Sugar Sato * Gaea Japan **

(

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) ** AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship / AAAW Tag Team Championship ( 6 times) – with Sugar Sato (4),

(1) and

Takumi Iroha is a Japanese professional wrestler working for Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling. She also competes in Seadlinnng, where she is a former Beyond the Sea Champion. Iroha was trained by Fuka Kakimoto and made her debut in April 2013 for World ...

(1) **AAAW Single Championship Next Challenger Tournament (2002) **Rookie League (1996) **Tag Team Tournament (1996) – with Sugar Sato * Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling **AAAW Single Championship (2 times) **AAAW Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with

** Oz Academy Openweight Championship ( 1 time) ** Oz Academy Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Sonoko Kato **Iron Woman Tag Tournament (2004) – with

Amazing Kong Kia Michelle Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American actress and semi-retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with TNA Wrestling under the ring name Awesome Kong. She also worked with Ring ...

**Best Wizard Award (3 times) ***Best Bout Award (2013) vs.

on September 15 ***Best Tag Team Match Award (2010) ***Best Tag Team Match Award (2011) with Sonoko Kato vs.

and

Tomoka Nakagawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. After being trained by Taka Michinoku, she started her career in his Kaientai Dojo promotion in September 2004. After leaving Kaientai Dojo in 2007, Nakagawa briefly joined Ibuki, where she underw ...

on January 9 * ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' ** Ranked No. 177 of the top 250 female singles wrestlers in the '' PWI Women's 250'' in 2023 *

** Catch the Wave Award (1 time) *** Best Performance Award (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) as part of the Wonderful World Fairy Family *

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana often abbreviated simply as Diana is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. It was founded by Kyoko Inoue in 2010. History On July 29, 2010, ...

** WWWD Queen Elizabeth Championship ( 1 time) ** WWWD World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Megumi Yabushita

Notes

Luchas de Apuestas record

Footnotes

References

External links

Oz Academy profile

Hustle profile

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagashima, Chikayo 1976 births 20th-century female professional wrestlers 20th-century Japanese professional wrestlers 21st-century female professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers Japanese female professional wrestlers Living people People from Matsudo Professional wrestlers from Chiba Prefecture Oz Academy Openweight Champions Oz Academy Tag Team Champions AAAW Single Champions AAAW Tag Team Champions World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Tag Team Champions World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Queen Elizabeth Champions AJW Tag Team Champions