Born Erika Shishido, her mother is Japanese and her father, the late Henry Manigault,[7] was anAfrican-American who was a member of theUS Army atTachikawa Airfield.[8] Although her parents were de facto married, they were forced to divorce when Erika was five years old, due to her father's suddenrepatriation, and grew up in a single-mother family. Her mother was ostracized by all her relatives who did not like her relationship with Erika's father.[citation needed]
Erika and her mother moved fromTachikawa toAkishima, Tokyo when Erika was in the 5th grade of elementary school. Erika started learningkarate at the recommendation of her mother from elementary school. Erika was teased for her "mixed blood" and had fights almost daily, and she continued to suffer from seriousbullying up until she graduated from junior high school. She was part of thevolleyball club in her junior high school.[citation needed]
Shishido was trained byAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) and graduated as part of their class of 1986. She made her debut that summer againstNoriyo Toyoda.[3] She immediately joinedDump Matsumoto'sheelstable Gokuaku Domei ("Atrocious Alliance"), along with classmate and tag team partner Nobuko Kimura. After the stable dissolved in 1988 due to Matsumoto's retirement, Shishido and Kimura went their separate ways, but re-formed in 1990 as Jungle Jack. Now called Aja Kong and Bison Kimura, they entered a two-year feud against their former alliesBull Nakano and her heel stable Gokumon-to. During their partnership they won theWWWA World Tag Team Championship twice. They lost ahair versus hair match on January 11, 1991, resulting in both women being shaved bald.
Kong herself also pursued Nakano for theWWWA World Single Championship during the early 1990s. She failed in several attempts before finally achieving her goal on November 15, 1992, ending Nakano's three-year reign.
In 1995, Kong made an appearance in the AmericanWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) as the sole survivor of a women's elimination match at the pay-per-viewSurvivor Series by pinning all 4 members of her opposing team, includingWWF Women's Champion,Alundra Blayze.[9] Kong also appeared on two episodes ofMonday Night Raw and was victorious in both bouts. During one bout, she broke the nose of Chaparita Asari.
Kong was being built up as a challenger for the WWF Women's Championship held by Alundra Blayze. Kong was scheduled to face Blayze at theRoyal Rumble pay-per-view in January 1996,[citation needed] but the company elected to end its women's division after Alundra Blayze showed up onWCW Monday Nitro with the WWF Women's championship and threw the belt into a garbage can.
In 1997, Kong left AJW and started the independent promotion Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion (usually referred to as simplyArsion). She led the organization until February 12, 2001, when she walked out of a tag team match and announced she was quitting.
Kong also wrestled forMayumi Ozaki's promotion,Oz Academy where she is affiliated with the Jungle Jack 21 stable.[3] She has also held the promotion's championship.
Freelance in the United States (2011–2012, 2017–2019)
In December 2011, Kong took part in American promotionChikara'sJoshiMania weekend, losing toSara Del Rey in the main event of night one on December 2.[14] The following day, Kong defeatedAyako Hamada in the main event.[15] On the third and final night of the tour, Kong teamed withMio Shirai andTsubasa Kuragaki to defeatHanako Nakamori, Manami Toyota andSawako Shimono in a six-woman tag team match.[16]
Kong returned to the United States on April 11, 2015, working forShimmer Women Athletes.[17] Kong was brought in as a surprise to take part in Tomoka Nakagawa's retirement event.[18]
Shishido's mother is Japanese and her father, who served in the military,[21] is African American.[21] Shishido has a half brother and sister via her father. She also has 2 nieces and 2 great nieces.[citation needed]
^InTV Asahi program "Anata ni aitai” (『あなたに逢いたい』 - "I want to meet you"), she searched for her father as part of her project, but because her father was a former soldier, they were not allowed to disclose information due to security issues and subsequently abandoned the search. Then at TBS broadcast ofInformation dramatic Mokugeki!, the subjected was revisited. They had discovered the identity of the man, but turned out he had already died.
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