 Nakano in 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Keiko Nakano (1968-01-08)8 January 1968 (age 57)[3] Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bull Nakano Keiko Nakano |
| Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 91 kg (201 lb)[2] |
| Billed from | Kawaguchi, Japan[1] |
| Trained by | All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling |
| Debut | 1983 |
| Retired | November 3, 2017 |
Keiko Aoki (青木 恵子,Aoki Keiko;néeNakano (中野), born 8 January 1968) is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler andprofessional golfer better known asBull Nakano (ブル中野,Burunakano). She began competing inAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) as a teenager under thering name Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was avillain, who oftenteamed with her mentorDump Matsumoto. 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'sConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), becoming its firstWorld Women's Champion. In 1994, she made her way to theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), where she hadfeuded withAlundra Blayze over theWWF Women's Championship. After holding the title once, she also competed inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1998, Nakano began competing as a professional golfer, and in 2006, she joined a tour with theLadies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She was inducted into theWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame on 2001 and was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame in 2024.
Nakano's career as a professional wrestler began inAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) organization inJapan when she was 15 years old.[1][4] After winning theAJW Junior Championship at the age of 16 in 1984,[5] herring name was changed toBull Nakano.[4] In July 1985, she won theAJW Championship, which she held for the next three years.[6] Meanwhile, she teamed withDump Matsumoto, who was also her mentor, as a pair ofheels.[4] With Matsumoto as her partner, Nakano won theWWWA World Tag Team Championship in August 1986.[7] Nakano and Matsumoto also wrestled for theWorld Wrestling Federation in 1986 against the team ofVelvet McIntyre andDawn Marie Johnston.[1][8]
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.[7] As a singles wrestler, she won the 1988Japan Grand Prix in June.[9] One year later in June 1989, she also defeated Mitsuko Nishiwaki to win AJW'sAll Pacific Championship, which she lost toNoriyo Tateno in November.[10] Around the start of the 1990s, Nakano began to be positioned as theace of AJW.[11] In January 1990, Nakano won a tournament final to win the vacantWWWA World Single Championship.[12] She held the title for nearly three years,[4] before dropping it toAja Kong in November 1992.[12] Afterward, AJW's use of Nakano in storylines and matches decreased.[4][12]
After she stopped working for AJW, Nakano traveled to Mexico in June 1992, where she was a finalist in a 12-womanbattle royal and later defeatedLola González to becomeConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's firstWorld Women's Champion.[13] She lost the title toXóchitl Hamada in March 1993.[13]
She then made her way to the United States and competed for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) once again. Debuting as an associate ofLuna Vachon, Nakano competed against theWWF Women's Champion,Alundra Blayze in August 1994 atSummerSlam, but failed to win the title.[14][15] Nakano eventually defeated Blayze for the title on November 20, 1994, inTokyo at theBig Egg Wrestling Universe event.[1][16][17] Among her defenses was a victory overKyoko Inoue in March 1995 in the semi-main event ofAJW's Wrestling QueendomVictory show.[18][19] Nakano's title run lasted for approximately five months, until she lost it back to Blayze on the April 3, 1995, episode ofRaw (in a match taped weeks prior) ending her reign at 134 days.[16][20] The rematch occurred in the wake ofWrestlemania XI the night before. The WWF had planned on bringing inBertha Faye to feud with Nakano while Blayze got plastic surgery on her nose andbreasts.[21]
It would be her last match in the company, having been released soon after for allegedly being found inpossession of cocaine.[22]
In 1995, Nakano also traveled toNorth Korea, where she was part of the jointNew Japan Pro-Wrestling/World Championship Wrestling (WCW)Collision in Korea event inPyongyang that set a record for attendance at a professional wrestling event with 150,000 spectators.[23] At the event, Nakano andAkira Hokuto defeatedManami Toyota andMariko Yoshida.[23] Later that year, she competed at WCW'sWorld War 3 pay-per-view event, teaming with Akira Hokuto to defeat the team ofCutie Suzuki andMayumi Ozaki.[24] Nakano—withSonny Onoo as her manager—continued her feud with Blayze, who was now known as Madusa, at WCW'sHog Wild event in August 1996; Madusa defeated Nakano in the match with the stipulation that she was then allowed to destroy Nakano's motorcycle.[2] In subsequent years, Madusa called Nakano "a good-hearted person" and an "incredible talent", with whom she had some of her best matches.[25]
Due to injuries, Bull Nakano retired from professional wrestling in 1997.[1] 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.[26]
It was announced atRise Wrestling'sBellatrix 26/Rise 4 event on September 15, 2017, that Bull Nakano would join the promotion as a facilitator, along withCheerleader 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, andKris Wolf. Nakano appeared later in the event as a heel manager for Kris Wolf in her match againstShotzi Blackheart (who had Madusa in her corner), and provided interference that led to Wolf defeating Blackheart.
On September 21, 2023, Bull appeared at the inaugural show for the US based, all-female Japanese pro wrestling promotion Sukeban, where she announced she would be the acting commissioner; she revealed the Sukeban World Championship, and announced the winner of the main event, Ichigo (Unagi) Sayaka, would face Commander (Arisa) Nakajima at the next show—crowning the first champion.
On 5 April 2024, Nakano was inducted into theWWE Hall of FameClass of 2024.[27] The induction speech was given byAlundra Blayze.
Nakano became a professional golfer in 1998.[3] In November 2004, Nakano played in the Futures Tour Qualifying Tournament in Florida, but ended the tournament in 250th place of 251.[28] The following year, she ended the tournament in 261st place of 271.[29] As a result, she failed to qualify for theLadies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).[30] Nakano later qualified for the LPGA and joined the Duramed Futures Tour in January 2006.[3]
,Cagematch,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling DatabaseLinks to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
