Last night, I spent hours watching YouTube videos with no specific purpose. After watching a few videos on US politics, I ended up watching several female professional wrestling matches in Japan in the 1980s and 90s. Back then, I was still in elementary school. My father was fond of watching female wrestling matches, which aired on TV on Sunday afternoons, and being close to my dad, I naturally joined him in those viewings in our living room.
It didn’t take me too long to become a fan of professional female wrestling and start watching the broadcasts religiously. What truly fascinated me about it was the element of surprise where those young females, some of whom looking quite pretty and even elegant, could fight with each other so ferociously within the confines of the wrestling ring.
There was also an element of entertainment, where the wrestlers made singing performances before the matches, in a manner almost reminiscent of pop idols. For dramatic effect, the wrestlers were mainly divided into two camps - the goodies, who wore pretty make-up and always fought in an honorable way, and the baddies, who wore scary make-up and resorted to all manner of underhanded tactics, like hitting their opponents savagely with a wooden sword or metal can.
About two years ago, I chanced upon the YouTube channel of the former wrestler Bull Nakano, one of the most notorious baddies back in the day, boasting a height of 170 cm (approximately 5 feet and 7 inches) and a weight of 115 kg (approximately 254 pounds) at her heaviest. She was active as a wrestler from 1983 to 1997.
Although I didn’t know much about Nakano, after watching one of her interview videos, I immediately became a fan. Quite in contrast to the scary and ruthless image she projected as a wrestler, she has slimmed down drastically since she retired, and has become a good-looking middle-aged woman with a gentle and affable demeanor.
Bull Nakano’s YouTube channel mainly consists of videos in which she interviews other female wrestlers or recounts her own experiences of fighting as a baddie, which I find absolutely fascinating. She conducts her interviews in a very friendly and respectful manner, so I can watch her videos without feeling too much stress, despite the gruesome subject matter that they inevitably deal with.
Needless to say, I am against any form of violence in real life, but I hold those professional wrestlers in high regard, and respect their choice to work as fighters for a living. I wish them well and hope they don’t get injured too badly. In particular, as an avid fan of Bull Nakano, I wish her continued success in the coming years, and will keep watching her videos on YouTube to support her excellent work.
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