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32-537: The AJW Championship was a tertiary belt in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. The first champion, in 1980, was Rimi Yokota . During the title's history, no one held the belt more than two times. The belt was abandoned in 2005 after AJW was closed down. The AJW Championship first design was a brown belt that also represented the AJW Junior Championship. Later, its design

64-658: A WWWA tournament earlier that year in Los Angeles . On October 15, 1970, in Tokyo , Vagnone lost the WWWA title to Aiko Kyo , and AJW had a new world championship singles belt. The next year, AJW acquired the WWWA World Tag Team Championship as well, when Jumbo Miyamoto and Aiko Kyo were made the first champions on June 30, 1971. During the early 1970s, AJW's championship booking was dominated by

96-480: A comedic character who lived in a trailer park and dated Harvey Wippleman . (in an OWW radio interview Wippleman revealed that the two never got along well) WWF management originally wanted her to have an on-screen feud with Bull Nakano , but there was a change of plans after Nakano was charged with cocaine possession. Sing made her WWF debut on the April 3, 1995 episode of Monday Night Raw participating in

128-560: A hard time because they did not like losing to foreigners. Sing also had difficulty because of her youth and inexperience in the ring. Sing, however, was comforted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's Dynamite Kid , who had trained in Calgary. Sing won the WWWA World Single Championship from Jackie Sato on July 31, 1979. Despite losing the title to Sato six weeks later, she regained it on March 15, 1980. The title

160-524: A nightmare year for All Japan Women as the owners of All Japan Women's went bankrupt after losing money in real estate, the stock market and other business ventures. Due to this, they lost 14 wrestlers from July to September 1997. Kyoko Inoue , Etsuko Mita , Mima Shimoda , Chaparita Asari, Yoshiko Tamura and others left to form NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling . Toshiyo Yamada left for Gaea Japan . Aja Kong , Mariko Yoshida , Reggie Bennett , Yumi Fukawa and Rie Tamada left to form Arsion . In October 1997,

192-574: A sneak attack on Alundra Blayze , making it appear as if Blayze's nose had been broken. At SummerSlam , Faye defeated Blayze for the WWF Women's Championship and held the title until the October 23, 1995 airing of Monday Night Raw , where Blayze regained the title, ending Faye's reign at 57 days. As the WWF continued to neglect their women's division, Sing became tired of working there. Moreover, she

224-533: A wrestler from a young age and frequently beat up the neighborhood children, along with those in her kindergarten class. As a teenager, Singh approached members of the Hart wrestling family and asked to be trained, but she was rejected as they did not train women wrestlers at the time. Bret Hart , however, claims it had more to do with scheduling conflicts. During a trip to Hawaii in 1978, she saw Japanese women's wrestling on television and decided she wanted to pursue

256-502: The Nitro Girls dance troupe providing comic relief. Backstage, Sing was friends with the male, rather than the female, wrestlers. During her time in the WWF, she developed a close friendship with Owen Hart . After leaving WCW, Sing took a break from wrestling. In 2001, she worked as a caregiver to the disabled. According to her brother Tom, she had a "big heart" and "liked to look after people". On July 27, 2001, Sing died as

288-710: The Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan . This was at AJW's 30th anniversary event. All but two members of the Hall of Fame (indicated with a † ) were inducted at the initial ceremony. Rhonda Singh Rhonda Ann Sing (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler . After training with Mildred Burke , she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper . In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede Wrestling , where she

320-527: The 1980s, AJW continued to feature extraordinarily talented and popular female wrestlers, including Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Famers , Bull Nakano , Jaguar Yokota , Devil Masami , Dump Matsumoto , and the Crush Gals ( Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka ). The feud between the pop culture sensations, the Crush Gals, and the heel stable, Gokuaku Domei, led by Matsumoto, was possibly

352-590: The All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Corporation (AJW) with his brothers Kenji, Kunimatsu and Toshikuni. The promotion held its first card on June 4, 1968, and got a television deal with Fuji TV in the same year. In the fall of 1970, AJW, which had been contesting the American Girls' Wrestling Association Championship since the previous year, hosted Marie Vagnone , new holder of Mildred Burke's WWWA World Single Championship which had been revived in

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384-722: The Beauty Pair ( Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) in January 1979. In Japan, she began wrestling under the name Monster Ripper. Although she found adjusting to the Japanese culture difficult, Sing held AJW's premier title, the WWWA World Single Championship , on two occasions and was the first Calgary born wrestler to gain success in Japan. During her time in the company, the Japanese female wrestlers gave her

416-591: The Best was held each fall, also from 1985 to 2004, and was a tag team tournament. AJW also held several regular annual events during the 1990s. The first was Wrestlemarinpiad , which was held in the fall or spring from 1989 to 1997, and for the last time in 2000. Also prominent was Wrestling Queendom , held from 1993 to 1997, the first held in November and the rest in the end of March. The AJW Hall of Fame had its first inducted class enshrined on November 29, 1998, at

448-669: The cards were sporadic. In 2012 the "New" AJW stopped promoting cards. The most notable annual events in AJW were the Japan Grand Prix and Tag League the Best . The Japan Grand Prix was held each summer, from 1985 to 2004, and was a tournament to determine the number one contender for the WWWA World Single Championship , similar to the G1 Climax or Champion Carnival seen in the men's promotions New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling , respectively. Tag League

480-577: The collapse of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling . This created an unprecedented era of co-operation between the various companies which resulted in many inter-promotional shows including Big Egg Wrestling Universe , the first ever all women's show at the Tokyo Dome . Competition increased again as Gaea Japan formed in 1995 and JDStar formed in 1996 with both promotions having former All Japan Women's stars including Chigusa Nagayo , Akira Hokuto , Lioness Asuka and Jaguar Yokota . 1997 would prove to be

512-462: The longest-running promotion in Japan up to that time (Men's promotions New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling have since reached 50 years as of 2022). Promotion company Tajima Kikaku re-established "New" AJW in 2006, however they only acquired the rights to the promotion's name and logo from the Matsunaga family, not the titles. The talent was mostly borrowed from JWP Project and

544-490: The most popular angle in all of Japanese wrestling during the 1980s, bringing very high ratings to AJW's weekly television program which caused the show be aired during prime-time. This also resulted in record numbers of girls wanting to become wrestlers with the 1984 auditions having 2,000 candidates. Up until 1986, AJW had been the only major women's wrestling ( joshi puroresu or simply joshi ) promotion in Japan. Then, on August 17, 1986, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP)

576-758: The new system, which did not guarantee payouts. After leaving the WWF, Sing returned to AAA in Mexico in 1996. During this period, she also worked in the independent circuit in Alberta, Canada. In late 1999, she worked with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) briefly, appearing on several telecasts to help generate interest in a women's division. She was also a contender for both the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and WCW Hardcore Championship . In addition to competing in matches using her Singh and Monster Ripper gimmicks, she also appeared with

608-819: The pattern in the singles division. After that, only three non-Japanese women ever won the belt, the Canadian Monster Ripper , on July 31, 1979, and March 15, 1980, the Mexican La Galactica , on May 7, 1983, and the American Amazing Kong , on June 4, 2004. On July 6, 1980, the promotion had enough popularity to run more shows throughout the country, which resulted in AJW splitting into two teams. Team A featured wrestlers such as Jackie Sato , Jaguar Yokota and Mimi Hagiwara while Team B featured Nancy Kumi , Lucy Kayama and Chino Sato . This lasted until June 1981. During

640-505: The promotion's building which held the AJW office, the wrestler dormitories, the training area, the garage (where small events were sometimes held) and a restaurant where the younger wrestlers worked was handed over to creditors. In October, they also lost their television show on Fuji TV which they later regained in July 1998. In 2002, AJW lost its television spot again and the promotion closed its doors in April 2005 after 37 years, making it

672-492: The sport. She later wrote to Mildred Burke after a friend gave her a magazine with Burke's contact information, and sent her a biography and photo. Shortly thereafter, she joined Burke's training facility in Encino, California . After a few weeks of training with Burke, Sing was scouted by All Japan Women (AJW), despite her inexperience. Sing's debut match in Japan was a tag team match with partner Mami Kumano, defeating

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704-633: The title until September 22, 1988, when she lost to Chigusa Nagayo . Over the next few years, Sing once again traveled throughout the world and wrestled for a number of companies, holding several titles. Between 1987 and 1990, Sing worked in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council (WWC), where she held the WWC Women's Championship on five separate occasions by defeating Wendi Richter, Candi Devine , and Sasha in matches for

736-610: The title. As Monster Ripper on the WWC 18th Anniversary Show on July 6, 1991, she faced and beat El Profe in an intergender match . In 1992 she worked as La Monstra for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración in Mexico, where she won the WWA World Women's Title. In 1995, Sing was contacted by the World Wrestling Federation to help their ailing women's division. She, however, was repackaged as Bertha Faye,

768-517: The traditional trading between a Japanese face and a foreign (usually North American) heel . The tag belt, for example, was traded fifty-six times between 1971 and 1975, each time between a Japanese team and an American team. This pattern began to change in 1975 with the new stardom of Mach Fumiake and the Beauty Pair ( Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda ). On March 19, 1975, Mach Fumiake won the WWWA Championship from Jumbo Miyamoto, breaking

800-414: Was frustrated with her Faye gimmick, once recalling that she felt like a prostitute due to the sexualized and comical way that she was often portrayed. WWF management asked her not to perform the same power moves as the male wrestlers, so instead, Faye was forced to act as comic relief. After a year with the company, Sing asked for a release from her contract. She briefly returned to Japan but did not like

832-592: Was made with a new All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association. This time the Fabulous Moolah , the NWA Women's Champion , came across from the United States and traded her title with Yukiko Tomoe , to lend legitimacy to the promotion. The new Association broke up later that year. Finally, in 1968, Takashi Matsunaga, who had been the promoter for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation, formed

864-711: Was replaced by one inspired on Fabulous Moolah 's World Women's Championship belt. When the IWA World Championship was introduced in AJW in 1988, All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling worked with three regular tertiary singles belts. The WWWA World Single Championship and the All Pacific Championship were the most prestigious (world championship) and the second most prestigious (secondary championship) singles belts, respectively. All Japan Women%27s Pro-Wrestling The All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Corporation , established in 1968,

896-510: Was started, by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi, as well as boxer Rumi Kazama and others. As All Japan Women's popularity cooled off after the Crush Gals retired, the promotion's television show was moved to midnight. While AJW remained the top promotion through the early 1990s, due to talent including Akira Hokuto , Aja Kong , Manami Toyota and Kyoko Inoue , the number of joshi puroresu promotions kept increasing, with Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling and JWP forming in 1992 after

928-468: Was the first women's wrestling promotion in Japan. For a time the Club pushed female wrestling as a legitimate sport, booking sporting arenas. By the mid-1960s, the association had fallen apart, due to infighting between the member promotions, and female wrestling was relegated back to being a sideshow act in strip-tease theaters. In 1967, another attempt to organize the sport of women's professional wrestling

960-496: Was the successor to the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association , which had been formed in August 1955, to oversee the plethora of women's wrestling promotions that had sprung up in Japan following a tour in November, 1954, by Mildred Burke and her World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA). These promotions included the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation , and the All Japan Women's Wrestling Club , started in 1948, which

992-549: Was their first Stampede Women's Champion . In 1995, she worked in the World Wrestling Federation as the comedic character Bertha Faye , winning the WWF Women's Championship . She also wrestled in World Championship Wrestling to help generate interest in their women's division. While growing up in Calgary , Sing attended numerous Stampede Wrestling events with her mother. She knew she wanted to be

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1024-406: Was vacated in August 1980. After another stint in Japan, Sing returned to Stampede Wrestling in late 1987 and was renamed Rhonda Singh by Bruce Hart , the owner of the company. There were plans to pair her with Gama Singh , but they never came to fruition. During 1987, she was named their first Women's Champion because she had defeated Wendi Richter prior to returning to Stampede. She held

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