Momoe Nakanishi

Intangibles Rating - 

Place in History - As the 1990s drew to a close, the joshi puroresu scene really saw its last crew of great workers who had come up in that old style and still had a viable platform on which to perform.  When key departures forced All Japan Women to push some new girls, Momoe Nakanishi was one of the great standouts.  Her combination of spunky charisma, incredible athleticism and ability to play an underdog allowed her to quickly climb the ladder.  Nakanishi began to show promise as half of a tag team with Nanae Takahashi.  The two, like many quality women's tag teams, nicely complimented each other and were always brought back together without missing a step.  At five-foot-two, Nakanishi was amongst the smallest of the joshi wrestlers that received a substantial push.  However, being that under-sized hero who battled larger, rougher opponents like Kaoru Ito and Kumiko Maekawa and won with speed, agility and persistence was a winning formula.  It was not all that different from the Crush Gals battling Dump Matsumoto and her minions or various babyfaces taking on Aja Kong.  Some thought her inconsistent and some dismissed her along with the faded joshi puroresu scene altogether and yet Momoe Nakanishi was a proud flag-bearer for All Japan Women in those tough years.  Not unlike Akira Hokuto, Nakanishi was utterly reckless with her body and it seemed a significant injury could end her career any moment.  She avoided such a tragic end.  Momoe Nakanishi, still in her early twenties and in the prime of her career, left Zenjo to become a freelancer.  Many others had followed this path and many others had made more money and had more sustained success jumping from group to group.  Momoe Nakanishi was given top billing, but the scene was so fractured and it was clear that it was never going to improve.  She married kickboxer and UWFi alumni Makato Oe, retired and a year later had her first of several children.  Although Momoe Oe has made several special appearances, she has happily transitioned away from pro-wrestling.  The legacy of Momoe Nakanishi stands up uniquely to her contemporaries who stayed active on the declining scene, her predecessors who worked during the genre's hot period and her descendants who are starting out on tiny shows or working in women's divisions on bigger shows.  She worked on top during the last gasp of greatness for joshi puroresu and left before injuries ruined her.  While her career was only ten years, she was top-level worker during most of it and pushed accordingly for at least half of it.  Many ladies in Japan had short careers due the demands of All Japan Women and the physical toll of the style and few were as talented.