I’ve covered a few individual matches for this column before. But as any fan of professional wrestling knows, there are those pitched battles that can’t be settled by just one bout. Even after the bell rings, tensions run high, and the tempers of the competitors are stoked to fuel a rematch even more explosive than the first. It’s a tale as old as time, and one that’s played out time and time again throughout the annals of wrestling history. So, for today’s recap, we’re going a bit outside the box to bring you a story that went far beyond a single match. Considering recent events, I would argue there’s no better feud to dive into than the one between Theresia Niedermeyer and Asai Rei.
Where our story begins in 1991, Theresia wasn’t yet Black Widow, Cyber Widow, or any other kind of unfortunate bride, but simply Theresia Niedermeyer, an up-and-coming 18-year-old rookie from Hannover with dreams of making it big in the business. She wrestled a few matches in her native Germany, earning a respectable record for her troubles, but her career wasn’t anything spectacular. It wasn’t like she was on many peoples’ radar anyway. In those days, womens’ wrestling in the west was seen as little more of a novelty, and raising the idea that ladies could grapple just as well as the men was going to get you laughed at. It didn’t help that most of the girls involved weren’t exactly wowing crowds either - though Theresia’s earlier work, hard to find as it is, shows she was a talented athlete even from the beginning.
There was one exception to this, one country that trained its wrestling women just as intensely and prided their athletics just as much as men - Japan. And at the time Theresia was struggling to get by in Germany, we were smack in the middle of the golden age of joshi. That was something wrestling fans worldwide were about to find out, when worlds collided on that fateful night when Theresia had her first match of many against Asai Rei.
Like Widow, Asai had made her pro debut at the age of 18 in 1989. But by this point, she was no rookie. She was 20 years old - as far as joshi goes, that’s a seasoned veteran - and after two years of success in Japan, where she had already earned the name of the Blue Star for her breathtaking blend of high-flying acrobatics and hard-hitting strikes, she was showcasing her talents on a worldwide stage, passing through Germany on a global tour. Of course, Asai was able to easily beat the young and inexperienced Theresia, pinning her after a 450 splash from the top ropes that drew some of the loudest applause of the night. To her, that was nothing special, but to Theresia, it was an eye-opener. She had been exposed to a new world of wrestling she had never considered before - and if she was going to master the art of wrestling, she needed to learn from the best.
After the match, Theresia approached Asai to ask her about training under her, learning her secrets. The Blue Star happily agreed. The two of them traveled together through the rest of Asai’s trip through Germany, up until it came time for her to return to her homeland. Faced with making a choice between plunging into unfamiliar territory and giving up her shot at stardom, Theresia decided that she was going to follow Asai back to Japan, becoming a part of the joshi circuit.
Already growing to new heights under Asai’s tutelage, Theresia soon proved she was able to contend with the competition overseas. Soon, she and Asai debuted as the tag team known as the Imperial Dragons, taking on all comers as mentor and student. Now, the German rookie was wrestling in front of audiences she’d never dreamed of before, taking on opponents beyond any she’d faced in the past, and she was propelled into the spotlight with every victory she made. Sounds like she was well set, right?
Well, it looked like that. But even then, the cracks were starting to form. See, although the two of them were a team, that doesn’t mean they were equally famous. Asai, as the hometown hero who had already achieved the love and adoration of thousands, was always getting top billing above her, and the fans who lined up for autographs from the blue-haired hellion weren’t so interested in Theresia. This sort of thing happens more often than you think - just ask Marty Jannety. But in Theresia’s case, it bred jealousy. She’d always tried her hardest and strived to be the best, but she couldn’t quite make it there. What did Asai have that she didn’t?
By the fall of that first year, Asai and Theresia were involved in singles matches more and more. There was never officially a breakup, but it had been months since their last tag bout. The next time they shared the ring - on September 15th in Nagoya - it was as opponents. Although Theresia had more practice since last time, and put up more of a fight, she still ultimately couldn’t overcome Asai’s command over the ring. She wasn’t going to give up after just one match, though...or after two. Or three. You see, Theresia went up against Asai time and time again in a series of matches, with the German always trying to make a comeback and defeat her old mentor once and for all.
And at last, on December 8th, 1991, in front of a sold-out crowd at Hiroshima Sun Plaza, it happened. For the first time, Theresia Niedermeyer defeated Asai Rei. At the time, Asai congratulated her opponent on a job well done, seeing that she had finally reached the point in her growth as a wrestler to overcome her. Those were words that Theresia took to heart. Perhaps too well.
Theresia and Asai in 1991
Frustrated by her inability to surpass Asai, Theresia began to turn to underhanded moves just to even the score; her bloody beatdown of Kayo Ozawa with a steel chair will live on in infamy. As a result, her former tag partner’s opinions on her began to sour, and the next time they faced each other, emotions were running high. Asai still managed to pull through a win in the clutch, even as Theresia tried to keep her down with a sleeperhold despite repeated calls for a rope break. In a post-match interview, the Blue Star noted “this is no way to hold oneself as a professional wrestler. If she does that to me again, I’m afraid I’ll have to make sure she’s sorry, with my fists if I can’t reach her with my words.”
But that lesson couldn’t happen right away. In 1993, Theresia was signed to the Champion Wrestling Association, and left Japan for America. The first few matches she competed in over there were under her real name - but you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. After her time in Japan, it didn’t take long for Theresia to realize that the womens’ divisions stateside had a lot of catching up to do, and she was thrown into the undercard against opponents that didn’t even come close to the prelim crowd she was used to. That wouldn’t do it for her. She wanted to be taken seriously and recognized for her talent and skill, which led to her assuming the mask of the Black Widow and competing in the mens’ division. For a whole year, no one realized her secret, up until she unmasked for the first time after her victory over Mike Haggar for the Heavyweight Championship. In that moment, Neidermeyer made history.
In addition to sparking a new interest in womens’ wrestling that saw plenty of talent exchanges between the US and Japan, as the first woman to hold a top-billing title in the States since the days of Mildred Burke, Theresia received an outpouring of praise from her colleagues, and from fellow wrestlers worldwide. One of them was Asai Rei, who mentioned her in a promo to congratulate her on her efforts even if she disagreed with her methods. But she was quick to rescind that praise when things took a darker turn, and Widow infamously broke the neck of Yoko Harmaggeddon with her Frankensteiner on the night of April 12, 1994, ending her career for good.
She didn’t care when the crowd turned on her for it - she was, after all, the champion, and she’d done what she needed to do to secure her place. But if they couldn’t get through to her...could an old friend? That was something on Asai’s mind the next time she came over to the CWA.
Asai’s run in America is deserving of praise for a number of reasons. She gave us some incredible matches, elevating the womens’ division and inspiring her colleagues to reach new heights, and served as a worthy ambassador for her native style of joshi puroresu, where she exposed plenty of new eyes to her discipline. It was because of her work there that she was honored with an award from her home promotion for her contributions to the sport. In addition to proving that women could wrestle on par with men, Asai helped advocate for the advancement of smaller-framed wrestlers, proving that there were entire worlds of wrestling behind the familiar realms of what the kids these days call “big meaty men slapping meat.” In her home promotion she ushered in the Golden Age of Lightweights - thanks to her campaigning, the Cruiserweight Championship was divided into separate Lightweight and Middleweight titles, allowing for smaller wrestlers to reach the top on more equal footing with one another as well as putting more emphasis on the quicker and more agile and aerial style of lightweight grapplers - a novelty that experienced its own short-lived boom, spearheaded by Rei herself, and was now reaching even more eyes overseas. I wouldn’t be surprised if a young Dan DeFranco was among those fans, considering the three-tiered weight division is something he carried into LAW.
But none of that mattered here. Hearing of her former tag partner’s deeds, she tried to reason with Neidermeyer, begging her to give up the title as she had dishonored what the belt meant. Theresia was too far gone, though, and Asai’s words fell on deaf ears. It was by this point that Rei realized there was only one thing left to be done. Theresia had to answer to her sins.
The two of them met in the ring, taking their feud to their new promotion. But by no means was history repeating itself. Time had passed, and Theresia had grown - both in terms of talent, and in the literal sense of the word. While Asai had competed in the lightweight division back home, even holding multiple divisional titles, Neidermeyer well earned her heavyweight position, now standing at over six feet and with the physique of a weightlifter - there was a reason her Frankensteiner was so devastating, after all. Asai tried to outrun her, using her more nimble frame to dodge her attacks and roll under her grabs, but it was no use. Widow caught up to her, putting her out with a powerbomb that knocked the Blue Star out then and there!
Unlike some of Theresia’s victims, Asai made a full recovery, and she was quick to throw herself right back into the action, demanding a rematch. One match led to another, and the feud was reignited before fresh eyes. This time, though, it was Widow who kept ahead of Asai in victories, and her championship run only gave her more ammo to bring up when comparing her accomplishments to her rival’s.
See, it wasn’t just Asai that the Black Widow was after. Hot on the heels of the injuries she inflicted on Yoko, Neidermeyer made it a habit of breaking her opponents’ necks with the Frankensteiner, seeing it as a personal record to keep striving to surpass. When it became clear this was more than a one-off issue, the backlash against Widow started to roll in from wrestlers, promoters, and athletic boards alike, citing that she was too dangerous to get in the ring with and dishonored the sport by fighting to injure her opponents rather than to prove her own strength. Asai was one vocal proponent of stripping Theresia of the title; despite all their history, she couldn’t forgive what she had done. Of course, the press was just as curious as to what Widow felt about her. In one interview, when asked if she would ever break Asai’s neck, Widow said this: “I only break the necks of people who are beneath me. Asai, though, I hold her in too high regard. But that doesn’t mean things are over between us.”
Indeed, they weren’t. By 1997, Widow had broken the necks of twelve wrestlers - six men and six women, four of whom were forced to retire as a result. At the same time, her record against Asai was finally tied. In a feud spanning four years and countless matches, they had finally evened the score. One last match was needed to serve as the tiebreaker. And on July 4, the date was set for the bout to settle things once and for all, as Widow faced Asai in a barbed wire match at the Tokyo Dome.
Theresia and Asai in 1997
And did they deliver! There’s a lot to say about that final match, so much so that it probably deserves its own article. I was lucky enough to be at ringside that night to get photos for the magazines of the day, and I’ve scarcely seen so much emotion erupt between two competitors. Things started out simply enough, with the sort of grappling and striking that showed that these two weren’t just a couple of hopped-up hooligans doing everything short of killing themselves for the price of a sandwich to cover for the fact that they couldn’t actually wrestle. No, these women were accomplished combatants who deserved every bit of praise that was heaped upon them for their ability - they just happened to hate each other to the point where they were willing to put it all on the line to bury their rivalry once and for all.
Perhaps predictably, Widow was the first to take advantage of the stipulations. She got Asai in a headlock, and despite the lightweight’s struggles, she was unable to free herself against her crushing strength, finding herself dragged to the ropes, where Widow shoved her face-first into the barbed wire! Laughing at her screams, Theresia delivered a series of stomps to her back, each one pushing her face deeper into the tangle. She taunted Asai over being small and weak, remarking that she didn’t stand a chance, but even as bloodied as she was, Rei wouldn’t let the pain get to her. She was even willing to roll herself onto the ropes, proving her high-flying expertise would serve her even when it came at the cost of her own well-being, and performed a picture-perfect hurricanrana off the top rope to take Widow down on her back!
Asai proved she was perfectly willing to dish out the hurt against Widow as well. With a series of superkicks she steered her over to the ropes, taking her off her feet and placing her foot on the rope before connecting a leg drop right across it, slamming her limb right into the barbed wire! Few had seen this sort of brutality from Asai Rei before, but few could deny it wasn’t warranted either!
It didn’t take long for the chaos to spill outside the ring - and of course, in a barbed wire match there were no countouts to stop them. The two brawled across the floor, with Asai slamming Widow’s back against the barricade; it collapsed against her weight, sending the fans fleeing for cover! In the midst of the commotion Niedermeyer grabbed a chair, delivering a few good smacks across her rival’s head. When Asai went down, many suspected Theresia had won. The referee began to check the lightweight for a response - only for her to spring to life at the last moment, a chorus of cheers echoing as she rolled between Widow’s legs to get behind her! Though Widow went for another chairshot, Asai grabbed the weapon from her, hitting her back with a smack to the face, before throwing the chair into her downed foe’s lap and hitting a dropkick into it to send the cold steel right up against her chest!
Now that Pandora’s box had been opened, there was no tempering their fiery spirits. Even as Asai and Widow returned to the ring, everyone in the Dome that day knew that they could only go further in their escalating arms race; if what they’d done already hadn’t worked, they would need to try even more drastic measures. Widow brought Asai down with a powerbomb into thumbtacks, but even with the pins pushing out of her skin, Rei wasn’t slowed down one bit; she was already back up to hit Widow with a spear!
The two exchanged chops and punches, each of them knowing that if they let up the pressure for just one second their opponent would catch up to them. Kicking Widow into the barbed wire with such force she got stuck in its tangled coils, Asai kept up the punishment until she was forced back with one of Theresia’s trademark Stardust Kicks as the German pulled free, and from there hit a Blazing Gig that took Rei down! She rolled right into a painful hold as she twisted Asai’s arms back with her Spider’s Web, but she apparently overlooked the fact that after Asai had fought through everything that’d been done to her up to this point, she wouldn’t submit any time soon. Before she knew it, the Blue Star threw her head back, forcing Widow off of her with a headbutt.
By this point, Asai was starting to realize that if she wanted to keep Widow down, she’d need to hit her hard, with all the force she could muster. But how? This was a true contest of David versus Goliath, with Theresia easily towering a few feet over her adversary. Rei was making a valiant effort of fighting back, but the question remained of how she was going to overpower an opponent nearly twice her weight.
Well, that question was on the minds of us watching, anyway. One person who wasn’t wondering that? Asai Rei. She knew there was no use in standing around wondering, or wishing she could be better. She knew she had to act. And she proved us all wrong when she did the unthinkable - she laced her arms around Widow’s legs, pushing herself off the mat with all her strength, and bodyslammed the 200-pound behemoth right into the barbed wire!
It’s one of those moments I’ve never forgotten, even to this day. To be there at eye level with the ring...I was so amazed that I forgot to take a photo of the finish, but it didn’t matter. It was all captured perfectly in my head. I’ll do my best to put that into words for you.
The whole arena went silent. In those first few seconds, the fans were left wondering if they had really seen what they thought they saw. It seemed miraculous; it was something that just shouldn’t happen. But as the time passed and the realization set in, they knew for sure that it was very real. One by one, the cheers started, growing louder and louder as the fans joined in unison to herald the incredible deeds they had just seen performed!
Asai rolled out of the ring, her blue hair trailing behind her with the speed at which she moved. In one swift motion, she went beneath the ring, coming up with a few light tubes, which she balanced in her arms with an acrobat’s grace as she hopped back over the ropes. She placed them across the chest of the prone Widow, then topped them with a folded-up table, before lunging from one corner to the other in no time flat. No matter how Rei might have been sore and hurting from the punishment she’d received, what was stronger was her sense of purpose!
She jumped to the top of the turnbuckle, standing tall above the ring. Like a statue of a queen or a goddess, she was posed in the glow of the spotlights for what seemed like an eternity, facing the stands. Her face was streaked with blood, but she stood no less triumphant. Backed by their cheers and applause, their chants of encouragement, she hurled herself backward, spinning through the air to perform her finishing move, a Black Arrow known as the Blue Phoenix - but now, she came crashing down onto the table, driving her opponent between light tubes and barbed wire!
Spoiler
Ironically, the last match between Asai and Theresia wasn’t so because of the match itself or anything it settled, but to factors beyond Widow’s control. Before she could return to the ring, the backlash finally caught up to her, and the decision was made to bar her from the CWA, with many other promotions across the world following suit. As for Asai, that would be her retirement match, as she stepped down from her career at the age of 26 to raise a family.
Though her career had only just reached its zenith, that was how things happened in those days. As much as the golden age of joshi produced some unforgettable stars and brought womens’ wrestling to its peak of both quality and popularity, the leagues still operated under the idea that their talent would have to shift gears toward getting married and raising children at some point, and that was a sword of Damocles that hung over the heads of many wrestlerettes. Though Asai expressed interest in returning to the ring, she had married into a conservative family, descended from the samurai clans of old, and to break from her role as a housewife would be a bigger scandal among her in-laws than she could afford. She ultimately passed away in 2014 after a bout of illness, leaving us with one less Blue Star in the world.
While Asai may be gone, her daughter, Ichika, is now wrestling in LAW, where she hopes to live up to her mother’s glory - though if I may be frank, she has a long way to go, and she struggles to perform at the levels Asai did even when she was her age. Theresia, of course, returned to the wrestling world under the name of Cyber Widow, recently making news for her schemes toward Astrid Ostberg’s Heavyweight Championship. In the eyes of many, Widow hit a new low when she openly mocked Ichika about her mother’s passing, claiming that Asai was “in Hell” and leaving the up-and-coming high-flyer as incensed as you can probably imagine (and for those of you that can’t, I’d like to apologize to all the mothers who raised today’s wrestling fans). Will we see a repeat of the feud that enchanted fans throughout the 90s? Only time will tell...
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A BIG thank you to both @The Riders and @Violet for all their help in planning and putting together this article! It was a pleasure to see your ideas and to bring them to life!