ABOUT BEAUTY PAIR

Beauty Pair was a joshi puroresu (women's pro wrestling) tag team formed on February 24th 1976 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda, during a WWWA World Tag Team Championship match which they won. The team catapulted to success by releasing singles (their most well-known being 'Kakemeguru Seishun') and singing in the ring before matches. This made them incredibly popular idols amongst teenage girls in Japan at the time, essentially the wrestling equivalent of Pink Lady, and paved the way for others in the world of womens professional wrestling. After several years of exciting matches together and even a movie released a year after their formation, Beauty Pair sadly disbanded on February 27th 1979 after a 'loser must retire' WWWA World Singles Championship match between Jackie and Maki, which Maki lost; therefore she retired from wrestling and the tag team were no more. However, Jackie and Maki would reunite years later.

JACKIE SATO

Naoko Sato, better known by her stage name Jackie Sato, was born on October 30th 1957. She was from Yokohama and was 5'8. (very tall for a Japanese woman!) She played basketball during high school but would drop out to enter All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling in March 1975, her debut match being against her future teammate Maki Ueda on April 27th. As well as releasing singles as part of Beauty Pair, Jackie also released three solo singles. After the disbandment of Beauty Pair, Jackie would retire on May 21st 1981 but would go on to establish the Japan Women's Pro Wrestling organization in 1986, where she would resume her wrestling career, retiring for good on March 20th 1988. She went on work as a qualified sports programmer and trainer, establishing a gymnastics school company where she would teach her own exercise regime. Sadly, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer soon after and died on August 9th 1999 at the age of 41. She was apparently a 'lone wolf type', loved animals, and was a fan of tobacco.

MAKI UEDA

Maki Ueda was born on March 8th 1959 and is the sole surviving member of Beauty Pair. She is from Tottori and is 5'5. Like Jackie, she also dropped out of high school (where she played volleyball) to join All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling, debuting on March 19th 1975. Maki actually won the WWWA World Singles Championship before Jackie (Jackie would win the title from her later on) and was also the first wrestler to win all three major WWWA titles (World Singles Championship, World Tag Team Championship and All Pacific Championship). She retired on February 27th 1979 during a rematch against Jackie under the 'loser must retire' rule and never entered the ring again. She released a solo single and briefly worked as an actress. As of today, she manages her husband's restaurant in Asakusa, Tokyo.