[2] She made her debut on April 15, 1995, facing fellow debutante Meiko Satomura at the first ever event held by Nagayo's Gaea Japan promotion.

[1][2][3] Just before the debut match, Kato's father, whom Nagayo had managed to convince to support his daughter's dream of becoming a professional wrestler, died in a traffic accident.

[7] After a sixteen-month reign, Kato and Satomura lost the AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Chikayo Nagashima and Sugar Sato on March 29, 1998.

[2] During the time, Kato kept making non-wrestling appearances for Gaea Japan, including getting attacked and having her hair cut by the villainous D-Fix stable in late 2002.

[12] The following July, Kato and Chikayo Nagashima made it to the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural Oz Academy Tag Team Champions, before losing to Carlos Amano and Dynamite Kansai.

[24][25] On August 23, Kato won the first singles title of her twenty-year career, when she defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto in a Last Woman Standing match to win the vacant Oz Academy Openweight Championship.

[26][27] On October 10, Kato returned to the United States, when she made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes, taking part in their two-day tenth anniversary weekend.