GAEA JAPAN
Kato had an excessive sports history in her childhood, practising track and field and volleyball in elementary school, handball in junior high school and javelin in high school, before deciding to follow her childhood dream and, despite her father's objections, took part in a professional wrestling audition held by Chigusa Nagayo. After passing the audition, Kato began training with Nagayo in October 1994. 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. 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. On November 2, 1996, Kato and Satomura became the inaugural AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Through Gaea Japan's working relationship with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Kato made her American debut on November 29, 1996, in Wheeling, West Virginia, losing to Kaoru in a WCW Women's Championship tournament match. Kato returned to WCW in April 1997 to take part in a tournament to determine the inaugural WCW Women's Cruiserweight Champion, losing to Malia Hosaka in her semifinal match. On December 27, 1997, Kato won the High Spurt 600 Tournament, defeating Chikayo Nagashima in the finals. 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. After winning the High Spurt 600 Tournament for a second time in 1999, Kato began suffering from various injuries which sidelined her from late 1999 to July 2000 and again from February 2001 to 2006. 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. When Gaea Japan went out of business in 2005, Kato was uncertain whether she would ever wrestle again.