The Most Popular Japanese Female Wrestlers

Ray, the most popular Japanese female wrestler?

Over on Hub Pages (I do a lot of Hub Pages) I did a list of the most popular Japanese female wrestlers.
I kinda took me by surprise that the "greats" really didn't rank up there too well.
There was no Bull Nakano, Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto or Devil Masami
Female wrestlers like Ray, NAO, Hikaru and Basara did well.
But I guess some of the new wrestlers ranking well is a good sign for the future of joshi puroresu in general.

Over at YouTube, you have people like nagashimark and doublemiz keeping the "old school" alive with matches like Chaparrita ASARI versus Kyoko Inoue and Crush Girls versus Akira Hokuto and Mitsuko Nishiwaki.
You can see some of the old classic matches over there, and trust me, some of them are awesome.
Forget comparing them to the WWE Diva of TNA Knockout matches, compare them to Triple H or Randy Orton.

Anyway, part of the list I came up with for the most popular wrestlers (most searched for here and on the internet) is:

1. Ray
2. NAO
3. Hikaru
4. Basara
5. Francoise

You can head over there and take a look at the entire list if you'd like.

The AJW Championship, Part 4

Saki Maemura, the last AJW Champion

Rumi Kazama beat Miho Wakizawa on May 26, 2001 in Tokyo for the title, then immediately vacated the belt. (?)
Then on July 27, 2001, Kayo Noumi defeated Miho Wakizawa to become the new AJW Champion.
Kayoko Haruyama defeated Kayo on September 26, 2001, and Kayo turned around on January 4, 2002 and beat her to take the title back.
Then the Championship was vacated.
Again.
This time so that Kayo could enter the October 20, 2002 tournament for the All Pacific Championship.
So on October 8, 2002, Miyuki Fujii defeated Mika Nishio to become the new champion.
Kaori Yoneyama beat Miyuki for the title on November 29, 2002 in Tokyo and Mika came back and beat Kaori for the title before...yes...vacating it again when she left AJW.
Then Sasori (Miyuki Fujii) defeated Saki Maemura for the title on June 19, 2003.
Hikaru won the title on February 15, 2003 and Saki Maemura beat her for the belt on January 3, 2004.
Saki was the last AJW Champion.
After 37 years, the promotion closed it's doors in April 2005.
During the title's run, no one held the belt more than twice.
The only ones to accomplish that were Lioness Asuka, Kaoru Ito, Tomoko Watanabe, Momoe Nakanishi and Kayo Noumi.

Hikaru

Hikaru is a female Japanese wresler. She wrestles for ZERO1-MAX in Japan.

Born : December 10, 1981
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 154

Hikaru versus Panther Claw on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGkv_weWcE


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