masu-me - Japanese Women Wrestling

masu-me (or Masumi Arakawa) was born on July 9th, 1988 in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan.
She started her wrestling training in September of 2010 (which is kinda late for Joshi) and made her in-ring debut on December 23rd, 2010 in Korakuen Hall at JWP Climax 2010 against KAZUKI.
masu-me is also a singer, which harkens back to the old days of Joshi with the "singer/wrestlers".



She has released at least one single and a photobook.
(Her single was released the same day she made her wrestling debut)
masu-me is five foot one and weighs 95 pounds.
In JWP, she has formed a tag-team with Tsukasa Fujimoto called Kyutipea.

JWP Spot with Kaori Yoneyama and masu-me



(actually there are a ton of interview videos on YouTube with her)

Sakura Emi - Emi Sakura

This is Japanese female wrestler Sakura Emi (or Emi Sakura, take your pick)
Emi was born on October 4th, 1976 in Kimitsu, Chiba, Japan.
She started out wrestling under her own name (Emi Motokawa) for wrestling promotions like the International Wrestling Association of Japan and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling.



Emi went on to wrestle as a freelancer for promotions like Gatokunyan (GTKN) and NEO.
Notably though, she is the founder of the all women's wrestling promotion, Ice Ribbon.
This five foot two, 154 pound wrestler has held a ton of titles so far in her career including the AJW Singles Championship, the AWF Women’s Championship, the NEO Singles and NWA Women’s Pacific Championship, the NEO Tag Team Championship (once with Kyoko Kimura), the JWP Tag Team Championship, the Daily Sports Tag Team Champion (once with Kaori Yoneyama), the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship (twice), the ICEx60 Singles Championship (twice) and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (three times, once with Kaori Yoneyama, once with Nanae Takahashi and once with Ray)

Emi Sakura Vs Kana

Akira Hokuto Wrestling Debbie Malenko

Here is a match posted on YouTube by ElfenLiedPictureSh0w between two female wrestling greats, Debbie Malenko and Akira Hokuto.
Yeah, some of you may not know who Debbie Malenko is and that's a shame.
I think she may have been one of the best women wrestlers to ever set foot in a ring, but she never got the WWF/WWE hype.
Of course I don't need to tell you who Akira Hokuto is if you have seen very much Joshi at all.

These two start out fast and in just a few moves, Debbie has Akira trapped in a Dragon Sleeper.

But Akira almost immediately reverses it and traps Debbie in the same hold.

Then Akira ups the ante a bit by adding a body scissors to the hold.

An escape and a few high speed reversals later, and Debbie and Akira are both outside the ring, with an unfortunate second caught in the cross fire.

You can see the whole match here....



And if you like this, check out ElfenLiedPictureSh0w's channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ElfenLiedPictureSh0w

Shuri Wrestling Serena Deeb

Here is a match posted on YouTube by H781N of a Japanese female wrestler who is rapidly becoming one of my favorites Shuri, taking on an American female wrestler, Serena Deeb.
Shuri (I have seen it spelled Syuri as well) is from the old HUSTLE wrestling promotion where she was Karate Girl (KG).
Serena Deeb of course has worked for a lot of promotions here in the US including the WWE (on SmackDown! and FCW), Shimmer Women Athletes, Great Lakes Championship Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling.
This match is from SMASH 12 on January 29th, 2011 in Tokyo.

They start out actually shaking hands....

..and Shuri quickly gets the advantage with a head scissors.

But Serena escapes and captures Shuri in a side headlock.

You can see the match in full here...



If you like this match, be sure to drop by H781N's channel here and check out some videos and maybe subscribe to the channel.



Shuri Wrestling Serena Deeb, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on March 20th, 2011

Joshi Puroresu in the USA

You know a lot of us have always had to rely on YouTube and other internet sources to see joshi puroresu.
But thanks to Shimmer Women Athletes, ROH and Chikara, we are actually getting to see female Japanese wrestlers here in the US in action.

If you can make it to the Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, Illinois (just outside Chicago), on Saturday and Sunday, March 26th and 27th, 2011 you'll get to see Ayako Hamada, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Misaki Ohata, Ayumi Kurihara and Tomoka Nakagawa
More info here: http://shimmerwrestling.blogspot.com/

If you can get to Ring of Honor's "Honor Takes Center Stage" on April 2nd, 2011 at the Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, you will get to see Hiroyo Matsumoto, Ayumi Kurihara and Tomoka Nakagawa there as well.
More info here: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/atlanta-ga-april-2nd/

And on April 15,16 and 17th, if you can get to The Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia, Pennslyvania, you'll get to see joshi legend Manami Toyota team up with Mike Quakenbush and Jigsaw at Chikara's King of Trios 2011 tournament.
More info here: http://www.chikarapro.com/events.php

I havent said anything about the tragedy in Japan here, but I have been praying for the people there.
I am also glad to hear that just about all the wrestlers I have spoken with in the past are okay.
The hard times arent over in Japan yet people.
If you can help out, here's the Red Cross website:
https://american.redcross.org/
And if you cant afford it (I know times are tough), there's no price tag on prayers, positive energy and well wishes.

Yumi Ohka - Japanese Wrestling

It's been quite a while since I have done anything on Japanese female wrestler Yumi Ohka.
Yumi was born on April 4th, 1979 in Koga, Ibaraki and made her pro wrestling debut on August 19th, 2001 wrestling for JDstar.
She is currently wrestling for WAVE (Pro Wrestling Wave) along with GAMI, Moeka Haruhi, Shu Shibutani, Kayo Fujimori and a masked wrestler that looks oddly familiar, Sakura Candle.



Along with Yuki Miyazaki and Toshie Uematsu, Yumi is one of the few female wrestlers to hold the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship.
Yumi is also part of Misaki Ohata’s heel faction, Black Wave.

Yumi Ohka vs. Haruka Matsuo

Watch Yumi Ohka vs. Haruka Matsuo in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

You can check out Yumi's blog (in Japanese) here:
http://ohkayumi.blog.players.tv/

Stardom - Japanese Female Wrestling Promotion

Former ARSION head Rossy Ogawa and retired Japanese female wrestler Fuka's had a new wrestling promotion debut in January called "Stardom".
The roster (as far as I can tell) is...

Nanae Takahashi
Nanae Takahashi has wrestled for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling SUN, AWA Superstars of Wrestling, Ice Ribbon, JDStar, NEO Japan Ladies' Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX and more.

Natsuki*Taiyo
Natsuki*Taiyo has worked for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling SUN, Passion Red, NEO, Ice Ribbon and more.

Yuzuki Aikawa
Former Japanese Idol Yuzuki Aikawa has been trained by Fuka and also has eight years martial arts experience in Taekwondo.

Yoko Bito
Yoko Bito is new comer to wrestling, but a Japanese Kyokushin Karate champion.

Yoshiko (World Tiger 4)
Another newcomer, Yoshiko was born on July 26th, 1993.

Eri Susa
Newcomer Eri Susa was born on July 23rd, 1993 and was trained in aikido before starting wrestling.

Mayu Iwatani
Mayu Iwatani was born on February 19th, 1993 and before wrestling she was trained in judo.

Haruka
Little Haruka was born on April 2nd, 2002. Yep, she's only eight years old.

Arisa Hoshiki
Arisa Hoshiki was born on October 13th, 1995. Before wrestling she trained in boxing and kickboxing.

Mika Nagano
Before becoming a wrestler, Mika Nagano was a Japanese female mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. Her MMA record is 7-4-0.

Iris
Iris was born on October 19th, 1990 in Mexico. She was trained in Lucha Libre by Ultimo Guerrero.

Here is the poster from the Stardom Launching Event "Birth of Nova" on January 23rd, 2011...




You can check out their official site here:
http://wwr-stardom.p-kit.com/

Tsubasa Kuragaki - Japanese Women Wrestling

This is female Japanese wrestler Tsubasa Kuragaki.
Although I have mentioned her before, I haven't really done anything on her.



Tsubasa was born on December 7th, 1975 in Chiba City, Kamagaya, Japan.
She's five foot three, 140 pounds and she made her pro wrestling debut either January 8th, 1995 or October 21st, 1998.
I've seen two different accounts.



She has wrestled almost exclusively for JWP (Japan Women Project), but she has also done some freelance work as well.
During her career so far, she has held the JWP Openweight Championship, the JWP Tag Team Championship (once with AKINO and twice with Kayoko Haruyama), the Daily Sports Tag Team Championship (twice with Kayoko Haruyama), the JWP Jr. Championship and the NEO Singles and NWA Women’s Pacific Championship.



Is it just me, or does it look like she uses the same tailor as Awesome Kong?

Here is Tsubasa wrestling Ran Yu-Yu for JWP on July 27th, 2008, posted on YouTube by kapengmabula (with credit to nagashimark)





Tsubasa Kuragaki - Japanese Women Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on February 3rd, 2011

Misaki Ohata Wrestling Ayako Sato

Here is a match posted by nagashimark on YouTube, of Misaki Ohata taking on Ayako Sato.
This match was for the Sendai Girls wrestling promotion on April 20th, 2008.


Misaki Ohata has shown up a few times on this blog.
She was trained by the famous Mariko Yoshida and worked for many wrestling promotions in Japan like JDStar.
You can see her now in the US with Shimmer.


Ayako Sato has wrestled for JWP, NEO and if I'm not mistaken, has done some Olympic-style wrestling as well.

After the introductions, we jump right into the match where Ayako has Misaki trapped in a leg lock.

Misaki manages to slip out of that and trap Ayako in a figure four headscissors.

That doesn't last for long though as Ayako slips out of that hold and clamps on a double leg lock.

Which then then transitions into a bow and arrow.

Misaki escapes, but Ayako literally rocks her world with some devastating dropkicks and goes for a pin.
Unfortunately for Ayako, Misaki kicks out, then catches her in an arm bar.

You can see the whole match here...

If you like this, be sure to check out nagashimark's channel for more videos.


Misaki Ohata Wrestling Ayako Sato, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on December 3rd, 2011

Takako Inoue Wrestling Mima Shimoda

Here is a wrestling match posted on YouTube by xkingx2009 with two of my favorite Japanese female wrestlers, Takako Inoue and Mima Shimoda.
Even though they are both awesome wrestlers, they do look a little bit like they just stepped off the set of the Power Rangers here.




Mutual dislike is not very well hidden, as they start off with a hair muss by Takako and a slap by Mima.

More slaps, chops and an Irish whip and the two lock up in the center of the ring in the classic test of strength.

That gets broken up and the two women launch into an exchange that shows just how well they are able to neutralize each others moves.

Is it considered a camel clutch if you are just sitting on your opponents back pulling her hair?

Well the ref makes Mima break the hold, but that's followed by more hair pulling, a hair-mare, and some rope choking.

I guess Takako gets tired of Mima's rule breaking, because when Mima tries to initiate another test of strength, Takako takes her hand...and promptly bites it!

But it doesn't take long for Mima to cheat her way back into control and take the match outside the ropes.
Mima even takes her out into the cheap seats and gives her a bodyslam on the concrete.

You have to love Mima though.
After leaving Takako on the floor, she goes back to the ring, climbs up on the turnbuckle and taunts her.

Takako climbs back into the ring, and Mima almost immediately leg tackles her and traps her in a Boston crab.

Not satisfied with JUST a Boston crab, she changes up to a single leg crab and pulls Takako's knee pad out of the way so she can get a better grip.

And all of that is not even half of the match!

After watching this, I am now convinced that Mima enjoys punishing her opponents more than any other wrestler out there.

If you like this match, you can see it and more like it at xkingx2009's YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/xkingx2009



Takako Inoue Wrestling Mima Shimoda, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on December 17th, 2010

Ayako Hamada Gone From TNA

On Monday, December 6th, 2010, TNA Wrestling released Ayako Hamada.
Ayako (or Hamada as TNA was billing her) was one half of the current TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions along with Taylor Wilde.
Of course her release is not that much of a surprise.
TNA acted like they really had no idea what to do with Ayako (who has over twelve years experience in the ring).
In January 2010, she teamed with Awesome Kong and defeated Taylor Wilde and Sarita to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles.
Then Kong left the company and they were stripped of the belts.
Ayako only showed up now and then until she and Taylor Wilde beat The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich), winning the Knockout Tag Titles once again.
That match was Ayako's first time on television in four months.

I suppose this is another phenominal misuse of talent that we can lay at the feet of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.
Way to drive the Knockouts division into the ground guys.

Well Ayako has already worked for SHIMMER Women Athletes and Jersey All Pro Wrestling while she was working for TNA (God knows she had enough time), so we still may see her up here North of the border.
If not, I'm sure Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion (AAA) in Mexico would love to have her back.

And just for the heck of it, here are two greats, Ayako Hamada and Mima Shimoda going at it from back in 2000.
Posted of course by DoubleMiz





Ayako Hamada Gone From TNA, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on December 11th, 2010

Azumi Hyuga vs Yumi Ohka - Japanese Wrestling

Here is a video posted on YouTube by JoshInsanity of Azumi Hyuga taking on Yumi Ohka.
This is from the Japanese wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling WAVE's show, Road to Resurrection.

A little background....
Azumi Hyuga (Tomoko Kuzumi) was born on January 6th, 1975 in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
She was trained by Joshi legend Devil Masami and made her pro wrestling debut on December 4th, 1994 in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall.

One of the JDStar "athresses" Yumi Ohka (Yumiko Abe) is five foot six, 130 pounds and has been wrestling for eight years
She once held the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship.

They start out in the classic collar and elbow lock up in the center of the ring, but right off the bat Yumi twists Azumi into a rear headlock, then a side head lock.

Azumi escapes, and after a few quick exchanges, she has Yumi on the mat in a headlock.

Another series of reversals (with Yumi maybe thinking about not wearing such slick pants in her next match, no way to grab traction) and the two are literally tied up in the middle of the ring.

A lot more mat work, some more exchanges and Azumi finds herself on the receiving end of Yumi's arm bar.

So here is part one of this match up...

You can see part two at JoshInsanity's YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JoshInsanity

Also, you might wanna check out the Women's Wrestling Wiki that is mentioned a few times.
http://womenrassling.wikia.com/wiki/Women%27s_Wrestling_Wiki
I saw quite a bit of Joshi info there.



Azumi Hyuga vs Yumi Ohka - Japanese Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on December 2nd, 2010