Mika Nagano - MMA and Wrestling

Mika Nagano was born on December 29th, 1983 in Gifu, Gifu, Japan.
She's five foot three and weighs 114 pounds and before becoming a wrestler, Mika Nagano was a Japanese female mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.
In MMA, she goes by Mika "Future Princess" Nagano and her win-loss record is 8-4-0.
Her last MMA fight was a win over Emi Murata via submission (armbar) at Jewels - 14th Ring on May 14th, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.



Mika started her MMA career back in 2006 then debuted with Ice Ribbon in August of 2009.
She stayed with them a few months, then appeared to leave pro wrestling to focus on MMA in February of 2010.

But now it looks like Mika will be doing both MMA and pro wrestling after showing back up in the wrestling promotion Stardom's debut show in January of 2011.

Here is match with Mika Nagano, Fuka and Hikari Shida taking on Kazumi Shimouma, Hamuko Hoshi and Haruna Akagi from back in Mika's Ice Ribbon days.

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

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

Nagisa Nozaki Wrestling Shuri

This is a match posted on YouTube by ElfenLiedPictureSh0w of Nagisa Nozaki taking on Shuri at NEO Summer Stampede on August 1st, 2010.

Nagisa started wrestling when she was 15, and has been plagued by injuries.
This was Nagisa's return match, her first since 2009 when she injured her shoulder.
She's five foot five and weighs 123 pounds.

You may know her opponent Shuri as Karate Girl (KG) from the old HUSTLE wrestling promotion.
She wrestles, but throws some MMA into her matches as well.

First up. Shuri enters the ring...


Followed by Nagisa who doesn't look near as serious...

They shake hands and everything looks okay...

Till Nagisa blindsides Shuri and lays into her with a series of vicious chops...

She goes for a quick pin...

Shuri kicks out, but soon finds herself in a sleeper...

She gets up, but Nagisa follows her, keeping the hold clamped on.
See how much Nagisa seems to be enjoying herself?

Shuri gets fed up, escapes and lays into Nagisa with a series of roundhouse kicks...

Here is the match in full, VERY high quality...

If you like this match, check out ElfenLiedPictureSh0w's YouTube page and subscribe.




Nagisa Nozaki Wrestling Shuri, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on November 4th, 2010

Eight Woman Tag Team Match - Japanese Women Wrestling

Here is a eight woman tag team match posted by kapengmabula on YouTube.
It's Japanese women wrestlers Ayumi Kurihara, Mio Shirai, Io Shirai and Makoto taking on Mima Shimoda, Kyoko Kimura, Atsuko Emoto and Tomoka Nakagawa at a NEO event.

First we have a little video background leading up to the match, then Mima, Kyoko, Atsuko and Tomoka come to the ring already armed with folding chairs and chains.

Then Ayumi, Mio, Io and Makoto come in...unarmed.

The intros start but never finish as it immediately turns into what "Good Ole JR" would call a pier six brawl.

The action comes back into the ring and normalcy is restored for a moment and it looks like the match will go on like a normal contest.
But not for long...

Pretty soon everyone is back in the ring and going at it again.

Somewhat unusually.

Mima gets upset by a slow count....

...and finally a team turns on one of it's members.

You can see this video and more like it at kapengmabula's YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kapengmabula

Eight Woman Tag Team Match - Japanese Women Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on September 26th, 2010

Itsuki Yamazaki Vs.Yukari Omori

This is a video posted on YouTube by xkingx2009 of Itsuki Yamazaki wrestling Yukari Omori at an old All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling event.

Itsuki Yamazaki made her wrestling debut in 1980, and was one half of the famous Jumping Bomb Angels.
Yukari Omori was also part of a famous tag-team, the "Dynamite Girls".

This match is pretty much pure Joshi Puroresu.
No gimmicks, no over the top promotion, just two Japanese women in swimsuits (a Speedo swimsuit in Yukari's case) going at it in the ring.

After the intro, the ref going over the rules, the opening bell and a pretty quick series of moves, they lock up in the center of the ring...


Itsuki side-steps and rolls Yukari into a leg lock...


Then she moves up and puts her knee in Yukari's back, adding more pressure to the leg lock...


Another flurry of moves and Yukari winds up trapped in Itsuki's body scissors...


Yukari manages to escape, almost gets Itsuki in a boston crab, but gets rolled over into an attempted pin...


But Yukari escapes by trapping Itsuki in a head scissors...


Which Itsuki somehow manages to turn back into a modified leg lock.



And all this is less than four minutes into the match.



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



Itsuki Yamazaki Vs.Yukari Omori, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on September 20th, 2010.

Kana wrestling Chihiro Okawa

Yeah I know...two Kana wrestling matches in a row?
Well this one was posted by someone I just ran across on YouTube, xkingx2009, and it's a match between Kana and Chihiro Okawa.

It starts out with both women already in the ring, sparing us the lengthy walk to the ring and intros.
Kana is her usual confident self, but I swear Chihiro looks like she just woke up.

Chihiro holds out her hand to shake before the start, and Kana replies by crescent kicking it away.
Then they lock up in a flurry of punches that leads to Kana getting a take down, and the match turning into a MMA type brawl.

Chihiro gets on top, and forgets punching and just starts slapping away at Kana.
Then she goes for an arm bar, that turns into a body scissors until Kana starts slapping away at Chihiro and escapes.

They lock up again in the middle of the ring until Kana gets behind and suplexes Chihiro into the mat.
But Chihiro comes up with more slaps and a surprisingly effective roundhouse to Kana's face that puts her down.

Kana gets up and now the match turns more into a Muay Thai battle.
Kana works her into the corner and gives her some knees, then her own kick that almost lays Chihiro out.

They go back to the center of the ring, exchange some kicks, and Kana grabs Chihiro's leg and slaps on an ankle lock, taking Chihiro down to the mat.

Chihiro manages to escape and gets on top, but she really looks like she doesn't know what shes doing there for a minute, until she clamps a triangle choke on Kana.

She comes pretty close to choking Kana out before Kana finally reaches the ropes.

Kana gets up, there's another exchange and she gets Chihiro down and applies an arm bar.

Believe it or not, that is a little over half of the first part of a two part match.

You can see part one here:

And you can see part two at xkingx2009's channel here...
http://www.youtube.com/user/xkingx2009

Kana wrestling Chihiro Okawa, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on August 8th, 2010

Kana vs Kyoko Kimura - Japanese Women Wrestlers

Again we return to HybridDolphinELPS and another really well done Joshi video.
This on eis shorter than normal and has some jump cuts, but the action is very intense and very stiff in some places.
It's Kana wrestling Kyoko Kimura at the Catch the Wave Tournament.

Kana comes in first, followed by Kyoko, and amazingly they don't jump each other before the bell.

But when the bell rings, they race at each other and start out "hammer and tongs".

Kana gets a take down, goes for a leg lock and unable to secure that, dives up and goes for a front face lock that Kyoko escapes.

Back on their feet, Kana starts landing those amazing roundhouses.

Kana then nails Kyoko with a few knees, then slips around her for a sleeper.

Kyoko supplexes her way out of that, and they start back with the kicks, elbows, fists and slaps.

Back on the mat, Kana locks in an arm bar.

Imagine what Kana or Kyoko could do in the WWE if they just let them loose....

Like I said before, this one was posted by HybridDolphinELPS, and if you want to see more, you can check out the channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HybridDolphinELPS

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Kana vs Kyoko Kimura - Japanese Women Wrestlers, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on July 21st, 2010.

Michiko Omukai wrestling Azumi Hyuga

Here is a match posted by HybridDolphinELPS of Michiko Omukai wrestling Azumi Hyuga back on August 14th 2001 for the ARSION wrestling promotion.
Lightning fast moves, reversals and hard hitting, all the trademarks of joshi are in this one.
Plus I love Michiko and Azumi's outfits...LOL

They really don't look like they like each other very much...at all.


The video starts up with the match already underway, and Michiko with Azumi in the center of the ring trapped in a body scissors.


After some double hair pulling, Michiko releases the hold and they wind up in the ropes, with Michiko using said ropes for some innovative punishment.


After a warning from the ref, Michiko releases the hold and they go through some quick punches, kicks and reversals.
Note: You may wanna turn the volume down because these two scream at each other like Banshees while they are going at it.


Azumi catches Michiko in an evidently extremely painful leg lock and Michiko fairly goes wild.


Azumi keeps the leg lock locked in, becoming even more creative with her punishment.

Michiko hits the ropes, and after a quick break, she catches Azumi in a just as creative arm bar.


If you like lots of ground work and painful submission holds, this is your kinda match....



And be sure to stop by HybridDolphinELPS's channel and subscribe for even more action like this.



Michiko Omukai wrestling Azumi Hyuga, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on 3-28-2010

Japanese Female Wrestling - Saki Maemura vs. Takako Inoue

Here are some Japanese female wrestling video captures from a match posted on YouTube by nagashimark between female wrestlers Saki Maemura and Takako Inoue.
This took place in the Japanese wrestling promotion AJW (All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling) on March 29, 2009.


Of course with almost any joshi puroresu match, you're gonna see not only high flying, high risk maneuvers, but some mat based submission wrestling moves as well.
Here we see Takako applying what I think is a Stepover Toehold Facelock (STF) to Saki.


The punishment continues as Takako switches to a camel clutch.


Not satisfied with that, she leans back and wraps Saki in a rear body scissors.


Saki gets her revenge later on, as she traps Takako in her own camel clutch.

Of course to get the full effect of these moves, you really need to go to YouTube and check out the full match.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5abd417pblk


nagashimark always posts some Japanese wrestling videos and this is no exception.