Japanese Womens Wrestling

Kana Vs Jessie McKay

2011-11-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

Kana Vs Jessie McKay
http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/

I have mentioned several times here that it seems like the biggest Japanese women wrestlers are winding up here in the US.
And I have made no secret about how much I like Kana.
Well here is part of a match posted by CHIKARA on YouTube of Kana taking on "Everybody's Favorite Girlfriend" Jessie McKay in a match on October 7th, 2011 in Burlington, North Carolina (my old home state).
I wish it was the whole match, but hey, it's good to see even a clip.
And it's good to see these Japanese women wrestling stars working here in the States.
Maybe the WWE will see matches like this and raise the bar.

Right.

Sendai Girls - Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament

2011-11-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Sendai Girls - Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament
http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/

If you wanna show your friends why you like Japanese female pro wrestling, I can think of no better place to start than this video posted by MrLARIATO on YouTube.
It's a video of round one of the Sendai Girls "Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament" that took place on October 27th, 2011 at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.
As you can probably tell, it was a full house (the Hall has a capacity of approximately 1,800 people and there were 1,835 people there).

This video features some of the big name Japanese women professional wrestlers working today.

Team WAVE consisted of GAMI, Toshie Uematsu, Yumi Ohka, Shu Shibutani and Moeka Haruhi....

Team JWP had Command Bolshoi, Kayoko Haruyama, Kaori Yoneyama, Leon and Hanako Nakamori...

If you like this video, be sure to check out MrLARIATO's YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrLARIATO

WAVE - Pro Wrestling WAVE

2011-10-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

WAVE - Pro Wrestling WAVE
http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/

WAVE (Pro Wrestling WAVE) is one of the few Japanese female wrestling promotions still going strong, with matches every weekend.
Even if they do lean more towards comedic wrestling, their stuff is 10 times better than what you see in the WWE.
Here is a video posted by billzeroism on YouTube of the Pro Wrestling WAVE Happy New Year WAVE 2011 show on January 4th of this year.
It's a music videos with quick clips but you will see Toshie Uematsu, Misaki Ohata, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Sawako, Ayako Hamada and "Mil Mascaras" taking on Triple Tails (Kana and the "Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters" Mio and Io Shirai), Meiko Satomura and GAMI.

UPDATE:
Since YouTube is still deleting accounts left and right, the video I posted is now gone.
(Thanks Sony Music!)
So I have replaced that WAVE video with another posted by rankin84.

And if you happen to be in Japan, on October 9th, WAVE (Pro Wrestling WAVE), will be presenting Happy Birthday WAVE at the Tokyo Kinema Club.
The matches will be....
Lightning vs Mio
Cherry and Misaki Ohata vs GAMI and Sakura Hirota
Mayumi Ozaki vs Hana Moe Haruhi
Shibuya, Kaori Yoneyama vs Shu
Hisashi Uematsu, Sawako Shimono, Yu Yamagata vs Type O

For more info you can go to their website here:
http://www.pro-w-wave.com/
Of course it's in Japanese.

Mimi Hagiwara vs Yumi Ikeshita - Japanese Female Wrestlers

2011-09-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a match between Mimi Hagiwara and Yumi Ikeshita posted by hajimanko on YouTube.
Mimi of course is pretty much a joshi legend and considered one of the most beautiful women to ever set foot in a ring.
Mimi's opposite number here is Yumi Ikeshita, the leader of the Black Gundam, the Black Devils and she was the first All Pacific Women's Champion.

The clip starts out with the match underway and Yumi giving Mimi a tour of the cheap seats, headfirst.
Mimi get back to the ring and for a moment gets the upper hand with an abdominal stretch...

But Yumi comes back quickly running Mimi through a whole gambit of submission moves.

The Boston Crab...

A leg lock...

A bow and arrow...

And finally they engage in a back and forth Figure Four battle that basically turns into a leg war.

Unfortunately, the clip ends before the end of the match so we are left wondering who won.

But if you like to see suffering Mimi put through the paces, you'll like this.

By the way, if you'd like to see Mimi now, here is her Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/M.C.Athena

Ice Ribbon vs Pro-Wrestling: EVE

2011-09-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here is some big Joshi news (if you live in the UK).
On October 8th and 9th of this year, the European all-female professional wrestling promotion Pro-Wrestling:EVE will be hosting Japanese women's wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon at Gym Combat, Crocus Street in Nottingham, NG2 3DP.
They will be putting on three shows (one on Saturday and two on Sunday).
So far the line up includes Pro-Wrestling:EVE Champion: "The Female Fight Machine" Jenny Sjodin, The Alpha Female, "The Dynamite Princess" Nikki Storm,"The All Star" Erin Angel, "Portugal's Perfect Athlete" Shanna, Carmel Jacob, Sara-Marie Taylor, "The Lancashire Terrier" April Davids and Kay Lee Ray.
So far from Ice Ribbon we have: former International Ribbon Tag Team Champion Hikaru Shida, former ICEx60 Champion Tsukasa Fujimoto, Makoto, Kurumi, Tsukushi, Emi Sakura, Hamuko Hoshi and Mochi Miyagi.

Here is a video from Pro-Wrestling:EVE, "Ice Ribbon's Message For UK Wrestling Fans"...

You can get more info and where to buy tickets at the Pro-Wrestling:EVE website here:
http://www.evewrestling.com/events

Kana is Bad

2011-09-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

You know how much I love Japanese wrestler Kana?
Well here is something that further cemented that love.

You know who Yoshihiro Tajiri is right?
Well he's just TAJIRI in SMASH now (and obviously loves all caps).
Anyway, before Tajiri became a pretty much running gag in the WWE, he was a pretty bad man in ECW.

Here is Tajiri at the SMASH 21 Press Conference on August 30, 2011.
As he's talking, look who comes in with a samurai sword and clears house.

Yep, Kana.
I think her glare alone would be enough to clear out a room, but add the sword to it...

And if that's not enough Kana for you, check out this "Greatest Hits" vid posted by tripletails on YouTube...

Kagetsu

2011-06-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sendai Girls' Kagetu (or Kagetsu) was born Yukari Ishino on June 24th, 1992 in Settsu, Osaka, Japan.
She made her pro wrestling debut against Chikayo Nagashima on August 24th, 2008.
Kagetsu wrestled under her real name until January 2010, when she switched to Kagetsu.
She has worked for Japanese wrestling promotions like JWP, WAVE, NEO and Sendai Girls.

So far Kagetsu has held the JWP Jr. Championship and the POP Championship.

Kagetsu vs Kana

Mika Nagano - MMA and Wrestling

2011-05-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

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.

masu-me - Japanese Women Wrestling

2011-05-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a Japanese wrestling 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 Japanese 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

Japanese Women Wrestling on YouTube

2011-04-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have done anything on the Japanese women wrestling videos on YouTube, so here are some I have run across that have been uploaded recently.

First up we have a match with Fuuka taking on Yuri Urai.
This video was uploaded by xkingx2009.
Fuuka was one of the last wrestlers trained in Jaguar Yokota's JDStar promotion and Yuri Urai also wrestled for the JD Star promotion.
The video is a bit "choppy" but still worth a look.

Next up we have a video posted by lablue6uy of Etsuko Mita facing Emi Sakura facing Makoto.
Not the best joshi match in the world, but since YouTube is the only place I can see these, I'm not complaining.
Back in 1987, Mima Shimoda made her wrestling debut against Etsuko Mita and Etsuko has since retired.
Emi Sakura went on to found the Ice Ribbon wrestling promotion.
The last I heard, Makoto was working for Ice Ribbon.

And finally we have Misaki Ohata wrestling LEON, posted by ElfenLiedPictureSh0w.
If you are lucky enough, you may have caught Misaki here in the states working for Shimmer.
Tojuki Leon (Rena Takase) has been wrestling since 2000.
Probably the best match out of all three, but with kind of a weird ending.

Joshi Puroresu in the USA

2011-03-25T04:59:00.000-07:00

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 Womens Wrestling

2011-03-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

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/

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana

2011-03-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

This month, there will be a new womens wrestling promotion in Japan called Diana or World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana.
The promotion is being run by NEO founder and 23 year Joshi veteran Kyoko Inoue.

The roster for Diana includes....
Kyoko Inoue
Kaoru Ito
Ayako Sato
Keiko Aono
Nagisa Nozaki
Aya Yuki
Sareee

The first card will be held on March 21st, and it will feature....
Ayako Sato vs Aya Yuki
Keiko Aono vs Mariko Yoshida
Nagisa Nozaki vs Aja Kong
Sareee vs Akira Kinuko
And a tag team match with Kyoko Inoue and Aya Yuki taking on Kaoru Ito and Ayako Sato.

So far they have events scheduled for March, April, May and June.

Here is a promo video for the promotion...

You can check out their website here:
http://www-diana.com/

Yuzuki Aikawa - Japanese Female Wrestling

2011-02-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

In the last entry I mentioned Yuzuki Aikawa as a member of the Stardom roster.
Yuzuki was born on May 16th, 1983 in Niihama, Ehime, Japan.
Before wrestling, she was a popular Japanese Idol and also started a singing group called P-ch!.
And she has eight years training in Taekwondo as well as some training in shoot boxing (which involves kicking, punching, kneeing, throwing, and standing submissions).
She began her wrestling training in May of 2010 and made her debut on October 31st at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring (although she gave a demonstration earlier in October at NOSAWA BOMBAYE 6).
At that event she took on and lost to Nanae Takahashi.
Even though she lost, some observers said that she aquitted herself quite well.
Mainly because she took a serious beating from Nanae and hung in there.

See?

Then on February 6th, 2011 she defeated Yumiko Hotta which didn't hurt her reputation at all.
Her finishing move is the Yuzupon Kick (axe kick).

Photos: http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/

Yuzuki Aikawa - Japanese Female Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on February 16th, 2011

Stardom - Japanese Female Wrestling Promotion

2011-02-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

Francoise vs Ayako Sato

2011-01-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

The last wrestling match I posted here was Ayako Sato and Misaki Ohata.
Well this one is Ayako again, but this time against a blog favorite, Francoise (Huransowazu).

Francoise Hirota has worked for Osaka Pro, LLPW Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling and she also worked for the Japanese wrestling promotion HUSTLE as the valet of the late Lance Cade.
I believe this is her actual wrestling debut on January 5th, 2007 for LLPW.

First up we have an interview with Francoise showing her working out and yes setting up the ring and cleaning.
You dont just go into Japanese wrestling and say "I wanna be a star".
There are dues to pay.

So finally at about 2:30 we get to her actual match against Ayako.
She looks a bit nervous, but who can blame her?

Francoise recovers from that pretty quickly and immediately opens up with a running drop kick.
She tags Ayako a few more times with dropkick and goes for a quick pin which Ayako breaks up with the ropes.

Now Ayako opens up with her own series of dropkicks, followed up with some bone-jarring snapmares which Francoise sells pretty good for a rookie.

Ayako then traps Francoise in a rear headlock, and adding a bodyscissors, shows the rookie that she's not gonna be getting any mercy.

Francoise gets to the ropes and Ayako releases her which leads to some more back and forth till Ayako finally traps her in a boston crab.

Sadly, embedding is disabled on this match, but you can go to YouTube and watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVOrg7GaGGM

Francoise vs Ayako Sato, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on January 21st, 2011

Misaki Ohata Wrestling Ayako Sato

2011-01-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

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

Manami Toyota Wrestling Kyoko Inoue

2010-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a match posted by the legendary DoubleMiz, of Manami Toyota taking on Kyoko Inoue from March 31st, 1996.
This is a really high quality video, and it's part 1 of 2.
You know...I know both Manami and Kyoko are highly skilled athletes, but when I saw Manami going to the ring at the beginning of the video, the only thing I could thing was "My God...her hair is beautiful!"

Anyway, both of these women are Joshi legends.

Manami made her pro wrestling debut in 1987...

and Kyoko debuted the next year in 1988.

This match is a sequel to Manami and Kyoko's match in 1995, which won the Wrestling Observer Match of the Year.

And this match takes off like a rocket with a missed dropkick, a giant swing and a kiwi roll all in rapid succession.

Coming up from that, they go into the classic test of strength...

Which leads into Kyoko unleashing an array of submission moves on Manami...

Here is part one of this amazing match...

To see part two, go to DoubleMiz's channel and check it out, and subscribe while you're there.

Manami Toyota Wrestling Kyoko Inoue, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on November 13th, 2010

Nagisa Nozaki Wrestling Shuri

2010-11-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

Ayumi Kurihara Vs Mai Ichii - Japanese Wrestling

2010-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a match between Mai Ichii and Ayumi Kurihara, posted on YouTube by xkingx2009.

Ayumi Kurihara was born on July 13th, 1984 in Tokyo, Japan and was trained by Mariko Yoshida, AKINO, Michiko Ohmukai and GAMI.
She made her pro wrestling debut on April 24, 2005 and has worked for wrestling promotions like AtoZ, M's Style, NEO, JWP, Jd', Ibuki and Pro Wrestling SUN.

Mai Ichii was born on March 21st, 1980 in Saitama, Japan.
Besides being a wrestler, she is a MMA fighter with a 4-4-0 record.

This match starts off with Ayumi taking the offensive with a series of drop kicks that some of which I swear look pretty "stiff" to me.

After pummeling the fool out of Mai, Ayumi straddles her and clamps on a camel clutch.

Mai manages to bite her way out of it....yes...bite.
Undaunted, Ayumi turns and clamps on a double toe hold which Mai tries to unsuccessfully bite her way out of.

Failing the biting escape, Mai makes the ropes and opens up with a few dropkicks of her own.
Getting Ayumi down, she goes for a leg lock which Ayumi reverses.

Mai escapes, there’s another flurry of moves and Ayumi comes out on top with a headlock.

You can see this match and others like it on xkingx2009's YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/xkingx2009

Ayumi Kurihara Vs Mai Ichii - Japanese Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on October 17th, 2010

Eight Woman Tag Team Match - Japanese Women Wrestling

2010-09-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

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

AV38XJW7FP23

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

Japanese Mixed Wrestling - Shuri and Hajime Ohara Vs Lin Byron and KUSHIDA

2010-06-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

This video is a little different for this blog; it's a mixed wrestling match with Shuri and Hajime Ohara taking on Lin Byron and KUSHIDA.
It was posted on YouTube by HybridDolphinELPS.

Almost the whole first clip is the intros, but when the action starts, it’s Hajime Ohara taking on Lin Byron.
Yes, the female volunteers to take on the male.

You know how here in the US in the WWE, when a female wrestlers runs up against a male wrestler, suddenly she appears to lose every bit of wrestling knowledge she has and turn basically into a limp rag doll?
The male (usually a heel) just pounds her from ring post to ring post no matter how good of a wrestler the female is.
Well this isn’t the case in Japan.

Yeah Hajime gets in a few good shots at the beginning, but then Lin roars back with a flying head scissors that sends him out of the ring, and Lin follows up with a dive off the top turnbuckle.

But Lin gets back in the ring and starts showboating with her back to Hajime.
No...that doesn’t end well.

But, despite Hajime's size and weight advantage, he can't seem to compensate for Lin's speed and acrobatics as she keeps turning the tables on him time and time again.

So here is part one...

You can see the other two parts at HybridDolphinELPS' channel here
http://www.youtube.com/user/HybridDolphinELPS

Japanese Mixed Wrestling - Shuri and Hajime Ohara Vs Lin Byron and KUSHIDA, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on June 30th, 2010.

The Bloody Versus Sumie Sakai

2010-06-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is a different type of Joshi match.
This one is from the JD' Star wrestling promotion back on April 29th, 2001.
It's The Bloody taking on Sumie Sakai in a match that would be right at home in the old ECW.
It's another really high quality video posted by nagashimark on YouTube.

The Bloody is five foot two, one hundred and forty pounds and made her wrestling debut in 1994.

Her opponent Sumie Sakai is five foot one, one hundred and twenty pounds and made her wrestling debut in 1997.

Like I said, this particular match would have been right at home in the old ECW promotion here in the states.

The Bloody comes in with a stick and waits for Sumie.

Sumie comes in, but doesn't wait and runs across the ring, slapping The Bloody and they both go into a mutual hair pull as the ref struggles to separate them.

They separate, and give each other a not very loving look before the bell rings.
It's obvious these two ladies don't really care for each other.

After a brief exchange, The Bloody winds up on the top turnbuckle and gives Sumie a double arm hangman.

The action goes outside of the ring and up into the cheap seats, culminating in The Bloody taking a suicide dive off an upper level onto a prone Sumie.

And what use would going up into the bleachers be without the standard piledriver through a table?
Well in this case, the table doesn't break and Sumie takes the hit.

Channeling the great Sabu, The Bloody wraps her hand first in a chain, then masking tape to inflict more punishment upon her hapless opponent.

And this is just part one!

To see the rest, check out nagashimark's channel and see part two, and see some other great Joshi matches.

The Bloody Versus Sumie Sakai posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on June 15th, 2010.

Ayako Hamada vs Mima Shimoda

2010-05-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is a match posted by DoubleMiz on YouTube of two of the most popular Japanese women wrestlers on this blog going at it, Ayako Hamada and Mima Shimoda.
This is from the Japanese wrestling promotion ARSION's ZION 2000 Tournament on September 17, 2000.
Ayako made her debut in 1998, so when this match too place, she had about 2 years of experience under her belt.
Mima on the other hand started out in 1987, so she was the veteran going into this match.

This match is full of counters and reversals, some that have to be seen to be believed.
Like when Ayako grab's Mima's hair, rears back for a head butt and Mima counters with a kick to Ayako's head, before she can head butt her!

The video quality is not as high as some of the videos you see today, and it is clipped, but that doesn’t stop this from being a classic encounter.

At one point Mima goes "old school heel" (which she is) and grabs Ayako by the hair, lifting her up to stop the count during an attempted pin.

There are a few submission holds, but not like you see today.

But there are lots of suplexes.

And the match ends with a TKO, which is something you rarely see.

If you like this video, you can check out DoubleMiz's YouTube channel for even more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DoubleMiz

Ayako Hamada vs Mima Shimoda, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on May 26th, 2010.

Kana vs. Mio Shirai, Japanese Women Wrestlers

2010-05-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Kana is a real favorite on this blog, and I'm expecting Mio Shirai to become one as well.

Mio was once one half of The Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters with Io Shirai, though I don’t know if they are still tag teaming or not.

But here is a video posted by the legendary nagashimark on YouTube of Kana taking on Mio at at show by the Japanese wrestling promotion NEO, back in February of this year in...well…in Japan of course.

This match doesn’t have the high flying, high risk moves that you see a lot of times in Joshi.
These ladies go down to the mat for some MMA style submission wrestling.

First Mio comes in, looking more like a female mixed martial arts fighter than a wrestler...

Then Kana comes in looking more like a female wrestler than a MMA fighter and gives Mio a nice look of disgust...or maybe contempt..

The match starts off more like kick boxing or Muay Thai....

But soon these two ladies hit the mat and begin exchanging holds and counters at an impressive speed...

After a brief exchange, Mio winds up on the receiving end of a leg lock from Kana...

Another quick exchange of holds, and Kana winds up with what looks like maybe a kneeling figure four leg lock?...

Again, Kana goes after the leg...

Now Mio comes up with her own leg lock and repays the punishment...

But Kana reverses back and traps Mio in a very painful looking arm bar (Seated armbar?)....

And this is just the first half of this match!

You can see the second half, and check out more of nagashimark's videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/nagashimark

Kana vs. Mio Shirai, Japanese Women Wrestlers, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on May 7th, 2010.

Candy Okutsu Wrestling Ayako Hamada

2010-05-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a match posted by HybridDolphinELPS on YouTube, of Candy Okutsu wrestling Ayako Hamada in Ayako's debut for the ARSION wrestling promotion back in 1998.
1998?
Has it really been that long?

Anyway, like I said, this was Ayako's debut wrestling match, and she was seventeen at the time, although you couldn't tell it by her in ring performance.
Less than one year after this match, she and Mika Akino won the Twinstar of ARSION tag- team wrestling belts.
Of course Ayako has wrestled all over the world since then for promotions like Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in Mexico, TNA wrestling, Shimmer Women Athletes and many more.

Candy Okutsu on the other hand had a few years under her belt at the time of this match, having debuted on August 4, 1992 (also at the age of 17) for the JWP.

But looking at this match, you really cant see much of a difference in their in-ring abilities.

Starting off, Candy hits the double bicep pose after she gets in the ring....

And to show that she's not intimidated, Ayako does the same...

The two women exchange a flurry of the typical (for Joshi) high speed attacks, reversals and counters, winding up with a test of strength in the center of the ring....

After one brutal exchange (I think Candy had some of the hardest elbows in the business) she goes for a pin on Ayako...

Later on, she traps Ayako in the inevitable Boston Crab...

But Ayako rallies, and traps Candy in a sleeper....

This is a really good, solid Joshi match, and one you can show your friends to help explain that even a standard Joshi match is better than 90% of the WWE Diva and TNA Knockout matches.

And of course you can visit HybridDolphinELPS' channel on YouTube to this see this, and more Joshi action like it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HybridDolphinELPS

Candy Okutsu wrestling Ayako Hamada posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on May 2nd, 2010

Kana wrestling Ayumi Kurihara

2010-04-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a video posted by kapengmabula on YouTube of Kana taking on Ayumi Kurihara at Passion Red's "2PASSION" on May 3rd, 2009.
Although kapengmabula posted it, he gives credit to another well known name on this blog nagashimark, so it's still "all in the family".
If I understand correctly, Passion Red started off as a stable, but began to hold their own shows and joshi star Nanae Takahashi runs Passion Red.
And I also read that back in January, Kana left Passion Red and is now a freelancer and she will be heading up her own wrestling promotion, KANA PRO.
You can check out Puroresu Represetin' for more info on Kana.

Anyway, this is part one of a really great match that highlights the best in joshi.
It starts out with a brutal face off with chops, punches, slaps, forearms, then goes into some high flying, then they go to the mat for some MMA style submission grappling.

I tell you, Kana can get VERY innovative with punishment, as she puts poor Ayumi's legs through the wringer.

As part one ends though, it looks like Ayumi may be starting a comeback.

Like I said, this is just part one.
To see part two, you can go to kapengmabula's YouTube channel and see the end of this match and some more great action.

Kana wrestling Ayumi Kurihara, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on 4-9-2010

Michiko Omukai wrestling Azumi Hyuga

2010-03-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

Tomoka Nakagawa wrestling Mima Shimoda

2010-03-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here we go back to nagashimark, and a video posted of Tomoka Nakagawa taking on Mima Shimoda.
Well why not?
We had Mima Shimoda wrestling Etsuko Mita a few weeks ago, then Hiren wrestling Tomoko Nakagawa, so I guess this is a logical progression.

Anyway, we start off with Tomoka....

Then Mima in her corner, looking like she really doesnt like Tomoka, or anything near her for that matter...

After a few exchanges, Mima gets Tomoka down and locks on a Boston Crab...

Then she stands Tomoka up, and sinks her teeth into her forearm...

Mima stays in control, grabbing Tomoka's hair and planting a knee into the back of her neck...

Finally Tomoka turns the tables, and gets Mima in a modified camel clutch, using Mima's hair...

But Mima reverses back and clamps her own camel clutch on Tomoka. Rather than locking her hands under Tomoka's chin, Mima leaves them open to roll and grind her forearms into Tomoka's face...

That is until she locks down and almost turns Tomoka's head completely around.

Here is part one of this match......

To see the rest of the match, visit nagashimark's channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/nagashimark

Hiren wrestling Tomoko Nakagawa

2010-02-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

This time we have a video posted by HybridDolphinELPS on YouTube of Hiren wrestling Tomoko Nakagawa in Japan for the Oz Academy wrestling promotion.
I know Oz Academy started out as a stable, but I think by this time they were putting on their own shows.

This video is a little different from the others as in it is basically a beat down.
Oh there are some cool MMA style moves in it, and submission holds that would make a WWE Diva or TNA Knockout (well not all of them) submit in about 30 seconds.
But it's pretty much just a one sided attack.

First up you have Hiren.
Hiren (Yurie Kaneko) was born on January 16th, 1986 in Katsushika City, Tokyo, Japan and made her pro wrestling debut on July 9th, 2006, wrestling Mariko Yoshida.

And her opponent Tomoko Nakagawa.
She was born on September 29th, 1981, in Asahikawa Hokkaido, Japan and made her pro wrestling debut on January 23rd, 2005 with Yuu Yamagata against TAKA Michinoku and Ryota Chikuzen.

Hiren immediately takes control, as her corner people attack Tomoko and really work over her leg, like old school nWo.
Then Hiren proceeds to hit her with every spare folding chair in the arena.
This must be no DQ.

Focusing on the injured leg, Hiren clamps on a leg lock going for a submission.

In perfect heel style, Hiren smiles and looks like she is really enjoying punishing her opponent.

But Tomoko, isnt about to give up, she escapes and even hopping on one leg, launches her own counter-attack.

Tomoko is too badly damaged though, and quickly Hiren clamps on an ankle lock that would make Kurt Angle or Ken Shamrock proud.

This would have ended a regular match here, but Tomoko refuses to give in, and Hiren adds grinding a boot into the back of Tomoko's head to add insult to injury.

Here is the match in it's entirety, and if you like it, go to HybridDolphinELPS' page and subscribe for even more great Joshi videos.

For more Japanese female wrestling you can go here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Japanese-Female-Wrestlers

Mima Shimoda wrestling Etsuko Mita

2010-02-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

I keep thinking I'm gonna give nagashimark a break, but with great Japanese female wrestling videos like this one, who can?
This one is a match between two great Joshi wrestlers, Mima Shimoda and Etsuko Mita that took place in the NEO wrestling promotion in 1998.

Mima was born on 23, 1970 and she made her pro wrestling debut against Etsuko Mita back in 1987 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Etsuko was born on May 28, 1969 in Toyko and at one time was part of a very successful tag-team with Mima.
She is also credited with creating the "Death Valley Driver", a brutal finishing move that is a brainbuster type slam performed from a fireman's carry.
I have also heard that the move is banned in some promotions for being too dangerous.

This video has the two former tag-team partners facing off, and it seems there is a great deal of animosity between them.

They face off, trade a few opening moves and size each other up.

Etsuko get Mima down early on, and Mima retaliates by biting her on the knee.

Etsuko gets Mima down and clamps on a figure four leg-lock.

Which puts Mima in a world of hurt.

Mima escapes the figure four, and clamps one of her own on Etsuko.

Not satisfied with that, Mima rolls her over and applies a toe-hold.

But Etsuko escapes and the match goes out of the wrestling ring and into the crowd.

Here is part one of the match

You can go to nagashimark's YouTube channel here and see the rest, plus other great Joshi videos.
And while youre at it, you can subscribe to the channel to see more great Japanese wrestling action.

And no, nagashimark isnt paying me to say all this...LOL

If you want to see some more great Joshi videos, check out my Hub Page here

Ai Fujita wrestling AKINO

2010-01-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here is some more female wrestling from YouTube.
This was for the ARSION wrestling promotion in Japan and it's Ai Fujita wrestling AKINO for the Sky High of Arsion title on March 24th, 2003.
The video was posted by nagashimark (who else?)

Ai Fujita started out with her pro wrestling debut in Mexico first (in 1998) then her Japanese wrestling debut (in 1999).

AKINO made her pro wrestling debut the same year (1998).

The match starts out fast and furious with Ai gaining a slight upper hand, but AKINO quickly comes back and puts an end to Ai's high-flying antics by grounding her and going to work with some submission moves.

Of course this is just part one of the match.
You can see the rest by going to nagashimark's channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/nagashimark

Yoshiko Tamura wrestling Kana in Japan

2009-12-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

Last entry we featured a video by HybridDolphinELPS to give nagashimark and DoubleMiz a break, but nagashimark has posted an amazing video of Yoshiko Tamura wrestling Kana at a NEO event on May 31, 2009.
It's so good you have to go check it out.
The first part of this match (yes it's two part) runs a little over eight minutes and again when is the last time you saw a WWE Diva or TNA Knockout match go over five minutes etc, etc, etc.

This match has some high spots, but it has a lot of mixed martial arts style ground fighting that you don't see a lot of in the major wrestling promotions here.

Yoshiko Tamura made her pro wrestling debut on September 15 1994, so this lady has fifteen years of wrestling experience under her belt.
Kana (who evidently is very popular among Joshi fans) is a newcomer compared to Yoshiko, making her wrestling debut in June of 2004.

And in case you don't know who they are, Yoshiko is in blue and Kana is dressed kinda like Reiko Hinomoto from Rumble Roses.
She even has the X-Box logo across her butt.

They start out fast and Kana scores with a few flying hip shots.

She then gets Yoshiko in the corner and gives her a Stacy Keibler style single foot choke.

Yoshiko counters, gets Kana in the corner and gives her, her won version of a single leg choke.

Yoshiko uses her weight advantage to really pour the pressure on.

She gets Kana in the middle of the ring and applies an abdominal stretch.

Note here that besides punishing Kana's abs, Yoshiko also digs her thumb into the pressure point under Kana's ear.

She then hauls back, adding a chinlock for added pain.

Kana gets a take down and goes for a leg lock.

But the wily veteran escapes and gets on top, applying a headlock and using her weight to wear her smaller opponent down.

Yoshiko applies another submission hold on her less experienced foe.

But Kana escapes again and goes for an arm lock.

In the middle of the ring, Kana clamps on a sleeper hold....

...then tries to turn it into a Dragon Sleeper.

And this is just part one!
Of course to see all the Joshi goodness here you'll have to actually watch the video on nagashimark's channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOEHp_D6n8

And as always, if you like what you see (and I think you will) subscribe to nagashimark's channel and just for fun say "Sabre" sent you...LOL

Japanese Female Wrestling: Misaki Ohata vs Pinky Mayuka

2009-11-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Looking through all the great Japanese womens wrestling videos on YouTube I thought, "Why let nagashimark and DoubleMiz have all the fun?".
Here is a video posted by HybridDolphinELPS of a match between Misaki Ohata and Pinky Mayuka.
In the video, Pinky is challenging for Misaki's JWP Junior/Pop titles at JWP Pureslam on July 19th, 2009.
Here are some vidcaps from the match......

First up, Pinky Mayuka (in Pink of course) and Misaki square off.

Pinky gets Mayuka up against the ropes and delivers some serious forearm shots.

Pinky traps Misaki in an intricate submission hold. Can anybody tell me what it's called?

Pinky continues to pour on the pressure, taking Misaki to her knee.

After escaping the hold, Misaki clamps on an MMA style leglock.

Misaki goes for a cover, but will Pinky kick out?

Unfortunately HybridDolphinELPS' account was terminated

(insert my usual rant against YouTube here)

However, xkingx2009 has posted the match in it's entirety.

Japanese Female Wrestling - Saki Maemura vs. Takako Inoue

2009-10-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Kaori Yoneyama - Japanese Female Wrestling

2009-09-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

http://joshi-news.blogspot.com/

Another joshi puroresu star that seems pretty popular here these days is Kaori Yoneyama.
Kaori was born in Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan on February 26th, 1981.
She made her pro wrestling debut against Kayoko Haruyama on November 11th, 1999.

Kaori Yoneyama Vs Atsuko Emoto

Kaori Yoneyama - Japanese Female Wrestling, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/, Sept 23rd, 2009

Japanese Female Wrestlers - Ai Fujita

2009-09-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Japanese female wrestler Ai Fujita seems to be showing a recent upsurge in interest.
Ai was born on February 15 1976 and actually had two pro wrestling debuts.
She debuted against La Amapola in 1998 in Mexico, and in 1999 in a tag team match with Candy Okutsu against Ayako Hamada (current TNA Knockout Hamada) and Mika Akino in Japan.

Here is part one of a match between Ai Fujita and Momoe Nakanishi posted by...take a wild guess...yes, nagashimark on YouTube

Doesn't the interviewer kinda look like Hiro Nakamura on "Heroes"?
Of course you can see the second part of the match and more Japanese female wrestlers on nagashimark's YouTube channel.

Japanese Female Wrestlers - Ai Fujita posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on Sept 21st, 2009

Japanese Female Wrestler - Cuty Suzuki (Cutie Suzuki)

2009-09-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

And next to Chikako Shiratori, the most popular Japanese female wrestler here lately is the lady that was in the video I linked to last time, Cuty Suzuki (Cutie Suzuki).
Cuty was born on October 22, 1969 in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan and made her pro wrestling debut on September 19, 1986.
Cuty is retired now, but during her career, she held the UWA Junior Wrestling title, the JWP Junior Wrestling title and one half of the JWP Tag Team Women's Wrestling titles five times.
Twice with Mayumi Ozaki, once with Devil Masami and twice with Dynamite Kansai.

Here is a video of Cuty going up against Candy Okutsu in a JWP match from July 18, 1997, posted once again to YouTube by nagashimark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssxykArhAWk

Cuty Suzuki (Cutie Suzuki) posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on Sept 18th, 2009

Japanese Female Wrestling - Chikako Shiratori

2009-09-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

How can anyone that pretty be that mean?

Since everyone seems to be on a Chikako Shiratori kick here, (Yes I read what everyone wants to see...) I thought I'd post this picture and this video link.

The vid was posted to Veoh by the famous Nagashimark and it's a battle between Chikako Shiratori and Cuty Suzuki.
And battle is the correct term.
These ladies go at it from the opening bell wide open.
And Chikako plays the consummate old school heel, smiling when she is punishing Cuty.
She seems to really enjoy hurting her opponent.

You can see the whole video here

And as always, after you watch it, if you like the vid, subscribe to Nagashimark's channel to show your appreciation for getting this Joshi action out to the public.

Chikako Shiratori, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on Sept 14th, 2009.

The Top Ten Japanese Female Wrestlers in August

2009-09-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a top ten of Japanese female wrestlers here in awhile, so here we go.

1. Hamada
Without a doubt the most popular Japanese lady wrestler on here.
Of course the worldwide exposure on TNA has a "little" something to do with that.
I'm hoping that might start some more interest in Joshi Puroresu over here.

2. Kaori Yoneyama
Surprisingly to me, Kaori Yoneyama came in at the second postion.
Last month HybridDolphinELPS put up a video tribute to Kaori on YouTube that you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey5lRK_r2ec

3. Francoise
Last month, the lovely Francoise, recently from Hustle, came in at number three.
Here's a short video of Francoise wrestling another Japanese beauty Cherry posted by persicummalum on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQZKsEYpJM0

4. Misaki Ohata
Coming in at number four is Misaki Ohata.
You can see a video of Misaki wrestling Sachiko posted by kapengmabula on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThAWNB5ZIxs

5. Momoe Nakanishi
Japanese female wrestler Momoe Nakanishi came in at number five last month.
Here is a video of Momoe Nakanishi taking on Ayako Hamada (Yes, now TNA Knockout Hamada) at the AJW 35th Anniversary Show, May 11 2003 posted by the infamous DoubleMiz on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktjRNdUO3w

6. Chaparrita Asari
The high flying Chaparrita Asari came in at number six last month.
You can watch a video of Chaparrita ASARI wrestling Baby-A from the ARSION 5th Anniversary Show, again posted by DoubleMiz on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8YXllD3pAE

7. Etsuko Mita
Etsuko Mita came in at nuber seven last month.
Here is a video of Etsuko Mita taking on Hiroyo Matsumoto posted by nagashimark over at YouTube.
The match is from the NEO Stage 09 tournament, semi finals on February 8, 2009.
You can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqFZ2n3LuI

8. Kana
The popular Kana came in at number eight last month.
And here is a video of Kana taking on Minori Makiba at the May 5, 2009 NEO "May History", posted by yoshitonic1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTw4rkNhnGY

9. Kayoko Haruyama
Number nine last month was Kayoko Haruyama.
You can watch Kayoko Haruyama taking on Tojuki Leon on this video posted by kapengmabula on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2rUAOj7Yak

10. Mimi Hagiwara
And last, but not by any means least, is the beautiful Mimi Hagiwara.
Mimi no longer wrestles, but here is a video of her going up against Chigusa Nagayo. posted by hajimanko on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7WzzeyEt4Q

I'd like to thank all of these posters that have put up Joshi videos on YouTube, that give eveyone a chance to get in on the action.
If you go to the vids (sorry I didn't hyperlink them, but Goggle seems to get cranky if I do that too much in a post) make sure to subscribe to these posters channels.
And let them know you appreciate their work at getting these matches out there.

posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on Sept 9th, 2009

Hamada In TNA So Far

2009-09-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hamada's TNA entrance, complete with Anime like portrait. http://www.tnawrestling.com/

The most popular topic on this blog by far last month was Ayako Hamada, or just "Hamada" as she's now known in TNA.

Hamada made her debut on TNA Impact! on August 27th when she battled another veteran female wrestler Daffney in a No Disqualification match.
Hamada came out on top and she seemed to be pushed as a face.

Then the next week she teamed with Sojo Bolt to go up against Tara and Christy Hemme (considering their old WWE feud, an unusual combination).
Hamada and Bolt lost, and afterwards, Hamada hit Sojo with the Hamada Driver (Sitout scoop slam piledriver) for losing.
So is Hamada a face or a heel?
Or will they pull a Stone Cold and have her as a tween that might give anyone the Hamada Driver if she gets angry?

In case you missed the match, you can see the whole thing on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwmUMjIZKU

BTW, note the exchange between Hamada and Tara (my mark out moment) at the beginning that lead to a double kip up and applause from the TNA audience.
Applause during a female wrestling match?
Amazing.

Japanese Female Wrestling - Ladies of Hustle part 6 - Yinling

2009-09-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

I said I could probably do a whole entry on just Yinling by herself and it's true.
And I doubt very seriously that I could cover everything here, but let's go.

Yingling was born on February 15, 1978 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Before joining the Japanese wrestling promotion Hustle, she was a swimsuit model and race queen.
She joined Hustle as Yinling, then became Newling-sama (Mistress Newling), then went back to being a heel after being shot by a laser beam by The Esperanza (a wrestling cyborg) during a wrestling match.
Did you think the Undertaker's lightning bolts were a stretch?

And then Yinling gave birth to 6'8, 500 pound sumo wrestler Monster Bono.
Oh yeah, he was hatched from an egg.
Remember what I said about the WWE on acid?

Yinling left Hustle and when she retired, her final match was against her "son" Monster Bono, who crushed her with a big splash.
Yeah, it killed her.
Not really though.

So here are some of Yinling's various incarnations in Hustle.....

posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/ on Sept 3rd, 2009

Japanese Female Wrestling - Ladies of Hustle part 5

2009-08-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

And continuing on with the ladies of the Japanese wrestling promotion Hustle.....

Erica
Remember what I said earlier about what they did to Awesome (Amazing) Kong?
Well look at what they did to her friend and mentor Aja Kong.
They used her real name Erica, but they basically changed everything else.
She and Margaret held the HUSTLE Super Tag Team Championship at one time.
That is until they were beaten by Team 3D (yes, Brother Ray and Brother Devon, who probably fit right in at Hustle. I wonder if they did their old ECW gimmick there?)
The match they were in was a three way tag team, and the other team was Mark Jindrak and Matt Morgan.
Geez.....

Jaguar Y
And here is another Joshi legend that wrestled in Hustle, Jaguar Yokota.
Underneath the cute kitty make up is a woman that is considered one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time.
She wrestled as a heel for the Monster faction.

Suzuki Hiroko
Here is another lady you might recognize from the WWE.
Hiroko used to be on WWE's SmackDown! as the valet for her husband Kenzo Suzuki.
She kept up with that in Hustle, before becoming the General Manager and turning on Kenzo.

Japanese Female Wrestling - Ladies of Hustle part 4

2009-08-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

More of the ladies of Hustle.....

Karate Girl (or simply) KG debuted with Hustle in 2008.
She had a feud with her former tag team partner Chie because of a mess up during a tag team match.

Chie was KG's partner and she debuted with Hustle in 2005.
It's said that she has an amateur wrestling background.
Chie retired from wrestling in 2009 to get married.

Francoise is no stranger to this blog. She debuted with Hustle in February of 2009 as the girlfriend of former WWE star Lance Cade.
Francoise may have been brought in to replace the departing Yinling who will probably get a whole entry to herself.

Japanese Female Wrestling - Ladies of Hustle part 4

2009-08-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Blanca X
Except for her looking like a female version of Speed Racer's brother, Racer X and holding an electric toothbrush (?) I dont know anything about Blanca X.
Other than even with the mask on, she looks kinda familiar.

Aoki Hiroko
Again I got nothing.
Is this possibly Japanese bikini model Yuko Aoki?

Chizuru
The last Hustle worker I know nothing about.
It looks kinda like she stole Candice Michelle's old fairy wand.
Or maybe Candice stole hers?

Japanese Female Wrestling: Ladies of Hustle part 3

2009-08-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Back to our "Ladies of Hustle" we have some more Japanese female wrestlers that aren't really Japanese.

Caiya (Carolyn Kawasaki) was born in Chicago, but she is a gaijin tarento (talent) that like many of our celebrities is famous for being...famous.
She's an actress. she has released four books and a jewelry line, but she's included here because of her time as a wrestler.
Yes wrestler.
Caiya (as she is known in Japan) wanted to become a wrestler because she loved the WWE divas.
She had matches against Giant Silva and also Tajiri.
WHAT?
Yes, 7 foot 2 inch Giant Silva and the "Japanese Buzzsaw"Tajiri.
Caiya made her pro wrestling debut at Hustle Aid.
At Hustle Aid 2006, she tag teamed with Naoya Ogawa (Olympic judo champion, pro wrestler and MMA fighter) to take on Giant Silva (again) and Giant Vabo.
Silva and Vabo won.

She was known as Wild HAKAIYA in Hustle, but you may know her as Trenesha Biggers, Panther Claw, Black Barbie or TNA Knockout Rhaka Khan.
I really don't see why this 6'2, 116 pound amazon isnt more popular.
Okay, aside from all that Kurt Angle stuff and the other assorted craziness.

And yes this is the powerful, imposing, 6'1, 272 pound Kia Stevens, better known as Amazing Kong or TNA Knockout Awesome Kong.
In Hustle she was known as Margaret.
Quite a change from her usual Xena-like battle garb isnt it?
(Wait till you see what they did to her friend and mentor Aja Kong!)

Ayako Hamada Finally at TNA.com

2009-08-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm interrupting the Women of Hustle series to let everyone know that Ayako Hamada has finally been acknowledged on the TNA homepage.
You can read a press release about her from TNA here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/1647/84/

It looks like TNA will call her just "Hamada".

Just thought I'd pop in with that since a lot of people have been wondering when she'd actually show up.
Now if I can just forgive them for that Cody Deaner crap......

Japanese Female Wrestling: More of the Ladies of Hustle

2009-08-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Luchadora Cynthia Moreno also wrestled for Japanese wrestling promotion Hustle.
Of course Cynthia comes from a big wrestling family including Luchadores Alfonso Moreno (her father) and El Oriental (her brother) and her sisters Luchadoras Esther Moreno, Alda Moreno and Rossy Moreno.

Before retiring, Joshi legend Dump Matsumoto worked for Hustle as well.

I told you Ayako Hamada would show up again, and here she is as heel Dokuron Z (or Dokron Z).
Isn't that La Parka in the background?

Japanese Female Wrestling: Hustle

2009-08-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Pro wrestling in Japan has always been different.
But it doesn't get much different than the Japanese wrestling promotion Hustle.
They used to call the WWE a soap opera with chair shots.
Well imagine the WWE on acid.
You have a pretty good idea of Hustle.

But even as wild as Hustle is, it has had it's share of great wrestlers in their ring.
Some of the female wrestlers are not well known, but some are down right legends.
And some..well you might get a kick seeing what they look(ed) like in Hustle......

Yes, that's legendary Lucha Libre and Joshi star Ayako Hamada as Arisin Z.
This is the first, but not the last time she'll pop up on this list.

And yes another Lucha Libre star, Fabi Apache.
Doesn't look like Hustle remade Fabi much.

Although she's retired now, legendary Japanese female wrestler Devil Masami worked for Hustle under the name Madama Devil.

You can check out Hustle's homepage (In Japanese)here:
http://www.hustlehustle.com/

To be continued......

Japanese Female Wrestling, Jaguar Yokota

2009-08-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of legendary joshi puroresu star Jaguar Yokota.
This also was posted by hugo999 at the Box y Lucha forum, again showing Japanese womens wrestling's appeal.

In her prime, Jaguar was considered one of the best wrestlers in the world, male or female.
And she held the belts to prove it.
She held the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) All Japan Junior Championship, the AJW All Japan Singles Championship, the World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA) World Tag Team Championship (with Ayumi Hori), the WWWA World Singles Championship twice, the NWA International Tag Team Championship (with Hitomi Okumura), the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) World Women's Championship, the TWF World Women's Title, the TWF World Women's Tag Team Championship (with Yuko Kosugi) and the AWF Women's Championship.
And in 1996, Jaguar Yokota was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Japanese Female Wrestler Devil Masami

2009-08-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here is an old picture I found of legendary Japanese female wrestler Devil Masami on the Box y Lucha forum posted by hugo999.
Masami had a long joshi career that spanned from 1978 to her retirement in 2008.
And as you can see, her fame wasn't limited to just Japan.

Devil was the All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJW) Champion, the WWWA World Heavyweight Champion, the AAAW Singles Champion and held the AAAW Tag Team Championship with Aja Kong, the JWP Open Weight Singles Champion, and the JWP Tag Team Champion three times with Dynamite Kansai, Hikari Fukuoka and Cutie Suzuki.
She was also inducted into the AJW Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996.

Manami Toyota Takes on Everybody!

2009-08-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most amazing joshi puroresu matches I have ever seen.
It was posted on YouTube by nagashimark with credits to DoubleMiz and Uncle Oni.

In this match, Manami Toyota takes on every girl on the AJW roster.
Yes, that's right, every girl on the AJW roster.
Some of the wrestlers she takes on are Takako Inoue, Aja Kong, Mima Shimoda and Mariko Yoshida.
Can you see a WWE Diva or TNA Knockout doing this?
Okay, maybe Beth Phoenix or Awesome Kong.

This is only part one of the match, and I would love to know the set up behind this.
Did Manami do something wrong?

Anyway, here is part one....

Japanese Female Wrestling: Neo News

2009-07-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Tamura Yoshiko, NWA Women's Pacific and NEO-certified Qualified Singles champion

NEO seems to be moving along with their wrestling organization, even though Joshi in general seems to have taken a dip in popularity.

They have four wrestling events listed on their website as upcoming in August.
Two Summer Night Fire 09 events at Itabashi Green Hall (August 8th and 15th) , a NEO Show House at West Park General Gymnasium Hitachi Omiya, Ibaraki ( August 16th) and NEO STRONG HOLD IN JAPAN ( August 29th) at the Osaka Prefectural Sports Center Stadium.

The Roster includes...
Tamura Yoshiko, NWA Women's Pacific and NEO-certified Qualified Singles champion
Inoue Kyouko and Matsumoto Hiroyo NEO Tag Team champions
Mita Etsuko, who will be retiring in November
Tunney Mouse
Princess Miyazaki Tamotsu
Aya courage
Nagisa Nozaki
What NOZOMI
Nakamura Yuka
Shiina Yuka
Satoshi Misa
Matsuo Forever

Kana Wrestling Chihiro Oikawa

2009-07-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Since Kana seems to be so popular, here is another video from YouTube of Kana this time wrestling Chihiro Oikawa.
It was posted on YouTube by kapengmabula.
Like several others I have mentioned here, kapengmabula has a lot of good Joshi matches posted, and you can see them all here.

This is part one of the match.....

Kana has been around for awhile, making her pro wrestling debut in June, 2004.
Chihiro Oikawa is BattleArts' first ever joshi wrestler and she has a MMA record of 1-1-0.
BattleArts is a shoot style promotion that is a cross between MMA and mat based wrestling.
And in BattleArts, there are no pins, just submission or knockout based outcomes.

Cherry and Takanashi Masako wrestling Kana and Oikawa Chihiro

2009-07-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well here is a kind of unusual video I found on Veoh of Cherry and Takanashi Masako wrestling Kana and Oikawa Chihiro.
The video was posted by apocalyptico77 and it happened at Union Night in Shikiba on 3-7-2009.
Why Takanashi Masako is wrestling in drag I have no idea (Shades of Santina Marella!).
Maybe someone out there can explain why he's doing this.
But if you kinda look past that, it's a pretty good match.
Of course any match Cherry or Kana is in is good.
: )
You can check out apocalyptico77's page here and see some more great Japanese wrestling, not just joshi either.

Watch Union Proresu - Cherry,Takanashi Masako vs Kana, Oikawa Chihiro in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Takashi Matsunaga, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling

2009-07-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Takashi Matsunaga who founded All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling back in 1968 along with his brothers, passed away last Saturday.

Takashi was 73 years old.

Before founding "Zenjo", he had been the promoter, business manager and trainer for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation.

Takashi Matsunaga was one of the most important figures in women's pro wrestling, helping to elevate Joshi Puroresu in Japan.

Ayako Hamada Update

2009-07-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Finally an update on Ayako Hamada in TNA.
The Sun is reporting that Ayako is expected to start at the next set of TV tapings.

As you may recall, on April 8, 2009, it was announced at a press conference that Ayako had signed with TNA.
Of course I have been waiting since then to see just when she would pop up.

I'm still thinking a tag team with her and Sarah Stock (aka Dark Angel, aka Sarita) would be a great idea.
Lucha Libre AND Joshi Puroresu combined.

The Most Popular Japanese Female Wrestlers

2009-06-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

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.

IBUKI 29 "4th Anniversary" at Korakuen Hall

2009-06-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

On May 31, 2009 at IBUKI 29 "4th Anniversary" at Korakuen Hall......

In the JWP Junior/POP #1 Contenders' Match, Misaki Ohata defeated DASH Chisako in 13:57 with a Reverse Cradle.

AKINO and Akiko Narikuni beat GAMI and Chihiro Oikawa in 13:52, when AKINO used a Reverse Cross Armbreaker on Oikawa.

Kazumi Shimouma defeated Raika in 9:44 with a Figure-Four Leglock.

In a six woman tag team match, Shu Shibutani, Fuuka, and Esui defeated Sendai Sachiko, Ryo Mizunami, and Yukari Ishino in 15:29, when Esui used a Running Knee on Ishino.

Meiko Satomura and Nanae Takahashi defeated Ray and Natsuki*Taiyo in 20:12, when Satomura used a Death Valley Bomb (Death Valley driver) on Ray.

And in the final match, Misaki Ohata defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto in 18:53 with a Kido Clutch (Fireman's Carry Cradle) .
That makes Misaki the 17th JWP Junior and 7th P.O.P. Champion.

Technorati Tags: professional wrestling women women wrestling matches female wrestlers list
female wrestling pics

Results for IBUKI "Extra" on May 4, 2009

2009-05-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Results for IBUKI "Extra" on May 4, 2009 at Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo, Japan.

Tomoka Nakagawa defeated SENDAI Girl's Yukari Ishino in 9:37 with the CRB.

Ray over SENDAI Girl Hiren in 11:59 with a Moonsault Press.

Misaki Ohata wrestled SENDAI Girl's DASH Chisako to the 20 minute time limit resulting in a draw.
THEN 5 more minutes were out on the clock, and they still went to another draw.
When's the last time you saw a 25 minute match with the WWE Divas that went to a draw?

The tag team of Ryo Mizunami and Sendai Sachiko beat Hiroyo Matsumoto and Esui in 21:22.
Mizunami used a Diving Guillotine Drop on Esui.
Again...a 22 minute womens match.

You can find out more about IBUKI at their website here:
http://s-ovation.com/wrestling/english.html

Or their MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/ibukipro

Mima Shimoda versus Akira Hokuto

2009-05-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

A while back I mentioned some really good Japanese professional women wrestling matches on YouTube, well here is one from Veoh posted by shupercousin.
It's a match between Mima Shimoda and Akira Hokuto from August 30th, 1995.
Mima Shimoda, Etsuko Mita and Akira had once formed a group called "Las Cachorras Orientoles" or LCO in AJW, but this looks like it too place after all that was over.

Watch LCO Faceoff! Akira Hokuto vs Mima Shimoda in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

When Will Ayako Hamada Show Up In TNA?

2009-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Now I am really wondering when Ayako Hamada will show up in TNA.
Her signing with them was reported almost a month ago, and I'm wondering if TNA will pull a Sarah Stock and wait months before we see her in the ring.
(Watch, as soon as I post this she'll show up)
I checked TNA's homepage, and neither Sarah nor Ayako are listed there.
I'm also thinking that Sarah and Ayako would make an awesome tag team.
Lucha Libre and Joshi Puroresu together.
Just be glad the WWE didn't sign them, or they'd both debut as valets.

Latest IBUKI Results

2009-05-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

At IBUKI's latest show on April 5, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan....

1. Kyoko Kimura defeated Kazumi Shimouma in 10:53 with a Headbutt.

2. Atsuko Emoto defeated Esui in 10:02 with the Momo Clutch.

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Misaki Ohata defeated DASH Chisako and Yukari Ishino in 15:13, when Matsumoto used a Back Drop on Ishino.

4. Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Ayumi Kurihara in 14:10 with a Cradle.

5. Ray and Natsuki*Taiyo defeated Shu Shibutani and Fuuka in 21:14, when Ray used the Sky Twister Press on Shibutani.

IBUKI's next show will be on May 31 at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

You can find out more about IBUKI and their wrestlers here:
http://s-ovation.com/wrestling/

Hoshi Hamuko

2009-04-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hoshi Hamuko is a Japanese female wrestler.
She was born on October 19, 1982 on the island of Hokkaido.
Hoshi is 4'9 and weighs 132 pounds.
She made her pro wrestling debut on May 11, 2008 in Tokyo.
Hoshi wrestles for the Ice Ribbon promotion in Japan.

Pro Wrestling WAVE

2009-04-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Pro Wrestling WAVE is a women's pro wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan, created by GAMI and Yumi Ohka in July of 2007.
The main goal of WAVE was to try to breathe life into the weakening Joshi Puroresu industry.
Their first show was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo on August 26, 2007.
On February 13, 2008, WAVE signed a former Ice Ribbon wrestler, Moeka Haruhi.
Since JWP's Commando Bolshoi and GAMI are friends, WAVE as a friendly pact with JWP lending out wrestlers to each others shows.
For more info on WAVE, you can go to their website here:
http://www.pro-w-wave.com/

Some of WAVE's wrestlers....

Moeka Haruhi

Yumi Ohka

And here is a match between Manami Toyota/Moeka Haruhi and Yumi Ohka/GAMI

Miyako Matsumoto - Japanese Women Wrestlers

2009-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Female Japanese wrestler Miyako Matsumoto was born on April 11, 1985.
She's 5'1 and weighs 103 pounds.
Miyako works for the Ice Ribbon wrestling promotion in Japan.

Here is a "battle of the Matsumotos" with Miyako Matsumoto taking on Hiroyo Matsumoto and Dump Matsumoto.

Miyako Matsumoto - Japanese Women Wrestlers, posted to http://joshipuroresu.blogspot.com/, on 4-15-2009

Joshi Puroresu and YouTube

2009-04-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

If you just cant get enough Joshi, I have a couple of really good stops for you on YouTube.

The first is nagashimark's channel.
There you can see matches with soon to be TNA star Ayako Hamada, Nanae Takahashi, Kaori Yoneyama, Chikayo Nagashima, Devil Masami, Plum Mariko, Chigusa Nagayo and Cutie Suzuki.
The url is http://www.youtube.com/user/nagashimark
It might be a good idea to subscribe too because new videos get posted on a regular basis.

My next favorite Joshi channel on YouTube is DoubleMiz.
Lots of Joshi greats here too like Momoe Nakanishi, Ayako Hamada, Mariko Yoshida, Mima Shimoda, Mayumi Ozaki and Megumi Kudo.
The url is http://www.youtube.com/user/DoubleMiz
DoubleMiz also has a Veoh page here: http://www.veoh.com/users/ringmistress
And DoubleMiz's channel is another good one to subscribe to.

technorati tags: female wrestle, japanese female wrestling, wrestling females, wrestler

Ayako Hamada Coming to TNA

2009-04-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

Ayako Hamada Coming to TNA

I have written about Ayako Hamada several times here on this blog.
Now the daughter of the legendary Gran Hamada is leaving Japan and Mexico to become a TNA Knockout.
With joshi puroresu on the decline in Japan, now is probably a good time for American wrestling promotions like TNA and WWE to start grabbing some of the talent there.
Ayako's wrestling background is impeccable, and I think it'll be great for her to get exposure here in the US.
It might even help breathe some like into Japan's wrestling scene.
So far there has been no official announcement at TNA Wrestling.com.

You can visit Ayako's website here:
http://ayakohamada.com/

Makoto

2009-04-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Japanese female wrestler Makoto was born on September 26, 1989 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
She stands 5'4 and weighs 114 pounds.
Makoto made her pro wrestling debut on July 25th, 2006 at Sakura Hall.
She wrestles for the Ice Ribbon Promotion in Japan.

Joshi Puroresu News

2009-04-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sad news.
Chris over at Joshi Puroresu News posted this today:

This time it is the end!
I have to stop updating this blog i am afraid as i simply do not have time to keep it up to date. Sorry if you rely on Ice Ribbon results being translated but its quite easy to do yourself anyway with a copy & paste and an online translator. Romaji translator is what i use.
Thanks for all people who have come here over the last few months. The blog will be kept alive in archive mode. LL!

This is sad because his blog was a really good source of up to date Joshi Puroresu news.
He had matches, results, info and really good pictures.
I hate to see the blog go, but I hope it will be back in the future.

You can see his blog here:
http://joshi-news.blogspot.com/

technorati tags: wrestling news and rumors, professional wrestling news, wrestling rumors

SENDAI Girls' Pro Wrestling

2009-04-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

Meiko Satomura, one of the co-founders of SENDAI Girls

Founded in 2005 by Meiko Satomura and Jinsei Shinzaki, SENDAI Girls' Pro Wrestling is a Japanese female wrestling promotion based in the city of Sendai, Miyagi in the Tohoku region.
It is also known by SGPW and Senjo.
Meiko Satomura was a successful female wrestler in the 2000's, wrestling for promotions like GAEA Japan where she was both a two time singles champion and two time tag team champion.
Jinsei Shinzaki, a male pro wrestler is the prsident of Michinoku Pro Wrestling. He wrestled in the US for the WWF and ECW.

At first, Satomura was the only experienced wrestler on the roster, and she served as not only a wrestler, but also the trainer and booker.
SENDAI held it's first show on July 9, 2006 at Sendai's Sun Plaza.
Because of the small roster, the matches consisted of Senjo's first four wrestlers making their debuts in singles matches against four experienced female wrestlers.

And because of the small roster size, most of their shows are SENDAI Girls versus other promotions, which over here would be like WWE and TNA wrestlers facing each other at a show, or WWE and ROH.

According to their website, their roster currently stands at:
DASH Chisako
Hiren
Meiko Satomura
Ryo Mizunami
Sendai Sachiko
Yukari Ishino

The SENDAI Girls website is here:
http://www.sendaigirls.jp/

JDStar

2009-03-25T08:53:00.001-07:00

Yumi Ohka

In the early 1990's there was a boom in joshi puroresu.
Several promotions started then and among them was a wrestling promotion created by the legendary Jaguar Yokota called JDStar.
She started the promotion in 1996, and in the beginning, because of her star power, she was the main attraction.
But by 1998, she felt the promotion was going nowhere and she decided to leave and become a freelancer.
When Jaguar left, the promotion was bought by Kiyu Uji, and he tried to build the comapny up.
But even with popular performers such as Lioness Asuka, Aja Kong, and Chigusa Nagayo, it still wasnt taking off.

Fuka

In 2001, Hidenobu Ichimaru bought the company from Kiyu Uji, and revamped it with a new gimmick to push the wrestlers.
The new gimmick was "Athress" or athlete-actress. Similar to the WWE renaming their women wrestlers as "Divas".
His method of drawing in models and training them to become wrestlers drew fire from fans and established wrestlers alike.
Again, similar to the WWE Diva situation.
Several of the established female wrestlers thought that the "Athresses" shouldn't be in the same ring as them.
JDStar struggled and finally went under in the summer of 2007.

Shibutani

Although a lot of the wrestlers were basically "throw aways" several stars did emerge including The Bloody, Fang Suzuki, Sumie Sakai, Emi Tojyo, Yumi Ohka, Kei Akiyama, Asami Kawasaki, Fuka and Shu Shibutani.

Female Wrestlers of Kaientai Dojo

2009-03-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Japanese professional wrestling promotion Kaientai Dojo (K-DOJO) is one of the few wrestling promotions to feature both men and women in mixed matches.
They will wrestle each other during mixed tag matches or singles matches.

Some of the female wrestlers that have worked for K-DOJO are.....

Tomoka Nakagawa

Yuu Yamagata

Ofune

Apple Miyuki

Bambi

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling

2009-03-10T10:22:00.001-07:00

Bull Nakano started with AJW at the age of 15

Established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was a joshi puroresu (women's professional wrestling) promotion.
The promotion held it's first event on June 4, 1968.
Also in 1968, they got a deal with Fuji TV. This was the first time joshi puroresu had been aired on TV in Japan.
AJW was the successor to the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association, which had been formed in August 1955.
The AJW held several regular annual events like the Japan Grand Prix, Tag League the Best, Wrestlemarinpiad and Wrestling Queendom.
On November 29, 1998, The AJW Hall of Fame had its first inducted class enshrined at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan.

Most of the major female stars of Japanese wrestling worked for AJW at one time or another including:

Lioness Asuka (joined in 1980)
Akira Hokuto (she quit High School and joined the AJW dojo, making her wrestling debut shortly before her 18th birthday)
Aja Kong (trained by AJW, and graduated as part of their class of 1986)
Devil Masami (member of the All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame,inducted in 1998)
Dump Matsumoto (one of AJW's biggest stars in the 1980s)
Monster Ripper (debuted in AJW in 1979)
Chigusa Nagayo (one half of the Crush Gals with Lioness Asuka)
Bull Nakano (started training with AJW at the age of 15)
Jackie Sato (joined AJW in 1975)
Jaguar Yokota (defeated WWWA Champion Jackie Sato at the age of 19)

The AJW wrestling promotion closed it's doors in April 2005 after a 37 year run.

Gaea

2009-03-04T06:45:00.002-08:00

Gaea Japan was a well known Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Chigusa Nagayo in 1995.
During it's run, the promotion had ties with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and even had it's own weekly show on The Wrestling Channel.
At a press conference on August 24, 1994, charter members Chigusa, KAORU, and Bomber Hikaru (Mitsuyo Mura) announced the formation of the promotion, and wasted no time in holding rookie auditions the same day.
The new promotion held its first show on April 15, 1995 at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall. "Memorial First Gong" was a sellout and GAEA went on to hold monthly shows at Korakuen and went on the road to hold events in other Japanese cities.
Some of the other wrestlers that worked for Gaea included Toshiyo Yamada, Meiko Satomura, Chikayo Nagashima, Sugar Sato and Carlos Amano.
One of the biggest events in Gaea's run was on December 27, 1999, with the reunion of 80's tag team sensations, the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka).
On April 10, 2005, GAEA's run ended at the appropriately titled, "Eternal Last Gong" ending in the place it began, Korakuen Hall.
At the show, Chigusa lost to her protégée, Meiko Satomura in the main event.
Chigusa Nagayo offically retired after the match.

Gaea Japan was the focus of the 2000 documentary "Gaea Girls", by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams.

And here is part one of Mayumi Ozaki and Chikayo Nagashima wrestling Akira Hokuto and Maiko Matsumoto at GAEA, on April 29, 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UiQH86pVgw
The video was posted by nagashimark on YouTube. You should really check out his channel, he's got a lot of good videos posted there.