female japanese wrestling, women wrestling, japanese women, female wrestling, female wrestler, japanese female, japanese female wrestling, japanese female wrestlers
The old rule of thumb here on this blog used to be "When in doubt...post Kana."
But now Kana is Asuka in the WWE and is the NXT Women's Champion.
And true to form she is still pretty much Kana.
So much so that Dave Meltzer (the Wrestling Observer Newsletter) said that she "may be the best worker in WWE, man or woman".
Yep...that's Kana.
Well in just a few short hours Japanese wrestler Kana will show up on WWE NXT as "Asuka". Asuka means future...so we will see what the future will hold. The WWE should be commended not only for hiring a female wrestler with over a decade of experience, but also one that is 33 years old and does not fit their usual "Diva" image.
Kana has already left Japanese wrestling, her final match in Japan was at the September 15 KanaProMania: Pulse event. There she teamed with Hikaru Shida and Syuri in a six-woman tag team main event, defeating Arisa Nakajima, Rina Yamashita and Ryo Mizunami.
Well on August 22, 2015, Kanako Urai (better known to us as Kana) showed up on TV in the crowd at WWE's NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event in Brooklyn, New York.
She was with Sgt. Slaughter and Ric Flair and was identified onscreen as "Kanna".
Five days later on August 27, the WWE indeed confirmed that she had signed with them a few weeks earlier.
So is she a Diva or a trainer?
Trainer would be awesome for the Divas and I bet that Kanna could still work matches for other promotions.
I just don't see Kanna as a WWE Diva, considering she could take out 90% of the roster by herself.
On November 20th, 2014, in Tokyo, Japan, Arisa Nakajima and Kana defeated Lin Byron and Syuri in the finals of a four-team tournament to win the vacant Reina World Tag Team Championships.
And before they were partners, Arisa Nakajima vs Kana
Here are Japanese female wrestlers Kana, Cherry, and Shuu Shibutani having a good time in the ring and not beating the crap out of anyone.
That's pretty rare.
Especially for Kana.
I couldn't find them all together, but here is Kana and Megumi Yabushita vs. Shu Shibutani and Mika
"When in doubt, post Kana".
Here is Kana on the receiving end of what appears to be a pretty stiff kick from Syuri.
And that's Makoto looking on in the background.
These three have had some pretty wild times in the ring in Japan and they are still going at it.
By the way, in case you didn't know, Syuri is 11-0-0 in Pro Kickboxing.
So she knows how to kick.
You know how I always say on this blog, "When in doubt, post Kana"?
Well sadly I was in doubt and didn't know what to post.
So...Kana of course.
So here are just some random shots of Kana mixing it up in the ring.
Japanese female pro wrestlers Kana and Mio Shirai again.
But this time in a happier moment.
As in not trying to kill each other.
They look so happy.....
Kana and Mio Shirai vs Arisa Nakajima and Ayako Hamada
My old rule on this blog is, "When in doubt...post Kana."
So here she is.
And of course there is nothing wrong with throwing in a Shirai sister.
So here is Mio Shirai and Kana.
I know that when I can't think of anything else to talk about, I usually go to Kana, but today I thought I'd mention one of my other favorite Joshi wrestlers, Mio Shirai.
It's almost like mentioning Kana.
Yeah I know I just posted about Mio and her sister Io when they were the Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters a while back, but Mio has been doing quite a bit in Japan solo.
Mio and Kana defeated Misaki Ohata and Tsukasa Fujimoto on April 21st, 2013 and won the Wave Tag Team Championship, which is the first title Triple Tails.S has had.
Oh yeah, Triple Tails.S is the Mio/Kana tag-team that used to be just called Triple Tails when Io was a member.
Occasionally Mio and Kana have to face each other like they did here at the Regina di Wave Championship tournament.
She's so popular here on this blog that when I can't think of anything else to do, I just mention Kana.
Love her or hate her she is one of the most popular Japanese female wrestlers out there today.
Here is a video posted by MrKebe83 of Kana taking on Tomoka Nakagawa in the SMASH Divas Championship match at SMASH 24-2011
Do you like Joshi?
Do you like tumblr?
Then you need to check out xDangerousQueensx (http://xdangerousqueenx.tumblr.com/).
TONS of great pictures and videos. not just Japanese women wrestlers but a lot of Indy wrestling as well.
I found this picture of Kana there, and that's just the tip of the iceberg....
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.
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
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...
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.
Well YouTube took that one down.
BUT, here is another match between them that looks even earlier....
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?)....
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
Kana gets up and now the match turns more into a Muay Thai battle.
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!
Here is a video posted by kapengmabula on YouTube of Kana taking on Ayumi Kurihara at Passion Red's "2PASSION" on May 3rd, 2009.
Anyway, this is part one of a really great match that highlights the best in joshi.
I tell you, Kana can get VERY innovative with punishment, as she puts poor Ayumi's legs through the wringer.
