Kana Leaves Passion Red

A few tidbits to make a midweek post about.  First, as most joshi fans following the online forums or blogs know, Kana has left Passion Red.  Apparently she scuffled and exchanged words with Nanae Takahashi during their tag match at the NEO show last weekend, resulting in Kana's announcement.  Then they traded barbs in their respective blogs. Opinions are mixed on whether this is a work, a shoot, or a "worked shoot".  I'm leaning towards work and hope this leads to a Nanae-Kana feud and establishing Kana in the upper echelon.  If it's a shoot, then I hope this doesn't lead to Kana getting marginalized to indy sleaze shows or leaving joshi altogether.  As far as I know, Kana is still appearing on the Sendai Girls show on 1/31 and the WAVE show on 2/2 that she was already announced on.  Neither of those shows involve other Passion Red wokers.

Yumi Ohka Catches the WAVE

The most notable action of the past week was the conclusion of WAVE's Catch the WAVE league. Kana had already won the UK Block (fought under KO/submission only rules), but the other three blocks were decided on the 10th. All matches in the Comical Block ended in draws (how wacky!), so a four-way elimination match between GAMI, Ran Yu-Yu, Cherry, and Bullfight Sora was held. Ran was put over the top rope (a legal elimination) to take the serious challenger out. Sora ended up winning. Ayumi Kurihara and Ryo Mizunami finished tied, so a decision match for the Young Person's Block saw Kurihara beat Mizunami, who was wearing a big knee brace after her recent injury. Yumi Ohka defeated KAORU, fending off the board and KAORU's various finishers, to win the Visual Technical Block.

The semis and finals were on the 11th at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring (you'd think they'd not end this tourney on a weekday at little Shin-Kiba). Kurihara quickly beat Sora, while Ohka needed over 15 minutes to defeat Kana with the Neck Hanging Bomb. Then a Tiger Suplex gave Ohka the Catch the WAVE tournament victory. Next is the 2nd Anniversary Show on the 23rd at Shinjuku FACE. Ohka gets to face Aja Kong there. Moeka Haruhi missed the show on the 11th due to an unspecified injury suffered the previous night.

JWP & NEO both had minor shows with no surprises. JWP did announce that 20 year old Saya Kurogawa (163 cm, 65 kg), who had been training since this past winter, has passed her pro-test and will presumably debut in the near future.

There are a trio of Plum Mariko memorial shows on August 16th, which in recent years has sort have taken on the memorial day in the joshi world. OZ Academy will have an early show at Korakuen Hall, as I said a few posts back, featuring two title matches, a JWP/LLPW special tag match, and an all-AJW memorial to Chairman Matsunaga. JWP's afternoon show in their dojo will have an all submission battle royale. Then it's back to Korakuen Hall for LLPW's show. The main event has Shinobu Kandori, Harley Saito, Mayumi Ozaki, Dynamite Kansai, Command Bolshoi, and a special return by Rumi Kazama, with teams to be announced on the day of the show. Eagle Sawai & Cutie Suzuki will be on hand to serve as seconds. Oh, and a new transvestite will debut in the undercard!

The end of the month will have the Ice Ribbon show at Korakuen Hall and NEO's show in Osaka Prefectural Gym #2. Word is that Fuuka will challenge Natsuki*Taiyo for the High Speed title, Kana & Ayumi Kurihara will challenge Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto for the tag title, and the main event is a cage deathmatch between L.C.O. (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) and R.A. (Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto). We'll see if Mita can rise to the occasion in what figures to be her last major match before retiring in November.

Yoneyama is the #1 Challenger/So is Aja

JWP had their #1 Contender's Tournament and Kaori Yoneyama won, getting a shot at Kayoko Haruyama's title once Haruyama's ribs heal from that stupid bump a few weeks ago. Yoneyama beat KAZUKI, Makoto (she got a first round bye, lol), Tsubasa Kuragaki in under a minute, and WAVE's Yumi Ohka in the final. A big upset was Toshie Uematsu beating Azumi Hyuga in the quarters by countering the Michinoku Driver II. Tojuki Leon beat Megumi Yabushita in the first round, but the quarterfinal she lost to Kuragaki in added time.

In the land of OZ, the "Rating of the Strength" tournament concluded and a contender for Dynamite Kansai and the OZ Openweight Championship was determined. First, Carlos Amano defeated Hiren, earning 3 points and getting to 8 points. The next match was a tag match involving the other 3 contenders, as Aja Kong, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Manami Toyota all had 6 points. In a tag, scoring the pinfall earns 2 points and being on the winning side without making the pin earns 1 points. Aja & Hiroyo are a team, but each had to be the one making the pin to advance. Toyota had to as well, but her partner Takako Inoue was not in the tournament and thus would probably allow Manami the pin. Aja ended up winning with an Uraken on Takako, then did the same to Carlos in a tiebreaker match.

Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato had risked their hair in an OZ Tag Team Championship match against titleholders Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU. Chikayo regained the titles, using Ozaki's Tequila Sunrise against her (like Amano did last year), and thus no haircutting took place. Tomoka Nakagawa turned on Ayumi Kurihara and the OZ Regular Army and will have a match against Ayumi-a Tomoka win earns her a spot in Jungle Jack 21.

OZ has sent up the Plum Mariko Memorial Show card for August 16th at Korakuen Hall. I think Plum would be happy, as pretty much all of the old school JWP & LLPW talent still in the business will be there, as LLPW will be running their own show the same day. Rumi Kazama is making a one-off return, as she will work the main with Shinobu Kandori, Harley Saito, Ozaki, Kansai, and Bolshoi (teams TBA), with Eagle Sawai & Cutie Suzuki as seconds.

OZ has two memorial matches. First is a memorial to Chairman Matsunaga with an all Zenjo tag, as Toyota & Takako take on Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito. Then the Plum match will be Ozaki, Shinobu Kandori, & Harley Saito vs Command Bolshoi, Azumi Hyuga, and Carlos Amano. Both titles are defended, with Chikayo & Sonoko defending the tag titles against AKINO & Ran Yu-Yu, while Dynamite Kansai faces Aja Kong in the main event for the singles crown.

Apparently both NEO and JWP have a few trainees that could be debuting in the near future.

Ice Ribbon is having a show at KORAKUEN HALL. Hey, if DDT can run Sumo Hall, go for it! The main event is Emi Sakura vs Nanae Takahashi, and we also have Riho vs Chairman Ramu-chan (each with a tag partner) in a match to see who rules the pre-teen scene. Also, Mika Nagano from the world of MMA is joining Ice Ribbon and is debuting at this show.

NEO is starting to set up their end of August show in Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2. The main event is a final blowoff between the LCO and RA, as Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda will face Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto in a cage deathmatch. It appears the tag and High Speed titles will be defended. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara challenge Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto, while Fuuka challenges Natsuki*Taiyo.

Ryo Mizunami's knee injury does not require surgery and she'll work through it with a knee brace and will appear against Kurihara at the WAVE show. I hope she doesn't work too long on bad wheels like Sonoko Kato did. Pinkie Mayuka is making a similar quick return from knee trouble.

It seems that Sendai Girls is on hiatus and the healthy girls have picked up some bookings elsewhere-Miz in WAVE, Yukari Ishino in NEO/Ice Ribbon, and Hiren & DASH Chisako in OZ Academy.

Getting Tired of the Injuries

Unfortunately, most of this report is about updating injury news and another big injury.

JWP champ Kayoko Haruyama has a broken rib, probably suffered taking the insane balcony footstomp from Kyoko Kimura. Haruyama is out for 6 weeks. Pinkie Mayuka has ligament damage to her left knee and is out indefinitely.

Apparently Basara's injury happened at the end of last month during the Ito Dojo show. In that match, she teamed with Takako Inoue against Manami Toyota & Cherry, with the end being Basara losing to Toyota's Queen Bee Bomb. She suffered a neck sprain and a concussion. This sounds like it re-injured her neck and shoulder that were originally hurt last summer on the botched backdrop at the Sendai tournament. Basara is out 3 months.

WAVE's rookie, Kayo Fujimori, out several months with a broken thigh suffered in training, appeared at a recent show. The fracture was bad and needs a lot of time to heal properly. Doctors have told her to give it a year. She is taking that advice, will spend some time traveling, but says she'll be back next year.

The new injury happened to injury-ravaged Sendai Girls. They were doing a series of three house shows in Miyagi Prefecture this weekend, with DASH Chisako, Hiren, Ryo Mizunami, and Yukari Ishino meeting up with KAORU, Hanako Kobayashi, and Ibuki's Misaki Ohata, Ray, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Esui. KAORU was working babyface all weekend, wearing white and not hitting people with a board. She commented about how different this was. She'll get to cheat again in OZ Academy. Hiren was wearing Sendai red rather than trashy OZ black. The weekend was mostly trading wins and time-limit draws invovling junior champ Ohata. On the final day of shows, Ryo Mizunami hurt her knee in a match against Esui and the match had to be stopped. She got carried out. Her status for the future is unknown-the WAVE league match against Ayumi Kurihara is in doubt.

Speaking of WAVE, the Catch the WAVE league is almost complete now. Kana has won the UK Block and advanced to the semifinals. The other three semifinalists will be determined on 8/10m with the semis and finals on 8/11. Kurihara and Mizunami finished tied in the Young Person's block and were supposed to have a decision match, which now may be canceled. The Comical Block had every match end in a draw, so a four-way match between GAMI, Ran Yu-Yu, Cherry, and Bullfight Sora is needed. There is one remaining match in the Visual Technical Block, as Yumi Ohka needs to beat KAORU to advance-a draw is sufficient for KAORU.

JWP had a dojo show, featuring Tsubasa Kuragaki's victory in the wading pool match, as she submerged Toshie Uematsu and Keito simultaneously. JWP will have a 14 woman single-elimination tournament to determine Haruyama's next challenger on August 2nd. Competitors are Kuragaki, Azumi Hyuga, Command Bolshoi, Tojuki Leon, Kaori Yoneyama, Keito, KAZUKI, Sachie Abe, Uematsu, Yumi Ohka, Megumi Yabushita, Ayako Sato, Chihiro Oikawa, and an unnamed Ice Ribbon wrestler (the latter two getting first round byes).

NEO's show featured the start of the Etsuko Mita retirement road, as she dropped a singles match against Nanae Takahashi. The big news is Las Cachorrus Orientales (Mita & Mima Shimoda) will have one last cage match against Revolucion Amandola (Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto) on the August 29th show at Osaka Prefectural Gym #2. NEO decided to bizarrely have RA (Kimura, Emoto, plus Tomoka Nakagawa) LOSE to NEO Machine Gunz (Tanny Mouse, Yuki Miyazaki, plus MAKOTO), even though it was Nakagawa dropping the fall to Miyazaki.

Haruyama Retains/More Injuries

This past week featured injuries and JWP's big summer show.

Bambi broke her leg last week in a K-DOJO show, Basara (Shuri Okuda) suffered a concussion in practice, and Pinkie Mayuka injured her left knee.

Despite this injury, Mayuka still tried to win the JWP Junior/POP titles from Misaki Ohata, but was unsuccessful. Ohata used the Hanamaru Dokkan finisher she learned from Saki Maemura for the win. I suspect Mayuka may be out for a while and that this was a last minute booking switch.

Azumi Hyuga beat Tojuki Leon, where I was expecting an upset as Hyuga has announced her retirement at the end of the year. The tag titles did change hands. Kaori Yoneyama and Emi Sakura are the new JWP/Daily Sports champs, as Yone used the U.S.-Zou on Command Bolshoi, teamed with Megumi Yabushita.

The main event was Kayoko Haruyama defending against Kyoko Kimura. There was a no DQ stipulation, so Kimura brought weapons including light tubes and barbed wire boards. Both of these chicks are nuts and there were a lot of crazy spots in what sounds like a JMOTYC. Apparently Kimura did a footstomp from the balcony onto Haruyama, laying on the Korakuen bleachers. Are they really paid enough to do that? Haruyama also got superplexed onto barbed wire, but the big orange gal still won, using the reliable Keene Hammer. Haruyama has now had the titles for 15 months and 6 defenses, tying Hikari Fukuoka's record for most consecutive JWP Openweight defenses. Haruyama did break a rib and will miss about 6 weeks.

Hyuga Retires/Chairman Matsunaga Passes Away

Azumi Hyuga (real name Tomoko Kuzumi) announced her retirement from wrestling. She is 34 years old and has been wrestling since the end of 1994, as she was part of the great mid-90s class that JWP produced that also included Carlos Amano, Ran Yu-Yu, and Kanako Motoya.

Hyuga has been JWP's ace for most of this decade, carrying the JWP Openweight title 4 times. She has had knee troubles, including surgery in 2008 after she lost the title to Kayoko Haruyama. Her final show will be "CLIMAX 2009", JWP's year-ending show at Korakuen Hall on December 27th.

Joshi puroresu lost one of its founding fathers, as former AJW chairman Takashi Matsunaga passed away on July 11th from pneumonia at the age of 73. He had been battling health problems related to diabetes for years. Takashi, his 3 brothers, and several other family members (including sisters, wives, cousins) promoted women's wrestling in Japan and started AJW in 1968. AJW in its heyday was the most successful joshi company ever and produced a multitude of stars. AJW finally shut down in 2005. R.I.P. Chairman Matsunaga.

In the ring, Ibuki and Oz Academy ran a doubleheader at Shinjuku FACE. In the Ibuki show, the retiring Hyuga defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto (on her 3rd anniversary) with the Michinoku Driver II and Misaki Ohata had her 1st defense of the JWP Junior/POP titles, beating Io Shirai. Oz Academy featured the 4th of 5 match days in the "Rating of the Strength" points system for determining Dynamite Kansai's next challenger. Carlos Amano pinned Manami Toyota in a tag match, while Aja Kong beat Kansai with the Backfist, also in a tag match. Four of the five in this competition can still become the next challenger. Toyota, Kong, and Hiroyo are all on 6 points and Amano is on 5 points. Poor Hiren lost again and has 0 points. Matchups for the final day (August 2nd) haven't been announced yet, but expect shenanigans and back-stabbing.

The OZ tag titles stayed with Mayumi Ozaki and KAORU, as they defended against Ran Yu-Yu and AKINO. Apparently, Yu-Yu got disqualified for violence against the referee. I need to see this or hear more, as its hardly possible to get DQd in the land of OZ. They've gone back to the stipulation well, as Chikayo Nagashima and Sonoko Kato are betting their hair that they can regain the tag titles from Mayumi & KAORU on August 2nd.

WAVE drew a nice crowd of 500 to a special show in Fujeida City. Shu Shibutani and Kana had singles wins over Chihiro Oikawa and Moeka Haruhi, respectively. Ryo Mizunami drew with Pinkie Mayuka, which eliminates Mayuka from advancing in the Catch the WAVE league and sets up Miz vs Ayumi Kurihara for a winner takes all meeting in the Young Person's Block. GAMI got a pin over Cherry in a mid-card tag, but then lost to Harley Saito (yeah, the LLPW one) in the main event tag.

Mita Retiring/MAKEHEN owner arrested

Etsuko Mita, who has been wrestling since 1987 and is best known as a tag-team worker, especially with the classic Las Cachorrus Orientales team with Mima Shimoda, announced her intention to retire in November. I presume the retirement ceremony will be at NEO's November 1st show at Korakuen Hall and I'm expecting Shimoda and a lot of the still-active AJW workers from that time era to be on hand as well. Maybe they'll reprise the Mita-Toyota Mint Showers team. Etsuko has been hampered in recent years with very bad knees and I think that is the reason she has made this decision.

NEO's Korakeun Hall show this week featured the one day Midsummer Tag Tournament, with 8 teams. Kana and Ayumi Kurihara scored a 1st round upset over Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto, with Ayumi countered Hiroyo's Liger Bomb. The NEO Machine Gunz (Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki) got past Revolucion Amandola (Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto). Neither of those teams got past the semis, though. Yoshiko Tamura & Fuuka beat Kana & Kurihara after a Tamura elbow finished off Kana, while Tanny Mouse got rolled up in under a minute to allow Nanae Takahashi & Emi Sakura to advance. The Nanae/Emi team won the tournament, as Nanae hit the Nanaracka on current NEO/NWA Pacific champion Tamura. It looks like the Nanae-Tamura title match that didn't happen last month after Nanae's concussion and Emi's brief title reign is going to happen later this year.

Tomohiko Hashimoto, who is the owner of Team MAKEHEN, was arrested in Tokyo. Details are sketchy, but it seems that robbery and/or extortion is the charge. This puts the future of this indy in doubt, which for joshi fans involves the Shirai sisters and Basara. If MAKEHEN goes under, then their will be three young wrestlers that would be attractive for another promotion to pick up, and I'd rather see these three end up in a better environment.

WAVE had another round of Catch the WAVE league matches, and some of the blocks are coming into shape. Ryo Mizunami finally made her league debut in the Young Person's block with a win over Moeka Haruhi. Mizunami next faces Pinkie Mayuka, and a win or draw there sets up a match with Ayumi Kurihara to decide this block. Kana has already won the UK Block, as her Kana Gon Sleeper on Shu Shibutani puts her on 5 points, and the final match between Misaki Ohata and Kyoko Kimura is left meaningless, as neither can get to 5 points. In the Visual Technical Block, Apple Miyuki's upset over Yumi Ohka makes for an exciting final set of matches, as Apple, Yumi, KAORU, and Toshie Uematsu all have one match remaining. The winner of Okha-KAORU will probably advance. The Comical block is a bit of a joke, as all matches have been time-limit draws. Ran Yu-Yu and Bullfight Sora will meet in the final group match; a win by either wins the block but there will probably be another draw and then something silly as a tiebreaker.

JWP's show featured Pinkie Mayuka beating Esui and earning a shot at the JWP Junior/POP championships. Pinkie gets her chance in 2 weeks against either Misaki Ohata or Io Shirai, depending on their match for Ohata's titles that will happen at next week's Ibuki show. Kyoko Kimura & Tomoka Nakagawa beat Kayoko Haruyama & Keito, as Nakagawa got the win over veteran Keito.

Finally, in the "never believe wrestlers are really retired department", there are reports that former GAEA comedy queen Sakura Hirota is going to resume wrestling and will be joining DDT. She does seem a good fit for a comedy-intensive promotion.

Satomura Hurt/New Osaka-based Group

Some more bad news in the world of joshi this week, with two injuries. Sendai Girls' ace Meiko Satomura is on the shelf with a reoccurence of the herniated disk in her back that has been giving her trouble for about the past five years. She missed the three shows Sendai Girls ran this weekend, and it sounds like she wanted to soldier on despite being in no condition to wrestle. However, Jinsei Shinzaki, KAORU (who I think was scheduled to wrestle Meiko), and ref Sachiko Ito talked her out of it. From Meiko's blog, it sounds like KAORU basically refused to get in the ring with her. There was another entry from just after Misawa's death where she had talked with both Chigusa Nagayo and Devil Masami, and I wonder if they were encouraging her to take a break. I guess it's good that people are stepping forward to protect others. It's too bad no one was able to keep Misawa out of the ring.

Sendai is down to four healthy workers, as Sendai Sachiko is also injured. They all did double duty, working a variety of matches with each other and guests KAORU, Ray, Esui, and Misaki Ohata. Ohata is getting booked pretty weakly as the JWP/POP junior champ, getting a series of draws. The most notable result was Ryo Mizunami pinning Hiren (in Sendai red) in Sunday's opener, but then Hiren returned the favor (in slutty OZ black) in the main event tag.

Ohata got beat at the JWP show midweek, losing to the team of Pinkie Mayuka and Esui, as the big Mongolian girl chokeslammed Ohata. Kyoko Kimura and her Revolucion Amandola partners continued to torment the JWP midcarders. Atsuko Emoto beat Tojuki Leon with aid from Tomoka Nakagawa's Green Mist. Kimura had a brawl/double count-out against Keito. Command Bolshoi got a victory over Kaori Yoneyama in a tag match. All three JWP belts are on the line at PURE SLAM from Korakuen Hall on July 19th. Kayoko Haruyama defends the JWP Openweight title against Kimura, Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita defend against Yoneyama and Emi Sakura, and there will be a JWP Junior/POP match. Pinkie Mayuka and Esui battle on the 5th to become the #1 Contender. Ohata wanted her first defense in Ibuki, so that happens on the 12th against Io Shirai. The winners of those matches will then meet up.

NEO also lost a worker to injury. Nagisa Nozaki separated her shoulder, and that will probably knock her out of the NEO Midsummer Tag Tournament coming up on the 5th. She was to team with Aya Yuki, but I guess they'll probably call up someone from Ice Ribbon to fill in. The Nozaki/Yuki team was likely first round fodder in any event.

Basara (aka Tyrannosaurus Okuda) appeared in both MAKEHEN and Ito Dojo this weekend. The Basara/Apple Miyuki team lost to Kaoru Ito and Hanako Kobayashi. Although Basara is working out in the Ito Dojo, there were harsh words from Ito and her femullet after the match. Basara then got to lose in Ito Dojo, just like Ayako Sato and Hanako and Tomoko Morii always do. Basara teamed with Takako Inoue against Manami Toyota and Cherry, and got to eat a Japanese Ocean Queen Bee Bomb. Ayako Hamada was NOT on the card, so I think she really really really is going to TEE! ENN! AYE! Maybe she can wear a kimono or a poncho or a kimono and a sombrero (hey she's Japanese and Mexican!) and be Sarita's valet, sort of like how well TNA uses Melissa Anderson as "Raisha Saeed".

WAVE had some more Catch the WAVE league matches at an Osaka show. There were 2 more freaking time limit draws. The scheduling is very unbalanced, as Cherry is done with three time limit draws, while Ryo Mizunami hasn't had a league match yet. The current leaders of the 4 blocks are Ayumi Kurihara, Cherry, Kana, and KAORU. A non league match saw the debut of "Sakura Candle", yet another masked woman. I'm almost positive it's Yumi Ohka.

GAMI apparently found a money mark in her hometown of Osaka, as she's starting a new joshi group (groan) to be based in Osaka. In fairness, WAVE draws better in Osaka than Tokyo, but I'm pretty unconvinced another promotion is needed. There's going to be a press conference tomorrow with more details. I think the name is going to be Osaka Girls or Osaka Joshi Pro and it appears she has hired Rie "Bad Nurse" Nakamura to be the trainer. I don't remember her being very good. It sounds like the plan is to recruit new trainees and debut next March.

Tanabe Memorial/Girls in Masks

Not many shows this week. Friday night saw a special show in Osaka to pay tribute to local time referee/independent scene stalwart Ted Tanabe, who passed away a week ago after an Osaka Pro show. He's most known for working with Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro, but I believe he got his start in the business working for the original JWP in the mid-to-late 1980s.

Ranmaru, an Osaka native, appeared. There was a joshi offer match, with GAMI (another Osaka local) and Toshie Uematsu against Command Bolshoi & Yuki Miyazaki. Gordi, a westerner living in Japan near Osaka and a big puro fan, posted a lot of photos of the tribute show on both the SSS and DVDVR boards.

WAVE had a couple of shows. Saturday saw the Catch the WAVE tournament continue. The scheduling is weird, because Cherry has now completed all 3 matches and Ryo Mizunami hasn't had her first tournament match yet. Weird. Too many time-limit draws for my taste. Kana knocked Misaki Ohata out with a high kick to take the lead in the UK block. Cherry leads the Comical Block with 3 points from 3 draws. I doubt that will hold up. KAORU leads the Visual Technical Block and Moeka Haruhi leads the Young Person's Block. Sunday saw a 3 match card at a Tokyo hotel with some big names (Aja, Manami, Ayako). I really think this is Ayako Hamada's last match before TEE! ENN! AAA! I saw photos of Ayako filling out U.S. government paperwork (visa).

The Fukumen Mania show had ~GURLZ IN MASKS~. A*YU*MI debutted with a draw against noki-A. This is Ayumi Kurihara and AKINO, of course. Ray, Ranmaru, and Io Shirai also appeared on the card. It was the first time under the mask for Ayumi & Io and several of the girls auctioned off the masks after the show. I guess that's less creepy that selling other match-worn garments...

R.I.P. Mitsuharu Misawa & Ted Tanabe

The tragic deaths of legend Mitsuharu Misawa and referee Ted Tanabe overshadowed all of the results and minor news bits in joshi puroresu. Both NEO and JWP honored Misawa with a ten-bell salute on their Sunday shows. Also, many of the women posted message sharing their thoughts & feelings on the untimely passings of Misawa and/or Tanabe. In particular, I saw that Devil Masami (who recently retired and is Misawa's age) posted about how sad she was and how this event has brought back the memories of the Plum Mariko tragedy from 1997.

The notable bit of info from JWP was Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura beating Command Bolshoi & Ice Ribbon's Haruna Akagi. Yoneyama's been on a mini win-streak and the Yone/Emi team will challenge Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita for the JWP/Daily Sports tag belts next month (July 19), joining the previously announced Kayoko Haruyama vs Kyoko Kimura clash for the singles title.

NEO was mainly about setting up the eight team Midsummer Tag Tournament that will happen on July 5. A few surpise shuffles of teams, as no one seems to want to partner with Yoshiko Tamura for some reason. Tamura's regular recent partner Ayumi Kurihara is teaming with Kana, and then Aya Yuki & Nagisa Nozaki decided to team together and lose in the 1st round. Yoshiko finally got Fuuka to team with her. So the 8 teams are Kurihara/Kana, Yuki/Nozaki, Tamura/Fuuka, Tanny Mouse/Yuki Miyazaki, Kyoko Inoue/Hiroyo Matsumoto, Kyoko Kimura/Atsuko Emoto, Natsuki*Taiyo/Ray, and Nanae Takahashi/Emi Sakura.

Team MAKEHEN has lost a member, as Mikado (aka Mika Mizunuma) seems to have gotten fired. This seemed sudden, as they were just hyping the Mikado-Basara tag team on S-Arena.

D-Fix Wins/Sachiko Injured

Obviously the sudden retirment of Arisa Nakajima was the dominant bit of new from joshi this past week. There was another piece of bad news regarding an up-and-coming young wrestler. Sendai Girls' Sendai Sachiko was injured at last week's Ibuki show. She broke a bone in her lower leg and tore ankle ligaments. She had an operation this week and will likely be out for several months. She was just starting to get a nice push, with her win in Sendai's Jaja Uma tournament for younger wrestlers and I suspected that she might have been in line to get a title shot against new JWP Junior/POP champion Misaki Ohata.

NEO ran a serious of house shows in Hokkaido this week. No terribly important results, unless you care about how many times Ayumi Kurihara could pwn the lower-card NEO wreestlers or if Small Antonio Inoki got more pinfalls than Small Giant Baba. Toshie Uematsu did score a singles win over Mima Shimoda, who was in from Mexico. Nobody pinned champ Yoshiko Tamura or boss Kyoko Inoue. Is Big Momma the first challenger for Tamura's latest NEO/NWA Pacific title reign?

There was a title switch at the OZ Academy show, as Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU took the tag titles from Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato. The 3rd of 5 rounds of matches to determine the #1 Challenger for Dynamite Kansai took place. Five wrestlers are in contention and score points based on their matches, whether or not others in the competition are in the match. Manami Toyota defeated Misaki Ohata to go to 6 points and take the lead. Hiroyo Matsumoto is on 5 points after pinning Hiren, who still had 0 points. The upset was Takako Inoue (not in the #1 Challenger's league) beating Aja Kong, keeping Aja on 4 points and dropping her to 3rd in the table. I suspect copious amounts of Ozaki Army interference was needed. Carlos Amano is stuck on 3 points after losing in a tag match. I'm sure we are setting up a final day where cheating & treachery will be needed.

Ayako Hamada is still competing in Japan, as she was at the joint LLPW/WAVE/Ito Dojo show. Ayako pinned GAMI with the AP Cross in what I think is her last match in Japan, as there's no Hamada on any cards I've found, including Ito Dojo at the end of the month. Hopefully the next time we see the AP Cross, it's on Impact! against someone more beatiful than GAMI.

Arisa Nakajima Retires

Very disappointing news for joshi puro fans, as Arisa Nakajima, just a few days short of her 20th birthday, has announced that she is leaving wrestling. The reason why is a bit sketchy, but a translation of her statement is on the JoshiFans board.

http://joshifans.com/joshifansforum/index.php?topic=1163.msg36487#msg36487

The photo is only a year old. We thought Nakajima & Okuda were the future of joshi, but now Arisa has retired and Okuda was injured and then quit Sendai Girls to try a new identity as Basara in Team MAKEHN. Incidentally, Basara has gotten her first non-MAKEHEN booking since returning, as she'll be teaming with Mikado against Kaoru Ito & Hanako Kobayashi at a MAKEHEN show on 6/27 and then working the Ito Dojo show the next day, opponents to be determined.

Ohata is the Junior Champ/RA whips LCO

After a slow few weeks after the end of Golden Week, things started picking up in joshi puroresu again, with several decent shows around Japan.

WAVE started the Catch the WAVE league on the 27th, with 4 blocks of 4 wrestlers, with a gimmick for each block. Moeka Haruhi defeated Pinkie Mayuka in the Young Persons' Block, Kana & Kyoko Kimura had a draw in the UK Block (I think the gimmick there is Bati-Bati matches, with win by KO or submission only), Cherry & Bullfight Sora drew in the Comical Block, and Yumi Ohka got revenge over Toshie Uematsu by winning the opening match in the Visual Technical Block. Ask GAMI about these silly names. Several wrestlers have not had their first match yet.

LLPW and Ito Dojo showed up at Hakata Star Lanes for some cosmic bowling. This partnership with Ito Dojo is a sweet deal for LLPW. They managed to have a five match card without any of the old hags from LLPW dropping a single pinfall. Ayako Sato was kind enough to lose to both Noriyo Tateno and her mentor Kaoru Ito.

NEO went up to Sapporo Teisen Hall and kicked off the traditional tour of Hokkaido. The notable match here was a 29 minute long Hardcore Rules affair between Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (Los Cachorrus Orientales) and Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto (Revolucion Amandola). Unlike last fall, the younger thugs won this time, Emoto doing the honors with a Shining Wizard on Mita. Mima, Toshie Uematsu, Ayumi Kurihara, and the comedy minis from West Exit Pro are doing the tour with the NEO roster. All the main events are Big Momma in various tags, so I think Kyoko Inoue might be the first defense for Yoshiko Tamura.

JWP drew a nice crowd at Strait Messe Shimonoseki. Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita retained the tag titles, beating Sachie Abe & KAZUKI. Tojuki Leon got the pinfall in the main event. She teamed with Kayoko Haruyama & Azumi Hyuga and they beat Aja Kong, Jaguar Yokota, and Keito. The one that's not in Meltzer's HOF is the one who counted the lights.

Ibuki had their 4th Anniversary show, drawing over 1000 to Korakuen Hall. The opener was a #1 Challengers match for the JWP Junior/P.O.P. titles. DASH Chisako and Misaki Ohata had drawn over 25 minutes earlier this month, necessitating this replay. Ohata finally got the win at 13:57. The other young Sendai Girls lost as well, as Sendai Sachiko, Ryo Mizunami, and Yukari Ishino lost to Fuuka, Shu Shibutani, and Esui, as Esui pinned Ishino. The "dream team" of Meiko Satomura and Nanae Takahashi was too tough for Ray & Natsuki*Taiyo, as Meiko used the Death Valley Bomb on the masked one. Wait, we haven't had the traditional big anniversary show upset yet. Usually Mariko Yoshida is nice enough to job to one of her kids. She's still on hiatus, so Hiroyo Matsumoto did the honors by losing the junior titles to Ohata, as Ohata used the Kido Clutch to win after 18 minutes. Quite a day for JD Star's final rookie, as she worked 30+ minutes of singles and ended up as the surprise champ.

JWP & NEO in Lazona

A very slow week. JWP and NEO ran a doubleheader at Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol, which I think is a shopping mall. Pinkie Mayuka & Nagisa Nozaki were sent off to Cinnabun to get enough for all the veterans. Nozaki strained her back trying to carry enough sticky treats to satisfy the NEO roster.

In the ring, Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto (without the injured Tomoka Nakagawa, who broke a bone in her hand) were heels at both shows. In the NEO show, they lost to Etsuko Mita & Tanny Mouse, as Mita used the Death Valley Bomb on Emoto. NEO is running Sapporo next weekend and it will be Revolucion Amandola vs Los Crippled Orientales, as Kimura & Emoto will meet the re-reunited Mita & Mima Shimoda. I think it's R.A.'s turn to finally tear up last decade's heel team.

Kimura & Emoto then got DQd in JWP, as referee Tessy Sugo apparently doesn't go for weapon attacks against her. Kayoko Haruyama & Tojuki Leon claimed the victory. Haruyama and Kimura then exchanged meatloaf recipes. Kaori Yoneyama beat somebody not named Pinkie Mayuka or from Ice Ribbon, as she pinned Toshie Uemastu. Hey, Toshie was in GAEA. She's a ONE TIME ONE TIME WCW Ladies Cruiserweight champ. They also set up next weekend's JWP/Daily Sports tag title match at Strait Messe Shimonoseki, with challengers Sachie Abe & KAZUKI beating Command Bolshoi and jobber-of-the-day Misaki Ohata, with KAZUKI submitting Ohata. The other half of the champs, Megumi Yabushita, scored her own win via Cross Armbreaker against Keito.

In addition to NEO in Sapporo (and on tour of Hokkaido) and JWP in Shimonoseki next weekend, we'll have Ibuki's 4th Anniversary show at Korakuen Hall, WAVE's first round of matches in their new league, and LLPW/Ito Dojo bowling at Hakata Star Lanes. Mariko Yoshida's still on hiatus, so I'm not sure who is getting the traditional big upset in Ibuki and who is doing the traditional big job. We do have DASH Chisako vs Misaki Ohata in a match somebody must win, with the winner getting a shot at the JWP Junior/POP championships against Hiroyo Matsumoto. There is also Nanae Takahashi & Meiko Satomura against Natsuki*Taiyo and Ray. Maybe Mariko convinced Nanae or Meiko to lay down for someone here?

Catch the WAVE League/Yoneyama Loses Again

Yeah, I'm scraping the bottle of the barrel for news this week. Not much happened.

The most notable event was the announcement of the "Catch the WAVE" league. There will be 4 blocks with 4 wrestlers each. In GAMI-like fashion, the blocks have silly names (Visual Technical, Young Persons, UK, and Comical) and started off unbalanced before a serious of "trades" evened the blocks out. I guess GAMI watched the WWE draft lottery on Justin.tv or something. Notable absences, based on people often used by WAVE, are the Shirai sisters (who will probably concentrate on defending their junior tag team titles) and BattlARTs' Chihiro Oikawa.

After the 4 blocks were unveiled, there were 4 tag matches, each involving the members of that block. The exception was Ayako Sato subbing for the absent Ayumi Kurihara. The Young Person's block is Moeka Haruhi (WAVE), Ryo Mizunami (Sendai Girls), Pinkie Mayuka (JWP), and Ayumi Kurihara (free). The UK block is Shu Shibutani (WAVE), Kana (Passion Red), Kyoko Kimura (Revolucion Amandola), and Misaki Ohata (Ibuki). The Comical WAVE is GAMI (WAVE), Bullfight Sora (cow), Cherry (Union), and Ran Yu-Yu (free). The Visual Technical block is Yumi Ohka (WAVE), Toshie Uematsu (free), KAORU (free), and Apple Miyuki (free). Two of the four matches ended in unfulfilling time limit draws, GAMI & Bullfight Sora dropped 3 falls to Cherry and Ran (the match was restarted twice), and Toshie Uematsu beat Yumi Ohka with a Dragon Suplex. I suspect Yumi might win when it counts in the league.

JWP had a show in Hachioji. Dynamite Kansai made a rare appearance in her original fed and teamed with Tsubasa Kuragaki to beat Keito & GAMI. Atsuko Emoto beat KAZUKI with Kyoko Kimura's help, as R.A. is gonna spend a few months torturing the JWP Jobber squad. Speaking of the JWP Jobber squad, Kaori Yoneyama lost to Command Bolshoi in the 6-woman main event tag.

Meiko comes back to Niigata

This past week saw the end of the Golden Week and Meiko Satomura's return to her hometown of Niigata.

On the 4th, the Sendai Girls clashed with Ibuki at Itabashi Green Hall. Meiko was on the sidelines, as well as Mariko Yoshida, who is on indefinite hiatus. Misaki Ohata and DASH Chisako were wrestling for a JWP Junior/P.O.P. title shot against Hiroyo Matsumoto. After twenty-five minutes, including overtime, nothing had been settled and they will try again at Ibuki's 4th anniversary show at the end of the month. Ryo Mizunami & Sendai Sachiko claimed a victory in the main event over Hiroyo & Esui, as Esui lost to Miz's guillotine drop.

NEO's May History show on the 5th drew 1300 to Korakuen Hall, which is about as good as joshi is drawing these days. Natsuki*Taiyo became the first NEO High speed Champion, beating Ray with the Taiyo-Chan Spanish Fly (i.e. an arm drag superplex). Haruka Matsuo had her retirement match & ceremony, Revolucion Amandola beat Kyoko Inoue, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Etsuko Mita when Kyoko Kimura hung Mita from the top rope with a chain and forced a referee stop. Kimura & Atsuko Emoto will face the re-reunited LCO (Mita & Mima Shimoda) in Sapporo later this month. A few days later, Tomoka Nakagawa broke a bone in her hand and is out for a bit.

Emi Sakura's accidental (?) reign as NEO/NWA Pacific champion, which she one after knocking out Nanae Takahashi on May 3rd, ended after just two days as Yoshiko Tamura won the dual titles for the 7th time. Tamura used a move called the Mt. Cook, which starts as an Alabama Slam, but then turns into a piledriver. Ice Ribbon (Emi's weird group) is going to run Korakuen Hall in August. Yes, the group that got their start wrestling in front of a couple dozen of people in a little room with no ring is running Korakuen Hall. I suspect a Tamura-Emi rematch will happen, as they'll need something that is a reasonable draw.

Cherry, who works for DDT offshoot Union and does a lot of freelancing in joshi, ran a strange show called "Fantasy Illusion 2", also on the 5th. DDT's hearthrob Kota Ibushi matched against skinny silly girl Makoto. Ibushi won in 19 seconds, then a restart where he needed a four count and her but a two count resulted in another quick Ibushi win. The third fall required a five count from Kota and a one count from Makoto, and she got that! Danshoku Dino won the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal title from Bullfight Sora, then backstage shenanigans resulted in first a Jun Kasai doll, then Aja Kong, and then the doll again winning the title. Cherry & Shuji Ishikawa won the main event, beating Aja and Toshie Uematsu. I'll let you guess which one got pinned by Cherry.

BattlARTS for gurlz (i.e. Queen Bee) had its third show on the 6th. Kyoko Kimura, Megumi Yabushita, and AKINO all won singles matches before a thirty-minute draw between Chihiro Oikawa & Ayako Sato vs Kana & Natsuki*Taiyo.

If Kaori Yoneyama's constant jobbing upsets you, she won a match at JWP's Mother's Day cosplay match on the 10th by using a water gun attack on Sachie Abe. LLPW ran a show at Korakuen Hall for 788 people. In a mild surprise, Ayako Sato & Hanako Kobayashi won a match, with Sato pinning Ito Dojo colleague Tomoko Morii, teaming with their boss Kaoru Ito. In no surprise, Shinobu Kandori & Jaguar Yokota didn't lose to Toshie Uematsu & Misaki Ohata. Young Misaki got to let Senator Kandori rip her arm off. In a big surprise (if anyone cares), Mizuki Endo announced that she is resigning as LLPW's president, which made Shinobu furious.

Finally, Sendai Girls brought Meiko Satomura home to Niigata, Meiko hadn't worked Niigata since a GAEA show in 2003. A nice crowd of 1280 showed up at the Toki Messe venue. Yukari Ishino & Minori Makiba continued their curtain-jerking feud, as the teenagers had a short time-limit draw. Chikayo Nagashima pinned the traitorous Hiren with the Tequila Sunrise. Hey, that's Mayumi Ozaki's move! OZ champ Dynamite Kansai stepped on Ryo Mizunami, Ozaki & KAORU beat the sister sister team of DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko, but Meiko sent the fans home happy by beating Aja Kong by Death Valley Bomb in their 10th singles meeting. Meiko's now 4-6 against Kong and it's much easier to win at home when you have the book!

Meiko Wins Yes We Can, Nanae Injured

Quite a bit going on this week, as "Golden Week" is well under way in Japan.

April 29th saw many more exchanges of the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal title. The day started with a stuffed doll/action figure of deathmatch worker Jun Kasai as the champion. Takako Inoue won the title backstage at the Atrocious Alliance show, then brought it to WAVE to defend in a royal rumble style match. Apple Miyuki, the action figure, "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa, Toshie Uematsu, and Cherry won the title, but Bullfight Sora left with the belt.

Mio & Io Shirai became the first holders of the TLW Tag Team title (for younger women) by beating Moeka Haruhi & Tomoka Nakagawa. Yumi Ohka & Nanae Takahashi beat Azumi Hyuga (subbing for Ayako Hamada, stuck in Mexico due to the swine flu situation) and Hanako Kobayashi.

The 29th also saw Sasori's retirement show. She's the skinny skinhead who debuted in AJW in the mid 1990s and is also known as Miyuki Fujii. The opener saw Fujii (wearing a wig) against Sakura Hirota (wearing a skinhead cap) in Sakura's first match since GAEA's final show. They went to a draw. Then Sasori teamed with Dump Matsumoto for the final time and beat Cherry & Toshie Uematsu, with Sasori using the Scorpion Clamp on Cherry. Dump turned on Sasori after the match and started beating the crap out of her, but Cherry & Toshie made the save and Sasori got an unofficial pinfall over Dump. The main event was Sasori against Zenjo classmate Nanae Takahashi. During the match, the other girls of that time period (Momoe Nakanishi, Miho Wakizawa, Kayo Noumi) came out of the crowd and briefly aided Nanae. The Nanaracka was the end for Sasori, and the traditional retirement ceremony followed.

The 29th also saw another Fuuka Matsuri. They sang, they danced, Mini Giant Baba beat Fuuka Kidd and Bullfight Sora, and Fuuka won the main event as usual, beating Ayumi Kurihara.

April 30th had the "Yes We Can" show, a 14 woman tournament sponsored by Oz Academy's Chikayo Nagashima, Sonoko Kato, and Carlos Amano. All competitors were from the mid-to-late 90s generation. Meiko Satomura won the tournament, beating Sonoko in their first singles match in 8 years, Ran Yu-Yu, and Chikayo in the finals. She won a cool sombrero and a future TV match in AAA. I'm not sure about Meiko working well in lucha libre. Both competitors were eliminated in case of a time-limit draw and this stipulation was used to conveniently get JWP champ Kayoko Haruyama and NEO's Yoshiko Tamura out of the tournament. Azumi Hyuga did job to Carlos Amano, who in turn lost in the semis to Chikayo.

The Revolucion Amandola show on May 2nd saw Atsuko Emoto in a three match series and Kyoko Kimura playing with lighttubes. Emoto beat Ayumi Kurihara in a 2 count match, drew with AKINO in a no pinfalls match, and then lost to Aja Kong in a hardcore falls count anywhere match. It looks like they used tables and ladders before Kong used the vertical brainbuster on the outside. Kimura teamed with Yuko Miyamoto against Takashi Sasaki & Masashi Takeda in the lighttubes/electric fans match. Apparently none of the other ladies want a part of this. Kimura ended up bloody and taking the fall.

JWP had a show on May 3rd. Arisa Nakajima has been absent from recent shows and for the immediate future for undisclosed reasons. JWP's main event was Kyoko Kimura (the next challenger for the JWP title) against Tojuki Leon. The match ended in a no contest and an impromptu tag match with Revolucion Amandola vs Leon, Kaori Yoneyama, and Pinkie Mayuka ensued, with Pinkie losing to Emoto. Expect more of R.A. torturing the JWP undercard over the next few months.

OZ Academy had the 2nd round of matches in their #1 contenders league, with a special point system. Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, and Carlos Amano all picked up 3 points by winning singles matches, over Mayumi Ozaki, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Takako Inoue respectively. Hiren failed to pick up any points, taking the fall in a tag match with KAORU against Dynamite Kansai & Tomoka Nakagawa. Aja currently leads with 4 points with 4 rounds of matches left. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato retained the OZ Tag Team championship after a 30 minute draw versus AKINO and Ran Yu-Yu. I'd expect a rematch.

Finally, the biggest news was the unexpected, accidental change of titles at the Passion Red show. Nanae Takahashi was defending the NEO/NWA Pacific singles titles against Emi Sakura, when a botched powerbomb knocked Nanae out and forced a referee stop. Nanae was taken to the hospital, has a concussion but nothing further, and is out for the immediate future. Emi finally wins the titles, but not the way she would have wanted. Nanae was supposed to defend against Yoshiko Tamura on May 5th, but this is off and I'd guess Emi will take Nanae's place and immediately drop the belts.

Hikaru, Maemura retire/Okuda returns to the ring

The major news in joshi puroresu this week was the end of the careers of Hikaru and Saki Maemura, and the end of Chick Fights SUN/joshi in ZERO1. Both of these young ladies started their careers in AJW and chose to be affliated with Nanae Takahashi and her various stables after the end of Zenjo. Both were (along with Nanae & Natsuki*Taiyo) part of SUN when this promotion started and had various highlights and lowlights along the way. When Nanae & Natsuki quit ZERO1 to go freelance (as the Passion Red stable), they stuck it out with ZERO1, seeming to prefer to not freelance. Most of the last year of their career was spent either wrestling each other or working mixed tag matches with the WDB Tag Team belts on the line. The 26th saw their final show. Saki & partner Minoru Fujita defended the mixed tag belts (these belts will probably disappear now) against Toshie Uematsu (who was one of the native heels from the R.E.M. group) and Ikuto Hidaka. I thought it would have been cute to have Hikaru and fiance Koji Kanemoto (from New Japan) challenge, but they didn't go that route. Hikaru teamed with her nemesis Aja Kong and did the final job of her career to Manami Toyota (whose partner Haruka Matsuo is saying goodbye soon herself). The final match was Hikaru versus Saki and the Lanakila-H got Hikaru the last win.

Shuri "Tyrannosaurus" Okuda returned from her 10 month absence after shoulder surgery following a Hiroyo Matsumoto backdrop at last year's Jaja Uma tournament. In the meantime, Okuda quit Sendai Girls, relocated to Tokyo, and joined Team MAKEHEN. She has a new costume and a new ring name, "Basara". Basara teamed with Mikado against Mio Shirai and Bambi, and against general puroresu tradition, won her comeback match from injury. Basara pinned Bambi with a German suplex. Plenty of photos of her new outfits and general teenage girl nonsense and emoticon abuse can all be found at her blog, http://ameblo.jp/basara2009 .

NEO ran several house shows this week, two in Kyushu wrapping up that mini-tour and a couple closer to home over the weekend. Nothing huge happened. We did have Ayumi Kurihara pin Haruka Matsuo and rookie Nozomi Dai missed the weekend shows for an unspecified reason. Cherry was the substitute on Saturday and lost to Tanny Mouse in two minutes, but she was hungover, so it's OK.

JWP, Sendai Girls, and Ibuki all had minor appearances. Arisa Nakajima was pulled from JWP's dojo show and joshi fans hope that this is nothing serious. Sendai Girls performed in the rain at a local rock festival and Meiko Satomura rocked Sendai Sachiko's life away with a Death Valley Bomb. Older sister DASH Chisasko had fun hanging out with all the Japanese indie hipster kids.

Oh, I'd be remiss in not mentioning a title change. The DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship now has its 781st champion. Former titleholder Toshie Uematsu was drinking somewhere in Tokyo and had a bit too much and passed out. A Professional Wrestling WAVE poster fell on her. Tommy Ran, who is a 24/7 professional referee, made the three count and the poster follows a long storied tradition of great inanimate object champions!

Sachiko wins Jaja Uma; NEO/JWP in Kyushu

This past weekend seemed to be "roadtrip" week in joshi, as many of the active joshi groups held shows outside of Tokyo.

WAVE had a show at Shin-Kiba during the middle of the week. They are still playing around with the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship. It has changed hands several times between Cherry, Bullfight Sora, Moeka Haruhi, and Toshie Uematsu, with Toshie being the current holder. They went to Sapporo's Teisen Hall on Sunday, with the team of Jaguar Yokota, Uematsu, and Ran Yu-Yu defeating GAMI, Yumi Ohka, and KAORU as Toshie rolled up GAMI and kept the comedy belt. Fortunately Jaguar decided not to sully herself by trying to win the belt that small children, ladders, women dressed as cows, and Toshie's dad have all carried.

NEO is doing a mini-tour of Kyushu. Sunday saw them at Hakata Star Lanes. I hear Kyoko Inoue can really convert those spares! The actual show saw the return of NEO's injured youngsters, as Nagisa Nozaki (knee) and Nozomi Dai (eye) are back. They did the obvious jobs in lower card matches. The Passion Red 3 (Nanae Takahashi, Natsuki*Taiyo, Kana) had a draw with the Revolucion Amandola heels (Kyoko Kimura, Atsuko Emoto, Tomoka Nakagawa). The soon-to-retire Haruka Matsuo ate a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex from Manami Toyota, and the main saw Big Momma Kyoko Inoue and Hiroyo Matsumoto defend the NEO tag titles against Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara. In a mild surprise, it was Yoshiko and not Ayumi eating the Niagara Driver from Kyoko. Tamura does get to challenge Nanae for the NEO/NWA Pacific singles championships next month and I guess Big Momma could be the first challenger if Tamura dethrones Takahashi.

JWP also was at Hakata Star Lanes. Now that Command Bolshoi had rid JWP of Yumiko Hotta's toxic presence, the main heel is Kyoko Kimura. Fukuoka is champion Kayoko Haruyama's hometown, and she got a happy homecoming as she teamed up with Bolshoi and Kaori Yoneyama to beat Azumi Hyuga, Tsubasa Kuragaki, and Aja Kong. Kuragaki got to taste the Keene Hammer. Then Kimura showed up to flip everyone off and talk trash. Kimura is getting a title shot in July and will probably torture the JWP mid-carders (I'm talking to you, Leon and Yoneyama) until then.

Sendai Girls were, well, in Sendai. Sunday saw the culmination of the Jaja Uma tournament for young wrestlers. The semifinals were a Senjo vs Ibuki affair and Senjo was supreme today. Ryo Mizunami beat Esui with her Shoulder Lock submission and Sendai Sachiko threw one of her textbook suplexes on Misaki Ohata, who has been clashing with Sachiko's sister DASH Chisako. In the semi-main event, Yukari Ishino teamed with her sensei Meiko Satomura and got the first pin of her career, over Ice Ribbon's Minori Makiba (who was with BattlARTS' Chihiro Oikawa). In a mild upset, Sachiko won the tournament, landing a moonsault and then another German to defeat the bigger Mizunami. Sendai Girls will be in Niigata, not Sendai, on May 10th for Meiko's homecoming show and the 10th singles encounter against Aja Kong. One could make a decent comp just out of Meiko vs Aja.

Ito Dojo stayed home in Tokyo. The main theme was the send-off for Ayako Hamada, who will be leaving for America and the wacky world of Total Nonstop Action. Hamada and Kaoru Ito defeated Sonoko Kato and Harley Saito, with the veteran from LLPW losing to Ayako's AP Cross. Two impromptu matches followed. First, a time limit draw between the Ito Dojo veterans vs Ito Dojo youngsters. Finally Papa Hamada showed up, made Ayako cry, and then made her tap out. Awwwwwww, the family that wrestles together stays together.

News-Hamada to TNA, Haruyama Retains

The big news in joshi was the announcement that Ito Dojo's Ayako Hamada is going to be joining TNA. If this happens, I think she'll be the first Japanese woman to wrestle on American TV since Akira Hokuto feuded with Madusa in WCW back in 1997. Hamada is going to have at least one more show in Japan after next weekend. It was previously announced the April 19th Ito Dojo show was her last, but now Hamada will also play a part on the April 30th "Yes We Can" show. This show is being produced by Carlos Amano, Chikayo Nagashima, & Sonoko Kato of OZ Academy and it features workers who debuted in the mid-to-late 1990s. The 14 previously announced participants were to all compete in a single elimination tournament, with Amano, Nagashima, Kato, Meiko Satomura, Toshie Uematsu, Ran Yu-Yu Azumi Hyuga, Tsubasa Kuragaki, Kayoko Haruyama, Keito, Yoshiko Tamura, Yuki Miyazaki, Tanny Mouse, AKINO. It's not clear exactly how Hamada is going to fit in or if they'll add a 16th participant to have a proper bracket with no byes.

Nagashima & Kato became the first holders of the OZ Academy tag team championship to have a successful title defense, with Sonoko pinning Takako Inoue, who was with KAORU. This April 12th show also kicked off a competition over the next six shows to determine the next challenger to Dynamite Kansai and the singles title. The rules give the five contenders (Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, Carlos Amano, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Hiren) 3 points, 2 points for a tag team win when they make the pin, 1 point for a tag team win when the partner does, and 0 points for draws & losses. Hiroyo & Aja teamed and beat Kansai & Amano (who was dressed like Cutie Suzuki after losing at the closed show last month), so Hiroyo takes the early lead with 2 points, with Aja at 1. Toyota failed to score when tag partner Mayumi Ozaki lost to Ran Yu-Yu (with AKINO), and young tramp Hiren lost to young clean-cut girl Ayumi Kurihara.

JWP had two title matches and got a new storyline going. Kyoko Kimura and Tomoka Nakagawa from the Revolucion Amandolo heel group are roaming around like the LCO used to do. They beat Arisa Nakajima & Pinkie Mayuka, roughing up the young Mayuka. Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita won the JWP/Daily Sports tag titles from Yumiko Hotta & Keito, with Bolshoi beating Hotta with a Kido Clutch. Payback for PUNT THE CLOWN, I guess! Kayoko Haruyama cemented her position as the current ace of JWP. She used the Keene Hammer to defeat Azumi Hyuga, who she first won the title from about a year ago. Kimura was revealed as the next challenger for the title, on July 19th. I assume Kimura and R.A. will spend the next few months torturing JWP's juniors and mid-carders.