FRANK POZEN IS BACK WITH THE L
By: Frank Pozen
1/26/2004 11:32:00 AM
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Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of Joshi Dreams. We begin with a controversial article about the future of joshi puroresu.
NEWS
ARE IDOLS THE FUTURE OF JOSHI PURORESU?
An article on Nikkei News on the future of the joshi puroresu business says that "idols" are needed to revive the business. They refer to to two companies in particular, Darian Girls & Metomix. Darian Girls is a company consisting of 18 year old Chinese girls who wrestle, sing & dance and related non wrestling entertainment. Metomix is a mixed martial arts company where the girls wrestle in bikinis. They call them "idol fights". 21 year old Mayumi Hashiba wrestles for Metomix. She had no wrestling experience but now she wants to improve her skills and graduate to proffessional wrestling.
She is currently training with Megumi Yabushita of JD Star. The article talks about what we already know, too many feds and not enough fans. It is suggested that the "idol" approach of Darian Girls & Metomix is the answer. President Tokuji Inouchi of JD Star agrees.
He says business is down but the Athtress "idol wrestler" concept keeps them in business. He thinks the Athtresses attract new fans and the wrestling will keep them. He feels that emphasizing the looks is what they have to do to save the business. A To Z owner Yumiko Hotta is interviewed for this article. She admits that the joshi business
is down mainly because they're having trouble attracting young girls to the sport. She believes the "idol" element may be necessary to attract girls though she doesn't like it. Hotta also said she considered retirement last year but decided to continue when the
opportunity to take over ARSION came up. The article suggests that Darian Girls & Metomix have shown some growth potential and is the future of the joshi business. I don't think either company is successful enough yet to merit that kind of thinking. I think the "idol" concept is overrated somewhat and fans want some substance with the looks. I've always said the real answer is the zombie feds should close but they're way too stubborn for that. Maybe M's Style is the answer. We shall see.
YABUSHITA ON SMACKGIRL SHOW
JD Star wrestler Megumi Yabushita will appear on the Feb. 1 Smackgirl show vs Mishima. I don't know anything about Mishima but I know Yabushita is very tough and can kick anyone's butt in a mixed martial arts match.
NOUMI RETIREMENT TOUR CONTINUES
The Kayo Noumi retirement tour continues. She will face Manami Toyota at GAEA's Feb. 17 Korakuen Hall show. I should also point out that Mayumi Ozaki will be appearing on the Feb. 15 AJW show so I guess it's a straight exchange.
HARUYAMA & YONEYAMA WIN JWP TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT
Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama defeated Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki to win the JWP Tag Team Title tournament at Sunday's Kinema Klub show. JWP retired their titles in Nov. 2002 when it looked at the time like they would close. I guess they'll revive their singles title next. Here's the results.
JWP TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Hiromi Yagi & Erika
Watanabe (Haruyama over Watanabe in 9:43)
FIRST ROUND:Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki def. Azumi Hyuga & Yuki Miyazaki (Mita over Hyuga in 13:57)-Mita & Genki get bye to final
SEMI FINAL:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Jaguar Yokota & Commando Bolshoi (Haruyama over Bolshoi in 10:07)
FINAL:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki (Yoneyama over Mita in 13:07)
KANDORI & TAKAKO WIN LLPW TAG TITLES
Shinobu Kandori & Takako Inoue won the LLPW Tag Team Titles from Eagle Sawai & Amazing Kong at Sunday's LLPW show at Korakuen Hall.
Kayo Noumi also appeared on this show and after the show, she challenged Takako Inoue and that match will happen at the next LLPW show.
CORRECTION
Last week I said that Saki Maemura would get get a shot at the WWWA Singles Title. Actually, Maemura & Kumiko Maekawa will get a shot at Ayako Hamada & Nanae Takahashi's WWWA Tag Team Titles on Feb. 15. I must have read that three times and still read it wrong. Anyway, check out the complete show listing in upcoming shows.
RESULTS
ALL JAPAN WOMEN - 1/20/04 - Chiba, Togane Arena: Hiromi - 15 min. draw - Mizuno Mizushima; Kumiko Maekawa def. SASORI in 13:21; Tomoko Watanabe def. Hikaru in 11:13; NANA (Nanae Takahashi) def. Saki Maemura in 19:21; Kumiko Maekawa & Amazing Kong def. Takako Inoue & Kayo Noumi (Kong over Noumi in 17:21
AAA - 1/23/04 - Tokyo, Korakuen Hall: Kaz Hayashi, Ayako Hamada & DINO def. Alebrije & Cuije, Esther Moreno & Pinpinela (Hayashi over Pinpinela); Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Aguila, Charly Manson, Gefar & Tiffany def. Jushin Thunder Liger, El Zorro, Oriental, Electro Shock & Lady Apache (Juventud over Liger)
AAA - 1/24/04 - Osaka: Alebrije & Cuije, Esther Moreno & Pinpinela def. TAKA Michinoku, Commando Bolshoi & Dino (Moreno over Bolshoi); Chessman & Tiffany def. Electro Shock & Lady Apache (Chessman over Electro Shock)
GAEA - 1/25/04 - Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse: Toshi Uematsu & Ran YuYu def. Carlos Amano & Hitoshi Hayashi (Ran over Amano in 15:33); Devil Masami def. Mayumi Ozaki in 11:00; Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai def. Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Satoh (Kansai over Satoh in 10:56); Manami Toyota def. Toshiyo Yamada in 3:57; Lioness Aska & Aja Kong def. Ayako Hamada & Meiko Satomura (Aja over Satomura in 16:15)
A TO Z - 1/25/04 - Tokyo Battle Sphere: Yuka Nakamura def. Bullfight Sora in 11:29;
Momoe Nakanishi & Rie Tamada def. GAMI & Sachie Abe (Nakanishi over GAMI in 21:10);
Yoshiko Tamura def. Le-ona in 16:37; Yumiko Hotta & Yukari Kitao def. Mika Nishio & Mirai (Kitao over Mirai in 17:48)
JD STAR - 1/25/04 - Tokyo, NGK Studio: Fuuka - 5 min. draw - Yuriko Kimura-exhibition HANDICAP MATCH:KAZUKI & Kappa Boy def. Yumi Ohka, Kei Akiyama & Asami Kawasaki (Kappa over Kawasaki in 15:28); Megumi Yabushita def. Ranmaru in 12:49; The Bloody def. Hiroyo Muto in 12:42; Fang Suzuki & TSUNAMI def. MARU & Keiko Saito (TSUNAMI over Saito in 20:44)
K-DOJO - 1/25/04 - Chiba, Blue Field: Apple Miyuki def. TAKA Michinoku in 7:27 via DQ; Kengo, Yuu Yamagata & Quiet Storm def. Gentaro, KAZMA & PSYCHO (Kengo
over KAZMA in 13:21); Ryoto Chikuzen def. Ofune in 8:33
JWP - 1/25/04 - Tokyo Kinema Klub: Haruka Matsuo def. Kyoko Kimura in 6:47
JWP TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT; FIRST ROUND:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Hiromi Yagi & Erika Watanabe (Haruyama over Watanabe in 9:43); FIRST ROUND:Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki def. Azumi Hyuga & Yuki Miyazaki (Mita over Hyuga in 13:57)-Mita & Genki get bye to final; SEMI FINAL:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Jaguar Yokota & Commando Bolshoi (Haruyama over Bolshoi in 10:07); AKINO - 20 min. draw - Tsubasa Kuragaki; FINAL:Kayoko Haruyama & Kaori Yoneyama def. Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki (Yoneyama over Mita in 13:07)
LLPW - 1/25/04 - Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mako Ogawa def. Raven Hiroka in 9:14; Mari Kuwada def. baby-M in 7:07; Noriyo Tateno def. Keiko Aono in 5:01; Eiger & Sayuri Okino def. Harley Saito & Kayo Noumi (Eiger over Harley in 11:52); LLPW TAG TITLE MATCH:Shinobu Kandori & Takako Inoue won the titles from Eagle Sawai & Amazing Kong (Kandori over Sawai in 21:19)
NEO - 1/25/04 - Tokyo Kinema Klub: Azumi Hyuga def. Chiharu in 5:06; Etsuko Mita def. Yuka Shiina in 9:27; Misae Genki & Haruka Matsuo def. Mika Nishio & Mirai (Genki over Mirai in 18:27); THREE WAY MATCH:Kyoko Inoue & Michiko Ohmukai def. Yoshiko Tamura- while Kyoko had a figure four leglock on Tamura, Ohmukai covered her
for the pin. Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki def. Yuka Nakamura & Momoe Nakanishi
(Tanny over Nakamura in 21:19)
UPCOMING SHOWS
A TO Z - 2/1/04 - Toyama-cho Sportscenter
Mika Nishio vs Yukari Kitao
Bullfight Sora vs Tanny Mouse
GAMI vs Haruka Matsuo
Yumiko Hotta vs Rie Tamada
Ai Fujita & Sachie Abe vs Le-ona & Mirai
ALL JAPAN WOMEN - 2/15/04 - Yokohama Bunka Gym
Mizumo Nizushima vs Jaguar Yokota
Hiromi vs TBA-shoot fight
Tomoko Watanabe vs SASORI
Amazing Kong vs Hikaru
Kayo Noumi & Momoe Nakanishi vs Takako Inoue & Mayumi Ozaki-Ozaki in
Zenjo?
WWWA TAG TEAM TITLE-Ayako Hamada & Nanae Takahashi (Champs) vs Kumiko
Maekawa & Saki Maemura
JWP - 2/1/04 - JWP Dojo
Kyoko Kimura vs Erika Watanabe
Kaori Yoneyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs Commando Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga
Round Girl, Kaori Yoneyama & Kayoko Haruyama vs Tsubasa Kuragaki,
Commando Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga
That's all for this week. If you have any questions or comments about joshi wrestlers of the past, I am at FrankPozen@rogers.com or you can join my Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoshiPuroresu-WrestlingFans/.
Many thanks to Mike Johnson, Stefan Picksi, TSW, Nikkei News, Sportsnavi.com, AAA Japan, Amy Action & Steve Trenholm.
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