Related Research Articles
Yoshihiro Tajiri is a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter primarily known under the ring name Tajiri, he has also competed under his real name as well as under the names Aquarius and Kikkoman and briefly worked as the masked character Tigre Blanco.
Akira Nogami is a Japanese professional wrestler and actor, currently working as Akira. He has also worked as a trainer.
Michael Majalahti is a Canadian-Finnish professional wrestler, singer and artist, better known by the stage name "The Canadian Rebel" StarBuck. His active bands include Stoner Kings, Angel of Sodom and Crossfyre. Majalahti also worked for six years between 2009 – 2015 as a play-by-play commentator for the Finnish broadcasts of WWE programming on Eurosport.
Hajime Ohara is a Japanese professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the lucha libre style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style of wrestling. In Japan, Ohara is best known for his work in the Hustle, Smash and Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotions. He is signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and a six-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.
Kanako Urai is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Asuka.
The Smash Diva Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship, owned by the Japanese Smash promotion. Championship reigns were determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors were involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives created feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroines.
Makoto is a Japanese professional wrestler. Trained by Emi Sakura, Makoto made her debut for her Ice Ribbon promotion in July 2006. During the next five years, Makoto went on to win Ice Ribbon's top title, the ICE×60 Championship, once and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship twice, before transferring over to the Smash promotion in August 2011. She remained with Smash until March 2012, when the promotion folded. The following month, Makoto was announced as part of the roster of the new Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. In March 2013, Makoto became the second WNC Women's Champion. In January 2014, Makoto made Reina Joshi Puroresu her second home promotion in addition to WNC. Reina became her primary home promotion after WNC shut down in June 2014. She is a former one-time Reina World Women's Champion and a two-time Reina World Tag Team Champion. She is also known for working at Seadlinnng where she and Asuka are the current title holders of Beyond The Sea Tag Team Championship. She is also known for being a group in Seadlinnng called “Las Fresa De Ego Istas.”
Syuri Kondo, better known simply as Syuri, is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of God's Eye.
Tomoka Nakagawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. After being trained by Taka Michinoku, she started her career in his Kaientai Dojo promotion in September 2004. After leaving Kaientai Dojo in 2007, Nakagawa briefly joined Ibuki, where she underwent further training under Mariko Yoshida, before becoming a freelancer and starting to work on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave. She also became a regular for American promotion Shimmer Women Athletes. Nakagawa was a decorated tag team wrestler, becoming a one-time FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Champion, three-time Oz Academy Tag Team Champion, two-time Shimmer Tag Team Champions and a three-time Wave Tag Team Champion. As a singles wrestler, she held the Smash Diva Championship. After a ten-year career, Nakagawa announced her retirement from professional wrestling in June 2014. After a Japanese retirement match in December 2014, Nakagawa wrestled her final match in the United States on April 12, 2015.
Ray was a Hong Kong professional wrestler. After being trained by Emi Sakura, Ray made her professional wrestling debut in September 2003 and would for the next several years wrestle under different masks, before she began working for Smash in March 2010, unmasked under the ring name Lin Byron. She remained with Smash until the promotion folded in March 2012, after which she transferred over to its successor, Wrestling New Classic (WNC), which lasted until June 2014. In April 2013, Byron became the third WNC Women's Champion. She revived the Ray character in January 2011, initially signing with Ice Ribbon, before becoming a freelancer in May 2012. Afterwards, she mainly worked for the Reina Joshi Puroresu promotion, while also promoting her own independent events and traveling to the United States to work for Shimmer Women Athletes. During her career, Ray held the CMLL-Reina International Junior, International Ribbon Tag Team and WNC Women's Championships, among other titles. After being diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 2015, she died in August 2018.
Mio Shirai is a Japanese former professional wrestler and current professional wrestling referee. She started her career in March 2007, working alongside her sister Io Shirai on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu and Pro Wrestling Wave. In June 2010, the Shirais came together with fellow freelancer Kana to form the Triple Tails stable as part of which they began working most notably for Smash. After Io left the stable the following year, Mio and Kana continued working together as the tag team Triple Tails.S. Shirai remained a freelancer until January 2014, when she signed a four-way contract with Ice Ribbon, Oz Academy, Pro Wrestling Wave and Union Pro Wrestling. She retired from professional wrestling due to neck injuries in September 2015 at the age of 27, after which she started working as a referee.
Kaori Yoneyama is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. Yoneyama started her career in 1999, working with the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. During the following years, she became a one-time JWP Openweight Champion, a one-time JWP Junior Champion, a five-time JWP Tag Team Champion, a one-time Pure-J Openweight Champion and a three-time Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion. Notable titles she has held outside of JWP include All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling's AJW Championship and AJW Tag Team Championship, Ice Ribbon's International Ribbon Tag Team Championship and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling's High Speed Championship. In July 2011, Yoneyama announced that she would be ending her twelve-year career the following December. After a retirement tour, which took Yoneyama not only across the Japanese independent circuit, but also to the United States, she announced during her retirement ceremony that she had changed her mind and decided to continue her career. In January 2013, Yoneyama quit JWP to become a freelancer, working for promotions such as Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling, Oz Academy, Union Pro Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom.
Tadasuke Yoshida, known mononymously as Tadasuke (タダスケ) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He is best known for his work in Osaka Pro Wrestling, where he is a former one-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Champion, three-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champions and a one-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Champion, while also being the winner of the 2012 Osaka Tag Festival. He has also made appearances in the United States for the Chikara promotion, where he is a former holder of the Young Lions Cup.
Kaoru Maeda is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name KAORU. Billed as the "Original Hardcore Queen", Kaoru is known for her wrestling style, which combines high-flying with hardcore wrestling. Trained by the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion, Maeda worked in both Japan and Mexico in the late 80s and early 90s, before making her breakthrough in the Gaea Japan promotion, where she most notably was a founding member of the D-Fix stable. After the folding of Gaea Japan in 2005, Maeda became a freelancer, though closely affiliating herself with the Oz Academy promotion. After returning from a three-year-long injury break in March 2014, Maeda resumed working as a freelancer, before signing with the new Marvelous promotion in January 2015.
Rena Takase is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Leon. Trained by Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion, Takase made her debut for the promotion in March 2000, working under her real name. After a change in management, Arsion was renamed Major Girl's Fighting AtoZ in 2003, and Takase received a new ring name, Leo-na. After quitting AtoZ in 2005, Takase became a freelancer, now working under a mask and the new ring name Toujyuki Leon. After two years of working for several independent promotions, including JDStar, M's Style and Oz Academy, Takase made JWP Joshi Puroresu her new home promotion in January 2007. In January 2010, Takase's ring name was shortened to just Leon and the following year, she won JWP's top title, the JWP Openweight Championship, while also becoming the leader of the Shishi no Ana stable. Takase remained with JWP until the promotion's folding in April 2017.
Keisuke Yamada is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Black Buffalo. Originally starting his career in International Wrestling Association of Japan, where he worked under his real name, Yamada found a new home promotion in 1999 in Osaka Pro Wrestling, where he began wrestling under a mask and the ring name Black Buffalo. For most of his career in Osaka Pro, Yamada has portrayed a villainous character, having been a part of every major villainous alliance in the history of the promotion. During his first years in the promotion, Buffalo went on to become a four-time Tag Team Champion. In February 2008, Buffalo was forced to unmask and reveal his true identity, after losing a match, and afterwards began teaming with the man, who unmasked him, Tigers Mask, with two becoming two-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champions together. Finally, in March 2012, Buffalo managed to win Osaka Pro's top title, the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship. Backstage, Yamada served as the vice president of Osaka Pro Wrestling. Yamada left Osaka Pro Wrestling after the promotion went through a corporate restructuring in April 2014, shortening his ring name to Buffalo.
The WNC Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. The title was a spiritual successor to the Smash Championship, the top title of WNC's predecessor, Smash. The championship was first announced at a press conference on September 28, 2012, when it was announced that a single-elimination tournament to determine the inaugural champion would take place from October 26 to December 27. In storyline, the championship belt was donated to WNC by the final Smash Champion Dave Finlay, who was also named the head of the WNC Championship Committee, which decides matches for the title.
The WNC Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. The title was a spiritual successor to the Smash Diva Championship, the women's title of WNC's predecessor, Smash. The championship was first announced at a press conference on October 12, 2012, when it was announced that a single-elimination tournament to determine the inaugural champion would take place from October 26 to December 27. In storyline, the championship belt was donated to WNC by the final Smash Champion and WWE road agent Dave Finlay, who was also named the head of the WNC Championship Committee, which decides matches for the title.
Nagisa Nozaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. She started her career in the NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling promotion in November 2006. After the promotion folded in December 2010, she worked for independent promotions such as Pro Wrestling Wave and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. Throughout her career, Nozaki has suffered several injuries, which eventually led to her taking a thirteen-month break from professional wrestling to undergo a shoulder surgery. She finally returned in August 2012, working for Wrestling New Classic (WNC). After another injury, Nozaki went inactive in January 2013, eventually returning with Pro Wrestling Wave in 2017.
Command Bolshoi is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. She debuted for Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) in November 1991 and worked for its follow-up promotion JWP Joshi Puroresu from 1992 until its folding in 2017, also serving as its final president. During her years in JWP, Bolshoi became a two-time JWP Openweight Champion, seven-time JWP Tag Team Champion and a four-time Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion. Bolshoi has worked under mask for a majority of her career and has managed to keep her real name and birthdate secret.
References
- 1 2 3 "3・14『Smash.Final』試合結果（メインイベント）". Smash (in Japanese). March 14, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "6・9『Smash.18』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). June 9, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 "8・11『Smash.20』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). August 11, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
- 1 2 3 "9・8『Smash.21』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). September 8, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
- 1 2 "7・15『Smash.19』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). July 15, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
- ↑ "10・28『Smash.22』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). October 28, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ↑ "FCF代表スターバックが天龍と8・11『Smash.20』トーナメント2回戦で激突へ！". Smash (in Japanese). July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
- ↑ "Smash Championship". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- ↑ "2・19『Smash.25』全試合結果". Smash (in Japanese). February 19, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
- ↑ "【※重要】 「Smash」第１章活動休止のお知らせ". Smash (in Japanese). February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2012.