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All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, nicknamed Zenjo was a joshi puroresu promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that year. For close to 33 years it had a TV program on Fuji TV called Women's Professional Wrestling.
Erika Shishido is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by her ring name Aja Kong. She is the founder of the Arsion all-women professional wrestling promotion and has won several championships in both singles and tag team divisions throughout her career, primarily while with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling.
Mariko Morita, better known by the ring name Mariko Yoshida, is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her work with the ARSION professional wrestling promotion, where she was also head trainer.
Mika Akino, better known as Akino, is a female Japanese joshi wrestler, signed to Oz Academy. Billed from Honshū, she started late in the sport and didn't debut until the age of 24. Trained by Mariko Yoshida, she proved to have an innate ring presence and excelled at the sport.
Tomoko Kitamura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by her ring name Lioness Asuka. She was one half of the Crush Gals, along with Chigusa Nagayo, who are known for their mainstream popularity in the 1980s, and for being one of the most successful women's tag teams of all time.
Ayumi Kurihara is a retired joshi puroresu wrestler best known for her tenures with Pro Wrestling Wave and NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling.
Ayako Valentina Hamada Villarreal is a Mexican professional wrestler. During her 20-year career, Hamada wrestled for various promotions, including All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Gaea Japan and Pro Wrestling Wave in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide in Mexico and Shimmer Women Athletes and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the United States. She is the daughter of Gran Hamada and the younger sister of Xóchitl Hamada.
Professional wrestling in Japan has existed for several decades. The first Japanese person to involve themselves in catch wrestling was former sumo wrestler Sorakichi Matsuda. There were subsequent attempts before and after World War II to popularize the sport in Japan, but these generally failed until the advent of its first big star, Rikidōzan, in 1951, who became known as the "father" of the sport. Rikidōzan brought the sport to tremendous popularity with his Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) until his murder in 1963. Following his death, professional wrestling thrived, creating a variety of personalities, promotions and styles. It has also created a mass of other cultural icons in Japan including: Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, Jyushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask, Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Kenta Kobashi among others. Throughout the years, several promotions have opened and closed, but a few have persisted to remain the most popular and thriving companies: New Japan Pro-Wrestling is currently considered by many as the top promotion.
Yumiko Hotta is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Hotta was trained by and started her career in the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion in June 1985. She worked for the promotion until 2003, becoming a three-time WWWA World Single and WWWA World Tag Team Champion. In June 2003, Hotta took over the Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion promotion and renamed it Major Girl's Fighting AtoZ. Under Hotta's leadership, the promotion lasted only three years, before folding in 2006, after which Hotta became a freelancer. In January 2011, Hotta joined the new Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina promotion, but just sixteen months later she announced that the promotion was folding. Afterwards, she affiliated herself with the World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana promotion, becoming the leader of the villainous Bousou-gun stable. She resigned from Diana in July 2016 to once again become a freelancer. Since 1995, Hotta has also fought several mixed martial arts matches, mostly at events put together by joshi puroresu promotions.
The Queen of Arsion Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion promotion. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title was won as a result of a scripted match. The championship, which was situated at the top of Arsion's championship hierarchy, was introduced on December 18, 1998, when Mariko Yoshida defeated Candy Okutsu to become the inaugural champion. The two contestants had earlier in the year won separate tournaments to qualify for the match. During the next four and a half years, there were eight reigns shared among six different wrestlers. The title was retired on August 24, 2003, two months after the folding of Arsion, when Yoshida defeated Mima Shimoda to become the final champion.
The Sky High of Arsion Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion promotion. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title was won as a result of a scripted match. The championship, which was meant for high-flying wrestlers, was introduced on September 23, 1999, when Chaparita Asari defeated Ayako Hamada in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural champion. During the next four years, there were six reigns shared among five different wrestlers. The title was retired when Arsion went out of business on June 22, 2003, making Akino the final champion in the title's history. The title belt was later awarded as a trophy to Dark Angel, after she defeated Princesa Sujei at an Estrella★Japan event on April 5, 2010.
The Twin Star of Arsion Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion promotion. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title was won as a result of a scripted match. The championship was introduced on December 7, 1998, when Hiromi Yagi and Rie Tamada defeated Ayako Hamada and Tiger Dream in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural champions. During the next four and a half years, there were thirteen reigns shared among thirteen different wrestlers and eleven teams. The title was retired when Arsion went out of business on June 22, 2003, making Rie Tamada and Takako Inoue the final champions in the title's history.
Momoe Oe, née Nakanishi (中西), born July 7, 1980 is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by her maiden name, Momoe Nakanishi. Nakanishi made her debut for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) in July 1996 at the age of sixteen and during the next seven years, won all of the promotion's top titles, including the WWWA World Single Championship and the WWWA World Tag Team Championship. In 2003, Nakanishi quit AJW to become a freelancer and went on to win the AtoZ World Championship later that same year and the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships in 2004. Nakanishi retired from professional wrestling on January 7, 2005, at the age of just twenty-four. She now works as a trainer at the U.W.F. Snakepit gym.
Michiko Omukai is a Japanese former professional wrestler. She wrestled for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling and Arsion.
Yumi Tanaka is a Japanese actress, tarento and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her wrestling career, where she competed in both All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJW) and Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion under her maiden name.
Yuko Yamagata better known by her ring name Yuu Yamagata is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions Kaientai Dojo and Pro Wrestling Wave.
Kaoru Ito is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and JWP Joshi Puroresu.
Hiroshi Ogawa, better known as Rossy Ogawa, is a Japanese businessman and professional wrestling promoter born in Chiba, Japan. He is the founder and the current head booker of Dream Star Fighting Marigold. He is one of the three founders and former executive producer of the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. Ogawa is often regarded as being instrumental in the popularization of women's pro wrestling in Japan.
