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Mirai memorial show
Chiemi "Mirai" Kitagami died one year ago at age 22 because of a bathtub accident. On Sept. 12, her friend GAMI and M's Style held a memorial show for Mirai at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Mirai is the Japanese word for future and Chiemi Kitagami was a rising star of joshi puroresu. She has been missed. Fans were greeted in the lobby of the arena by a display of Mirai's costumes and some pictures.
The show started with Mirai's theme song Can't Help Falling In Love by Hi Standard. Then video letters to Mirai from Vader, Mima Shimoda and Atsushi Onita and a letter was read from Mirai's idol Akira Hokuto. The matches were mostly of the comedy variety. The first match had Yasu Urano & isami over Tomohiko Hashimoto & Kasakai in 12:29. Yumi Ohka then read from a diary Mirai kept on the road.
This was followed by a very special Royal Rumble style battle royal. The order of entry was Shuu Shibutani, Ayako Sato, GAMI, Saki Maemura, Commando Bolshoi, Sachie Abe, Sakura Emi, Yuka Shiina, Haruka Matsuo, Azumi Hyuga, Mariko Yoshida, Yumiko Hotta and...TAKA Michinoku. The whole thing turned into a square dance at one point with GAMI getting beaten down in the middle. They also did the rowboat and multiple abdominal stretches. It got back to being a regular battle royal when Yoshida, Hotta and then TAKA showed up. The match ended at 20:54 when Sakura Emi used Mirai's finsher, the Mirai Roll, to pin GAMI.
Next was a memorial video of Mirai's career highlights including what was considered her best match vs Momoe Nakanishi at the Dec. 21, 2003 Korakuen Hall A To Z show. The main event had Kyoko Kimura & Ayumi Kurihara over Atsuko Emoto & Zero. Kimura used what they called the Mirai Crossface on Zero for the win at 16:52. Oh and under the Zero mask was Sakura Emi trainee Rei.
They finished off with a tribute to Mirai with the fans throwing purple streamers. Everyone had something to say about Mirai including Mika Nishio, Sachie Abe & Yumiko Hotta who worked very closely with her at A To Z. Then everyone posed as a group in the ring. This included Mirai's parents with her mom holding a photo. It was a very emotional day for all the wrestlers. Sometimes the wrestling business is about something other than money. That's what we saw on this tribute show, a life lost at a young age. It's very sad and we all miss Mirai.
JD Star sets up Shibutani/Kimura feud on Sept. 10 show
Hey, great news folks! JD Star has finally redesigned and relaunched their website. They're off to a good start as they have complete results and pics from the Sept. 10 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. the url is http://www.jdstar.co.jp/ Hopefully they will keep up with current events as that can be a big problem with joshi feds. The main purpose of this show was to set up a Shuu Shibutani/Kyoko Kimura feud in the tag team main event. The other main Athtress Fuuka is a little preoccupied right now with her upcoming Smackgirl MMA bout. She does make an appearance though.
The opener has former AJW trainee and current Kaoru Ito student Ayako Sato against Bullfight Sora. Sato uses her mentor's diving foot stomp and she definitely wrestles the AJW style but Sora wins in 8:36. Next is the tag team of Sachie Abe & Tanny Mouse. Tanny gets on the mic and names this team Team Matsubara because both are from the Matsubara Ward. The opponents are Misae Genki & Cherry. Team Matsubara are wise to focus on Cherry and after a lariat ans a double spear, they finish her off at 15:23. After the match, Tanny says that everyone should move to Matsubara.
Next Yumi Ohka hosts a talk show segment with Fuuka showing off her new zebra print outfit for the Sept. 15 Smackgirl show. That's important. Of course Fuuka predicted victory and she has won in Smackgirl before. Pro Wrestling SUN's Nanae Takahashi vs Saki Maemura are next. Hikaru & Natsuki*Head are in attendance. These two are probably a little too familiar with each other. Maemura sprays water in Takahashi's face but a German Suplex and Shining Wizard finishes Maemura in 15:36.
The main event had Michiko Ohmukai & Kyoko Kimura defeat Shuu Shibutani & Ayumi Kurihara in 16:48. The focus is mostly on Shibutani & Kimura and they're in the ring most of the time. After Kimura forced Shibutani to tap out, she demanded a singles match. Shibutani tries to change the subject but Kimura isn't interested. Kimura is still upset that she didn't win the POP tournament and she wants to take it out on Shibutani. The match will be the main event of the Sept. 17 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show and Kimura says Shibutani will tap out again.
Yoshida gets veteran help at Sept. 10 Ibuki show
Mariko Yoshida's Ibuki held their latest show on Sept. 10 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Ibuki is mostly an extension of Yoshida's Gym where she offers advanced training to young wrestlers. She usually has a guest veteran on the main event of the show. This time it was former GAEA veteran and current partner of GAMI at THE WOMAN Toshie Uematsu. Lately Ibuki has focused on Kyoko Kimura. She's improved a lot and is probably headed for a main event against Yoshida.
The opener had M's Style youngster Ayumi Kurihara vs rookie Hiroyo Matsumoto. Matsumoto is very green but the fans are starting to like her. Kurihara won with a cross arm breaker at 5:18. Next was Kaoru Ito trainee Ayako Sato vs Gutsworld rookie Yuri Urai. Urai needs a lot of work but Sato is really improving and wins with a missile dropkick at 8:45. Kaoru Ito & Gktn rookie Aoi Kizuki vs NEO veteran Yuka Shiina & Shuu Shibutani. Ito & Shiina carry most of the match and it ends in a 20 minute draw.
A few months ago K-Dojo's Bambi caused a lot of commotion by appearing in Ibuki wearing a white bathing suit a la joshi legend Mimi Hagiwara. She won a couple of matches but now she's having trouble again. Her opponent here was Atsuko Emoto (Bullfight Sora minus the mask). Emoto beat Bambi from pillar to post and finished her with a face buster at 11:03. The main event had veterans Mariko Yoshida & Toshie Uematsu vs Kyoko Kimura & Cherry. Kimura has a recent victory over Yoshida and Yoshida wanted a really good partner for this match. So Yoshida & Uematsu schooled the youngsters and Yoshida got her revenge over Kimura with a figure four leglock at 24:03 while Uematsu beat up Cherry. Afterwards, Yoshida thanked Uematsu for winning the match for the team. The next Ibuki show will be Oct. 29 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Maybe Mariko Yoshida vs Kyoko Kimura will be the main event.
D'Auguste returns Smackgirl Middleweight Title, title match on 9/15 show
Smackgirl has announced that Laura D'Auguste has returned her Smackgirl Middleweight Title and there will a Smackgirl Middleweight Title match on the Sept. 15 Korakuen Hall show. D'Auguste won the title in Aug. 2005. Smackgirl claims that they had attempted to sign D'Auguste to defend the title on next week's show against Hitomi Akano. But it's been known for a while that D'Auguste was unlikely to return to Smackgirl due to a disagreement between Samackgirl management and Team Tiger Schulman who represent her. I understand this is over some of the Smackgirl rules which are different from standard MMA rules. So now it's official.
A Smackgirl Middleweight Title match has been added to the Sept. 15 Korakuen Hall show. It will be Hitomi Akano (pictured) vs Molly Helsel. Akano is a teammate of Megumi Fujii and a rising star of MMA. Her 6-1 record includes victories over Debi Purcell & Emma Bush. Her only loss is to Tara LaRosa. This will be Molly Helsel's first trip to Japan. She trained in Hawaii but is now training at Apex Jiu Jitsu in California with Debi Purcell. Very interesting. Her record is 3-3 and was runner up at last November's Hook 'N' Shoot tournament. The match is sceduled for three five minute rounds.
The other match is a Lightweight match with MIKU vs Lisa Ward. MIKU has a 5-2 record. Her most recent victory over Brazilian Carina Damm on the Aug. 26 GCM show avenged an earlier defeat. This will be her first Smackgirl appearance. This will be Lisa Ward's first trip to Japan. She is from Vancouver, BC and trains in Seattle. Smackgirl says she is a Lightweight champ for a company called NFC. Her record is 5-2 and she lost to Molly Helsel in that Hook 'N' Shoot tournament. All bouts are for two five minute rounds unless otherwise indicated. Here's the card so far.
SMACKGIRL - 9/15/06 - Korakuen Hall
52KG BOUT-Fuuka vs Mai
48KG BOUT-Ayumi "Edge" Saito vs Ikuko Tamada
53KG BOUT-Akiko Naito vs Kyoko Takabayashi
54KG BOUT-WINDY Tomomi vs Seri
48KG BOUT-Masako Yoshida vs Eri Kanetari
OPEN WEIGHT BOUT-Tama Chan vs Natsuko Kamei
LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT-MIKU vs Lisa Ward
NEXT CINDERELLA TOURNAMENT MIDDLEWEIGHT FINAL-Sakura Nakamura vs Kaneko Takeshita
NEXT CINDERELLA TOURNAMENT FLYWEIGHT SEMI FINAL-KM-MAKI vs Fukuko Hamada
SMACKGIRL MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT-3 5 min. rounds-Hitomi Akano vs Molly Helsel
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