Magazine Archive: Joshi Pro Wrestling: You NEED to Watch! (Patreon)

By Lillie Alexandra from FightfulMag.com Issue 5

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With the forbidden door wide open in the world of professional wrestling, many eyes have turned to Japan and its unique styles of wrestling. And there’s nothing quite like Joshi-style wrestling.

Joshi is Japanese for “woman”, so ‘Joshi Puroresu’ simply means women’s wrestling. For older fans, Joshi is closely associated with All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, a promotion that ran from 1968 all the way until 2005.

That promotion’s golden era stretched across the late 1980s and early ‘90s, when such luminaries asBull Nakano, Lioness Asuka(who current WWE wrestler Asuka is named after), and the true GOAT of Joshi, Manami Toyota, were all at their career peaks and wrestlers began to tour stateside.

For most Fightful readers, their biggest exposure to modern Joshi wrestling is probably at AEW’s 2019 Double or Nothing, with the legendary Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki, and Emi Sakurafacing off againstHikaru Shida, Rihoand Ryo Mizunami.

What was remarkable about that match was that these women were headlining a major North American PPV event, fighting in a style of women’s wrestling that peaked in Japan almost thirty years earlier.

Japan’s pro wrestling legacy expands across over 75 years but only recently has attained a more devoted fan base in North America, reaching the mainstream with moments like Eddie Kingston screamingLulu Pencil’sname on AEW Dark, Joshi wrestlers like Yuka Sakazawaand Emi Sakura performing stateside and even seeing perpetual underdog Pencil rank on the PWI Top 500 Wrestlers List (ranking at, of course, number 500).

While Joshi may be something new for many audiences, there are few styles on earth with longer or better track records and a richer history worth watching.

What is Joshi wrestling?

Joshi Puroresu is a very unique part of wrestling with a long and complex history.

“Puroresu wrestling” (pro wrestling) is Japan’s premier wrestling style, made famous by “strong style” striking —essentially, wrestlers pull their punches less in Japan than they do in, say, WWE, which lends a more realistic fight feel — and storylines that tend to be less theatrical than American pro wrestling. Joshi takes its cues from the same style guide as NJPW, with match pacing and ‘work rate’ put above all else.

By extension, Joshi is the women’s version of that style, as Japanese promotions do not feature both men’s and women’s matches.

As a whole, Joshi features shoot style, strikers, power moves, high flyers, mat-based battles, comedic performances and everything in between. The only true difference between Puroresu and Joshi is that it only features female wrestlers.

In Joshi, there are few extended angles or gimmicks or screw job endings, and beat-downs are extremely rare and even heel/face battles are not always used. These elements exist, but the work rate and quality of performance is considered far more important.

While it shares a lot of similarities with Japanese men’s wrestling and women’s wrestling from around the world, Joshi has created its own international scene unique to anything else going on.

Joshi wrestling in general features a much different combination of moves, skills and performance styles than the more popularized American wrestling promotions we watch every week. Its event style varies from promotion to promotion, and to each individual wrestler. You can see absurd, wall-breaking comedy matches with performers dressed as cartoon princesses. Or you can have 100% serious hardcore matches.

It’s not rare for Joshi promotions to depict women participating in hardcore matches, hair vs. hair matches, or performing serious bumps in comparison to certain American women’s wrestling divisions. For example, Tokyo Joshi Pro takes its style from DDT Wrestling: big personalities and high-flying moves.  Whereas Stardom, owned by NJPW, includes harder-hitting, stiffer matches that mirror their sister promotion.

Another difference between Joshi and American women’s wrestling is the depiction of women in a non-sexualized way, and that the audience has a large demographic of female fans. While stars are still praised for their beauty and physical condition, the “T&A” era of women’s wrestling is the opposite of how Joshi talent is presented.

Influences of Joshi are a mixed bag. Lucha Libre, men’s Japanese wrestling, MMA, Japanese comedy shows, pop idol groups and of course American wrestling all merge into a unique and colorful world.

What is the history of Joshi wrestling?

For the most part, Joshi is not as separate from men’s wrestling as you may think. There is actually a fair amount of crossover. All mostly male promotions, including New Japan, have had women work matches on their shows at some point. Some Joshi promotions even have men on their rosters. However, all-female Joshi events are much more common and popular than crossover events.

Several women-only matches were run in Japan during a brief period in the mid-1950s, however, the start of modern Joshi stems back to 1968 with the formation of All Japan Women by the co-owners of the Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling Association, the Matsunaga brothers.

The core audience of AJW were school girls and the promotion took advantage of this demographic by pushing young faces, to the point where even a 15-year-old held the championship title.

By appealing directly to school girls, AJW was an early success. AJW was the dominant Joshi organization from the 1970s all the way to the 1990s. AJW’s first major star was Mach Fumiakein 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Satoand Maki Ueda, known as the “Beauty Pair.” AJW had instigated a mandatory retirement age of 26 for all wrestlers no matter how popular in order to constantly create new stars, and the system worked well.

The early 1980s saw the fame of Jaguar Yokotaand Devil Masami, major stars of the second wave of skilled technical wrestlers who took the place of the glamor-based “Beauty Pair” generation. That decade AJW would become extremely popular in Japan, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest-rated broadcasts in Japanese television, with the promotion regularly selling out arenas.

Competition began to emerge in the form of Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling (JWP), starting in 1986 and run by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi. And in the 1990s the number of Joshi promotions kept increasing. By the end of the decade, there were no fewer than seven operating in Japan.

JWP Joshi Puroresu was founded in early 1992, when Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling (JWP), ravaged by internal politics, split up into two camps, dubbed the “shooters” and the “entertainers,” and eventually folded on January 18, 2017, after 25 years of operation. The “shooter” side went on to form Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling (LLPW), while the “entertainer” side, led by Jackie Sato and financed by Masatoshi Yamamoto, founded JWP Project, later renamed JWP Joshi Puroresu, which held its first event on April 3, 1992, and still operates (although in a very limited fashion) to this day.

GAEA was founded in 1995 by Chigusa Nagayo, a professional wrestler who achieved huge success in the 1980s with her tag team partner, Lioness Asuka, as the Crush Gals. She helped to train a lot of the younger wrestlers that were featured in GAEA. On April 15, 1995, the new promotion held its first show Memorial First Gong. It was at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall and was a hit.

GAEA’s reputation grew as a result of the acquisition of some well-known wrestlers, and the organization of some very successful cross-promotional shows. They established a relationship with the Japanese hardcore promotion Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) in 1995 and worked with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996. As part of the relationship with WCW, two GAEA wrestlers, Akira Hokutoand Toshie Uematsubecame the first WCW Women’s Champion and WCW Women’s Cruiserweight Champion respectively.

Joshi stars were on TV, there were video games and magazine covers and movies. The future for Joshi wrestling never looked brighter. But back in 1995, bad financial decisions by the Matsunaga brothers and the shift from school girl fans began to result in less trainees beginning to wrestle, and this led to a slide in the popularity of Joshi. By the early 2000s, the market began to fade, especially after AJW closed its doors in 2005, and there was no longer a main “hub” for female wrestling stars.

While women’s wrestling had already been hugely successful and popular throughout Japan for decades, a new generation of wrestlers were being left behind and took it upon themselves to keep the fire burning and eventually revive the scene. Gatoh Move, Stardom, TJPW, Ice Ribbon, Oz Academy and Diana are some of the popular promotions devoted to this style of wrestling in Japan. While by no means comprehensive, we’ll break down a few key players in the Joshi scene, and their history.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling

One of the more predominant Joshi promotions is TJPW or Tokyo Joshi Pro. You’ve probably seen some of its breakout stars like Yuka Sakazaki on AEW. Tokyo Joshi is part of the CyberFight family (DDT, Noah, Tokyo Joshi & Ganbare Pro). It is closely associated with DDT and uses some of the same elements of style and match structure. The performers will often be featured in cross-promotional events or in DDT’s bigger events like Judgement and Peter Pan. They are known for a roster full of big personalities.

Founded in 2012 as a sister promotion of DDT and run by former Ice Ribbon and NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling booker Tetsuya Kodo and wrestler Nozomi, Joshi Pro recruitment started in 2013 and its first four wrestlers were Miyu Yamashita (current champion), Shoko Nakajima, Kannaand Chikage Kiba. Training for Joshi Pro was handled by Nozomi herself, with assistance from DDT wrestler Kyohe Mikami, known for his work with DDT and his tag team called Suicide Boyz.

The Joshi trainees were modelled after the old Glamour era; stars are required to follow only three rules —no drinking, no smoking and no boyfriends.

The humble debut for Tokyo Joshi Pro took place on January 30, 2013, at Akihabara Twin Box in Tokyo, featuring only two matches. The show didn’t use a wrestling ring, and instead, all matches just used training mats. Along with the matches, the show also featured live music from Idol Units(Japanese pop stars). As TJPWs roster was small to start, most early shows followed this format and slowly began filling smaller venues.

In its early days, entry to the first few Joshi Pro shows was free as a way of introducing themselves to a bigger audience, and their first ticketed event took place in April 2013. As the roster grew, TJPW started having more matches on their cards and began using a ring.

TJPW held its first full show without an idol performance on February 28, 2015, at Shinjuku Face, where voice actress/wrestler Ai Shimizuannounced she’d be competing regularly with Joshi Pro, and more trainees debuted, which showed the promotion was slowly growing in appeal.

TJPW held its first-ever show at Korakuen Hall, a famous wrestling venue in Puroresu history on January 4th, 2016, with Miyu Yamashita defeating Shoko Nakajima to become the first-ever Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion. This card also featured an appearance from American wrestling veteran Candice LeRae, who is currently signed to WWE under NXT, marking a return to working with overseas talent.

Although early stars Ai Shimizu and Erin announced they would be departing the promotion, that summer was a huge success and Joshi Pro earned a broadcasting deal on idol-centric TV channel Pigoo. On January 4, 2017, TJPW held its second annual Korakuen show, main evented by Yuuretaining the Tokyo Princess of Princess title over Shoko Nakajima.

From there came TJP’s third annual Korakuen show which was a huge success with over 1000 fans in attendance. That may not seem like much compared to audiences from other indie or professional wrestling promotions, however coming from such humble beginnings this proved to be enough of a turnout to have the show broadcast on Japanese streaming service AbemaTV, as well as DDT’s streaming service.  The broadcast deal with Pigoo ended on November 1, 2018, and the three rules for trainees also came to an end, allowing wrestlers to drink, date and smoke, creating more opportunities for different characters and for more styles to grow.

The structure of Tokyo Joshi Pro events are similar to how WWE built PPVs in the past. Tokyo Joshi will plan several smaller shows that build storylines and showcase the women that will main event the bigger show to drum up interest. The in-ring style is more modelled after DDT — high flying, high energy and a high work rate that keeps matches moving at a faster pace.

Gatoh Move

Another Joshi Promotion that cannot be missed, and has also crossed the forbidden door to AEW is Gatoh Move.

Translated to “I Fight Cloud Dance” Gatoh Move is most known for hosting shows at Ichigaya Chocolate Square, where there is only a small performance space instead of a ring, under their Choco Pro banner.

Founded by Emi Sakura while in Thailand, she realized there was a big fanbase for wrestling in that country, which led to the original name of the promotion, Bangkok Girls Pro Wrestling (BKK Pro), which was subsequently rebranded as Gatoh Move and held its final show in Thailand, while still remaining active in Japan.

Gatoh Move crowned their first Super Asia Champion when AEW star Rihodefeated Kotorito become the inaugural champion. The championship then remained vacant until this year as Gatoh stars Emi and Mei Suruga competed in the AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament. Neither won the tournament, however, Sakura, Pencil and Riho have found success in AEW with impressive records and performances.

Ice Ribbon

Also founded by pillar of Joshi wrestling Emi Sakura is Ice Ribbon, established in 2006 in Tokyo. They split with Gatokunan, the promotion Sakura also represented. Shows for Ice Ribbon took place at their dojo in Warabi, Saitama, however, a few larger events, like Golden Ribbon and RibbonMania took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Ice Ribbon recruited and trained actresses and wrestlers. Among them are former AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida, Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto. Ice Ribbon gained popularity for featuring actresses, but also children wrestlers such as Riho, who famously debuted at only nine years of age.

World Wonder Ring Stardom

Stardom is currently owned by Japanese card game company Bushiroad, making it a sister promotion of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Founded in 2011, it is currently one of the more successful women’s promotions in the world. Most Stardom wrestlers use a mix of Japanese strong style, Lucha Libre, and American catch wrestling. Matches are much shorter than American matches, usually lasting five to fifteen minutes. Three-way and Fatal Four-way matches are also common on undercards for Stardom.

The promotion features a mix of Japanese and international talents. The international talent comes mainly from the US, Mexico, Europe and Australia. And they’ve featured some big names like Nikki Storm(WWE’s Nikki Cross), Chelsea Green, Jamie Hayter, Bea Priestley, Leyla Hirschand many more insanely talented women.

Like other Joshi promotions, comedy plays a part in the product as well —without taking away from the incredible talent on the roster. And like other promotions, Stardom puts a heavy emphasis on the beauty and physical conditioning of its stars. Overall, it is highly watchable wrestling with a great range of characters.

Who are some names I should look out for?

Riho: Wrestling since the age of nine, her extensive career includes stints in Ice Ribbon, DDT Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling and she also was the first-ever AEW Women’s World Champion. You don’t want to miss this high-energy, high-flying talent and her signature victory roll to double stomp maneuver.

Utami Hayashishita: As of this writing she is the World of Stardom Champion and has been with New Japan and Stardom since 2018. Her impressive records have landed her on PWI lists two years in a row and watching her no mercy strong style finisher moves like a top rope brainbuster make Utami a very convincing main event level champion at only 22-years-old.

Miyu Yamashita: A three-time Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion, she was recruited to wrestle after an unsuccessful idol group career, and started training with Tokyo Joshi Pro. Earning the nickname “Pink Striker,” Miyu brings an intense energy utilizing her knowledge of MMA strikes and a wide variety of kick variations.

Hikari Noa:With only three years of in-ring experience, Hikari brings an aggressive wrestling style which is very unique. She’s an aspiring hardcore death match wrestler with an awesome look that makes her easily recognizable. Her moves come from several influences which make the future look bright for Noa.

Lulu Pencil: Internet sensation Pencil has become a fan favorite quickly, making her a breakout star in Gatoh Move and hopefully soon in AEW. She’s an incredibly endearing character to watch even though everyone knows she can’t wrestle well. Even Lulu knows she’s not very good, yet is ready to do anything to achieve victory, always ready to help Joshi queen and adversary Emi with her trusty stopwatch.

Yuka Sakazaki: The Magical Girlis two-time Princess Tag Team Champion and one-time Princess of Princess Champion with an incredibly clean and aerial style of wrestling and insanely positive attitude in the ring. The Magical Girl Splash from the top rope is always one of my favorite moves to catch on AEW where Yuka has become a breakout star.

Emi Sakura: Without Sakura, Joshi wrestling would not be where it is today. She trained almost all current popular Joshi wrestlers and is a founder of Ice Ribbon and Gatoh Move. Now rightfully dubbed the Queen of Joshi, her extensive training and history in wrestling makes her an insanely difficult opponent to beat. Watch out for some of her signature moves like an inverted facelock spun out into a DDT or the Nyan Nyan Press 450°Splash. All hail the Queen of Joshi Wrestling.

Where can I watch?

Outside of TV appearances on major promotions like AEW, Joshi events are easy to find and stream online. There are tons of Joshi shows to stream if you know where to look.

Some promotions like Stardom and Tokyo Joshi Pro have subscription services while others can be found on Samurai TV. You can also stream tons of Joshi content on some wrestling archive sites like DDT Pro.

To view matches for TJPW a membership to Wrestle Universe is required. When signing up, the first billing period is free. DDT bills on the last day of every month so be sure to register on the first of a new month to get the most out of a subscription. Many Tokyo Joshi Pro shows air live on Wrestle Universe.

What’s the future of Joshi look like?

With many breakout stars already gaining steam, tons of talent popping up on multiple promotions overseas and with support from AEW, a style of wrestling that has been massively influential in Japan for decades might just finally be getting a home on American television and combined with more options online, we are seeing a resurgence in Joshi fandom!

Lillie Alexandra is a lifelong wrestling fan and writer from Toronto. When she’s not watching matches, she’s reviewing horror movies, searching for the perfect tiki cocktail or training to hopefully get in the ring one day.