APPROVED

🧭 JOSHI PURO EXPLORER 2026 - No.3

By LaserPH

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Welcome to the 3rd issue of the Joshi Puro Explorer. A weekly match pack series exploring the world of Joshi Puroresu (Japanese Women's Pro-Wrestling) for everyone. Every week, there will be a match for y'all to watch for each week day with a little write-up about the background. You can also choose to watch all of these in one sitting if you wish. I will also include a bonus match at the end of the week, so stay tuned for that.

Match length is indicated by three different "trail" categories:

Special thanks to Orbiit for helping out on the match picks this week.

Apologies for missing last week.

THIS WEEK'S COURSE

The entire course is available to view on the Archive.

MONDAY (月)

Natsumi Showzuki [翔月なつみ]
vs.
Misa Matsui
(MARIGOLD Summer Destiny / 2024.07.13)

Natsumi Showzuki & Misa Matsui shake hands before they fight

The final of MARIGOLD's Inaugural Superfly Title Tournament at their first ever big show in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. These two have quite a history tracing back to their time in Actwres girl'Z. Both were already destined to be in contention of this title since it was revealed.

TUESDAY (火)

Suzume [鈴芽] & Arisu Endo [遠藤有栖]
vs.
Rika Tatsumi [辰巳リカ] & Miu Watanabe [渡辺未詩]
vs.
Ryo Mizunami [水波綾] & Yuki Aino [愛野ユキ]
(TJPW Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling '24 / 2024.01.04)

Suzume & Arisu Endo give Ryo Mizunami a boot

This was initially supposed to be a match between the champion team Free-WiFi (Hikari Noa [乃蒼ヒカリ] & Nao Kakuta [角田奈穂]) versus Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo). But Free-WiFi had to vacate the titles before the new year due to Noa being in "poor condition" (she would later not come back). A 3 way tag team match was made to take its place to crown the new champions.

Daisy Monkey earned their 2nd shot on the titles while Daydream [白昼夢] (Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe) are aiming to get a 2nd reign and the new team of Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino known as YukiNiki [ユキニキ] get their 1st ever chance.

WEDNESDAY (水)

Tsukasa Fujimoto [藤本つかさ]
vs.
Suzu Suzuki [鈴季すず]
(Ice Ribbon March 2020 / 2020.03.14)

Suzu Suzuki locks in the Manji-gatame on Tsukasa Fujimoto

In order to reach the top, there had to be a change. Entering the 2nd year of her wrestling career, Suzu Suzuki was set to make her return to the ring after graduating from her "bike" character going "chirin, chirin, chirin" with the bell a month before. A gimmick that sprouted out of an accident on the day she was meant to debut, where she broke her collarbone while riding her bike, leading it to being postponed to the end of 2018.

Suzu leaves the bells behind

She had an embarked on a journey of self-discovery after leaving the bells behind and had told the office beforehand that she's facing Tsukasa Fujimoto on March 14 in Korakuen Hall then also wrote to not find her. Suzu would re-appear twice in the dojo shows just to attack Tsukka and leave clues behind before disappearing again (2/29, 3/7).

Tsukasa Fujimoto holding three paper cards that Suzu left behind containing clues about her evolution.

Tsukasa had placed a million yen award for people who can find the missing 17 year old. She did eventually manage to find Suzu 2 days before their match after they received a hint via LINE that Suzu was around the Todoroki Valley area in Tokyo. They couldn't figure if Suzu had changed anything in the span of 2 weeks, she was still wearing the same costume after all.

Tsukasa catches the missing Suzu in the middle of the Todoroki Valley forest

At the end of 2019, she had managed to earn her first 3 title opportunities, but was defeated in all of them. In all of her singles matches against Tsukka, she had also failed to get a win, but that previous one resulted in a time limit draw. To begin her new era, it was appropriate to attempt again and finally capture the victory on the promotion's icon.

Suzu meditates on top of a rocky hill

THURSDAY (木)

Hazuki [葉月] & Koguma [コグマ]
vs.
Hanan [羽南] & Saya Iida [飯田沙耶]
(STARDOM THE CONVERSION 2024 / 2024.06.22)

The STARS clash.

wing☆gori (Hanan & Saya Iida) have risen up the tag team ladder in the 1st half of 2024 as New Blood Tag champs with 4 defenses and earned their shot on their fellow seniors to try become double crown tag team. FWC (Hazuki & Koguma) at this point are on their 3rd reign as Goddess champs after winning the titles at home turf during Golden Week from Crazy Star (Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira), and took down 02LINE (AZM & Miyu Amasaki) on their 1st defense.

FRIDAY (金)

Manami Toyota [豊田真奈美] & Toshiyo Yamada [山田敏代]
vs.
Dynamite Kansai [ダイナマイト関西] & Mayumi Ozaki [尾崎魔弓]
(AJW Dream Rush In Kawasaki・川崎夢闘争 / 1992.11.26)

When the double crown tag team in AJW made a statement that they would accept anyone to challenge for their gold, they didn't quite expect that it would actually come from another promotion.

On October 22, 1992, Mayumi Ozaki declared that they were going to challenge the WWWA champion team of Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada for AJW's Dream Rush show in Kawasaki for the 26th of November. On top of that, JWP Representative Masatoshi Yamamoto [山本雅俊] have also proposed an additional match for JWP's Ota Ward show for December 1st. AJW would select the pair Yumiko Hotta [堀田祐美子] & Takako Inoue [井上貴子] to face off against Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka.

At that point, JWP Women's Pro-Wrestling [JWP女子プロレス] had only been around for 6 months since they held their launch show. The organization sprouted from the Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion which went down earlier in January. FMW (Frontier Martialarts Wrestling) with a much smaller women's roster that had Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda who were AJW alumni talent leading the charge, invaded AJW back in July. What made the JWP case more special for AJW was, they weren't facing ex-AJW people, but JWP-born wrestlers.

Toyota & Yamada were surprised when they heard the challenge was being considered. Yamada had seen Kansai throw a couple of kicks on TV while flipping channels and only know of Ozaki thru pictures on Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazines, while Toyota had only heard their names. But that uncertainty of what's to come didn't scare the champions.

The proposals were accepted by AJW on October 23rd and both parties held a press conference on the 29th. JWP Representative Yamamoto expressed that they felt it was now or never for them to challenge AJW. Ozaki & Kansai want to put on a match that reflects JWP's pure fighting spirit to new eyes.

WWWA Commisioner Shinji Ueda explained that they accepted because it would be a great opportunity for the women's wrestling scene to develop into something greater. Erasing the sentiment of it being inferior to the men's. Toyota & Yamada were still quite disinterested at the idea. Before it came to a close, Kansai gave Yamada a slap, then Yamada slapped back, but both of them shook hands afterwards instead of making a chaotic scene.

On the train back to Tokyo after the JWP show that same day, Kansai & Ozaki were interviewed directly. Asked if they had any complex feelings since both were rejected from AJW auditions in the past, they didn't have much in particular, but if Kansai does get a chance to met any AJW executive again, she'll definitely confront them about why they dropped her. These rejects want to win over new fans and prove that even someone the size of Ozaki who are often discarded in an instant from AJW auditions can absolutely go at it.

Two weeks later, Manami Toyota, Toshiyo Yamada, Yumiko Hotta, and Takako Inoue attended JWP's Korakuen Hall show on the 15th of November. They witnessed Kansai squash a rookie in half a minute and Ozaki & Fukuoka fight for 20 minutes and get the victory at the main event. None of them were amused. There was "nothing to be excited about", said Yamada. Hikari Fukuoka grabbed the mic and gave the message to the AJW quartet that they will do everything to crush them in Kawasaki & Ota Ward, so they will have to bring their A-game.

Kansai invited the Zenjo four to enter the ring. Yamada boasted at JWP fans saying that AJW are way stronger and that evening's matches will not be accepted on their turf. Toyota added that they should go back to basics. "Don't think that this is all we got to offer", said Ozaki. The JWP side didn't back down from the harsh comments and still shook hands with the quartet.

The trio of Kansai, Ozaki, and Fukuoka along with Rep Yamamoto later attended AJW's Tag League show on the 19th. Their reactions were similar to the AJW gals before. Ozaki thought that Manami Toyota was not fast, but actually just impatient to the point that her offense was devoid of any passion.

So that's all I can find about the events leading to the start of the inter-promotional showdown between JWP versus the biggest women's pro wrestling promotion in Japan during that era, AJW.

BONUS MATCH #1

Miyu Yamashita [山下実優]
vs.
Miu Watanabe [渡辺未詩]
(TJPW GRAND PRINCESS '24 - 2024.03.31)

Miyu Yamashita's 4th defense in her fourth reign as Princess Of Princess champion takes her to Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall) to face against Miu Watanabe. Watanabe earned her 2nd shot at the belt by winning a battle royal earlier in the year. Both have fought 3 times in singles bouts with Yamashita in the lead with 2 wins. Although Watanabe did win their previous encounter back in the semifinal of the 2022 Tokyo Princess Cup, for her it was just a short-lived victory. She has to take down the ace once more in a grander stage to feel satisfied and lead TJPW into a new era.

BONUS MATCH #2

Yumiko Hotta [堀田祐美子] & Takako Inoue [井上貴子]
vs.
Mayumi Ozaki [尾崎魔弓] & Hikari Fukuoka [福岡晶]
(JWP プロレスの神様ありがとう！ / 1992.12.01)

AJW's Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue step into a JWP ring for the first time as they face on Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka on their ground in Ota Ward. This is a continuation from this week's Friday match.

Compared to Toyota & Yamada, Hotta & Takako were more interested in facing the JWP talent. For instance, Hotta actually have a bit of rivalry with Dynamite Kansai whom she didn't get to face here since they were in the JWP Openweight Title tournament. Both of them attended the AJW auditions around 1985, but failed. They did it again the following year with Hotta passing the test, however Kansai didn't the make the cut and decided to Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion.

Takako had been eyeing Ozaki & Fukuoka for a while since they seemed much closer to the style of their generation of AJW talent.

See you again for next week's course :)

またね。

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