There is not much question that Jaguar Yokota is one of the most important and revered figures in joshi puroresu history. This is not only for her tremendous ring skills and charisma but for her ability to train the next generation to be as good as she is. When fans talk about the glory days of the 1990s, it all comes back to Jaguar because she trained a lot of those wrestlers. So the entire joshi puroresu industry gathered at the Hotel Laforest in Tokyo on Mar. 11 to celebrate Jaguar Yokota's thirty years in joshi. It was a star studded affair with 1003 fans in attendance.
The format of the show was a wrestling show in the afternoon followed by a ceremony and stage show in the evening. This was also Jaguar's first ring appearance since giving birth to her son in December. You can be sure she has been hitting the gym preparing for this day. The show started with a 30 girl Royal Rumble style battle royal. The big thing here was the participation of joshi puroresu legends Mimi Hagiwara, Lucy Kayama & Tomy Aoyama. The wrestlers entered the ring in groups. A wrestler could be eliminated by pinfall, submission, foul, over the top rope, whatever. The first group was Toshie Uematsu, Sachie Abe, Obacchi Iizuka, Bullfight Sora, KAZUKI & GAMI. The second group was Cherry, Nozomi Takesako, Kyoko Kimura, Haruka Matsuo, Saki Maemura (replacing the injured Hikaru), Leon, Hiroyo Muto & AKINO. The third group was Chikayo Nagashima, Carlos Amano, Ran YuYu, Yuki Miyazaki, Tanny Mouse & Misae Genki. The fourth group was Michiko Ohmukai, Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, Manami Toyota, Mayumi Ozaki & Yumiko Hotta. The final group was Devil Masami, Tomy Aoyama, Lucy Kayama, Mimi Hagiwara & Jaguar Yokota. Not surprisingly the legends didn't last very long. The finish came down to Devil Masami & Chikayo Nagashima. Nagashima won by pinfall at 21:07. The trophy was presented by Maki Ueda.
The rest of the show was a promotional theme show. First was a Pro Wrestling SUN match with Nanae Takahashi over Natsuki*Taiyo with a reverse splash at 12:32. Next was an LLPW match with former AJW wrestlers Takako Inoue & Noriyo Tateno. Jaguar trained Takako. Takako won with destiny's hammer in 8:57. Next was a JWP match with Azumi Hyuga, Commando Bolshoi & Tsubasa Kuragaki over Kaori Yoneyama, Kayoko Haruyama & ECO in 13:26. And finally a NEO match with Yoshiko Tamura over Etsuko Mita with the running elbow at 9:19. Two more Jaguar trainees.
The main event was Jaguar Yokota, Dynamite Kansai & Ayako Hamada vs. Aja Kong, KAORU & Amazing Kong. KAORU & Aja are two more Jaguar trainees. It was apparently a very entertaining match. Everone got to do their trademark spots. Jaguar used the Princessrana (reverse hurricanrana) on KAORU for the win at 23:00. Jaguar said it's been a great thirty years and thank you for everyhting. Aja Kong grabbed the mike and said "We can never thank you enough for everything you've done for us." The evening show had mostly singing. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka sang. Maki Ueda & Devil Masami sang. Mimi Hagiwara sang and she's an actress so she was probably pretty good. Jaguar Yokota and her husband and son took the stage to thank everyone for a great day celebarating her thirty years in joshi puroresu.
Lioness Azuka is the best joshi puroresu. She rules big time. Jaguar is second best.
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it would be fine to see some picture of the royal rumble, expecially those of the legends , just to see how they're doing now ....
ReplyDeleteNot only aren't there any pictures but the show wasn't taped.
ReplyDeleteI would like to read some current news and see any pictures of the old time joshi puroresu stars, like Nancy Kumi, Lucy Kayama, Tomi Aoyama.....where are they now and what are they doing ?
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