Sendai Girls had a one day tournament Jan. 25 at the Sendai Harbour International Business Centre. I'm sure the results of the tournament won't surprise you. But there was a big surprise when Sendai Girls announced at the start of the show that Tyrannosaurus Okuda has left the promotion. Of course Okuda has been out of action since having shoulder surgery in November. She's expected to return this summer. Why is she leaving? The best way to put it is she wants to sow her wild oats. She plans to move to Tokyo. She could freelance but no decision has been made and she could work fulltime for one of the other joshi feds. She doesn't have to decide yet. Okuda said she is very appreciative of the support she received from Sendai Girls president Jinsei Shinzaki and the training from Meiko Satomura. But she's lived in Sendai for three years and she's not happy anymore and wants to live in Tokyo. She says her family supports her decision. I guess she sees opportunity that may not be available to her in Sendai. As for the tournament, of course Meiko Satomura won with a win over Ryo Mizunami with the Death Valley Bomb at 12:14. Satomura won her semi over Sendai Sachiko with the Death Valley Bomb at 9:21 and Mizunami won hers over Hiren with a diving guillotine drop at 6:50. First round matches had DASH Chisako & Hiren go to a 20 minute draw. Hiren advanced because she's lighter. Sendai Sachiko won over Yukari Ishino with a German suplex at 7:26. Okuda leaving is very tough for Sendai Girls and though she didn't say anything publicly, I'm sure that privately Satomura is not very happy about this. It puts a real monkey wrench into her plan to create a viable joshi promotion from scratch. How are they going to keep these young girls in Sendai when the bright lights of Tokyo beckon? This could happen again very soon.
Its a big problem for Sendai, Hiren might be next though as OZ doesn't run weekly like Sendai i suppose she can fit both promotions in if she doesn't mind travelling!
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