Noriyo Tateno announces retirement

Noriyo Tateno

After 30 years in joshi puroresu, Noriyo Tateno announced her retirement today. Noriyo has had health problems in recent years and is retiring due to peritonitis. No details yet but her retirement show will be in October. Noriyo debuted in All Japan Women on July 12, 1981 and is probably best known as one half of the Jumping Bomb Angels tag team with Itzuki Yamazaki. They held the WWWA Tag Team Titles from Jan. 5, 1986 when they defeated Bull Nakano & Condor Saito until Mar. 20, 1986 when they lost to the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka). At the time, the WWF was looking to bring an AJW team over and looked at the Crush Gals and Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano. But they eventually settled on the Jumping Bomb Angels and they made their first appearances in the summer of 1987. JBA was a top house show attraction but the WWF didn't use them enough on TV. They did get put over big time on the very first Survivor Series in 1987 and then won the WWF Women's Tag Team Titles from Leilani Kai & Judy Martin at the very first Royal Rumble in Hamilton, ON Jan. 24, 1988. It says they lost the titles in June but I think JBA went home to Japan and the titles were discontinued. Of course in those days, AJW had a forced retirement at age 26. So Noriyo retired in 1991 to become a broadcaster with AJW but soon became bored and came out of retirement when Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling started in 1992. She's been working there ever since. The one cool thing she did was talk Itzuki Yamazaki out of retirement and the Jumping Bomb Angels reunited at the 2008  Daily Sports shows. That was a nice piece of nostalgia. LLPW has been a bad company for years but that's at least one recent positive in Noriyo's career. She deserves a gala retirement ceremony.