REINA signs deal with CMLL

Yumiko Hotta

So a couple of months ago a new joshi company called REINA started up and it looked like they planned to run small shows outside Tokyo. I guess that was a soft launch because today they held a press conference to announce really big plans. The official name of the company is Universal Woman's-Pro Wrestling REINA (UWWR). They announced a working agreement with CMLL in Mexico and several wrestlers will appear on REINA's May 8 Shinjuku FACE show. And they also announced that Yumiko Hotta will be in charge of wrestling operations. We all know what happened the last time Hotta managed a joshi company. She bought ARSION in 2003 and changed the name to A To Z. She ran the company into the ground until she sold it to JD Star in 2005 and then left. Since then she's been hanging around the joshi business working a part time schedule. Hotta's biggest flaw as A To Z owner was her selfish insistence of putting herself over at the expense of the entire A To Z roster. She turned Ayako Hamada into her stooge. I guess we'll see if she has learned her lesson. I have my doubts. There are three other wrestlers on the REINA roster. All are rookies. Natsumi Kawano worked briefly for NEO last year before quitting. Aki Kanbayashi trained at Ito Dojo and worked there last year. Apparently she was invited to join DIANE but chose REINA instead. Miss Mongol is a veteran who has never really got anywhere in her career. She's on the fringes of the joshi business. For the first show, REINA is bring five wrestlers over from CMLL. Three of them are seasoned veterans and the other two seem to be younger. I'm sure you won't be surprised that Mima Shimoda is the first name on the list. Of course she's a veteran joshi wrestler and has lived in Mexico for the last few years. They are also bringing over Marcela who has been around even longer than Hotta or Shimoda. And the current CMLL Women's Champion Amapola is coming. The other two are masked wrestlers Seuxis and Estrella Magica. They are younger than the other three but aren't rookies. Lucha Libre is a good draw in Japan. Two matches were announced for the show. Amapola will defend her CMLL title against Marcela and Yumiko Hotta will face Ayumi Kurihara and the winner gets a CMLL title shot. Amapola vs Ayumi could be a big money match in Mexico City as Ayumi is over big in Mexico. There are plans for REINA wrestlers to appear on CMLL shows in Mexico but nothing was announced. They said maybe September. They claim they are also planning shows in North America. I'm not buying that. Starting next month, they are running three shows monthly including a dojo show. But the majority of the shows will be in Tokyo. Up to now they have been running outside Tokyo. Things are sure getting crowded in the joshi puroresu business.