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| Sakura Emi |
So after Sunday's Ice Ribbon show, company owner Sakura Emi said she would have a big announcement on Jan. 7. The whole thing was supposed to be kept a secret but Tsukasa Fujimoto appeared on Samurai TV and spilled the beans. Sakura Emi plans to quit as Ice Ribbon booker. Emi later revealed on UStream that she is turning the company over to former NEO President Tatsuya Koda. Fujimoto was very upset with Emi and suggested that maybe she should just shut down the company. I'm not particularly surprised that Emi wants out. For all the mistaken perception of Ice Ribbon's success, Emi was clearly uncomfortable with the company's growth. She knew she needed to change the direction of Ice Ribbon if she wanted to continue to grow. The company needed to operate more professionally. But Emi started Ice Ribbon as an after school diversion for pre teen girls and she was fond of those roots. It clearly affected Ice Ribbon's bottom line. They run too many shows in front of too few fans. And the ring work is spotty at best. For every Hikaru Shida who turns out pretty good, there are a host of young girls who will never be any good in the ring and shouldn't be wrestlers in the first place. She couldn't have it both ways. And as we saw with Makoto, the chances that most of these girls will leave Ice Ribbon for greener pastures is high. And that has to hurt Emi. She founded Ice Ribbon and trained all the girls. So will the rats leave the sinking ship? Will they work for Koda? Remember that his inability to produce new talent is the main reason NEO closed. It's obviously not a good situation. Even if Sakura Emi says Ice Ribbon will continue, what if all the wrestlers get together and quit? I wonder how final this decision really is. Of course Emi will continue as an active wrestler. She just doesn't want to be a company owner anymore.
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