Yuzuki Aikawa announces retirement

Yuzuki Aikawa, Rossy Ogawa

STARDOM held a press conference today to make an announcement that I am sure STARDOM owner Rossy Ogawa has been dreading for a while. Look at his expression in the picture. Yuzuki Aikawa announced that she will retire from joshi puroresu on the big STARDOM show on Apr. 29. There go Rossy's plans to make her STARDOM's ace. The main reason she is retiring is she simply can't take the physical pounding that comes with pro wrestling. Apparently her modelling agency Platinum Productions has wanted her to quit wrestling for the last year and they finally convinced Rossy to let her go. I think a major factor was the hip injury that kept her out of a couple of shows earlier this year. That had to scare Platinum. Remember she just won the Grand Prix Women's Pro Wrestling Wrestler of the Year for the second year straight. And she's quitting anyway. It's just like Fuuka. Aikawa liked the attention but didn't really like pro wrestling very much. You have to love the business to take the pain that comes with it. Remember this was not a deal with a bikini model who really really wanted to be a pro wrestler. This was a business deal with a modelling agency. Platinum didn't like what they saw and they wanted her to quit and end the relationship. Was Aikawa a good wrestler? I thought her development had stalled over the last year. It's hard to take a non-athlete and turn her into an athlete. Even after two years, high kicks was all she could do. She was slow and had trouble keeping any kind of pace in a match. Her opponents would have to make major adjustments to make her look decent. And a lot of the STARDOM girls are also very green and don't have the ability to make anyone look good. Aikawa was also good at posing with title belts. Aikawa said Miho Wakizawa tried to convince her to stay. And I have to wonder how many of the STARDOM greenhorns will quit after this. It's not encouraging when your "ace" retires. What now for STARDOM? I dunno. It has been proven time and again that hiring models and actresses to be pro wrestlers doesn't work. But Rossy is awfully stubborn.