Yesterday Ayumi Kurihara held a press conference to announce that she plans to retire. Her retirement show will be Aug. 4 at Korakuen Hall. Pro Wrestling WAVE will promote the show and GAMI was at the press conference. Ayumi has been one of the most popular joshi wrestlers in recent days. Business is so bad that it's hard for anyone to make money. So I'm not very surprised she has decided to get out at age 28 while she can still walk. She doesn't need the joshi business as much as it needs her. The decision to retire came down to a lingering injury that is not going away unless she has more surgery. Fans may recall that Ayumi suffered a broken clavicle on a July 16, 2007 NEO show. She aggravated the injury when she foolishly returned for Michiko Ohmukai's retirement show and had reconstructive surgery in Dec. 2007. Ayumi says her shoulder has gotten worse and she can't lift her right arm anymore. She was told last August that is wasn't going to improve. So she started considering retirement. Then on a Feb. 10 WAVE show, Ayumi suffered a broken nose and a broken orbital bone. That was the last straw. She decided to retire. She doesn't feel she can wrestle the style fans have become accustomed to and remain healthy. And sometimes it's better to retire too soon than too late. Ayumi's parents own the Three Treasures restaurant so I expect her to eventually take it over. She grew up there. She also started her own company and provides noodle soup to the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team. I wrote about that in 2009 and you can read it at this link http://frankp316.blogspot.ca/2009/07/ayumi-kurihara-uses-her-noodle.htmlI don't think she will get into acting or anything like that. She has a successful business waiting for her and she knows that business. Ayumi will be on next week's SHIMMER show in New Jersey and I expect her to go to Mexico as she is a fan favourite there. She says her first choice as an opponent for her retirement match is Meiko Satomura. So it is very sad news for joshi fans.
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