Joshi Wrestling Weekly (March 15th, 2016): Kaho Kobayashi Spotlight

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Welcome back to a new edition of the Joshi Wrestling Weekly! I know it has been awhile, but we are now looking to bring back this column as a regular feature on Diva Dirt again. Lots of results and news from Japan to discuss, as well as a closer look at young wrestler Kaho Kobayashi!

Joshi Wrestling News

Photo: yahoo.co.jp

Pro Wrestling WAVE has announced the participants for their upcoming Joshi Wrestling CATCH THE WAVE tournament, and it is one of the largest wrestling tournaments in recent memory. The field has been expanded to 32 wrestlers, with participants from 11 different promotions! The 32 wrestlers will be split into eight blocks, with the top two wrestlers from each block moving on to the single elimination Knockout Round (similar setup as the World Cup). Some of the wrestlers in the tournament include Hikaru Shida, ASUKA, Tsukushi, Aoi Kizuki, DASH Chisako, Sareee, and Yoshiko. The tournament starts on April 10th and continues until June 5th.  (Source)

In some exciting cross-promotional news, it was announced that Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani from Stardom will be invading Ice Ribbon to battle Tsukasa Fujimoto and Arisa Nakajima! While Shirai and Iwatani are beloved in Stardom, they are not in Ice Ribbon and were greeted accordingly. This will be Shirai’s first match in Ice Ribbon since early 2015, and Mayu Iwatani’s first match in the promotion since back in 2012. (Source)

In more Stardom news, American wrestler Santana Garrett set the record for most successful defenses of the World of Stardom Championship! Garrett won the title from Io Shirai on November 23rd, 2015 and has been actively defending the title since. Only one title defense took place in Stardom, while the other defenses took place in Florida.  There is no set date for her next defense, but she should be returning to Stardom soon.  (Source)

Event Results

We have a lot of catching up to do so let’s get right into it. Stardom’s last event took place on March 12th in Tokyo, Japan. Here are the main results:

• Azumi & Haruka Kato def. Maki Natsumi & Starlight Kid
• Kaitlin Diemond & Viper def. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyouna
• Hiromi Mimura & Kairi Hojo def. Alex Lee & Kaori Yoneyama
• Io Shirai def. Saori Anou
• High Speed Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) def. Momo Watanabe

The biggest event of the last week was held by Joshi Wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon. Ice Ribbon ran an event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan in front of 927 fans. The results from the show are:

• Mika Iida & Mochi Miyagi def. Akane Fujita & Rina Yamashita
• Saya def. Maruko Nagasaki
• Manami Toyota def. Maya Yukihi
• Cherry def. Kyuri and Makoto
• Ryota Hama def. Miyako Matsumoto
• Misaki Ohata vs. Yuuka – Time Limit Draw
• Ice Ribbon International Ribbon Tag Championship: Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto (c) def. Maki Narumiya & Risa Sera
• ICExInfinity Championship: Hamuko Hoshi (c) def. Tsukushi

Finally in WAVE, the finals of the CATCH THE WAVE Young OH! OH! Tournament took place! As the name implies, it is a tournament for younger wrestlers, with participation from multiple promotions. Here are the results from the show:

• Hiroe Nagahama & Natsu Sumire def. Akane Fujita & Mari Anne
• Catch The Wave Young Oh! Oh! Block B: Yuuka def. Konami
• Catch The Wave Young Oh! Oh! Block B: Maruko Nagasaki vs. Yako Fujigasaki  – Time Limit Draw
• ASUKA, Hikaru Shida, Mika Iida, & Yuki Miyazaki def. Fairy Nihonbashi, Hibiscus Mii, Yumi Ohka, & Yuu Yamagata
• Aoi Kizuki & Moeka Haruhi def. Kaho Kobayashi & Rina Yamashita and Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami
• Catch The Wave Young Oh! Oh! Final: Yuuka def. Hiroe Nagahama

Upcoming Shows

Stardom continues to march on as their next show is on March 21st. Here is the card:

• Hiromi Mimura, Maki Natsumi & Starlight Kid vs. Azumi, Eimi Nishina & Kaori Yoneyama
• Alex Lee vs. Kaitlin Diamond
• Jungle Kyouna & Momo Watanabe vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kagetsu
• Alpha Female vs. Viper
• Kairi Hojo & Meiko Satomura vs. Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani

Kaho Kobayashi – Wrestler Spotlight:

Kaho Kobayashi is not well known to American wrestling fans, but she is one of the most exciting and fun Joshi wrestlers currently on the scene. She stands only 4’11” and weighs only 117 pounds but is constant energy and wrestles with more heart than wrestlers twice her size.

Kobayashi is 23 years old and debuted for WNC (TAJIRI’s old promotion) in 2013.  Kobayashi is affiliated with Pro Wrestling WAVE but is also a regular wrestler in many other promotions, including Asuka Project, Osaka Joshi-Pro, Diana, and Oz Academy.  She is also very active, wrestling in approximately 125 matches in 2015 alone. During that stretch she won four different championships. One of her signature moves is the Fisherman Suplex Hold, which she easily preforms regardless of her opponent’s size:

Kobayashi’s best attribute is she is relentless, never taking a break or taking it easy in matches. She has taken a lot of big hits but doesn’t stay down, even giving the legend Aja Kong a hard time in a singles match early last year.  Less than three years into her career, Kaho Kobayashi is one to keep an eye on in the future.

Next Week

Next week I will be back with more Joshi Wrestling news and results. If you have any suggestions for the column, let us know! Also if you have any Joshi questions feel free to hit me up on Twitter, I can be found at @purocentral. And finally, I have opened a new store where I sell Joshi-related items that I purchase directly from Japan. So if you are looking for some Joshi memorabilia, check out purocentralshop.com!