[media-credit name=”Photo: Sonny Gutierrez” align=”aligncenter” width=”620″]
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This past Sunday, Japanese women’s wrestling promotion Stardom held an event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. In the night’s main event, World of Stardom Champion Yoshiko defended her title against Act Yasukawa. What followed has sparked outrage in joshi circles.
According to eyewitness Sonny Gutierrez of Pro Wrestling is Art, the match was barely underway when Yoshiko began beating Act bloody, punching her in the face repeatedly. Stardom President Rossy Ogawa was at ringside, but failed to act.
The brutality finally came to a halt when Kyoko Kimura threw in the towel for Act. Yasukawa, who up until then was still trying to compete, was dragged to the back, crying and yelling, “I want to do pro wrestling!”
The incident was captured in the video below, which some viewers may find disturbing:
Last April, Yasukawa was hospitalized for Graves’ disease, needing corrective surgery to regain sight in her right eye. Sunday’s match was her first shot at returning to the top of Stardom. There’s no word yet on her condition post-attack.
Stardom has scheduled a press conference to address the incident.
