“Japanese women workers can put a lot of men wrestlers to shame in the ring.”
— Dynamite Kid
Coming from the Dynamite Kid himself, you’d have to trust him if you were a wrestling fan.
With ARSION being announced as the special attraction match at Revolution Pro’s Revolution J: Destiny, some SoCal fans are beyond excited (excited would be an understatement). While some SoCal fans are not familiar with the product, but anticipate something exciting. Here is some background from the American ARSION web site:
ARSION is a Women’s Pro Wrestling organization in Japan. Its focus on the semi-shoot submission based style is mixed with “pro-style” spots, such as power bombs and high angle backdrops, as well as the acrobatic Lucha Libre style from Mexico.
Unfortunately, some wrestling fans in America have been reluctant to give any form of women’s wrestling a chance. Considering the quality of the so-called women’s wrestling that many are exposed to in the American organizations during recent years, it’s sometimes difficult to blame them. However, the Joshi Puroresu (women’s wrestling) organizations consistently deliver an extremely entertaining product with incredibly high work rate, and offer very talented workers who are on equal level with many of the greatest male workers in the world today. *(I must also add that they are really FUCKING HOT as well).
* OK, I threw that one in myself.
Japanese Women’s wrestling has definitely surpassed women’s wrestling in the States as far as the wrestling is concerned. When the two products are compared, both styles of wrestling are the two extremes of one another. One type of federation is solid (ARSION) and one type of federation is cheesy (WOW). Solid women’s wrestling feds can produce many 4 to 5 star classic bouts. While most cheesy women’s feds (mainly in the States) limit their rosters move sets to choking, gouging, hair mares and hair pulling. In other words, the wrestling fan is given the basic catfight. Sure, even I enjoy watching a great T&A catfight, but having all women do that in their matches sets the stereotype that that’s all women wrestlers can do, which is NOT the case. Which is why wrestling fans that want to see women in action turn to the land of the Rising Sun. Most of these Japanese women could put MANY of the American MALE wrestlers in the States to shame, outworking them in every aspect possible. It is a sight to see some of these women put on the classic bouts that you would normally see the male wrestler put on. Not only do you get to watch great wrestling, but also you get to watch great wrestling from beautiful women! You will be amazed to see what these ladies can do. These women prove that both men and women can provide great wrestling action and tell a great story in the ring as well.
The ladies involved on the Revolution J card may be strangers to most of you, if not, all of you. I will attempt to provide you with some info on Michiko Ohmukai and GAMI, the participants from ARSION.
Michiko Ohmukai
License #: 5 Nickname: Chama, Beauty Venus, Sexy Bunny
Date of Birth: 05/30/1975
Place of Birth: Kuji
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 145lbs
Measurements: 36-29-39″
Blood Type: B
Past Athletic Experience: Basketball, Karate
Pro Wrestling Debut: 01/11/1992 in Ibaragi vs. Shiho Nakamigawa
Signature Moves: B3 Bomb, Tiger Suplex Hold, Uranage, and some sick kicks
Ohmukai has become one of the best kickers in the business, and her height contributes to the range of her kicks. She is one of the most improved wrestlers since the birth of Arsion in 1998. Along with GAMI, she has been in ARSION since the beginning of the fed.
Sexy, yet deadly, Ohmukai likes to use the Uranage Suplex and the B3 Bomb (Splash Mountain) to finish off her opponents. She also has at her arsenal some of the most vicious, insane, and stiff kicks that one has ever seen.
Michiko Ohmukai is the leader of the face stable VIP (Vogue Impact Poison). She has won 3 ARSION tournaments, co-held the Twin Star of ARSION title (tag team title) with fellow VIP member, Mima Shimoda, and was named ARSION MVP in 1999. Ohmukai is known to tag with Tokyo Magnum on occasion as well.
GAMI (Mikiko Futagami)
License #: 3
Nickname: Lady of 1000 Holds
Also Wrestled As: Gami Metal (masked comedic gimmick)
Date of Birth: 01/04/1969
Place of Birth: Yao
Height: 5’5″
Weight: 145lbs
Measurements: 41-31-39″
Blood Type: B
Past Athletic Experience: Softball, Basketball
Pro Wrestling Debut: 11/01/1990 in Osaka vs. Ayumi Taki
Signature Moves: Kentucky Bomb (Pump Handle into a Power Bomb), Brainbuster, Rolling Kick, Shotay, ADIOS AMIGAH! (Hybrid of the Northern Lights Bomb and the Perfect Driver), and Fisherman’s Buster
Like Michiko Ohmukai, GAMI has been in ARSION from the beginning in 1998. As time went on, she has shortened her previous ring name of Mikiko Futagami to simply just GAMI. Along with her name change, her ring style changed a little bit as well. She went from being a serious wrestler that needed to be taken seriously to a comedy wrestler that STILL needed to be taken seriously. She put on some stellar wrestling bouts with some of ARSION’s top stars as Futagami, but as GAMI, she added a little comedic flare to her already impressive ring work. GAMI is one of co-leaders of heel stable ReDRAG, along with Rie Tamada. But as she favored more towards the comedic style rather than the serious style, there was conflict within ReDRAG. At times, ReDRAG would be split fighting amongst each other, all due to seriousness vs. comedy. But regardless what style she chose to wrestle, GAMI would always be amazing the masses with her such stellar matches in the ARSION rings.
GAMI loves to utilize the Kentucky Bomb on her opponents. She loves to strike fast and strong using her Shotay and her Rolling Kick. Lately, she has been finishing off her opponents with her Hybrid Northern Lights Bomb/Perfect Driver or the Fisherman’s Buster. When she hits that move, you can usually hear commentators yell from the top of their lungs, “ADIOS AMIGAAAAAAH!”
The ReDRAG stable was originally planned to be a heel stable. But as GAMI opted to use her comedic style and her double team tactics, the fans took more of a liking to them. GAMI’s ReDRAG can be used as a major example of “tweeners” in Japan. GAMI has held the Twin Star of ARSION (Tag Team Championship) titles with fellow ReDRAG member, Rie Tamada. She has also lead ReDRAG to winning the Trios Tag Tourney. She was also awarded the Good Fight Prize for the year 2000.
I hope this information helps you become a little bit more familiar with our lovely guests from Japan. I assure you, you can look forward to an awesome match between the two. This is huge news considering that ARSION has never worked in the United States. The SoCal scene (mainly Revolution Pro) should be very privileged to be the first to host these femme fatales. Hopefully, this won’t be the ARSION girls’ last trip to SoCal.
I haven’t been this excited for outsiders coming to SoCal since LowKi’.
Credit: Frank James Chan (Arsion World) for the stats and intro.