This is the ONLY PICTURE on Google Image Search, and I’m only kinda sure it’s her. Yup- it’s one of THOSE bios.
JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- BOMBER HIKARI:
Real Name: Mitsuyo Mura
Billed Height & Weight: N/A (looks 5’4″-ish and probably 170 lbs.?)
Career Length: 1987-89 (JWP run), 1994-1997 (GAEA run)
-That’s right! It’s time for another “LOL, Jab is doing an bio of THIS idiot?” column!
Among the weirder “wait, who’s that?” people I’ve seen in my joshi reviews, Bomber Hikari has a weird origin story: she was trained in the late ’80s, but retired after only a year or two in the business. The story goes that Chigusa Nagayo, during the formation of GAEA Japan, met Bomber while she was driving a cab and then recruited her for GAEA, which was in need of someone approximating an “already-trained veteran”. And so we had this painfully mediocre wrestler using the “Communal Joshi Offense” on GAEA cards, usually trouncing the rookies in the early shows as a “Gatekeeper” of sorts to the next level. And then she jobs to a few of the rookies in 1996 and then she’s gone. It’s very strange.
Bomber at least looked the part- a squat, powerful physique with the sporty Yumiko Hotta/Toshiyo Yamada hair cut really short, and a truly bizarre ring costume with this technicolor circuit-board look to it. Her offense was all “pick up and slam them” moves and just overpowering the tiny GAEA rookies. This made her a poor fit for anyone who was actually a veteran, as the taller, stronger wrestlers didn’t mesh right with Bomber, who wasn’t that great at selling nor timing, and didn’t have the moves to keep up with them. That she lacked a lot of charisma (just kind of a “Generic friendly babyface” sort, cheering to the fans as if she hit her “Taunt” button at random) didn’t help, as did her attempts at high-flying, which always looked rather clunky (Evito suggests either she wanted to wrestle this way or Chigusa told her to, but it did her no favors).
But yeah, Bomber was not very good- there are matches that are decent, but largely when they play into the story that she’s bigger and more experienced than the first generation of GAEA rookies- Japan has an interesting psychology to matches like this, where they try to trick the fans into thinking the rookies might eke out a win with a flash-pin or something, but mostly the veteran just slams them down or otherwise kicks their asses. It can provide a lot of drama, and is arguably the only way to hit good match ratings when neither person is any good at that many moves- the “Rookie vs. Bullying Veteran” formula is just so perfect and easy to read, psychology-wise.
Bomber’s only match that hit *** in my eyes was right near the end, with Toshie Uematsu proving herself with a ton of false finishes seeming to convince the fans they’re NOT gonna see a miracle… and then she pulls one out!
Overall though, while the “Gatekeeper” role can be a useful one, Bomber was actually a hindrance to GAEA after a point. By 1996, she’d already been eclipsed as a worker by several GAEA rookies (at least Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, and Chikayo Nagashima – Bomber was a bit too slow, plodding and clumsy to keep up, and didn’t have a good moveset. And she was too credible to be losing to all the kids at this stage (most rookies in Japan were jobbing for 2-3 years minimum, and these girls had only debuted in ’94), and so stood there actively hurting their pushes because of it.
CAREER TRAJECTORY:
-Mitsuyo Mura (not Mita, as Cagematch says) began training under Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (the original JWP) in 1987, fighting as a rookie for two years using a powerhouse style, as she was decently-sized (if not huge). She retired for unknown reasons in 1989- little online information exists about this period. She makes a living as a taxi driver, until…
In 1994-95 or so, she meets Chigusa Nagayo personally and wants to make a comeback- she is thus recruited for the new joshi company GAEA Japan, seemingly to shore up the tiny company’s midcard and give it a third “veteran” (only Chigusa & KAORU were pre-existing wrestlers otherwise). Calling herself “Bomber Hikari” now, she wrestles for a few JWP & AJW shows to introduce her to audiences before appearing on the early GAEA shows, usually as a “Rookieslayer” defeating the spunky rookies, who show fighting spirit but not the durability or muscle to win. She never showed much during matches, but could at least go from A-to-B diligently and hit all her moves right.
In Dec. 1996, Bomber does a prominent job to Toshie Uematsu, who wins a “Winner to WCW” Tournament to test herself in America- Bomber actually does a good job of being an angry veteran, punishing the kid and getting frustrated by her endless kickouts. Ultimately, Bomber tries one Blue Thunder Bomb too many and is rolled up for the finish. She’s still usually crushing the new babies like Rina Ishii or Maiko Matsumoto in other shows, but doesn’t start doing the job to the other rookies yet as back problems start to affect her.
Bomber retires permanently in Jan. 1997- her final match is a Jan. 19th bout against brand-new rookie Hiromi Kato, squashing her in less than four minutes. She ultimately leaves very little legacy, as she was only active for about a couple years and then we never see her again- her company grows without her.
MOVESET:
German Suplex, Tiger Suplex, Blue Thunder Bomb (backdrop suplex to sit-out powerbomb), Turning Splash, Flying Headbutt (Finisher)
WINNER TO WCW TOURNAMENT:
(GAEA Japan, Dec. 13th 1996)
* This GAEA show features a very interesting “Winner to WCW” Tournament. Now y’all might remember the WCW women’s matches I shared earlier, which had Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano beat Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki. Well now we’re hitting the point where WCW actually gets a women’s division (sorta), centered around Akira Hokuto & Madusa! So it’s a one-night tournament to see which of the lower-ranked gets to go over there, joining Chigusa, Akira, KAORU and others. The video here is obviously clipped down to just the finishes.
Toshie Uematsu d. Sakura Hirota (5:11): The first-year obviously wipes out the newbie with a flying splash.
Chihiro Nakano d. Maiko Matsumoto (6:08): Newbie fight! Nakano wins with a flying knee to the head over the brown-clad rookie (that is seriously the worst set of tights ever, lol).
Makie Numao d. Rina Ishii (6:02): Another one! Ishii scores a missile dropkick, but quickly gets wrapped in a double-arm Muta Lock and gives up.
Bomber Hikari d. Chihiro Nakano (5:19): I guess Bomber got to skip a round being not quite a rookie? Nakano surprises her by kicking out of a flying headbutt, but a Blue Thunder Bomb finishes her.
Toshie Uematsu d. Makie Numao (8:33): Again Toshie wins, but in a longer match. Numao works her leg and beats on her when she tries comebacks, but Toshie boots her in the gut and hits a Northern Lights suplex to win.
WINNER TO WCW TOURNAMENT FINAL:
TOSHIE UEMATSU d. BOMBER HIKARI:
* Bomber, who’s only fought once (and against a baby first-year) is set to beat up Toshie, who fought twice and has now had her leg worked. Toshie’s in the plain green, while Bomber’s in a very complex blue/green/black/white get-up.
Toshie wisely attacks before the bell, flying out to the floor and trying to beat her up, but Bomber soon starts no-selling her defiantly and beats her ass. A press slam and other ’80s moves hit and Bomber starts to work the knee and hitting avalanches. Toshie uses speed and the ropes to come back, but Bomber keeps overpowering her. Both are pretty clearly bagged, taking breathers, and poor Toshie flies onto Bomber’s knees and gets killed again- an overthrow powerbomb smashes her knee and this is looking inevitable. Toshie keeps reversing to flash-pins but can’t hold her down, and then does a great job with missile dropkick spam, limping badly to each corner, but tries a cross-body and is powerslammed! For two! Flying splash also gets two! A confident, assured Bomber is starting to get frustrated and “wait, WHAT?” about this, but some teases still go nowhere as she flattens the kid with a lariat & release German, gearing herself up (and saving her breath) between each move… but tries another Blue Thunder Bomb, and THAT’s the winning flash-pin, as Toshie reverses on her to a rollup at (7:48)! Toshie gets to go to the WCW Women’s Title Tournament!
A very good match by Bomber’s standards- she usually stinks and both were already tired going into this, but there’s nothing like “the tiny girl 50-lb. lighter than her opponent is pre-injured and has wrestled more, and the big girl keeps halting her with power stuff”- things like catching Toshie flying around and Samoan dropping her or just throwing her around and smashing the injured knee is basic stuff but ALWAYS WORKS. And the story was great, because Toshie’s repeated teases make you think “aw, never mind- she’s not gonna win”. And this kinda cements Bomber’s run in GAEA, as she’s now officially losing to the Meikos & Toshies of the world.
Rating: *** (built off of past matches and an exhausted rookie and gave us a good underdog story)