Minus-Star Match Reviews: Yoshiko vs. ACT Yasukawa – STARDOM Queen’s Shout 2015

Behold what might be the single worst match of the 21^st century.

When this match took place it received a torrent of bad press. It was so bad that it was given the dubious nickname of Seisan Matchi (凄惨マッチ; “Ghastly Match”) after it ended. Sometimes I browse Cagematch.net to check out different matches and this one sits comfortably at the bottom: as of April 12, 2026, this one has a rating of 0.05 based on 261 ratings. In other words, a handful of people were generous enough to give it a score of 1 out of 10 or maybe slightly higher. So I figured I’d check it out to see what the big deal is since modern joshi isn’t usually my specialty.

The Story

Yuka “Act” Yasukawa grew up in the sparsely populated Aomori Prefecture of Japan and dreamed of becoming a samurai after spending much of her childhood watching old samurai movies. That dream was shattered when she learned that samurai haven’t existed for about 150 years. She also came from a troubled home, having a poor relationship with her parents and was said to suffer from an unspecified mental illness which, coupled with her troubled life at home and at school, led to at least one suicide attempt. She found solace in drama and theatre which helped her overcome her personal demons. One of her stage performances saw her take on the role of a wrestler, which in turn led her down the path of becoming a fulltime one. However, an illness initially prevented her from pursuing that path fully. In response, Yasukawa took medications that would help her body recover, at the cost of her fertility. Anyways, Yasukawa debuted in with STARDOM in 2012 and by this point in her career was a three-year veteran. Another important note is that Yasukawa had physical ailments as well: a bout with Graves’ Disease, likely stemming from an overactive thyroid left one of her either partially or completely blind in one eye and relatively skinny, even by joshi standards.

Meanwhile, Yoshiko was one of the first signees for STARDOM, present during the company’s initial press conference in 2010. She was of similar height as Yasukawa but bulkier and more aggressive. She stylized herself as a yanki, a sort of delinquent with blonde hair.

From what I’ve gathered from various online sources, the tension between these two women stems from Yasukawa’s relatively quick push. She debuted in 2012 and was getting a solid push within only a few months. People gravitated towards her inspired by her overcoming several concurrent layers of adversity in a culture that really doesn’t place much concern on individual struggles. It was also said that she was even offered modeling contracts but chose wrestling instead. Needless to say this attention allegedly rubbed Yoshiko the wrong way.

Before the match officially begins there was an angle taped which focused on a contract singing to make the match official. Both sides’ camps argued from opposite sides of the ring and the table on which the contract was placed. Yasukawa’s side includes Kyoko Kimura, mother of deceased joshi wrestler Hana Kimura. Kimura whispers something into Yasukawa’s ear and then she and other seconds attack Yoshiko as the crowd boos. Yoshiko is sent into a table in a corner and Yasukawa almost dives onto her for a table break spot but the referee stops it from proceeding. Frustrated, Yoshiko walks over to Rossy Ogawa sitting at ringside and signs the title defense contract to make the match official. All of this is really bizarre.

The Match

This took place on February 22, 2015.

Kyohei Wada, veteran referee from peak 1990s All Japan, is stuck officiating this shit for some reason. I guess if you’re going to have a boundary-crossing violent encounter it’s best to have the most experienced ref in the entire country ensure no one dies. Neither woman so much as budges during introductions for this title match. The crowd sounds like they’re mostly behind Yoshiko at the moment. Nothing happens for the first thirty seconds and then the women start trading forearms. However, Wada, who is VERY familiar with closed-fisted punches, sees Yoshiko throwing live rounds and gets physically involved almost immediately. Yoshiko lands a few punches to the side of Yasukawa’s head. Yoshiko mounts Yasukawa again and Wada is making it crystal clear she’s entering dangerous waters with her choices. The camera zooms in on Yasukawa who now has a bloody nose. Wada admonishes her but the match still continues. The women lock-up again and Yasukawa lands more strikes of her own. However, Yoshiko overpowers her and you can hear her punches landing over all of the fan chatter. Yasukawa fires up which leads to a shoot takedown of sorts. Yoshiko lands some standing shoulderblocks and a stiff kick to Yasukawa’s head. More stiff shots from Yoshiko in a corner. Yoshiko lands another takedown and lands mounted punches to the head. I’ve seen less violent exchanges on WorldStarHipHop. Yasukawa bails to ringside where she’s swarmed by seconds. One of these has a quick exchange with Wada and he’s clearly concerned. Despite Yasukawa’s persistence on continuing, one of her seconds throws in the towel, ending the match right then and there.

Match result: no contest after 7:45

You can watch the match here, though I’m not sure you really want to.

Post-match, one of Yasukawa’s seconds rushes past Wada and gets in a tussle with Yoshiko. We get some loud screeching and pull-aparts as Yasukawa screams like a Banshee as she’s dragged backstage. It is later revealed that Yasukawa suffers fractured cheek, nasal, and orbital bones, all of which will require surgery. The orbital one is especially concerning given Yasukawa having already undergone cataract surgery. Three days later STARDOM holds a press conference during which Yoshiko surrenders her title. Three months after this show they announce that Yoshiko would retire from wrestling, likely stemming from the torrent of bad publicity that followed this incident. However, that retirement would prove hollow since Yoshiko would go on to wrestle for another promotion called SEAdLINNNG where she would continue to wrestle until at least 2022. As for Yasukawa, she had to retire temporarily but returned to wrestling and was still actively performing as of mid-to-late 2025 for a much smaller promotion called Actwres Girl’Z.

Review

This is an unfortunate example of the sort of bullshit that exists beneath the surface in most if not all wrestling companies. Pride, ego, pushes, traditions, difference of opinion, and all the other nonsense that comes with dealing with multiple competing interests and perspectives. Some say that the pre-match attack from Yasukawa’s camp led to Yoshiko acting in self-defence. Others noted that Yazukawa’s right-eye blindness left her with poor depth perception, a dangerous trait for professional wrestling. Others still interpret it to a break in the DEEPLY-entrenched seniority system in Japan which many people, accustomed to seeing in every aspect of life, find hard to accept when shattered. We don’t know the full picture and likely never will. Regardless, this is an ugly situation that goes beyond the two people in competing between the bells. Everything felt off from the moment the pre-match angle began. The hostilities weren’t clearly explained. If you really want to you can make the argument that Yoshiko disapproved of STARDOM hotshotting a young kid just because her circumstances made for a heartwarming story and wanted to remind people that those kinds of sudden pushes don’t translate into long-term success. But if that’s the case, beating the piss out of your opponent to the point that she needs surgery isn’t the solution. Locking in a painful but ultimately harmless submission hold to make her scream? Maybe. But shooting like this is unacceptable. It was a black mark of extreme proportions, and for the paying viewing audience led to the ultimate uncomfortable experience, one with zero redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Final Rating: -*****

I have nothing positive to say about this. It was a stain on wrestling history brought about by series of bad decisions from several people. You can watch it if you’d like but I don’t see why you would; even for the perverse fan who just gets a kick out of wanton violence for its own sake, this match doesn’t even have anything worthwhile to satiate that bizarre thirst. This is better served relegated to the garbage bin of wrestling history, only to be brought up when discussing worst-case scenarios of how bad things could get when disagreements or disputes are given too much room to grow and fester.

Thanks for reading.