Chikako Shiratori

NEO JAPAN LADIES- SEVEN CHOCOLATES GRAND OPENING:
(Feb. 15th 1998)
* Yes we’re already into February for Neo’s second show, as I have nothing for AJW or any other company for January. And we’re already doing interpromotional shit, as Neo’s tiny-ass roster can’t really maintain entire shows by itself without Kyoko working three matches in one hour like LAST month! So we have mixed matches involving Jd’s Chikako Shiratori & Jaguar Yokota and a trio of Neo vs. JWP matches, then ending with ANOTHER one, as it’s two major stars- Kyoko Inoue vs. Hikari Fukuoka- the Ace of JWP! That one actually comes off as quite special and with some real mystique to it, as they haven’t locked up since Hikari was a try-hard up & comer, and never in singles!

The crowd seems decently full for the lower bowl, though you can see some empty seats around. And hey! This is that arena the one AJW/LLPW show happened in! I recognize the whole “the hard camera is a shot of a giant metal sliding door with lil’ staircases to the sides” thing.

Neo Ladies Roster: Kyoko Inoue, Las Cachorras Orientales, Chaparrita ASARI, Yoshiko Tamura, Tanny Mouse, Yuka Shiina, Misae Genki, Saya Endo

SAYA ENDO (Neo) vs. CHIKAKO SHIRATORI (Jd’):
* Chikako quit AJW for greener pastures as one of the big stars of Jd’, but despite her best efforts didn’t turn into much of a worker. But here she’s against the low-end Endo, minion of Las Cachorras Orientales, probably being fed to Chikako. Chikako’s in white frilly idol gear and Endo’s in black & gold, a bit like Kaoru Ito’s look.

… hey it was otherwise gonna be just a three-match review for the Joshi Spotlight this week, okay?

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- YUKI LEE:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’3″ 150 lbs.
Career Length: 1992, 1994-1999

-Yes, YUKI LEE. What? I wanna cover everybody and I’ve gotten through most of the people who were big from 1992-95 that I was most familiar with, and now it’s just either the dregs or the people whose careers peaked after the era I’ve seen. I can’t do a Meiko Satomura bio if I’ve only seen her as a rookie spitfire and not Joshi Mom! So now it’s just losers who retired young!

So Yuki Lee was a big centerpiece of the JD’ promotion, which got started in late 1995- she was an AJW wash-out who got re-trained and for some reason was made a star of focus on JD’s shows, which started with a big dramatic opening with the faces and names of Bison Kimura, Jaguar Yokota, AJW “Pretty Girl” loser Chikako Shiratori… and rookie Yuki Lee. I guess a lot was expected of her, but god knows WHAT.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- CHIKAKO SHIRATORI:
Real Name: Chikako Hasegawa
Billed Height & Weight: 5’5″ 136 lbs.
Career Length: 1991-2001

-Chikako Shiratori has one of the funniest little careers in all of joshi, and is fascinating to me- she’s seen repeatedly in 1993-ish shows for All-Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (AJW) in the worst match on each card, with a look on her face like she doesn’t know where she is or what she’s supposed to be doing. Lame performances left and right, and right when she’s supposed to be at the level of “improving rookie”, she’s just… not on the shows at all. And then randomly the company JD’ Beauty Athlete starts up and Chikako becomes one of the only AJW wrestlers to jump ship, suddenly becoming one of four “name athletes” on their programs. At this point Chikako is now an official “Pushed Star” and is rapidly shoved into a higher station beneath top stars like Bison Kimura and Jaguar Yokota, with a lot more emphasis on improvement and training and… she still sucks. But she’s trying! Like she sucks, but she sucks honestly! Not bad for someone who peaked as “Dollar Store Mima Shimoda”.

I mean, I appreciate the effort is what I’m saying. Chikako was never any good- just didn’t have any athleticism that’s required at higher levels, nor the charisma or character to make up for deficiencies in that area. Even at her best, she seems to be acting in a way she’s been TAUGHT to act, but not in a way that comes off as natural to her- the real performers do instinctively what she’s trying really hard to do, but sometimes forgets about. And as matches go on, you see what little move application she had go to hell, and she flubs things left and right. And she never develops beyond the “Communal Joshi Offense”, with her big deal being a Dragon Suplex that a lot of people can do. Later matches include an “Uraken” that just looks like a wimpy little backhand with no real force behind it, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcON99jWM30&t=2s

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE (August 6th, 1996):
* It’s the fourth of the JD’ Beauty Athlete shows I can find in YouTube! This one features AJW’s Chaparrita ASARI & Yumi Fukawa in a rookies match against Chikako Shiratori & Aya Koyama, then a Veteran/Rookie match between Jaguar & Yuki Lee and Cooga & The Bloody! Finally, our main event is the big star showdown of Bison Kimura (JD’s top star) vs. Lioness Asuka!

This is all shot from a single-camera point of view, similar to the wrestling of the 1950s. It’s odd how static it is, but gives the show a unique look and feel, and probably changes how the matches are wrestled, as people can’t run all over the place this way.

CHAPARRITA ASARI & YUMI FUKAWA (AJW) vs. CHIKAKO SHIRATORI & AYA KOYAMA (JD’):
* An interpromotional tag bout with two of AJW’s hottest rookie stars- the high-flying stunt worker ASARI and the more glamorous Fukawa, who keeps getting focused on around this time as an up & comer. Naturally, Chikako is a good opponent, being her JD’ counterpart. Koyama’s green as grass, though. ASARI’s in good red & white gear, Fukawa’s in a ridiculous black leotard with a pink frill going all around it, Chikako’s in black & blue, and Aya’s in a black jobber swimsuit with red & yellow stripes.

BUDOKAN MIDSUMMER NIGHT- DISCOVER NEW HEROINE (Day One):
(Aug. 12th 1996):
* Welcome back to AJW, as they release this MONSTER interpromotional show in mid-1996, at the Budokan Hall! It’s just like the old days- AJW! FMW! JWP! JD’! GAEA Japan! Holy crap! It sounds like the biggest show in Joshi history… except it’s this weirdo “Veteran + Rookie” Tag Team Tournament so every match has amateurs in it, AND there’s also the U*Top Shoot Fight tournament on the same show, lol. MoskowDiskow, who regularly posts here, says this is one of those “the Matsunagas were losing their shirts so they let Rossy Ogawa book a show, and he did some weird Gimmick Show” situations.

Cagematch says this drew 4,500 to the Budokan, which is pretty crazy, but might be a lie… and also 4,500 is like 1/3 full, so if that’s papered/lying then HOLY CRAP. So this show is largely seen as a disaster. This show is also apparently quite infamous for injuries, but only on Day Two. So come see future stars and washouts give some decidedly iffy performances and take easy falls to veterans! And the “Joshi Style” wrestled in 5-8 minute matches instead of 16-minute wars!

DISCOVER NEW HEROINE TAG TOURNAMENT ROUND ONE:

AJA KONG & YOSHIKO TAMURA (AJW) vs. CHIGUSA NAGAYO & SAKURA HIROTA (GAEA Japan):
* Okay, so Aja/Chigusa is a huge “get” for a match, as their eras only barely overlap, and Aja was very young when Chigusa retired. I’m like “who the frig is Sakura Hirota?” but it turns out she’s making her DEBUT here, and is a new GAEA trainee to join the other recent ones this year. She’s actually still wrestling, making this a NON-washout GAEA hire! She’s a long-haired rookie in a pink Arena swimsuit (which was worn by Mariko Narita before her, but Narita vanished from the biz). Aja’s still a big, pushed star, and Yoshiko is a rookie getting a very sudden lot of emphasis. Aja is giving Chigusa the death glare to end all death glares, here- like I’m watching this on YouTube and even I’m kinda scared.

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE:
(July 1996)
* Hooray! More JD’ stuff! This one features AJW’s Mima Shimoda popping in to make a team with Chikako Shiratori (her partner in the upcoming Discover New Heroine veteran/rookie tournament), some focus on “the rookie we want to push” Yuki Lee, and a bunch of JD’s rookies making their debuts. And finally a “REAL DOG FIGHT” between Bison Kimura and Jaguar Yokota (under a mask).

MIMA SHIMODA (AJW) & CHIKAKO SHIRATORI (JD’) vs. JAGUAR YOKOTA & YUKO KOSUGI (JD’):
* An interpromotional match of sorts, as AJW’s Shimoda arrives to team with Chikako in a prelude to their team in the tournament coming up in a month at the Budokan show. Their opponents are JD’s most credible star (Jaguar) and brand-new rookie Yuko Kosugi. Shimoda’s in black & yellow, Chikako’s in pink & white, Jaguar’s in purple & Kosugi’s in a white jobber two-piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE1A6f2lU_8

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE:
(May 5th 1996)
* May 5th sees another JD’ show, this one only an hour long. This was apparently taped MUCH earlier, in Dec. 1995, as Bull Nakano is wrestling, teaming with Lola Gonzalez against Jaguar Yokota & Flor Metallica! The show looks to be taking place in a REALLY smoky hall- the kind of place Vince McMahon thought wrestling existed in before 1985. There’s some oddly-tight camera angles as a result throughout the show, and the whole thing comes off like a house show they just happened to film.

JAGUAR YOKOTA vs. LOLA GONZALEZ:
* JD’s founder takes on Lola, the first champion. This looks like it takes place in a smoky bingo hall, with Jaguar in silver & Lola in a hideous floral-print singlet. Christ, are those legwarmers?

Jaguar hits her Straightjacket German IMMEDIATELY, Lola getting the ropes. Jaguar commands “shi ne!” (“DIE!”), but is whipped to the ropes, but slingshots off with a great headscissors, putting Lola on the floor. Some half-hearted brawling on the floor leads to Lola taking over with brawling (the huge close-ups are, um, NOT advantageous), and tosses Jaguar off the top, but she bridges out and hits a rana for two. Another try sees her powerbombed, Lola hauling her up for a spinning/giant swing variation of it for two. Senton off the 2nd rope misses and Jaguar hits an enzuigiri & the Vertical Drop Pedigree for two, but misses a flying thing and Lola ties her up in the “Rock the Cradle” submission & surfboard into a powerbomb & senton for two. She hits another powerbomb, but goes up and takes a butterfly superplex for two. She tries her “lockup to Straightjacket”, but Lola takes a swing at her, ending up in a Leg-Trap Backdrop Hold for the three (5:32 of 19:19) shown.

Remember: JD’ is pronounced “jay-DEE-star”!

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE- COMING TO TOKYO:
(April 14th 1996)
* Oh hey, look! The OTHER joshi splinter promotion of 1996 shows up in my Spotlights! Mostly because MoskowDiskow was like “Hey if you’re in 1996 you should have JD! There’s 4-5 videos on YouTube!” and I was like “huh? There is?” and he linked me one person’s poorly-labeled channel. I mean, typing in “JD” into a search engine ain’t gonna net you a lot, right? But here’s an April ’96 show!

So the deal with JD’ is that some company had a TV contract and were able to lure away Jaguar Yokota, wonder-trainer of AJW’s ’80s wrestlers and a big star in her own right, along with two forcibly-retired buddies in Bison Kimura (billed as a top star) and Lioness Asuka (a huge ’80s star). Like some Ted Turner dude was like “I wanna get into the wrasslin’ business! I remember Jaguar & Lioness- get ’em for my company!” because he was old and those were the stars he remembered. And they threw together a weirdo promotion of bizarre gimmicks, terrible rookies (Chikako Shiratori) and freelancers. And now I got all these damn people to look up because I have no idea who most of these people are, lol.

We start off with a highlight reel, mostly made up of big flying moves, plus a Bison Kimura/Manami Toyota match that headlines this show. Then the CGI opening, looking like a first generation PlayStation game to a hilariously nostalgic degree, leads to mini-bios of the wrestlers. For some reason there’s super-quiet commentary AND a voiceover, like they recorded both channels and played them over each other.

… What? Sometimes, you just want to write the bio for a completely mediocre star! They can be just as informative as those for the GOOD wrestlers!

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- MIORI “COOGA” KAMIYA:
Real Name: Miori Kamiya (aka Lady Cooga, Cooga, “Cougar”- see below)
Billed Height & Weight: 5’5″ 143 lbs.
Career: 1986-1992, 1996-2000

-It’s a testament to the training skill of Jaguar Yokota, and the preposterous level of talent All Japan Women’s Puroresu had in the Class of 1986, when the WORST person in their class of six was Miori Kamiya. I mean, the next shittiest worker in that group is either Combat Toyoda or Kaoru Maeda!

How many cards have had back-to-back ***** matches on them, anyhow?

AJW Tag League- THE BEST 1993 (Part 2):
(10.12.1993)
* And so we come to the last big tape release of 1993, and the capper on Akira Hokuto’s remarkable year, as Flying Dangerous (her team with Manami Toyota) have neared the finals, facing off against two of the other top workers in AJW- Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada. Looks like much of the card wasn’t uploaded to YouTube, but the two big ones are. The original tape is apparently only 2 hours 30 minutes, making me suspect there was a lot of clipping.

This show is suuuuuuuuuuuuper famous (among puro nerds) because of the two matches at the end, which are the only time any wrestlers have ever wrestled back-to-back matches that got ***** ratings from Dave Meltzer. And of course, ALL FOUR people earned that honor.