Ayako, Ayumi, and Hiroyo @ SHIMMER
(Photo: David Falcon)
THIS WILL BE MY LAST BLOG ENTRY >.<
I am going off-line for the foreseeable future beginning at midnight tonight. But before I do, let me thank you for sharing my enthusiasm for women's wrestling and Joshi Puroresu in particular. Well over 10,000 visits have been made to Falcon's Joshi Blog in the past several weeks. It's exciting to see that people from every continent (except Antartica - haha!) click in to follow certain promotions, wrestlers, photographers, or just get my idiosyncratic take on the wrestling world. There is a lot of content on this blog (290 entries since it began last February - that's almost one entry per day). I will leave the blog up for a while so enjoy the photos, interviews, and stories of women athletes around the world
Malia Hosaka
(photo: Gilda)
In 2004 I had the chance to visit Japan, and without planning too much in advance, I was able to see two shows -- A to Z and Jd' at Korakuen Hall (in late February). What a thrill to see Momoe, Kayo Noumi, Yumi Ohka, Mirai, Fuuka, and Mika Nishio live and in person! It was a thrilling day -- my first live shows, my first photos and memorabilia.
When I returned to New York, I occasionally visited ROH shows in New York and saw the likes of Lacey and Nikki Roxx. But mostly I surfed promotion sites and wrestler webpages in hopes of seeing recent match photographs.
Mia feels the slap of Angel Dust (JAPW WD 1/10)
(Photo: David Falcon)
Mia reminded me of the young Toshiyo Yamada -- a sporty ass-kicker with serious intensity. With JAPW beginning a women's division in New Jersey, I thought it was finally time to get out from behind my computer screen and drive to Bayonne, NJ, for a wrestling show. On the card January 9, 2010, were Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa, Hailey Hatred, Rachael Summerlyn, Ayako Hamada, Sumie Sakai, Annie Social, Brittany Force, Portia Perez, and, yes, the young Mia Yim (just 20 yrs old). It was a thrilling show and a great opportunity to begin taking photos and collecting signed photos. It was exciting to meet Mia that night and begin following her career. I contacted her on MySpace and began a fan/supporter relationship with Mia. In the almost two years since, I have seen Mia wrestle at least ten times at JAPW, PWR, PWS, and SHIMMER/SPARKLE.
Following Mia made me want to meet and follow other talented wrestlers. Marti Belle and Divina Fly/Rosita were two that I had the privilege to meet and support in the NY/NJ area. I credit them with being two of the sweetest, most talented and committed wrestlers I know. We are already seeing Rosita's career taking off in TNA, and Marti has an ever growing fan base who are fiercely loyal to her.
Marti Belle (AIW 7/10)
(Photo: David Falcon)
SHIMMER was a game changer for me. Though I have never met Dave Prazak, I want to thank him for his vision and follow through in getting serious women wrestlers together to work superb matches in an epic, all-day format that is heaven for wrestling fans! I got to meet my joshi heroes like Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara, meet new favorites like Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa, and be introduced to some of the finest wrestlers in the world: Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez, Madison Eagles, Nicole Matthews, Jessie McKay, Athena, and so many others.
I also met some fanatical wrestling fans that were serious about this sport. I will take this time to thank John Hyperion, Michael Liao, Oliver Saupe, Diva Dirt's Steven, and Wrestling Wally the legendary ring photographer. All of them were kind to me and answered my questions or at least shared my enthusiasm for the women's wrestling world. I was privileged to attend great shows at CHIKARA this year as well -- what a fabulous promotion. If I were a wrestler, that's where I'd like to work. WSU and AIW staged some great shows over the last two years that I was privileged to attend and I would like to thank them for their commitment to women athletes.
L to R: Billy, Oliver, John, Malvi, Matt, Dasa, Sonny, & Michael in SHIMMER line.
(Photo: David Falcon)
The year could not have ended better for me than with a trip to Asylum Areana in Philadelphia for the opening night of Joshimania sponsored by CHIKARA. A big thank you to Mike Quackenbush for having the vision to bring the grand old stars of Joshi including Manami Toyota and Aja Kong, two of the best of all time, as well as the great Mayumi Ozaki, Toshie Uematsu, GAMI, Meiko, Ayako Hamada, and younger stars Yoneyama, Kuragaki, Nakamori, Mio Shirai, Cherry, and others. What a dream come true to meet these stars and get photos with them. I topped off the evening with a cheesesteak from Tony Luke's -- what a night!
Manami Toyota under pressure from Toshie Uematsu (Joshimania 12/11)
(Photo: David Falcon)
Now it's time for me to unplug. Though I will no longer blog, attend live shows, or have an online presence (Twitter and Facebook will be disabled at midnight also), I will still follow the promotional websites and the occasional ippv. It is so gratifying to see the success of my "Four to Watch for 2011" -- Mia Yim, Rosita, Marti Belle, and Athena -- it is hard to imagine four other women who have had better years in the business than these four had. Seeing their growth and success has been deeply satisfying, even though I had nothing to do with it. I wish each of them well in 2012. If I were picking Four to Watch for 2012 "Lexxus, Mercedes KV, Davina Rose, and Evie (NZ)" would top my list.
So thank you all, wrestlers, promoters, fans, and my Internet family for including me for this past year. I have enjoyed meeting you all. There is so much good content out there from photos to write ups, to results, that I doubt this blog will be missed -- but thank you for visiting it occasionally. Enjoy the growing athletic and commercial success of women's wrestling -- it has the brightest of futures!
MATSUMOTO HIROYO DESTROY!!
