Falcon's Joshi Blog: Mia Yim Opens 2013 With Win at REINA x WORLD

Mia Yim acknowledging her fans

Photos by Luke Matsuki

Mia Yim stepped into the REINA ring on January 4 to take on her little protege Aoi Ishibashi for the semi-main event at the REINA x WORLD New Year's Show. For nearly twelve minutes they battled it out in what looked to be an energetic match. Aoi is a remarkable young talent. Along with Riho and Sareee she is one of the top young wrestlers in Joshi. For Mia it was her final match in Japan for a while. Mia has not set a date for her return. One assumes that she is still under contract with REINA x WORLD, so it is unclear exactly what that means. It would appear that Mia will be in the USA at least until mid April (when SHIMMER has ended). One would not be out of bounds to ask, is Mia likely to return to Japan for another extended stay in 2013, or will it be short trips of one week or less? Time will tell. Mia did seem emotional during the closing "good bye" ceremony when Aki and Aoi spoke about her (see photos at the end of this post).

Aoi Ishibashi

A gesture of sportsmanship at the start

The results of Mia's matches are as follows:

Mia Yim defeated Aoi Ishibashi (11:46) with Sky Yim.

New Year Battle Royal Mia Yim is winner (30:06) order of elimination: TAKA, Michinoku, Bambi, Mayumi Hashiba, Aoi Ishibashi, Mini-tomato, Aki Kambayashi, Charlie Simone, and Alex Lee.

Photos by Luke Matsuki