Double Or Nothing Kong, Sakazaki, Sakura vs Shida, Riho, & Mizunami

Mathew Sarpracione

All Elite Wrestling’s first big PPV is in a couple of days. We have a lot of matches to look forward to. I’ll be providing a preview for one of the matches on that show. There will be six Japanese or Joshi wrestlers competing in a tag team match. On one side, we have Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki, and Emi Sakura. They will take on Hikaru Shida, Riho, and Ryo Mizunami. Now you’re looking at this match and I’m sure some of you are asking this one question. Here we look at Double Or Nothing Kong, Sakazaki, Sakura vs Shida, Riho, & Mizunami.

“Who are they?”

Well, I’m glad you asked. This is why I wanted to talk about this match and the six women involved.

Aja Kong

We’ll go by teams and first, we’ll start off with the legendary Aja Kong. Aja started her career in 1989 with one of the best promotions in all of Japan, All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling and has traveled all over the world, even being in WWE for a few matches. Wrestling for about thirty years now and she still shows why she’s a dominant force to be reckoned with while currently apart of OZ Academy and was also recently a former World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Champion.

Yuka Sakazaki

Next, we have Yuka Sakazaki, who is a member of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and has been wrestling for about five years now. She is also currently a TOKYO Princess Tag Team Champion with Mizuki. Yuka is someone with a fun gimmick, great charisma, and can back it up in the ring as well.

Emi Sakura

Lastly, we have Emi Sakura, who is a twenty-three-year veteran and owner of Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling, and the current 3CW Women’s Champion. Emi is another decorated wrestler that has wrestled in some of the biggest promotions in Japan for women’s wrestling and she’s now ready to show the United States what she can do.

Riho

Now that we covered one side, it’s time to talk about their opponents and we’re going to start off with Riho. Riho is twenty-one years old with twelve years of experience, meaning that she has been wrestling since she was nine years old! Riho is also Gatoh Move’s top star as she’s the current Super Asia Champion and has held it for six-hundred and eight days, she was also trained by both Emi Sakura and Nanae Takahashi, so you know this girl is special and Emi wouldn’t bring her over if she didn’t feel like she was ready for the big stage.

Ryo Mizunami

Up next, we have Ryo Mizunami who is apart of Pro Wrestling WAVE. Ryo is thirty-one years old with fourteen years of wrestling experience and it’s been about three years since she’s wrestled in the United States, last time being with SHIMMER.

Hikaru Shida

Lastly, we have the one with the most hype aside from Aja Kong being in this match and that is Hikaru Shida. Hikaru is a freelancer and one of the more well-known ones in the Japanese women’s scene as she has won titles in companies like OZ Academy, Ice Ribbon, WAVE, Sendai Girls, and others. She was also known for someone that has challenged Naomichi Marufuji to a match twice, one ending in a KO in less than two minutes and when she tried again a year later, she failed but showed her fighting spirit along with a bruised chest as a reward. She’s been wrestling for ten years and only thirty years old, she’s ready to show she can be AEW’s top female.

Double Or Nothing
Kong, Sakazaki, Sakura vs Shida, Riho, & Mizunami

So who was the one to book this match? Well, this is actually Kenny Omega’s doing as he was the one that would book this match since he’s been wrestling in Japan for years and has fought against Hikaru a couple of times. Kenny respects the Joshi wrestling scene and he wanted the fans in the United States to show the type of wrestling that he has loved during his time in Japan. I believe it’s a great idea for an exhibition match to show these fans who aren’t familiar with some or all of them what they’re exactly about. I’m a fan of all these women and I really hope it opens their eyes to seek them out along with the promotions that they currently wrestle for, which would be a win-win for everybody.

Hikaru Shida: