Author: Mathew Sarpracione

This is something fans never expected to have to have written about, nor did they ever want to read. Stardom wrestler Hana Kimura would pass away on May 23rd, 2000, due to cyberbullying; she took her own life. She would post disturbing images on her Twitter account showing self-harm. The images left Kairi Sane and Io Shirai worried, so they contacted Rossy Ogawa and Jungly Kyona to check on her. Unfortunately, everyone was too late, and she would sadly leave this world. Her death is incredibly tragic, and a lot of people have been affected by this. It has left…

It’s never easy writing an obituary for anyone, but today is the day for one. On June 4th, 2019 we found out that 41-year-old and current AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Aoki has passed away in a motorcycle accident. The only thing we know right now is that his bike failed to curve and crashed into a wall. Despite how you feel about certain wrestlers, any death is tragic, and nobody wishes to see a human life taken away so suddenly. These are brief chronicles of the life and career of Atsushi Aoki. __________________ Atsushi Aoki – Legendary Star…

In celebration of her 5Star Grand Prix victory in 2020, figure it be best if she gets the spotlight for the Joshi scene. If you’re familiar with Utami Hayashishita and with everything she’s done before and during her wrestling career, you know what she’s all about. And if you’re not familiar with her or new to the Joshi scene, you’ve come to the right place. This is Utami Hayashishita. Utami is twenty-six years old and has been wrestling over a little over six years now. Her debut was on August 12th, 2018, when she went up against Jungle Kyona in…

There are plenty of promotions in Japan. Just like in the United States and the United Kingdom where people go straight to the bigger promotions. Some have their beginnings in something rather smaller promotions and there is one who has wrestled for four years. It is already considered for greatness. We are talking about the Master of Suplex himself, Shotaro Ashino. Shotaro was born on May 25th, 1990, in Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. In 2014, he graduated from the Nippon Sports Science University. He was even recommended to go to wrestling school by Hiroshi Hase. Ashino would take his offer and…

In spite of everything going on in the year 2020, the world of professional wrestling as still able to give us quality matches throughout the year. Many were considered wrestlers of the year by a lot of fans. But one that deserves the most recognition for that title is Go Shiozaki. Go is from Pro Wrestling NOAH and currently holds the top prize in the promotion for those who don’t know who he is. He was mentored by Kenta Kobashi while also trained by guys such as Harley Race, Tamon Honda, and Yoshinari Ogawa. During the beginning of his career…

If the name ASUKA sounds familiar, it’s believed we are discussing the former WWE SmackDown Women’s Tag Team and NXT Women’s Champion. However, unless they’ve followed the Japanese scene outside of New Japan, you likely haven’t heard of the other ASUKA, also known as Veny. So let’s talk about her career and just about her in general. ASUKA is a Freelancer who was born on October 27th, 1998. She mostly wrestled for Pro Wrestling WAVE and was trained by the same person who inspired her to become a wrestler as a child, Ayako Hamada, who you may know from iMPACT…

On April 9th, All Japan Pro Wrestling would bring back their annual tournament, the Champion Carnival. The last one was in September of 2020 due to Covid canceling a lot of events at the beginning of the year. Zeus would win the tournament in October 2020 but it was time for them to do it at their proper date this year. For this year’s tournament, instead of doing two blocks, they would only do one block with ten participants. How would the finals work? Well, if the person has the most points at the end would win but if there…

On March 3rd, Stardom would hold a big event at the Nippon Budokan Hall. It was where we saw a solid card from top to bottom. Both Nanae Takahashi and Yoshiko would make their return to Stardom for the first time in six years. It was the first time since the incident with Act Yasukawa, Natsupoi wins the High-Speed Championship from AZM in the opening contest, and of course, our main event of the evening. The show’s main event was Giulia defending her Wonder of Stardom Championship against her rival, Tam Nakano, but this time, the loser would also lose…

It’s been a long time since the last issue, but we’re here to bring it back for the year 2021! It’s been a crazy 2020, but it’s time to give it the revival it needs. There’s plenty of news in the world of puroresu. And we’ll be here to cover it on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. Let’s check out what the world of professional wrestling has for us in store in the Puroresu Press for 01/18/21. __________________ Naruki Doi Surgery On January 15th, according to Naruki Doi’s Twitter, he posted a picture of his right arm bandaged up, hinting…

All Japan Pro Wrestling would start off 2021 with their annual New Year’s Wars events, and our first one happened on January 2nd. Our main event for this event was the World Tag Team Champions, Suwama, and Shuji Ishikawa, defending their titles against the Real World Tag League winners, Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi. ________________ A little bit of history happened between Kento and Yuma last year when Yuma would turn heel to betray Kento after retaining the Triple Crown Championship. Ten months later, the two would reconsider getting back together as a team, and to try and regain…