On tonight’s episode of the WWE Mae Young Classic, Japanese joshi sensation Io Shirai made her televised WWE debut, facing off against 19-year old Xia Brookside. The match was predominantly Io Shirai in control, beating a merciless Brookside who barely amounted much in offense. But Io Shirai’s savagery was at the same time a thing of grace, and a violent act in honor and respect. Io Shirai moved with the grace of a gymnast and hit with the power of an Amazon, solidifying what joshi fans have known for years. Io Shirai is the real deal. Her arrival in the WWE Universe, plus a few special guests in this year’s Mae Young Classic, has effectively showed solid joshi wrestling to a rather mainstream audience. Joshi obviously is more involved and in-depth in promotions like Stardom or Sendai Girls, but the joshi that NXT has displayed over the past few months (and years) is far closer to a Stardom match than Shinsuke Nakamura‘s “Strong Style” in the WWE has been in comparison to his “glory days” in New Japan. And the kakumei – revolution – was started with the first soldier, feared joshi striker Kana, who would enter the WWE Universe as Asuka, in 2015.
Joshi Invasion: Io Shirai Solidifies Women’s Revolution
While WWE has experimented with joshi stars in the past, such as The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki), Monster Ripper (who became Bertha Faye), and Bull Nakano, they haven’t had a joshi trained performer since Madusa dropped the WWF Women’s belt in a trashcan on Monday Nitro. But in 2015, the WWE signed then-11 year veteran of Japan, the technical brawler named Kana, who had spent over a decade wrestling women – and men – in promotions like All Japan Women’s Wrestling (AJW), Pro Wrestling WAVE, All Japan, NJPW, Pro Wrestling NOAH and more. She gained cult status in the US with a four year run with SHIMMER, where her feud with Ember Moon (then Athena) truly began. In NXT, Asuka set a WWE record for longest undefeated streak with 914 days. She hit hard and precise, in a fashion that looked intimidating and painful.
At last year’s Mae Young Classic, they signed another of the top joshi in the world, in Stardom’s Kairi Hojo. A former World of Stardom Champion, Wonder of Stardom Champion, 4x Artist of Stardom (Trios) Champion and 3x Goddesses of Stardom (Tag Team) Champion, Hojo had done it all. She had even made her US TV debut in 2016 on Lucha Underground as one of Black Lotus’ Triad. She signed with the WWE in early 2017, having conquerd the joshi world, and debuted at the inaugural Mae Young Classic, redubbed Kairi Sane. She would go on to win the entire tournament, defeating Shayna Baszler in the finals, and after a year winning over the NXT crowds, she defeated Baszler once again to become the current reigning NXT Women’s Champion.
For this year’s Mae Young Classic, they doubled down on two more joshi stars for the tournament, both at varying degrees of their career. One was 12-year veteran Hiroyo Matsumoto, nicknamed “Lady Godzilla”, who was trained by AJW star Mariko Yoshida. A regular star for the past decade with the likes of Stardom, OZ Academy, and Sendai Girls, as well as working SHIMMER in the US, Matsumoto is in her prime and a great representation of the classic joshi style of the past decade. She looked impressive on the September 26 episode in her win over Rachel Evers (aka Rachael Ellering).
The other is one of joshi‘s true legends and ring generals, the 23-year veteran and founder of Sendai Girls, Meiko Satomura. Starting out with GAEA and AJW, she also worked World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the mid-90s when WCW attempted to revive their women’s division. While the division failed, Satomura built a legacy of respect and admiration in Japan, putting on clinics in dedication and hard work with the likes of OZ Academy and Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP). In 2006, she started her own promotion, Sendai Girls, that remains today one of the top joshi promotions in Japan. Apart from her own Sendai Girls, Meiko also wrestles for Stardom, OZ Academy, WAVE and more. She’s recently made the decision to take her act on the road so to speak, entering the exploding UK indie scene last year with Pro Wrestling EVE and Fight Club: PRO and the US with CHIKARA and All American Wrestling (AAW). Now she gets to put her gifts on display to the WWE Universe, as we saw in her fierce victory over Killer Kelly in the first night.
With two all-stars already locked down on the team in Asuka and Sane, and two other superstars warming up the dance, it was time for the franchise player to arrive. And Io Shirai delivered. An 11-year veteran of joshi, she made her Stardom debut in 2011 and never looked back, conquering Stardom – and Japan – as one of the best wrestlers in the world. A 2x World of Stardom Champion, 2x Wonder of Stardom Champion, 6x Artist of Stardom (Trios) Champion, Goddesses of Stardom (Tag Team) Champion, High Speed Champion and Stardom Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Undisputed World Women’s Champion, she literally has won every piece of hardware to win in Stardom, Japan’s top joshi promotion. And now she’s arrived in NXT, ready to finally bring joshi wrestling the respect it deserves, alongside a pretty solid ensemble to represent it. Let’s just hope they all end up more like Bull Nakano than Bertha Faye.
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