Today I’d like to talk about one of the most unusual and unique trading card related collectibles: the printing plates used to generate the images on the cards.
Printing plates are thin metal sheets used in the printing process of the card they represent. Generally there are four plates for a card corresponding to four basic component colors: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. When distributed plates usually have a sticker affixed to the back with publisher, set, card, and copyright information.
Different colored variants of a card won’t have different plates (changing ink saturation levels produces these versions) but variants with different background patterns, text or logos, etc will. Whether these other versions, or any plates at all, are distributed depends on the manufacturer, set, and distribution method.
Printing plates are extremely unique as a collectible. While many of them are still in great shape, given their nature they are also often imperfect as they may contain smudges, printing lines, blurred images, scratches, or other after effects of the printing process. How much these imperfections affect someone’s desire to collect a particular plate generally depends on the extent and of course personal preferences.
Also certain ink colors may have been practically unused in creating an image and that corresponding plate could be largely blank or an otherwise incomplete image. While rare, this phenomenon is a risk and particularly pops up comic and other art based cards (as opposed to photo based cards, where underlying colors are generally present across the image).
In certain circumstances printing plates may also be distributed with autographs. Actors or athletes depicted, or creators or voice actors of shown characters, sometimes have their autographs on the front of the plates. Usually it’s done via affixing a signed sticker, but direct signatures aren’t unheard of. This is an added layer of collectability and reward for the person who draws the plate.
Peni Paker collection
In addition to printing plates being randomly inserted into packs of their card sets, they are also commonly used as special distribution prizes. Upper Deck often has certain plates set aside to be used as rewards for completing collection goals in their online buying and trading platform ePack.
Sometimes plates used for these purposes are grouped together as sets, occasionally even being collected in connecting booklets. This can be convenient for completionists, as trying to collect all four color plates for a particular card when the plates are separately randomly inserted is a daunting task.
Metal Universe X-men printing plate booklets in custom display cases by Hardball34.
My personal affinity for collecting plates evolved from getting several wonderful booklet collections from the Metal Universe X-men set, as well as drawing some for my favorite characters from Marvel Annual sets and my favorite wrestlers from WWE and AEW sets.
From there I started more proactively chasing/trading for/buying plates and they’ve become a cornerstone of my collections all around. I adore the way the underlying color images look, and there’s just something cool about having a piece of the process.
The lion’s share of my plates are Marvel related from Upper Deck (UD), featuring a dazzling array of comic book characters and MCU actors.
However I also heavily collect joshi wrestling cards, and plates of certain wrestlers from UD’s AEW sets as well as Topps WWE sets form an additional, smaller centerpiece of my collection.
AEW’s Riho, Hikaru Shia, Nyla Rose, and William Regal and WWE’s Asuka and Iyo Sky.Riho plate displayed with AEW 1/1s in a custom frame by Dion Divens.
Chasing plate “rainbows” (a complete color collection of plates for a given card) is a case by case basis for me. For certain images, characters, and wrestlers I collect everything of theirs I can find. In other cases a particular color plate for a particular card jumps out at me and I’m happy just to have that.
Occasionally a plate I’d otherwise want to keep just doesn’t look great to me in that color and/or with its particular imperfections. And of course as with any card related collectible rarity, availability, popularity with other collectors, and luck all greatly influence what actually ends up in the collection.
These little pieces of metal have become some of my favorite collectibles. I love monochrome art in the first place, and the fact that these are essentially art and photos broken down into that format appeals to me greatly. I’m sure I’ll be expanding their numbers for a long time to come.
I hope everyone’s enjoyed the look at my collection of these unusual inserts. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.
I’ve written a lot about art I collect of several of my favorite professional wrestlers from a variety of artists. A couple years ago, in Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 3, I briefly talked about an unusual case: one of those wrestlers is a wonderful artist herself. Yappy has done a number of pieces of her coworkers (as well as self portraits) and today I’ll be spotlighting more of her work.
Yappy has been wrestling for a women’s wrestling company in Japan named Ice Ribbon for nearly five years. She has a naturally upbeat and energetic personality that translates into engaging ring charisma and fun matches. She’s a huge part of Ice Ribbon’s interactions with foreign fans, from explanatory videos to spearheading their international store, and has appropriately nicknamed herself Ice Ribbon’s Bridge to the World. Her soon to return Weekly Ribbon Unravel YouTube show highlights general happenings in Ice Ribbon in English for a foreign audience.
Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto.
Yappy’s larger pieces are wonderfully dynamic, with a strong sense of style and motion to them that beautifully captures the personality of her subjects. The above rendition of Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto is also carefully accentuated by metallic highlights that really bring it to life.
Yappy has also done pieces of (now former) regular guest participants such as former ICE Cross Infinity Champion Saori Anou and former multi-time International Tag Ribbon Champion Maika Ozaki.
I adore playing card style art, and Yappy’s Queen of Foxes illustration of Anou is so creatively done. The regal pose is perfect for the concept, and it’s finished with the same type of great shimmering metallic highlights as the Tsukka piece.
Maika’s piece is adorable and colorful, showing the cute side of one of joshi wrestling’s strongest powerhouses.
One of my favorite illustrations Yappy’s done is Ice Ribbon’s Totoro Satsuki with their mascot Ribbonne in a tribute to the wrestler’s namesake, Studio Ghibli’s animated classic My Neighbor Totoro.
Totoro Satsuki and Ribbonne.
One of the coolest things about Yappy’s art is her willingness to experiment and the resulting variety of styles she can work in. Her joyous black and white illustration of Saran feels quite different from her colored work, but is just as engaging.
Another great example of this is her playful, comic strip style depictions of her interactions with former Ice Ribbon wrestler Nao Ishikawa.
Yappy and Nao Ishikawa.Tequila Saya illustration by Yappy for Charles Short’s second Ice Ribbon book.
Yappy did a series of illustrations for Charles Short’s second book about Ice Ribbon, titled Wonderland. These portrayals show off her range, as the chibi influenced versions still capture the essence of the wrestlers’ likenesses and charisma.
Tsukina UminoKaho Matsushita
The last batch of art I’ll spotlight here is Yappy’s art nouveau pieces. Three pieces in total (more on that to come), they are extremely striking and pop with color to make an immediate impression.
Yappy incorporated wonderful detail into these. Ice Ribbon’s Mugendai (“infinite potential”) Girl Kaho Matsushita’s has an infinity motif, and Tsukina Umino’s other job as a murder mystery game GM heavily inspired the theme for her piece.
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More information about both Yappy’s art and her wrestling can be found on her social media.
There’s one more wonderful art nouveau piece to discuss, left to last because there’s unfortunately some sad news that now goes along with it. In early February 2024 Actwres girl’Z reported a 21 year old wrestler named Asahi had unexpectedly passed away. Asahi started her career in Ice Ribbon and was a dear coworker and friend to Yappy. She was also a personal favorite of mine, being a joy to watch in the ring and an inspiring presence in general. Yappy’s incredible rendition of the Sunrise of Hope that originally started her art nouveau series is cherished momento of someone gone far too soon.
It’s always exciting for me to discover new artists whose work jumps out and appeals to my personal artistic preferences. Today I’d like to highlight the striking art of Miki Okazaki.
Ghost Spider and Gwen Stacy sketch cards from Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse set, and a recently pulled Rokurokubi sketch card from Iconic Creations’ Yokai Parade set. All by Miki Okazaki.
The first time I saw any of Miki’s art was on sketch cards for Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse card set. It made an immediate impression and had an air of whimsy, and when I followed her on Instagram and found out she was open for commission at the time I jumped at the chance to add more of her work to my collection.
Among the various subjects I collect art of, two of the biggest are joshi pro-wrestlers and Marvel’s Mystique mid-transformation. In my first batch of commissions from Miki I was able to add wonderful pieces to both collections.
For the incredible Mystique as Silk sketch cover she did for me I specified only the subject. The composition and other specifics were left up to Miki, and she knocked it out of the park with a great dynamic pose and overall awesome general feel.
Miki’s Mystique/Silk cover on display with Silk sketch cards by Effix, Fred Ian, Marcia Dye, and Ash Gonzales in a custom light up frame by Dion Divens.
It’s a great example of her general style with coloring that really pops and a bunch of cool small details, like the exact way things are split between Mystique and Silk around the face and hair, that enhance the overall effect.
I am a huge fan of Japanese women’s professional wrestling, and have an extensive collection of personal sketch cards (PSCs) I’ve commissioned of many of my favorites, including quite a number from Juri H. Chinchilla (whose art I’ve discussed extensively in Beautiful Dreams, Beautiful Dreams 2,Beautiful Dreams 3, and Beautiful Dreams 4).
I was thrilled that Miki was open to doing some of these for me, and my first requests were a combination of wrestlers I’d planned on having done for quite a while in Ice Ribbon’s Kyuri & Maika Ozaki, AEW’s Hikaru Shida, and Marvelous’ Mio Momono & Maria, a perennial favorite in WWE’s Asuka, and even a brilliant up and coming rookie in Gatoh Move’s Miya Yotsuba.
She did an outstanding job with the unfamiliar subjects, and this became just the first of several batches of joshi PSCs I would get from her over the course of 2023. The joshi cards really illustrate Miki’s ability to apply her personal style to her art while still really capturing the essence of the subject.
The next batch included Yappy & Banny from Ice Ribbon, Momo Watanabe from Stardom, Emi Sakura and Best Bros (Mei Suruga & Balliyan Akki) from Gatoh Move, and TJPW’s announcer Sayuri Namba. These are all excellent and the coloring and highlighting really stand out in this group. The backgrounds are masterfully vibrant in a complementary way that doesn’t overwhelm the wonderful depictions of the wrestlers.
Finally around the end of the year I had cards done of TJPW’s Free Wi-Fi (Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta), and Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo), another up and coming Gatoh Move rookie Nonoka Seto, WWE’s reigning Women’s Champion Iyo Sky (formerly Io Shirai), Stardom’s Yuna Mizumori (formerly of Gatoh Move), and freelancer Momoka Hanazono.
The detail on these is particularly fantastic, and it’s was really cool to see how Miki’s style evolved over such a short period. I know I’m repeating myself to the point of sounding like a broken record, but once again the coloring is impeccable and perfectly spotlights the subjects.
The Nonoka Seto card is particularly special from a few reasons, from the awesome way Miki captured her pointed finger pose in shadow even though the arm is out of frame to the fact that it’s a companion piece to the card Miki did for me of her sister, fellow Gatoh Move wrestler Miya Yotsuba.
I greatly appreciate all the art Miki has created for me and I hope to continue collecting her work in the future.
More information about Miki’s wonderful art can be found on her socialmedia pages.
Disclosure: The author of this book is a friend of mine and introduced me to Ice Ribbon years ago. This has had no influence on the opinions in this review, although obviously my status as a fan of the promotion does affect my appreciation of the subject matter.
This is Charles Short’s second book about Ice Ribbon. Please also check out my review of the first, Be Happy.
Ice Ribbon is a women’s professional wrestling company based in Tokyo, Japan that approaches wrestling in an accessible way to be fun for both the audience and performers.
Wonderland opens with a foreword from Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto herself and a solid section of bios with pictures for all of the Ice Ribbon roster members during the covered time period, before heading into the results section that comprises the majority of the book.
The results section is an incredibly detailed chronicle of match outcomes that picks up immediately after last book and goes 5 years and change through Ice Ribbon’s 15th Anniversary show in early August 2021. It not only covers results for all Ice Ribbon events, but also every match members of their roster participated in for other companies.
The amount of specific information provided and the meticulous record keeping it entails is incredibly impressive. Extensive context is included from match times to attendance figures and even things like when originally scheduled matches were changed (due to injury/illness/etc).
The time period covered in Wonderland is particularly interesting to me as I was attending a lot of Ice Ribbon shows live during this period. It’s really cool to revisit a snapshot of this particular time in the company’s existence.
A number of major moments in Ice Ribbon’s history are covered, including Tsukushi’s re-debut and Giulia’s departure. Short approaches everything without sensationalism or rumor, covering things in detail but appropriately keeping to the factual happenings known to the public.
The book features a number of wrestlers who have gone on to wrestle for other companies, which may be of particular interest to those familiar with their later work and wanting to learn about those wrestlers’ history.
Ease of reference and reading is incredibly important when presenting the sheer amount of data contained a volume like this. Like with Be Happy, and perhaps to an even greater extent, the careful formatting, interesting ancillary information, and inclusion of a variety of pictures keep everything accessible and engaging.
There are also several wonderful little touches that make the book special. One of the coolest is stylized section illustrations by Yappy, who is a talented artist in addition to being one of Ice Ribbon’s own wrestlers.
Tsukasa Fujimoto illustration by Yappy.
ThoughWonderland covers five years of the company compared to the first book’s ten, it ended up being longer (including over 150 more pages of content after the results section, compared to Be Happy’s 40). This is due to more context and detail added to returning information sections like title histories, as well as greatly expanded pictorial sections.
A huge variety of event posters, banners, wrestling gear, and merchandise is displayed with explanatory context notes as appropriate. As with Be Happy all of the pictures are in black and white, but that does not diminish the treasure trove of stuff to look through.
The book wraps up with a section featuring career summaries for wrestlers and staff that retired during the subject time period. Like the rest of the book, these are thorough, well presented, and quite informative.
At its heart Wonderland and its predecessor are reference books, and milage will vary with an individual’s interest in this unique little joshi wrestling company. But for anyone with even the smallest bit of curiosity about Ice Ribbon or the wrestlers who worked for it during this time the book is so well done and so overflowing with carefully assembled and interesting information it’s really a must have.
In May of 2019 I was lucky enough to see a special showcase show of Emi Sakura’s casual training program DareJyo. It was a wonderfully fun display of training drills and exhibition matches. What no one knew at the time was five of the participants would go on to train as as full wrestlers and debut just a few months later as part of Gatoh Move’s Generation 4.
For many years in the early portion of Gatoh Move’s existence, Riho (now of AEW) was their ace and star. In Spring of 2019 it was announced that she would be leaving to go freelance in early July. The landscape of the promotion looked dramatically different after her departure and the subsequent debut of six rookies from DareJyo at Gatoh’s August show (the five previously mentioned that appeared on the 5/1/19 showcase show, plus Chie Koishikawa).
However as of the original announcement in July only four wrestlers would be debuting. The last trainee to decide to make the jump was the woman who eventually become Gatoh Move’s resident lovable ninja.
Sayuri’s DareJyo showcase exhibition match was against eventual fellow Gen 4 member Rin Rin (now the recently retired Yukari Hosokawa of Ganpro). Her debut match was against Mitsuru Konno.
Sayuri is the ultimate underdog and pitting her against the tough-as-nails, fierce Mitsuru in her first official match was perfect (the entire show was a masterclass in playing to their rookies’ strengths and presenting an incredibly entertaining slate of debuts). Even in this first match there were hints of the perseverance and personality that would draw fans to her.
Sayuri has incredibly unique charisma that continually emerged and evolved as she gained experience. Sakura once jokingly gave her an award for there being nothing remotely unique or interesting about her, but Gatoh’s founder couldn’t be more wrong in this case. There was an endearing goofiness to her mixed with a fiery determination that made it impossible not to cheer for her.
One of her most memorable series of moments revolved around her stubborn insistence to complete a bodyslam despite failure after failure to do so. She turned the cry of “Let’s bodyslam!” into a beloved rallying point for her fans (whom she named “Sayurists”). They were thrilled when she finally hit one on the 5/4/21 show.
Sayuri eventually fully embraced a ninja role, using tactics and antics such a shuriken style chops, awesome wall run headlock takedowns, and ninja vanishing techniques (hiding behind numerous environmental elements in Ichigaya Chocolate Square to later surprise her opponent). A perfect mix of skill and silliness, Sayuri’s matches were always captivating.
Sayuri and Sayaka PSC by Juri Chinchilla.
Gatoh’s 12/29/19 show turned out to be the last time I was able to attend a show Sayuri wrestled on. I missed a number of Gatoh Move shows during the remainder of that trip due to coming down with the flu, and once I recovered and could attend again Sayuri herself was out sick (along with many other wrestlers, it was a rough season).
However, there is something quite fitting that my final live memory of seeing her wrestle ended up being a singles match against her trainer, Emi Sakura. The legend spent the early match trying to run through and bully the overmatched ninja. But as usual Sayuri’s persistence created openings and allowed her to give her opponent much more fight than expected, even in defeat.
Sayuri’s career spanned just under 90 matches, and she never won a singles contest. But she never gave up and her Sayurists were certain her moment would come.
In 2021 Sayuri formed a regular tag team with 17 year veteran Choun Shiryu called Dragon Ninja. They had fantastic chemistry as a team, and Sayuri clearly evolved as a wrestler under Choun’s influence.
Dragon Ninja was a successful team with several wins, but always with Choun gaining the decision. They fought and won as a team, but the elusive pin or submission that evaded Sayuri in singles competition continued to do so in tag matches.
Until ChocoPro 264 on 10/23/22. In an incredible culmination of her wrestling journey she pinned Chie Koishikawa to give Dragon Ninja a huge win over Chie & Masa Takanashi. Her moment had arrived.
The victory seemed to herald big things ahead for Dragon Ninja and Sayuri, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. She would wrestle two more matches after that before going on hiatus due to chronic health issues. In late 2023 it was announced she was not returning and would be retiring from wrestling.
Sayuri had remained involved in Gatoh Move and Chocopro in non-wrestling capacities in the meantime and ChocoPro 347 was her farewell show. She accompanied Choun against Otoki, and while not officially part of the match she had some involvement including traditional retirement spots. It was a great way to say farewell within the confines of her not being able to return for a full retirement match.
She gave a goodbye speech after the show and was sent off with smiles.
Sayuri had unique presence and style and was a breath of fresh air in wrestling throughout her short career. Wishing all the best to her in whatever’s next for our darling ninja.
Full Gatoh Move 6 card PSC “puzzle” by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Heartbreaking news is not how I intended to return to blogging (and my previously planned posts will be coming soon). But tragedies are all too often completely unexpected, and I feel compelled to share some words of personal remembrance of a wrestler who meant a great deal to me as a fan.
Actwres girl’Z has shared that one of their performers, 21 year old Asahi, has unexpectedly passed away (no other details have been shared: please respect the privacy of her grieving family, friends, and colleagues).
Asahi debuted for a promotion named Ice Ribbon in August 2017. The then 14 year old faced wrestling legend Manami Toyota in her debut match. I was lucky enough to attend that show live, and was impressed with the sense of determination and resiliency Asahi showed.
The wrestler who would eventually be nicknamed The Sunrise of Hope became an absolute favorite of mine, and it was a joy to see her evolve and grow as her career progressed. She put her heart into her matches, was technically skilled, and most importantly was just flat out fun to watch.
One of my favorite memories of the emotion she put behind everything is a bit of an odd inclusion here, as it never really made tape. But it’s such a vivid memory to this day I’d like to share it.
At a show in early 2019 Asahi was part of a P’s Party themed team, alongside fellow rookies Tequila Saya and Giulia, going against then Ice Ribbon veterans Risa Sera, Maya Yukihi, and Akane Fujita. It was an elimination match with special stipulations, and by the end P’s Party had the unlikely advantage as it was down to Asahi and Giulia against Akane. Asahi had Akane on the verge of elimination and was slowly grounding her senior down, only to be shoved away at the last second by a partner who wanted the glory for herself. P’s Party won, but Asahi was betrayed all the same. What followed was intense, and only a tiny snippet made it to the video of the event.
“Asahi stares a HOLE through her so called partner, and then goes CRAZY trying to claw and scrape her way to attack Giulia requiring three others to hold her back until finally Tsukka comes in to calm her down. Fantastic fire from Asahi here, and there was more story and character conveyed in these 30 seconds than I’ve seen in entire shows.”
No matter what type of moment, Asahi always vividly conveyed her emotions with captivating charisma.
Another special memory for me was getting to see her wrestle another of my favorites, Misaki Ohata, at a P’s Party show in a great match seeing Asahi throw everything she could at her vastly more experienced opponent.
I have not been able to return to Japan since before the pandemic, so the final times I was able to see Asahi wrestle live were Ribbonmania 2019 and one dojo show a couple weeks later. Her being victorious in the tag team gauntlet and then later part of Tequilia Saya’s retirement match in the main event are happy memories.
In Spring of 2023 Asahi left Ice Ribbon to go to Actwres girl’Z, a company with a more theatrical based approach to wrestling related entertainment. She was a good fit and I recommend checking out her work there as well.
It’s heart wrenching to try to process the loss of someone so young, with a seemingly bright future ahead of her. Farewell, our dear Sunrise. You will be remembered, and missed.
During my first several trips to Japan, starting at the end of 2015, Gatoh Move became (and remains) one of my favorite promotions. It’s a wonderfully engaging experience built around a core roster of diverse wrestlers all fully embracing their own uniqueness.
And that’s been true throughout all the changes and transformations the company and roster has endured. Wrestlers that were there when I started watching like Kotori and Gatoh’s former ace Riho have retired and moved on to other opportunities (with occasional reappearances) respectively. In the wake of Riho leaving the company doubled in size with the debuts of Gatoh Move’s fourth generation. I’ve experienced the entire careers of Aasa Maika and Mitsuru Konno.
So it’s perhaps a little odd to realize that for me a certain wrestler has become such a core part of what Gatoh Move is today that her imminent departure might have the greatest impact of any change thus far.
In spring of 2018 I was lucky enough to catch Gatoh’s annual Go Go Green Curry Koppun Cup mixed tag tourney show. In the (non-tournament) opening contest I’d get my only look that trip at their new rookie, as just two months into her career Yuna Mizumori faced visiting reigning Pure-J Champion Hanako Nakamori.
Yuna immediately impressed as a great addition to the Gatoh roster. She had such an exuberant personality that was already apparent and integrated in her rapidly developing wrestling style. Her particular blend of speed and power was already on display and to this day remains striking and distinctive. I couldn’t wait to see more of her in the future after her strong showing against another company’s top competitor so early in her career.
The tone set by that first impression would continue when I was back later in the year, particularly in a very special elimination match on SEAdLINNNG’s 12/28/18 show.
It was Gatoh Move’s Emi Sakura, Yuna, & fellow rookie Mei Suruga against freelancer Sae, the reigning Regina di Wave champion Ryo Mizunami, & SEAdLINNG’s own champion (and founder) Nanae Takahashi.
The match was a blast, and seemed headed to a perfectly acceptable formula finish of Gatoh’s powerhouse rookie putting up a good fight in defeat against overwhelming experience and odds.
Instead Yuna, still within her first year of wrestling, overcame a 2-on-1 disadvantage to eliminate BOTH of the opposing reigning champions to secure the win for Gatoh Move (an achievement that would earn her a title shot at Nanae a couple months later).
As I wrote at the time: “Yuna is a wrecking ball in the ring in the best possible way, and her digging deep and powering her way through the odds was captivating, as well as totally believable.”
Yuna became an absolute favorite of mine and was always a treat to see. She was put in important positions and given big opportunities to show what she could do and always delivered. Yuna & her TropiKawild partner Saki would hold and defend the Asia Dream Tag Team Championships for nearly a year during their second reign starting in March of 2019.
During Gatoh’s Golden Week shows that year she semi-main evented in great singles contests against TJPW’s Mizuki and visiting freelancer Hiroyo Matsumoto.
A couple of other matches of hers that stick out (among the many I was lucky enough to see live) that I particularly loved include her participation in a special “Old Gatoh Move” vs “New Gatoh Move” variation on the the annual Gatoh roster 6-woman tag match they ran (available here), and a hard hitting battle she had against Yasu Urano.
The previously mentioned TropiKawild tag team title reigns meant that when Yuna hit her second wrestling anniversary she had been a reigning tag team champion for nearly half of her career. Between that, some of the things I’ve mentioned above, and other opportunities Yuna had a truly special start to her wrestling career.
Yet the dichotomy of Yuna being extremely strong and successful but still often seeming and feeling like the underdog would be a recurring theme and lead to some incredibly compelling stories and rivalries.
One place this is vividly apparent is in early ChocoPro.
ChocoPro is Gatoh Move’s twin promotion and arose out of Emi Sakura’s desire to do something specifically tailored to streaming when Covid hit and prevented them from continuing shows as normal in their small home base venue.
Yuna’s struggles, feelings, and insecurities explored and enflamed by her trainer, boss, and occasional partner Emi Sakura would be a driving force for the early seasons of ChocoPro. Yuna participated in the first ever intergender “ironman” match on ChocoPro 11 against Minoru Fujita (an incredible match itself well worth watching).
Sakura tore Yuna apart emotionally in an interview leading up to the match with Fujita, kicking off what I still believe is one of the greatest stories and feuds I’ve ever seen in wrestling (see The Ballad of Yuna and the Oni for full details).
One last thing that certainly has to be mentioned is Yuna’s camaraderie and rivalry with the only other member of her generation of Gatoh Move, Mei Suruga.
Mei debuted almost exactly three months after Yuna and the interplay between the two has always been interesting. Yuna has achieved more faster in traditionally measured ways and has been more successful overall in their singles encounters. She’s held the tag titles twice to Mei’s once, won them earlier on in her career, and holds a 6-3 victory advantage in their singles encounters.
But Mei has more unusual or intangible edges. She holds singles victories over high profile opponents like Hikaru Shida and Emi Sakura herself, she’s wrestled internationally, and her victories over Yuna came when it mattered most. She won a number one contendership tournament by beating Yuna in the finals and is up 2-1 when they faced each other in tag team title matches.
This is best encapsulated in Yuna’s comments after she defeated Mei in a fantastic 30-minute “ironman” match and wondered why she still felt like she lost.
The mutual respect, parallel yet wildly different careers they’ve had and the rivalry that goes with it, and captivating chemistry they have together all built to an absolutely phenomenal encounter they had headlining Gatoh Move’s 10th Anniversary show. As the last singles match they’ll have against one another in the foreseeable future, they went out on a hell of a high note.
In a few short hours Yuna will wrestle Emi Sakura 1-on-1 one last time in her final match before “graduating” from Gatoh Move (the term used in Japan when someone leaves a company to move on, whether it’s for retirement or a case like this). Can Yuna finally topple the Oni as she bids Gatoh farewell?
Yuna, Mei, Kotori, and Aasa by Shining Wizard Designs
I’ve barely scratched the surface of everything Yuna has meant to Gatoh Move and ChocoPro. She’s an amazing performer and though it seems like she’s been around forever her career is incredibly still under 5 years old. While her absence will be noticeable I wish her all the best and look forward to seeing what’s next for her in wrestling elsewhere.
Emi Sakura is one of the most incredibly multifaceted people in professional wrestling. The 27 year veteran can wrestle nearly any style, has trained a ridiculous number of other excellent wrestlers, and founded two different still running joshi promotions on the common idea that wrestling should be fun for both fans and wrestlers.
Gatoh Move, the promotion Sakura currently runs, is an absolute joy. In anticipation of their big 10th anniversary show this week (entitled Phoenix Rises) I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about one of my absolute favorite wrestling promotions.
Of course 10 years is a lot to cover and this won’t be complete nor an attempt at a proper history of the promotion for various reasons (starting with the fact that I was introduced to it a few years in). Rather I hope to provide a personal look back at some of what’s made Gatoh Move so special to me while also highlighting a few key moments and points of interest in depth.
At the end of 2015 I was lucky enough to make my first trip to Japan. I was already a big fan of women’s wrestling in general and was familiar with several joshi via their appearances in Shimmer (including several who had been trained by Emi Sakura, although I had no idea of that at the time). I was extremely excited to see as much wrestling as I could, and my schedule was packed with shows by a variety of promotions.
Due to strong recommendation of a good friend who was already a big Emi Sakura fan at the time, on the third day of my trip my fourth overall show introduced me to Gatoh Move. The four shows at four different venues from four different promotions were all wonderfully unique, interesting, and fun. Gatoh Move however was perhaps the most different from any show I’d seen before, and this was one of their ring shows in Itabashi Green Hall.
From the opening song and dance numbers, to the intergender tag match, to marveling at the skill of the younger wrestlers (although I’d later discover one of them already had nearly a decade of experience and was the company’s ace apparent), and so on it was a unique and enthralling experience.
And course the wrestling itself was extremely good. I only knew three of the wrestlers going in (Hiroyo Matsumoto, Hikaru Shida, and Makoto) but nearly all the rest would become familiar faces as time went on both in and out of Gatoh Move. Looking back at the main event in particular of Emi Sakura & Nanae Takahashi vs SAKI & Mizuki is kind of mind blowing.
I had a lot of fun, and was eager to see more of the promotion. As the saying goes, I hadn’t seen anything yet. The following week I went to my first (and second) show at Ichigaya Chocolate Square.
The venue has no ring and just barely holds a mat to wrestle on and a packed in audience (at the time) of about 70 people maximum including some watching through two large windows while standing in a side alley. The crowd is effectively the out of bounds marker and the wrestlers will often use the windowsill to jump off of. It’s a unique format and a great atmosphere.
The quality of matches they’re able to perform in such an environment speaks volumes of the talent of all involved, and I was instantly hooked. The wrestling Gatoh Move presents is unlike anything I’ve seen before or since, and the live experience is something special. I attended at least one Ichigaya show, as well Gatoh ring shows when they happened to coincide with my trip dates, every time I went back.
Signboard won in an audience-wide janken tournament.
Gatoh Move was about three years old at the time, and it already had a sense of identity and a lot of the same elements that persist to this day. Which is incredibly interesting since one of the promotions’ greatest strengths is Sakura’s willingness to innovate and try new things.
But the central concept and feel of a small core roster of joshi wrestlers supplemented by both men and women guests from other promotions putting on fun shows has remained throughout the years I’ve watched, and among the many things that gives Gatoh Move it’s appeal.
I’ve (rightfully) mentioned Emi Sakura often as the shaping force of Gatoh Move, but part of that is also her wonderful ability as a trainer to identify and accentuate her trainee’s personal charisma and skill strengths.
The resulting vast differences in personalities and styles of the roster determine what Gatoh looked and felt like in any given time period. Sakura’s genuine appreciation of fan support also carries through and everyone in Gatoh has always been an absolute pleasure to meet.
When I started watching Sakura, Riho, Sayaka Obihiro, and Kotori were Gatoh Move. A year later the addition of Mitsuru Konno and Aasa Maika and regular appearances of freelancer (and former Sakura trainee) Aoi Kizuki brought a different dynamic.
And so on through the debuts of Yuna Mizumori and Mei Suruga, the eventual retirements of Kotori, Aasa, Aoi, and Mitsuru, and Riho’s departure and the resulting debut of Gatoh Move Generation 4 (Chie Koishikawa, Sayuri, Sayaka, Tokiko Kirihara, Lulu Pencil, and Rin Rin (now Yukari Hosokawa of GLEAT)).
Each person/roster had a distinct effect on the promotion and matches and stories emerged from each group that both felt unique to them and at the same time like it fit perfectly into what Gatoh Move was.
The ability to change and innovate drastically while still maintaining a core identity is a recurring theme over the years I’ve watched Gatoh Move. A couple years ago it became more important than ever.
To me Gatoh Move’s intergender matches were always intergender done right. From the very first match I ever saw of theirs to the wonderfully fun annual Go Go Green Curry Koppun Cup annual intergender tag team tournament to the previously mentioned Riho vs Masa and so much more Gatoh has always known how to capture the proper feel of everyone in the match just being wrestlers competing.
This ended up playing a big part in one of most daring innovations Sakura had ever tried.
When Covid changed the world in 2020 Sakura’s small promotion with a home base unable to properly handle distancing requirements for an attending crowd was faced with a real question of how to survive.
Sakura embraced a rather crazy direction that could only have worked with her particular sense of innovation and risk taking, as well as an adaptable roster that was more than game for the challenges that would arise. Thus Gatoh Move’s twin promotion ChocoPro was born.
Not convinced that just doing Gatoh Move with no audience would be the right approach, Sakura envisioned a new presentation directly designed for streaming to bring live wrestling to fans all over the world in a way specifically tailored to the unique opportunities of wrestling without an audience in Ichigaya Chocolate Square.
While some might consider this philosophical premise a bit thin to differentiate a brand on, ChocoPro shows have developed their own feel and characteristics that make them distinct from Gatoh Move despite sharing a roster, creative forces, etc. One difference is that ChocoPro is a fully intergender brand, while Gatoh Move is technically a joshi company that has men wrestlers as guests (again a subtle but noticeable distinction).
But perhaps the biggest change to come from the creation of ChocoPro was the No Pay Wall philosophy. Every type of viewable content ChocoPro creates is put up on their YouTube channel for free, supported by optional sponsorship purchases, YouTube and Patreon memberships, etc as people choose and are able to contribute.
The commitment to make it work from everyone involved was incredible, and ChocoPro is as much a creation of Akki and Mei joining with or in place of Sakura on the live streams they started doing as added content to Gen 4 who all had to adapt to an extremely challenging situation in their rookie year to regular participants Masa, Choun Shiryu, Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes, and many more as it was Sakura’s. Seeing it succeed was both amazing and wonderful, as it really doesn’t seem like something anyone else could have pulled off.
Yet here we are two and a half years later with ChocoPro firmly established as a beloved sub brand of Gatoh Move to the point where it has and will continue even once Gatoh Move shows were able to start up again. Here’s hoping it will continue to prosper for a long time to come.
One last thing I’d like to talk about that I think perfectly underscores what Gatoh Move brings to the wrestling world is their casual trading program, Darejyo.
Darejyo is short for “Daredemo Joshi Puroresu” or Anyone’s Women’s Professional Wrestling. Started by Sakura and currently run by Mei (herself a former participant), the idea is to offer a suitable environment for any woman, regardless of age, experience, etc, to learn the basics of pro wrestling in a casual manner within a professional, safe environment. There are limits on the types of things they learn and try (avoiding more difficult and potentially dangerous aspects like certain types of strikes, etc) while still giving a strong introduction and base to build off of.
Darejyo’s had participants ranging from under 10 years old to women in their forties, and several participants have gone on to train and debut as full wrestlers including Mei herself and Gen 4 in Gatoh Move and even some in other promotions such as Diana’s Haruka Umesaki and Madeline.
There’s a ton more details that could be shared and praises to be sung about Gatoh Move, but I hope what’s here has been interesting and enjoyable. Here are the details on the 10th anniversary show, and it’s an extremely exciting and suitable card for such an event.
Phoenix Rises: (7pm JST on 9/15/22, to be aired on YouTube at a later date)
Toru Owashi & Sayuri vs Tokio Kirihara & Antonio Honda vs Sayaka Obihiro & Sawasdee Kamen
Orange Panna Cotta (Sayaka & Chie Koishikawa) vs Daisy Monkey (TJPW’s Suzume & Arisa Endo)
Asia Dream Tag Title match: CDK (Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi) (c) vs Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto
Yuna Mizumori vs Mei Suruga
Visit Gatoh Move’s YouTube channel to check out all of their content. As previously mentioned everything they are doing goes up for free under Sakura’s “No Pay Wall” initiative, so if you do enjoy and are able / would like to support please see their patreon, join as a member of their YouTube channel, visit their store and/or donate directly via their PayPal.
Thanks to everyone in Gatoh Move for a wonderful 10 years and I wish them all the best for many more.
Been a while. I hope to have the blog off its long hiatus and back to regular updates sometime in September. In the meantime there are a couple of things I though it would be useful to have reference for and decided to do a quick write up.
Exhibition Matches
Exhibition matches are matches that generally have short time limits and are happening for some sort of special reason or circumstances, including special events, return matches, or occasionally for retirements (such as with Reika Saiki’s retirement earlier this year).
Here I want to specifically talk about pre-debut exhibition matches, like the ones new Gatoh Move trainee Miya is currently having (and that I’ve seen wrestlers in other companies go through as well).
These exhibitions are “unofficial” semi-practice matches for a trainee to face an established wrestler (usually a roster member of the company they are training to join). In the past these often happened as a pre-show of sorts only for the live audience, but more of them are being broadcast the last few years (still generally before the show officially starts though).
There are a few special things about these matches to take note of. Both the trainee and her opponent wear training clothes/sweats as opposed to full wrestling gear, underscoring the nature of the match.
The matches are short, generally with a three to five minute time limit with unlimited falls (although occasionally exhibition matches can end with a single decision).
Finally, again these matches do not count towards the career of the trainee in that the trainee is not considered to have debuted as a wrestler by having exhibitions. They are exactly as described: a chance to get a look at someone preparing to be a wrestler and an opportunity for them to challenge themselves a bit in an actual match environment before they debut. There is no set number of exhibition matches or timing for them before a debut. It can vary greatly from trainee to trainee.
It’s really cool to be able to see these, and Miya’s been impressive in the ones she’s had thus far. I’m extremely excited for her official debut at Gatoh Move’s 10th Anniversary show on September 15 and happy for her. Good luck Miya!
Ichigaya Chocolate Square
Gatoh Move and its alter ego of sorts ChocoPro (which was specifically designed with the strengths and limitations of a streaming based wrestling show in mind and often runs shows without a live audience present) have a unique home base in Ichigaya Chocolate Square. It’s a venue that just barely holds a rectangular mat to wrestle on, and when an audience is present its maximum is about 50 people nowadays (including spectators watching through two large windows while standing in a side alley).
Chocolate Square’s peculiarities as a space to train and wrestle in not only lead to a great deal of innovation and adaptability among the participating wrestlers, but also give rise to some unusual rules and conventions.
Here’s a brief overview:
The edge of the mat and the wall it’s pushed up against act as a “rope break” for submission holds only (when there is a crowd the crowd is essentially the rope break marker).
For pinfalls, as long as the shoulders of the person being pinned are on the mat the pin counts. There is no “rope break” for pinfalls in Chocolate Square.
There are no countouts: action can (and typically does during ChocoPro shows) spill outside the windows.
The referees in Gatoh Move/ChocoPro (perhaps even more than elsewhere in puro) are very lenient about DQ’s. There have been maybe five total DQs or no contests in all 250 ChocoPro shows, and they were only when things got particularly blatant and/or out of hand.
Double teams and double pins are allowed in tag team matches. As long as the legal person is being pinned and the legal member of the other team is involved the pin counts.
There is a lot more to the special environment and atmosphere in Ichigaya Chocolate Square to discover by watching, but I just wanted to give a little bit of context and reference here for newer viewers.
I had a different opening planned for this, talking in detail about Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW) becoming one of my favorite promotions starting during my second trip to Japan with a show featuring numerous new-to-me wrestlers including a pair of idol rookies who impressed me in a singles match.
But as I refreshed my memory and prepared what I wanted to highlight in this retrospective, something jumped out at me that demanded a bit of attention.
Reika Saiki, known as the Muscle Idol, became one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. It feels like she was a centerpiece of my schedule planning during my trips to Japan alongside Tsukasa Fujimoto, Emi Sakura, Sareee, etc. I have strikingly vivid memories of some of her matches, and went to certain shows specifically because she was on them. It feels like she was one of the wrestlers I saw wrestle live constantly.
In actuality I never managed to see her wrestle more than twice a trip at most, and attended a grand total of eight of her matches. And while I would have loved to have been at more, clearly those eight alone were more than enough to leave a lasting impression.
Reika broke a fair number of stereotypes by defying the traditional mold for idols with her powerful physique. She was already becoming known as an idol, cosplayer, and for her Muscle by the time she decided to train as a pro wrestler.
(Note: In the US we’d colloquially say Reika was a bodybuilder, but in Japan they apparently use the term strictly for people who participate in competitions. Reika did not, so her muscle and fitness related activities and work are referred to as her “Muscle.”)
Part of the lasting impression Reika made in the wrestling ring was related to the same uniqueness that aided her success in her other endeavors: an infectious charisma powered by a cheerful and bubbly personality wrapped up in a seemingly paradoxical package of a short, beautiful young woman with arms that looked like she could bench press a house.
But in a lot of ways it was also all ancillary. Reika fully committed to being a wrestler as much as she did everything else and got crazy good crazy fast. She was already extremely solid when I first saw her a mere nine months into her career against Maki Itoh, another idol who would go on to big things in TJPW. At the end of the show she came out to challenge then reigning Princess of Princess champion Yuu, signaling major plans ahead for the Muscle Idol.
Reika would prove unsuccessful in that challenge, but would earn another shot at the title eight months later as a result of not only winning TJPW’s yearly tournament, but pinning the reigning champion in the finals to win it.
I was lucky enough to attend TJPW’s 8/26/17 show featuring Reika’s title shot in the main event against my other favorite in the promotion, defending champion Yuka Sakazaki. To say I was excited for the encounter would be a huge understatement, and the match easily lived up to expectations. Reika had built on the strong foundation of the first match of hers I saw, kept pace with Yuka the whole way, and was more than deserving of her victory and ensuing title reign as top champion of the promotion a mere year and a half into her career.
I think that’s a major part of the disconnect when I look back and feel like Reika was around much more and much longer than she was: she already didn’t wrestle like a rookie and her milestones felt as natural as they were quick to come. It’s insane that her whole career was effectively just three and a half years long.
Reika’s ring style combined appropriate power moves with strong fundamentals and bursts of speed in a way that made her a joy to watch. She was as comfortable leaving her feet for a dropkick or Shining Wizard or grappling on the mat as she was throwing people around in displays of her strength. She meshed with opponents in way that again was reminiscent of someone with much more experience. As a referred to in the beginning her matches were always thoroughly enjoyable and memorable.
Although for me there’s admittedly another likely factor to why the matches I saw of Reika’s stand out. I was incredibly lucky in many of the particular shows I got to attend. On TJPW’s 1/4/18 show Reika defended the title I saw her win against TJPW’s ace Miyu Yamashita in a wonderfully hard hitting match highlighting all the best things about each wrestler’s style.
Exactly one year later I got to see a dream match of mine as Reika battled the legendary Meiko Satomura. Once again it was exactly what I expected and hope for. Reika looked great against joshi wrestling’s Final Boss.
In addition to her singles title reign Reika had tag team success in TJPW alongside Muscle JK Strikers partner Marika Kobashi. In Spring of 2019 I got to see the team in action for the first and only time in one of Reika’s last matches for TJPW as she was leaving to concentrate on things in her home promotion of Wrestle-1 and freelance opportunities. In W-1 she was having a series of matches against veterans, and I had seen a fun encounter pitting her against Takako Inoue a couple weeks earlier.
The Muscle JK Strikers match was further special for me as another of my dream opponents for Reika, Gatoh Move’s (now AEW’s) Riho was opposite teaming with Raku. It was a lot of fun and always nice to see Reika victorious, particularly since in retrospect this would be the last time I’d see her wrestle live.
In mid-August 2019 Reika would again beomce a singles champion, dethroning Saori Anou to win the Actwres girl’Z title. Unfortunately Reika had to give up the title just a month later without ever having a chance to defend it, as she was diagnosed with a broken jaw and had to take an extended hiatus from wrestling for surgery and recovery. After the title victory she had a few more matches in W-1 and one tag match in AWG during the remainder of August before her injury.
During my winter 2019 trip I did get to see her at a Wrestle-1 show where she did a non wrestling appearance to greet fans. It was great to see her in good spirits, and at the time while it seemed like she would need an extended period to deal with everything a return was definitely something she was working towards.
Reika PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
But shortly after that the entire world dramatically changed, with big effects of course on the wrestling landscape. While a return for Reika still seemed eventually possible it was also more and more uncertain as time went by.
On March 26, 2022 Reika announced she was retiring both from wrestling and Muscle, having decided that what she wanted had changed and wishing to pursue acting and other things. Her retirement ceremony would take place at TJPW’s big 5/3/2022 show (available to view with subscription to Wrestle Universe).
While she wasn’t wrestling for TJPW when she got injured the majority of her career was there and they were extremely supportive of her while she was injured. Her going back there for her farewell was incredibly appropriate and great to see.
With two and a half years passed since her last match her retirement wasn’t a huge surprise, nor was the initial plan for her appearance to be purely ceremonial. However there would be one final surprise and treat for the fans.
During Reika’s absence another member of the Cheer-1 idol group she had come from debuted as a TJPW wrestler. Reika decided to get into the ring one final time in a special 3-minute exhibition match against that rookie, Arisu Endo.
It was truly wonderful to see one of TJPW’s rising stars get the opportunity to wrestle Reika in a situation that clearly meant so much to them both. And while it was technically an exhibition, they went full bore for the time they had and put on a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging display that ended all too soon.
An abbreviated version of the traditional retirement ceremony followed where Miyu and Yuka presented flowers and messages from the roster. Reika talked about that being the fastest three minutes of her life, thinking for just a moment about changing her mind about retiring, ultimately being happy with the decision she’s made, and how grateful she is to TJPW. The ten count gong and reading of her accomplishments officially ended her career, then everyone came in to bid her farewell. It was wonderfully done and great to see Reika get a proper send off.
The incredible impression Reika made in such a short career of course makes me wish it could have been longer, but I greatly appreciate all the time and toll spent entertaining us and wish the former Muscle Idol all the best in whatever lies ahead.
Derailments of Thought 