What happened to Ayako Hamada?

[steve023]

I appologize in advance if this question seems stupid, but I just recently started getting interested in japan women's wrestling or ARSION/japan wrestling and have become a huge fan of Ayako Hamada...I have been trying to get up to speed with things in ARSION/japan and have tried to get more recent taped matches of Ayako's as well as her older stuff and I'm abit confused on something...Did Ayako get injured? Has she retired? The last match I have been able to find with her is back in January of this year and haven't been able to find anything on her since than...Could someone please tell me if Ayako is still around & wrestling? - Steve

[The Franceman]

I just know that she quits ARSION because of a dicsord with Lioness Asuka.

[kkeller]

She is wrestling for GAEA right now. I don't think they have signed her she might be working as a freelancer. If you go over to highspots they have some of her recent work for sale. On the 8-30 show she was in a main event tag match against Toyota and Kong. I wonder who won?

[frankp316]

Most of the guys who post here are probably aware of how Ayako Hamada wound up in GAEA. For those who don't know, here it is. It all started when Lioness Asuka was made ARSION booker in June 2001. She decided, probably because of jealousy, to de-push Ayako. This came to a head on Nov. 17, 2001 when Asuka won the Queen of ARSION title and humiliated Ayako in the process. It was clear that this humiliation was going to continue so Ayako's father convinced her to leave ARSION in Jan. 2002. So what does Ayako do now? She wasn't going to AJW because of the cross promotional with ARSION and the smaller promotions don't put on enough shows. A week after leaving ARSION, Ayako expressed interest in going to the WWE. It is rumoured that she met with WWE officials during their Japanese tour in March but nothing came of it. So Ayako went to Mexico to train with her dad's pals. GAEA called Ayako to ask her to participate in Akira Hokuto's retirement match in April. She's worked for GAEA since then and frequently teams with Meiko Satomura. Unfortunately, GAEA should probably be called The Old Womens Wrestling League. They've got too many senior citizens who need to retire already. They are doing a very poor job of promoting their younger talent. As for GAEA on video, they have a bad habit of chopping the matches to ribbons. I only buy videos that have complete matches. I believe Ayako is under contract to GAEA. Other than that one off LCO show, she hasn't worked for other feds. I will say that if the WWE comes calling, Ayako will go.

[steve023]

frankp316 -

Do you have any idea how long Ayako is under contract with them for?

I can't believe that she actually met with WWE officials and they didn't show an interest in her!? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! What's wrong with them!? Oh wait! This is WWE that we are talking about isn't it!? *sigh!*

Ayako would be the best **** thing to happen to the WWE women's division!

I hope that they really do come calling for Ayako as from what J.R. of WWE has said in his recent report they are looking to bring more women into WWE...Is there anything we can do to help her get noticed by WWE? - Steve

[frankp316]

It doesn't matter what kind of contract Ayako has with GAEA. If the WWE came calling, they'd let her go. Her career in Japan is going nowhere especially since Manami Toyota has come to GAEA. They have to push Manami. I have been saying for a long time that for the WWE to have a decent womens division they have to add at least 6 good solid women wrestlers to their roster and stop using non wrestlers as wrestlers. It's good to see Jim Ross make those comments on the Ross Report but he has to convince Vinnie Mac to do that and I don't know if that's possible. I suppose you could write the WWE but don't kid yourself. They may act like morons sometimes but they know about Ayako. If used properly, she would be a tremendous asset to the WWE. They'd have to do more than hire Ayako to have a decent womens division but certainly that would be a good start. I've been talking about this since Ayako left ARSION and everyone thinks I'm nuts but I don't think Ayako has much of a future in Japan and she and her father know that and that's why she wants out.

[steve023]

Since J.R. is essentially in charge of hiring people into WWE, I think that it would be best to start with him....

Any ideas of how to contact him? Is there an email address where he can be reached?

I'm willing to try anything at this point as I am so sick of the current state of women's wrestling in WWE, maybe if a few people let him know that there are fans out there that support women's wrestling and we offer suggestions of who we would like to see in WWE than maybe that would help get things moving...

I agree with what you said about eliminating the non wrestling women from the women's division, but I'd keep them around as valets for other matches...Also these women could be used for those T&A type matches while the women who are actually wrestlers would hold matches of their own so you would have a balance of both... - Steve

[kkeller]

If the WWE did sign her she would be doing paddle-on-the-pole matches with Trish just like everyone else. I would rather see her stay in Japan.

[frankp316]

I think there are two barriers for the WWE signing Ayako Hamada or Phoenix. Money is one because the WWE may not want to pay these girls what they're worth. It's not like they need training. But the main thing is neither of those girls will do the T & A matches. Oh sure, Ayako can do the glamour stuff but I don't think her dad would let her do the T & A matches. I don't think any of us wants her to do them either. They're demeaning and a waste of her talent. But I will repeat myself. Ayako has a limited future in Japan. She isn't getting the push she deserves and I don't think it would improve no matter who she works for.

[Dr Feelgood]

Personnally, I think Ayako should stay in Japan - and keep her options open there.
Jim Ross did talk a while back about recruiting a latina for a TV role, presumably to associate in some way with the newfound push that hispanic wrestlers are receiving and to reel in fans from that population. If they go that way, instead of bringing in another disposable bimbo, they'd be better inspired to recruit real luchadoras who could do the glamour thing, like say, Ayako Hamada and Fabi Apache. If they were to be associated in TV segments and then in ringwork with Rey and the Guerreros, they could certainly fuel interest in a hispanic feud (which WWE has already lamely tried to stage before) and both Fabi and Ayako would certainly provide much better and more interesting role-models for any chica watching than just another hispanic version of the WWE diva.
However, none of that is likely to happen. Not as long as the fact that Fabi and Ayako can put most if not all of WWE's male talent to shame in the ring is seen as a drawback from WWE's perspective rather than a plus. And not as long as women's wrestling is reduced to 5 minute matches, which isn't likely to change qs long qs there is no interest in quality women's wrestling... which can only come from the handful of Joshi fans and from female fans since the T&A morons would probably boo and chant for puppies during a 5* Toyota match...

I agree with frankp316's assessment of GAEA (though I quite like that fed), and I think that contrary to anything Chigusa says, GAEA is going in the wrong direction relatively to AJW/ARSION recently. If GAEA continue their autarkic policy, I'm pretty sure that once the old draws are gone, that fed won't be the place to be... On the other hand, AJW's been forced to be rebuild and their policy of associating their young talent with young talent from other feds is the right thing to do to gather interest IMO (I hope that talent steps up to the opportunity).
Personnally, I'm more excited by Kayo Noumi vs noki-A for the All-Pacific title than the umpteenth return of Crush; and I'd rather see Ayako return to the AJW/ARSION fold in the future to fight Momoe or face off with AKINO (now there's a dream match!) than stay put in GAEA.
IMO, AJW is preparing tomorrow's draws and paydays by setting up interfed feuds between the young stars, whilst GAEA's allowing its present (which rhymes with the past) live at the expense of the future: will people really be interested in seeing Chikayo Nagashima and Meiko Satomura, good as they may be, face off a 100 times?

[frankp316]

Ayako will stay in GAEA unless the WWE comes calling. Because of AJW's association with ARSION, I never thought Ayako would go there. In GAEA, she is a victim of Chigusa's lousy booking just like she was a victim of Asuka's in ARSION. The whole thing makes me wish for forced retirement again. None of these old broads wants to give up their spots and the Crush Girls are the worst offenders.

[Sofa Kingdom]

Ayako's daddy is well establish.. couldn't they like.. i dunno.. start up their own promotion...

[frankp316]

Gran Hamada is working for one of the Japanese feds. I don't remember which one. Thinking that someone can start a new promotion with a snap of one's fingers is awfully naive. Considering the general downturn in the wrestling business right now, you have to have awfully deep pockets to survive. The road is littered with failed wrestling promotions.

[Peru-Yakuza]

Gran Hamada is in All-Japan under free-agent status. Considering that All-Japan did not bring in Shinobu Kandori whereas New Japan brought in Joanie Laurer (if you can call her a woman, that is) Ayako doesn't have much chance.

[steve023]

After reading that last post now I'm really getting depressed over this whole Ayako situation and I'm actually beginning to start to wish that I had never started this thread considering how each post that has been made about Ayako so far has just gotten progressively more depressing than the last...

While a few that have posted here did have some interesting things to say about Ayako...And I really appreciate you filling me in on the happenings of Ayako since she left ARSION, but I swear that I never have heard so many people with so many negative comments about someone like I have heard lately about Ayako...

I consider myself to be a huge fan of Ayako's and I wanted to get some more feedback on her so I started another thread on her at a different forum, but that turned out to be a big mistake as unfortunately they didn't have anything positive to say about Ayako either...In fact most of them bashed her and called her overrated...