Gaijins in Joshi

[Kaiju]

This just came to mind the other day but does anyone know of any successful ones in Japan?Or even non successful ones..Mudusa and April Hunter came to mind but thats all I can think of..

[Tradewynd]

You don't see too many gaijins in joshi because, well, for the most part they suck. Women in Japan are trained properly, and women in the US have never been trained properly. Terri Power worked Zenjo for a little while during the boom, although she usually seemed out of place. She was good for an American, but not as good as the people she was in the ring with. She also had the sex appeal of a roided up walrus.

Debbie Malenko worked Zenjo and maybe a few other places at the same time, although based on the 3 of her matches I've seen the only thing that was great about her was her name. A real Malenko, she was not.

Anna Gomez was booked on Big Egg Wrestling Universe, and never used again, so there must have been a reason for it.

Reggie Bennett was used in a lot of places. I don't ever remember seeing her wrestle, but since she was around for awhile and held the IWA Title at least once, so she probably didn't suck too much.

I've never seen either of Gran Apache's daughters take a bump properly, so as far as I'm concerned, they're completely worthless.

Bionic J gets somewhat steady work. She's not bad, and has gotten a lot better by working people better than her.

I'll make the assumption that Moolah probably worked in Japan at some point, considering that she had the NWA/WWF Women's Title for so long, but I've never seen her have a match I enjoyed. Consensus opinion seems to be that she was a shooter, although as Inoki has shown us, being able to shoot doesn't mean that you can work.

For the most part, it seems that if a woman was trained in America, she has to suck. That is starting to change, as people like Trish Stratus, Molly Holly and Victoria have all shown that they can work. April Hunter is incredible, and it boggles my mind that the WWE hasn't signed her yet. Before 2000, you saw a few passable workers here and there, like Madusa, Sherri Martel and Luna at their heights, although I don't know of Sherri or Luna ever doing anything of note in Japan.

Then again, maybe some of them weren't really that bad, but when you're working people like Megumi Kudo, Akira Hokuto, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, Mima Shimoda, Etsuko Mita, Bison Kimura, Bull Nakano, Mayumi Ozaki, Manami Toyota etc. etc. you need to be really good just to keep up. They were by no means up to the standards being set in Japan, which is why you don't see many gaijins used in joshi. They just can't keep up, and plane tickets aren't free. There's no reason to waste money flying someone in that isn't very good if she isn't going to move a lot of tickets, and gaijin women really don't draw.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

There used to be at least two gaijins in every AJW tour. Monster Ripper and Leilani Kai were top gaijins in late 70s and early 80s.

[Kaiju]

Yeah April Hunter is really good and she just was on the WE LOVE SABU show. The WWE probably hasn't hired her most likely because of her porn background.I also heard something about Madusa having a CD out.

[stunning_grover]

Debbie Malenko worked Zenjo and maybe a few other places at the same time, although based on the 3 of her matches I've seen the only thing that was great about her was her name. A real Malenko, she was not.

I disagree. The Malenko name was the worst thing about her. I wished she had would've kept wrestling as Debbie Drake. Other than that, she was very good.

[Tradewynd]

Have you seen Dream Rush? She stunk it up like Brian Lawler in the executive bathroom. The match was seriously 2 stars better when she wasn't in it.

[stunning_grover]

Have you seen Dream Rush? She stunk it up like Brian Lawler in the executive bathroom. The match was seriously 2 stars better when she wasn't in it.

I don't remember that particular match. But I was trying to say that she was pretty good for a joshi gaijin. At least she was better than Madusa and Terri Power.

I've never seen either of Gran Apache's daughters take a bump properly, so as far as I'm concerned, they're completely worthless.

Mari is cute, so she's not worthless.

I don't know of Sherri or Luna ever doing anything of note in Japan.

I really liked Sherri in the WWF, but she never did anything of note in Japan. I have seen one Luna match from Japan and she looked totally out of place. And she never did anything of note in Japan either. In that match she was teaming with Rockin' Robin vs. Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa in 1990. I liked Rockin' Robin. That's a guilty pleasure, because she wasn't great.

By the way, Wendy Richter was decent as an evil gaijin in the early 1980s.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Actually Fabi was the cute one Grover (LOL).

Cheerleader Melissa had some excellent matches in A to Z. From what I have seen I think she did really well

[Tradewynd]

I believe that both of you need to have your eyes examined. The only daughter of anyone named Gran that has anything resembling sex appeal is now known as Arisin Z.

[Toan]

I believe that both of you need to have your eyes examined. The only daughter of anyone named Gran that has anything resembling sex appeal is now known as Arisin Z.

And how!

[Bozo Yoroshiku]

Yeah April Hunter is really good and she just was on the WE LOVE SABU show. The WWE probably hasn't hired her most likely because of her porn background.

The thing with April is that on her first tour with A-to-Z, she didn't fit well with the style. She was busting her *** training with Leo-na and Baby-A to get a feel for the flyers (I think it was during practice that Baby A broke her ankle, unless I have my timeline confused).

Even April told me she was having trouble getting her head around what works in Japan; Stateside if you don't sell, you suck, but in Japan, if you don't sell, fans pop. A-to-Z was trying to get her to be a no-selling monster (to be a rival for Hotta? or GAMI?). Never saw any followup matches to see if she ever got it down.

[Tradewynd]

Personally, I think the general Japanese style is a lot easier. No talking in the ring, no selling, not having to worry about offending someone for being too stiff, etc. Most of what I've seen April do in the states have been matches against guys, doing "The Little Engine That Could" gimmick, so what A-to-Z needs is obviously a lot of different than that. They don't want some wussy girl that gets all woozy from a few suplexes. They need someone who will consume her enemies with fireballs from her eyes and lightning from her ***. They need a primadonna who will brag about her success in places like Playboy and Foxy Boxing, not someone down to Earth who seems almost normal. That would also be a good marketing opportunity to release an AV video, which will not only get the character more over and bring a nice payday, but immediately lead to HUSTLE bookings, and that's when you start making money.

Maybe she was so hot that it was just assumed she would always be a baby, so no one ever bothered teaching her how to work heel. Sure, you could point out things like being an nWo girl, but that's not really being heel, that's standing around and looking good. Perhaps April should watch a Best of Ozaki tape. Ozaki is the epitome of heel. She makes The Franchise character look like a gentleman. He did a shred of decency in him, as he would hold the ropes for Francine. Ozaki would never hold the ropes for Francine. .1 Ozaki + April's body = money.

[stunning_grover]

.1 Ozaki + April's body = money.

What's wrong with Ozaki's body?

[Tradewynd]

Not a thing. It looks pretty good from over here. I meant one tenth of Ozaki's evilness put into April Hunter would make her the biggest gaijin star joshi will ever seen. In every Ozaki match I've seen she invents more ways to cheat than most people know how to cheat. Her eyes, her body language, her fighting spirit itself radiates "mess with my and I'll hang you upside down and whip you until I get tired." Even watching through the TV you can feel it. I can't even imagine what seeing her live must be like. Probably scares the crap out of the schoolgirls who go to these shows. Take a sliver of that, put into April and with a few cute girls who can work to play the good guys any joshi company could easily draw 500+ paid regularly in 6 months, and as word of mouth spreads those numbers will only go up. Four months if April can come up with a finisher that somehow uses her breasts, as Japanese women seem to be as fascinated with them as heterosexual men.

[Bozo Yoroshiku]

one tenth of Ozaki's evilness put into April Hunter would make her the biggest gaijin star joshi will ever seen.

I would add in one tenth of Maekawa's viciousness. Her kicks are absolutely brutal. I thought Hotta was mean, but I was there live when I saw Maekawa kick the living crap out of Tamada, and knocked her cold legit inside of 2 minutes. I saw Tamada after the show and thought she had a concussion (her eyes weren't focussing or tracking very well). I *HATE* Maekawa (which means April should learn a few things about meanness from her )

In every Ozaki match I've seen she invents more ways to cheat than most people know how to cheat. Her eyes, her body language, her fighting spirit itself radiates "mess with my and I'll hang you upside down and whip you until I get tired."

She rules. What she does in the ring is SO wrong! (to paraphrase Mel Brooks: "Wrong me, Ozaki! Wrong me! Wrong my brains out!")


--boz