Japanese Women's Wrestling 1980 -1990.

Wrestler Profiles Below

Jaguar Yokota	Chigusa Nagayo	Lioness Asuka	Devil Masami
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jaguar yokota

HEIGHT: 159cm WEIGHT: 56kg DOB: July 25 1961 Real Name: Toshimi "Rimi" Yokota PROMOTIONS: AJW, J'D Beauty Athlete,

Debut: June 28, 1977 vs. Mayumi Takahashi
Retirements: Originally retired in December 1985. (remained AJW trainer) 1994 returned to active wrestling. December 26 1998 lost to Devil Masami 2nd retirement. Jaguar again returned 2002 including a stint for the men's promotion DDT under a mask. Jaguar married her doctor husband in July 2004 and at the age of 44 retired from active wrestling again due to pregnancy with her first child. On Thursday November 30th 2006 it was announced on Japanese TV that Jaguar gave birth to a baby boy in Hawaii. Jaguar returned for her 30th Anniversary in wrestling in March 2007.

Jaguar Yokota

BIOGRAPHY: Jaguar was born Toshimi Rimi Yokota in Tokyo (Arakawa Ward) on July 25th, 1961. Yokota was part of a huge audition to enter the dojo of the All Japan Women's promotion in 1977. With over 600 girls auditioning due to the immense popularity at the time of the Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato & Maki Ueda) Rimi Yokota was able to make the cut and made her ring debut at 16. Rimi was placed into a tag team called "The young pair" with fellow rookie Seiko Honawa. Yokota was soon a noticeable talent and AJW decided with the young talent that they had to create a new title called the "Junior title" Yokota became the first holder of the "Junior title" belt in 1980 when she defeated Chino Sato. Yokota vacated the Junior Title in order to concentrate on achieving more prestigious titles. In December 1980 Yokota captured both the All Japan Champion and WWWA World Tag Titles (Partnered with Ayumi Hori). Once again Yokota vacated the titles this time in order to challenge for the number one belt in the AJW promotion the WWWA World Title. In February 1981 Yokota pinned "Beauty Pair's" Jackie Sato to become the WWWA World Title holder. Rimi Yokota during this time became known as "Jaguar" due to her speed, graceful and sleek appearance.

Jaguar Yokota in April 1981 won the NWA International Girls Tag Titles from Joyce Grable & Judy Martin in Hiroshima, Japan but again she vacated her new title to concentrate on maintaining her WWWA World title. During this time period Jaguar defended her belt against American wrestlers Wendi Richter and Canadian Rhonda Sing under her "Monster Ripper" guise. Jaguar remained champion until in May 1983 when "Monster Ripper" interfered in hair vs. mask match where Jaguar was pitted against Mexican wrestler La Galactica.

Jaguar had her hair cut off and quickly set about the regain her title in a bloody rematch on the 1st of June 1983. Jaguar's second WWWA world title reign lasted 2 & 1/2 years. At the end of 1983 Jaguar became AJW's 1st ever recipient of the MVP award. Jaguar in 1984 added the UWA World Champion title to her WWWA Title when she defeated La Galactica. This marked the first time any wrestler had held both world titles simultaneously. At the end of 1984 Jaguar teamed up with her former rival Devil Masami and became known as "the Queen's Combo" and won a tag team tournament in Yokohama.

Jaguar Yokota

1985 saw Jaguar go to Mexico City to wrestle. Whilst in Mexico Yokota lost the UWA title to Lola Gonzalez. Jaguar was soon joined in Mexico by the "Crush Girls" (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka). "The Crush Girls" by this stage held megastar status and Fuji TV followed the pair to do a prime time network special on Jaguar and the Crush Girls in Mexico. In the second half of 1985 in Japan Jaguar was challenged by "Crush Girl" Lioness Asuka for the WWWA Title. The interest in the match resulted in it being aired live on Fuji TV. Jaguar retaining the belt in 24:20 with her backdrop finisher. The match itself has since been regarded by many as one of the greatest in women's wrestling history.

A bad shoulder injury forced Jaguar to vacate the belt at the end of 1985. Jaguar retired in 1986 but stayed with AJW as a trainer. Jaguar's training laid very strong foundations for the future stars Manami Toyota, Megumi Kudo, Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue to name a few. Yokota re entered the ring in 1989 for Lioness Asuka's retirement match. Jaguar challenging Asuka to a 5min match which ended in a draw. 1n 1994 Jaguar again entered the ring at the Big Egg Wrestling Universe show at the Tokyo Dome. Jaguar teamed with Bison Kimura against Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura in a "legends" match.

In October 1995 Yokota appeared at a press conference to announce the formation of a new promotion called Yoshimoto Pro (more commonly known as Jd'. Jaguar has remained active in Jd' both as a wrestler & trainer. She held the Jd's TWF Title, in 1997 and 1998. In 1998 she also captured the TWF Tag Titles with rookie Yuko Kosugi. Jaguar's second retirement came in December1998 when the Jd' group was struggling.

In 2002 Jaguar opened a cabaret club in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment strip. "Yokota Kichi" was a nightclub with a female professional wrestling theme. Visitors to "Yokota Kichi" were served by two hostesses, one of whom was a professional wrestler. Ariya one of the professional wrestlers that hostesses in the nightclub told "Shukan Post" the advantage of working at "Yokota Kitchi" "I believe in Jaguar to the bottom of my heart, so I had no problems doing this job. Besides, female professional wrestlers hardly make any money. Champions are different, but the average wrestler only makes from 10,000 yen to 50,000 yen each time they enter the ring. I used to be an office worker in Wakayama and made much more than that. Now, I can work here at night and know I have enough money to let me train as I like during the day."

Jaguar Yokota

Back in the ring again Yokota also worked for men's promotion DDT under a mask in 2002 and has remained active as a freelance wrestler working for promotions like JWP, NEO, JD, AJW and Michinoku Pro.
In July 2004 Jaguar married a doctor. Before the marriage Jaguar celebrated her career and upcoming marriage with a special "JAGUAR YOKOTA WEDDING SHOW". The show consisted of an afternoon show and an evening show. The feature was the Jaguar Yokota Cup Tag Team Tournament. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Yuki Miyazaki won the tournament defeating Misae Genki & Hikaru in the finals. Takako Inoue returned from Minnesota and was in the main event of the afternoon show. Sumie Sakai also came home from the US to pay tribute to her mentor.

INTERVIEW WITH JAGUAR YOKOTA AUGUST 2004

Questions asked by: Amy Action Answers by Jaguar Yokota

1) How did you get into wrestling and what sports had you done before wrestling?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I applied and passed the first new member audition in 1977 for All Japan women's pro-wrestling. I got through the audition. I had played table tennis in junior high school but had not done anything at school in relation to pro-wrestling.
2) How long did you have to train for before having your first match?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I started training on the 1st of March 1977. I got a license as a pro-wrestler on the 19th of May in that year and I had on my first match on the 28th of June 1977.

AJW Jaguar Yokota Jaguar and Toyota
3) What was your toughest match?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I am not sure which was the toughest match for me was. But the matches that have remained in my memory, where I challenged for the WWWA championship for the first time and when I had to have a crew-cut for my loss of the title, in the hair vs. mask match, they were both memorable.
4) Who was your favorite tag partner?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I could not decide because I didn't have a particular tag partner but I had a number of tag partners. I mostly have wrestled individual matches.

5) When did you start training other girls?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I started training other girls in 1986, after my first retirement.
6) What do you see as being the most important thing in training others in wrestling?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I think foundation; knowing the basic foundation is the most important for wrestling.

7) A number of people feel that Megumi Kudo directly copied your style as her teacher do you feel that Megumi Kudo was a lot like you or not?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: Kudo, she is my first former student after my retirement. But although we were of a different status, I was a coach and she was a wrestler, I think that we were comrades of studying each other. Since her body was small, I taught her my favourite holds and moves. And a number of people feel that Kudo copied me, but I did not think so. She had her strong points, and established her original style as a wrestler in her wrestling life.
8) Are you aware of your fans outside of Japan?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I was not aware of it but it is a pleasure, a delightful thing.

9) What made you decide to come back to wrestling for JD in the mid 1990s?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: In the 1990s in Japan, there were many organizations of pro-girl wrestling with competitive events among pro-girl wrestling organizations. At that time I wished I could try my hand at wrestling again. When I joined the event at the Tokyo-Dome, for a match of retired girl-wrestlers; I awakened the wrestler heart in me and decided I would come back to wrestling.

10) What is your exercise routine like to stay in shape for wrestling?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: For the now, presently I practice in order to teach. I mostly use my time for coaching; I do a lot of stretching in my exercise. I think the attraction of girl-wrestling is speed, technique and grace, and I aim to keep my wrestling sharp, with that in mind.
11) How do you feel about your recruits Yabushita & Sakai teaming with you recently?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: Now, it is probably the point which most is different from former times. I think pro-girl wrestling in Japan, it does not have difference between veterans and rookies, and both wrestler and promoter change their minds so I do not feel anything about it.

12) Do you have any advice to women wanting to become wrestlers?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I wish they have ambition and yearn to be a special pro-girl wrestler.
13) How many music albums did you release?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I released one album and one single. But I wish to dismiss them on my history.
14) What are your future goals?
Answer Jaguar Yokota: I think I do not have any goals in my wrestling. I believe that I get my aims of wrestling in the short time; I shall leave great things on my history as pro-girl wrestler. And when I will get end my life, I will be smiling with satisfaction. ringside.

Jaguar Yokota celebrates 30 yrs in joshi

Written March 12, 2007 by Frank Pozen. There is not much question that Jaguar Yokota is one of the most important and revered figures in joshi puroresu history. This is not only for her tremendous ring skills and charisma but for her ability to train the next generation to be as good as she is. When fans talk about the glory days of the 1990s, it all comes back to Jaguar because she trained a lot of those wrestlers. So the entire joshi puroresu industry gathered at the Hotel Laforest in Tokyo on Mar. 11 to celebrate Jaguar Yokota's thirty years in joshi. It was a star studded affair with 1003 fans in attendance.

The format of the show was a wrestling show in the afternoon followed by a ceremony and stage show in the evening. This was also Jaguar's first ring appearance since giving birth to her son in December. You can be sure she has been hitting the gym preparing for this day. The show started with a 30 girl Royal Rumble style battle royal. The big thing here was the participation of joshi puroresu legends Mimi Hagiwara, Lucy Kayama & Tomy Aoyama. The wrestlers entered the ring in groups. A wrestler could be eliminated by pinfall, submission, foul, over the top rope, whatever. The first group was Toshie Uematsu, Sachie Abe, Obacchi Iizuka, Bullfight Sora, KAZUKI & GAMI. The second group was Cherry, Nozomi Takesako, Kyoko Kimura, Haruka Matsuo, Saki Maemura (replacing the injured Hikaru), Leon, Hiroyo Muto & AKINO. The third group was Chikayo Nagashima, Carlos Amano, Ran YuYu, Yuki Miyazaki, Tanny Mouse & Misae Genki. The fourth group was Michiko Ohmukai, Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, Manami Toyota, Mayumi Ozaki & Yumiko Hotta. The final group was Devil Masami, Tomy Aoyama, Lucy Kayama, Mimi Hagiwara & Jaguar Yokota. Not surprisingly the legends didn't last very long. The finish came down to Devil Masami & Chikayo Nagashima. Nagashima won by pinfall at 21:07. The trophy was presented by Maki Ueda.

The rest of the show was a promotional theme show. First was a Pro Wrestling SUN match with Nanae Takahashi over Natsuki*Taiyo with a reverse splash at 12:32. Next was an LLPW match with former AJW wrestlers Takako Inoue & Noriyo Tateno. Jaguar trained Takako. Takako won with destiny's hammer in 8:57. Next was a JWP match with Azumi Hyuga, Commando Bolshoi & Tsubasa Kuragaki over Kaori Yoneyama, Kayoko Haruyama & ECO in 13:26. And finally a NEO match with Yoshiko Tamura over Etsuko Mita with the running elbow at 9:19. Two more Jaguar trainees.The main event was Jaguar Yokota, Dynamite Kansai & Ayako Hamada vs. Aja Kong, KAORU & Amazing Kong. KAORU & Aja are two more Jaguar trainees. It was apparently a very entertaining match. Everone got to do their trademark spots. Jaguar used the Princessrana (reverse hurricanrana) on KAORU for the win at 23:00. Jaguar said it's been a great thirty years and thank you for everyhting. Aja Kong grabbed the mike and said "We can never thank you enough for everything you've done for us." The evening show had mostly singing. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka sang. Maki Ueda & Devil Masami sang. Mimi Hagiwara sang and she's an actress so she was probably pretty good. Jaguar Yokota and her husband and son took the stage to thank everyone for a great day celebarating her thirty years in joshi puroresu.

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