Joshi Puroresu

Joshi Puroresu (女子プロレス) is the general term for Japanese female professional wrestling, which has a long-established history dating back to the 1950's. In joshi there are few angles, screwjob endings are extremely rare and even heel/face distinctions are not always used. These elements exist to a certain extent, but the workrate is considered more important.

Female wrestling in Japan is usually handled by promotions that specialize in joshi, rather than divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions as is the case in the United States (the only exception was FMW, a men's promotion which had a small women's division, but even then depended on talent from women's federations to provide competition). However, joshi promotions sometimes have agreements with male puroresu promotions such that they recognize each others' titles as legitimate, and may share cards.

The wrestling style itself is fast paced with a mixture of mat based work, high flying, brawling and the high impact moves seen in men’s puroresu. It is not rare for joshi promotions to depict women participating in hardcore matches, hair vs hair matches, or performing higher-risk bumps in proportion to most American women's wrestling.

Primary differences between joshi and American women's wrestling is the depiction of women in a non-sexualised way and that often the audience will have a large proportion of female fans. Female wrestlers with natural beauty, such as Mimi Hagiwara, Chikako Shiratori, or Takako Inoue may show off their beauty in non-wrestling related media, such as photobooks and video shoots.

Promotions
Main article: All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was the dominant joshi organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda, known as the "Beauty Pair". The early 1980s saw the fame of Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami, major stars of the second wave of excellent workers who took the place of the glamour-based "Beauty Pair" generation. That decade would later see the rise of Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka, known as the "Crush Gals", who as a tag team achieved a level of unprecedented mainstream success in Japan, unheard of by any female wrestler in the history of professional wrestling all over the world. Their long running feud with Dump Matsumoto and her "Gokuaku Domei" ("Atrocious Alliance") stable would become extremely popular in Japan during the 1980s, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television as well as the promotion regularly selling out arenas.

Main article: ARSION

ARSION (also coined Hyper Visual Fighting ARSION) was formed in November 1998 by Aja Kong. In its initial conception the major key figures in the company were ARSION founder, legendary wrestler Aja Kong, ARSION President ex- AJW businessman Hiroshi Ogawa, ARSION Manager ex wrestler Sakie Hasegawa, and ARSION trainer ex AJW wrestler, Mariko Yoshida.

ARSION aimed at creating a new style within Joshi Puroresu. ARSION wrestlers trained every day and attend Pancrase's dojo every Monday, and Battlarts' dojo every Friday as a part of their routine. They learned pro-wrestling, Lucha Libre, and shoot style wrestling. The girls were taught a new stronger submission style grapple art. For smaller wrestlers who had a history of injuries from high risk moves and getting destroyed at times in matches from larger wrestlers, the mat style meant they were able to work more competitively. Wrestlers that proved to adapt well to the style change and benefited from it included Candy Okutsu, Rie Tamada and Yumi Fukawa.

Main article: JWP

On August 17, 1986, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) was started, by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi, and brought in wrestlers as well as boxer Rumi Kazama and others. In the 1990s the number of joshi puroresu promotions kept increasing, until, by the end of the decade, there were no fewer than seven operating in Japan. In 1992, internal pressure forced the promotion split in two with the formation of LLPW. JWP in its new form did however help to fuel to incredible cross promotional cards of the mid 90’s.

Main article: GAEA Japan

GAEA was founded in 1995 by Chigusa Nagayo, a professional wrestler who achieved huge success in the 1980s with her tag team partner, Lioness Asuka, as the Crush Gals. She helped to train a lot of the younger wrestlers that were featured in GAEA.

On April 15, 1995 the new promotion held its first show. It was at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall, and was called Memorial First Gong. The event was a sellout and received good press. From this point on, GAEA held monthly shows at Korakuen and also occasionally went on the road to other Japanese cities.

GAEA's reputation grew as a result of the acquisition of some well-known wrestlers, and the organization of some very successful interpromotional shows. GAEA acquired highly-respected freelance wrestler Akira Hokuto on September 16, 1996 and Toshiyo Yamada on July 3, 1997. The promotion established a relationship with the Japanese hardcore promotion Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) on July 29, 1995, and worked with the prominent American promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996. As a component of the relationship with WCW, two GAEA wrestlers, Akira Hokuto and Toshie Uematsu, became the first WCW Women's Champion and WCW Women's Cruiserweight Champion respectively.

See also:
 * JD Star
 * NEO Ladies
 * OZ Academy
 * FMW Women's Division
 * Ice Ribbon

Foreign Wrestlers in Joshi
A few notable foreigners (also colloquially known as gaijins) have found success for wrestling in joshi promotions, such as Monster Ripper (Bertha Faye), Madusa (Alundra Blayze), and Amazing Kong. Kong and Ripper have even held the prestigious "Big Red Belt", the WWWA World Championship of AJW.

Several women have also briefly trained in Japan and emulate its style. These women include Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey, and LuFisto among others.

Joshi Stars in Foreign Companies
Ayako Hamada and Amazing Kong have headlined the American TNA Knockouts Division with both women being the current TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions as well as Kong holding the TNA Women's Knockout Championship. Both women also work various American independent promotions such as SHIMMER, JAPW, and WSU.

GAEA formerly worked with the prominent American promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996. As a component of the relationship with WCW, two GAEA wrestlers, Akira Hokuto and Toshie Uematsu, became the first WCW Women's Champion and WCW Women's Cruiserweight Champion respectively.

Former AJW star Bull Nakano held the WWE Women's Championship in 1994, even winning the belt in her home promotion's Big Egg Wrestling Universe show. The Jumping Bomb Angels tag team once held the former WWF Women's Tag Team Championship in the 1980's.