is an annual

professional wrestling tournament On various occasions in professional wrestling, a single-elimination tournament of varying match types are held, often to determine a champion for a vacant or newly-created championship, to determine the number-one contender for a championship, t ...

promoted by the

Pro Wrestling Wave is a women's professional wrestling, or Joshi Puroresu, promotion created in 2007 after the dissolution and closure of JDStar. The company was formed by Mikiko Futagami, or Mikiko Futagami, Gami, former JDStar wrestler Yumi Ohka, and former JDS ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. It has been held since 2009 and takes place between the end of April and the beginning of August. As up until March 2013 there were no singles championships in Pro Wrestling Wave, Catch the Wave was effectively the top singles achievement in the promotion. The tournament is contested in round-robin format with the winners of each block advancing to the semifinals. From 2010 to 2012, the tournament included a "Loser Revival"

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

, where already eliminated wrestlers battle for the fourth and final spot in the semifinals of the tournament. This system allowed the tournament to be won twice by a wrestler, who was originally eliminated in the round-robin section. From 2011 onwards, the tournament has concluded with an award ceremony. The winner of the main tournament earns the title of and ¥1,000,000. From 2014 to 2016, Wave also held a separate Catch the Wave tournament for rookie wrestlers, running concurrently with the main tournament.

List of winners

;Main tournament ;Rookie tournament

2009

The 2009 Catch the Wave took place over nine shows between May 27 and August 11. The tournament included sixteen participants split up into four blocks titled "Comical", "UK", "Visual Technical" and "Young". Matches in the UK block could only be won by knockout or submission and had a ten-minute time limit as opposed to fifteen-minute time limits in the other blocks. Outside participants in the tournament included

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

s Apple Miyuki, Bullfight Sora, Kaoru and

Kyoko Kimura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Throughout her 14-year career, she competed in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Ibuki, Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom, a ...

JWP Joshi Puroresu , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversa ...

's Pinky Mayuka and Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling's Ryo Mizunami.

2010

The 2010 Catch the Wave took place over ten shows between May 30 and August 11. The tournament included fifteen participants split up into three blocks titled "Rival", "Visual Technical" and "Young". Outside participants in the tournament included

s Asami Kawasaki, Io Shirai,

Kana are syllabary, syllabaries used to write Japanese phonology, Japanese phonological units, Mora (linguistics), morae. In current usage, ''kana'' most commonly refers to ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''. It can also refer to their ancestor , wh ...

and

Mio Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestling referee and semi-retired professional wrestler. She started her career in March 2007, working alongside her sister Io Shirai on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Jos ...

's Senri Kuroki and Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling's Ryo Mizunami. On July 4, Kuroki was sidelined with

gastroesophageal reflux disease Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a chronic upper gastrointestinal disease in which stomach content persistently and regularly flows up into the esophagus, resulting in symptoms and/or ...

and was forced to forfeit the rest of her matches in the tournament. This tournament introduced the concept of the "Loser Revival"

, where those that finished second and third in their blocks were allowed to compete for a spot in the semifinals of the tournament. *August 10: **Visual Technical block third place playoff match: Gami defeated

Toshie Uematsu is a female Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for her popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. She was one of the members of the first class of wrestlers trained by Chigusa Nagayo when Nagayo formed the GAEA Japan promotion. Uematsu f ...

(1:22). **Loser Revival battle royal: Gami defeated Asami Kawasaki, Cherry, Io Shirai,

and Misaki Ohata (8:15).

2011

The 2011 Catch the Wave took place over eight shows between May 2 and July 24. The tournament included fourteen participants split up into three blocks titled "Technical", "Visual" and "Young". Outside participants in the tournament included

Nagisa Nozaki, Kagetsu and Ryo Mizunami from Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling and Nao Komatsu from

Oz Academy is a Japanese '' joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Mayumi Ozaki. The promotion's full official name is . In addition to the contracted members of the roster, Oz Academy has also employed some of the top f ...

. This was the first tournament, where all wrestlers eliminated after the round-robin portion of the tournament were allowed to enter the "Loser Revival"

. *July 24: **Loser Revival battle royal:

defeated Ayumi Kurihara, Mika Iida,

, Nagisa Nozaki, Nao Komatsu, Ryo Mizunami, Sawako Shimono,

Tomoka Nakagawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. After being trained by Taka Michinoku, she started her career in his Kaientai Dojo promotion in September 2004. After leaving Kaientai Dojo in 2007, Nakagawa briefly joined Ibuki, where she underw ...

and

Yumi Ohka , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Originally trained by the now defunct JDStar Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, Ohka now works for Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave. She is a former two-time Wave S ...

(8:28). *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Ayumi Kurihara vs.

, May 29 **Best Performance Award: Nao Komatsu cheering squad **Fighting Spirit Award: Mika Iida **Outstanding Performance Award:

**Technique Award:

2012

The 2012 Catch the Wave took place over nine shows between April 30 and July 16. The tournament included fifteen participants split up into three blocks titled "Black Dahlia", "Power" and "White Tails", with two of the blocks made up of members of the Black Dahlia and White Tails

stables A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

. Outside participants in the tournament included Hamuko Hoshi and Tsukasa Fujimoto from

Ice Ribbon is a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 2006 by Emi Sakura, after her split with Gatokunyan. History Ice Ribbon was founded by Emi Sakura, a professional wrestler wh ...

and

Syuri , better known simply as , is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of God's Eye as well as the current IWGP Women's Champion in ...

from

Wrestling New Classic was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling promotion, founded in April 2012 by Yoshihiro Tajiri. WNC was the follow-up promotion to Smash, which folded in March 2012. History On April 5, 2012, Tajiri held a press conference to ann ...

(WNC). The tournament featured a title change, when on June 8,

defeated Ayumi Kurihara to win

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

's Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. *July 1: **Loser Revival battle royal: Misaki Ohata defeated

Ayako Hamada is a Japanese Mexican professional wrestler. During her 20-year career, Hamada wrestled for various promotions, including All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Gaea Japan and Pro Wrestling Wave in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and L ...

, Aya Yuki, Cherry, Hamuko Hoshi, Hanako Nakamori,

, Sawako Shimono, Shuu Shibutani,

and Tsukasa Fujimoto (13:20). *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Ayumi Kurihara vs.

, June 24 **Best Performance Award: Hamuko Hoshi **Fighting Spirit Award: Hamuko Hoshi **Outstanding Performance Award: Sawako Shimono **Technique Award: Tsukasa Fujimoto

2013

The 2013 Catch the Wave took take place over ten shows between May 6 and July 15. The tournament format, which for the first time featured only two round-robin blocks, and the participants were announced on April 26. Outside participants included Arisa Nakajima from

, Hikaru Shida from

, Kagetsu from Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling and

from

(WNC). The top three wrestlers from each block advanced to the knockout stage of the tournament. The winners of the blocks earned spots in the semifinals, while numbers two and three were entered into the first round of the knockout tournament. The two block system resulted in the elimination of the "Loser Revival" battle royal. The tournament featured the first Catch the Wave match to take place outside of Pro Wrestling Wave, when Shuu Shibutani and Syuri faced each other on June 8 in Wave's sister promotion, Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling. The winner of the tournament became the number one contender to the

Wave Single Championship The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Pro Wrestling Wave professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title is nicknamed and more commonly referred to as the . The championsh ...

. *June 28: **Glamorous block third place playoff match: Misaki Ohata defeated Kagetsu and Ryo Mizunami (11:28). **Slender block third place playoff match: Shuu Shibutani defeated Cherry, Hikaru Shida and

(10:37). *July 15: **Third place four-way elimination match: Shuu Shibutani defeated

and Yuu Yamagata (3:58). *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award:

vs. Ryo Mizunami, May 26 **Best Performance Award: Shuu Shibutani **Fighting Spirit Award: Kagetsu **Outstanding Performance Award:

**Technique Award: Yuu Yamagata

2014

The 2014 Catch the Wave took place between May 5 and July 27. The tournament once again featured two round-robin blocks of seven wrestlers, divided by their age. Block "Adeyaka" ("Elegant") featured wrestlers in their thirties and block "Tsuyayaka" ("Glossy") wrestlers in their twenties. Outside participants included Tsukasa Fujimoto from

and

s Hikaru Shida,

Hiroyo Matsumoto is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer. Emi Sakura gave her the nickname of because Matsumoto broke a wall in the Ichigaya arena during her Ice Ribbon debut. She is best known with other ...

and Kyusei Sakura Hirota. *July 13: **Adeyaka block second and third place playoff three-way match:

vs.

vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto
Fujimoto defeated Nakagawa (12:34),
Nakagawa defeated Kimura (17:37). *July 27: **Third place four-way match:
Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto, Tsukasa Fujimoto and Yumi Ohka (6:17). *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award:

vs. Kyusei Sakura Hirota, May 13 **Best Performance Award: Tsukasa Fujimoto led

**Fighting Spirit Award: Kyusei Sakura Hirota **Outstanding Performance Award: Mika Iida **Technique Award: Kyusei Sakura Hirota

Catch the Young Wave

Concurrently to the 2014 Catch the Wave tournament, Pro Wrestling Wave also held the first Catch the Young Wave tournament, where six rookie wrestlers competed for a ¥500,000 main prize. Outside participants in the tournament included Risa Sera and Shiori Akiba from

and Kaho Kobayashi from

(WNC)/Reina Joshi Puroresu. Akiba was forced to pull out of the tournament and forfeit her final two matches, after being sidelined as a result of headaches and memory impairment on June 18. The block ended in a four-way tie on June 27, leading to Wave announcing a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

between the four to determine the winner.

2015

The 2015 Catch the Wave took place between May 3 and July 20. The tournament featured a single round-robin block with ten wrestlers. The four previous still active winners;

, Misaki Ohata and Hikaru Shida as well as the reigning Catch the Young Wave winner Kaho Kobayashi, earned automatic spots in the tournament. Gami picked one wrestler to enter the tournament, while the remaining four were decided in qualifying matches on April 4. Cherry, Kyusei Sakura Hirota, Mika Iida and

Ryo Mizunami , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She is best known for her time in Pro Wrestling Wave. She is also known for her appearances in other Japanese promotions such as B ...

ended up earning their spots in the tournament in a nine-woman

, while Rina Yamashita was chosen by Gami as the final entrant. In the tournament, instead of points, rankings were based on winning percentages or simply the number of wins. Two matches in the tournament took place at an Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling event. *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Ryo Mizunami vs.

, June 10 **Best Performance Award: Wonderful World Fairy Family (

, Chikayo Nagashima, Fairy Nipponbashi, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Yumi Ohka and Yuu Yamagata) **Fighting Spirit Award: Ryo Mizunami **Outstanding Performance Award: Mika Iida **Technique Award: Mika Iida **Raspberry Award: Kaho Kobayashi vs. Kyusei Sakura Hirota, June 14

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2015

The rookie version of Catch the Wave started on May 29 with six participants, including five outsiders; Konami from Office Kana/Reina Joshi Puroresu, Maya Yukihi and Yuka from

, Meiko Tanaka from World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana and Yako Fujigasaki from

. The tournament took place in a

single-elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

format with Konami and Yuka earning automatic spots to in the semifinals. Matches had a ten-minute time limit in the tournament. In case of a time limit draw, the match would enter a five-minute overtime, where the match can be won with only a two-count. If the match again ended in a time limit draw, it would be restarted with no time limit in a match that can be won with only a one-count. The winner of the tournament would receive ¥500,000 and a shot at the JWP Junior and

Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship The Princess of Pro-Wrestling (POP) Championship is a Japanese women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Pure-J promotion. The title was created in the JDStar promotion on June 24, 2006, when Fuka defeated Natsuki☆Head in the ...

s. Both of the tournament's finalists were injured before the final match with Meiko Tanaka dislocating her right elbow and Yuka suffering a cervical spinal cord contusion and

subarachnoid hemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid (brain), arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the human brain, brain. Symptoms may include a thunderclap headache, severe heada ...

. As Yuka was injured first, Wave originally awarded Tanaka the final with a bye, declaring her the winner of the tournament. However, on the final day of the tournament, Gami instead announced that they were postponing the final match until both wrestlers were able to return to the ring. The final eventually took place on October 30.

2016

The 2016 Catch the Wave took place between April 10 and June 5. The tournament featured 32 wrestlers in eight blocks of four, making it the largest Catch the Wave tournament in history. In the tournament a win was worth two points and a loss none. In case of a draw, the wrestler who debuted at a later date would be awarded one point. The winners from each block would advance to a single-elimination tournament. If a block ended in a tie, a playoff match would determine the advancer. ;Playoff matches *

defeated Chikayo Nagashima (12:50) *Mika Iida defeated

Melanie Cruise Melanie Goranson (born January 7, 1987) is an American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Melanie Cruise. She is best known for her appearances in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Shimmer Women Athletes ...

and Tsukushi (6:53) *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Mika Iida vs. Tsukushi, May 3 **Best Performance Award: Referee Ishiguro and Mayumi Ozaki **Fighting Spirit Award: Rabbit Miu **Outstanding Performance Award: Hiroe Nagahama

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2016

The 2016 rookie version of Catch the Wave took place between February 6 and March 13 with eight participants in two blocks. Outside participants included Akane Fujita, Maruko Nagasaki and Yuka from

, Konami from Reina Joshi Puroresu, Mari An from Sportiva and Yako Fujigasaki from

. For the first time, the tournament ran before the main tournament. The winner of the tournament earned a spot in the 2016 Catch the Wave tournament. In the tournament, wins were worth two points and losses zero. In case of a time limit draw, the wrestler who debuted at a later date would be awarded one point. One of the matches in the tournament took place at an event held by Wave's sister promotion Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling.

2017

The 2017 Catch the Wave took place between April 19 and June 4. The tournament featured eight wrestlers in two blocks of four, making it the smallest Catch the Wave tournament in history. The participants wrestled in a single block, but in point standings were divided into two blocks by their affiliation. Wrestlers signed to Pro Wrestling Wave, wrestled in the "Zabun" block, while outsiders wrestled in the "Other Than" block, which included

representative Mochi Miyagi, Marvelous representative Rin Kadokura, Seadlinnng representative Sareee and

Saki. In the tournament a win was worth two points, a draw one point and a loss none. The top two wrestlers from each block advanced to the semifinals. *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Hiroe Nagahama vs. Misaki Ohata, May 23 **Fighting Spirit Award: Rin Kadokura **Outstanding Performance Award: Hiroe Nagahama **Technique Award: Mochi Miyagi

2018

The 2018 Catch the Wave took place between March 11 and May 4. The tournament featured twelve wrestlers in two blocks of six, the Crazy Block and the Violence Block. In the tournament a win was worth two points, a draw one point and a loss none. On April 7, Hikaru Shida announced she would be dropping out to receive surgery on a distal tibia fracture, forfeiting the rest of her matches. The top wrestler from each block was to advance to the finals, however both blocks ended in ties. Because Violence Block ended in a three-way tie, the tiebreaker was determined to be a gauntlet match where the first woman to win two consecutive falls would advance. *Post-tournament awards: **Best Bout Award: Misaki Ohata vs. Hikaru Shida, March 23 **Fighting Spirit Award: Mio Momono & Miyuki Takase (Reason: Teamed with the competitors during multi-person tag matches.) **Outstanding Performance Award: Yuki Miyazaki & Sakura Hirota (Reason: Did their best in a tough block without getting injured.) **Technique Award: Asuka (Reason: Worked through a broken ankle for the entire tournament.) **Special Prize: Hiroe Nagahama (Reason: Defeated the Regina di WAVE Champion Misaki Ohata in a surprise upset.)

2019

The 2019 Catch the Wave took place between May 5 and July 15. The tournament featured sixteen wrestlers in four blocks of four, the Power Block, the Technical Block, the Visual Block and the Young Block. With the

being vacated due to the last champion Misaki Ohata's retirement from professional wrestling, the winner of the tournament would win the vacant title as well. The Young Block competed independently of the main tournament. Mika Iwata was injured on June, therefore, was out of the tournament. In the finals,

Takumi Iroha is a Japanese professional wrestler working for Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling. She also competes in Seadlinnng, where she is a former Beyond the Sea Champion. Iroha was trained by Fuka Kakimoto and made her debut in April 2013 for World ...

defeated Nagisa Nozaki and Ryo Mizunami in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

to win the tournament and the title.

2021

The 2021 Catch the Wave took place between June 1 and July 1. The tournament featured sixteen wrestlers in four blocks of four, the Compliance Block, the Gatling Block, the Jealousy Block and the Potential Block. The winner will be given an opportunity to challenge for the

. * Post-tournament awards: ** Best Bout Award: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Yako, June 8 ** Distinguished Service Award: Mio Momono ** Fighting Spirit Award: Mio Momono ** Outstanding Performance Award:

Hibiscus Mii (born June 14, 1985) is a female professional wrestler, who currently works for Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling. She is better known under her previous ring name , under which she worked mainly for the Kaientai Dojo and Osaka Pro Wrestling promo ...

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2021

The 2021 Young Block tournament took place beginning with May 18 and culminated on May 28.

2022

The 2022 edition of the tournament took place between May 5 and July 17, 2022.

Qualifier Blocks

Due to certain point ties from the qualifier blocks, there have been a couple of decision matches which took place on June 22 to determine the wrestlers who have further qualified in the final blocks.

Winner Blocks

Due to Nagisa Nozaki being one of the finalists of the tournament, the final match was also disputed for her

and will take place on July 17.

2023

The 2023 edition of the tournament took place between May 4 and July 17, 2023.

Winner tournament

2024

The 2024 edition of the tournament took place between May 5 and July 14, 2024.

Blocks

Winner tournament

Young Block 2024

2025

The 2025 edition of the tournament will take place between May 4 and July 21, 2025, and will also feature wrestlers from

World Wonder Ring Stardom , is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded in September 2010 by former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) co-producer Ross ...

. The tournament was the biggest to date, featuring 36 participants divided into nine different blocks.

Catch the Wave Awards

Since 2011, in addition of winning the tournament, the participants receives awards in different categories based on their performance during the tournament.

Notes

References

External links

The official Pro Wrestling Wave website
{{Pro Wrestling Wave Pro Wrestling Wave Women's professional wrestling tournaments

List of winners

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Catch the Young Wave

2015

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2015

2016

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2016

2017

2018

2019

2021

Young Block Oh! Oh! 2021

2022

Qualifier Blocks

Winner Blocks

2023

Winner tournament

2024

Blocks

Winner tournament

Young Block 2024

2025

Catch the Wave Awards

Notes

See also

References

External links