Las Cachorras Orientales(in Japanese: ラス・カチョーラス・オリエンタレス), frequently styled as LCO, were a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

composed of

Etsuko Mita is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. She formed a successful tag team with her partner Mima Shimoda as ''Las Cachorras Orientales'' (Spanish for "The Oriental Bitches"; which was originally a trio with Akira Hokuto) and Toshiyo Yamada ...

and

Mima Shimoda is a Japanese female professional wrestler, who is working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Japanese promotion World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. She is most well known for being half of Las ...

. The team's name is Spanish for "The Oriental Bitches". The team was created in 1992 and wrestled in multiple Japanese women's wrestling promotions. The group was well known for using painted steel chairs and guardrails on opponents.

History

Dream Orca and The Tokyo Sweethearts

debuted on July 31, 1987 for

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that y ...

against Chiaki Ishikawa. On August 5th, 1987

debuted against Mita. Prior to creating LCO, both Mita and Shimoda were in other tag teams. Mita was one half of "Dream Orca", along with

Toshiyo Yamada is a retired Japanese female professional wrestler. In the 1990s, Yamada wrestled for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion (AJW). Professional wrestling career All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Early Career and Dream Orca (1987– ...

. Shimoda was one half of the "Tokyo Sweethearts" along with

Manami Toyota is a retired professional wrestler, best known for her work with the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. She is considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Following AJW's closure, she continued to work ...

. The two teams met on August 10, 1988 and on May 6, 1989 at Wrestle Marinepiad '89 with the Tokyo Sweethearts winning. On June 14, 1989, Mita captured the

AJW Tag Team Championship The AJW Tag Team Championship was the secondary tag team title in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. The title was introduced in 1986 and was retired in April 2005 when the promotion closed. Title his ...

with

, but the team had to vacate the titles in March 1990 when Yamada was injured. On November 14, 1990 at Wrestle Marinepiad '90, Mita and Shimoda, prior to becoming LCO captured the

from the "Honey Wings" of Mika Takahashi and Kaoru. The reign lasted until April 21, 1991, when they were defeated by

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...

and

Cynthia Moreno Flavia Antonia Moreno León (born July 23, 1970) is a Mexican ''Luchadora'', or female professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Cynthia Moreno (sometimes spelled "Cinthia Moreno") She is working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). Mo ...

at AJW St. Battle Day Part 2. This was Mita and Shimoda's only

together. Both Dream Orca and The Tokyo Sweethearts were broken up by 1991 with Mita forming the "Mint Showers" with

. During Tag League the Best 1991 in October 1991, Mita teamed with Toyota and Shimoda teamed up with Miori Kamiya, which both teams coming at the bottom of the standings. During August 1992, during the Fuji TV Mid Summer Typhoon Tag Tournament, Mita teamed up with

Takako Inoue is a Japanese professional wrestler. She wrestled primarily for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion, and held several championships, primarily in tag team wrestling. She was well known as one-half of the tag team Double Inoue, which ...

, while Shimoda continued to team with Toyota.

Las Cachorras Orientales

In 1992, Mita and Shimoda, along with

Akira Hokuto is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known as . Career Born Hisako Uno, Hokuto became a professional wrestler in the wake of the enormous popularity of tag team the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka), and was responsi ...

, had an excursion to Mexico, where they formed Las Cachorras Orientales. Mita and Shimoda turned heel and took on a new rougher style which included using steel chairs that match their ring attire colors and guardrails. The team entered their first

Tag League the Best __NOTOC__ The was an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament, founded by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), which held it from 1985 to 2004 (with no tournament taking place in 1990). After the folding of AJW in 2005, the tournament wa ...

during 1992, gaining 3 points in the tournament. The team appeared at All Japan Women's DREAM RUSH on November 26, 1992, defeating Miori Kamiya and Chikako Hasegawa. The team was not featured much during 1993, mostly wrestling undercard and trios matches. On April 2nd, 1993 at All Japan Women's Dreamslam 2 event, LCO were defeated by the FMW team of Combat Toyoda and

Megumi Kudo is a Japanese entertainment personality and former professional wrestler. She wrestled under her maiden name for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, where she became the top star of the Women's Division. Kudo is primarily known for competing in bru ...

. The team entered Tag League the Best 1993, coming in second to last with 4 points. During this tournament, the team met their future rivals, Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe on December 10, 1993. LCO had their biggest match to date on January 24, 1994 facing off against WWWA Tag Champions Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

Double Champions

At Wrestling Queendom 1994 on March 27, 1994, the team won the

JWP Tag Team Championship The JWP Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. The championship was introduced on August 9, 1992, when Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki defeated Dynamite Kansai and Sumiko ...

by defeating

Mayumi Ozaki (born October 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently working for Oz Academy. Career Ozaki debuted in a tag team match in August, 1986. In her career, she held the WWWA tag titles with Dynamite Kansai from April 11, 19 ...

and

Cutie Suzuki (born October 22, 1969, as ), better known by her ring name , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who mostly wrestled for JWP Joshi Puroresu. In 1990 she was featured in an all female wrestling game based on her titled '' Cutie Suzuki ...

. The team became double champions later on in the week when they captured the

UWA World Women's Tag Team Championship The UWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (in Japanese: UWA世界女子タッグ王座) was a professional wrestling tag team title defended in the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) from 1992 to 1995, then revived in 2001. It was the primary ...

from

Yumiko Hotta is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Hotta was trained by and started her career in the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion in June 1985. She worked for the promotion until 2003, becoming a three-time WWWA ...

and

on March 30, 1994. The team defended both titles successfully against

and Kaoru Ito on May 2nd, 1994 and then again on June 3rd, 1994 against the JWP team of Hikari Fukuoka and

Candy Okutsu , (born January 16, 1975), is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known under the ring name . She is also known for her brief stint as , the female version of Tiger Mask. Career Candy Okutsu made her professional wrestling debut on ...

. At All Japan Women's Budokan Retsudan MAX on August 24, 1994, the team defended the UWA tag titles successfully against LLPW's

Harley Saito Sayori Saito (斉藤さより) (December 21, 1967 – December 15, 2016) was a Japanese professional wrestler, who performed under the name of Harley Saito (ハーレー斉藤). She spent much of her career for Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling. Ca ...

and Jen Yukari. LCO entered Tag League the Best 1994. They had their best showing to date in the tournament, finishing in 4th place and gaining 9 points. On October 9, 1994, the team had another successful defense of the JWP Tag Titles when they defeated Command Bolshoi and Hikari Fukuoka. On November 20, 1994, at

Big Egg Wrestling Universe The Big Egg Wrestling Universe was a professional wrestling event held by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) inside the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on November 20, 1994 and was attended by 32,500 fans. However, some sources claim the event was at ...

at the Tokyo Dome, the team defended the UWA tag titles against their LLPW counterparts, Yasha Kurenai and Michiko Nagashima. On December 23, 1994 for AJW Zeno Happy Battle Xmas!!, Mita teamed with former Dream Orca partner, Toshiyo Yamada, to fight Shimoda and her former Tokyo Sweethearts partner, Manami Toyota.

1995-Fall 1997

On January 8, 1995, at JWP Mega Stars '95, LCO lost the JWP Tag Titles when they were defeated by Hikari Fukuoka and

. At AJW "Wrestling Queendom Success 1995", on March 21st, LCO competed in a tournament to crown new WWWA Tag Team Champions. They defeated the Mexican team of

Lady Apache Sandra González Calderón (born June 26, 1970) is a Mexican professional wrestler or ''luchadora'', best known under the ring name Lady Apache. As Lady Apache, González has mainly worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and AAA, Mex ...

and La Felina in the first round, but were defeated by Blizzard Yuki and

in the second round. Late that week on March 26th, the team defended their UWA Tag Titles against Suzuka Minami and Tomoko Watanabe. On May 7th, 1995, LCO competed in Suzuka Minami's retirement match, against Suzuka Minami and

. At AJW Destiny on September 2nd, 1995, LCO defended their UWA titles successfully against legends

Jaguar Yokota (born July 25, 1961) is a Japanese professional wrestler and later wrestling trainer, who wrestled under the name . She is widely considered one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time, and, during her heyday in the early 1980s, was consid ...

and

Lioness Asuka is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by her ring name . Along with long-time tag team partner Chigusa Nagayo she formed Crush Gals, known for their mainstream popularity in the 1980s, and for being one of the most successfu ...

. This ended up being their last defense of the titles as the titles were vacated and abandoned until 2001. On November 18, 1995 at AJW Wrestle Marinepaid '95, LCO faced off against each other in a singles match with Shimoda getting the win. LCO did not team much together after this until June 1997 with Mita taking on a variety of partners and Shimoda reforming her Tokyo Sweethearts team with Manami Toyota. On June 18, 1997, the team captured the

WWWA World Tag Team Championship The World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA) World Tag Team Championship was the top doubles championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) from 1970 until it closed in 2005. During those years the title was held by many of the most famo ...

for the first time by defeating Tomoko Watanabe and Kumiko Maekawa, finally capturing the titles after 5 years as a team. The teams rematched on August 20, 1997 with LCO retaining the titles. On September 21, 1997, LCO competed in an escape cage match against Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe. This was a highly regarded match with blood and weapons that featured a famous moment when Kaoru Ito did a double footstomp off the top of the cage to lead her team to victory. On October 18, 1997, LCO defended their titles successfully against Kumiko Maekawa and

Momoe Nakanishi , née , born July 7, 1980 is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by her maiden name, . Nakanishi made her debut for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) in July 1996 at the age of sixteen and during the next seven years, ...

. This was their last match in All Japan Women's for 1997.

NEO and other promotions

During 1997, All Japan Women's went bankrupt. This caused the promotion to lose 14 wrestlers, including LCO, who went with

Kyoko Inoue is a Japanese female professional wrestler. She has held the WWWA World Single Championship three times, and is the first woman to win a men's title in Japan. Inoue performed in the World Wrestling Federation at Survivor Series 1995 in an a ...

to NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling. This changed the landscape of women's wrestling forever in Japan. Due to leaving All Japan Women's, the team vacated their WWWA Tag Titles on January 9, 1998. Between October 1997 and February 1998, the team made stops in Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling,

JDStar JDStar (also spelt Jd'), was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. In the wake of the joshi puroresu boom of the early 1990s, several different groups opened with distinct approaches. The Jd'Star promotion, with its su ...

and

Gaea Japan Gaea Japan (trademarked as GAEA Japan) was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. GAEA's name comes from the Greek mythological goddess of the Earth, Gaea or Gaia. History GAEA was founded in 1995 by Chigusa Nagayo, a professional wr ...

while creating a rivalry with Kyoko Inoue and Misae Genki in NEO. The team also stopped in JWP later that year. The team became freelance in 1999. They wrestled multiple matches for

eventually joining the heel faction, SSU(Super Star Unit). They also started to appear in Arsion during Summer 1999, winning the Twin Stars of Arsion League in December 1999. They also returned to All Japan Women's during this time, capturing the WWWA Tag Titles on July 10, 1999. The team feuded with Tomoko Watanabe and Kumiko Maekawa throughout 1999, which lead to a cage match on March 4, 2000. LCO captured the

Twin Star of Arsion Championship The Twin Star of Arsion Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion promotion. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title was won as a result of a scripted match. ...

on December 3, 2000. The same month, they finally won Tag League the Best 2000, on their fourth try as a team. LCO recaptured the WWWA Tag Titles on January 4, 2001, defeating

Nanae Takahashi (born December 23, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler and the founder of Seadlinnng. She has wrestled for prominent Japanese promotions All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Sun, and is a two-time women's world champion in m ...

and

. LCO captured the WWWA Tag Titles again from then on November 29, 2002, becoming champs for the 4th and final time. In 2005, Mita joined NEO full-time. On November 1, 2009, LCO teamed for the final time as Mita retired. They teamed against Kyoko Inoue and Nanae Takahashi.

Championships and accomplishments

(

4 times "4 Times" (stylized as "4 TIMES") is the 50th single by pop/ R&B singer Koda Kumi. It was released on August 17, 2011 and debuted at No. 6, remaining on the Oricon charts for nine consecutive weeks. In commemoration of it being the fiftieth singl ...

) *

JWP Joshi Puroresu , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time of its folding in 2 ...

( 1 time) *

Universal Wrestling Association The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ...

Arsion Arsion (full official name Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion; frequently styled as ARSION) was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1997 by Aja Kong. The first event took place on February 18, 1998 and was ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cachorras Orientales, Las
Independent promotions teams and stables Japanese promotions teams and stables Women's wrestling teams and stables