is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, better known for her ring name Banzai Chie (stylised as ). She is known for her work in Hustle.

Background

Chie first competed as a decorated

amateur wrestler Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic, collegiate, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the worl ...

in high school, reaching third place in the Junior Olympic Cup. In 2006, after graduating from

Shigakkan University is a private university in Ōbu, Aichi, Japan. Until the school renamed itself to Shigakkan in 2010, the school was known as Chukyo Women's University. The school was founded in 1905. Despite that the name contained the word "women," the sc ...

, Ishii was signed by

Dream Stage Entertainment Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) was a Japanese company that promoted various wrestling and mixed martial arts events, most notably mixed martial arts Pride Fighting Championship and Hustle professional wrestling events. Company history Allegat ...

and moved to the Hustle promotion.

Professional wrestling career

Hustle (2005-2009)

She debuted in 2005 as a member of the

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stable 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 ...

Hustle Army, going under the name of , which was unique for using a Japanese

emoticon An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for emotion icon, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using Character (symbol), characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers and Alphabet, letters—to express a person's feelings, mood ...

meaning " banzai". She was introduced as an apprentice to Tajiri, serving as his

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, ''valet de chambre'' was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "va ...

, and later teamed with Tajiri's next protégé, Kushida. In 2007, she feuded with Monster Army member Giant Vabo and allied with model Hitomi Kaikawa, though being defeated in several occasions. The feud ended in February 2008, when Chie defeated Vabo in a singles match. As Kushida focused in his confrontation with Ray Ohara, Chie then formed a

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 establis ...

with the new HUSTLE Army recruit, her kohai KG. However, during a tag match, KG accidentally kicked Chie in the head, causing the team to lose. At the next show, the two were teaming up again when suddenly Chie turned on her and mercilessly attacked KG, causing the two to feud. Chie won their first match and badmouthed her after the bout, but one month later, KG retaliated by beating her in the rematch. Chie, impressed with her effort, reconciled with her and the two hugged in an emotional moment. The same night, Chie announced that she would be retiring from wrestling to get married. Her retirement match was stipulated against her mentor Tajiri, but was changed to a trios match when the Monster Army interfered and KG came to her aid. In Chie's last match, she, KG and Tajiri defeated Ohara, Commander An Jo and Blue Onigumo. Shortly after, Chie was released from her contract.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Miyuki Ariga , TKO (punches) , G-Shooto: Wrestle Expo 2006 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:08 ,

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Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Chie 1983 births Japanese female professional wrestlers Japanese female mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Living people Professional wrestlers from Nagano Prefecture Shigakkan University alumni 21st-century Japanese sportswomen