is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

. She debuted for Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) in November 1991 and worked for its follow-up promotion

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 ...

from 1992 until its folding in 2017, also serving as its final president. During her years in JWP, Bolshoi became a two-time JWP Openweight Champion, seven-time JWP Tag Team Champion and a four-time

Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion The is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Pure-J promotion. The title is named after the '' Daily Sports'' newspaper. Title history The championship was introduced by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion on August 3, 2008, ...

. Bolshoi has worked under

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

for a majority of her career and has managed to keep her real name and birthdate secret.

Professional wrestling career

JWP Joshi Puroresu (1991–2017)

After spending two years training at the JWP Dojo, Bolshoi made her

professional wrestling 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, real- ...

debut for the Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) promotion on November 26, 1991, teaming with Mami Kitamura in a tag team match, where the two faced Hikari Fukuoka and Reiko Hoshino. Originally she worked under a

clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

and the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

"Bolshoi Kid", named after the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Bolshoi Circus The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the " Circus Nikulin" (the old circus, featuring animal acts) and the "Bolshoi Circus" (the new circus, feat ...

. The following year, after the original JWP folded, she began working for its follow-up promotion,

, reinventing herself as "Command Bolshoi" in the process, though still disguising herself under a mask. To this day, she continues to occasionally work under her Bolshoi Kid persona. After

Cutie Suzuki (born October 22, 1969, as ), better known by her ring name , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, actress, and model who is best known for her time in JWP Joshi Puroresu, where she is a 5-time JWP Tag Team Champion. In 1990, she ...

Devil Masami Masami Yoshida (吉田雅美，born January 7, 1962) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler best known for her appearances in All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling, GAEA Japan and JWP Joshi Puroresu under the name Devil Masami. She is a member ...

, Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki all quit JWP, Bolshoi became the promotion's new president, while also becoming a trainer at the promotion's dojo. Bolshoi won her first title in JWP in 1999, when she and Rieko Amano 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 ...

. The following year on August 6, Bolshoi defeated

Ran Yu-Yu is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . Best known as a tag team wrestler, Yu-Yu held the JWP Tag Team Championship a record seven times, the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship three times, the AA ...

to win JWP's top title, the JWP Openweight Championship. After a seven-month reign, she lost the title to Azumi Hyuga. During the next year, Bolshoi went on to win the JWP Tag Team Championship two more times with Azumi Hyuga and Gami. From July 2002 to April 2009, Bolshoi went completely without any titles, before she and Megumi Yabushita defeated Keito and

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 ...

for not only the JWP Tag Team Championship, but also the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship. Command BOLSHOI

In 2010, Bolshoi made several appearances for the

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 ...

promotion, defeating

Hikari Minami is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for her work in the Ice Ribbon promotion, where she spent nearly seven years, making her debut in February 2006 at the age of eleven, becoming a two-time ICE×60 Champion and a one-time IW19 Cham ...

on August 27 to win the promotion's top title, the ICE×60 Championship. After a four-month reign, she lost the title to Tsukasa Fujimoto on December 26. In December 2011, Bolshoi was scheduled to make her American debut with the Chikara promotion, but was forced to pull out at the last minute due to an injury. She eventually made her debut for the promotion the following September, when she,

Kaori Yoneyama is a Japanese professional wrestler, working as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. Yoneyama started her career in 1999, working with the JWP Joshi Puroresu Professional wrestling promotion, promotion. During the following years, ...

and

Tsubasa Kuragaki is a Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler better known by the ring name . For most of her career, Kuragaki has worked for JWP Joshi Puroresu, becoming a one-time JWP Junior Championship, JWP Junior and two-time ...

made it to the second round of the 2012 King of Trios. Bolshoi's 2012 was highlighted by her and JWP's storyline rivalry with the Heart Move Kei Reform (HMK)

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 ...

, which led to her and Arisa Nakajima winning the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Championships from HMK members Emi Sakura and

in August 2012. Bolshoi's part in the rivalry culminated at the end of the year event on December 24, where Bolshoi defeated Yoneyama in a grudge match. In June 2013, Bolshoi announced the "Bolshoi Decade" series, where she would face all other JWP wrestlers in singles matches in order to assess their abilities. As part of the series, Bolshoi defeated

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

on July 20 to win the CMLL-Reina International Championship. After a reign of only eight days, Bolshoi lost the title to Arisa Nakajima in the next match in the Bolshoi Decade series; a double title match, contested also for the JWP Openweight Championship. On May 4, 2014, Bolshoi 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 ...

defeated Rabbit Miu and Tsukushi in a decision match to become the new Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Champions. They held the titles for the rest of the year, losing them to Leon and Ray on December 28, 2014. On July 11, 2015, Bolshoi defeated Kayoko Haruyama to win the JWP Openweight Championship for the second time, fifteen years after winning it the first time. She lost the title to Mayumi Ozaki in her first defense on August 16. In September 2016, Bolshoi returned to the United States and Chikara to represent JWP in the 2016 King of Trios, alongside

Hanako Nakamori , better known by her ring name Hanako Nakamori, is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her time in the Japanese promotions JWP Joshi Puroresu and Pure-J. Professional wrestling career Indepe ...

and

Manami Katsu is a Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She was trained by the JWP Joshi Puroresu Professional wrestling promotion, promotion and made her debut in April 2011. In December 2011, Katsu won the Souseiseki Cup ...

. The team made it to the finals of the tournament before losing to their compatriots, Team Sendai Girls (Cassandra Miyagi,

Dash Chisako , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She was trained by Meiko Satomura and has worked for her Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion since ...

and

Meiko Satomura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. She is known for her time in American promotion WWE and in Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling. She is the former two-time Sendai Girls World Champion and a former one-time NXT UK Wom ...

). On January 9, 2017, Bolshoi and Leon defeated Hanako Nakamori and Kyoko Kimura to win the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Championships. On February 8, it was announced that JWP would be folding on April 2, after which Bolshoi is scheduled to launch a new promotion on August 11. The following month, it was announced that the new promotion would be called " Pure-J". At JWP's final show on April 2, 2017, Bolshoi and Leon successfully defended the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Championships against Kazuki and Rydeen Hagane. Afterwards, the JWP title was retired, while the Daily Sports title moves on to Pure-J with the champions.

Pure-J (2017–2019)

Before the official launch of Pure-J on August 11, 2017, the former JWP roster presented shows under the name "Pure-Dream Presents Dream Joshi Puroresu". Bolshoi and Leon continued defending the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship at these shows. During these shows, the two also named their team "P-Ray-L", in reference to Ray, who was battling cancer. The name, which includes the letters "P" and "L" for "Piko" and "Leon", was also a play on the word "prayer". At Pure-J's inaugural event on August 11, Bolshoi defeated

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

. On August 21, 2018, Bolshoi announced that due to the progressive worsening of the yellow ligament ossification in her spine, that she would be retiring in 2019, with her retirement show set at Korakuen Hall on April 21.

Bodybuilding

On May 31, 2015, Bolshoi took part in NPCJ's Blaze Open bodybuilding competition, where she finished third in the women's athlete category, beating fellow professional wrestler Meiko Satomura, who finished fourth. Bolshoi, however, won the Overall Best Performance Award, which was voted by 50 randomly picked members of the audience. On October 24, 2015, Bolshoi won the NPCJ Beef Sasaki Classic's figure category and was also chosen as the tournament's MVP across all categories.

Championships and accomplishments

** ICE×60 Championship ( 1 time) *

** Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) – with Megumi Yabushita (1), Arisa Nakajima (1),

(1) and

(1) ** JWP Openweight Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) **

( 7 times) – with Arisa Nakajima (1), Azumi Hyuga (1), Gami (1), Kyoko Kimura (1), Leon (1), Megumi Yabushita (1) and Rieko Amano/Carlos Amano (1) ** Natsu Onna Kettei Tag Tournament (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) – with

**JWP Year End-Award (7 times) ***Best Bout Award (2001) vs. Azumi Hyuga on November 21 ***Best Bout Award (2003) with Erika Watanabe and Kayoko Haruyama vs. Azumi Hyuga,

and Yuki Miyazaki on August 16 ***Best Bout Award (2012) with Arisa Nakajima vs. Emi Sakura and Kaori Yoneyama on August 19 ***JWP Award (2005) ***Special Award (2002, 2007, 2012) * Pure-J **

Pure-J Openweight Championship The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Pure-J professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The championship, which is situated at the top of Pure-J's championship hierarchy, was i ...

(1 time) **Pure-J Year-End Award (2 times) ***Special Award (2018) ***Special Achievement Award (2019) *Reina Joshi Puroresu ** CMLL-Reina International Championship ( 1 time) * Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling ** Sendai Girls Junior Championship ( 1 time) * Other accomplishments **Organization Representative One Night Tournament (2010)

References

External links

* *
Puroresu Central profileOfficial blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolshoi, Command Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century female professional wrestlers 20th-century Japanese professional wrestlers 21st-century female professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers Japanese female bodybuilders Japanese female professional wrestlers Masked wrestlers Japanese professional wrestling executives Female professional wrestling trainers Sportspeople from Osaka Professional wrestlers from Osaka Prefecture CMLL-Reina International Champions Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champions JWP Openweight Champions JWP Tag Team Champions Pure-J Openweight Champions ICE Cross Infinity Champions Sendai Girls Junior Champions