Hikari Minami
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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 ...
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 ...
, best known for her work in 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 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 ...
, 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 Champion. She is also known for her work in
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 ...
, where she is a former three-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion. After a three-year hiatus, she returned in November 2015, now working for Apple Star Puroresu.


Professional wrestling career


Gatokunyan (2006)

Minami was trained by Gatokunyan wrestler Emi Sakura and made her professional wrestling debut at the age of eleven on February 12, 2006, working under the ring name Hikari and facing Sakura,
Aika Ando is a Japanese gravure idol and professional wrestler who is represented by the talent agencies, Newgate Production and Ice Ribbon. She was a member of the Ebisu Muscats. Biography In 2007, Ando won the '' Sabra Quasi Grand Prix Award'' in the " ...
, Hinata and Kinoko in a five-way match at an event in
Itabashi, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. In English, it is called Itabashi City. Itabashi has sister-city relations with Burlington, Ontario, in Canada; Shijingshan District of Beijing in the People's ...
. On April 29, Hikari won her first professional wrestling championship, defeating Aika to win
Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in 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 promotion was even ...
's (DDT) Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Six days later, Hikari lost the title to Misae Genki, only to regain it from Miki Ishii later that same day. Hikari's second reign with the title came to an end on June 5, when she was defeated by Natsuki☆Head.


Ice Ribbon (2006–2012)

In April 2006, Emi Sakura left Gatokunyan and took most of her trainees, Hikari included, with her to form the core of her new
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. Hikari made her debut for Ice Ribbon at the promotion's second ever event on June 20, defeating her
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
friend Seina. During the next six months, Hikari and Seina developed a storyline rivalry, facing each other in four more singles matches, with Hikari winning the series 4–1. On December 5, Hikari wrestled male wrestler Ken Ohka to a time limit draw, which led to the two forming a partnership on January 8, 2007. The two have wrestled semi-regularly as 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 ...
ever since. In late January, Hikari began competing under the ring name Hikari Minami, after getting the blessing of former
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held the ...
performer and family friend Suzuka Minami to use the surname. In storyline, Hikari is sometimes referred to as Suzuka's
niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...
and billed as the "Second Generation Marine Wolf"; Marine Wolves being the former tag team of Suzuka Minami and Akira Hokuto. During the rest of the year, Minami's rivalry with Seina also came to include Seina's younger sister
Riho is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She is a former AEW Women's World Champion. She was trained by Emi Sakura and debuted for her Ice Ribbon promotion in May 2006, at the age of 9. She would work for th ...
. From December 7, 2007, to December 13, 2008, Minami took an entire year off professional wrestling to concentrate on finishing
junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...
. In her return match, Minami wrestled old rival Seina to a time limit draw. The following year, Minami began making challenges for Ice Ribbon's top championship, the ICE×60 Championship, failing in two title matches against Emi Sakura and one against Tsukasa Fujimoto. On June 5, 2010, Minami turned
heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...
by attacking ICE×60 Champion Emi Sakura from behind, after she had successfully defended the title against Tsukushi, before announcing her intention of going for the championship herself. On July 10, Minami defeated Hikaru Shida, Riho and Tsukasa Fujimoto in a four-way match, scoring all three eliminations in the process, to become the number one contender to Sakura's title. Nine days later, Minami defeated Sakura to win the ICE×60 Championship for the first time. After a 66-day reign, Minami lost the title to
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 ...
wrestler Command Bolshoi in her first defense. On December 24, Minami made her debut for Smash at ''Happening Eve'', where she teamed with Chii Tomiya and Kushida in a six-person tag team match, where they were defeated by Isami Kodaka, Makoto and Yusuke Kodama. In late 2010 and early 2011, Minami made appearances for
Union 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 ...
, performing under a mask and the character of Black Cherry #2 as part of the storyline rivalry between Cherry and Black Cherry, portrayed by fellow Ice Ribbon wrestler Riho. Minami returned to Smash on March 31, 2011, at ''Smash.15'', where she, Riho and Tsukushi defeated Emi Sakura, Makoto and Mochi Miyagi in a six-woman tag team match. The following month, Minami and Riho began producing their own events under the banner of "Teens", which would focus on spotlighting Ice Ribbon's younger wrestlers. On May 27, Minami defeated Tsukushi to win Ice Ribbon's 19 O'Clock Girls ProWrestling project's Internet Wrestling 19 Championship for the first time. Minami lost the title to Chii Tomiya only five days later in her first defense. On June 15, Minami defeated Remi Nagano to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship for the third time. She would lose the title to Emi Sakura later that same day. On August 7, Minami made her debut for the JWP promotion, losing to Command Bolshoi. During the match, Minami suffered a bloody lip and a ruptured eardrum as a result of Bolshoi hitting her with multiple '' shoteis''. Upon her return to Ice Ribbon, Minami pinned ICE×60 Champion Tsukasa Fujimoto on August 13 in a ten-woman tag team captain's fall match and was as a result named the number one contender to her title. On August 21, Minami defeated Fujimoto to win the ICE×60 Championship for the second time. During the next few weeks, Minami went on to successfully defend the title against Chii Tomiya and Hikaru Shida. In October, Minami, Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto traveled to
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
to take part in events promoted by Pro Wrestling EVE and Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE). During the tour, Minami successfully defended the ICE×60 Championship for the third time, against Shanna. During 2011, Minami also took part in Ice Ribbon's interpromotional rivalry with the Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling promotion. On October 27, Minami, Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Tsukasa Fujimoto and Tsukushi represented Ice Ribbon in Sendai's Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash tournament, 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, ...
, where different ''joshi'' promotions battled each other. The team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Team Sendai (
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 ...
,
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 ...
, Kagetsu, Miyako Morino and
Sendai Sachiko is a retired Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . She was trained by Meiko Satomura and made her debut for her Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, prom ...
). After successfully defending the ICE×60 Championship against Kurumi on November 5, Minami continued her heelish behaviour, first refusing to accept Tsukasa Fujimoto's challenge for the title and then calling Emi Sakura a dictator and accusing her of playing favorites, after the title match was made official. On November 19, Minami lost the ICE×60 Championship back to Fujimoto in her fifth defense, ending her reign at 90 days. Despite already being a former three-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, Minami only began working regularly for DDT Pro-Wrestling in November 2011, when she took part in an audition
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 ...
, which eventually led to Danshoku Dino and
Makoto Oishi is a Japanese professional wrestler working for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT). Oishi started his career in Kaientai Dojo, where he became a Strongest-K Tag Team, Independent World Junior Heavyweight and UWA World Middleweight Champion, at one ti ...
electing her as the newest member of their Homoiro Clover Z
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 ...
, breaking Minami's longtime partnership with Ken Ohka in the process. On December 25 at ''RibbonMania 2011'', Seina returned to Ice Ribbon, after a two-year hiatus, to wrestle her retirement match against her sister Riho. After the match, a tearful Minami entered the ring and challenged her childhood friend to a three-minute match, which she accepted. Minami went on to win the match in just under three minutes with the '' Blockbuster''. On January 4, 2012, Minami won ''Ribbon: The Best 2012'', a six-person tag team match set to determine the new face of the promotion in the aftermath of Emi Sakura's departure. After a nine-month break, Minami brought back the Teens concept, producing ''Teens4'' on March 3, where she was defeated by Riho in the main event. On July 28, Minami reunited with Command Bolshoi to enter JWP's annual Natsu Onna Kettei Tournament, which JWP this time co-produced with Ice Ribbon. After a victory over the team of Kazuki and
Miyako Matsumoto is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actress. She is best known for her work in the Ice Ribbon promotion, where she is a former two-time ICE Cross Infinity Championship, ICE×60, three-time Triangle Ribbon Championship ...
, Minami and Bolshoi were eliminated from the tournament by Arisa Nakajima and Hikaru Shida in a semifinal match that went to overtime following an original fifteen-minute time limit draw. On August 20 at ''Teens7'', Minami teamed with Stardom's
Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold, where she is the current Marigold Super Fly Champion in her first reign. She is best known for her tenure with World Wonder Ring Sta ...
in a tag team main event, where they were defeated by Stardom's Eri Susa and JWP's
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 ...
. Following the match, Minami announced that she was taking an indefinite break from professional wrestling to concentrate on her college entrance exam. On January 2, 2013, it was announced that Minami had officially quit Ice Ribbon effective December 31, 2012.


Apple Star Puroresu (2015–present)

On October 6, 2015, it was announced that Minami would be returning and wrestling her first match in over three years at Apple Star Puroresu's inaugural event on November 27, 2015. On November 27, Minami was defeated in her return match by Ayako Hamada. On January 10, 2016, it was announced that Minami had signed an exclusive contract with Apple Star Puroresu. On February 28, Minami made her debut for Reina Joshi Puroresu, teaming with Konami in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kagetsu and Yako Fujigasaki.


Championships and accomplishments

*666 **Young Ribbon Mix Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dynasty **Mixed Tag Team 1Day Tournament (2011) – with Dynasty * Dramatic Dream Team / DDT Pro-Wrestling ** Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship ( 3 times) *
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 ...
** ICE×60 Championship ( 2 times) ** IW19 Championship ( 1 time)


References


External links


Ice Ribbon profile

Southside Wrestling Entertainment profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minami, Hikari 1994 births Japanese female professional wrestlers Living people Sportspeople from Kobe Masked wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions ICE Cross Infinity Champions IW19 Champions Young Ribbon Mixed Tag Team Champions