Ice Ribbon

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Ice Ribbon
Founded 2006
Style joshi puroresu
Headquarters Warabi, Saitama, Japan
Founder(s) Emi Sakura
Owner(s) Neoplus (a Yūgen gaisha)[1]
Sister Corazon Joshi Puroresu[1]
Shinshu Girls Pro Wrestling

Ice Ribbon (アイスリボン Aisuribon?) is a joshi puroresu (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 2006 by Emi Sakura, after her split with Gatokunyan.

History

Ice Ribbon was founded by Emi Sakura, a professional wrestler who was active with IWA Japan and FMW in the 1990s as Emi Motokawa. They split with Gatokunyan, the promotion Sakura herself represented, and held their first card on June 20, 2006 in Tokyo.

Ice Ribbon built their own dojo in Warabi, Saitama and gave ownership to a company called Neoplus in January 2009.

Ice Ribbon's shows mainly take place at their dojo called Isami Wrestle Arena in Saitama,[2] with several larger annual events, like Golden Ribbon and RibbonMania, taking place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.[3]

The wrestlers of Ice Ribbon were made up of those who transferred from Gatokunyan, including the kids whom Sakura instructed exercises and even wrestling. Some of them made their debut as professional wrestlers, and Aoi Kizuki, Makoto, Moeka Haruhi and Riho are still active. Other than that, collaborating with a TV program called "Muscle Venus"[4] and a film in 2009 called "Three Count"[5] Ice Ribbon recruited and trained some actresses as wrestlers. Among them, Hikaru Shida, Miyako Matsumoto, and Tsukasa Fujimoto are still active as wrestlers too. Ice Ribbon has gained some attention for training and debuting underage children as wrestlers. For example, Riho and Kurumi made their debuts at the age of nine, while Hikari Minami and Tsukushi were eleven and twelve, respectively, when they made their debuts.[3][6]

On May 28, 2010, Ice Ribbon announced a new project called 19 O'Clock Girls ProWrestling (19時女子プロレス Jūkyū-ji Joshi Puroresu?), an internet streaming channel on Ustream.[7] The show airs Fridays at 19:00 Japan time (10:00 UTC). The original concept of the show saw Ice Ribbon rookie Sayaka Obihiro being assigned full-time to the project and facing Ice Ribbon wrestlers in weekly matches. The concept was abandoned on August 26, 2011, when the project was officially brought under the Ice Ribbon banner, with Obihiro again becoming a regular member of the Ice Ribbon roster and the 19 O'Clock Girls ProWrestling turning into a regular professional wrestling program with no distinct concept.[8]

From its inception, Ice Ribbon had a close relationship with NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, which saw Ice Ribbon workers Emi Sakura, Aoi Kizuki and Makoto make regular appearances for the promotion, while NEO wrestlers like Etsuko Mita, Tanny Mouse and Yoshiko Tamura also made several appearances for Ice Ribbon.[9] The relationship lasted until NEO folded on December 31, 2010, with Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Makoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto appearing at the promotion's final event.[10] Starting in late 2010, Ice Ribbon was involved in a year-long interpromotional storyline rivalry with the Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling promotion, which saw Ice Ribbon and Sendai Girls' wrestlers make regular appearances for the opposing promotion.[11][12] Through its relationships with American promotion Chikara and the British Pro-Wrestling: EVE, Ice Ribbon's wrestlers have also made appearances in the United States and the United Kingdom.[13][14] Currently, Ice Ribbon has close relationships with the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), JWP Joshi Puroresu and Reina Joshi Puroresu promotions.

On December 14, 2011, Ice Ribbon's founder Emi Sakura announced that she was leaving the promotion for "personal reasons" following the January 7, 2012, event in Sendai.[15] Following Sakura's departure, Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto took over the training duties at the Ice Ribbon dojo.[16] The initial training program, from which one can graduate to become an official Ice Ribbon trainee, is currently run by Ice Ribbon wrestler 235.[17] During 2012, Ray, Sayaka Obihiro, and Ice Ribbon originals Hikari Minami and Riho also left Ice Ribbon,[18][19][20][21] while Dorami Nagano went inactive to concentrate on her studies.[22] To combat the decreasing number of wrestlers on its active roster, Ice Ribbon introduced the first six wrestlers trained by Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto: Eri Wakamatsu, Fumiko Sato, Risa Okuda, Rutsuko Yamaguchi, Oshima Kujira and Shoko Hotta.[16] Wakamatsu and Hotta, along with Ayano Takeda and Hiroko Terada, two other Shida and Fujimoto trainees who debuted before the end of 2012, all had quit their professional wrestling careers by April 2013.[23]

In February 2012, Ice Ribbon formed a partnership with Japanese pop group hy4_4yh (Hyper Yo-yo). The partnership led to the group making musical appearances at Ice Ribbon events, performing Maki Narumiya's new entrance theme and, on March 7, the two promoting the first "Hyper Ribbon" event, which featured both matches and musical performances.[24][25] On December 12, 2012, Neoplus officially announced the creation of Corazon Joshi Puroresu, Ice Ribbon's sister promotion, which has a more theatrical take on professional wrestling.[1] Following Sayaka Obihiro's December 2012 departure from Ice Ribbon, the promotion put 19 O'Clock Girls ProWrestling on hiatus as it considered the future of the program.[26] On January 4, 2014, Ice Ribbon was dealt another blow, when Hikaru Shida announced she was also leaving the promotion the following March.[27] On January 22, longtime freelancer Mio Shirai signed a contract with Ice Ribbon.[28] On January 3, 2016, Ice Ribbon original Aoi Kizuki announced her departure from the promotion.[29]

Roster

Ring name Notes
235
Aika Ando Inactive
Akane Fujita
Arisa Nakajima International Ribbon Tag Team Champion
JWP Joshi Puroresu
Ayame Yabe Shinshu Girls Pro Wrestling
Cherry Dramatic Dream Team
Chiharu Ring announcer
Dorami Nagano Inactive; concentrating on studies
Hamuko Hoshi
Hiiragi Kurumi
Koyuki Hayashi Shinshu Girls Pro Wrestling
Kyuuri Trianle Ribbon Champion
Maruko Nagasaki
Maya Yukihi
Miyako Matsumoto Gake no Fuchi Puroresu
Mochi Miyagi
Risa Sera ICE×∞ Champion
Rutsuko Yamaguchi Ring announcer
Tequila Saya
Tsukasa Fujimoto
Tsukushi International Ribbon Tag Team Champion
Yuka

Championships

Active
Championship Current champion(s) Reign Date won Days held Previous champion(s)
ICE×∞ Championship Risa Sera 1 March 21, 2016[30] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.+ Hamuko Hoshi
International Ribbon Tag Team Championship Best Friends
(Arisa Nakajima and Tsukasa Fujimoto)
1
(1, 6)
October 17, 2015[31] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.+ Orange Happies
(Aoi Kizuki and Kayoko Haruyama)
Triangle Ribbon Championship Kyuuri 1 May 4, 2016[32] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.+ Cherry
Defunct
Championship Final champion(s) Reign Date won Days Held Date retired Notes Previous Champion
IW19 Championship Tsukasa Fujimoto 2 June 22, 2013 22 July 14, 2013[33] Unified with the ICEX60 Championship Hamuko Hoshi

References

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  2. Isami Wrestle Arena official site in Japanese
  3. 3.0 3.1 411mania.com: Into the Indies 10.06.09: Ice Ribbon in English
  4. Muscle Venus official site in Japanese
  5. Three Count official site in Japanese
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  7. The Japan Times Online 2010.11.26: Women's wrestling seeks to regain its mojo in English
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External links