Monday, December 10, 2007

Michiko Ohmukai retires


After 15 years in joshi puroresu, Michiko Ohmukai got married, retired on Dec. 9 at Shinjuku FACE and is off to Hawaii for her honeymoon. Ohmukai originally trained and debuted at All Japan Women in 1992. She grew up admiring the Crush Gals. She was injured and quit for a while and then returned with LLPW in 1993. Of course the key event in Ohmukai's career was when GAMI brought her to ARSION when the company started in 1998. Eventually she became one of ARSION's biggest stars with her combination of athleticism and sex appeal. After getting more involved in ARSION management, she left in Feb. 2003 when Hiroshi Ogawa sold the company to Yumiko Hotta. Ohmukai started M's Style in 2004 with Mariko Yoshida, Momoe Nakanishi & AKINO. That didn't really work out because Momoe retired and M's Style closed in Oct. 2006. It's been rumoured for a couple of years that Ohmukai wanted to retire but I'm not surprised she hung around for her 15th anniversary in January.





Generally speaking, the matches on a retirement show don't matter much. It's more about paying tribute to the retiree. Just about anyone who ever worked at ARSION was there except Etsuko Mita because she was working a NEO show at the same time. The opener had Cherry defeat Francoise with a diving knee drop to the back of the head at 8:50. Then Ran YuYu defeated Tomoka Nakagawa with the European Clutch at 12:10. Toshie Uematsu defeated Kyoko Kimura with a dragon suplex at 13:33. This was followed by an ARSION alumni talk show with Sakie Hasegawa, Rie Tamada, Yumi Fukawa & Ryo Miyuki. The main event had Ohmukai teaming with AKINO, Tojuki Leon, Ayumi Kurihara & Bullfight Sora vs Aja Kong, Mariko Yoshida, GAMI, Ayako Hamada and the return to the ring of retired ARSION star Ai Fujita for one night only accompanied by Emiko Kado. The end of the match was very appropriate with all of Ohmukai's team ganging up on Aja Kong. Ohmukai finished Aja with the Shining Wizard at 22:01.





The post match ceremony began with Michiko Ohmukai in the ring with her parents. Ohmukai's childhood idol Lioness Asuka was the first to enter the ring with a bouquet of flowers. This was followed by tributes by just about every wrestler Ohmukai ever worked with in her 15 year career. This was followed by a paper tape tribute from the fans and a shower of flowers. She was also given the Queen Of ARSION title belt. Then the ten bell salute and Michiko Ohmukai's wrestling career is over. She thanked all the wrestlers and fans for all their support over the years. And according to her blog, Ohmukai went backstage and popped open a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. On behalf of joshi fans worldwide, I want to thank Michiko Ohmukai for the entertainment you have given us for the last 15 years. We will miss you and we wish you a happy life. And as a special tribute to Michiko Ohmukai, here's the match that probably made her a star. It's Michiko Ohmukai vs Aja Kong from ARSION Feb. 18, 1998.

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