After 22 years in joshi puroresu, Etsuko Mita retired at today's NEO Korakuen Hall show in front of 1700 fans. Of course Mita is best known as one half of the LCO tag team with Mima Shimoda. Mita also created the Death Valley Driver. LCO was one of the greatest tag teams in women's wrestling history. In her day, Mita was a very good wrestler. But in recent years, her knees were so bad she couldn't move anymore and she's been used as midcard fodder on NEO shows for several years. Her retirement is long overdue. I have a couple of S-Arena videos for you. First is LCO's final match before Mita's retirement on the Oct. 28 Pro Wrestling WAVE show vs GAMI & Yumi Ohka. Mita looks very tired. And of course the other video is from the retirement show. The first clip is from her match against Makoto. Mita has tried really hard to put Makoto over for the last year. But Mita still wins the match. I don't like Makoto's shtick but she's better than she used to be. Then of course Mita teaming with Shimoda for the final time against Kyoko Inoue & Nanae Takahashi. Takahashi even bladed for the occasion. Of course Mita did the job as expected. The retirement ceremony followed featuring Makoto, Takahashi, Shimoda and Momoe Nakanishi with her daughter. But the big news is that Akira Hokuto made her first appearance in a joshi ring since her retirement in 2002. The fans went nuts when her music played. Then the ten bell salute and Etsuko Mita is officially retired. So enjoy the videos and maybe go and watch one of Mita's classic matches.
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