NEO and SMASH held a joint press conference yesterday at the SMASH office to announce that Nagisa Nozaki will return from a year long injury layoff to face Shuri on NEO's Aug. 1 Korakuen Hall show. This will be Nozaki's first appearance since undergoing shoulder surgery last year. That's a big show for her return. It's a lot of pressure on a 19 year old kid. You'd think that NEO President Tetsuyo Koda would have her get her feet wet on a dojo show. But Koda is still convinced that Nozaki can be the saviour of the joshi business. You can see the kind of media coverage that teen like RENA gets for Shoot Boxing. But after almost four years wth NEO, the jury is still out on Nozaki mainly because she gets injured too frequently. I have said before that I think she's too small and too easy to toss around. Shuri has some athletic ability and idol worthy potential. But she mostly works SMASH shows. TAJIRI has been very protective of her. It would be interesting to see if she could survive the weekly grind of the joshi business. So here's the press conference video. I wish they would let the girls talk more.
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