Opinion
DeMarco: What The Wrestling Business Lost In Hana Kimura
I look at the wrestling side of the death of Joshi sensation Hana Kimura.
Greg DeMarco looks at the wrestling side of the death of Joshi sensation Hana Kimura.
It seems weird to sit here and type this article on Hana Kimura–but I am going to do it. I’ll explain why in a moment. But the world is a really screwed place right now. Truth is, the world has always been a screwed up place, it’s just at the forefront right now. Regardless of states “opening up” and some areas even seeing wrestling show, we are still dealing with COVID-19 and the Coronavirus…with no end in sight. But that’s been going on for 3 months now. Add in the deaths of Larry Csonka (who gave me my start), Shad Gaspard (who you won’t hear a bad word about), and today Danny Havoc, and wrestling has been rocked lately.
But the death of George Floyd has brought back up an issue that has no end in sight, but the beginning is far out of sight as well. #BlackLivesMatter is a real thing, because black lives matter! White people, especially in America, control far too much of the money, opportunity, and future to pretend that black people haven’t been oppressed for pretty much our entire existence as a nation. And because of the money, opportunity, and future I listed above, it’s time for the silent majority to stop being silent. That includes me, and it’s very likely–just based on the demographics of wrestling fans online–that includes you as well. And the fact that far too many white people are trying to divert any attention to businesses that are being looted and riots that are out of control proves my point. Stop trying to address the symptoms and address the real problem. Peaceful protests don’t work, because we keep saying “…but not like that.” It’s time for a systemic change, and it’s not coming from the government. It has to come from us.
That is another column for another time. This is about Hana Kimura, a beautiful soul taken from the world of professional wrestling far too soon.
You’re likely either puzzled or intrigued by the title of my article, because I am not looking at the personal side of a death, I am looking at the business side of it. I am but a very casual fan of Joshi at the most, and that’s probably giving me too much credit. I can never give the passing of Hana Kimura the justice it deserves, but Andrew Balaz did just that last week, in an article you can (and should) read here.
Writing about the business side is my wheelhouse. It’s what I do. I promote wrestling events (another thing impacted by COVID-19), so I look at the business differently than many of you. So for me to put the passing of Hana Kimura into perspective (and perspective is what we, as writers, offer), I have to do it from the business side.
At the time of her passing, professional wrestler and reality TV star Hana Kimura was 22 years old. She had been performing in Stardom in Japan (along with multiple appearances in the United States, notably for Ring Of Honor and AEW), and was also a part of the Stardom showcase match that took place in the Tokyo Dome before WrestleKingdom 14 in front of over 40,000 people. She took her own life due to harassment related to her involvement not in professional wrestling, but as a member of the cast of Terrace House, a reality putting six people in a house together and creating dating scenarios for them to encounter. Reports later surfaced that she tried to get out of the show back in December, but was unable to do so. Thus, she continued to meet her obligations to the show on which she was contracted to appear.
Hana Kimura was trained by the Wrestle-1 University, but her mother is Kyoko Kimura, who wrestled from 2003 to 2017. Hana was born in 1997, meaning she was 6 years old when her mother debuted as a pro wrestler. Hana saw every bit of her mother’s career…the wrestling business was literally in her blood.
Hana only had 4 years of wrestling experience, but had become one of the most well known performers outside of the United States, with her in-ring acumen growing exponentially during that time. As I said, I am a casual Joshi fan at best, but if you said “Stardom” to me and asked me who comes to mind, you’re getting two names: Kagetsu and Hana Kimura.
At her young age, the potential she had in the business was unlimited, especially when you add in her look, charisma, and popularity. That’s where the title of this article comes into play: Hana Kimura could have been one of the biggest stars in the wrestling business–male or female.
As I mentioned, Hana Kimura was 22 years old when she passed away last week. Let’s take a look at the ages of the biggest female stars in WWE today:
- Becky Lynch, arguably the biggest women’s wrestling star in the world when she left to start a family, is 33 years old
- Charlotte Flair is 34
- Sasha Banks is 28
- Bayley is 30
- Ronda Rousey, currently inactive, is 33
- Shayna Baszler is 39
- Asuka is 38
- Alexa Bliss is 28
- Io Shirai is 30
- Rhea Ripley is 23
- Candice LeRae is 34
Let’s fast forward 10 years, when Hana Kimura is a 14-year veteran of the business at age 32. It’s entirely conceivable that the only person on this list still active is Rhea Ripley. there is a chance that Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss, at 38, are also active. But for all intents and purposes, we would be into the second wave of female talent atop WWE, and if she chose to come over, Hana could be the leader of the pack.
It’s very possible that Hana Kimura wouldn’t go the Shinsuke Nakamura route in wanting to prove himself on American soil, instead taking the Kazuchika Okada route and carrying the Japanese product on her shoulders. Stardom has been purchased by Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan. According to my conversation with the aforementioned Andrew Balaz, the whole reason Hana went on Terrace House was to spread the joy of Joshi and Stardom.
But it would take a cultural shift for Japan’s focus on women’s wrestling to match what we see here in the States. If I am placing a bet, I could see WWE aggressively signing more Stardom talent in the coming years. I would expect Hana Kimura to be one of the prime targets. I don’t know how strong her English was, but there would have been plenty of time for her to pick it up. And if how fast she picked up the wrestling business is any indication, she had it in her to become really strong in English.
To be blunt: in 2029-2030, it’s 100% reasonable to see Hana Kimura at the level in WWE that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are in 2019-2020. Hana Kimura vs. Rhea Ripley could easily have main evented WrestleMania 45m and we could easily throw Becky Lynch in as the special referee. Kimura would be a media darling in America, carrying the flag with Charlotte Flair and Bayley rooting her on via social media. She could be retiring Sasha Banks and/or Alexa Bliss, she could be singing the praises of Triple H and the impact he’s had on her career.
When you look at the facts, it’s more than reasonable to say this could happen. Add in Hana’s ability, charisma, and age, and it’s damn near probable. But because of some coward fanboy keyboard warriors, none of it is going to happen.
Well, it will happen…with someone else. But it’s fair to say that if Hana Kimura wanted it, it would have been hers for the taking. Instead it was taken from her, and it was taken from us. It was taken from wrestling.
The world is a crazy, and sometimes scary, place right now. It largely always has been, and probably always will be. We can make a difference. Be a good person, stand up for what’s right even if you’re not the one being wronged, and let’s make this a better place. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay good to each other.
Greg DeMarco is a life-long wrestling fan who has been providing analysis and perspective online since 2010. He’s also worked for various wrestling promotions including the NWA and Ring Of Honor, and currently promotes IZW Wrestling in Arizona.
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!