(born July 13, 1984) is a retired '' joshi puroresu '' wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Kurihara entered training with the women's pro wrestling promotion AtoZ and then transferred to M's Style, where she learned the craft from well-known Japanese female wrestlers

Gami Gami may refer to: *Gämi, a village and suburb on the southeastern outskirts of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan *An alternative spelling for ''kami'' {{Disambiguation ...

Mariko Yoshida is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name . She is best known for her work with the ARSION professional wrestling promotion, where she was also head trainer. Professional wrestling career Yoshida debuted for All Japan ...

, Akino, and Michiko Ohmukai. Kurihara debuted in 2005, at the age of 20. In a "1 Day Tournament" Kurihara had her professional debut and defeated Gami when she reversed a pin attempt into a roll-up. She then lost her following tournament match when

Toshie Uematsu is a female Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for her popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. She was one of the members of the first class of wrestlers trained by Chigusa Nagayo when Nagayo formed the GAEA Japan promotion. Uematsu fi ...

beat her with a flying body press. M's Style closed in the fall of 2006. The final match was a six-person tag match, pitting Tojuki Leon, Bullfight Sora and Kurihara against Akino, Ohmukai and Yoshida. The younger generation won the match. Since then, Kurihara has wrestled as a freelancer, in Neo,

JWP Project , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversa ...

JDStar JDStar (also spelt Jd'), was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. In the wake of the joshi puroresu boom of the early 1990s, several different groups opened with distinct approaches. The Jd'Star promotion, with its su ...

, Ibuki and Pro Wrestling Sun. Near the end of her tenure in M's Style, Kurihara incorporated a stronger finishing move to her moveset. Ohmukai was shown teaching her how to perform a uranage, which she then went on to use in a tag victory with Ohmukai against

Ayako Hamada is a Mexican professional wrestler. During her 20-year career, Hamada wrestled for various promotions, including All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, Gaea Japan and Pro Wrestling Wave in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Lucha Lib ...

and Cherry. In December 2006, Kurihara wrestled

Shuu Shibutani is a retired Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name . Having started her career in the JDStar promotion in September 2004, Shibutani remained with the promotion until it folded in July 2007, after which she affiliated herse ...

in a special show geared toward the upcoming generation of wrestlers. The fans voted the match the best of the night and both women received trophies. Ayumi-wiki

On July 16, 2007 at the Pro Wrestling NEO "Summer Stampede '07" show in

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...

, while teaming alongside Shuu Shibutani versus

Aoi Kizuki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for her tenure with various Japanese promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu and Oz Academy. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2005–2018) Kizuki made her pr ...

and

Nagisa Nozaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. She started her career in the NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling promotion in November 2006 and after the promotion's folding in December 2010, worked for independent promotions such as Pro Wrestling Wave and Wor ...

, Kurihara broke her

clavicle The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the r ...

receiving a hard ''flying clothesline'' by Kizuki. Kurihara finished the match, hitting three more ''missile dropkicks'' before scoring the pinfall. She returned to action on December 9, 2007 to compete in the main event tag match in Michiko Ohmukai's retirement show, but re-aggravated her injury causing her to need surgery. On December 20, 2007, Kurihara underwent the surgery in which the doctor removed bone and bone marrow from her hip to use to reconstruct her clavicle along with a titanium plate and screws. Around mid-March 2008 Kurihara began light training again with Mariko Yoshida and in the U-FILE Dojo. Her return to action was scheduled for December 14, 2008 at Tokyo

Shinjuku Face is an event hall located on the 7th floor of the Humax Pavilion Shinjuku complex, 1-20-1 Kabukicho, Tokyo, Japan. It mainly hosts mixed martial arts, boxing and professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolv ...

for her personally produced show titled "Starting☆Over." At her event she wrestled twice, first in the opening bout victory against Shuu Shibutani and then in main event 2/3 Falls Tag Team match where she teamed with

Natsuki☆Taiyo is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . Making her debut for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) in January 2004, Mizushima quickly affiliated herself with Nanae Takahashi, following her out of AJW in 2006 a ...

against veterans Akino and

Nanae Takahashi (born December 23, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler and the founder of Seadlinnng. She has wrestled for prominent Japanese promotions All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Sun, and is a two-time women's world champion in m ...

. In August 2009 Kurihara traveled to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to participate in

Ultimo Dragon Ultimo may refer to: * Ultimo, New South Wales * Ulten, comune in Italy, Italian name ''Ultimo'' * Ultimo (Marvel Comics), comic books character * Ultimo (brand), Scottish designer lingerie brand * ''Karakuridôji Ultimo'', a Japanese manga * ...

's Dragonmania IV show on August 25, 2009 in

Arena México Arena México is an indoor arena in Mexico City, Mexico, located in the Colonia Doctores neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or ''lucha libre'', shows promoted by Consejo Mundial de Luc ...

. She also participated in some smaller independent events while in Mexico and debuted a new costume with a mask, calling herself A☆YU☆MI. Kurihara teamed with

Yoshiko Tamura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Tamura was trained by the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion, made her debut in September 1994 and worked for the promotion for three years, winning the AJW Junior Championship, before ...

to challenge

and

Kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most p ...

for the NEO tag team championships on December 31, 2009 in Korakuen Hall. This was the first championship of Kurihara's career. In February 2010 it was announced that Kurihara and several other joshi wrestlers would be appearing for

Shimmer Women Athletes Shimmer Women Athletes (often referred to and stylized as SHIMMER) is an American, Chicago-based independent women's professional wrestling promotion which held its first event on November 6, 2005. Established by Dave Prazak and run by both him ...

pro wrestling in Berywn, Illinois on their March shows. Kurihara also appeared for Jersey All Pro Wrestling the same month. On April 10 and 11, 2010, Kurihara took part in Shimmer Women Athletes' tapings of Volumes 29 to 32. On Volume 29 she defeated fellow joshi wrestler

Tomoka Nakagawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. After being trained by Taka Michinoku, she started her career in his Kaientai Dojo promotion in September 2004. After leaving Kaientai Dojo in 2007, Nakagawa briefly joined Ibuki, where she underwent ...

, on Volume 30

Nikki Roxx Nicole Raczynski (born April 19, 1979) is an American former professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring names Roxxi Laveaux, The Voodoo Queen, and Roxxi. She is also known for her time ...

and on Volume 31

Sara Del Rey Sara Ann Amato (born November 13, 1980) is an American professional wrestling trainer and retired professional wrestler, best known by her ring name Sara Del Rey. She was a mainstay for Chikara and Shimmer, but also appeared for many other ind ...

, before losing to

Daizee Haze Emily Sharp (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional wrestler known under the ring name Daizee Haze. She is best known for her time on the independent circuit, where she performed for numerous promotions such as Chikara, Ring of Hon ...

via countout on Volume 32. Kurihara returned to Mexico in late May/early June for her second tour. On May 29 at the Lucha Fan Fest in Circo Volador de Mexico City A☆YU☆MI won the Women X-LAW Extreme Championship, a title belt from Xtreme Latin American Wrestling. That same day Kurihara then returned to the Arena Mexico and Dragon Mania V for a tag match, where she and

Marcela Marcela is a feminine given name which may refer to: Musicians *Marcela Bovio, Mexican musician * Marcela Lucatelli (born 1988), Brazilian composer * Marcela Morelo, Argentine singer-songwriter * Marcela Rodríguez, Mexican composer Politicians ...

defeated

Mima Shimoda is a Japanese female professional wrestler, who is working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Japanese promotion World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. She is most well known for being half of Las ...

and

La Comandante Norma Martínez (born April 23, 1978), known by the ring name La Comandante, is a Mexican ''luchadora'', or female professional wrestler currently working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) portr ...

. On May 30 A☆YU☆MI participated in an 8-Women tag match at the Arena Lopez Mateos for the Alianza Universal de Lucha Libre (AULL). Soon after rival joshi wrestler Tomoka Nakagawa traveled to Mexico to challenge A☆YU☆MI for her newly won title belt. After Nakagawa defeated her in a non-title match on June 3 for IWRG in Arena Naucalpan, A☆YU☆MI successfully defended the title belt against Nakagawa on June 5 at the Arena Lopez Mateos for the AULL promotion again. On September 11 and 12, 2010, Kurihara returned to Shimmer Women Athletes to take part in the promotion's tapings of Volumes 33–36. On Volume 33 she defeated Daizee Haze in a rematch of Volume 32, on Volume 34 she unsuccessfully challenged Madison Eagles for the

Shimmer Championship The Shimmer Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship in Shimmer Women Athletes, and has also been defended on shows of sister promotions Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro. Championship reigns are determined by professional wr ...

, on Volume 35 she defeated

Cheerleader Melissa Melissa Anderson (born August 17, 1982) is an American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Cheerleader Melissa. She is best known for her work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where she worked as Alissa Flash and Raisha Saeed. ...

and finally on Volume 36 she,

, Cheerleader Melissa and

Serena Deeb Serena Deeb (born June 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She is well known for her first stint with WWE, appearing on the SmackDown brand and also known for her time with the develop ...

defeated Daizee Haze, Tomoka Nakagawa, Madison Eagles and Sara Del Rey in an elimination tag team match. On December 31, 2010, Kurihara defeated Yoshiko Tamura in Tamura's retirement match to win the NWA Women's Pacific and NEO Single Championships. On October 1, 2011, Kurihara and Ayako Hamada defeated Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa to win the

Shimmer Tag Team Championship The Shimmer Tag Team Championship (stylized as SHIMMER Tag Team Championship) is a professional wrestling tag team championship in Shimmer Women Athletes. The title is recognized nationally by Ring of Honor, and also by several independent promot ...

. On November 8, Kurihara made her first appearance as A★YU★MI, a villainous version of her masked persona. On November 26, 2011, Kurihara defeated Marcela in the main event of an Ayumi Kurihara Produce event to win Mexican promotion

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

's World Women's Championship. After successful title defenses against Cherry and

Hailey Hatred Angel Katherine Reece (born November 4, 1983) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Hailey Hatred. Originally debuting in July 2002, Hatred worked for several years for various promotions in both the United S ...

, Kurihara lost the title back to Marcela on March 9, 2012, in Mexico City. After seven successful title defenses, Kurihara and Ayako Hamada lost the Shimmer Tag Team Championship to

Courtney Rush Holly Letkeman (born November 29, 1983) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actress currently signed to Impact Wrestling under the ring name Rosemary. She is a former Impact Knockouts Champion and a current and three-time Impact Knockouts Wo ...

and Sara Del Rey on March 18 at the tapings of '' Volume 48''. On July 16, Kurihara defeated Ryo Mizunami to win

Pro Wrestling Wave , is a women's professional wrestling, or Joshi Puroresu, promotion created in 2007 after the dissolution and closure of JDStar. The company was formed by Mikiko Futagami, or Gami, former JDStar wrestler Yumi Ohka, and former JDStar booker Tatsu ...

's 2012 Catch the Wave tournament. On August 19, Kurihara teamed with her trainer Akino to defeat

Aja Kong is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by her ring name . She is the founder of the Arsion all-women professional wrestling promotion and has won several championships in both singles and tag team divisions throughout her career, prima ...

and

Sonoko Kato is a Japanese professional wrestler. She made her debut in April 1995, working for Gaea Japan, where she became one half of the inaugural AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. After becoming a two-time winner of the High Spurt 600 Tourn ...

for the

Oz Academy Tag Team Championship The Oz Academy Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Oz Academy professional wrestling promotion. The championship was introduced on July 13, 2008, when Carlos Amano and Dynamite Kansai defeated Chik ...

. On March 28, 2013, Kurihara announced that, due to the various injuries she had suffered during her career, she would be retiring from professional wrestling on August 4. On April 6, Kurihara returned to the United States for her final Shimmer Women Athletes appearance, losing to Mercedes Martinez at the Volume 53 internet pay-per-view. Kurihara's retirement event, titled "Thank You for Everything", took place on August 4 in Korakuen Hall and was produced by Zabun, the company behind Pro Wrestling Wave. Kurihara wrestled two matches during the event; first she defeated her trainee Mika Iida in the opening match and then teamed with Iida and Akino in a six-woman tag team main event, where they defeated Aja Kong, Gami and Tomoka Nakagawa, with Kurihara pinning Kong for the final win of her career.

Professional wrestling style and persona

Kurihara often hits numerous

dropkick A dropkick is an attacking maneuver in professional wrestling. It is defined as an attack where the wrestler jumps up and kicks the opponent with the soles of both feet; this sees the wrestler twist as they jump so that when the feet connec ...

s during her matches, including ''missile dropkicks'' off the top turnbuckle. She's not afraid to hit hard and take hard hits, prompting

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

wrestler

Steve Corino Steven Eugene "Steve" Corino (born May 29, 1973) is a Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler currently signed with WWE as a trainer and producer for their developmental territory NXT. He is best known for his tenure with Extreme Championship ...

, who worked for Pro Wrestling SUN and faced her in a mixed tag match, to call her "lil' Kawada girl."

Personal life

Her parents'

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

yakiniku ''Yakiniku'' (焼き肉 or 焼肉), meaning " grilled meat", is a Japanese term that, in its broadest sense, refers to grilled meat cuisine. "Yakiniku" originally referred to western "barbecue" food, the term being popularized by Japanese writer ...

( 焼肉) barbecue restaurant, the "

Three Jewels In Buddhism, refuge or taking refuge refers to a religious practice, which often includes a prayer or recitation performed at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. Since the period of Early Buddhism until present time, all Theravada ...

" ( 三宝) was not only a place where wrestlers often ate, but is also a sponsor of pro wrestling events. Kurihara played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

in high school in Tokyo, and after graduation, she went to work at her family's restaurant. Kurihara is married to professional wrestler

Yoshi-Hashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Yoshi-Hashi (stylized in all capital letters), where he is a former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Hirooki Goto. As well as a former ...

Championships and accomplishments

CMLL World Women's Championship The CMLL World Women's Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Femenil de CMLL'' in Spanish) is the championship in women's professional wrestling that is most highly promoted by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) ...

( 1 time) *

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship The is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight in its DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand. Open to anyone, regardless of gender or DDT employment status, the championship is defended " 24/7", as ...

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) *

**League Princess Best Bout Award (2006) vs.

on May 4 * NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling **

NEO Single Championship Neo or NEO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * Neo (''The Matrix''), the alias of Thomas Anderson, a hacker and the protagonist of the Matrix film series * Neo (''Marvel Comics'' species), a fictional race of superhumans * ...

( 1 time) **NEO Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

** NWA Women's Pacific Championship ( 1 time) **Best Bout of the Night (December 31, 2006) – vs. Shuu Shibutani *

Oz Academy is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Mayumi Ozaki. The promotion's full official name is . In addition to the contracted members of the roster, Oz Academy has also employed some of the top free ...

( 1 time) – with Akino **Best Tag Team Match Award (2012) with Akino vs.

and

on August 19 **MVP Award (2012) *

**POK Championship (1 time) ** Wave Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

** Catch the Wave ( 2012) **

Dual Shock Wave __NOTOC__ Dual Shock Wave is an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament promoted by the Pro Wrestling Wave promotion. It has been held since 2011 and takes place between early September and mid-November. The first tournament, held in a ...

(

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

) – with Kana ** Catch the Wave Best Bout Award (2011) vs.

Yumi Ohka , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Originally trained by the now defunct JDStar promotion, Ohka now works for Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave. She is a former two-time Wave Single Champion, while also bein ...

on May 29 ** Catch the Wave Best Bout Award (2012) vs.

Syuri is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist, better known simply as . Syuri formerly competed in Ultimate Fighting Championship. Syuri is currently working for World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the ...

on June 24 *

( 1 time) – with

Xtreme Latin American Wrestling Xtreme Latin American Wrestling (XLAW or X-LAW) is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico, founded in 2001 by wrestling journalist Ernesto Ocampo. The promotion is credited to be the first Hardcore wrestling company in ...

**X–LAW Women's Extreme Championship (1 time)

References

External links

Oz Academy profileAyumi Kurhara's blog
is in Japanese
Ayumi Kurhara's Promotional blog AYUMI☆NEWS
is in Japanese
Ayumi Kurihara's YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurihara, Ayumi Japanese female professional wrestlers Living people 1984 births Sportspeople from Tokyo Masked wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers CMLL World Women's Champions Oz Academy Tag Team Champions Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions Shimmer Tag Team Champions