is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. She started her career in the NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in November 2006 and after the promotion's folding in December 2010, worked for

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

promotions such as

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 ...

and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. Throughout her career, Nozaki has suffered several injuries, which eventually led to her taking a thirteen-month break from professional wrestling to undergo a shoulder surgery. She finally returned in August 2012, now working for

Wrestling New Classic was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling promotion, founded in April 2012 by Yoshihiro Tajiri. WNC was the follow-up promotion to Smash, which folded in March 2012. History On April 5, 2012, Tajiri held a press conference to annou ...

(WNC). After another injury, Nozaki went inactive in January 2013, eventually returning with Pro Wrestling Wave in 2017.

Professional wrestling career

NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling (2006–2010)

Trained by

Etsuko Mita is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. She formed a successful tag team with her partner Mima Shimoda as ''Las Cachorras Orientales'' (Spanish for "The Oriental Bitches"; which was originally a trio with Akira Hokuto) and Toshiyo Yamada as ...

at the NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling dojo, Nozaki made her

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

debut for the promotion on November 3, 2006, teaming with

Kyoko Inoue is a Japanese female professional wrestler. She has held the WWWA World Single Championship three times, and is the first woman to win a men's title in Japan. Inoue performed in the World Wrestling Federation at Survivor Series 1995 in an all ...

in a tag team match, where they were defeated by

Dynamite Kansai is a retired Japanese female professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . Career Chieko Suzuki was born on December 4, 1969, and was raised in Kyoto, Japan. In 1986 she auditioned for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), but was ...

and

Takako Inoue is a Japanese professional wrestler. She wrestled primarily for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion, and held several championships, primarily in tag team wrestling. She was well known as one-half of the tag team Double Inoue, which ...

, with Inoue pinning Nozaki for the win. Nozaki started her career with a losing streak typical for rookies in ''

puroresu is the predominant style of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which is shortened to puroresu. The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe's act ...

'', suffering defeats against the likes of

Yuki Miyazaki is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Wave. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (1995-present) Miyazaki made her professional wrestling debut on Janua ...

, Haruka Matsuo,

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 ...

, Etsuko Mita, and

Arisa Nakajima is a Japanese professional wrestler. Trained by the Major Girl's Fighting AtoZ promotion, Nakajima made her debut in January 2006, but when the promotion folded the following May, she transferred over to JWP Joshi Puroresu, where she became a tw ...

. In early 2007, Nozaki formed the Seishun Midori ("Youth Green")

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with

Ice Ribbon is a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 2006 by Emi Sakura, after her split with Gatokunyan. History Ice Ribbon was founded by Emi Sakura, a professional wrestler wh ...

representative Aoi Kizuki. On April 4, NEO and Ice Ribbon co-promoted an event, which featured a tournament to determine the inaugural International Ribbon Tag Team Champions. Seishun Midori entered the tournament, but was eliminated in the first round by the NEO Machineguns (Tanny Mouse and Yuki Miyazaki), who would go on to win the entire tournament. On May 5, Nozaki won her first professional wrestling match, though she did not score the deciding pinfall, when she teamed with Kizuki in a tag team match, where they defeated

Emi Sakura , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler performing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). After starting her career in International Wrestling Association of Japan in August 1995, Sa ...

and

Hikari Minami is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for her work in the Ice Ribbon promotion, where she spent nearly seven years, making her debut in February 2006 at the age of eleven, becoming a two-time ICE×60 Champion and a one-time IW19 Champ ...

. Nozaki finally scored her first direct pinfall win on July 22, when she defeated Ice Ribbon representative

Makoto is a unisex Japanese name although it is more commonly used by males. As a noun, Makoto means "sincerity" (誠) or "truth" (真, 眞). People Given name * Makoto (musician) (born 1977), drum and bass artist *Makoto (Sharan Q) ( まこと), ...

in a singles match. Nozaki continued teaming with Kizuki into 2008, before being sidelined with an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

following March 2. Nozaki finally returned on April 19, 2009, when she was defeated by Aya Yuki in a singles match. Afterwards, Nozaki began teaming with Yuki, and was scheduled to team with her in the Mid Summer Tag Tournament VIII, but on June 27, she fractured her orbital floor, during a six-woman tag team match, where she, Yuki and

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 ta ...

were defeated by Revolucion Amandla (Atsuko Emoto,

Kyoko Kimura is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Throughout her 14-year career, she competed in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Ibuki, Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom, amo ...

and

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 ...

). Nozaki returned on September 20, but injured her shoulder during a match, where she and Yuki were defeated by

Hiroyo Matsumoto (born November 6, 1985) is Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer. Emi Sakura gave her the nickname of because Matsumoto broke a wall in the Ichigaya arena during her Ice Ribbon debut. She is best known with other w ...

and Kyoko Inoue. Nozaki wrestled a comedic

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

on October 24 as "Etsuko Nozaki", but was unable to wrestle any regular matches due to her injury; most notably, she was forced to pull out of her trainer Etsuko Mita's retirement match and give her spot over to Makoto. Nozaki underwent surgery on her shoulder on November 26, 2009. During Nozaki's hiatus from in-ring action, NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling announced on May 5, 2010, that the promotion would be folding at the end of the year. Nozaki returned on August 1, 2010, losing to Smash representative

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 ...

in a singles match. Six days later, Nozaki was defeated in her second match since her return by

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 maj ...

. The match was ended prematurely, when Takahashi dislocated Nozaki's right shoulder. Nozaki, however, did not miss any NEO events as a result of her latest injury. With NEO having announced its folding, Nozaki began looking for a new home promotion and, on September 24, made her debut for Smash, losing to

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 pr ...

in a singles match at ''Smash.8''. In her second Smash match on October 30 at ''Smash.9'', Nozaki teamed with Syuri in a tag team match, where they defeated Tomoka Nakagawa and Toshie Uematsu. Nozaki also teamed with Syuri back in NEO; the two were defeated by Toshie Uematsu and Yuu Yamagata on November 21. The following day, Nozaki teamed with Akira,

Kaoru Kaoru is a Japanese given name for males or females. Name Meanings The name's meaning varies depending on its written form: *薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance", common for both males and females *馨/香 — "fragrance", more common for females ...

and

Scotty 2 Hotty Scott Ronald Garland (born July 2, 1973) is an American professional wrestler who was most recently signed to WWE as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center. He also competed under the ring names "Too Hot" Scott Taylor (1991–1999) and Scotty 2 ...

in an eight-person tag team match at ''Smash.10'', where they defeated Nunzio,

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the ...

, Tomoka Nakagawa and Toshie Uematsu. On December 11 at ''Smash.11'', Nozaki, in her final Smash appearance, and Syuri were defeated in a tag team match by the

JWP Joshi Puroresu , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time of its folding in 2 ...

team of

Command Bolshoi is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. She debuted for Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) in November 1991 and worked for its follow-up promotion JWP Joshi Puroresu from 1992 until its folding in 2017, also serving as its final president. D ...

and

Kaori Yoneyama is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. Yoneyama started her career in 1999, working with the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. During the following years, she became a one-time J ...

. On December 26, Nozaki picked up a rare win, defeating rookie Mika Iida at NEO's third to last ever event. NEO held its final event on December 31, 2010, during which she teamed with Hiroyo Matsumoto and

Mima Shimoda is a Japanese female professional wrestling, 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 kno ...

in a six-woman tag team match, where they were defeated by the Ice Ribbon trio of Emi Sakura,

Hikaru Shida is a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, actress, and model, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a former and the longest-reigning AEW Women's World Champion. On February 25, 2021, she became the longest reign ...

and

Tsukasa Fujimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress, who is currently wrestling for Ice Ribbon, where she also works behind the scenes as the co-head trainer. She is a record seven-time ICE×∞ Champion, six-time International Ribbon Tag Team C ...

. Later that same event, in the final match ever promoted by NEO, Nozaki, Mika Iida and Aya Yuki wrestled Tanny Mouse, Yoshiko Tamura and Yuki Miyazaki to a ten-minute time limit draw.

Freelancing (2011)

On February 3, 2011, Nozaki wrestled her first match since the folding of NEO, teaming with Aya Yuki at a T-1 event, where they wrestled Futami President and

Great Sasuke , born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name . Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly ...

to a no contest. On April 17, Nozaki made her debut for former NEO worker Kyoko Inoue's new World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana promotion, losing to Nanae Takahashi in a singles match. After suffering another loss to

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 being ...

on April 24, Nozaki picked up her first Diana win five days later, defeating Sareee. On May 1, Nozaki was defeated in a singles match by

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

. The following day, Nozaki made her debut for Gami's

promotion, entering the 2011 Catch the Wave tournament and defeating Yumi Ohka in her opening round-robin match. On May 4, Nozaki was booked for a Diana event, but ended up no-showing the event. Six days later, Diana publicly fired Nozaki for a "serious breach of contract". Nozaki quickly apologized for her actions and revealed that she was considering retiring from professional wrestling as a result of her firing. On May 17, Nozaki continued her Catch the Wave tournament with a win over

Mio Shirai is a Japanese former professional wrestler and current professional wrestling referee. She started her career in March 2007, working alongside her sister Io Shirai on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Jo ...

, however, she would lose her two remaining matches against

Misaki Ohata is a retired Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by her maiden name . She is best known for her work while signed to the Zabun production company and its two promotions; Pro Wrestling Wave and Osa ...

on June 15, and against

Ayumi Kurihara (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-kn ...

on July 6, and, as a result, finished third in her block and failed to advance from her block. Nozaki wrestled her final Wave match on July 24, when she, Bambi and Yumi Ohka, all representing the villainous Black Dahlia

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

, defeated Ayumi Kurihara, Ryo Mizunami and Sakura Hirota in a six-woman tag team match. Afterwards, Nozaki announced that she was taking an indefinite break from professional wrestling to heal her shoulder. Nozaki underwent surgery on her shoulder on February 2, 2012.

Wrestling New Classic (2012–2013)

On August 2, 2012, Nozaki made a surprise debut for

(WNC), the follow-up promotion to Smash, attacking Makoto with a ''

shinai A is a Japanese sword typically made of bamboo used for practice and competition in ''kendo''. ''Shinai'' are also used in other martial arts, but may be styled differently from ''kendo shinai'', and represented with different characters. T ...

'' and aligning herself with

Hajime Ohara is a Japanese professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the ''lucha libre'' style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style of wrestling. In Japan, ...

. The appearance marked Nozaki's first professional wrestling appearance in thirteen months. Dubbing herself "Nozabitch", Nozaki began working in WNC as a

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

for the first time in her career, adopting the ''shinai'' as her signature weapon. The following day, Nozaki managed Ohara at another WNC event, where he was victorious over El Hijo del Pantera in a singles match. Nozaki made her in-ring debut for WNC on August 30 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 ...

, defeating Makoto via referee stoppage with the sleeper hold. The two had two rematches the following day days; Nozaki was also victorious in both of them with the sleeper hold. During the weekend, Nozaki and Ohara were also joined by rookie

Jiro Kuroshio is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is perhaps best known for his work in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was a former two-time UWA World Trios Championship holder before leaving the promotion in January 20 ...

. On September 17, Nozaki earned yet another sleeper hold win over Makoto in a tag team match, where she teamed with Kuroshio and Makoto with

Yusuke Kodama is a Japanese professional wrestler and currently wrestlers for All Japan Pro Wrestling as a freelancer. Kodama is best known for his time with Wrestle-1 (W-1), where he is a former two time UWA World Trios Champion, two time Wrestle-1 Cruiser ...

. On October 19, Nozaki, Ohara and Kuroshio named their stable "

Kabushiki gaisha A or ''kabushiki kaisha'', commonly abbreviated K.K. or KK, is a type of defined under the Companies Act of Japan. The term is often translated as "stock company", " joint-stock company" or "stock corporation". The term ''kabushiki gaisha'' i ...

DQN" On November 27, Nozaki returned to Pro Wrestling Wave, teaming with Hikaru Shida in a five-way tag team match, which was used to determine the number one contenders to the

Wave Tag Team Championship The Wave Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Pro Wrestling Wave Professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title is nicknamed "Dual Shock Wave". The cha ...

and won by Makoto and

Moeka Haruhi is a Japanese professional wrestler, gravure idol, voice actress and television and radio personality. Starting her career in the Gatokunyan promotion in 2005, Haruhi remained with the promotion for two years, before transferring over to Pro Wres ...

. The following day, after receiving a first round bye, Nozaki entered the

WNC Women's Championship The WNC Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. The title was a spiritual successor to the Smash Diva Championship, the women's title of WNC's predecessor, Smash. ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in the semifinal stage, defeating Kana with help from Jiro Kuroshio. Following the upset win, Nozaki began using Kana's nickname, "World Famous". Prior to the final match, Nozaki began making appearances wearing crutches, claiming that she had broken her leg, having fallen over drunk. During the tournament final on December 27, Nozaki revealed that her supposed injury had been a bluff as she started the match off by attacking her opponent, Syuri, from behind. Despite this, Nozaki was eventually defeated, suffering her first direct loss in WNC. Nozaki suffered her second loss in a row at WNC's first event of 2013 on January 4, when she was defeated by Makoto. On January 25, Nozaki was, for the second time in her career, sidelined with an orbital floor fracture, suffered during a six-person tag team match, where she, Hajime Ohara and Jiro Kuroshio defeated Lin Byron,

Yo-Hey , better known by his ring name Yo-Hey (stylised in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Fujita started his career in Dragon Gate (DG) under the ring name Ryoma (stylised in ...

and Zeus. While Nozaki was recovering from her injury, Hajime Ohara legitimately quit WNC, effectively ending DQN K.K.

Pro Wrestling Wave (2017–present)

After over four years of inactivity, it was announced on June 4, 2017, that Nozaki would be returning to the ring with Pro Wrestling Wave on August 12. In her return match, Nozaki teamed with

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 ...

with the two losing to Mika Iida and

. On September 14, it was announced that Nozaki had officially signed with Zabun, the parent company of Wave. In November, Nozaki defeated

Miyuki Takase is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions Pro Wrestling Wave and Pure-J. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2017-present) Takase made her ...

Rina Yamashita is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her time in Pro Wrestling Wave. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2013-present) Yamashita began working for other promotions such as Pr ...

and

Mio Momono is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her time with the Japanese promotions Pro Wrestling Wave, Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling and Ice Ribbon. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit ...

to win the Next Tournament, earning a shot at Wave's top title, the

Wave Single Championship The is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Pro Wrestling Wave promotion. The title is nicknamed and more commonly referred to as the . The championship, which is situated at the top of Pro Wrestling Wave's championship hie ...

. She went on to unsuccessfully challenge Misaki Ohata for the title on November 26. On December 29, 2019, Nozaki defeated

Takumi Iroha is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling. She also competes in Seadlinnng, where she is a former Beyond the Sea Champion. Iroha was trained by Fuka Kakimoto and made her debut in April 2013 fo ...

to win the Wave Single Championship for the first time. On December 27, 2020, Nozaki lost the title to

Sakura Hirota is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions Pro Wrestling Wave and Oz Academy. Hirota's later career is characterized by being a comedy wrestler who oft ap ...

, ending her reign at 364 days.

Championships and accomplishments

** Next Tournament (2017) **

Regina Di Wave Championship The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Pro Wrestling Wave professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title is nicknamed and more commonly referred to as the . The championsh ...

(

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 ...

) **

( 1 time) – with

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship The World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship (often known as the WWWD Certified World Singles Championship) is a women's professional wrestling championship promoted by the Japanese professional wrestling promotions World Woman Pro-Wr ...

(1 time) ** World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship Tournament (2022)

References

External links

Wrestling New Classic profile

*
Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nozaki, Nagisa 1990 births Living people Japanese female professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Nagano Prefecture Professional wrestling managers and valets