is a Japanese retired

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 ...

best known for her tenure with various Japanese 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 ...

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 ...

and Osaka Women's Pro Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2004–2019)

Shimono 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 at the age of sixteen at ''BJW Shopping Street Deathmatch In Rokukakubashi'', an event promoted by

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasak ...

on August 29, 2004, where she defeated Tanny Mouse. Her second ever match occurred six years later on March 21, 2010, at a

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

promoted by Osaka Women's Pro-Wrestling where she fell short to

Kagetsu (born on June 24, 1992), better known by his ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Stardom, JWP, Sendai Girls and various independent promotions. Professional wrestling career Independe ...

. At ''NEO Christmas Special'', an event promoted by

NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling (frequently styled as NEO) was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1997 by Kyoko Inoue. The first event took place on January 9, 1998. NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling NEO Ja ...

on December 24, 2010, Shimono competed in a Christmas special battle royal won by Aya Yuuki and also involving

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 ...

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 ...

Sendai Sachiko is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . She was trained by Meiko Satomura and made her debut for her Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling promotion in July 2006. Her older sister Chisako is also a professional wrestl ...

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 ...

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 Jan ...

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 ...

and others. At ''New

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 ...

#645'' on May 4, 2015, she unsuccessfully challenged

Hiragi Kurumi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon where she is one half of the International Ribbon Tag Team Champions. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2010– ...

for the

ICE Cross Infinity Championship The , mainly known as the ICE Cross Infinity Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the Ice Ribbon promotion. History The championship, which is situated at the top of Ice Ribbon's champions ...

. At a

promoted by

Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling , often called , is a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. It is based in the city of Sendai, Miyagi in the Tohoku region. History Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling was founded in 2005 by Meiko Satomura, a female professional wrestler ...

on May 21, 2016, Shimono teamed up with

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 ...

to defeat

Meiko Satomura Meiko Satomura (里村明衣子, Satomura Meiko, born November 11, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently signed to the American promotion WWE performing on the NXT brand and the Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestlin ...

and Mika Iwata. Shimono often competed in men's promotions as joshi talent. At ''Osaka Pro Saturday Night Story'', an event promoted by

Osaka Pro Wrestling Osaka Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 1998 by Super Delfin. The promotion held a major flagship event called the Osaka Hurricane each year from 2003 to 2012 and also hosted the fourth edition of the Supe ...

on January 11, 2014, she defeated

Ebessan (born November 17, 1976), better known as his wrestling persona and formerly , is a freelance Japanese professional wrestler. Though best known for wrestling under a mask, he also regularly works unmasked under the ring name Kikuzawa (stylized ...

and

Kanjyuro Matsuyama is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known for his ring name . He has worked in Toryumon and Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but is more famous for his long career in Osaka Pro Wrestling. Along with Kikutaro and Stalker Ichikawa, he is consider ...

in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. At ''NOAH SEMex In Shinjuku'', an event promoted by

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

on May 21, 2015, she fell short against

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 ...

. At ''BJW BJ-Style #7'', an event promoted by

on May 22, 2016, Shimono teamed up with Speed Of Sounds (Hercules Senga and Tsutomu Oosugi) to defeat

Miyako Matsumoto is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress. She is best known for her work in the Ice Ribbon promotion, where she is a former two-time ICE×60, three-time Triangle Ribbon Champion and a two-time International Ribbon Tag Team Champion, ma ...

Takumi Tsukamoto is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Japanese professional wrestling promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2009–present) At ''BJW World Triangle Night In Korakuen'', a ...

and

Toshiyuki Sakuda is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his time in the Japanese promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2014-present) As a freelancer, Saku ...

in a six-person intergender tag team match. At ''DDT Ganbare Pro-Wrestling "Osaka Beer Garden Wrestling 2016"'', an event promoted by

DDT Pro Wrestling 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 ...

's branch

Ganbare☆Pro-Wrestling , often abbreviated to GanPro, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2013 as a sister promotion of DDT Pro-Wrestling. Although it originated as a special event by the parent company DDT, it has since become its own promotion. ...

on July 25, 2016, Shimono teamed up with

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 ...

to defeat Chikara and Masayuki Mitomi.

JWP Joshi Puroresu (2010–2017)

Shimono made sporadic appearances for

. She is known for competing in signature events of the promotion such as

Tag League the Best __NOTOC__ The was an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament, founded by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), which held it from 1985 to 2004 (with no tournament taking place in 1990). After the folding of AJW in 2005, the tournament wa ...

, making her only appearance at the 2016 edition of the tournament where she teamed up with Kagetsu to defeat

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 Rabbit Miu in the first-rounds but fell short to Makoto and

Hanako Nakamori better known by her ring name Hanako Nakamori is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her time in the Japanese promotions JWP Joshi Puroresu and Pure-J. Professional wrestling career Independ ...

in the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Pro Wrestling Wave (2010–2019)

A promotion in which Shimono activated for almost a decade was

. She is known for competing in its signature events such as the Catch the Wave tournament, making her first appearance at the 2010 edition, placing herself in the "Young Block" and scoring a total of two points after going against

Ryo Mizunami , better known by her ring name Ryo Mizunami, is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She is best known for her time in Pro Wrestling Wave. She is also known for her appearances in other Japanese promotions such as Big Japan ...

Io Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Iyo Sky (stylized in all caps). She is a member of Damage CTRL and one-half of the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champions ...

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 ...

and Senri Kuroki. She made her last appearance at the 2016 edition, placing herself in the"Silver Gray" Block and scoring no points after competing against Yoshiko,

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 Libre ...

and Kagetsu. Another signature event in which she competed is the

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 ...

, making her first appearance at the 2011 edition where she teamed up with Kagetsu only to fall short early in the first rounds against Ayako Hamada and

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 ...

. She made her last appearance at the 2016 edition of the event where she teamed up with Yuu Yamagata as "Daijo Thunder" and defeated Zettaizetsume ( Hibiscus Mii and

Kaho Kobayashi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer. Kobayashi was trained by Yoshihiro Tajiri and Makoto, making her debut in June 2013 for Wrestling New Classic. Since debuting, she has worked extensively for Pro Wrestling ...

) in the first rounds and fell short to Redbull (

Chihiro Hashimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling, where she is the current five time Sendai Girls World Champion. Hashimoto was trained in the Sendai Girls' dojo under Meiko Satomura, and made her debut in Octo ...

and Ryo Mizunami) in the second rounds. On November 27, 2012, Pro Wrestling Wave hosted an event in partnership with

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide Antonio Peña Promotions, S.A. de C.V. d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide is a Mexican Lucha Libre (professional wrestling) promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Commonly referred to as simply AAA (pronounced "triple A"; an abbreviation of its or ...

, the ''Virgin Mary Reina De Reinas 2012'' where Shimono teamed up with Aya Yuuki in a five-way tag team match won by

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), ...

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 ...

and also involving the teams of

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

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 ...

, Ryo Mizunami and

Yuu Yamagata better known by her ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions Kaientai Dojo and Pro Wrestling Wave. Professional wrestling career Independent ...

, and

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

and

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 hersel ...

. She participated in a 77-peron battle royal at ''WAVE GAMI Libre - Lucky 7'' on December 30, 2013, match won by

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

and also involving various notable opponents such as Yapper Man #1, Yapper Man #2,

Sanshiro Takagi , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Takagi's gimmick is that he is Stone Cold Steve Austin. He is known in Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and around the micro-indy scene for his hilarious promos and natural charism ...

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 ...

Danshoku Dino , better known by his ring name , also written Danshoku Dieno, is a Japanese professional wrestler. Dino has spent most of his career competing for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he plays an overly exaggerated homosexual character. His ring nam ...

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice hol ...

Kintaro Kanemura ( ko, 김행호 ''Kim Hyeong-ho'') (born August 9, 1970) is a Zainichi-Korean retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is also known as W*ING Kanemura or . He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Jap ...

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 ...

Menso-re Oyaji , is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working under the name for All Japan Pro Wrestling where he is a former four-time Gaora TV Champion. He was previously known as the similar masked character , under which he performed for several ...

and many others. At ''WAVE Osaka Rhapsody Vol. 23'' on January 15, 2014, Shimono teamed up with Kagetsu to unsuccessfully challenge Ayako Hamada and

for the Wave Tag Team Championship. At ''WAVE/OZ Academy OZABU Spin Off'', an event produced in partnership with

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 freel ...

on June 7, 2015, Shimono competed in a 19-person battle royal won 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 also involving

Chikayo Nagashima is a Japanese professional wrestler. She started her career in 1995, working for the Gaea Japan promotion, where she became a one-time AAAW Single Champion and a record five-time AAAW Tag Team Champion. She was also notably one of the four fou ...

Manami Toyota is a retired professional wrestler, best known for her work with the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. She is considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Following AJW's closure, she continued to work ...

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 ...

Tsubasa Kuragaki is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name . For most of her career, Kuragaki has worked for JWP Joshi Puroresu, becoming a one-time JWP Junior and two-time JWP Openweight Champion as a singles wrestler. As a tag team ...

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 ...

and others. Shimono retired from professional wrestling at ''WAVE Phase 2 OSAKA Reboot'' on April 28, 2019, show where she teamed up with Fairy Nihonbashi to defeat Hibiscus Mii and Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru.

Personal life

Shimono suffers from

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri ...

, an affliction which causes her distinctive bald head.

Championships and accomplishments

JWP Junior Championship The JWP Junior Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. It was introduced on June 16, 1995, when Candy Okutsu defeated Hiromi Sugou and Hiromi Yagi in a three-way match to become the ...

( 1 time) *

Pure-J is a Japanese ''Joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established on August 11, 2017, by Command Bolshoi. History With the closure of JWP Joshi Puroresu on April 2, 2017, it was announced that Command Bolshoi will be in ...

Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship The Princess of Pro-Wrestling (POP) Championship is a Japanese women's professional wrestling championship owned by the Pure-J promotion. The title was created in the JDStar promotion on June 24, 2006, when Fuka defeated Natsuki☆Head in the fi ...

( 1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimono, Sawako 1988 births Living people Japanese female professional wrestlers People from Kagoshima Prefecture