Masami Yoshida (吉田雅美，born January 7, 1962) is a Japanese

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 appearances in

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that y ...

GAEA Japan Gaea Japan (trademarked as GAEA Japan) was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. GAEA's name comes from the Greek mythological goddess of the Earth, Gaea or Gaia. History GAEA was founded in 1995 by Chigusa Nagayo, a professiona ...

and

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 i ...

under the name Devil Masami. She is a member of the All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1998.

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (1978-1987)

Masami debuted on August 21, 1978. She began teaming with Tarantula in 1981, winning the

WWWA World Tag Team Championship The World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA) World Tag Team Championship was the top doubles championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a '' joshi puroresu'' ( wome ...

on August 10, 1982 and vacating the title shortly thereafter in early 1983. On April 1, 1984, she defeated Judy Martin to win the vacated

All Pacific Championship The All Pacific Championship was the secondary singles women's professional wrestling title in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling or AJW. The belt was started as the Hawaiian Pacific Championship in 1977 and was renamed the All Pacific Championship ...

. Masami vacated on December 12, 1985 after winning the vacated

WWWA World Single Championship The was the top singles women's professional wrestling championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) from 1970 until it closed in 2005. It was also known in ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an Ame ...

in a match against Dump Matsumoto. She held that title until August 23, 1986, losing it to

Yukari Omori Yukari is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yukari can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *由加里, "reason, addition, village" *由香里, "reason, smell, village" *由佳 ...

GAEA Japan (1995-2005)

She then began working for

. On November 2, 1996 in Singapore,

Chigusa Nagayo is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for her mainstream popularity in the 1980s as a member of the tag team ''Crush Gals'' with long-time partner Lioness Asuka. She was the founder of the GAEA Women's Professional Wrestling organizat ...

defeated Masami in a match to crown the first AAAW Single Champion. Masami, however, defeated Nagayo for the title on November 20, 1997, holding it until August 23, 1998, when Nagayo defeated her to regain the title. On September 20, 1997 in Kawasaki, Japan, she defeated Zero (Chigusa Nagayo) for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Natio ...

's vacant WCW Women's Championship. The title, however, was abandoned after GAEA and WCW ceased their working relationship. On February 11, 2003 she teamed 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, pri ...

to defeat the team of

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 Wrestl ...

and

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 Libr ...

for the

AAAW Tag Team Championship The AAAW Tag Team Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship formerly contested in the Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion Gaea Japan. The title which was originally known as the AAAW Junior Heavyweight Tag Team C ...

. They held the title until they were defeated by Chikayo Nagashima and

on September 23 of that year.

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (2005-2008)

Masami wrestled in the main event of AJW's final card on April 17, 2005, teaming up with

Amazing Kong Kia Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American actress and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)/Impact Wrestling under the ring name Awesome Kong. She also worked with Ring ...

to defeat

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 ...

and Misae Genki. Masami announced in 2007 that she would retire from wrestling in 2008 after thirty years in the business. Her retirement match was on December 30, 2008 where she teamed up with Dynamite Kansai and

Carlos Amano is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name . Amano made her debut for JWP Joshi Puroresu in December 1994 and early on began also making appearances for the Gaea Japan promotion, where she most notably became o ...

to lose to Aja Kong,

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 ...

, and

Ran Yu-Yu Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * ''Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) *' ...

, when Uematsu pinned Masami with a Dragon Suplex.

Championships and accomplishments

AJW Championship The AJW Championship was a tertiary belt in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) promotion. The first champion, in 1980, was Rimi Yokota. During the title's history, no one held the belt more than two times. The belt was abandoned in 2005 after ...

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) - with Tarantula **Hall of Fame (1998) *

** AAAW Single Championship ( 1 time) **

( 1 time) - with

JWP Openweight Championship The JWP Openweight Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. The championship, which was situated at the top of JWP's championship hierarchy, was introduced on December 2, 1992, ...

( 1 time) **

JWP Tag Team Championship The JWP Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. The championship was introduced on August 9, 1992, when Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki defeated Dynamite Kansai and Sumi ...

( 3 time) - with Dynamite Kansai (1), Hikari Fukuoka (1), Cutie Suzuki (1) *

** WCW Women's Championship ( 1 time) *

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards This is a list of both active and inactive ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' awards created by professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist Dave Meltzer. The first fourteen awards were created in 1980 as an informal poll between ...

** Hall of Fame ( Class of 1996)

References

External links

Cagematch profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masami, Devil 1962 births Living people Japanese female professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Kitakyushu Stampede Wrestling alumni 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers AAAW Single Champions AAAW Tag Team Champions