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Funk Butter Joshi Puroresu Page
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| What is Joshi
Puroresu?
Joshi Puroresu is the Japanese term for female professional wrestling. (joshi=female, puroresu=professional wrestling) It has been popular in Japan since the 1960's. Why Joshi Puroresu? As a kid growing up in Texas, I used to watch a local wrestling group called World Class Championship Wrestling. As the WWF became more popular, WCCW became less popular and eventually died. I didn't care for the WWF's cartoonish style (and still don't) and stopped watching. I started watching wrestling again in the mid-90's as people I knew were wrestling in WCW. Someone who was involved with WCW gave me a tape with all sorts of old stuff that I watched as a kid. Right in the middle and totally out of place, was a tag-team match from Japan with women. I didn't know what to expect. But after it was over, I thought that was the greatest wrestling match I've ever seen. The match was Manami Toyota and Mima Shimoda vs Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue, 4 of the greatest wrestlers of all time. As I learned more about joshi puroresu, the more I was hooked. I learned about the history and the wrestlers and began to admire all the work and dedication that is involved. I actually have become friendly with a few of the wrestlers and have had the opportunity to meet some of them on my trips to Japan. They are wonderful people who enjoy their work and are fantastic entertainers. They have an unbelievable dedication to their craft and improving themselves. They are true athletes.
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