You could almost feel the tectonic plates of the Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling landscape shift under your feet in 2024. It was a year of change, of transition, of building toward what’s to come.
The evergreen criticism of the company has been its overreliance on its established stars. The main event scene has long been a rotation of Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, and Yuka Sakazaki. The same faces front and center, forever and always.
And while TJPW didn’t cast Yamashita and Nakajima out of the spotlight, it made the bold and welcome move of making Miu Watanabe as Princess of Princess champ.
Fans have long been clamoring for the pink-clad powerhouse to get her chance. Once she did, reigning over TJPW with a tightened ponytail, there was a freshness in the air. Watanabe represented a changing of the guard. The queen to kick off a new era.
Beyond Miu’s crowning achievement, we saw a whole slew of rising talents make their mark.
Toga hammered her way to victories. Shino Suzuki improved greatly. Wakana Uehara thrived as an underdog extraordinaire.
TJPW didn’t just have one or two rookies in the mix as it has in the past, it had a generation maturing right in front of us.
Even with the rookies and emerging talent cutting their teeth in the spotlight, it didn’t feel like a rebuilding year. We had greatness as well as growth. It’s easy to argue that the 2024 edition of the Max Heart Tournament was the best one yet. The annual Hyper Misao vs. Shoko Nakajima absurdist comedy class to open the year was perhaps the funniest one to date.
Daisy Monkey was a major part of what made TJPW so entertaining over the year, too.
Both Suzume and Arisu Endo upped their games. The company gave them a shot to be the top tag team, and they ran with it. They thrilled in the ring. They connected with the crowd as they charged toward tag gold, as they become the rulers of the division for a spell.
Where TJPW didn’t have as much punch in 2024 was with its ridiculous offerings. Usually this is a promotion that we can count on for some of the most hilarious/insane moments and matches anywhere in wrestling. It’s what makes teej stand out.
Yes, we had Mizuki’s viral battering of Andreza the Giant Panda with a cartoonish mallet. Yes, the roster had all the fun in the Princess Rumble in December. But over the course of the year, we didn’t see TJPW do as much with its silly side.
2023 gave us the match inside the Hakkejima Sea Paradise aquarium. The year before that, the whole crew wrestled in a pool in a bout that saw guns pulled and eyelashes torn out. Hyper Misao produced Hype! in 2023, a theater-leaning show that was bold, innovative, divisive, exploring the very fabric of space and time. 2024 simply didn’t have anything that out there.
Additionally, between its big shows TJPW produced some underwhelming events. It hit homeruns at Grand Princess and Wrestle Princess while sometimes hitting dribblers elsewhere.
The booking dawdled at times.
Post title-win, the company didn’t maximize Daisy Monkey’s reign. The undercard didn’t have a lot of juice narratively. There weren’t enough rivalries and stories in general. It felt like TJPW was in a holding pattern in between the big-name shows.
Luckily, it generated enough goodwill to mask some of that. Putting the belts on super popular wrestlers will do wonders for you.
Arrivals and Departures
We will remember 2024 as the year of change, both the welcome and unwelcome kind. As much as it was the year of fresh faces stepping up, it was also a time of saying goodbye.
For one, Juria Nagano graduated. The karate nurse left before she ever fulfilled the early promise she showed.
She ended her part-time run after a battle with Moka Miyamoto in April, leaving fans wondering about what might have been.
Nao Kakuta also ended her time with TJPW. The company made a big deal of her exit, letting her produce her own show (CROSS) where she brought in friends Saori Anou and Natsupoi. It was a bittersweet scene, the vet going all out in an emotional tag bout before riding off into the sunset.
The Road I’ve Walked; An Interview with Nao Kakuta
Her tag team partner left TJPW, as well. There hasn’t been a lot of openness about what happened with Hikari Noa, but after a stretch of inactivity led to Team Wi-Fi vacating the Princess of Tag Team Championships, the former UpUpGirl was out of action and out of sight until news came out that she was graduating from the company.
At least, she and Kakuta got that title win their fans were pining for, and Noa got to live out her deathmatch dream in 2023.
Deathmatch Becomes Her: Hikari Noa
Counteracting those losses, TJPW brought some intriguing talent aboard. Uta Takami, an absolute sparkplug, debuted in the spring. 20-year-old Chika Nanase started with the company in February. She came on strong at the end of the year, looking more confident and comfortable heading into 2025. Kira Summer of Australia joined in March and became the first foreign-born full-time member of the roster.
On top of that, the company wisely brought in Yoshiko Hasegawa aka Yoppy, formerly of Actwres girl’Z and Ice Ribbon. She’s a solid in-ring performer who has the kind of charisma needed in TJPW.
The path to the next rung will be crowded for these newcomers as TJPW’s roster gets ever deeper.
One of the best stories of the year in terms of new names was Zara Zakher tearing it up. The bruising American indie standout was all over the TJPW scene. Zakher battled Watanabe for the Princess of Princess title, competed in the Princess Cup, and teamed up with Maki Itoh for TJPW’s Seattle show, Bright Eyes.
Tournaments and Champions
Daisy Monkey finally got that stirring, feel-good moment fans of the duo have been waiting for.
They were a big part of why the Max Heart tournament was so entertaining. Suzume and Endo rocked against Juria Nagano and Moka Miyamoto in the semis before absolutely thrilling opposite Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi in the finals.
Daisy Monkey knocked off Ryo Mizunami and Yuki Aino in March and held the belts until September when they ran into the super team of Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh.
Their climb to the gold was an emotional journey. It’s among the things that fans will long remember 2024 for.
The same goes for the trek Miu Watanabe took.
The vibrant star seemed ready to lead the company in 2023, but it wasn’t until Grand Princess that the Miu Era became a reality. Watanabe bested the TJPW end boss herself, Miyu Yamashita at the signature event, and then proceeded to have an impressive reign.
Watanabe beat the best the company had to offer. Former POP champs Shoko Nakajima and Rika Tatsumi failed to defeat her for the title. Zakher, Ryo Mizunami, and Vertvixen all suffered the same fate.
Miu shined throughout, proving all her supporters right. She was indeed prime-time ready.
Yuki Arai starred in her own story of dominance.
Once she beat Max the Impaler in January, the former SKE-48 member held the International Princess Championship in hand for a record stretch. She didn’t lose the strap until the start of 2025, setting the new top mark at 366 days.
Arai beat a series of challengers including Yuki Kamifuku and Arisu Endo as she successfully defended seven times.
She didn’t deliver any classics in her time as champ but was solid throughout. She changed the history of that title and looked like a star while doing it, even if the International Princess Championship still suffers from identity issues itself.
Yuki Arai: The Face of a Faceless Championship
Arai now marches into 2025 as one of the favorites to win the Tokyo Princess Cup.
In 2024’s edition of the tournament, Ryo Mizunami emerged the winner after beating Arai, Tatsumi, Haru Kazashiro, and finally Yuki Aino. The charismatic vet, however, was not the star of the tourney. That award went to Aino.
The former tag champ made the Princess Cup her coming-out party. In an event that was underwhelming overall with not a ton of memorable action, Aino stood out.
She showed vast improvement as a singles star en route to meeting Mizunami in the finals.
Walk Through That Door; Yuki Aino’s TJPW Princess Cup Run
Pom Harajuku and Yuki Kamifuku won gold, too, although from outside companies. Pom claimed the SETUP Certified All Asia Women’s Championship while Kamiyu won the Vietnam Pro Wrestling Women’s Championship.
Conclusion and Awards
Wrestler of the Year: Miu Watanabe
Runners-Up: Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima
The Fighting Idol-Miu Watanabe Interview
TJPW gave Watanabe a shot, and she nailed it. She was captivating as the challenger for the POP title and then looked every bit like a champion once she carried that title around and fended off foe after foe.
She had the aura. She delivered electric vibes. And she killed in the ring against Yamashita, Nakajima, Daisy Monkey, and Ryo Mizunami. Miu had 11 total matches rated higher than 8.0 on CageMatch.net in the calendar year.
Watanabe made it clear she belongs on TJPW’s top tier.
Match of the Year: Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe
Runners-up: Miu Watanabe vs. Shoko Nakajima
Meet with Triumph; On Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe
Watanabe vs. Nakajima won the fan-voted Best Bout award, but Miu’s title win was the more emotional and powerful of the two matches. For one, Watanabe and Yamashita’s styles blend so well together. Power versus power. Cold killer versus effervescent fighter.
Secondly, seeing Watanabe get that career-changing win at a huge show in such emphatic fashion was so damn fulfilling.
Show of the Year: Grand Princess
Runners-up: Wrestle Princess, Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling ‘24
Watanabe winning the Princess of Princess Championship. Daisy Monkey winning tag team gold. The Magical Sugar Rabbits reuniting. Appearances from Masha Slamovich, Max the Impaler, and Minoru Suzuki himself.
There’s no other show that could compete with this one. It had some great in-ring action and more importantly the most deeply satisfying results of the year.
Grand Princess rang in what promises to be a new era and had major fun along the way.
Most Improved: Yuki Aino
Runners-up: Arisu Endo, Shino Suzuki
Aino moved herself up the TJPW chain in 2024. Long a solid hand and good opponent to springboard off, Aino showed herself to be a legit singles star over the year.
Her presence grew. Her wrestling sharpened.
As tag team champ, Princess Cup finalist, and overall solid member of the roster, she put her stamp on 2024 time and time again.
Best Moment: Daisy Monkey Wins Tag Titles
Runners-up: Miu Watanabe’s POP win
Endo and Suzume are among the most likable wrestlers on the roster. They are both exciting in the ring and excel as babyfaces.
Neither had one a title in TJPW to this point. And their fans were aching to see that change.
Then came Grand Princess. Their story ended with a tearful victory and their careers being changed forever.
Who to watch for in 2025: Wakana Uehara
Runners-up: Arisu Endo, Yuki Arai
In our Bold Predictions for 2025 column, I predicted that Wakana will win gold. She’s got the charm, the athleticism, the bright personality that one needs to make it in TJPW.
It’s not going to be easy to gain big momentum with the roster this full of talent, but Wakana is poised to do just that.
Besides, it’s a new era, one where talent like Wakana will be writing the history.
RESURA 