We’re back again with a new edition of the “Joshi Wrestler Index” and this time we’re going to be covering one of my personal favorites Suzume from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, or TJPW for short, is known as being the second biggest women’s promotion in all of Japan, with a very strong financial backing, but the way that they book their matches differs from the biggest women’s promotion STARDOM because their matches are normally more centered around comedy than strong style.
Suzume is a special talent because she can wrestle a proper comedic style, but also when the matches really matter she can put on a performance that would make her fit in with any other strong style-like promotion.
Suzume got her start on August 25, 2019 and even if you look at her first match you could see that she had potential to be something special. Her bright smile, and cute looks made you pay attention at first, but her athleticism and determination to succeed kept you watching. She’s a perfect example of the fact that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover because she’s so small, but there’s very few members of the roster who have more fight in them than Suzume which helps make her one of the best underdogs in all of joshi.
Over the years, she’s been given opportunities to show her growth in the ring, which includes being the first match for a few new trainees including her now partner Arisu Endo who is now a tremendous wrestler in her own right. With Suzume only being five years into her career, it’s definitely possible for her ratings to get better in time, but we’re giving her grades based on what she’s done to this point and where we see her currently. We didn’t have a lot of contributors submit their ratings this time but I hope that you’ll enjoy reading our dissection of her wrestling skill down below.
A wrestler’s ability to use power related moves and how well they are known for using their power inside of the ring.
My Rating: 4
I know that a 4 is super low rating-wise, but for someone like Suzume it fits. She’s a very small woman, who definitely uses her speed a lot more than her strength. She’s no doubt strong for her size, but she rarely uses any power driven moves. Every now and then she has to lift a slightly bigger opponent, but most of the roster in TJPW are somewhat small in stature, so it’s not tested all that much. I think in due time, Suzume may get to the point where she’ll be able to lift opponents quite a bit bigger than her like Mizuki does for instance, but that might take more time to build more muscle.
Dave Coumans’ Rating: 5
“Probably Suzume’s weakest point. But with her agility and her technical growth over the past year, she doesn’t really need power.”
Check Out His Work On RESURA
FAR5222’s Rating: 5
“Don’t really see Suzume do much power related moves besides lifting opponents up for suplexes and body slams.”
@FAR5222 on X
OVERALL POWER RATING: 4.79
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s ability to do throws and suplexes as well as their ability to do their moves cleanly without messing up.
My Rating: 6.5
While I do think that Suzume is quite good in a technical sense, I don’t feel like she uses it a lot in the way that we grade her on it. For us, the technical skill is being able to do their moves effectively without messing it up, as well as the use of suplexes, and unfortunately Suzume doesn’t really use many suplexes in her usual arsenal.
I do think she does the moves well, though there are times where she’s a bit sloppy which might be more about the opponent she’s in there with, rather than her skill, but I feel that the rating reflects that well enough, without taking too many points away. Suzume is still only five years into her career, so I do think that she’ll improve this rating if we rate her again in a few years.
FAR5222’s Rating: 7
“Not really known for her technicality but can bust out some stuff during big time matches.”
@FAR5222 on X
Dave Coumans’ Rating: 7.5
“Suzume is still learning and she seems to improve each match.”
Check Out His Work On RESURA
OVERALL TECHNICAL RATING: 7.20
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s ability to perform at a high speed as well as their ability to perform high flying moves.
My Rating: 8.5
One of Suzume’s biggest strengths is her speed and agility at which she wrestles. She’s not quite on the level of someone like AZM or Mei Seira when it comes to how fast she can wrestle, but she could definitely make some noise in the high speed division of STARDOM if she ever made the jump.
I think what holds her back a little bit is that she doesn’t quite have the spring in her step, and jumping power that some of the best high speed wrestlers have. Her ability to dart around the ring like the bee that she used to portray with her wrestling gear is definitely a hallmark for her, and her ability to take to the skies with her patented flying cross body makes her a hard wrestler to keep up with for many of her opponents. I hope that she’ll continue to add more high flying to her arsenal, along with quick roll-ups to score pins against stronger opponents that she may share the ring with.
FAR5222’s Rating: 8
“She has cool dives off the top rope and her signature vaulting diving crossbody.”
@FAR5222 on X
OVERALL AGILITY RATING: 8.59
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s ability to use submissions and chain wrestling as realistic looking offense.
My Rating: 7
By no means is Suzume a submission specialist, but when she needs to pull one out, especially against a less experienced opponent, she has quite a few that she can go to. On top of that, her ability to chain wrestle with anyone in the company is definitely one of her strengths, as many of her matches start with good chain wrestling to set the stage. While she may lack a bit of power in her chain wrestling, she makes up for it with quickness and technique, which is why she has an above average score for grappling, but I do think that rating will improve over the years to come.
OVERALL GRAPPLING RATING: 6.79
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s ability to use strikes effectively as a realistic part of their offense.
My Rating: 6
Suzume isn’t a big striker in my opinion, though she does always put her all into every strike she throws. In Japan, it seems like most joshi wrestlers learn how to dropkick their opponents before some of the other simple techniques, because everyone seems to do them, and Suzume was no different.
Her beautiful dropkick is one of her best moves, but she normally has to hit it a few times to knock her opponent down unless her opponent is already worn down a bit. She throws good forearms as well, but her strikes are nowhere near as powerful as some of her peers in the joshi wrestling landscape. I’d like to see her add some more kicks to her arsenal in the future, but we’ll see if that ends up happening.
OVERALL STRIKING RATING: 6.83
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s ability to use good psychology in their matches to make them make sense and tell a story.
My Rating: 8
One thing is for sure when it comes to Suzume, TJPW knows that she’s able to tell a good story, especially as the underdog which is why they have put her in some good spots with their booking over the past few years. The story that both her and Arisu Endo built together as they made their way to the Princess Tag Team titles was a thing of beauty, and by the time that they won the match, they had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Suzume is also someone who is often trusted with having the first match with a brand new wrestler, and normally she’s able to get a pretty good match out of them because she has a good grasp of the psychological aspects of the game.
By no means is she perfect at it, but she’s definitely one of the best in TJPW.
Dave Coumans’ Rating: 8
“She was always the underdog, which could be a weapon when used to lure a stronger wrestler into a false sense of security. Now that she’s a champion, she has to adapt her game plan and so far it’s been working out well.”
Check Out His Work On RESURA
FAR5222’s Rating: 7
“Very strong babyface that can get beat up and come back and make you believe.”
@FAR5222 on X
OVERALL PSYCHOLOGY RATING: 7.88
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s looks when it comes to marketability. This includes both their physical look as well as their wrestling attire.
My Rating: 9
In my opinion, Suzume is one of the cutest wrestlers in the world, but she’s so much more than just a cute face. Over the years, Suzume has had many great wrestling outfits as well. The first few were very much leaning into her being a bee, but her more recent gear has had much more of a cyber punk look while still using a bright yellow color that stands out among her compatriots. The fact that she can pull off cute, cool, and intense shows how expressive she can be as a performer.
FAR5222’s Rating: 8
“Looks like a bee and stings like a bee.”
@FAR5222 on X
Dave Coumans’ Rating: 9
“Siri, define cuteness. Phone shows a picture of Suzume.”
Check Out His Work On RESURA
OVERALL LOOKS RATING: 8.65
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
A wrestler’s natural star power when it comes to marketability. It also includes their ability to talk on the mic and charisma shown.
My Rating: 8.5
When it comes to young stars on the TJPW roster, there are few bigger than Suzume. Sure, she’s not part of the so-called “pillars” of the company, but she’s right outside of it as one of the best upper midcard performers they have. Suzume’s star power comes from the fans believing that she can accomplish anything in the ring even when faced with almost insurmountable odds. She seems very comfortable with the microphone, and sells her matches well especially if she’s in a big high stakes match.
All in all, if TJPW continues to push Suzume up the card over the next few years, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll be one of, if not the biggest star in the company. Though, that just might be my bias talking.
Dave Coumans’ Rating: 7.5
“A star on the rise. Extremely popular and growing leaps and bounds. This rating will continue to grow over time. No doubt about it.”
Check Out His Work On RESURA
OVERALL STAR POWER RATING: 7.90
Based On: 6 Creators & 7 “Crowd” Entries
As always, I leave a box on the Google Form that allows the crowd who is voting to leave a comment about the wrestler, and sometimes people use it quite effectively.
This is what one of the members of the crowd had to say about our subject: “Suzume has been slowly climbing up the ladder in TJPW. After five years in the promotion, it was only last year that she won her first title, but surely not the last. Her agility has established her as the best high speed wrestler in TJPW, and is currently on her way to have a promising International championship run.”
I feel like the commenter here put things quite well as Suzume is still full of potential and one of the best high speed talents in TJPW. It will be interesting to see if she can eventually take her place atop the company as the best of the best.
After taking the ratings from the six content contributors along with the compiled ratings from the seven members of the crowd, Suzume finds herself with an overall lower than the two wrestlers we’ve covered before, but she still has quite a good rating nonetheless.
A rating of 7.33 is definitely lower than some, but I can assure you that once we’ve gotten through quite a few wrestlers that she’ll probably find herself towards the upper middle of the pack with a rating like that. Obviously, starting with Sareee and Momo Watanabe was a high bar to set, but I chose them for a reason, because I wanted people to rate the wrestlers fairly, but also keep in mind the difference between a great wrestler and one of the best.
Stay tuned to see where the next wrestler will end up, and as always check out the list below to see who has been rated up to this date.
JOSHI WRESTLER INDEX OVERALL RANKINGS
- Sareee – Freelancer: 8.79
- Momo Watanabe – STARDOM: 8.29
- Suzume – TJPW: 7.33
Once again I’d like to thank the great contributors that participated in this article. Make sure to check them out on X or wherever they are most active on the internet as these creators make a lot of joshi pro wrestling content to enjoy.
FAR5222 – PlugPedro – Ryan Dilbert – Peps_Wrestling – Dave Coumans – Myself
Next Wrestler Being Rated: DASH Chisako
RESURA 