When I crossed the 7th floor threshold of the elevator doors into a cramped Shinjuku FACE on April 14 2023, it might not have been for an official retirement match. But inside, it felt like it might have been.
It was a big part of the reason why I had flown over 11 hours from my little island that dangles off the bottom of Australia, desperate not to be forgotten about by the rest of the mainland. I felt like I had to be in Tokyo to see Jungle Kyona wrestle one more time. Because I was convinced there’d never be another chance to.
On the 27th April 2025, nearly two years to the day, she proved me wrong. And I couldn’t be happier.
The story of Jungle Kyona’s last five years is a rough one. The fact she even made it to April 14, let alone her return in 2025 felt like a miracle in of itself. The trifecta of needing ACL surgery, shoulder surgery, and rehab for an MCL injury in late 2020 sent an uncomfortable shiver through all joshi fans at the time. However, as time continued on, it was clear things weren’t right. The knee surgeries weren’t taking, and her career was essentially in limbo, capped off when it was announced she was leaving STARDOM in September 2021.
There was an uncomfortable silence that surrounded her career in the aftermath, especially when you look at the slew of talented young joshi who have had to retire young due to poor health. Yet, she was determined to continue, and despite multiple knee surgeries failing, Kyona soldiered on with a newfound independent career in 2022.
We would end up only getting 17 matches from Jungle Kyona in this return run – 18, if you count the five-minute exhibition match with Kyoko Kimura at the Hana Kimura Memorial Show that took place months before her official return. Nearly all of this run took place in America, working notable indies like Deadlock, Prestige, JCW, and even popping up for an appearance in AEW Dark.
From the outside looking in, it was great to see her back, even if it was sometimes akin to watching Patrick Ewing on the Orlando Magic or Hakeem on the Raptors – she just didn’t quite look right out there. American fans got to see her in person and she was wrestling against people you’d have never thought possible. In the ring, her energetic smile never wavered – when you saw it you believed she could keep on going and everything was alright.
The reality was that behind the scenes her knee was as bad as ever. Outside the ring, Kyona could barely walk, let alone prepare herself to wrestle. There were times when she needed a wheelchair. As much as she wanted to be a wrestler again, it simply wasn’t sustainable. Sooner or later, her body or her mind would break completely.
Which is what led to April 14, 2023: The third and final NOMADs Freelance Summit. It was an entire show whose existence was basically due to Kyona. The main event was a six-person tag that was built completely around her. KAIRI made a surprise appearance before the match to bring her flowers. Money raised at the show went towards her rehab and recovery.
It was a great final match to have before her hiatus. The crowd showered her with streamers, she got some great spots in and got thoroughly beat down right as the crowd were behind her the loudest willing her on to fight back – as is tradition. It was the best she had looked since her return. If that was to be the final-ever Jungle Kyona match, it was about as fitting a way for her to say goodbye as possible, given so much of her career took place in a company she seemingly could no longer say farewell in.
She moved on, not just from active competition but the larger public eye. She stepped away from social media for the sake of her mental health while she focused on her rehabilitation (something we all could honestly learn from), leaving Tokyo to go back to her home city of Nagoya. She basically left the public eye, with the odd bit of news filtering through here and there to let us know she was alive and well but otherwise, there was no indication that pro wrestling was ever on the cards again for her.
So imagine the collective shock of me and everyone else when Jungle Kyona entered a Marigold ring and announced her intention to face Nanae Takahashi on April 27, 2025. Two years after that Shinjuku FACE event.
It’s rare that I find myself in a stunned stupor where I’m completely unable to process what I’m seeing and hearing. All I could do was just sit there with my jaw agape when the news was presented to me. I had so thoroughly convinced myself that her career had come to an end – not for any selfish desire to be able to say I was there for her retirement match – but to protect myself from the wandering thoughts of “but what if…?”
It was never a question of desire, that much had always been clear. Kyona had always expressed her unyielding passion to keep wrestling. The fact she kept pushing through multiple failed knee surgeries and dragged herself along on one leg for the entirety of her independent run more than proved that.
In a weird, almost sad, parasocial way I kind of hoped she had gotten it out of her system, so she could live a content life without putting herself through all that pain and misery again trying to get herself back to whatever minimum level of unhealthy was acceptable enough to go through it all over again. But pro wrestling seems to have this relentless grip on those who enter between the ropes; a siren’s song that calls to those despite the cost.
When the doctors told her there was nothing more that could be done, it seemed to lift a weight off her shoulders. There was no more chasing some miracle cure or jumping from one trial to another playing with hope and emotion. Just accepting your reality and working with it.
It was then that she saw inspiration through Nanae Takahashi – someone who in the ring looked incredible as she fought with the very best power and passion, yet behind the scenes might struggle to climb the stairs because of how beat up her body was. Jungle saw herself in Nanae, and began to believe that maybe she could get back in the ring once more.
With Nanae Takahashi preparing to retire, Jungle Kyona knew she had to act soon, which led to her climbing back into the ring when she did. There simply wasn’t any time to waste. She had to lay down the challenge. Not only to Nanae, but to herself.
On the 27th of April, Jungle had five minutes to decide her future. How would her body hold up in the ring after two years away? A third knee surgery – the one she had after the NOMADs match – had been more successful, but she was never going to be ‘healthy’ again. If she couldn’t handle these five minutes, then this was truly going to be it for her in wrestling.
She entered the ring to a chorus of cheers, as loud as Nagoya had ever been for joshi since before the pandemic. The city has always had her back, and always would.
Kyona was charging at Nanae before the bell even had a chance to ring. She was running the ropes straight away. The knee looked…good! It was the biggest relief but Jungle looked more comfortable moving than she did back in her 2022 return.
For five minutes, she fought Nanae, putting all the passion and emotions that had been building up inside of her – from sitting, wondering, and suffering – into everything she did in that ring. She even managed to suplex Takahashi before it was over, leaving them both smiling and hugging as the official decision of a draw was called.
Was it the best five minutes of wrestling you’ll ever see? Maybe not. But it was five of the most meaningful for me. Because it was five minutes of wrestling I never thought I’d get to witness again.
More importantly: the knee had held up, as had the rest of the body. Jungle Kyona felt good enough to say then and there that she intended to get back in the ring again, and even work towards one day challenging for the Marigold World Championship, currently held by an old rival. You could see the fire was back inside of her, and that infectious smile had returned as she stood in the ring after five grueling minutes. No matter how she’d feel trying to move tomorrow, in that moment, all was right in her world.
It had been bittersweet sitting about four rows back from the ring in Shinjuku FACE that night two years ago, possibly watching someone I admired and followed since my first foray into joshi perform for the last time. It was a great match and a special moment, but you could see she was also putting on a brave face just to make it through.
I hoped on that night it was only going to be a hiatus like it was ‘officially’ being called, but mentally, I always prepared myself for the worst. If it was to be the last time Jungle ever wrestled, at least I got to see it. I had been able to cheer her on and personally thank her.
That was all I let myself need. But it wasn’t all she needed.
No matter how long it took her, she never stopped believing in herself. Through the botched surgeries, the constant struggles trying to find answers with doctors and trying to heal only to get nowhere. She kept believing she could get back in the ring. Deep down it meant too much to her. It was still her beating heart.
April 14, 2023 was not the last time Jungle Kyona would ever wrestle, and I couldn’t be happier of that fact. And it seems that April 27, 2025 won’t be the last time she ever wrestles either.
If Jungle Kyona hasn’t given up, then why should we?
“I’m glad I didn’t give up.
I’m glad I believed in myself.
For me, professional wrestling
was a “hope to live.”
Thank you to everyone for believing in me and waiting.
I’m home.”
RESURA 
