Act Yasukawa has returned to wrestling... and is coming to America

A few years back, I was regularly watching joshi (Japanese female wrestling) on dailymotion. Groups like Ice Ribbon and STARDOM were solid and I loved the events Kana (now Asuka) would run on her own. But while watching those events, I became a huge fan of a few different Japanese wrestlers. One of those women was STARDOM's Act Yasukawa. She's got tons of presence and even beats Asuka in the awesome entrance attire award.

Unfortunately, she was involved in an awful event earlier this year when another STARDOM wrestler Yoshiko threw away their regularly scheduled match by straight up shooting on her with several stiff shots. Before Act had a chance to react, she had taken several stiff shots from a woman that was supposed to protect her body in the ring. She was left with broken ribs and some horrible damage to her face, while Yoshiko was banned from competing in STARDOM. Many folks questioned whether Act Yasukawa would ever return to wrestling, but she did so at the end of September for a STARDOM event.

Portia Perez is retired.

Portia Perez retired over the weekend as part of the SHIMMER DVD tapings. It is a sad day in wrestling when a heel as talented as Perez goes away, but health concerns have forced the decision on her. She went out with a four on four tag match featuring the one night returns of Lacey and Daizee Haze to wrestling, which will appear on a future SHIMMER volume.

In the mean time, enjoy some classic wrestling action where you can watch her team with Kelli Skater, a woman that would become one of her greatest enemies in SHIMMER (alongside one of their opponents Hiroyo Matsumoto).