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| Etsuko Mita | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1969-05-28)May 28, 1969 (age 55)[1] Tokyo, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Etsuko Mita |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Trained by | Jaguar Yokota[3] |
| Debut | 1987 |
| Retired | November 1, 2009 |
Etsuko Mita (三田英津子,Mita Etsuko, born May 28, 1969) is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler. She formed a successful tag team with her partnerMima Shimoda asLas Cachorras Orientales (Spanish for "The Oriental Bitches"; which was originally a trio withAkira Hokuto) andToshiyo Yamada as Dream Orca. She is credited as the innovator of theDeath Valley Driver. Mita retired on November 1, 2009, defeating former tag team partnerMakoto in her final singles match and teaming with Mima Shimoda in a loss againstKyoko Inoue andNanae Takahashi in her final tag team match.
Etsuko Mita debuted on July 31, 1987 against Chiaki Ishikawa and on August 5, 1987, she fought against her debuting future partner,Mima Shimoda. She was part of the 1987All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling debut class that includedManami Toyota,Toshiyo Yamada andMima Shimoda. She teamed withToshiyo Yamada early on, forming "Dream Orca". On June 14, 1989, Mita captured theAJW Tag Team Championship withToshiyo Yamada, but the team had to vacate the titles in March 1990 when Yamada was injured.
On November 14, 1990 at Wrestle Marinepiad '90, Mita and Shimoda, prior to becoming LCO captured theAJW Tag Team Championship from the "Honey Wings" of Mika Takahashi andKaoru. The reign lasted until April 21, 1991, when they were defeated byEsther andCynthia Moreno at AJW St. Battle Day Part 2. This was Mita and Shimoda's onlyAJW Tag Team Championship together.[4]
By 1991, Mita started teaming withManami Toyota to form the "Mint Showers". While the team did not have much success in-ring, on November 21, 1991, they released a single together called, "TIME TO GO", which was on the same record as Takako Inoue's "Door of Miracle" song.[5][6] The Mint Showers teamed up together forTag League the Best 1991 in October 1991, but finished near the bottom of the standings.
In 1992, Mita formedLas Cachorras Orientales (commonly known as LCO) withMima Shimoda andAkira Hokuto. While Hokuto was an original member, she did not stay on long as a regular with the team. The team mostly wrestled in the undercard until they captured both theJWP Tag Team Championship and theUWA World Women's Tag Team Championship in March 1994. The team held both sets of titles until January 8, 1995, when they lost theirJWP Tag Team Championship to Hikari Fukuoka andMayumi Ozaki. On September 2, 1995, they vacated theirUWA World Women's Tag Team Championship after a successful defense againstLioness Asuka andJaguar Yokota.
On June 18, 1997, the team captured theWWWA World Tag Team Championship for the first time by defeating Tomoko Watanabe and Kumiko Maekawa, finally capturing the titles after 5 years as a team.[7]
Mita leftAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling with Shimoda in October 1997 as the promotion filed for bankruptcy forNEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling. Between October 1997 and February 1998, the team made stops inLadies Legend Pro-Wrestling,JDStar andGaea Japan while creating a rivalry with Kyoko Inoue and Misae Genki in NEO. The team also stopped in JWP later that year.
The team became freelance in 1999. They wrestled multiple matches forGaea Japan eventually joining the heel faction, SSU (Super Star Unit). The also started to appear in Arsion during Summer 1999, winning the Twin Stars of Arsion League in December 1999. They also returned to All Japan Women's during this time, capturing the WWWA Tag Titles on July 10, 1999.[7]
In 2003, Mita joinedNEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling full-time again. She spent the rest of her career wrestling both single and tag team matches. On November 1, 2009, LCO teamed for the final time as Mita retired.[8] They teamed against Kyoko Inoue and Nanae Takahashi.
