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 Mariko Yoshida. Jungle Jack 21 June 12, 2011, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mariko Morita[1] (1970-02-15)February 15, 1970 (age 56)[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Mariko Yoshida |
| Billed height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 63 kg (139 lb)[1] |
| Trained by | Jaguar Yokota[2] |
| Debut | October 10, 1988[1] |
| Retired | November 19, 2017[3] |
Mariko Morita (盛田 万里子,Morita Mariko; born February 15, 1970),[1] better known by herring nameMariko Yoshida (吉田 万里子,Yoshida Mariko), is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler. She is best known for her work with theARSIONprofessional wrestling promotion, where she was also head trainer.
Yoshida debuted forAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW orZenjo) on October 10, 1988 at Tokyo'sKorakuen Hall in a match against Keiko Waki. Before her neck injury in late 1992, which would cause her to miss two years of ring time, Yoshida was easily one of the best young stars in AJW, often showcasingLucha Libre-inspired aerial maneuvers to go along with her mat-work skills.
In 1997, she left AJW to joinAja Kong'sArsion promotion, becoming their head trainer. There she was repackaged as a technical wrestling master, andpushed as a major star. She has been nicknamedARSION no Shinjutsu, or "Arsion True Heart". Forgoing thehigh-flying techniques of her run in Zenjo, her style in Arsion was centered on mat wrestling and submission holds derived fromshoot wrestling, along with more elaborate lucha-inspired submissions.
In June 2005, she launchedIbuki, a bi-monthly event series, with her intention to provide opportunities for young, up and coming wrestlers from different promotions to compete with each other and to challenge senior wrestlers like Yoshida herself.Ibuki has now gained high reputation among joshi puroresu fans in Japan.
In 2006, Yoshida was presented with the Cauliflower Alley Club's Future Legend Award, becoming only the second female afterCheerleader Melissa, to win this award.
Yoshida retired from professional wrestling on November 19, 2017, losing to her traineeHiroyo Matsumoto in her final match.[3]
Yoshida employed asubmission-based style, based on hershoot wrestling training. Yoshida is the innovator of two finishing moves, anover-the-shoulder back-to-belly piledriver, which she calls theAir Raid Crash and aheadscissorsshoulder lock, which she has named theSpider Twist. Among her signature moves are thearm wrench inside cradle,[4] aCross armbar, sometimes proceeded by anOklahoma roll, alifting double underhook facebuster, arunning big boot and atriangle choke. She uses "Fable" byRobert Miles as her theme song.
