| Natsuki Taiyo | |
|---|---|
 Taiyo in May 2010 | |
| Birth name | Natsumi Mizushima[1][2] |
| Born | (1984-05-07)May 7, 1984 (age 40)[3][4] Kawasaki,Kanagawa[4] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Crazy Sunshine[5] Natsuki[6] Natsuki☆Head[3] Natsuki☆Taiyo[4] Natsuki Taiyo[7] Natsumi Mizushima[3] Passion 2 Gou[8] Passion Nakki[9] |
| Billed height | 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)[4][7] |
| Billed weight | 57 kg (126 lb)[4][7] |
| Trained by | Animal Hamaguchi[10] |
| Debut | January 3, 2004[3][11] |
| Retired | June 1, 2014[12] |
Natsumi Mizushima (水嶋 なつみ,Mizushima Natsumi, born May 7, 1984)[4] is aJapanese retiredprofessional wrestler, better known by thering nameNatsuki☆Taiyo (夏樹☆たいよう,Natsuki☆Taiyō). Making her debut forAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) in January 2004, Mizushima quickly affiliated herself withNanae Takahashi, following her out of AJW in 2006 and to Pro Wrestling Sun and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, with the two forming the Passion Redstable withKana in the process. After the folding of NEO, Mizushima began working exclusively for theWorld Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, where she became a one-time holder of both theArtist of Stardom andGoddesses of Stardom Championships. She is also a former four-time holder of theHigh Speed Championship, which has been owned by both NEO and Stardom. Mizushima was recognized as one of the top high-flyers injoshi puroresu.[13] She retired from in-ring competition in June 2014 and afterwards began working for theSeadlinnng promotion as a senior managing director andreferee.
In 2003, Mizushima enteredAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) dojo, where she was trained byAnimal Hamaguchi in not onlyprofessional wrestling, but alsomixed martial arts. On December 19, 2003, Mizushima made her MMA debut at an AJW event, losing to Mika "Hari Hari" Harigai at 2:10 in the first round, after being knocked out withknee strikes.[1] She has not participated in any mixed martial arts fights since.[1] Mizushima's professional wrestling debut took place on January 3, 2004, when she faced Hiromi Takahashi at an AJW event inKorakuen Hall,Tokyo.[11] Mizushima would leave AJW, which was battling severe financial difficulties, later that year.
In May 2005, Mizushima joined the Gatokunyan promotion, where she began performing under the ring nameNatsuki☆Head.[14] During late 2005 and early 2006, she also made several appearances for the new Ibuki promotion.[15] On June 5, 2006, Natsuki☆Head won her first championship by defeatingHikari forDramatic Dream Team'sIronman Heavymetalweight Championship, a title contested under the rules that a champion could be pinned or submitted anytime, anywhere, as long as there was areferee present.[16] She held the title for nine days, before losing it to Mecha Mummy.[16] On June 25, Natsuki regained the title fromMasahiro Mekanashi during abattle royal, but would lose it toMikami later during the same match.[16]
On August 2, 2006,Nanae Takahashi announced that, with the backing ofPro Wrestling Zero1, she was forming a new promotion, named Pro Wrestling Sun, and named Natsuki☆Head as part of the promotion's roster.[17] On September 24, Mizushima announced that she was changing her ring name to "Natsuki☆Taiyo".[18] On December 31, Taiyo made her debut for NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, defeatingFuka for thePrincess of Pro-Wrestling Championship, a title owned by theJDStar promotion.[19] On February 21, 2007, Taiyo defeatedAmazing Kong andToshie Uematsu to win Pro Wrestling Sun's World-1 Women's Championship.[20][21] She would hold the title for three months, before losing it toKyoko Kimura on May 27.[20] Shortly afterwards, Taiyo was stripped of the Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship, after she had not defended the title for three months.[22] While working in Pro Wrestling Sun, Taiyo formed atag team with Nanae Takahashi, with whom she would also make semi-regular appearances forJWP Joshi Puroresu, with the two unsuccessfully challengingKayoko Haruyama andTsubasa Kuragaki for theJWP Tag Team Championship on December 9, 2007.[23][24]
In April 2008, Taiyo and Nanae Takahashi left Pro Wrestling Sun and formed the Passion Redstable withKana on the Japanese independent circuit. The stable made appearances for several promotions, includingBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW),[25]Ice Ribbon,[26] JWP,[27]Oz Academy[28] and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling,[29] which effectively became its home promotion. Passion Red also promoted five independent events of its own.[30] Passion Red made its debut for NEO on August 24, 2008, when Taiyo and Kana were defeated in a tag team match byHiroyo Matsumoto andKyoko Inoue.[29] In their first six-woman tag team match on October 26, Taiyo, Kana and Takahashi defeated the trio ofEtsuko Mita, Toshie Uematsu andYoshiko Tamura.[31] Whilefeuding with the NEO originals led by Tamura, Passion Red also got involved with rival group Revolucion Amandla of Atsuko Emoto, Kyoko Kimura andTomoka Nakagawa.[32] On December 31 atGrand Final '08, Taiyo and Kana facedAyumi Kurihara and Yoshiko Tamura in a match to determine the number one contenders to the NEO Tag Team Championship. At the end of the match, after abotchedTaiyo-chan☆Bomb, Taiyo legitimately knocked Kurihara out with a kick to the face and then pinned her for the win with theIguchi Bomb.[33][34] The Passion Red duo received their shot at the NEO Tag Team Championship on February 21, 2009, but were defeated by the defending champions, Atsuko Emoto and Kyoko Kimura.[35] On April 19, Passion Red and Revolucion Amandla wrestled to a 30-minute time limit draw in a six-woman tag team match.[36]
On May 5, Taiyo defeatedRay to become the firstNEO High Speed Champion.[37] The chemistry between Taiyo and Ray led to the two forming a tag team for July's Mid Summer Tag Tournament VIII. Though the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round byEmi Sakura and Nanae Takahashi, the partnership eventually led to Ray joining Passion Red under the ring name Passion Ray.[38][39] During 2009, Passion Red was also joined by Kazumi Shimouna andYumiko Hotta.[26][39] On July 25, Taiyo made her first High Speed Championship defense, defeatingIo Shirai, and followed that up by successfully defending the title against Fuka on August 29.[40][41] On September 20, Taiyo lost the NEO High Speed Championship toKaori Yoneyama in her third defense.[42] On November 22, Taiyo and Passion Ray received a shot at their fellow Passion Red members' Kana's and Nanae Takahashi's NEO Tag Team Championship, but were unable to become the new champions.[43] On December 31, Taiyo faced male wrestlerKenny Omega in a losing effort.[44] On February 14, 2010, Taiyo regained the NEO High Speed Championship from Yoneyama at a JWP event.[45] On March 19, she successfully defended the title against Tomoka Nakagawa at Passion Red's fourth independent event.[30] On May 3, she defended the title againstTsukasa Fujimoto at an Ice Ribbon event.[46] On June 5, Taiyo made her final appearance for NEO, which would fold at the end of the year.[47] On November 27, Taiyo lost the NEO High Speed Championship toLeon at Passion Red's fifth independent event.[30]
On September 7, 2010, at a press conference, where Nanae Takahashi unveiled her newWorld Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, Taiyo was announced as part of the promotion's roster.[48] The promotion's debut event on January 23, 2011, saw Taiyo team up withYuzuki Aikawa in the opening tag team match, where they were defeated by the team of Iris and Nanae Takahashi.[9] Later that same event, Taiyo worked under a mask and the ring name Passion Nakki, facing nine-year-old Haruka in a three-minute exhibition match.[9] The following month, Taiyo formed the tag team Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu with the recently debutedYoshiko, the two defeating Iris andYoko Bito in their first match together.[9] Taiyo's and Yoshiko's win streak was ended on May 29, when they were defeated by Nanae Takahashi and Yoko Bito.[49] Also in May,freelancerYuu Yamagata aligned herself with Taiyo and Yoshiko, forming the stable Trouble Maker 2.[49] On July 24, Taiyo defeated JWP representative Leon to regain the former NEO High Speed Championship, which was then, as a result, adopted by Stardom as one of its championships.[49] On October 10, Taiyo and Yoshiko entered the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League.[50] On October 27, Taiyo represented Stardom inSendai Girls' Pro Wrestling's Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash tournament, asingle-elimination tournament, where differentjoshi promotions battled each other. In their first round match, Team Stardom (Taiyo,Mayu Iwatani,Saki Kashima, Yoko Bito and Yoshiko) defeated Team Reina (Aki Kanbayashi, Aoi Ishibashi,La Comandante, Yumiko Hotta andZeuxis).[51][52] The semifinals of the tournament were contested in six-woman tag team format and saw Team Stardom (Taiyo, Bito and Nanae Takahashi) defeat Team Diana (Kaoru Ito,Kyoko Inoue and Sareee).[51][52] However, in the finals, the Stardom duo of Takahashi and Yoshiko were defeated by Team Sendai's Kagetsu andMeiko Satomura.[51][52] On November 12, Taiyo unsuccessfully challenged Nanae Takahashi for theWorld of Stardom Championship.[53] When the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League concluded on November 27, Taiyo and Yoshiko finished with two wins and one loss, making it to the finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by Yuzuki Aikawa and Yoko Bito, whom they had defeated earlier in the tournament.[53]
In February 2012, the recently debutedAct Yasukawa joined Taiyo and Yoshiko as the third member of Trouble Maker 2, effectively replacing Yuu Yamagata, whose Stardom appearances became more irregular.[54] On March 20, 2012, Taiyo and Yoshiko received another shot at theGoddesses of Stardom Championship, but were again defeated by Aikawa and Bito.[54][55] Five days later, Taiyo made her first successful defense of the High Speed Championship, defeating Io Shirai.[54] On May 3, Kyoko Kimura turned onMiho Wakizawa and joined Taiyo, Yoshiko and Yasukawa as the fourth member of their newly renamed stable, Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu Plus One, often shortened to Kawakatsu-gun.[56][57] On June 10, Saki Kashima turned on Yuzuki Aikawa's Zenryoku Joshi stable and became the fifth member of Kawakatsu-gun.[58] On June 24, Taiyo led Kashima, Yasukawa and Yoshiko to a win overKairi Hojo, Yoko Bito,Yuhi and Yuzuki Aikawa of Zenryoku Joshi in an eight-woman battle of the stables.[58] However, the following month Kawakatsu-gun broke up into two camps, when Yoshiko sided with Kyoko Kimura in her disagreement with Taiyo.[59] On July 22, Taiyo and Act Yasukawa were defeated in a tag team match by Kimura and Yoshiko, with Kimura pinning Taiyo for the win.[58] On August 5, Taiyo defeated Kimura in a grudge match to retain her spot as the leader of Kawakatsu-gun, which led to Kimura quitting the stable.[60] From August 19 to September 30, Taiyo took part in the 5★Star GP2012round-robin tournament, where she opened up with wins over Kairi Hojo and Miho Wakizawa, before losing to Kyoko Kimura on September 2.[60] Taiyo then wrestled Saki Kashima to a draw and finished her tournament with a win overDark Angel, which took her to the top of her block.[60] However, later in the day, Kyoko Kimura defeated Kawakatsu-gun member Saki Kashima to overtake Taiyo in the standings, eliminating her from the finals of the tournament.[60] On October 21, Taiyo made her second successful defense of the High Speed Championship against stablemate Saki Kashima.[61][62] On October 27, Taiyo and Yoshiko entered the 2012 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, suffering an upset loss against the team of Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani in their opening round-robin match.[61][63] They, however, bounced back with wins over Eri Susa and Nozomi, and Yuhi and Yuzuki Aikawa to win their block.[61] On November 25, Taiyo and Yoshiko defeated Kairi Hojo and Natsumi Showzuki to win the 2012 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League and thevacant Goddesses of Stardom Championship.[61][64][65] Taiyo and Yoshiko made their first successful title defense on December 24 against Zenryoku Joshi representatives Hiroyo Matsumoto and Yuhi.[61][66] On December 31, Taiyo and Nanae Takahashi reformed Passion Red for a special appearance at Ice Ribbon'sRibbonMania 2012 event, where they defeated Muscle Venus (Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto) in a tag team match.[67][68][69]
On January 14, 2013, Taiyo and Kawakatsu-gun stablemates Act Yasukawa and Saki Kashima first defeated Nanae Gundan (Miho Wakizawa,Tsukasa Fujimoto and Yui Yokoo) in the first round and then TeamShimmer (Kellie Skater,Portia Perez andTomoka Nakagawa) in the finals to become the inauguralArtist of Stardom Champions, making Taiyo a triple champion in the promotion.[70][71][72] Six days later, Taiyo and Yoshiko defeated Thunder Rock (Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani) to make their second successful defense of the Goddesses of Stardom Championship.[70] This was followed by their third successful defense against Nanamiho (Miho Wakizawa and Nanae Takahashi) on February 10.[70][73] On March 3, Taiyo made her third successful defense of the High Speed Championship, when she wrestled freelancer Kaori Yoneyama to a thirty-minute time limit draw.[74][75][76] On March 17, Taiyo and Yoshiko lost the Goddesses of Stardom Championship to Kimura Monster-gun representativesHailey Hatred and Kyoko Kimura in their fourth title defense.[74][77][78] On April 29 atRyōgoku Cinderella, Taiyo made her fourth successful defense of the High Speed Championship against Yuhi.[79][80][81][82] On May 9, Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu was stripped of the Artist of Stardom Championship, after both Kashima and Yasukawa had been sidelined with injuries.[83][84] On June 2, Taiyo lost the High Speed Championship to Kaori Yoneyama in her fifth defense, ending her third reign at 679 days.[85][86] On July 15, Taiyo and Yoshiko attempted to regain the vacant Goddesses of Stardom Championship in a one-night tournament. After defeating Thunder Rock, the two made it to the finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by Nanamiho.[85][87] On August 17, Taiyo also attempted to regain the Artist of Stardom Championship with stablemates Act Yasukawa and Yoshiko, but the three were defeated by the defending champions, Kairi Hojo, Kaori Yoneyama and Yuhi. At the conclusion of the event, Yasukawa turned on Taiyo and Yoshiko and jumped to Kimura Monster-gun.[85][88] From August 25 to September 23, Taiyo took part in 5★Star GP2013, where she finished with a record of two wins, one draw and two losses, with a loss against Nanae Takahashi on the final day costing her a spot in the finals.[89][90] In November, Taiyo and Yoshiko became the only team to have taken part in all three Goddesses of Stardom Tag tournaments. The two made it to the semifinals of the tournament, before losing to Kimura Monster-gun representativesAlpha Female andThe Female Predator "Amazon".[8][91]
On December 29, Taiyo won the High Speed Championship for the fourth time, regaining the title from Yoneyama.[8][92] Following the main event of the evening, Taiyo challenged World of Stardom Champion Io Shirai.[8][93] On January 12, 2014, Taiyo celebrated her tenth anniversary in professional wrestling by reuniting with Nanae Takahashi in a tag team main event, where they defeated Mayu Iwatani and Yoshiko.[94] On January 26 at Stardom's third anniversary event, Taiyo unsuccessfully challenged Shirai for the World of Stardom Championship. Following the match, Taiyo announced she would be retiring from professional wrestling on June 1.[94][95][96] On February 2, Taiyo defeated Kaori Yoneyama in a rematch to make her first successful defense of the High Speed Championship.[94] On March 16, Taiyo was defeated by Yoshiko in the final match between the longtime tag team partners.[97][98][99] Taiyo continued making successful defenses of the High Speed Championship, defeating Mayu Iwatani on April 6 and Kaori Yoneyama in atwo out of three falls match on April 29.[97] Later in the event, Taiyo offered to make her final defense of the title against World of Stardom Champion Io Shirai, noting that she had also made her first ever defense of the title against her in July 2009.[100] On May 3, Taiyo and Yoshiko teamed up for what was billed as Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu's final match together, where they defeated Shirai and Nanae Takahashi.[97] Three days later, Taiyo lost the High Speed Championship to Shirai.[97] After announcing her retirement, Taiyo began making farewell appearances for several other promotions, including Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling,[5] Ice Ribbon,[5] JWP Joshi Puroresu,[5] and Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling,[101] while also working independent events produced byChigusa Nagayo and Ray.[5] On May 24, Passion Red reunited for their sixth self-produced event, during which Taiyo wrestled three times, including in an exhibition tag team match with her idolMomoe Nakanishi, who had retired in 2005,[102][103] and in a tag team main event, where she and Nanae Takahashi defeatedCommand Bolshoi and Meiko Satomura.[104] On June 1, Taiyo was defeated by Nanae Takahashi in her retirement match.[12][105][106]
Following Nanae Takahashi's departure from Stardom, she held a press conference on June 12, 2015, to announce "Seadlinnng", a new professional wrestling production company with Mizushima serving as its senior managing director.[2] Mizushima, billed as "Natsuki Taiyo" (without the star in her ring name), also began working for Seadlinnng as a referee,[7] making her debut in the role at the promotion's first event on August 26.[6]
In 2011, Mizushima had a minor acting role in theWelcome to the El-Palaciotelevision drama, where she appeared alongside fellow Stardom wrestlers Nanae Takahashi, Yoshiko and Yuzuki Aikawa.[107]
| 1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 0 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0-1 | Mika Harigai | KO(Knees) | AJW Tag League: The Best | December 19, 2003 | 1 | 2:10 | Tokyo,Japan | [1] |
