Thought I'd make a thread for this since it's so easy to follow it nowadays.


Past major promotions  
AJW - The first and biggest/most notable Joshi promotion. Housed stars liked The Crush Gals, Jaguar Yokota, Jumping Bomb Angels, Bull Nakano, Manami Toyota, Kyoko Inoue, Nanae Takahashi, and many others at one point or another. Folded in the 2000s after losing tv deal and a significant portion of its fanbase. 
Classic matches 
Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyta 1995 

Manami Toyoa vs Kyko Innoue 

Takako Innoue and Kyoko Innoue vs Mayumi Ozaki and Cuti Suzuki 
Double Inoue vs Ozaki & Suzuki (April 2, 1993)


JWP- Second biggest Joshi promotion in the early 90's after AJW. Formed after several AJW wrestlers reached the retirement age that AJW had set ( 25 I believe, ageist I know ).  Closed initially in 2000 after the death Pum Mariko, and the retirement of others. It restarted motnhs later however led by Command Bolshoi. Closed again in 2005, was restarted again, and closed for good in 2017 although it has a spiritual successor in  the new promotion Pure J. Notable alumni wrestlers include Mayumi  Ozaki, Dynamite Kansai, Cuty Suzuki, Azumi Hyuga, Hikari Fukuoka , Kaori Yoneyama, Arisa Nakajima.
Notable matches 
Gami vs Azumi Hyuga 
  
Hikari Fukuoka vs Manami Toyota 
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hikari+fukuoka
Azumi Hyuga vs Command Bolshoi 


Arisa Nakajima vs Kayokol Haruyama 


Arsion - Found in 1997 by Rossy Ogawa, Mariko Yoshida, and Aja Kong. Initially was a mat wrestling shoot style promotion, but eventually transitioned to a typical joshi style with a bit of a lucha influence with wrestlers like the Apache sisters and Hamada wrestling there regularly.   Aja Kong left the promotion in 2001 due to creative differences, and Lioness Asuka was hired as the booker. The promotion folded in 2003 and was restarted as ATOZ by Yumiko Hotta a former ajw wrestler. Notable Alumni Mariko Yoshida, Ayako Hamada , The Apache Sisters, Akino, Ai Fujita , Michiko Omukai, and Hiromi Yagi

Notable Matches 
Mariko Yoshida vs Aja Kong 

 Mariko Yoshida vs Hirmoi Yagi 

Aja Kong vs Ayako Hamada 


Aja Kong vs Michiko Ohmukai

Ayako Hamada and Akino vs Mima Shimoda and Etsuko Mita



Gaea - Promotion founded by one half of the famous tag team the Grush Gals Chigusa Nagayo. Had a documentary made about it by the BBC called Gaea Girls. Notable alumni Meiko Satomura, Kaoru, Chigusa Nagayo, Toshie Uematsu, Ran-Yu-Yu. Folded in 2005. 
  Notable matches  ja Kong vs Kaoru 

Meiko Satomura vs Akira Hokuto 

Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki  

Ran-Yu-Yu vs Carlos Amano 

Will get to the active promotions and lesser former promotions in another post.

Active Promotions

Stardom - Founded by Rossy Ogawa in 2011. Currently probably the #1 jJoshi promotion in Japan in terms of popularity especially to the western audience. Fromer home promotion of Io Shirai and Kairi Sane. The current roster includes Mayu Iwatani, Momo Watanabe, Jungle Kyona, Kagetsu, Hazuki , Cassandra Miyagi, Konami, Tam Nakano, Saki Kashima, and Arisa Hoshiki among others.
Where can you watch this promotion -https://www.stardom-world.com/
Some highlights of matches
Momo vs Hazuki

Io Shirai vs Mayu Iwatani

Mayu Iwatani vs Kagetsu


Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling - Founded in 2013 as an offshoot of the male DdT puro promotion. A mix of comedy and serious wrestling. Wrestlers include Miyu Yamashita , Yuka Sakazaki, Mako ito ,Nadoka, Natsumi Maki, and others. Note many of the women are pretty green so keep your expectations in check a bit.
Where can you watch this promotion-https://www.ddtpro.com/universe
Highlights of matches
Miyuu Yamashita vs Yuu

Full matches posted by DDT
Yuka Sakazaki Mizuki vs Shiko Nakajima /Riho

Miyu Yamashita vs Azusa Takigawa


Ice Ribbon- Founded by Emi Sakura in the mid-2000's . Notable wrestlers/alumni. Tsukasa Fujimoto , Hikaru Shida ,Tsukushi, Kurumi, Risa Sera.
Where can I watch this promotion? - No official streaming service, they do post digests on youtube however.
Matches
Tsukusa vs Tsukushi

Hiragii Kurmi vs Risa Sera


Marvelous - Founded by Chigusa Nagayo in 2014. Has it's own stable of wrestlers and also uses freelancers. The roster includes Kaoru, Takumi Iroha, Mio Momono, Rin Kadokura, and Tomoko Watanabe among others.
Where can you watch this promotion - freshlive.tv/marvelous
Matches
Takumi Iroha and Mio Momono VS Nyla Rose and Rin Kodokura at Shinkiba 1st Ring 7/31/18

Highlights of a match

Active Promotions part 2

Oz Academy- Founded by Mayumi Ozaki in the late 1990s, OZ currently serves as the promotion where the bulk of the veteran joshi wrestlers work, along with some younger freelancers. Wrestlers imclude Aja Kong, Hikaru Shida , Hiroyo Matsumoto , Tusbasa Kuragaki , Sonoko Kato.
Matches
Yoshiko & Hiroyo Matsumoto Vs Hikaru Shida & Tsubasa Kuragaki
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hikaru+vs+hiroyo+highlights+
Yoshiko & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs KINO & Sonoko Kato



Seadlining- Founded by Nanae Takahashi in 2015-2016 after she left stardom following the Act Yaskawa incident. The roster includes Nanae, Arisa Nakajima, and Yoshiko.
Matches
Nanae Takahashi vs Arisa Nakajima


Other smaller promotions include.
Pure J- Successor to JWP.
Wave - Promotion founded by Gami and Yumi Ohka, currently inactive will restart later this year.
Actress Girl Z- Promotion based on Idols trained to be wrestlers. Has produced some decent talents like Saori Annou, Natsumi Maki, and Tam Nakano.

In recent news, Momo Watanabe just achieved the record 11th defense of her Wonder of Stardom belt ( think IC/US title). Beating Jungle Kyona today in Nagoya.

Jungle Kyona busting out a muscle buster in her match with Momo 

It's easy to see that Konami was a protege of Kana/Asuka both are great at transitions into submissions.

Thought I'd make a post on current champions.

Stardom
World of Stardom (Red belt, think world championship) - Kagetsu
Wonder of Stardom (White belt, IC/US)- Momo Watanabe
Goddess of Stardom (Tag belts)- Momo Watanabe, Utami Hayashita
Highspeed belt ( think X-division)- Hazuki
Future belt ( championship for young/rookie wrestlers)- Utami Hayashita
Artist of Stardom (trios belts)- Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima, Tam Nakano

TJPW
Tokyo princes of princess ( Main-belt)- Miyu Yamashita
Tokyo Princess tag team championship- Yuka Sakazaki and Mizuki

Ice Ribbon
ICE×∞ Championship Maya Yukihi
International Ribbon Tag Team Championship Gekokujo Tag
(Kyuuri and Maika Ozaki)
Triangle Ribbon Championship Banny Oikawa

Oz academy
Oz Academy Openweight Championship Hikaru Shida
Oz Academy Tag Team Championship Seikigun
(Maya Yukihi and Mayumi Ozaki)

Pure J
Pure J open weight Championship - Command Bolshoi
Daily Sports Tag Team Championship- WANTED (KAZUKI & Rydeen Hagane)
Princess of Pro wrestling championship ( belt for up and comers) - Saori Annou

Have you watched much of Yuka Sakazaki dex? I thought it was interesting that AEW are bring her over despite not being one of the biggest Joshi names, a bit like how Shimmer introduced everyone to Ayumi Kurihara and Tomoka Nakagawa years ago.

Mar 3, 2019 22:32:30 GMT @admin said:

Have you watched much of Yuka Sakazaki dex ? I thought it was interesting that AEW are bring her over despite not being one of the biggest Joshi names, a bit like how Shimmer introduced everyone to Ayumi Kurihara and Tomoka Nakagawa years ago.

Not a ton TJPW been a little off my radar. But the stuff I've seen from her is impressive. She wrestles a fun fast-paced style and her finisher is pretty cool.

 
It's not surprising they're bringing in TJPW women though considering Omega's history with DDT. 

Also, i mentioned this before but LS Arisa Hoshiki has returned to wrestling/stardom  I remember you liking her on the old board. 


Her in 2012

Her now

@admin, speaking of Ayumi Kurihara she's someone you think would have been given a look by WWE/NXT if she started a few years later. Obviously, a great wrestler, who was /is attractive and had a style that would not be hard to translate at all into WWE. The only thing she lacked was the type of charisma and star-aura that talents like Asuka, Kairi, and sometimes Io showcase. Hamada from the early to mid-2000's would have definitely gotten a look too IMO. It's a shame western fans did not get introduced to Hamada until she was slightly outside of her athletic peak, although Hamada even now is still better than 95% of other wrestlers.

So the muscle buster in the Momo vs Kyona match was a legit sit out muscle buster instead of the more of a suplex type move Samoa Joe and others use as their muscle buster. Not sure sure how safe it is, but it looks cool. 


 

Another current promotion Sendai Girls.
Sendai Grils
Founded by- Meiko Satomura in 2005
Notable alumni wrestlers- Meiko Satomura, Dash Chisako, Kagetsu, Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Sachiko, CassandraAndrea Miyagi, Mika Iwata, and Ryo Mizunami.
You Might now them from- Chikara and the MYC 2.
Where can you watch this promotion- They having a streaming site sendaiglobal.pivotshare.com/ but have also been uploading full shows here www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2xWDy9jKuJOotYH-vzOjA.
Misc- Sendai is a weird promotion in that their roster is rather small yet they still function as a promotion with 3 championships (Heavyweight, tag, and junior) they manage to function by using freelancers and repeating matches relatively frequently. Fun fact they use Canadian indy wrestler Alex Lee who people might remember as Irena Janjic who was really bad in her stint in FCW, she's improved to a passable wrestler at least.
Sample show