Our latest Joshi watch looks at one of the best wrestlers in the Joshi scene Takumi Iroha. Iroha is now considered one of the best performers in the Joshi scene, whether it’s in her home promotion of Marvelous or appearing as an outsider in places like Pro Wrestling WAVE or SEAdLINNNG she brings her brand of stiff kicks and powerful offense everywhere she goes and is racking up a memorable repertoire of matches.
Seriously Takumi Iroha is incredible. pic.twitter.com/3MQ6koJj78
— Bur Nm Ye Yes (@bme_87) March 22, 2020
Takumi Iroha was trained by Fuka and started her career as a member of the Stardom roster in 2013. Her only real success in Stardom came when she won the Artist Of Stardom championships alongside Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani and as a talent was far from the performer we see today. While she never received a push in Stardom they were acutely aware of her potential and were priming her to be a big deal before her departure.
Takumi Iroha looking straight up beast against Eri, like her new attitude. Helps that Eri is itty bitty. pic.twitter.com/ZkZu1FEA0r
— Puro Central Shop (@purocentralshop) September 7, 2015
Takumi Iroha would leave Stardom in 2015 to become a full-time roster member with Marvelous. She was earmarked as the protege of the legendary Chigusa Nagayo, who’s other protege is the icon Meiko Satomura. Iroha idolized Nagayo so the opportunity to work with Nagayo as her right-hand woman was just too much to pass up. Iroha would now regularly team with Chigusa Nagayo and became a respected performer in the Joshi scene.
Takumi Iroha suplexes Mayu's lifeless body#スターダム pic.twitter.com/stLeOYq4Yc
— Roy ⛧ (@narukiroy) February 17, 2020
It wouldn’t be until 2018 that Takumi Iroha would taste singles gold – in large part due to Marvelous not having titles – as she won the Regina Di WAVE championship by defeating Misaki Ohata. This was the year when Iroha began gaining more attention for being an excellent worker as her matches in places like WAVE, SEAdLINNNG, and Sendai Girls were giving her a reputation as one of the best workers in Joshi. Another match that caught people’s eyes was Iroha’s battle with Mayu Iwatani at Marvelous’ first-ever Korakuen Hall show. Not only did this cross-promotional battle main event the show it exceeded all expectations and delivered a match worthy of main eventing Marvelous’ first trip to Korakuen.
2019 would prove to be a career year for Takumi Iroha as she had multiple Match Of The Year contenders across various promotions. She won the Beyond The Sea Championship in SEAdLINNNG defeating veteran Nanae Takahashi in an excellent match and becoming a two-time Regina Di WAVE Champion by winning the Catch The WAVE Tournament defeating Nagisa Nozaki and Ryo Mizunami in the final. Iroha’s second reign would be longer than her first and is filled with more memorable matches including any involving her and Mizunami. Not only was Iroha fantastic in other promotions but her work in her home promotion of Marvelous was brilliant. The main storyline of the company was the first crop of Marvelous trainees attempting to get a win over the company’s figurehead Iroha. This provided us with several excellent matches as Iroha took on the role of the cocky veteran which played naturally with her physical in-ring style to get the fans behind the trainees. This all culminated in what this writer considers the 2019 match of the year as Iroha took on Mio Momono in Momono’s first match back after 11 months on the sideline with an injury. Iroha ended 2019 by once again headlining Korakuen Hall when she would take on and defeat her idol Chigusa Nagayo and in a post-match angle was publicly handed the reigns of Marvelous as she took over the day to day running of the company.
Coming off of her excellent 2019 Takumi Iroha was considered one of the world’s best by those who had seen her perform. In early 2020 she drove that point home when she returned to Stardom to defeat Mayu Iwatani at The Way To Major League in an early Match Of The Year contender that gained buzz outside of the Joshi bubble.
Recommended Matches
Takumi Iroha vs Mayu Iwatani
Both matches between these two women have been great as Iroha’s in-ring style gels really well with Iwatani’s as Iroha enjoys beating up her opponents and using her power moves and Iwatani is a masterful seller.
Takumi Iroha vs Mio Momono
The story of this match was that Takumi Iroha was almost unbeatable in Marvelous and this was Mio Momono’s first match back after 11 months on the shelf with an injury. The crowd was fully behind Momono throughout this match as Iroha mercilessly picked her apart in an entertaining manner. This was an easy Match Of The Year Contender and one that showed off all of Takumi Iroha’s skills
Takumi Iroha vs Nanae Takahashi
Nanae and Takumi had an absolute war here over the Beyond The Sea Championship. This was one of the biggest wins of Iroha’s career to date and her performance showed that she deserved the win as she stood toe to toe with a veteran and future legend Nanae Takahashi and didn’t look out of place at all.
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