Know Your JoshiManiacs: The (North) American Girls

del Rey

JoshiMania is this week. As prefaced on here a few times, TWB is all in on covering it and making sure that it's treated like the event it is. Hopefully, these preview posts give the readers some insight onto how important and good this event is going to be.

JoshiMania has a cavalcade of Japanese names announced thus far. They range from the familiar (Ayako Hamada, Manami Toyota, Aja Kong) to the esoteric (Cherry, Gami, Hanako Nakamori), but there are two names that stick out sore thumbs (among the female competitors... the male wrestlers are another story). They are Sara del Rey and Portia Perez. This isn't a bad thing. If anything, the two women probably feel honored to be the only North American females included in the JoshiMania proceedings. Then again, aren't they the ones with the most to prove?

Yes, del Rey took Chikara by storm in 2011, emerging from the shadows of the BDK to arguably become the most popular wrestler in the promotion. Perez took the bull by the horns in Texas, having herself a MVP-caliber year in Anarchy Championship Wrestling. They're in the discussion when talking about the best and most influential women wrestlers in America right now. So why would they have anything to prove?

Perez
Photo Credit: TexasAnarchy.com

Maybe that proving isn't to us, the fans. We know that del Rey and Perez are two of the best wrestlers, woman or man, in the world. They've done so much not only to advance the art of wrestling, but to obliterate the gender barrier and prove that the only thing that makes them different from, say, Eddie Kingston and El Generico is the genitalia. Maybe what they have to prove is to themselves.

While there are going to be a lot of fans who don't know what the visiting joshi legends and luminaries, the two Western women competing here do. It's no secret that del Rey's hero in wrestling is Aja Kong. While she's arguably the biggest name on the weekend, she's not the only big star. She's not the only one that casts a shadow that might feel intimidating to lesser competitors.

That being said, neither del Rey nor Perez are wrestlers I'd consider as "lesser" competitors. They're among the best in the world at what they do, and while they may not have the mystique as the other incoming female warriors, they're going to come out of this weekend looking better than they ever have. I expect big things out of Sara and Portia this weekend. They're great competitors, and great competitors rise to the occasion when called upon.

And oh boy, what an occasion this is going to be starting Friday.

del Rey Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, Chikara and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography