Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Why JoshiMania Matters

Manami Toyota kicks Aja Kong in the FACE
Photo Credit: Nami/Dirty Dirty Sheets
I've been pumping up JoshiMania a lot, as have other blogs like the Dirty Dirty Sheets and Ring Belles. Some might say it's because that I'm a giant Chikara homer and I support them blindly. That is hardly the case. Don't mistake my fandom of Chikara for blind worship. If they ever do anything bad, I'll call them out on it. That being said, I think JoshiMania is important because really, it is important. That might sound redundant, but at the same time, it's necessary to point out the kind of event this is.

It's not measurable the amount of influence joshi wrestling has had on the greater world of this grand art we know and love. These women were innovative, more so than anyone else in the business for the last 20 years. Of course, it was because they had to be. They couldn't do the same thing everyone else was doing because if one can imagine any society where the world of sport is harsher to women than it is in America, it's Japan. That being said, the best innovation comes from necessity. It also bears out that nearly everything that these women were doing was picked up by the men in Japan, and we all know how much influence the American wrestling intelligentsia holds puroresu.

This event in many ways is a celebration of that influence, that importance. The woman warriors of the past will be there. Manami Toyota, Aja Kong and Mayumi Ozaki represent the past. The women they influenced will be there, wrestlers like Mio Shirai and Ayako Hamada. The women who represent the American descendents of joshi will be there, like Sara del Rey and Portia Perez. It's a commune celebrating women in wrestling, and the weekend will show exactly what women's wrestling is all about.

In an almost comical contrast, Smackdown last night showed the other reason why JoshiMania is so vitally important. The only match featuring a division known derisively in a way as the Divas was a mistletoe on a pole match. The winner of the match got a prize that wasn't to be revealed until afterwards. Mick Foley, the host of the evening, revealed that prize not as a Divas Championship shot, but a cash-in to be able to kiss the WWE wrestler of the winner's choice. In something almost as equally comical, tomorrow night on Impact, there'll feature a bikini car wash with the Knockouts. Both of these companies have their heads up their asses when it comes to women in wrestling.

That's why it's important that JoshiMania gets the due it deserves. Now more than ever, these women need to innovate out of necessity. They need to show to the growing legions of female wrestling fans that the best they can aspire to be in the wrestling world isn't a bimbo with implants who can barely run the ropes or someone who needs to doll up so they can pop boners rather than crowd reactions. Female wrestling fans need positive role models in wrestling. Kelly Kelly is a terrible female wrestling paradigm. You know who aren't? Manami Toyota, Aja Kong, Sara del Rey, Portia Perez, Ayako Hamada, Mio Shirai, Mayumi Ozaki, Gami, Kaori Yoneyama, Cherry, Toshie Uematsu and the rest of the women who will be here for this landmark three day event.

So yeah, if anyone asks why people need to support JoshiMania, it's because it's vitally needed in the world of wrestling. It's important, lest the WWE's version of what women's roles in pro wrestling should be continue to choke the life out of female wrestling.