# Thekla (wrestler)

Thekla Kaischauri (born April 30, 1993), better known by her mononymous ring name Thekla, is an Austrian professional wrestler. Hailing from Vienna's underground wrestling scene, she performs primarily in Japan for joshi puroresu (women's professional wrestling) promotions and is currently signed with World Wonder Ring Stardom, a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). She is among the few high-profile gaijin (foreigners) in Japanese women's wrestling.
Best known for her work as a heel (villain), Kaischauri is nicknamed the "Idol Killer" for her brusque and antagonistic in-ring persona, which contrasts sharply with the cute and cheerful "idol" archetype expected of most female wrestlers in Japan; as a founding and principal member of Stardom's villainous H.A.T.E. stable, Thekla is portrayed as seeking to "rid the joshi wrestling scene" of idol culture, which drives most of her feuds and storylines. She is also billed as The Toxic Spider for her aggressive and agile fighting style—which emphasizes grappling, submission, and fluid acrobatics—combined with her arachnid-themed costumes, gear, and moveset.
Considered one of Stardom's top wrestlers and its "breakout star", Kaischauri is recognized for her unique gimmick, which challenges traditional conventions of joshi puroresu, and for utilizing her diverse background in dance, gymnastics, music, and visual art in her performances. She is a former Goddess of Stardom Champion (alongside tag-team partner Momo Watanabe) and former Artist of Stardom Champion and SWA World Champion.
Before joining Stardom in 2022, Kaischauri toured Japan's independent circuit, achieving breakthrough success at joshi puroresu promotion Ice Ribbon, where she won the Triangle Ribbon Championship and earned a reputation for her technical fighting style and heel work. Since debuting at Stardom, Kaischauri has been ranked annually by Pro Wrestling Illustrated as one of the top female professional wrestlers in the world, most recently placing No. 77 out of 250 in 2024.

## Early life

Thekla Kaischauri was born on April 30, 1993 in Vienna, Austria to a Georgian mother and Austrian father. She grew up in the city's densely populated 3rd municipal district, Landstraße. Kaischauri was an active and athletic child, practicing swimming, gymnastics, ballet, and martial arts, as well as learning the violin. As a teenager, she played electric guitar and founded a punk rock band, Death Row Groupies. She enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and continued pursuing her studies after embarking on her professional wrestling career, graduating in 2020.

## Professional wrestling career

As a graduate student, Kaischauri's was "highly active in Vienna's DIY and punk scene", which overlapped with the city's underground wrestling subculture. She was inspired to become a professional wrestler after she "accidentally happened to run into a wrestling show" when she was 18 or 19 years old; she also frequently visited the Weberknecht club and bar for its underground wrestling matches, which were held in the basement by Wrestling School Austria (WSA).

### Independent circuit (2017–2021)

Kaischauri trained at WSA in Vienna under retired Austrian professional wrestler Gerhard Hradil (known professionally as Humungus); she recounts creating her now-signature "spider-like move" in a "basement dojo" in Vienna's 2nd municipal district, Leopoldstadt. Using the mononym Thekla, she made her professional wrestling debut in June 2017 for the Vienna chapter of World Underground Wrestling (WUW), a Japan-based federation of independent promotions from around the world. For most of the following year, she performed in Vienna's underground wrestling scene, which lacked many of the rules and conventions of mainstream professional wrestling, such as an enclosed ring and time limits. Most matches were at Weberknecht, with the rest taking place at pub cellars and other informal venues. Kaischauri fondly recalled the city's wrestling scene as "loud, chaotic, and cheeky" and described "Viennese audiences" as "the best".
Thekla's first career match took place on 21 April 2018 at IPW Germany Eishaus Explosion 2, an event promoted by Independent Pro Wrestling (IPW) Germany in Lübeck, Germany. On 8 July 2018, she returned to Weberknecht to wrestle in the main event of WUW Summerfest, failing to take the WUW Austria Women's title in a three-way submission match. Kaischauri would perform only sporadically in her native Austria, mostly for WUW and Rings of Europe (RoE) in Vienna, as her career increasingly shifted towards Japan.

### Transition to Japan (2018)

Through WSA's membership in the Japan-based WUW, and Hradil's professional ties to the Japanese wrestling scene, Kaischauri began performing in the Japanese independent circuit in late 2017. She considers her entry into Japan as the first time she truly began to perform as a professional wrestler. Over the next two years, she divided her time between Vienna and Japan, with the vast majority of her appearances in the latter. In winter 2020, following a six-week tour in Japan, she opted to remain in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns, seeing an opportunity to continue advancing her wrestling career in the Japanese market. Thekla subsequently appeared in several independent Japanese wrestling promotions, including Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Gleat, Seadlinnng, and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana.
Kaischauri described adjusting to the Japanese professional wrestling, which differed significantly from the Viennese underground scene: "In the cellar of the Weberknecht it is hard, damp and dirty. You fight on a small stage on five-centimeter-thick mats, which can be painful. But it's raw and awesome, the audience is fully involved and very close to you. The Japanese, on the other hand, are much quieter and more distant, especially during the Corona period. It was often really quiet as a mouse during fights, because clapping and screaming were forbidden. So you're fighting in front of an audience that makes 'Yikes!' to the maximum – but when that happens, then you know: Now I've got it." She also recounts having to break through cultural and linguistic barriers as a foreigner working in Japan, including her successful efforts to learn the language.

### Ice Ribbon (2019–2021)

Thekla made her first appearance at Ice Ribbon on July 27, 2019, teaming up with Hamuko Hoshi and Suzu Suzuki in a losing effort against Asahi, Matsuya Uno and Tsukasa Fujimoto in a six-woman tag team match. She spent most of the summer performing at Ice Ribbon shows in Japan before briefly returning to Austria in September, where she later won her first championship title, the World Underground Wrestling (WUW) Women’s Championship, on December 15, 2019 at Weberknecht.
Thekla returned to Ice Ribbon in 2020 and spent most of the year wrestling in their events; her tenure was focused on defending the WUW Women’s Championship, which she briefly lost to Cherry in July before reclaiming it the following month. Thekla successfully held the title for the rest of the year, traveling to Austria in September to perform in a few shows for WUW and ROE through October. She returned to Japan in late 2020 and opted to settle in the country during COVID-19 lockdown. Due to the subsequent stoppage of live shows, Thekla trained at Ice Ribbon's dojo on the outskirts of Tokyo; she described the period as "lonely" but "extremely focused" and "the basis for the success I have now." Her 2020 run with Ice Ribbon was highlighted for noteworthy matches against Risa Sera, Suzu Suzuki, and Maya Yukihi.
In January 2021, Thekla announced her return to Ice Ribbon full time. The following month, she unsuccessfully challenged Tsukushi Haruka for the IW19 Championship. On April 21, 2021, Thekla was likewise thwarted by Risa Sera in a title match for the FantastICE Championship. On May 3rd, at the promotion's Yokohama Ribbon show, Thekla captured the Triangle Ribbon Championship title after defeating Ibuki Hoshi and defending champion Matsuya Uno in a three-way contest, becoming the 40th Triangle Ribbon Champion.
On November 13, 2021, Thekla lost the WUW Women's Championship to Akane Fujita, having had the second longest single reign in the title's history as of February 2025, at 441 days; her combined reign of 658 days likewise remains the second longest. The match against Fujita would be her last appearance for Ice Ribbon, where she was described as a "big hit" for her distinctively aggressive persona and fighting style, which included engaging in "psychological warfare" against opponents on social media.

### World Wonder Ring Stardom (2021–present)
#### Debut and Donna Del Mondo (2021–2024)

Thekla first appeared for World Wonder Ring Stardom at its 2021 Super Wars trilogy event, during which she and Mirai performed as unknown masked assailants who kept attacking various wrestlers from the start of the first event on November 3 through the last event on December 18, 2021. On 25 December, Giulia announced that both masked wrestlers would join her Donna Del Mondo (DDM) stable at the beginning of 2022. On January 3, 2022, Thekla and Mirai were unveiled as the masked assailants and teamed up with Giulia to defeat Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano, Unagi Sayaka and Mai Sakurai). DDM would come to enjoy "unprecedented dominance" of the Stardom promotion, as it was now composed of "seven members who are all legitimate contenders for the World and Wonder of Stardom Championships".
At Stardom Nagoya Supreme Fight on January 29, 2022, Thekla defeated Mina Shirakawa for the vacant SWA World Championship, earning her first title at the promotion. She lost the championship on May 5 to Mayu Iwatani during the Golden Week Fight Tour. At Flashing Champions on May 28, Thekla unsuccessfully challenged AZM for the High Speed Championship. Thekla was announced as one of the 2022 5 Star Grand Prix participants, to compete in the Red Stars Block, but was unable to take part in the tournament due to injuries. She would ultimately take part in the 2024 edition of the event, instead performing in the Blue Stars Block, for which she would receive the 5★Star GP Award for her match against Suzu Suzuki.
In February 2022, roughly a month after her debut at Stardom, Thekla was described as one of the promotion's "10 best wrestlers" by The Sportster, which cited her bout against Shirakawa and subsequent winning of the SWA World Championship in her first attempt; the same publication later identified her as one of five wrestlers at Stardom who would "thrive" at WWE, the largest American promotion. In October 2022, Thekla was inaugurally listed among the top 150 female wrestlers in the PWI Women's 150, ranking No. 69; she would subsequently make PWI's 2023 and 2024 lists the top 250 female wrestlers worldwide.
At Flashing Champions 2023 on May 27, Thekla and DDM stablemates Giulia and Mai Sakurai—collectively known as the Baribari Bombers—defeated REStart to win the Artist of Stardom Championship. Thekla would later be named alongside Giulia and Sakurai as forming one of PWI's top 100 tag teams of 2023, ranking No. 17. In November 2023, Thekla made her first major appearance outside Japan since January 2021, performing in matches in Singapore as part of the three-day Bushiroad Expo Asia 2023, which was co-produced by Stardom and Singaporean promotion Grapplemax.
At New Years Stars 2024 on January 3, 2024, the Baribari Bombers participated in the 2024 Triangle Derby. After reaching the finals and deciding to defend the Artist of Stardom Championship, they lost the match and titles to Abarenbo GE. The next day, just before Stardom's main event at NJPW's January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, Thekla and Mai Sakurai joined Giulia as the latter announced the dissolution of the Donna del Mondo faction. Kaischauri stated she would temporarily step away from the promotion and focus on artistic projects.

#### Oedeo Tai / H.A.T.E (2024–present)

Following her brief hiatus, Thekla returned to Stardom on April 27, 2024, causing Mina Shirakawa to lose her match again Natsuko Tora, and joining the latter's villainous Oedo Tai faction. In a subsequent promo, Thekla denounced her former faction and stablemates and said she was coming back to "completely eradicate idol culture". She subsequently appeared at Stardom Nighter in Korakuen II on July 23 alongside her new Odeo Tai stablemate Momo Watanabe, with whom she successfully won the Goddesses of Stardom Championship by defeating God's Eye members Syuri and Konami. Five days later, during the Stardom Sapporo World Rendezvous, Tora declared the dissolution of Oedo Tai and the birth of the newly created stable, H.A.T.E., featuring herself, Thekla, Saya Kamitani, Momo Watanabe, Konami, Rina and Ruaka.
Thekla was a main contender at the Historic X-Over II pay-per-view crossover event between Stardom and its parent promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling, which was broadcast live on November 17, 2024 from EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan. She also wrestled at the fourth annual Stardom Dream Queendom 2024 on December 29, where she and fellow H.A.T.E. stablemate Momo Watanabe lost their Goddesses of Stardom Championship titles against Hanan and Saya Iida of the Stars faction.

## Professional wrestling style and persona

Kaischauri's wrestling style has been called "very unique, hyper energy and frenetic", due in large part to her childhood training in ballet and gymnastics, which allows her to be "hyper flexib[le]". Profil described her "movement [as coming] from another world, one that is otherwise only inhabited by eight-year-old ballet gymnasts or floor gymnasts with bodybuilder abdominal muscles". During her tenure at Ice Ribbon, she was identified as having "excellent technical wrestling skills", which focuses on holds, takedowns, submissions, and grappling. In addition to practicing martial arts in her youth, she received initial professional wrestling training at the Wrestling School Austria (WSA)—where she learned basic techniques of rolling, grappling, and striking—and trained at Ice Ribbon's dojo in Tokyo from late 2019. Kaischauri states that her training regimen is well-rounded and focuses on "Power, muscles, cardio, technique" which she described as "all [being] important" for her performances.

## Personal life

In parallel to her professional wrestler career, Kaischauri continues to paint, make music, and exhibit her artworks; she used her hiatus from the ring in early 2024 to focus on artistic pursuits. In November 2024, she announced that she would be hosting an art exhibition in Tokyo the first week of January 2025 during NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19. Kaischauri believes her work as an artist and a wrestler is interrelated, stating that "wrestling inspires the painting and then the painting inspires what I do in the ring". She also designs her own wrestling gear and apparel, writes her theme music, and contributes creative ideas to the H.A.T.E. stable. Kaischauri considers professional wrestling to be a form of creative expression in its own right, stating that "the ring is my canvas and I paint a pretty wild picture".
Kaischauri once participated in a production at the national Burgtheater in Vienna.
In addition to her native German and Georgian, Kaischauri reportedly also speaks English, French, and Japanese, being self-taught in the lattermost. She has a self-described "soft spot for Japanese culture", which she cited as one of her reasons for moving to Japan in 2020. She has been compared to Canadian professional wrestler Kenny Omega who likewise found success performing primarily in Japan; her manager Kanae Imai claims she is "one of the few foreigners who started their careers in Japan themselves".
Kaischauri has also expressed interest in performing outside Japan, including Cambodia, Nepal, and North America; in a November 2024 interview, she stated she was exploring opportunities in the United States and that there would be future developments to be announced.

## Championships and accomplishments

* Ice Ribbon
** Triangle Ribbon Championship (1 time)
** WUW Underground Wrestling Women's Championship (2 times)
* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
** No. 69 of the top 150 female wrestlers – PWI Women's 150 (2022)
** No. 155 of the top 250 female wrestlers – PWI Women's 250 (2023)
** No. 77 of the top 250 female wrestlers – PWI Women's 250 (2024)
** No. 17 of the top 100 tag teams (Donna Del Mondo) – PWI Top 100 Tag team (2023)
* World Wonder Ring Stardom
** Goddess of Stardom Championship (1 time) – with Momo Watanabe
** Artist of Stardom Championship (1 time) – with Giulia and Mai Sakurai
** SWA World Championship (1 time)
** 5★Star GP Awards (1 time)
*** Blue Stars Best Match Award (2024) vs. Suzu Suzuki on August 20 in Blue Stars B