Sumie Sakai

Sumie Sakai (November 24, 1971) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She currently resides in the United States, appearing with professional wrestling promotions in the northeastern United States such as Women's Extreme Wrestling and CHIKARA as well as a regular performer in Ring of Honor.
==Early life==
As a young woman, Sakai practiced judo. From 1995 to 1997, she halted her practice of judo to work with senior citizens at the Kasugamachi Care Center in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.
==Professional wrestling career==
===Japan===
Sakai became involved in wrestling when her friend and fellow judo practitioner, Megumi Yabushita, invited her to join the wrestling industry. Sakai trained under Jaguar Yokota and made her debut on April 20, 1997 with the Yoshimoto Ladies Pro Wrestling promotion, facing Yabushita in the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. She went on to form a tag team with Yabushita named Yabusaka.
Later in 1997, Sakai began wrestling for Yokota's JDStar promotion, where she won both the JDStar Junior Championship and the JDStar Queen of the Ring Championship. She also won the Women's Championship of the affiliated American Wrestling Federation and the Tag Team Championship of the affiliated Trans-World Wrestling Federation. In 1999, she suffered a broken leg while wrestling Lioness Asuka. While rehabilitating, Sakai became enamored of American professional wrestling, and resolved to one day wrestle in the United States.
While in Japan, Sakai faced several prominent male Japanese wrestlers, including Dick Togo, The Great Sasuke and Jinsei Shinzaki. She furthered her training under Bison Kimura, Cooga and Lioness Asuka.
===United States===
Sakai wrestled her first match in the United States in 2002. In May 2002, she began a three-month tour of the US, where she feuded with Mercedes Martinez in New England Championship Wrestling. While in the promotion, she and Martinez traded the North American Women's Championship, but Sakai was champion when she returned to Japan. In 2003, she left JDStar and relocated to the United States.
In December 2003 and January 2004, Sakai appeared with Ring of Honor, defeating Alison Danger and losing to April Hunter. She returned to Ring of Honor on August 20, 2005, losing to Lacey at Do or Die 5.
On April 17, 2005, Sakai organized "WE LOVE SABU", a pair of shows held at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo. "WE LOVE SABU" was organized in support of Sabu, an American wrestler who had been afflicted with a serious virus in the summer of 2004, with the proceeds of the show going towards paying Sabu's medical bills. The show featured Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling alumni such as Masato Tanaka and Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni such as The Sandman. Sabu eventually made a complete recovery, returning to the ring on May 21, 2005.
In 2009, Sakai began training with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Bill Scott. She currently holds a blue belt.
In 2012, Sakai joined Kurt Pellegrino's Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Belmar, NJ to better her BJJ and pursue her MMA career.
She has also been performing regularly for Ring of Honor since 2015 for its Women of Honor division. Since 2018 she is participating in the tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women of Honor Champion, where she won in the first round (at ROH 16th Anniversary Show) against Hana Kimura.
==Mixed martial arts==
Sakai made her mixed martial arts debut on October 14, 2006, fighting American kickboxer Amy Davis in a bout promoted by Tom Supnet of the "Primal Tribe Fighting Club" as part of the Xtreme Fight Series II event. The bout ended in a no contest at the end of the first three-minute long round after Davis suffered an arm injury and was unable to continue as a result of an armbar applied by Sakai.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**Diving splash
**Smash Mouth (Rolling Cutter)
**Fisherman's Neckbreaker
*Signature moves
:*Mat slam
:*Moonsault
:*Missile Dropkick
:*German Suplex
:*Saito Suplex
:*Uranage
*Managers
:*Tara Bush
*Nicknames
:*"Pune Tang" (WEW)
*Tag teams and stables
:*YABUSAKA
*Entrance music
==Championships and accomplishments==
*All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
:*AJW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Yuko Kosugi
*JDStar
:*AWF Women's Championship (2 times)
:*JDStar Junior Championship (1 time)
:*JDStar Queen of the Ring Championship (1 time)
*New England Championship Wrestling
:*NECW North American Women's Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
:*PWI ranked her #20 in the 2008 PWI Top 50 Females
:*PWI ranked her #12 in the 2018 PWI Top 100 Females
:*PWI ranked her #55 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
*PWU: Wrestle-Reality
:*PWU Unified Women's Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling World
:*Pro Wrestling World-1 Women's Championship (1 time)
*Ring of Honor
:*ROH Women of Honor Championship (1 time)
*Trans-World Wrestling Federation
:*TWWF Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Cooga (1), Hiroyo Mutoh (1) and Megumi Yabushita (2)
*Valkyrie Women's Professional Wrestling
:*International Joshi Grand Prix (2014)
*Women's Extreme Wrestling
:*WEW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Annie Social
==External links==
* Sumie Sakai Profile at CAGEMATCH
* Profile
Category:1971 births
Category:1997 debuts
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