Giulia

Giulia in July 2023

###

London, England, United Kingdom

**Giulia** (ジュリア, *Jyuria*) is an English-born Italian-Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), where she is a former one-time World of Stardom Champion, while also being a former one-time Wonder of Stardom Champion, a former one-half of the Goddess of Stardom Champions and a former two-time Artist of Stardom Champions. In Stardom's sister New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), she is the current Strong Women's Champion in her first reign.

She is known for her time in Ice Ribbon, where she competed from her debut in 2017 up until October 2019, where she is a former one-half of the International Ribbon Tag Team Champions.

Initially trained by the Ice Ribbon dojo, Giulia joined World Wonder Ring Stardom in October 2019 in a controversial way. Since then, Giulia formed Donna Del Mondo, where she would be established as one of Stardom's current biggest and most accomplished stars, headlining Stardom's pay-per views multiple times. As part of Stardom's sister promotion, NJPW, Giulia began appearing for the promotion before winning the Strong Women's Championship in July, becoming one of the current leading figures in the promotion's international events.

## Early life

Giulia was born in London, England, to an Italian father and a Japanese mother, who was studying there. One year after Giulia's birth, they moved back and she was raised in Japan's Chiba Prefecture. Her parents divorced when he was in the seventh grade. She worked as a manager in her mother's owned Italian restaurant where she would work until her 20 years old to study in Miami, Florida for a brief period.

In the United States, she got interested in special and artistic makeup. After returning to Japan, she enrolled in a hair and makeup trade school. To earn money for her tution fees, she started working at a cabaret club. At her job at the cabaret club, she discovered professional wrestling through a costumer, who liked professional wrestling. Initially Giulia was not interested; however, after accompanied repeatedly by her friends to wrestling matches, she became fascinated with it. After that, she became so fascinated that she even went to the arenas on her own.

She joined the professional wrestling world after being personally invited by Tsukasa Fujimoto to a training session with the promotion after they had already known each other from the cabaret club and afterwards she started to attend the promotion's shows, prior to that she had no experience in professional wrestling. Upon her gradutation from trade school, she quit her job at the cabaret and joined the Ice Ribbon dojo in 2017 before joining the dormitory in 2018 to better focus on her training.

In an interview for *Shūkan Bunshun* in 2022, Giulia disclosed that she suffered bullying as a child due to her mixed race background, which was the reasoning for her attending a private high school.

## Career

### Ice Ribbon (2017–2019)

Giulia made her Ice Ribbon debut in October 2017, teaming with the legendary Takako Inoue in a loss to Nao DATE and Satsuki Totoro. In November, she entered the Young Ice Tournament where she was eliminated by Totoro in the first round. In April, she wrestled Ice Ribbon ace Tsukasa Fujimoto for the first time, losing in 39 seconds. On September 24, she defeated Asahi for her first singles victory. On October 1, she was invited by the legendary Toshiaki Kawada to compete on one of his "Holy War" produce shows, where she was defeated by veteran Command Bolshoi. Days later, she was defeated by Aja Kong in a singles match for the Oz Academy promotion. In the latter part of the year, she began a feud with Tequila Saya, which eventually bought in male wrestlers Shinya Aoki and Hideki Suzuki, who acted as mentors for the female wrestlers and taught them new moves throughout their feud. After a match on December 31 where Saya and Suzuki were defeated by Giulia and Aoki, the two women reconciled and formed a tag team known as "Burning Raw". At the end of the year, she was presented with Ice Ribbon's "New Face" award, the equivalent of winning rookie of the year. On January 27, Burning Raw unsuccessfully challenged Kyuri and Maika Ozaki for the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship. After February 17, she announced she would be taking a month off from pro wrestling due to nerve damage in her hip. After returning, she began a feud with Maya Yukihi, which culminated in Giulia unsuccessfully challenging for the ICE Cross Infinity Championship on May 25. In July, Burning Raw defeated Yukihi and Risa Sera to win the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship. After three months as champions, they dropped the titles back to Yukihi and Sera on September 23. In a surprise announcement on October 13, Giulia announced she would abruptly be leaving Ice Ribbon.

### World Wonder Ring Stardom (2019–present)

On October 14, 2019, Giulia announced that she had signed with World Wonder Ring Stardom. Giulia's signning with Stardom was met with heavy backlash from Ice Ribbon fans when she joined the promotion in controversal way without telling anyone in Ice Ribbon that she was leaving the promotion.

On one hand, Ice Ribbon's President Hajime Sato reavled on *Twitter* that she met with Giulia the day prior to her signning about her decision to leave the promotion, with Sato being confused with Giulia's announcement, due to both parties discussing the timing of her departure. In another post on his *Twitter* page, Sato criticized Giulia's decision by questioning what it meant while being signed to the promotion, with Sato stating that there were "other ways to depart instead of lying and forcing her way out". On the other hand, Stardom President Rossy Ogawa stated that "he was noticed that there was no contract between Giulia and Ice Ribbon and that he would not refuse anyone who comes, and would not pursue anyone who leaves.".

In an interview in June 2021 for *Web Sportiva*, Giulia revealed that she wanted her new path in her career, stating that she was in breaking point of her career, with her either chosing a new path or retiring, with her admiting that she had wrong opinion about her former company. Giulia made her in-ring debut in Stardom on December 8, where she defeated Hazuki.

During January 2020, Giulia formed a new unit named "Donna del Mondo", recruiting Maika and Syuri to the stable in the process. On January 4, 2020, Giulia and Hana Kimura were defeated by Arisa Hoshiki and Mayu Iwatani in a Stardom Special tag team match at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 14 event. On February 8, Donna del Mondo defeated Queen's Quest (AZM, Momo Watanabe and Utami Hayashishita) to win the Artist of Stardom Championship. On March 24, Giulia defeated Jungle Kyona, Momo Watanabe, fellow Donna del Mondo stablemate Syuri, and finally Natsuko Tora to be crowned the 2020 Cinderella Tournament winner. On July 26, Giulia defeated Tam Nakano to win the vacant Wonder of Stardom Championship. On October 3, Giulia had her first successful title defense where she defeated Nakano in a rematch. On November 14, Donna del Mondo lost the Artist of Stardom Championship to Oedo Tai (Bea Priestley, Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima). On December 20, Giulia defended the Wonder of Stardom Championship in a title vs. title match against fellow Donna del Mondo member Syuri who defended the SWA World Championship. The match ended in a time-limit draw, with both titleholders retaining their titles in the process. On November 8, 2020, on the finals of the 2020 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, she teamed up with Maika with whom she previously won the Red Goddesses Block and fell short to AZM and Momo Watanabe.

On March 3, 2021 at All Star Dream Cinderella, Giulia would lost the Wonder of Stardom Championship to Tam Nakano as result, Giulia had to shave her hair. On April 4, 2021 at Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021, Giulia and Syuri defeated her fellow Donna del Mondo stablemates Himeka and Maika to win the Goddess of Stardom Championship for their first time. After that, Giulia and Syuri would form a sub team in their faction called *Alto livello KABALIWAN* with Alto livello meaning High level in Italian and Kabaliwan meaning Madness in Tagalog with names embracing both Giulia and Syuri’s Filipino and Italian heritages. On the first night of the 2021 Cinderella Tournament from April 10, Giulia picked a victory over Ruaka in the first rounds of the tournament. On the second night of the tournament which took place on May 14, Maika defeated Giulia in the semi-finals. At Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021 in Summer on July 4, Giulia and Syuri successfully defended their Goddess of Stardom Championship against Stars (Mayu Iwatani and Koguma). Giulia took part in the 2021 5 Star Grand Prix, competing in the "red stars" block but pulled out of the tournament after three matches due to dealing with several injuries. She missed the Stardom 10th Anniversary Grand Final Osaka Dream Cinderella show from October 9 and all three of the Super Wars shows in the process. She made her in-ring return on December 29 at Stardom Dream Queendom where she successfully picked up a victory against Konami who was departing from the promotion.

At *Stardom Award in Shinjuku* on January 3, 2022, Giulia revealed Thekla from Ice Ribbon and MIRAI from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling who both left their respective promotions recently as the two masked wrestlers who kept attacking various other wrestlers at the end of 2021. All three of them teamed up to defeat Tam Nakano, Unagi Sayaka and Mai Sakurai. At Stardom Nagoya Supreme Fight on January 29, 2022, Giulia battled Mayu Iwatani into a time-limit draw in a number one contendership match for the World of Stardom Championship which solded with an opportunity for both of them at Stardom World Climax. At Stardom Cinderella Journey on February 23, 2022, Giulia teamed up with Thekla and MIRAI and went into a time-limit draw against Maika, Himeka and Syuri. On the first night of the Stardom World Climax 2022 from March 26, Giulia unsuccessfully challenged Syuri for the World of Stardom Championship. After their match, Syuri announced departure from Donna Del Mondo to walk on her path and form another stable which she later revealed as being God's Eye. On the second night from March 27, Giulia teamed up with Maika, Himeka and Thekla to take out Prominence's Risa Sera, Suzu Suzuki, Akane Fujita and Mochi Miyagi with whom all the Donna Del Mondo members have been in a feud. However, Suzu Suzuki stated that she was not finished with Giulia despite her unit's loss, hinting that the feud was still standing. At the Stardom Cinderella Tournament 2022, Giulia reached the second rounds on April 10, where she fell short to Koguma. At Stardom Golden Week Fight Tour on May 5, 2022, Giulia teamed up with Himeka, Natsupoi and Mai Sakurai in a losing effort against God's Eye (Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sourei and Konami). At Stardom Flashing Champions on May 28, 2022, Giulia teamed up with Mai Sakurai to unsuccessfully face Hazuki and Koguma for the Goddess of Stardom Championship. From July 30 until October 1, Giulia took part in the 2022 5★Star GP, competing in the Blue Stars block, which she won with a record of seven wins, three losses and two draws, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On October 1, Giulia defeated Tam Nakano in the finals to win the 2022 5★Star GP and earn a shot at the World of Stardom Championship. The following day, Giulia was handed a contract, which gave her the right to challenge for the World of Stardom Championship, that she would have to defend for the rest of the year. On December 29, at Dream Queendom, Giulia defeated Syuri to win the World of Stardom Championship.

On February 4, 2023, at Stardom Supreme Fight, Giulia had her first successful title defense of the World of Stardom Championship by defeating Suzu Suzuki. On March 4, Giulia's second title defense, against Maya Yukihi, ended in a double countout. It was later reported that the reason for the match ending in a double countout was due to real-life heat between the two. On April 23, at All Star Grand Queendom, Giulia lost the title to Tam Nakano, ending her reign at 115 days. On May 27, at Flashing Champions, Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla, together known as the Bari Bari Bombers, defeated the Artist of Stardom Champions REStart (KAIRI, Natsupoi and Saori Anou) to win the titles. At New Years Stars 2024 on January 3, 2024, 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. At Ittenyon Stardom Gate on January 4, 2024, Giulia decided to disband Donna Del Mondo.

### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2020–Present)

#### Early beginnings (2020-2022)

Giulia took part in exhibition matches organized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling in relationship with World Wonder Ring Stardom to promote female talent. In her first match, she teamed up with Hana Kimura in a losing effort to Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki in the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4, 2020. On January 5, 2021, in the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 15, she teamed up with fellow *Donna del Mondo* stable member Syuri to defeat Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano. On the first night of the Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome from September 4, Giulia teamed up with Syuri to defeat Momo Watanabe and Saya Kamitani.

#### Strong Women's Champion (2023-Present)

On June 25 at Stardom Sunshine 2023, Giulia, challenged Willow Nightingale, to a title match for the Strong Women's Championship in Japan, before berating in a backstage interview, remiding that despite Nightingale challenging Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship at Forbidden Door. Afterwards, Momo Kohgo defended Nightingale, warning that Giulia was underestimating her, before Giulia attacked her and that she would open the forbidden door. The following day, before her title challenge, Nightingale accepted her challenged. NJPW made the title match as well a tag team match between Giulia and Thekla against Kohgo and Nightingale at Strong Independence Day on May 28. On July 5 at NJPW Strong Independence Day, Giulia defeated Willow Nightingale to win the Strong Women's Championship. It was later reported on July 14 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter journalist Dave Meltzer that plan was for Giulia defending the Strong Women's Championship until Mercedes Moné returns from her injury, with Giulia being the champion for the time being. Three days later, it was reported that Giulia would be making her first title in August in Philadelphia.

On August 1, Deonna Purrazzo, challenged any women from NJPW and Stardom to "send their best talent". On August 13, Giulia defended the title against Yuu at the 2023 Stardom X Stardom pay-per-view, thus marking the first time that the title was defended in Japan. After the match, a video package aired of Purrazzo challenging Giulia for the title, with Gisele Shaw interrupting Purrazzo to also challenge Giulia, with Giulia accepting all comers. Giulia revealed that she would be defending her title at Multiverse United 2, making her US debut. Meanwhile on July 31, Momo Kohgo challenged Giulia for the title in order to fullfil her promise to Willow Nighingale, with Giulia stating her promise to be meaningless to her before berating and bullying Kohgo. After Purazzo and Shaw's challenge, Kohgo, disguised in cosplay, challenged Giulia for the title leading to a four way match being announced at the event. On August 20, at Multiverse United 2, Giulia made her first title defense against Purazzo, Shaw and Kohgo.

On October 1, at a Stardom event, after Giulia successfully defend the Strong Women's Championship against Ami Sourei in her fourth title defense, Hyan, who worked for various promotions across the world such as Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in Germany and Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor (ROH) in the United States, challenged Giulia to a title match at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. On October 28, at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Giulia made her fifth title defense against Hyan. Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Trish Adora asked why had Giulia had not challenged her to match and requested a title match in the future. Following another title defense against Megan Bayne at Stardom Dream Queendom on December 29, Adora appeared in a in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Giulia to a title match at Battle in the Valley, which she accepted setting up the match for the event. At the event, Giulia made her sixth title defense against Trish Adora.

## Personal life

Giulia is a third-dan in Japanese caligraphy and an expert in Italian cuisine.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Bianca* (Double omoplata crossface)
	+ *Glorious Buster* (Hammerlock over-the-shoulder hold twisted into a sidewalk slam)
	+ *Glorious Northern Lights Bomb* (Pumphandle scoop brainbuster)
	+ *Honkekonin/Authorized Gannosuke Clutch* (Gannosuke clutch) - 2022; adopted from Mr. Gannosuke
	+ *Northern Lights Bomb* (Scoop brainbuster)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Ankle lock, while grapevining
	+ Backdrop driver
	+ Brainbuster
	+ Bicycle kick
	+ Big boot
	+ Biting
	+ Cradle Northern Lights suplex
	+ Cross heel hook - 2019
	+ DDT
	+ Diving crossbody
	+ Drop toe hold, in the corner
	+ Exploder suplex
	+ *Falcon Arrow* (Sitout suplex slam)
	+ Forearm smash
	+ Front dropkick
	+ German suplex
	+ *Glorious Driver* (Arm trap sitout tombstone piledriver)
	+ Headbutt
	+ Knee strike, to a seated opponent
	+ *Kumonosu* (Octopus stretch/figure four necklock combination)
	+ Low front dropkick
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Multiple knee strikes, to a rope hung opponent
	+ Neckbreaker
	+ Package piledriver, done in a double underhook variant - 2020-present
	+ Roundhouse kick
	+ Running knee strike
	+ Snap suplex, on the floor
	+ Saito suplex
	+ *Stealth Viper* (STF/overrotated dragon sleeper combination)
	+ Sitout powerbomb
	+ Shining wizard
	+ *Spider Web* (Fireman's carry dropped into a swinging sidewalk slam)
	+ Shoot kick, to the back of the opponent
	+ STF
	+ Sunset flip powerbomb
	+ Superplex
	+ Tiger suplex
	+ Tornado DDT
	+ Wheelbarrow suplex
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"Beautiful Madness"**
	+ "Guro-chan"
	+ "The Gladiator of Glorias"
	+ "The Popular Troublemaker"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Gladiator" (Ice Ribbon)
	+ "Gloria" (Stardom; 2019-2023)

## Championships and accomplishments

* ***ESPN***
	+ Ranked No. 11 of the 30 best Pro Wrestlers Under 30 in 2023
* **Ice Ribbon**
	+ International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tequila Saya
	+ Ice Ribbon Year-End Awards
		- Rookie Award (2018) tied with Tequila Saya
* **New Japan Pro-Wrestling**
	+ Strong Women's Championship (1 time, current)
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Ranked No. 16 of the top 150 female singles wrestlers in the *PWI Women's 150* in 2021
	+ Ranked No. 5 of the top 50 Tag Teams in the *PWI Tag Team 50* in 2021 – with Syuri
	+ Ranked No. 2 of the top 250 women's wrestlers in the *PWI Women's 250* in 2023

* **World Wonder Ring Stardom**
	+ World of Stardom Championship (1 time)
	+ Wonder of Stardom Championship (1 time)
	+ Goddess of Stardom Championship (1 time) – with Syuri
	+ Artist of Stardom Championship (2 times) – with Syuri and Maika (1) and Thekla and Mai Sakurai (1)
	+ Cinderella Tournament (2020)
	+ 5★Star GP (2022)
	+ World of Stardom Championship challenge rights certificate (2022)
	+ 5★Star GP Award (1 time)
		- 5★Star GP Best Match Award (2020) vs. Tam Nakano on September 13
	+ Stardom Year-End Award (5 times)
		- MVP Award (2020)
		- Shining Award (2020)
		- Best Unit Award (2020) with Maika, Syuri, Himeka and Natsupoi
		- Best Match Award (2021) vs. Tam Nakano on March 3
		- Best Match Award (2022) vs. Syuri on December 29

* ***Tokyo Sports***
	+ Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize (2020)
* ***Weekly Pro-Wrestling***
	+ Women's Professional Wrestling Grand Prix (2020)