Kana

*Not to be confused with* ASUKA*, another professional wrestler.*

Kana in September 2015

###

Osaka, Japan

**Kanako Urai** (浦井 佳奈子, *Urai Kanako*, born September 26, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name **Kana** (華名, *Kana*) where she started her professional wrestling career in the AtoZ promotion in June 2004, where she remained until retiring in March 2006. She returned to the ring a year and a half later, starting to work as a freelancer for promotions such as JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Wave, SMASH, Wrestling New Classic, and Reina Joshi Puroresu. Her achievements include winning the JWP Openweight Championship, NEO Tag Team Championship, Reina World Women's Championship, SMASH Diva Championship, and Wave Tag Team Championship.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early career (2004–2010)

Urai, working originally as a graphic designer, decided to find a new career in professional wrestling, after becoming a fan of the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Satoru Sayama, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Antonio Inoki, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Masakatsu Funaki, Volk Han and Minoru Suzuki. Urai, adopting the ring name Kana, made her professional wrestling debut for all female promotion AtoZ on June 16, 2004, in a match against Leo-na. She would spend the first part of her career with AtoZ, before suddenly announcing her retirement due to chronic nephritis on March 19, 2006. During her time away from the ring, Urai opened her own graphic design agency. After spending a year and a half away from professional wrestling, Urai made a comeback on September 22, 2007, and began working as a freelancer for promotion such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Wave and Pro Wrestling Zero1, while also forming the Passion Red stable with Nanae Takahashi, Natsuki☆Taiyo, Ray and Yumiko Hotta in NEO, which would become her new home promotion. On October 10, 2009, Kana teamed with Takahashi to defeat Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kyoko Inoue for the NEO Tag Team Championship, Kana's first professional wrestling title. They would hold the title for two months, before losing it to Ayumi Kurihara and Yoshiko Tamura on December 31, 2009. On January 24, 2010, Kana announced that she had quit Passion Red.

### Pro Wrestling Wave (2008, 2010–2015)

Kana had made some appearances for Pro Wrestling Wave in 2008 but did not start working regularly for the promotion until the end of 2010, when NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling folded. On July 24, 2011, Kana defeated Ayumi Kurihara in the finals to win the 2011 Catch the Wave tournament. On October 30, Kana and Kurihara defeated Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu to win the Dual Shock Wave 2011 tournament and become the first ever Wave Tag Team Champions. While a tag team champion with Kurihara, Kana also regularly teamed with Mio Shirai as Triple Tails.S and on February 1, 2012, Kurihara, Mika Iida and Shuu Shibutani were made official members of Triple Tails. Four days later, Kana and Kurihara lost the Wave Tag Team Championship to Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu. On March 6, the new incarnation of Triple Tails was named White Tails, in reference to Wave's top villainous alliance, Black Dahlia. On November 27, Kana defeated Yumi Ohka in a singles match, after which she declared herself the new "ace" of Wave. On February 17, Kana, as the 2011 Catch the Wave winner, was granted entrance into the Wave Single Championship tournament, defeating Mio Shirai in her semifinal match. On March 17, Kana was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Yumi Ohka.

On April 21, Kana and Mio Shirai defeated Misaki Ohata and Tsukasa Fujimoto to win the Wave Tag Team Championship, bringing Triple Tails.S its first title. They made their first successful defense on July 7 against Fujimoto and Kyusei Sakura Hirota. On July 12, the White Tails stable produced their final event before the group's dissolution, during which Kana wrestled the soon-to-retire Ayumi Kurihara to a ten-minute time limit draw. Three days later, Kana and Shirai lost the Wave Tag Team Championship to Shidarezakura (Hikaru Shida and Yumi Ohka) in their second defense. From September 1 to October 6, Kana took part in the 2013 Dual Shock Wave tournament, where she teamed with Yumi Ohka. The team made it all the way to the finals of the tournament, before losing to *Las Aventureras* (Ayako Hamada and Yuu Yamagata) in a three-way match, which also included Muscle Venus (Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto). In July 2015, Kana made it to the semifinals of the 2015 Catch the Wave tournament, but was defeated there by eventual tournament winner Yumi Ohka.

### SMASH (2010–2012)

Kana made her debut for Yoshihiro Tajiri's new SMASH promotion on June 25, 2010, losing to Syuri in the main event of *SMASH.4*. After the match, Kana left the arena smiling and later challenged Syuri to a rematch, which was made official on June 30. The rematch took place on July 24 at *SMASH.5* and saw Kana, now a full blown villain, defeat Syuri via submission in just three minutes. As part of the attempt to get her over as the top villain, Kana wrote a manifesto for the *Weekly Pro-Wrestling* magazine, which was published on August 4 and where she attacked the entire *joshi puroresu* community, claiming it was full of wrestlers with no personality and bad attitudes and who wrestled in an unrealistic manner. The article led to a confrontation between Kana and wrestlers from the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion on August 30 at *SMASH.7*, but never led to a direct match. Kana then began feuding with TAJIRI, which led to an intergender match on December 24 at *Happening Eve*, where Tajiri was victorious. Following the loss, Kana reemerged on January 29, 2011 as the leader of the Triple Tails stable with the Shirai sisters (Io and Mio), dubbing herself "Sekai no Kana" (literally "World Famous Kana"). Kana then continued working against the opposite sex, defeating Jessica Love on January 30, 2011, teaming with the Shirais to defeat Tajiri, Ken Ohka and Yoshiaki Yago on February 25, and losing to Funaki on March 31.

In April Kana entered a feud with former WWE performer Serena, stemming from a comment she made, calling Kana a talented "amateur" wrestler, while she herself had worked for the top promotion in the world. In response, Kana vowed to make Serena respect her. The first encounter between the two took place on April 30 at *SMASH.16*, when Serena teamed with Makoto and Syuri to defeat the Triple Tails in a six-woman tag team match, when Serena pinned Kana with her finishing maneuver, the spear. On May 3 at *SMASH.17*, Serena defeated Kana with a spear in the first singles match between the two. At the following event on June 9, SMASH started a tournament to crown the inaugural SMASH Diva Champion, which saw Kana defeat Lin "Bitch" Byron in her first round match. On August 11 at *SMASH.20*, Kana defeated Syuri to set up a rematch with Serena in the finals of the tournament. On September 8, Kana defeated Serena to become the inaugural SMASH Diva Champion. On November 24 at *SMASH.23*, Kana lost the SMASH Diva Championship to Tomoka Nakagawa in her first defense. On January 19, 2012 at *We Are SMASH*, Kana defeated Nakagawa in a rematch to regain the title. Kana's second reign ended also in her first defense, when she lost the title to Syuri on February 19 at *SMASH.25*, after which the two longtime rivals hugged and made peace with each other. On March 14, SMASH held *SMASH.Final*, the promotion's final event before ceasing its operations, during which Kana teamed with Último Dragón to defeat Mentallo and Syuri in a tag team match.

### Wrestling New Classic (2012)

On April 5, 2012, Tajiri announced the follow-up promotion to SMASH, Wrestling New Classic (WNC), which would hold its first event on April 26, and named Kana as part of the promotion's roster. For the first time since 2006, when she was affiliated with AtoZ, Kana signed a contract to make WNC her new home promotion, officially ending her freelancing days, though the deal allowed her to continue working for Pro Wrestling Wave and producing her own independent events. On April 26 at WNC's first event, *Before the Dawn*, Kana teamed with Mio Shirai in a tag team match, where they defeated Makoto and Syuri, with Kana pinning Makoto for the win. Post-match, Kana verbally assaulted Makoto, which led to Shirai turning on her and siding with Makoto. At WNC's second event, *Starting Over* on May 24, Kana submitted Makoto in a tag team match, where she teamed with Syuri and Makoto with Riho, a replacement for an injured Mio Shirai. Two days later at *Go! Go! West: Osaka*, Kana submitted Makoto again, this time in a singles match. On June 17, Kana produced her first Kana Pro event in collaboration with WNC, where she and Kenichi Yamamoto were defeated in the main event by Daisuke Ikeda and Syuri. The rivalry between Kana and Makoto continued at WNC's following event on June 22, where Makoto ended her losing streak by pinning Kana in a tag team match, where Kana teamed with Syuri and Makoto with Mio Shirai. On July 15, Kana defeated Shirai in a singles match, after which she had another heated exchange with Makoto, who had been sidelined from in-ring action with a fractured wrist.

Later that same event, Kana's uneasy alliance with Syuri came to an end, when Syuri turned on her, after losing to Ayako Hamada, and joined a new villainous stable formed by Akira and StarBuck. The first match between Kana and Syuri since the latter's turn took place in the main event of a WNC event on August 2, where Syuri, Akira and StarBuck defeated Kana, Hajime Ohara and Tajiri. On August 30, Kana, Mikey Whipwreck and Tajiri were defeated in a Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch by Syuri, Akira and StarBuck. Kana, Whipwreck and Tajiri were also defeated in a rematch the following day in Osaka, before coming back to win the second rematch on September 1 in Toyohashi, ending the villainous trio's win streak in the process. In the main event of a WNC event on September 17, Kana earned a big win over Syuri, defeating her via submission in a tag team match, where she and Tajiri faced Syuri and Akira. The following day, Kana and Makoto, who share the same birthday, held a press conference to announce that they were coming together to produce an event at Shinjuku Face on November 9, celebrating their 31st 23rd birthday, respectively. On September 20, Kana was defeated by Akira in an intergender match at Korakuen Hall. On November 9, Kana and Makoto produced the first MakoKana Pro event. Early in the event, the two teamed together in a tag team match, where they defeated the Ice Ribbon team of Hamuko Hoshi and Hikaru Shida. Later, in the main event, Kana teamed with Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling's Kagetsu in another tag team match, where they wrestled Syuri and JWP's Arisa Nakajima to a thirty-minute time limit draw. The match was billed as the first confrontation between Kana and Nakajima, who both started their careers in AtoZ. On November 26, Kana entered the WNC Women's Championship tournament, defeating Makoto in her first round match. Two days later, Kana was eliminated in the semifinals of the tournament by Nagisa Nozaki, following interference from her Kabushiki gaisha DQN stablemate Jiro Kuroshio. Following the match, Kana announced that she was quitting WNC and once again becoming a freelancer, claiming that she had not been paid for months and had not been able to get in contact with the promotion's president Tsutomu Takashima. WNC officially released Kana from her contract on December 4.

### REINA Joshi Puroresu (2014–2015)

On August 30, 2014, Kana began working for Reina Joshi Puroresu as a storyline "consultant". After Kana used her power to strip Ariya and Makoto of the REINA World Tag Team Championship, she and Arisa Nakajima became the new champions on November 20 by defeating Lin Byron and Syuri in a tournament final, when Syuri was betrayed by her own partner, paid off by Kana. On December 26, Kana defeated Syuri to win the Reina World Women's Championship. Following the win, Kana announced she would reform Reina as the promotion's new "general producer" (GP). In early 2015, Kana launched her own stable, originally named Kana-gun ("Kana Army"), but later renamed Piero-gun ("Clown Army") due to all members adopting Kana's clown makeup; members of the stable included native wrestlers Makoto and Rina Yamashita, foreigners Alex Lee, Cat Power and La Comandante and male wrestlers Hercules Senga and Yuko Miyamoto. On January 12, 2015, Kana and Nakajima made their first successful defense of the Reina World Tag Team Championship against Goya Kong and Muñeca de Plata. On February 25 at *KanaProMania: Advance*, Kana and Arisa Nakajima lost the Reina World Tag Team Championship to Hikaru Shida and Syuri. On March 25, Kana lost her position as the Reina GP to Shida, after she and her stablemates Cat Power and Yuko Miyamoto were defeated in a six-person tag team match by Shida, Shiro Koshinaka and Zeus. In May, Kana made her first successful defenses of the Reina World Women's Championship against visiting Mexican wrestlers, defeating Gitana on May 17, and Reyna Isis on May 29. On June 13, Kana made her third successful title defense against Yako Fujigasaki. On August 31, ahead of her impending departure from the promotion, Kana announced she was relinquishing the REINA World Women's Championship. She wrestled her final match for the promotion on September 4, when she and Syuri defeated Konami and Makoto in a tag team match.

### Other promotions (2010–2015)

On April 29, 2010, Kana held her first self-produced event, titled Kana Pro, which saw her lose to Meiko Satomura in the main event of the evening. On June 19, Kana formed the Triple Tails stable with Io and Mio, the Shirai sisters, and together the three of them would work for several promotions across Japan. Kana Pro's second event took place on January 10, 2011, and saw Kana and Yuki Ishikawa lose to Carlos Amano and Yoshiaki Fujiwara in the main event. Triple Tails also put together their own shows, which took place on February 13 and May 8, 2011. Kana Pro's third event took place on September 24 and saw Kana lose to Kengo Mashimo in the main event. On October 29, Kana was elected the eighth president of 666, a small independent promotion for which she had wrestled for the past year. On November 5, Kana took part in the final event held by the Battlarts promotion, defeating Aki Shizuku in a singles match.

On March 11, 2012, Kana made her debut for the DDT Pro-Wrestling promotion, taking part in an eight-person ten minute battle royal for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, which she won five minutes into the match by pinning Michael Nakazawa, before losing it with just 50 seconds remaining in the match to Antonio Honda, only to regain it via submission with just 22 seconds remaining in the match. On April 8, Kana defended the title in another ten minute battle royal, during which she lost the title twice to Michael Nakazawa and once to Keita Yano, but each time managed to regain it and left the match with it, now as a five-time champion. On April 25, Kana made her first appearance for Ice Ribbon in three years, when she teamed with Aki Shizuku to defeat April Davids and ICE×60 Champion Hikaru Shida. On April 30, Kana lost the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship to Ayumi Kurihara at a Pro Wrestling Wave event in the opening match of the 2012 Catch the Wave tournament. On May 5 at Ice Ribbon's *Golden Ribbon 2012* event, Kana defeated Hikaru Shida in a non-title singles match. On May 12, Kana made her Mexican debut, when she took part in Toryumon Mexico's *DragonMania VII* event, defeating Syuri in a singles match. In early July, Kana and Mio Shirai took part in the 2012 Japan Expo in Paris, France. Kana returned to Ice Ribbon on October 20, when she teamed with new ICE×60 Champion Mio Shirai in a tag team main event, where they defeated Maki Narumiya and Tsukasa Fujimoto.

Following her December 2012 departure from WNC, Kana began making more regular appearances for both Ice Ribbon and JWP. She was, in storyline, brought into JWP by her friend Arisa Nakajima, much to the chagrin of the promotion's president Command Bolshoi, who was one of the wrestlers upset by her 2010 manifesto. On February 24, 2013, Triple Tails.S held its first self-produced event in nine months, which saw Kana and Mio Shirai wrestle Arisa Nakajima and Ayako Hamada in a main event tag team match. On May 5, Kana made another appearance for JWP, submitting JWP Openweight Champion Arisa Nakajima in a tag team match, where she and Rydeen Hagane faced Nakajima and Nana Kawasa. Post-match, Kana and Nakajima came to blows, with Nakajima claiming that she was now defending all of *joshi* against Kana. Ahead of Ayumi Kurihara's impending retirement, she and Kana came together on July 26 to produce the "kanAyu" independent event, which saw Kana and Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! lose to Kurihara and Masaaki Mochizuki in a main event tag team match. On August 18, Kana returned to JWP and defeated Arisa Nakajima to become the new JWP Openweight Champion. Following the win, Kana, portrayed as the villainous outsider, smeared makeup on Nakajima's face, before gloating over capturing JWP's top title during Plum Mariko's memorial event. Kana made her first successful title defense on September 16 against the reigning JWP Junior and POP Champion Manami Katsu. Kana made her second successful title defense on October 14 against JWP Tag Team and Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion Hanako Nakamori. While continuing to badmouth JWP and its wrestlers, Kana also entered a storyline, where she began professing her love for Arisa Nakajima, much to the bewilderment of the former champion. As part of the storyline, Kana refused title challenges made by Kayoko Haruyama and Leon and instead named Nakajima her next challenger. On December 15 at JWP's annual year-end *Climax* event, Kana lost the JWP Openweight Championship back to Nakajima in her third title defense.

On December 27, 2013, Kana and Mio Shirai announced they were disbanding Triple Tails.S, with their final self-produced independent event taking place in early 2014. On February 25, 2014, Kana produced an independent event titled *KanaProMania* in Korakuen Hall, which saw her defeat Meiko Satomura in the main event. On April 16, Kana took part in a rare women's match promoted by Pro Wrestling Noah, defeating JWP representative Rabbit Miu. On May 15, Kana and Mio Shirai produced Triple Tails.S' final independent event before officially dissolving the partnership, which featured a main event tag team match, where Kana and Arisa Nakajima defeated Shirai and Kayoko Haruyama. The next Kana Pro event took place on June 16 at Korakuen Hall, where Kana and Naomichi Marufuji were defeated by Meiko Satomura and Minoru Suzuki in an intergender main event tag team match.

On October 5, 2014, Kana made a special appearance for All Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with Mika Iida in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Shuu Shibutani and Yumi Ohka. The next Kana Pro event took place on October 7 in Korakuen Hall and saw Kana being pinned by Syuri in a main event tag team match, where she teamed with Minoru Suzuki and Syuri with Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

On July 8, 2015, Kana announced that following the September 15 *KanaProMania* event, she would go on an indefinite hiatus from professional wrestling. Kana stated that she wanted to try something new after wrestling for over ten years, while dismissing a rumor that she was pregnant. After revealing she had signed with WWE, Kana wrestled her final match in Japan at the September 15 *KanaProMania: Pulse* event, where she teamed with Hikaru Shida and Syuri in a six-woman tag team main event, where they defeated Arisa Nakajima, Rina Yamashita and Ryo Mizunami.

## Reception and achievements

In 2017, Urai became the first Japanese wrestler to top *Pro Wrestling Illustrated'*s annual *PWI Female 50* list. Her techniques include various kicks and submission holds, leading to a reputation for a stiff wrestling style.

## Other media

Urai has released three gravure DVDs, titled *Manifesto* (マニュフェスト, *Manyufesuto*, 2011), *Manifesto II* (マニュフェストII, *Manyufesuto II*, 2012) and *Manifesto Final* (マニフェスト Final, *Manifesuto Final*, 2015). She and Mio Shirai have also released a gravure DVD together, titled *Sadistic Tails* (2012).

In September 2019, Urai launched her own gaming and cooking channel on YouTube, *KanaChanTV*. She had teased the channel with several posts on her Twitter account before formally announcing the channel. *KanaChanTV* features playthrough videos with her own bilingual English/Japanese commentary as well as lifestyle content.

## Personal life

Urai is a graduate of the Osaka University of Arts Junior College. She has written for Xbox Magazine and designed graphics for Nintendo DS and various mobile applications; she also owns a hair salon in Yokohama called Another Heaven. Prior to her career in professional wrestling, Urai had a sports background in badminton and figure skating. Urai is a mother to at least one child, as mentioned by Becky Lynch.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Henkei Zombie-gatame* (Leg trap camel clutch) – 2013–2014
	+ *Kanabun* (Grounded dragon sleeper)
	+ *Kana Lock* (Crossface chickenwing with bodyscissors)
	+ Seated Fujiwara armbar
* **Signature moves**
	+ Anaconda vice
	+ Ankle lock
	+ Asian mist
	+ Back thrust kick
	+ *Billiken* (Running hip attack to the face of a seated opponent)
	+ *Buzzsaw Kick* (High speed roundhouse kick to the head of a seated, kneeling or rising opponent) – adopted from Tajiri
	+ Cross armbreaker
	+ DDT
	+ Diving splash
	+ Dropkick, sometimes running
	+ Double knee facebreaker
	+ *Empress Kick* (Spin kick)
	+ Fujiwara armbar, sometimes seated
	+ Guillotine choke
	+ Hair-pull whip
	+ Hammerlock STO
	+ Heel hook
	+ Hip attack, sometimes while diving or running
	+ Inverted DDT
	+ Kneebar
	+ Knee strikes, sometimes repeated
	+ Low roundhouse kick, to her opponent's hamstrings
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Double underhook
		- German, sometimes bridging
		- Hammerlock
		- Leg-hook German
		- Snap
		- Super
		- Vertical
	+ Octopus hold, sometimes on the ropes
	+ Omoplata crossface
	+ Penalty kick, to the back preceded by a hip toss
	+ Pop-up knee strike
	+ Powerbomb
	+ Roundhouse kick, sometimes to the head of a seated, kneeling or rising opponent
	+ Running back elbow
	+ Savate kick
	+ Sleeper hold
	+ Step over wheel kick
	+ STF
	+ Shining wizard
	+ Spinning backfist
	+ Switchblade kick
	+ Shoot kicks, sometimes repeated
	+ Triangle choke
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Kana-chan"
	+ "Sekai no Kana" (Japanese for "World Famous Kana")
	+ "The World Famous"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Sakura Wars Theme" by Chisa Yokoyama
	+ "The Sun Rises" by Rei Kondoh
	+ "Sadism" by Tsutomu Toya (used while teaming with Mio Shirai)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **DDT Pro-Wrestling**
	+ Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (5 times)
* **JWP Joshi Puroresu**
	+ JWP Openweight Championship (1 time)
	+ Best Bout Award (2013) vs. Arisa Nakajima on December 15
	+ Enemy Award (2013)
* **Kuzu Pro**
	+ Kuzu Pro Diva Championship (1 time)
* **NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling**
	+ NEO Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nanae Takahashi
* **Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling**
	+ One Day Tag Tournament (2011) – with Mio Shirai
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Ranked No. 3 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2016
* **Pro Wrestling Wave**
	+ Wave Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Ayumi Kurihara (1) and Mio Shirai (1)
	+ Catch the Wave (2011)
	+ Dual Shock Wave (2011) – with Ayumi Kurihara
* **REINA Joshi Puroresu**
	+ Reina World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Arisa Nakajima
	+ REINA World Women's Championship (1 time)
	+ REINA World Tag Team Championship Tournament (2014) – with Arisa Nakajima
* **SMASH**
	+ SMASH Diva Championship (2 times)
	+ SMASH Diva Championship Tournament (2011)