Pre-Show Details
Before the first match, the show showed highlights of last year’s singles main event between VENY and Rina. During the preshow, it was announced that play-by-play commentary would be Fumi Saito, and this year, he would be joined by “super ultra special guest” Meiko Satomura as this year’s commentary analyst. This year’s theme, “HANUR,” comes from the Korean word for “sky” (sora), but it is also a combination of Hana’s name and that of her father (Nur).
When asked about which match viewers should focus on, naturally, Saito emphasized that every match features people who were close with Hana and were here to celebrate her. When pressed to pick a match to discuss, Satomura mentioned the deep connections with the wrestlers in the main event, especially Sendai Girls’ Mika Iwata, who was one of Hana’s first rivals. The return to action for Jungle Kyona after her second round of knee surgeries was also mentioned. Having her own experience with Sakura Hirota as Shin Meiko Satomura, Hirota’s annual reprisal as Shin Hana Kimura is something everyone, especially Kyoko Kimura, looks forward to. “I just love (Shin Hana Kimura)…” Meiko Satomura
After the pre-show commentary introductions, Referee Keigo Yoshino reviewed the house rules and announced that due to unforeseen circumstances, Kaho Kobayashi and Kaori Yoneyama would miss today’s show. Their replacements would be revealed during their show when they make their entrances. Unlike previous years, paper streamers were welcomed for all entrances. Kyoko Kimura also gave some opening remarks: “It’s okay to cry, but let’s have a great time.”
Due to the show being on a Saturday and many companies running shows throughout the country, the attendance was unfortunately smaller compared to previous years. However, the crowd did their best to compensate with their cheers and streamers. The production team did a good job of cropping the frame close to the ring to mitigate the empty seats, but I wish everyone in attendance could have filled in all the empty seats at ringside and the floor.
Results
- ZONES defeated YUNA
- Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana defeated Kaori Yoneyama* & Ram Kaicho
- Hanako Nakamori defeated Yuko Miyamoto
- Unagi Sayaka defeated Shin Hana Kimura
- Super Delfin, Cherry & Maruko defeated Hayate, Banana Senga & Tsutsomu Ohsugi
- Aja Kong vs. Shotaro Ashino vs. Shuji Kondo – Count Out
- Rina, Konami & VENY defeated Jungle Kyona, Mika Iwata & Mio Momono
MIRAI (FUTURE) – ZONES defeated YUNA – via pinfall after a Death Valley Driver
The reveal behind the pairing of YUNA and ZONES really hits the heart as one of YUNA’s first costumes was from Hana’s cheerleader era, and ZONES fighting style and presentation is reminiscent of Kyoko Kimura. While they are not related, their match was billed as Kyoko-Hana 2.0. Their match was entitled Mirai (Future), and they didn’t shy away from dressing like Kyoko and Hana during the match, which made it feel like revisiting the past and seeing the future concurrently. It was a nice opening match, and a nostalgic way to open the show.
Kateretsu（Bizarre）- Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana defeated Death Yama-san & Ram Kaicho – Tachibana pinned Ram Kaicho
Although Kaori Yoneyama was announced missing the show, her Tokyo Cyber Squad era alter ego, Death Yama-san, made her triumphant return to Korakuen Hall, to join Ram Kaicho against the Bachi Bachi (Hard-Hitting) Brothers of Fuminori Abe and Seigo Tachibana. The height mismatch between men and women only further fueled the comedy and shenanigans, but this match was intended as the lighter-hearted chaser to the opening match. With Ram Kaicho and Death Yama-san having over twenty years of wrestling experience each, but both standing under five feet each, they are the unsuspecting veterans against Hana’s rowdy “brothers” with Abe at 31 and Tachibana at 28.
The key highlight of the match was Ram Kaichow throwing “Air Shurikens” (throwing stars) and the crowd booing the cameramen for no-selling her, even after Referee Yoshino showed them now it’s done. All members have been regulars on the HKMS and have deep wrestling ties with the Kimura family, but also love having matches that Hana would have laughed the entire way through.
PURE – Hanako Nakamori (w/ Kyoko) defeated Yuko Miyamoto (w/ Command Bolshoi) – via pinfall after a Shining Wizard
One of the things I love most about how folks come together for the HKMS is how loved and supported Kyoko is by her peers and her found family in wrestling. Many of the appearances on this series are people Kyoko wrestled with and traveled on the road with Hana in tow, leading to Hana joining the family business. Hakano Nakamori and Kyoko were trained by Command Bolshoi in JWP, and while Bolshoi has been retired for some time (and working behind the scenes at PURE-J), Yuko Miyamoto stated she’s standing in his corner because they’re friends, too, which was the perfect setup for the perfect crime.
Miyamoto and Nakamori have a fun match with a surprisingly clean fight, until Nakamori starts getting “too much offense” on the death match wrestler. He then pivots to “a friendly handshake with the referee” to avoid tapping out, and then breaks his promise and starts playing dirty. Bolshoi and Kyoko get involved here and there as they’re seconding the match, but then Bolshoi turns on Miyamoto to help Kyoko set up Nakamori for success, and the win after a Shining Wizard leads to a pinfall.
“Yume no Naka de” (Within a Dream) Unagi Sayaka defeated Shin Hana Kimura (Sakura Hirota) – via pin after a long Tokimeki Memorial Kiss
Sakura Hirota’s annual revival of her Hana Kimura cosplay returns in this special singles match. Unagi Sayaka was revealed as X and wrestled last year in the battle royal. With all wrestlers getting color streamer entrances, Unagi made a point to tie strands of her streamer to the blue corner – as she uses the same palette as Hana did – yellow, bright pink, and light green. It was a simple, sentimental touch, and she moved it to the place it would least impact anyone climbing the turnbuckle corner.
“I never got to wrestle Hana Kimura, so I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that I am wrestling Shin Hana Kimura.” – Unagi Sayaka
Since her independent “indies rampage era,” Unagi Sayaka has truly shown her range, and going toe-to-toe with Hirota in a comedy match is definitely a part of that. Her wild kabukimono character is the surprisingly natural complement to Hirota’s brand of comedy. They go to the upper stands in Korakuen Hall for a resistance band snap – and both are caught off guard when the band snaps in half. Referee Yoshino assists Unagi in plotting the demise of Hirota by holding her in place, and they try again. After a successful second attempt, Unagi rolls Hirota down the Korakuen, and Hirota sells in over-dramatic slow-motion, which is exactly as Hana would have wanted her to see it.
Hirota went for her finisher, the Tokemeki Memorial Kiss, which caused Unagi to pass out on top of Hirota, unexpectedly securing the pin. Unagi feigns nausea after the match, pretending to dry-heave afterward. (For those unfamiliar with Japanese romance simulation video games, Tokemeki Memorial is one of the franchise titles in the genre, going back as far as 1994.)
Japanese-Lucha Rules 6-Person Match: Cherry, Maruko & Super Delfin defeated Hayate, Banana Senga & Tsutsomu Ohsugi – with Cherry & Maruko pinning Hayate with a La Magistral & Jacknife pin combo
As announced at the beginning of the show, Kaho Kobayashi would be unable to participate, and she would be replaced by Cherry. With many wrestlers going to Mexico to expand their wrestling repertoire, a unique Japanese-style of lucha libre has been developed in Japan. Wrestlers like Super Delfin and Hayate teach their own fusions of strong-style blended with the speed of lucha. As a child, Hana joined her mom on the road at the Okinawa pro-wrestling and
The focus of this match is largely on Maruko, who left Ice Ribbon to train in the Japanese lucha style offered at Itabashi Pro. While she doesn’t look it at all, the 30-year-old debuted around the same time as Hana, so they are also close in age. This match balanced the speed of lucha-style with heavy doses of comedy, and Senga & Ohsugi were the best foils for Maruko and Cherry while also heavily protecting veterans Hayate (dressed like the bullet train) and Super Delfin. In previous years, they were two of the core promoters for the annual battle royal, which unfortunately didn’t take place this year, likely due to the volume of other shows being run throughout Japan.
Maruko started to pin Hayate after La Magistral, and Cherry assisted with a Jackknife pin. Meiko Satomura expressed her interest in Maruko and seeing more of Itabashi Pro’s Japanese Lucha. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maruko starts showing up in Sendai Girls after this match due to the spotlight afforded her.
Kaijutachi Iro Tokoro (Where the Monsters Are) Special 3-Way Match: Aja Kong vs. Shuji Kondo vs. Shotaro Ashino – 3-Way Count Out
This is purely a three-way match where three heels try to outclass one another, but it winds up being a wholesome brawl where nobody wins as all three are counted out. It doesn’t go very long; there is some brawling outside the ring, including a visit to the famous East Stands sign, where Ashino’s attempt at introducing Kong to the sign doesn’t go his way at all.
All three wrestlers are counted out at twenty, but all return to the ring for post-match handshakes. Then they all leave the ring to Hana’s portrait together before exiting separately.
NEVERLAND – Main Event: Miracle 6-Woman Tag: Rina, VENY & Konami vs. Mio Momono, Mika Iwata & Jungle Kyona – Rina pinned Kyona after a Tigerlily Piledriver
Each year, the main event focuses on the wrestlers Hana was closest to and who were essential to her development as a wrestler. This year it was a trios match that mixed three different components of Hana’s brief wrestling history: the early rivals that were essential when Hana debuted – Mika Iwata and Mio Momono, the best friend and tag partner, VENY, and heart and soul of the Tokyo Cyber Squad – Jungle Kyona, Konami, and Rina.
When Tokyo Cyber Squad was established in April 2019, Rina was roughly twelve years old, one of the kids wrestlers in Stardom, and one of the last girls picked in the Stardom draft. She quickly became Hana’s protoge, not only inheriting Hana’s old costumes, but eventually her key moves like Hydrangea (grounded octopus stretch) and Tigerlily (package pile drive). After Hana’s passing, Rina continued developing her own wrestling style and character as The Pink Devil while honoring Hana through her wrestling. Now at 19, Rina’s character and talent have grown, but it is hard not to compare her to Hana, especially when her peers and Hana’s own mother feel Hana’s presence when they watch Rina.
“Rina’s grown so much as a wrestler, but in last year’s main event, I got chills with how much she reminded me of Hana” – Konami (in the press conference)
The main event opened with Rina and Konami (of H.A.T.E, the group that succeeded OedoTai in STARDOM) entering with VENY to OedoTai’s old music and providing a uniform front. VENY wore Hana’s OedoTai era entrance kimono and half mask. Mio Momono, Mika Iwata, and Jungle Kyona each entered individually as they all have very different aesthetics. Kyona also wore her TCS gear with flowers and 87 (nickname for Hana; shortened version of numbers eight and seven). The match opened with Jungle Kyona against Konami, who was the perfect opponent to start Kyona’s return to wrestling.
This match was the only one with an announced time limit of thirty minutes, and focused heavily on Kyona’s return and Rina’s attempt to submit her using Hydrangea. The commentary remarked on how similar Iwata is to Satomura in presentation – no-nonsense in the ring and focused on kicking her opponents as hard as possible. This, paired with her ability to draw Konami out of the depths of lazy H.A.T.E. shenanigans, makes me want to see them in a singles match. Seeing a focused Konami against an angry Iwata is everything I love about women’s wrestling. Kyona often had to counterbalance Iwata’s straight-laced focus with Momono’s enthusiasm and exuberance as the trio sometimes found themselves distracted with one another!
There was a lot of outside-the-ring brawling and high spots, which, unfortunately, the camera crew couldn’t keep up with as often, as multiple things were happening in different parts of the building all at the same time. The trio of octopus holds in the center of the rings was very well timed, and Kyona bringing back the Jungle Buster was a great callback to one of her most devastating moves. Rina tried her best to submit Kyona using Hydrangea, but I wonder if, being on her second return from her second set of knee surgeries, they decided against it even though VENY, Konami, and Rina worked Kyona’s knees heavily throughout the match. Rina eventually pinned Kyona after a Tigerlily Piledriver to close the show.
Closing Segment
In the show’s closing, everyone gathered in the ring for a group photo, ensuring all four sides of the ring had an opportunity to capture a group photo. Rina even begged Aja Kong for a tag match to entice her to climb into the ring, and everyone started fighting the water works when Aja replied with, “If it would make Hana happy…” and got into the ring. Together, everyone called Hana’s name, and everyone threw yellow, pink, and light green streamers.
The video package recounted the origins of Tokyo Cyber Squad, Hana, Konami, & Jungle Kyona winning the Artists of STARDOM Championships, Rina’s evolution as Hana’s protoge and Hana’s 2019 win of the 5STAR Grand Prix. Clips and photos included Ruaka, Saki Kashima, Tam Nakano, Kagetsu (now Yu Ishino), Mayu Iwatani, Meiko Satomura, Mika Iwata, VENY, Rina, AZM, Sumie Sakai, Rebel Kel, and Kris Wolf. It wouldn’t have been complete without Hana’s catchphrase, “Everyone is different, and that’s all right! Yes, Sir!”
The closing video montage included show participants and event organizers saying this year’s show name, “Hanur” (sky) – if they were outside, they panned their camera up to the sky, hoping their message reached Hana. For those keeping score at home, this is where your crying towel may be necessary. Surprise participants in the closing video were previous show participants Chihiro Hashimoto, Miyuki Takase, Ryo Mizunami, and a wild Utami Hayashishita!
Overall, the purpose and meaning of the Hana Kimura Memorial Shows are simple: to honor the life and impact of Hana in one of the most emotionally cathartic found family reunions possible. I always recommend watching the show just to see how interconnected the Japanese wrestling scene is, and how silly and fun it can be in a time when more whimsy and happiness are needed. Yes, there are bittersweet moments throughout the show, but everyone comes together to celebrate, not to grieve.
HANUR was the sixth installment of the Hana Kimura Memorial Show and held on the seventh anniversary of her passing. Memorial Show Event reports are available: Mata, Ne (2021), Bagus! (2022), Pinx! (2023), Terima Kasih (2024), and Hanabi (2025), and all shows are available on TrillerTV.
