Sumie Sakai
Sakai in April 2023
Born (1971-11-24) November 24, 1971[1]
Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Sumie Sakai
Yellow Michinoku Ranger
Billed height1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Billed weight54 kg (119 lb)
Billed fromOsaka
Tokyo
Yokkaichi
Trained by
DebutApril 20, 1997

Sumie Sakai (坂井 澄江, Sakai Sumie, born November 24, 1971) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She is best known for her extensive tenure in Ring of Honor, where she was the inaugural and longest reigning Women of Honor Champion.

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 sport. Sakai trained under Jaguar Yokota,[2] 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 (ヤブサカ).

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

Independent wrestling (2002–present)

Sakai in August 2006

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.[3] While in the promotion, she and Martinez traded the New England Championship Wrestling North American Women's Championship, but Sakai was champion when she returned to Japan.[3] In 2003, she left JDStar and relocated to the United States.

On April 17, 2005, Sakai organised "WE LOVE SABU", a pair of shows held at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo. "WE LOVE SABU" was organised in support of Terry "Sabu" Brunk, 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.

On August 9, 2019, Sakai defeated PCW Ultra Woman’s Champion Tessa Blanchard for the title.

Ring of Honor

Early appearances (2002–2005)

Sakai first appeared in Ring of Honor (ROH) in June 2002 and defeated Simply Luscious in the very first women's match on an ROH card. She returned in December 2003 and January 2004, defeating Alison Danger and losing to Alexis Laree and April Hunter. She returned to ROH on August 20, 2005, losing to Lacey at Do or Die 5.

Re-launched of Women of Honor division (2014–2017)

Sakai returned to ROH in 2014 and been performing regularly for ROH since 2015 for its Women of Honor division. On September 26, 2015, Sakai faced Veda Scott in a losing effort as part of "Women of Honor Wednesday" program.[4][5] Sakai made her televised debut on the June 26, 2016, episode of ROH TV, where Sakai alongside Mary Dobson and Thunderkitty faced the team of Allysin Kay, Amber Gallows and Scott in a losing effort.[6]

Women of Honor World Champion (2018)

Since 2018, Sakai took part in the tournament to crown the inaugural Women of Honor World champion, where she won in the first round (at ROH 16th Anniversary Show) against Hana Kimura.[7] Sakai became the inaugural Women of Honor champion at Supercard of Honor XII after defeating Kelly Klein.[8] During her reign, Sakai was able to retain her title against various competitors such as Madison Rayne[9] and Tenille Dashwood.[10] On Finale Battle, Sakai lost the championship to Klein in a Four Corner Survival match which also involved Karen Q and Rayne.[11]

Various competitors and heel turn (2019–2020)

On January 26, 2019, she received her first Women of Honor World Championship match since losing the title, when she challenged Klein, but was unsuccessful.[12] On January 11, 2020, at the Saturday Night at Center Stage, Sakai teamed with Nicole Savoy when they faced The Allure (Angelina Love and Mandy Leon) in a losing effort.[13] After the match, Sakai attacked Savoy out of frustration, turning heel in the process.[13] The following day, Sakai defeated Savoy in their second encounter against each other.[14]

Return after COVID-19 pandemic (2021)

With ROH returning after the COVID-19 pandemic, Sakai made had her first match over a year on May 5, 2021, where she defeated Vita VonStarr, working as a face again.[15][16] On July 7, Sakai received a "Ticket to Gold" to compete at a tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women's World Champion.[17] On July 30, Sakai lost to Rok-C at the first round of the tournament.[18]

After her loss to Rok-C in the ROH Women's World title tournament and the company ROH being sold to Tony Khan she has not been seen in Ring of Honor.

Mixed martial arts

Sumie Sakai
BornSuzuka, Mie, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Height5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)
Weight115 lb (52 kg)
DivisionStrawweight
Years active2006–2013
Mixed martial arts record
Total7
Wins2
By submission2
Losses4
By knockout2
By submission1
By decision1
No contests1
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

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.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
7 matches 2 wins 4 losses
By knockout 0 2
By submission 2 1
By decision 0 1
By disqualification 0 0
Draws 0
No contests 1
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 2–4 Jamie Lowe TKO (punches) Cage Fury Fighting Championships 19 February 2, 2013 3 3:32 Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Loss 2–3 Iman Achhal TKO (punches) Ultimate Warrior Challenge 7 October 3, 2009 2 2:30 Fairfax, Virginia, United States
Loss 2–2 Jessica Penne Submission (armbar) Fatal Femmes Fighting 2 July 14, 2007 3 0:33 Compton, California, United States
Win 2–1 Amber McCoy Submission (rear-naked choke) Brawl at Bourbon Street May 25, 2007 1 0:18 Illinois, United States
Loss 1–1 Jessica Aguilar Decision (unanimous) Combat Fighting Championship 3 February 17, 2007 3 5:00 Orlando, Florida, United States
Win 1–0 Melissa Vasquez Submission (armbar) Freestyle Combat Challenge 25 January 13, 2007 1 N/A Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States
NC 0–0 Amy Davis NC (confusion over rules) Xtreme Fight Series 2 October 14, 2006 1 3:0 Boise, Idaho, United States

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ "Sumie Sakai at Sherdog.com". Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 Triggs, James (July 29, 2009). "CvC: Jaguar Yokota for Greatest Women's Champion". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on November 26, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Clapp, John (December 13, 2006). "Mercedes Martinez: Unlike any other". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  4. ↑ Daly, Wayne (September 27, 2015). "ROH Results: Reloaded Tour – Lockport, NY (9/26)". wrestling-news.net. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Women of Honor Wednesday - Veda Scott vs Sumie Sakai". Ring of Honor on YouTube. October 28, 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  6. ↑ Sedor, Sean (June 30, 2016). "ROH TV (June 26): Women of Honor Showcase". Voices of Wrestling. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  7. ↑ "3/9 ROH 16th Anniversary PPV report: Live coverage including Castle vs. Lethal for world title, Briscoes vs. Machine Guns for tag titles, current Impact Wrestli". pwtorch.com. 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  8. 1 2 3 Rose, Bryan (7 April 2018). "ROH SUPERCARD OF HONOR XII LIVE RESULTS: KENNY OMEGA VS. CODY". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  9. ↑ Engstrom, Anders (8 September 2018). "ROH Episode 363 Recap: Bully Ray In Action, Sumie Sakai Vs. Madison Rayne For WOH Title". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  10. ↑ Powell, Jason. "9/28 Powell's ROH Death Before Dishonor review: Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay for the ROH Title, Bullet Club vs. Chaos, Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood for the WOH Title, The Briscoes vs. The Addiction for the ROH Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  11. ↑ Powell, Jason. "12/14 Powell's ROH Final Battle 2018 live review: Jay Lethal vs. Cody for the ROH Title, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky vs. The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks in a Ladder War for the ROH Tag Titles, Jeff Cobb vs. Adam Page for the ROH TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  12. ↑ Laconi, Rich (January 27, 2019). "ROH 1/26/19 Road to G1 Supercard San Antonio Review". PWPonderings. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  13. 1 2 Powell, Jason (January 11, 2020). "1/11 ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage results: PCO vs. Rush for the ROH Championship, Marty Scurll, Brody King, and Flip Gordon vs. Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles, Dragon Lee vs. Andrew Everett for the ROH TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  14. ↑ Csonka, Larry (January 14, 2020). "Csonka's ROH Honor Reigns Supreme 2020 Review". 411Mania. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  15. ↑ Skylar, Russell (May 6, 2021). "ROH Women's Division Wednesday results: Sakai vs. VonStarr". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Vita VonStarr vs Sumie Sakai on Women's Division Wednesday!". Ring of Honor on YouTube. May 6, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  17. ↑ Skylar, Russell (July 8, 2021). "Tag match, Tickets to Gold". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  18. ↑ Powell, Jason (August 4, 2021). "ROH Wrestling TV results: Powell's review of Sumie Sakai vs. Rok-C, Miranda Alize vs. Alex Gracia, and Mazzerati vs. Nicole Savoy in ROH Women's Championship tournament first round matches". prowrestling.net. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Independent Wrestling Results – June 2002". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  20. ↑ "Title: PCW ULTRA Women's Championship". CageMatch.
  21. ↑ "PWI escoge a Ronda Rousey como la mejor luchadora del año 2018". cagematch.net. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Pro Wrestling WORLD-1 Women's Championship". titlehistories.com. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  23. ↑ "WOH Wrestler of the Year: Sumie Sakai". Ring of Honor. 7 January 2019.
  24. ↑ "Sumie Sakai - VPW Hall Of Fame (2023)". 3 December 2023.
  25. ↑ "Independent Wrestling Results – May 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-04.

Notes


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