Sumie Sakai

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Sumie Sakai
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Sumie Sakai Yellow Michinoku Ranger (CZW)
Billed height	1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Billed weight	54 kg (120 lb/8.5 st)
Born	November 24, 1971 (1971-11-24) (age 36) Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Resides	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Billed from	Osaka Tokyo Yokkaichi
Trained by	Japan Jaguar Yokota Lioness Asuka Cooga Bison Kimura United States Steve Bradley Killer Kowalski Slyck Wagner Brown
Debut	April 20, 1997

Sumie Sakai (坂井澄江; born November 24, 1971) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She currently resides in the United States of America, appearing with professional wrestling promotions in the northeastern United States such as Women's Extreme Wrestling and CHIKARA.

1 Career
2 Wrestling facts
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

As a young women, Sakai practised judo. From 1995 to 1997, she halted her practice of judo to work with senior citizens at the Kasugamachi Care Center in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.

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. Whilst competing for JDStar, Sakai 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, the North American Women's Championship of the affiliated New England Championship Wrestling promotion 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 enamoured of American professional wrestling, and resolved to one day wrestle in the United States of America.

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.

Sakai wrestled her first match in the United States in 2002. 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 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. A similar benefit show entitled "A Night of Appreciation for Sabu" had taken place in the United States on December 12, 2004. Sabu eventually made a complete recovery, returning to the ring on May 21, 2005.

In 2005 and 2006, Sakai appeared with the French Queens of Chaos promotion.

Sakai made her mixed martial arts debut on October 14, 2006, fighting American kickboxer Amy Davis in a bout promoted by 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.