Today it was announced that both Nodoka Tenma and Marika Kobashi will be graduating from Tokyo Joshi Pro next year. Tenma will leave the company on 26th March while Kobashi is finishing up on 17th April. Tenma’s graduation is a complete retirement from pro wrestling. Kobashi however says the possibility of a future return to the ring is not at zero percent.
Tenma had been thinking about her future around the time her family started growing their own rice and vegetables as a hobby. Over time it developed into Tenma wanting to get into agriculture and grow food for her hometown Okayama. She had talked to Tetsuya Koda and the company about her plans to retire and when the Sumo Hall show was announced for 19th March, she made it her final goal as a pro wrestler to be there. She still has things to do in wrestling such as her homecoming show in Okayama on 9th January so she will do her best for her final months. She also wants to make The Bakuretsu Sisters with Yuki Aino become even more explosive by challenging for the Princess Tag Team Titles one more time.
Kobashi made her decision to focus on her education. She’s been wrestling in TJPW since she was 14 years old and today at 20 she is in university. She only has two years left in college and wants to live the student life. While she is graduating from TJPW, she does not want it to be treated as a retirement from wrestling. The time may come in the future where she would like to wrestle again but for now she wants to live her life to the fullest. Kobashi promises to return the love the fans gave her with even more in her final months. She would also like to team with Abdullah Kobayashi because he is one of her favorite wrestlers (Marika’s ring name was never inspired by Kenta Kobashi. It instead came from the “Ko” in Abdullah Kobayashi and “hashi” from Atsushi Ohashi. Kenta Kobashi himself was speechless when he found out about this).
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’22”, 04/01/2022
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Nodoka-oneesan One Day Revival Special Match: Nodoka-oneesan, Yuki Aino & Haruna Neko Vs Marika Kobashi, Raku & Pom Harajuku
2. International Princess Title: Hikari Noa (c) Vs Maki Itoh
3. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Mizuki
The Ittenyon show will be the 6th Anniversary of Tenma and Kobashi’s debut matches. Tenma originally debuted as Nodoka-oneesan, a gimmick similar to a children’s TV show host who sings and dances. It was meant to appeal to kids and attract that audience to TJPW. It never worked. However it will be brought back for one day only on 4th January.
Dramatic DDT 