Emi Motokawa, better known by the ring name Emi Sakura, is a Japanese professional wrestler performing for All Elite Wrestling.
26 Facts About Emi Sakura
2.
On January 24,1998, Emi Sakura defeated Momoe Nakanishi to win the AJW Championship.
3.
Emi Sakura spent most of her first year in Ice Ribbon, working with her then-nine-year-old pupil.
4.
However, after pleading from her trainees, Emi Sakura turned on Koda and abandoned him at the altar, ending the storyline.
5.
On November 15,2008, Emi Sakura teamed with male wrestler Ribbon Takanashi to unsuccessfully challenge Riho and Yuki Sato for the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship.
6.
On May 3,2009, Emi Sakura defeated Nanae Takahashi at a NEO event to win the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships.
7.
The finish of the match had to be improvised, after Emi Sakura legitimately knocked Takahashi unconscious with a sunset flip powerbomb, which resulted in the referee ending the match without a three count and NEO president Tetsuya Koda awarding the titles to Emi Sakura.
8.
Emi Sakura's reign ended just two days later, when she was defeated by Yoshiko Tamura.
9.
On December 17, in recognition of the six different championships Emi Sakura held in 2009, the Tokyo Sports magazine named her the joshi wrestler of the year.
10.
In February 2011, Emi Sakura formed a tag team with the debuting Ray, her first ever trainee from the Gatokunyan dojo.
11.
On December 14, Emi Sakura surprisingly announced that she was leaving Ice Ribbon for "personal reasons" following the January 7,2012, event in Sendai.
12.
On January 7,2012, Emi Sakura was defeated by Tsukushi in her Ice Ribbon farewell match.
13.
Emi Sakura made her first appearance as a freelancer on January 8,2012, at Bull Nakano's retirement event, where she teamed with Meiko Satomura and Nanae Takahashi to defeat Ayumi Kurihara, Tsukasa Fujimoto and Yoshiko in a six-woman tag team match, pinning her trainee Fujimoto for the win.
14.
Emi Sakura officially established the Bangkok Girls Pro Wrestling promotion the following week.
15.
Two days later, Emi Sakura returned to JWP, defeating Kaori Yoneyama in a singles match; as a result, Yoneyama was forced to join BKK Pro.
16.
Later that same day, Emi Sakura made an appearance for Union Pro Wrestling, replacing an injured Mio Shirai in a match and defeating Cherry, following interference from Shirai.
17.
Emi Sakura was assisted by Yoneyama and male wrestler Madoka in training wrestlers for the new promotion.
18.
Emi Sakura made her first successful defense of the title at Pro-Wrestling: EVE's Wrestle-Fever internet pay-per-view event in Sudbury, Suffolk, England on November 10,2012, defeating Kay Lee Ray.
19.
Four days later, Emi Sakura lost the JWP Openweight Championship to Arisa Nakajima in her second defense, ending her reign at just 57 days.
20.
On May 25, Emi Sakura made another trip to England to take part in Pro-Wrestling: EVE's 2013 Queen of the Ring tournament, where she made it to the finals, before losing to Shanna.
21.
Emi Sakura regained the Triple Crown from Honda on January 25,2014.
22.
Emi Sakura confronted Tsukasa Fujimoto, who had effectively taken over her role as the face of Ice Ribbon, and stated that it was time to end the promotion.
23.
On February 18,2017, Emi Sakura returned to Pro Wrestling: EVE, working two shows in one day, unsuccessfully challenging Rhia O'Reilly for the Pro Wrestling: EVE Championship on the second show.
24.
On March 17,2019, Emi Sakura made her debut for the Philippine Wrestling Revolution in which she faced The Queen of Philippine Wrestling, Crystal.
25.
Emi Sakura got the win over Crystal via a Diving Moonsault.
26.
On May 25,2019, Emi Sakura made her debut for All Elite Wrestling in a six-woman tag team match at AEW Double or Nothing, teaming with Aja Kong and Yuka Sakazaki in a losing effort against the team of Hikaru Shida, Riho, and Ryo Mizunami.