1. Mio Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestling referee and retired professional wrestler.
40 Facts About Mio Shirai
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Mio Shirai started her career in March 2007, working alongside her sister Io Shirai on the Japanese independent circuit for promotions such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu and Pro Wrestling Wave.
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Mio Shirai remained a freelancer until January 2014, when she signed a four-way contract with Ice Ribbon, Oz Academy, Pro Wrestling Wave and Union Pro Wrestling.
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Mio Shirai retired from professional wrestling due to neck injuries in September 2015 at the age of 27, after which she started working as a referee.
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On June 9,2010, Mio Shirai entered the 2010 Catch the Wave tournament.
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On June 19,2010, the Mio Shirai sisters formed the Triple Tails stable with fellow freelancer Kana, defeating Ayumi Kurihara, Hikaru Shida and Yoshiko Tamura in their first match together at a NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling event.
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The storyline involved Kito repeatedly professing his love for Mio Shirai, who refused to return the affection.
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In December 2011, Mio Shirai made her American debut, when she took part in Chikara's JoshiMania weekend.
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On January 3,2012, Mio Shirai returned to the ring with her sister, when she teamed with Ken Ohka at a Union Pro event to unsuccessfully challenge Io and Nosawa Rongai for the Americas World Mixed Tag Team Championship.
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In early 2012, Mio Shirai started a rivalry in Union Pro with Cherry, attempting to reveal her true age, a secret Cherry had managed to keep for her whole career.
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Mio Shirai ended up managing her replacement, Emi Sakura, to a win, after interfering in the match; as a result, Cherry was forced to reveal that she was born May 14,1974.
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Mio Shirai, working with a nose protector, returned to the ring on May 29 at a Pro Wrestling Wave event, losing to Syuri in her first round-robin match in the 2012 Catch the Wave tournament.
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Two days later, Mio Shirai lost the title to Hiroyo Matsumoto in the first round of a tournament to determine the number one contender to the Oz Academy Openweight Championship.
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However, immediately afterwards Mio Shirai was pinned for the title by the special guest referee of the match, Gentaro.
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On January 13,2013, Mio Shirai received her first shot at the Oz Academy Openweight Championship in a match, where she was defeated by the defending champion, fellow Seikigun member Chikayo Nagashima.
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On June 9, Mio Shirai picked up a major win by pinning the reigning JWP Openweight Champion Arisa Nakajima during the 2013 Catch the Wave tournament.
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Back in Ice Ribbon, Mio Shirai formed a new partnership with rookie Rutsuko Yamaguchi.
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Post-match, the now unmasked Hiroshi Fukuda apologized for the stable's past actions and both he and Mio Shirai were welcomed back to Union Pro by the promotion's official representative Naomi Susan.
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Mio Shirai then entered a storyline built on the relationship between Union Pro and AV company IdeaPocket.
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Six days later, Mio Shirai made her debut for the AJPW splinter promotion Wrestle-1, defeating Bambi in a singles match.
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In late 2013, Mio Shirai formed a new cross-promotional three-woman stable named Kuros with Misaki Ohata and Tsukasa Fujimoto.
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Mio Shirai quickly established that she was not on the same page as Makoto, announcing that she was bringing Misaki Ohata with her to confront the "wimps" in charge of the school.
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On January 22,2014, Mio Shirai held a press conference with the heads of Ice Ribbon, Oz Academy, Pro Wrestling Wave and Union Pro to announce that she had signed an unprecedented four-way contract with the promotions and was now officially affiliated with all four of them.
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From May 5 to July 4, Mio Shirai took part in the round-robin portion of the 2014 Catch the Wave tournament, finishing with a record of two wins, one draw and three losses, failing to advance from her block after losing to Misaki Ohata in their final round-robin match.
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Ohata was then defeated by Kimura in an overtime singles match and, as a result, both she and Mio Shirai were eliminated from the tournament.
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On December 28 at Ice Ribbon's biggest event of the year, Ribbon Mania 2014, Mio Shirai made her first successful defense of the Union FTE World Championship against Tsukushi.
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Later that same day, Mio Shirai won the fan vote portion in the third annual Zan1 tournament, securing her overall win in the multi-stage tournament involving the entire Pro Wrestling Wave roster and earning her a rematch with Shida for the Wave Single Championship.
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On January 24,2015, Mio Shirai made her second successful defense of the Union FTE World Championship against Aoi Ishibashi.
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Immediately afterwards, Mio Shirai announced she was cashing in her Zan1 shot at the Wave Single Championship, held by Hamada, but was defeated in that title match.
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Six days later, Mio Shirai won another tag team title, when she and Tsukushi defeated.
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Later that same day, Mio Shirai faced Oz Academy Tag Team Champion and MK4 member Kaho Kobayashi in a non-title match at an event co-produced by Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave.
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That same event, Mio Shirai received a shot at the Oz Academy Openweight Championship, immediately after Sonoko Kato had won it, but was defeated by the new champion.
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On October 4,2015, Mio Shirai returned to Union Pro to take part in the promotion's final event before folding, accompanying Ken Ohka and Shinichiro Tominaga to a three-way tag team match, where they were defeated by Men's Teioh and Sagat and which included Kengo Ohka and Madoka.
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On December 15,2015, it was announced that Shirai would start working as a referee under the ring name Mio, written in Roman script and stylized in all capital letters.
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Mio Shirai made her debut in the role at Ice Ribbon's RibbonMania 2015 on December 31.
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In January 2016, Mio Shirai began refereeing matches for both Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave.
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In 2008, Mio Shirai appeared with fellow wrestlers Kayo Noumi and Takako Inoue in The Brute Educational Institution, a video with lesbian discipline and catfight themes, released by Attack Zone, a label of Attackers.
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In September 2015, Mio Shirai announced she was getting married the following month.
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Mio Shirai later revealed her fiance as professional wrestler Tank Nagai.
40.
On December 31,2016, Mio Shirai announced she was pregnant with the couple's first child.