Following this week’s passing of former WWE star Shad Gaspard, who was pulled under
by a rip current off a Los Angeles beach, the wrestling industry has been hit by yet
another tragic death - top Stardom wrestler Hana Kimura has passed away aged just 22.
The all-women’s Japanese promotion confirmed the news on Twitter:
“Stardom fans, We are very sorry to report that our Hana Kimura has passed away. Please
be respectful and allow some time for things to process, and keep your thoughts and prayers
with her family and friends. We appreciate your support during this difficult time.”
Former Stardom wrestler Io Shirai tweeted on hearing the news: “No more sadness. I
still can't believe it and I still can't take it.” And Ring of Honor’s Session Moth
Martina, who had also wrestled for the promotion, posted: “Heartbroken.”
Kimura’s professional wrestling career technically began when she was only 8 years old, briefly
winning DDT’s comedy belt, the Ironman Heavymetalweight championship, before losing it moments later
to her mother, the now retired Joshi wrestler Kyoko Kimura.
She properly debuted in 2016 for Wrestle-1, where she worked her way up various Japanese
promotions, culminating in New Japan’s first ever women’s match at WrestleKingdom 14
in January this year - via a Stardom special dark tag.
But it wasn’t just her passing at age 22, with an incredibly promising career in front
of her, that makes Kimura’s death so tragic. It’s also the events that built up to it.
In addition to her wrestling career, Kimura was also a cast member on the latest series
of Netflix’s Japanese reality show Terrace House. In one scene filmed back in January,
she became angry and slapped one of the housemates when they accidentally shrunk the wrestling
gear she wore for WrestleKingdom in the wash. This led to some viewers turning on her, sending
her messages to leave the show and die. Then yesterday, before news was announced
of her passing, Kimura’s Twitter account posted a string of graphic, since-deleted
tweets, some showing images of self-harm, and reading:
"Nearly 100 frank opinions every day. I couldn't deny that I was hurt. I'm dead. Thank you
for giving me a mother. It was a life I wanted to be loved. Thank you to everyone who supported
me. I love it. I'm weak, I'm sorry." "I don't want to be a human anymore."
"It was a life I wanted to be loved." "Thank you everyone, I love you."
"Bye." It’s just yet another awful reminder that
what people tweet or comment or post has very real consequences. Don’t bring people down.
Support each other. Rest in peace, Hana Kimura. And rest in peace Shad Gaspard. More than
500 fans and wrestlers attended a beach memorial for him last night - including his former
tag team partner JTG, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, Taya Valkyrie, Shelton Benjamin,
Dolph Ziggler, PJ Black, Joey Ryan and more. A GoFundMe has been launched in Shad’s memory,
which will help the Gaspard family with bills and expenses, and will also contribute to
the college fund of Shad’s son, Aryeh. Which has gotten off to a very good start, with
AEW owner Tony Khaaaan personally donating an incredible $10,000. You can donate too
by clicking the link in the video description below.
In more escapist kayfabe news, last night’s SmackDown saw the shock trade of top Raw star
AJ Styles to the house he built, Friday Night SmackDown - it’s renovation time!
Shortly after Styles beat Shinsuke Nakamura to move on in the Intercontinental Championship
tournament, WWE announced: “BREAKING NEWS: @AJStylesOrg has been traded
to #SmackDown for future considerations.” Which begs the question: what are the rules?
Two week ago on Raw, WWE announced their new Brand-to-Brand Invitational Don’t Call It
Wild Card clause - which has already led to such rating grabbing matches as Baron Corbin
in the main event of Raw, and Charlotte Flair… Charlotte Flair everywhere.
The specifics of the rule, as Michael Cole explained, are simple. Each superstar will
be able to appear on their opposite brand up to four times a year, but not on NXT, as
it’s only to do with Raw and SmackDown, meaning Charlotte Flair was on SmackDown as
a Raw star, not NXT champion. And the Women’s tag team champions can float anyway, but they
might’ve used one of their four appearances on last week’s episode of Raw. Whackbat.
WWE don’t really know what they’re doing. Ratings are down almost 25% across the board,
and the promotion is making panic moves to turn them around. So now they’ve suddenly
announced AJ is officially joining the SmackDown roster in more of a draft trade move - which
will allow Raw to pick a blue brand wrestler in return at a future date.
Going by last October’s botched draft, it’ll be Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross again.
WWE haven’t yet held their usual post-WrestleMania superstar shake-up, instead opting to just
let a bunch of people go. And reading between the lines, it seems AJ to SmackDown is to
replace Roman Reigns as the promotion’s top star - as he’ll presumably be out of
action for a long time, as he doesn’t want to endanger his newly born twins.
While we here at WrestleTalk have been told there is no heat whatsoever on Reigns for
refusing to work during the pandemic - as part of WWE’s Zero Consequences, title of
your pay-per-view, rule for those who feel uncomfortable attending tapings (ain’t that
right, Sami Zayn) - Konnan says that he’s heard on his Keepin It 100 podcast that there
is unhappiness with Roman backstage. “I know for a fact because I was told this
by people in the dressing room, that he does have heat for missing WrestleMania which to
me it’s ridiculous… now you want to bury him when you don’t have that many guys that
are over? That’s why it’s hard to watch that product…”
Before we get on with the SmackDown review in about 4 minutes, it’s time to hear from
this episode’s sponsor - us! The show kicked off with The Dirt Sheet, where
Miz & Morrison made some unfunny jokes about rejected Bray Wyatt puppets, but noting Wyatt
still prefers them over Braun Strowman. This brought ‘these hands’ out, making
Morrison weirdly angry at him, and challenging Braun to a match on Miz’s behalf. Because
the SmackDown tag division was starting to show a bit of life - quick, squash it, squash
it Braun! Strowman quickly beat Miz with a Powerslam,
so Morrison then challenged Braun to a handicap match with him and Miz at Backlash for the
Universal title. This is a lazy filler feud for your brand’s top title on pay-per-view,
and seems more to be about sowing tension between Miz and Morrison - which the hacker
expose. Eventually. If he or she ever decides to do anything of note again.
Also, Braun lost his Intercontinental title in a handicap match just the other month,
so accepting another one, with the Money in the Bank briefcase in play, was pretty dumb
on his part. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura had a great
TV match in the Intercontinental Championship tournament next - where AJ hit a Phenomenal
Forearm so good, it drafted him to Friday nights.
Styles will be facing Elias in the semis, which means we might be getting an AJ vs Daniel
Bryan final. Bayley told Sasha Banks not to be at ringside
for her match against Charlotte next, some more double act tension that the hacker could
exploit. Soon. If they can get off Fortnite long enough.
Bayley vs the OmniFlair got loads of time and was all the better for it, with Bayley
eventually winning with a rollup while holding the ropes. Which Charlotte sold… by smiling
and not looking all that bothered. Way to build to that triple threat for the NXT Women’s
Championship at TakeOver: In Your House. Sasha and Bayley celebrated backstage while
teasing EVEN MORE TENSION. Hacker person, you’re really going to want to look into
this eventually. Sonya Deville and Dolph Ziggler vs Mandy Rose
and Otis was a fun match next, which gave Sonya and Otis plenty of spots to stand out.
Sonya won with presumably her new finisher, the knee to the back of the head, much like
Adam Cole’s Last Shot, and Dolph superkicked Otis after the match was over. This feud will
hopefully continue, as there’s plenty more to do with all these character dynamics.
We got another decent backstage promo from the erm… ah what’s their name. Absentminded
Brotherhood. Boys of Anarchy. God dammit I can never remember these guys.
And then Jeff Hardy spoke backstage about his journey to the IC title and it being the
first singles title he ever won. This was a pretty good promo and built nicely to his
main event tournament match against Sheamus - which told a decent, if not slightly overdone,
story, where Sheamus was a little too cocky against Hardy before Hardy won with a shock
rollup. This means we’re getting Hardy vs Bryan in the semi-finals where Sheamus will
most likely interfere and cost Hardy the ma-Forgotten Sons! I’m making a note of this now.
So that was SmackDown, let me know what you thought of the show by leaving a comment down
below because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA QUARANTINE.
This was a decent enough episode, but it’s weird for a show that contains Styles vs Nakamura
to feel like it’s just plodding along. Compared with Raw, Friday’s stories just don’t
have the same exciting hook. There’s plenty of long term tension building, but it feels
like nothing much ever actually happens. This week’s SmackDown is Smack Bang in the Middle.
What are the 10 best AEW matches so far? Watch Adam Blampied’s latest list video to find
out by clicking the video on the right ahead of Double or Nothing tonight, which Luke and
Laurie are livestreaming their reactions to! And has Money in the Bank ever made any new
stars - click the video below that for debate! And make wrestletalk.com your homepage for
all the latest wrestling news. I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.