L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Hello again, my fellow degenerates!

For those of you who have been following LAW Magazine (you should, it's been great fun), you may recognize my recurring feature, Looking Back with Eiji Matsumoto, which just published its second edition (the first one is here!). For those who don't, the basic gist is that Eiji Matsumoto, my hot-headed, foul-mouthed old school wrestling purist who is definitely not supposed to be an unflattering parody of a certain controversial real-life wrestling manager, promoter, and podcaster, gives a blow-by-blow account of an old wrestling match (let's say before 2010 or so) to talk about how the old ways were so much better than the outlaw mudshow nonsense LAW is doing. The feature has been a big success so far, and I'd love to expand it, so I felt it was about time I started putting together who I had to work with!

Of course, this could be used for more than just the articles. Want to have a character bring up a historic event in wrestling, or train under an established name, or just to be a fan of superstar of the past eras? This is the place to go for that! In the name of building on the collective universe we've established for LAW, I'd like to use this thread as a database of veteran wrestlers that have been established in LAW canon.

If you've established a historic wrestler in your RPing - either as an active member of the roster who's been wrestling for years, or as a mention in a character's backstory as a family member or trainer (or, hell, if you just want to make someone up, that's fine too!) - this is the place to list them. Just give a description, the era they were active in, and a link to their profile if applicable, and we can use it as a reference!

I'll start with my own:

• Ole Ostberg - Grandfather of Astrid, active 1930s - 1950s. Old-style powerhouse from Norway. Deceased.
• Lars Ostberg - Father of Astrid, active mid-1980s - 1990s (with some indie appearances since). Old-style powerhouse from Norway, mainly a tag team star with his brother Hans but had a singles run.
• Hans Ostberg - Brother of Lars and uncle of Astrid, active mid-1980s - 1990s. Old-style powerhouse from Norway, mainly a tag team star with his more popular brother Lars.
• Akira Koizumi - Aunt of Sachiko, active late 1980s - early 2010s (with some indie appearance since). Veteran of the joshi boom of the 80s and 90s, currently owns a notoriously strict wrestling school.
• Carol Barlet - A wrestler who got her start on the Florida indies in the late 1980s before traveling to Japan in 1994, where she became far more popular than she was stateside and met Akira Koizumi, who would become, at various times, both a rival and a tag team partner. She returned to America in 2000 and continued a modest career before retiring in 2015 to found her own promotion, World of Womens' Wrestling, as well as helping to scout talent for the womens' division of United Supreme Pro Wrestling as the Vice President of Wildcat Recruitment before retiring in summer of 2022.

Cyber Widow(Black Widow) - Active Wrestler, 1990s - 1997 forced to retired. Active again late 2000s. Old-style brutal speed wrestler from Germany single run as Champion for three years.
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Yoko Harmageddono - Active Wrestler 1990s -1995 forced to retired from broken neck and wrist. Runs a gym and is a coach training new female wrestlers. Rivalry with Black Widow ended in infamous ending.

Mike Hagger - Active Wrestler Late 1980s - late 1990s Old Style Irish wrestler. Invented the Double -Laraito and made the Spinning Piledriver famous. Retired in 1994 after losing his title and longest reign. Now Mayor of his home town city.

Rip Saber Active Wrestler 1990s - late 1990s retired due to injury in death match against Black Widow in Japan. Hated rivalry of Mike Hagger and Black Widow. Now lives in Canada on his farm.

Yoko Kitsune - Active from early 2000s to 2017 (a little bit before her LAW debut). Brutal giantess who fights to humiliate weaker foes with how weak they are and have long brutal bouts with foes of her strength.

Clara Grey (mentioned in Alice Gaster's backstory) - active from 1990 - 1998. Passed away in 1998. A small lightweight wrestler trained in classic British style.

Natsu Kazan- Also known as Phoenix Kazan. Father of current LAW wrestler Momo Kazan, active in Japan 1995-1999. Was a fairy average technical wrestler, but is remembered fondly for his charisma.

Asai Rei - (Active 1989 - 1997) A technical lightweight that used to go toe to toe against the biggest in her league, both in names and sizes!! She ran long-lasting feuds with the likes of Dana Ashford, Cyber Widow, and Alaina Sanders. Nicknamed the Blue Star for her unquestionable popularity along her days. She ushered in the golden age of lightweights in her career as she took belts spanning different circuits and promotions all around Japan and the world. But her retirement came in 1997 after happily marrying Mita Minamoto, the direct descendant of the famous Minamoto Clan. And thus ending the golden era of lightweights with her.

Dana Ashford - Active 1992 - 2000 (brief retirement), 2001 - now. A powerhouse who is well-known for her illustrious, continent-spanning career. Nicknamed Smiling Demon for her ever-present motherly smile while she's tormenting her opponents in the ring. Her rivalries with Alaina Sanders-Haines, Aurora Lund and Asai Rei have become the stuff of legends. The matriarch of the Ashford family. Is married with Douglas Ashford, ne Johnson.

Douglas Ashford (originally Douglas Johnson) - Active 1990 - 2009 (retirement). A powerhouse who received moderate success throughout his career. Is well-known for his marriage with Dana Ashford, whom he married in year 2000, and him taking her surname rather than the other way around. After his retirement, he opened a wrestling school together with his wife and is currently working full-time there as the coach.

Daichi Yamazaki "The Titan" - Active 1970's to early 1990's - An oldschool powerhouse masked wrestler who stood at a whopping 7'2 feet tall. Started out wrestling in his native country of japan where he dominated the heavyweight division before setting out to wrestle all over the world, where he would win and defend multiple Heavyweight belts over the course of his almost 20 year career. He was a pure babyface for his whole career, though he was seen by some to be a controversial figure for his old-fashioned and misogynistic opinions regarding women's wrestling. Retired in his 40's to start a family, though as he was never unmasked in his career nobody knows what he truly looked like and thus is able to enjoy his retirement in anonymity.

Taiyo Akan: 1950-1980 Father to Denji and Ichiko. Taiyo was a very hard hitting type of wrestler known for getting into stiff sounding brawls across his career, which unfortunately saw him get injured for a bulk of it, spending a little under 3 years total of his carer recovering from injuries. He had many well known matches throughout his career before retiring after his and his main rivals final match.

Denji Akan: 1983-2003 "The Pragmatic Ninja" A risk taking babyface remembered for his tendency to get hardcore, and his tag team and feud with the Silver Samurai, which is really where he started to prove his growing reputation as "Garbage Wrestler" wrong when he showed he could go with the more wrestling oriented Samurai and thenhad amazing chemistry with him when they started fighting others and once held a prized tag team belt for over 2 years alongside the Samurai. The most far travelled of the Akans having wrestled in the UK, Japan, America, and Mexico. In 1994 he became the Second Akan to Win a World Championship with famous Cage, Ladder, and 2 out of 3 falls matches to his name. Married Touka some time after bonding with her brother and had three kids in Kyoko, Hideo, and Ayame. Deceased before he could retire

Ume Akan: 1970-75 Brother of Taiyo but only seemed to join the business as a side gig and because her then boyfriend and later husband was a wrestler as well, a smaller wrestler who was mostly known for her tour in the UK (Where her husband originated from) where she mostly adopted there style in her time there. Retired after 5 years for maternity leave, and simply opted to never get back in the ring.

Ozuru Akan: 1960-1987 "The Shadow Wolf" The first Main Eventer Akan before Denji and a well known name in Japan. A bright and happy but serious babyface(Which contrasted with his mostly black attire's that gave off a brooding heel look) with a lot of charisma on his side he fought in a few Japanese promotions usually taking on the many heel stables, sometimes by himself but often forming stables of his own with the intent of counter balancing the heels cheating ways. and was on a few supercards with American promotions while surviving 8 matches with his career on the line, something he became known for when fighting a particularly dastardly heel. A three time World World Champion (Winning World belts in 1970, 74, and 82) who made his mark over his near 30 year career

Ava Villin/Akan: 1990-2002 Half-British daughter of Pete Villin and Ume Akan who usually used her mom's last name in wrestling due to the....easy insults her actual last name tended to invoke from foes. Despite this she was a tweener leaning heel for a good portion of her career before turning face and staying face for the rest of it, which brought those insults anyway. Known for her impressive leg strength and she tended to favor holds that let her use them to her best advantage and submission matches became a staple of her career.. Retired and started a dojo in 2002, briefly came to Japan to help Hideo and then Kyoko train alongside Hiroshi but mostly stays in her home in the UK.

Hayato Yamamoto/Silver Samurai: 1980-2003 Wrestled as the fifth Silver Samurai his entire career, a heel until his feud with Denji which ended with the two of them fighting against each other in 4 classic matches which ended with them becoming a tag team and forming a long lasting friendship. Known for his agility and technical skills while a heel and for his amazing synergy in his team ups and his signature matches were 2 out 3 falls bouts (One of which being with his future best friend Denji). Name and Identity not revealed until his passing.

Hiroshi Yamamoto: 1982-2004, 2005-Current A popular upper midcard during most of his career he was a well regarded all-rounder winning roughly 14 titles across companies with his best being his 500 Day reign as a TV champion, Had a bad tendency to have many flings often with female wrestlers and fans. Mostly known for his Ironman matches, he retired briefly in 2004 when the stress of wrestling following the fallout of his brothers passing became too much for him. Returned a little over a year later but only as a part timer. Father to young Mimi Yamamoto

Ayane Yamamoto: 1978-1999: "The Empress" A Haughty and vain wrestler who was nonetheless cerebral in the ring Ayane was part of a boon of womens wrestlers who slowly brought more attention to themselves that rivaled and even in some cases surpassed there male counterparts. Her arrogance was only matched by her looks and treated herself as some royal force all should bow to, and was more then happy to brutally twist the limbs and wear down the body of any women or man who did not. Her penchant was humiliation, I quit matches, and often indulging in many gimmick matches. In an interesting turn of events one of her last rivals in her twilight years was Audrey Hunter who was born the same year she started wrestling in which she handed the midcard rookie her first defeat on a PPV. Retired in 1999 after losing to a rookie she had been humiliating in a loser leaves town match. Rather then have to start all over in another company she quit then and there and never looked back. Despite not being an Akan many consider her the women a certain Akan started to mold themselves after...

Akemi Suzuki: A well known hentai wrestler. Inaugural champion of SWF. She became very wealthy in her career, and went on to mother Ayana Suzuki.

Joanne Scarlett: A big shot hentai wrestler regarded as one of the best in the world. She was defeated by Akemi Suzuki for the SWF Championship. Went on to found the Sexual Fighting Academy, a college based in New York where the only sport is hentai wrestling.

Dana Welsh: Best friend to Joanne Scarlett, and is equally renowned to her as one of the best hentai wrestlers in the world. Co founded the sexual fighting academy.

Aaron Welsh: Founder and CEO of SWF (Sexy Women Fight). He grew the company from a small porn studio to a large wrestling promotion. Went on to marry Dana Welsh, and father Aaron Welsh Jr.