Mika Akino
| Mika Akino | |
|---|---|
Akino in April 2016
|
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| Born | October 24, 1973 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
AKINO noki-A |
| Billed height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) |
| Billed weight | 61 kg (134 lb) |
| Debut | July 21, 1998 |
Mika Akino (秋野 美佳 Akino Mika?), better known as AKINO, (born October 24, 1973 in Tokyo, Japan) is a female Japanese joshi wrestler, signed to Oz Academy. Billed from Honshū, she started late in the sport and didn't debut until the age of 24. Trained by Mariko Yoshida, she proved to have an innate ring presence and excelled at the sport.
AKINO debuted in the newly formed federation ARSION (then run by Aja Kong) as Mika Akino. In her first months she floated around and tagged with fellow rookie Ayako Hamada now and again. Her most notable match was for the Queen of Arsion Championship, against her mentor, Yoshida. This match is considered by some to be the quintessential rookie versus veteran match of the 1990s, and both women were praised for their performance.
It wasn't long before Akino was repackaged as AKINO, and placed in the stable called "CAZAI", or Girls with Attitude. Fellow members included tag team partner Hamada, Ai Fujita, and Candy Okutsu. The heel stable gain notoriety and popularity within ARSION. Hamada and AKINO eventually won the Twin Star of Arsion Championship, which set the stage for possibly both women's biggest match in 1999.
Wrestling as "HamaKINO", the two champions entered a storyline with popular tag team "LCO" (Las Cachorrus Orientales), made up of Mima Shimoda and Estuko Mita. The story culminated in a bloody brawl that was later considered one of the matches of the year. Held at the Carnival '99 show, the match skyrocketed the popularity of HamaKINO, and cemented the two women as draws for the promotion.
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