Yumi Ohka | |
---|---|
Ohka in December 2015
|
|
Birth name | Yumiko Abe |
Born |
Koga, Ibaraki |
April 4, 1979
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Sakura Candle Sandaime Misaki Glico Yumi Ohka |
Billed height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
Billed weight | 59 kg (130 lb) |
Trained by |
Jaguar Yokota Toshie Uematsu |
Debut | August 19, 2001 |
Yumiko Abe (阿部 由美子 Abe Yumiko?, born April 4, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name Yumi Ohka (桜花 由美 Ōka Yumi?). Originally trained by the now defunct JDStar promotion, Ohka now works for Oz Academy and Pro Wrestling Wave. She is currently in her second reign as one half of the Wave Tag Team Champions, while also being a former Wave Single Champion and Oz Academy Tag Team Champion. She is the managing director of Zabun Co., Ltd., which owns Pro Wrestling Wave.
After originally working as a voice actress, Abe, with a sports background in judo, transitioned to professional wrestling, making her debut under the ring name Yumi Ohka on August 19, 2001, in a tag team match, where she teamed with Chiaki Kashiwada against Keiko Furuta and Teruko Kagawa. Afterwards, Ohka entered the training dojo of the JDStar promotion, where she was trained by Jaguar Yokota as part of the "Athtress" program, which aimed at building physically attractive women into not only professional wrestlers, but also mainstream celebrities. She graduated from the program on March 23, 2003. Ohka's first wrestling character saw her proclaim herself as an idol, which included her singing her own entrance themes and occasionally holding performances in the middle of JDStar events. After her graduation, Ohka formed a regular tag team with fellow athtress The Bloody. On June 22, the two made it to the finals of a tournament for the vacant TWF World Tag Team Championship, before being defeated by Maru and Megumi Yabushita. Ohka would win her first title on August 10, when she and The Bloody defeated Maru and Yabushita in a rematch for the TWF World Tag Team Championship. They would lose the title to Crow and Fang on November 24 in a barbed wire steel cage death match, a match type chosen by the challengers to gain an advantage over the champions. Ohka and The Bloody would regain the title on January 18, 2004, but were stripped three months later, when The Bloody left JDStar. Starting her singles career, Ohka main evented JDStar's event on June 6, losing to Asami. On August 8, Ohka made a guest appearance for the Oz Academy promotion, entering the Iron Woman Singles and Tag Team Tournaments, being eliminated from both in the first round; by Aja Kong in the singles tournament and by Amazing Kong and Chikayo Nagashima in the tag team tournament, where she teamed with Michiko Omukai. On June 26, 2005, Ohka achieved her first major singles accomplishment, when she defeated Kei Akiyama to win JDStar's 2005 Jupiter League. With the win, Ohka solidified her spot as the "ace" of JDStar. Three days later, Ohka defeated Toshie Uematsu to win Dramatic Dream Team's (DDT) Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. She would lose the title to Keiko Saito later that same day.