Wrestlers and organizations announced for the second Hana Kimura tribute show.
This coming May, for the second consecutive year, the life of the late Hana Kimura will be celebrated via a memorial show. This year’s event is scheduled for May 23rd at Korakuen Hall and a press conference was held to unveil more details about the forthcoming event.
Hana’s mother, Kyoko Kimura spoke at the presser and touched on the 2021 event and how heartwarming that was for her. She said there were wrestlers who wanted to compete at last year’s event, but could not appear due to scheduling conflicts. The 5/23 show is titled ‘Bagus.’
Last year, we were able to share a really heartwarming and wonderful feeling with everyone, but there were [fans] who couldn’t come because of the emergency declaration, and there were also [wrestlers] who wanted to participate but couldn’t because it was on a Sunday. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would do it again this year, but since it was the [second] anniversary of the event, I decided to hold it. The name of the tournament, ‘Bagus,’ means ‘the best’ in Indonesian, and I hope we can literally share the best space together.
Confirmed for this year’s show are Saori Anou, ASUKA (freelancer), Kaori Yoneyama and Ram Kaicho. The PURE-J, Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling WAVE and Wrestling of Darkness 666 promotions are contributing to the show as well.
Jungle Kyona is scheduled to appear. Kyona departed STARDOM in September 2021 and she has not wrestled since October 2020. Kagetsu is going to serve as a special ambassador for the show.
Saori Anou was in attendance for the press conference on behalf of the wrestlers and spoke about her relationship with Hana:
I’m confident that I’ve [wrestled] Hana-chan the most, and Kyoko-san watched me and Hana-chan practice [wrestling] for hours when we were just starting out. I still love Hana-chan to this day, and when I see her smile in full bloom, I naturally have the biggest smile on my face. So I’d like to make it a great show for Hana-chan so that she can watch me with a smile on her face.
