Mika Akino

Acting

Born October 24, 1973 · 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. After leaving AtoZ, AKINO joined with three other joshi wrestlers to form a new promotion. Her longtime friend Mariko Yoshida and fellow ARSION wrestler Michiko Ohmukai joined her, and rising star Momoe Nakanishi also jumped on board. The name of their promotion, M's Style, stemmed from the fact that all four women's first names started with the letter "M". M's Style held its first show in April 2004. At the time, the promotion was thought to be the future of joshi puroresu, and had been rumored to be working with puroresu powerhouse New Japan Pro Wrestling. Nothing came of the partnership, and the promotion suffered another blow. Momoe Nakanishi announced her retirement the same year, with nagging injuries being among the top reasons. Many in the joshi fan community considered this a death knell for M's Style, and expected the promotion to go under. It has stayed open. Running a show once a month, AKINO and Ohmukai still remain, with Yoshida occasionally wrestling, though she left to open Ibuki to train up the next generation of joshi wrestlers. Present M's Style closed in the Fall of 2006. After the final show, AKINO announced she would be taking some time off from wrestling to let a lingering neck injury heal up. While still teaching classes at U-FILE, she has scaled her wrestling appearances back dramatically, appearing in an OZ Academy show in January 2007 and in the Jaguar Yokota show on March 11, 2007. In the meantime, she has taken up golfing and currently travels with a female golfer, Sakura, acting as her caddy while competing in tournaments herself. One of her most notable students, who was also trained by Yoshida, is Ayumi Kurihara, who has tagged with AKINO several times and also wrestled in M's Style. AKINO has held tag championships with Ranmaru and Tsubasa Kuragaki, and has held many singles titles as both AKINO and her heel alter-ego noki-A. AKINO returned in mid-2007, working primarily with Oz Academy while freelancing with Pro Wrestling WAVE and performing in special shows held by Fuka. She is currently a member of Aja Kong's Jungle Jack 21 stable along with Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa. On April 24, 2013, Akino defeated Chikayo Nagashima to win the Oz Academy Openweight Championship for the first time. After a record-breaking eighteen-month reign, she lost the title to Tsubasa Kuragaki on October 13, 2014. She regained the title on May 17, 2015, only to lose it to Mio Shirai on June 7. On December 11, 2016, following Dynamite Kansai's retirement, Akino officially signed with Oz Academy, ending her days as a freelancer