Second Generation Wrestler and TV Star Hana Kimura has died at the age of 22.
Hana was the daughter of legendary joshi wrestler Kyoko Kimura. Ever since her childhood, Hana was in love with the business. She won the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship at 8 years old which she then lost to her mother immediately right after.
She planted the seeds of her wrestling career by training in Keiji Mutoh’s Wrestle-1 promotion while freelancing with other companies including Stardom. During her freelance period, Hana was part of the Oedo-Tai faction under the tutelage of another joshi legend in Kagetsu. She was able to showcase her wrestling skills and natural charisma as part of the faction.
Hana would form her own faction as part of the 2019 Stardom Draft called Tokyo Cyber Squad. While Oedo-Tai were agents of chaos, TCS stood out because of its team motto, “Everyone’s different, everyone’s special.” No matter what kind of wrestler you were you could be a part of Tokyo Cyber Squad.
As part of TCS, Hana accomplished a rare feat that very few wrestlers can say. She was able to compete under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and the Tokyo Dome in the span of eight months. Some wrestlers take several years before they can even dream of wrestling in either venue. Hana Kimura was able to do both in her early 20s.
Besides professional wrestling, Hana was part of the popular Japanese reality show Terrace House. During her time on the show, Hana’s intention was to find love and spread the message of pro-wrestling. I’d like to believe she was able to achieve the latter, but sadly not the former.
Under Bushiroad’s leadership, Hana was being groomed to be one of Stardom’s pillars with Giulia and Mayu Iwatani. Her mainstream appeal would have brought more eyes to Stardom and puroresu as a whole. Hana Kimura was bound to achieve bigger things in the future.
She was a bundle of energy whenever she entered the room. Tributes came from different parts of the wrestling world.
Hana Kimura had so much unfulfilled potential. She was going to be one of the biggest breakout stars in the wrestling and entertainment industry.
I don’t want to speculate on how she passed. All I will say is that people need to be more considerate of what you tweet out to people. Nobody is perfect, I’ve been guilty of doing this before. Let’s do our best to become better people and change our ways.
Be kind. Understand the other side before judging them.
Rest in peace, Fearless Flower.
The Geeky Juans 