Yuzuki Aikawa

Yuzuki Aikawa (愛川 ゆず季) is a Japanese gravure idol and retired professional wrestler.

On October 7, Aikawa wrestled at Mil Máscaras' Japanese debut's 40th anniversary event, where she and Sanshiro Takagi defeated Mayu Iwatani and Passion Nakki (Stardom's Natsuki☆Taiyo under a mask).

Starting her modeling career in 2003, Aikawa went on to become one of Japan's top gravure idols, earning the nickname "The Gravure Queen of the Next Generation" by appearing in various men's magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programs and video games.

Aikawa began her modeling career in 2003, appearing mainly in men's magazines, eventually being dubbed the "gravure queen of the next generation".

In 2005, Aikawa won the Nittelegenic competition to become an official model for Nippon Television.

Aikawa also voiced the character of Yuzu in the 2005 video game Yakuza.

The following year, Aikawa was chosen as the race queen for the Super GT series, while also forming the Ooparts duo with fellow gravure idol Hitomi Aizawa, with whom she went on to release the album Himitsu no Bomber.

In 2008, Aikawa became part of an idol group named Bakunyu Sentai Pai Ranger, a parody version of Super Sentai, which released both a film and an album.

Aikawa, with a background in classical ballet and taekwondo, had first become interested in professional wrestling, after seeing All Japan Pro Wrestling's 2008 Champion Carnival tournament.

On September 7, Aikawa appeared at the first press conference for Fuka's and Rossy Ogawa's new World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, officially being announced as part of its roster.

During the press conference, veteran wrestler Nanae Takahashi accepted Aikawa's request to become her opponent for her upcoming debut.

In late 2009, Aikawa accepted a challenge made by Tokyo Broadcasting System television program Gakeppuchi to get 20,000,000 hits on her blog in three months or retire from the entertainment industry.

Aikawa opened her new Gree blog on September 25 and reached her twenty millionth view just three weeks later on October 17.

In 2010, Aikawa transitioned into professional wrestling, joining the newly founded World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, becoming its public face and the inaugural holder of the Wonder of Stardom and Goddess of Stardom Championships.

On September 7, 2010, Aikawa, then known primarily as a gravure idol, announced that she was transitioning to professional wrestling, having begun training the previous May under retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and model Fuka Kakimoto.

After six months of training under Fuka and Nosawa Rongai, Aikawa made her much anticipated professional wrestling debut on October 31, 2010, in the main event of her self-produced Yuzupon Matsuri show, facing Nanae Takahashi.

After a fourteen-minute beatdown, Takahashi pinned Aikawa for the win and afterwards declared that since her opponent, now with her left eye swollen shut and with a severely bruised face and chest, had withstood the punishment, she had "paid her dues" and was ready to become a true professional wrestler.

Aikawa's first year in professional wrestling ended with the Tokyo Sports magazine naming her the 2011 female wrestler of the year.

A year later, having successfully defended the Wonder of Stardom Championship throughout the year, while also winning the inaugural 5Star Grand Prix, Aikawa became the first wrestler to win the award two times in a row.

Aikawa also produced six of her own independent wrestling events under the banner of Yuzupon Matsuri, in the vein of her trainer Fuka Kakimoto's old Fuka Matsuri events.

In 2011, Aikawa appeared in a commercial for PlayStation 3.

She also appeared in Monobright's 2011 music video for their song Wonder World.

During late 2011, Aikawa appeared as Itsuka Makihara in the Welcome to the El-Palacio television drama.

On January 23, 2011, Aikawa made her debut for Stardom at the promotion's first event, being pinned by Takahashi in a tag team match, where she and Natsuki☆Taiyo faced Takahashi and Iris.

The second Yuzupon Matsuri event took place on February 6 and saw Aikawa defeat veteran Yumiko Hotta in the main event for the first win in her career.

Six days later, Aikawa took her first win in Stardom, defeating Eri Susa.

On April 24, Aikawa made her debut as the masked character Yuzupon Mask, a female version of Tiger Mask, wrestling nine-year-old Haruka to a three-minute time limit draw.

On May 15, Aikawa wrestled Ayumi Kurihara to a twenty-minute time limit draw in the main event of the third Yuzupon Matsuri.

On June 12, Aikawa formed the tag team BY Hou ("BY Cannon", a name inspired by Antonio Inoki's and Giant Baba's old BI Hou tag team) with Yoko Bito, with the two defeating Mayu Iwatani and Nanae Takahashi in their first match together.

On June 26, Aikawa and Bito defeated Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu (Natsuki☆Taiyo and Yoshiko, shortened to Kawakatsu) to earn the title of Stardom's top tag team.

On July 24, Aikawa defeated Yoshiko in a decision match to become the inaugural Wonder of Stardom Champion.

Later that same day, Aikawa made an appearance for DDT Pro-Wrestling as a member of the TKG48 stable, wrestling in a fifteen-person Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship battle royal, from which she was eliminated by Emi Sakura.

On August 14, BY Hou's win streak came to an end when they were defeated by Nanae Takahashi and the debuting Io Shirai, who pinned Aikawa for the win and then challenged her for the Wonder of Stardom Championship.

The fourth Yuzupon Matsuri was held on August 21 and saw Aikawa defeat Dump Matsumoto twice, first via pinfall and then via countout.

On September 25, Aikawa defended the Wonder of Stardom Championship for the first time, defeating Io Shirai.

She was never defeated for either of her championships, being stripped of the Goddess of Stardom Championship in October 2012, after her partner Yoko Bito was injured, and relinquishing the Wonder of Stardom Championship a month prior to her final match.

Aikawa retired from professional wrestling on April 29, 2013.

During the first week of July 2013, Aikawa hosted WWE's Japanese tour for the J Sports channel.

As part of the job, she was also featured on WWE.com.

In April 2014, Aikawa began hosting the Stardom☆Cafe program for Fighting TV Samurai, alongside her younger sister Mizuki, who entered the tarento scene with her debut appearance.