Leon (Japanese wrestler)

Rena Takase (高瀬 玲奈) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Leon.

In January 1999, Takase, with a sports background in judo, passed an audition held by Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion and began training professional wrestling at the promotion's dojo.

Trained by Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion, Takase made her debut for the promotion in March 2000, working under her real name.

She made her debut under her real name on March 15, 2000, facing Ai Fujita in a losing effort.

Takase started her career with a sixty match losing streak, before picking up her first win over Linda Starr on November 19, 2000.

Through Arsion's working relationship with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), Takase also made appearances for the promotion, where she went on to win her first championship, when she defeated fellow Arsion worker Mika Nishio for the AJW Junior Championship on December 22, 2002.

After a change in management, Arsion was renamed Major Girl's Fighting AtoZ in 2003, and Takase received a new ring name, Leo-na (玲央奈).

In June 2003, Yumiko Hotta took over Arsion and renamed the promotion Major Girl's Fighting AtoZ.

After quitting AtoZ in 2005, Takase became a freelancer, now working under a mask and the new ring name Toujyuki Leon (闘獣牙Leon).

Takase would eventually go into history as the final AJW Junior Champion, holding the title until AJW folded in April 2005.

Takase, adopting the new ring name Leo-na, worked regularly for the promotion for the next two years, before quitting and becoming a freelancer in February 2005.

After leaving AtoZ, Takase began wrestling under a mask and adopted the new ring name Toujyuki Leon.

Her first appearance under the new character, took place on February 11, 2005, when she was defeated by Akino at a JDStar event.

On February 20, Toujyuki Leon made her debut for JWP Joshi Puroresu, losing to Tsubasa Kuragaki.

She returned to the promotion on April 24, when she teamed with Kaori Yoneyama to defeat Eco and Kazuki to become the number one contenders to the JWP Tag Team Championship.

On May 15, Toujyuki Leon and Yoneyama defeated Akino and Tsubasa Kuragaki to become the new JWP Tag Team Champions.

For most of 2005, Toujyuki Leon for the M's Style promotion, where she defeated Ayako Hamada on April 24 to win the Tournament of Style, while also making it to the finals of a one night tag team tournament on August 7, teaming with noki-A.

On December 4, Toujyuki Leon defeated Hikaru in the finals of a seven-woman tournament to win the Next Shining Generation (NSG) Championship, an independent title with no official home promotion.

She would hold the title for four months, before losing it to Hikaru on April 2, 2006.

After a fifteen-month reign, Toujyuki Leon and Kaori Yoneyama lost the JWP Tag Team Championship to Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu on August 6, 2006.

During 2006, Toujyuki Leon also made several appearances for the Ibuki and Oz Academy promotions.

After two years of working for several independent promotions, including JDStar, M's Style and Oz Academy, Takase made JWP Joshi Puroresu her new home promotion in January 2007.

On January 14, 2007, Toujyuki Leon returned to JWP, wrestling Kaori Yoneyama to a time limit draw.

After the match, she announced that she was officially signing with JWP, ending her freelancing days.

On March 21, Toujyuki Leon picked up her biggest win in JWP, defeating promotion founder Command Bolshoi in a singles match.

On June 10, Toujyuki Leon reunited with Kaori Yoneyama in an attempt to regain the JWP Tag Team Championship in a gauntlet match.

After eliminating Aoi Kizuki and Manami Toyota, Command Bolshoi and Kazuki, and Arisa Nakajima and Sachie Abe from the match, Toujyuki Leon and Yoneyama were themselves eliminated by the eventual winners of the entire match, Kazuki and Sachie Abe.

During the rest of the year, Toujyuki Leon and Yoneyama faced each other in two more singles matches, the first on July 22 ended in another time limit draw, and in the second match on October 21, Yoneyama pinned her former tag team partner for the win.

After picking up another big win over Command Bolshoi on December 9 at the year-end JWP-Climax 2007 event, Toujyuki Leon's year ended with her being given the JWP Technique Award.

On June 22, 2008, Toujyuki Leon and Yoneyama defeated Arisa Nakajima and Kana to once again become the number contenders to the JWP Tag Team Championship.

They would, however, fail in their title challenge against Kayoko Haruyama and Tsubasa Kuragaki on July 11.

On November 24, Toujyuki Leon entered a tournament to determine the number one contender to JWP's top title, the JWP Openweight Championship.

On December 7, Toujyuki Leon defeated Azumi Hyuga in the finals to win the tournament.

She would receive her shot at the JWP Openweight Championship on December 28 at JWP-Climax 2008, but was defeated by the defending champion, Kayoko Haruyama.

Despite another year without championships, Toujyuki Leon was awarded the Fighting Spirit award at the end of the year.

On January 25, 2009, Toujyuki Leon was finally able to defeat Kaori Yoneyama in a singles match, pinning her with the Captured Buster.

On February 8, Toujyuki Leon and new tag team partner Arisa Nakajima defeated Kazuki and Sachie Abe to become the number one contenders to the Daily Sports Women's and JWP Tag Team Championships.

They would receive their shot at the titles on February 21, but were defeated by Keito and Yumiko Hotta.

In January 2010, Takase's ring name was shortened to just Leon and the following year, she won JWP's top title, the JWP Openweight Championship, while also becoming the leader of the Shishi no Ana stable.

Takase remained with JWP until the promotion's folding in April 2017.