Natsuki Taiyo

Natsumi Mizushima (水嶋 なつみ) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Natsuki☆Taiyo (夏樹☆たいよう).

In 2003, Mizushima entered All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) dojo, where she was trained by Animal Hamaguchi in not only professional wrestling, but also mixed martial arts.

On December 19, 2003, Mizushima made her MMA debut at an AJW event, losing to Mika "Hari Hari" Harigai at 2:10 in the first round, after being knocked out with knee strikes.

She has not participated in any mixed martial arts fights since.

Making her debut for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) in January 2004, Mizushima quickly affiliated herself with Nanae Takahashi, following her out of AJW in 2006 and to Pro Wrestling Sun and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, with the two forming the Passion Red stable with Kana in the process.

After the folding of NEO, Mizushima began working exclusively for the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, where she became a one-time holder of both the Artist of Stardom and Goddess of Stardom Championships.

She is also a former four-time holder of the High Speed Championship, which has been owned by both NEO and Stardom.

Mizushima was recognized as one of the top high-flyers in joshi puroresu.

Mizushima's professional wrestling debut took place on January 3, 2004, when she faced Hiromi Takahashi at an AJW event in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

Mizushima would leave AJW, which was battling severe financial difficulties, later that year.

In May 2005, Mizushima joined the Gatokunyan promotion, where she began performing under the ring name "Natsuki☆Head".

During late 2005 and early 2006, she also made several appearances for the new Ibuki promotion.

On June 5, 2006, Natsuki☆Head won her first championship by defeating Hikari for Dramatic Dream Team's Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, a title contested under the rules that a champion could be pinned or submitted anytime, anywhere, as long as there was a referee present.

She held the title for nine days, before losing it to Mecha Mummy.

On June 25, Natsuki regained the title from Masahiro Mekanashi during a battle royal, but would lose it to Mikami later during the same match.

On August 2, 2006, Nanae Takahashi announced that, with the backing of Pro Wrestling Zero1, she was forming a new promotion, named Pro Wrestling Sun, and named Natsuki☆Head as part of the promotion's roster.

On September 24, Mizushima announced that she was changing her ring name to "Natsuki☆Taiyo".

On December 31, Taiyo made her debut for NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, defeating Fuka for the Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship, a title owned by the JDStar promotion.

On February 21, 2007, Taiyo defeated Amazing Kong and Toshie Uematsu to win Pro Wrestling Sun's World-1 Women's Championship.

She would hold the title for three months, before losing it to Kyoko Kimura on May 27.

Shortly afterwards, Taiyo was stripped of the Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship, after she had not defended the title for three months.

While working in Pro Wrestling Sun, Taiyo formed a tag team with Nanae Takahashi, with whom she would also make semi-regular appearances for JWP Joshi Puroresu, with the two unsuccessfully challenging Kayoko Haruyama and Tsubasa Kuragaki for the JWP Tag Team Championship on December 9, 2007.

In April 2008, Taiyo and Nanae Takahashi left Pro Wrestling Sun and formed the Passion Red stable with Kana on the Japanese independent circuit.

The stable made appearances for several promotions, including Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Ice Ribbon, JWP, Oz Academy and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, which effectively became its home promotion.

Passion Red also promoted five independent events of its own.

Passion Red made its debut for NEO on August 24, 2008, when Taiyo and Kana were defeated in a tag team match by Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kyoko Inoue.

In their first six-woman tag team match on October 26, Taiyo, Kana and Takahashi defeated the trio of Etsuko Mita, Toshie Uematsu and Yoshiko Tamura.

While feuding with the NEO originals led by Tamura, Passion Red also got involved with rival group Revolucion Amandla of Atsuko Emoto, Kyoko Kimura and Tomoka Nakagawa.

On December 31 at Grand Final '08, Taiyo and Kana faced Ayumi Kurihara and Yoshiko Tamura in a match to determine the number one contenders to the NEO Tag Team Championship.

At the end of the match, after a botched Taiyo-chan☆Bomb, Taiyo legitimately knocked Kurihara out with a kick to the face and then pinned her for the win with the Iguchi Bomb.

The Passion Red duo received their shot at the NEO Tag Team Championship on February 21, 2009, but were defeated by the defending champions, Atsuko Emoto and Kyoko Kimura.

On April 19, Passion Red and Revolucion Amandla wrestled to a 30-minute time limit draw in a six-woman tag team match.

On May 5, Taiyo defeated Ray to become the first NEO High Speed Champion.

The chemistry between Taiyo and Ray led to the two forming a tag team for July's Mid Summer Tag Tournament VIII.

Though the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Emi Sakura and Nanae Takahashi, the partnership eventually led to Ray joining Passion Red under the ring name Passion Ray.

During 2009, Passion Red was also joined by Kazumi Shimouna and Yumiko Hotta.

On July 25, Taiyo made her first High Speed Championship defense, defeating Io Shirai, and followed that up by successfully defending the title against Fuka on August 29.

On September 20, Taiyo lost the NEO High Speed Championship to Kaori Yoneyama in her third defense.

On November 22, Taiyo and Passion Ray received a shot at their fellow Passion Red members' Kana's and Nanae Takahashi's NEO Tag Team Championship, but were unable to become the new champions.

She retired from in-ring competition in June 2014 and afterwards began working for the Seadlinnng promotion as a senior managing director and referee.