Post by styg on May 12, 2018 22:25:40 GMT -5
KAYO TABUCHI
PERSONAL INFORMATION
REAL NAME: Kayoko Tabuchi / 田渕 佳代子.
GENDER: Female.
PICBASE: EYE (from Mary's Blood), with a couple more piercings.
RACE: East Asian.
NATIONALITY: Japanese.
D.O.B./AGE: 4th August 1983 (age 34).
HOMETOWN: Kobe, Japan.
RESIDES: Kobe, Japan.
PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION
RING NAME: Kayo Tabuchi / 田渕 佳代.
NICKNAMES: "Mayonaka no Kitsune" [真夜中のキツネ] / "Midnight Kitsune"; "Kannushi no Ringu" [神主のリング] / "Ring Kannushi".
BILLED FROM: Kobe.
HEIGHT: 5'5" / 1.66m.
WEIGHT: 142lbs / 64kgs.
TRAINED BY: Originally she trained under "Papa" Ryoma Arino. But when Kayo expressed an interest in garbage wrestling a little way into her career, Ryoma refused to help her, so she went to "Iron Ogre" Akitoshi Takayama to toughen her up instead.
CROWD AFFILIATION: Face.
PROFESSIONAL DEBUT: February 2003.
EXPERIENCE: 15 years, minus the 9 months she was pregnant and the 4 months of maternity leave she took after that.
ACCOLADES:
* 1 x wUc Joshi Star Champion
* 3 x TPJ Kanto Champion
* 1 x G/P Most Brutal Champion
* 2 x NWS Kashiwazaki Champion
* 1 x WBZ Women's Tag Team Champion [with Mayura Kamitani]
* NWS Cage of Death 2017
CONTRACT TYPE: Part time (for now, just shows in Japan or South Korea).
STATISTICAL INFORMATION
STRENGTH: 4 - Kayo's fine against people her own size, and she can do a handful of suplexes on cruiserweights, but she definitely loses the full takedown aspect of her game against a lot of opponents.
SPEED: 7 - Maybe not quite as fast as she once was, Kayo's still got a very solid depth of speed, dexterity, and in particular flexibility.
TOUGHNESS: 8 - She spent time training with Akitoshi Takayama, and she's known for fighting in punishing match types. She's tough.
INTELLIGENCE: 7 - By her nature she's of maybe just above average intelligence, but she's adaptive - plus she's been in the sport for fifteen years now, so she's picked up plenty of tricks.
CHARISMA: 6 - It's not hard to be popular when your main career rival is a sarcastic, sadistic, unrepentant villain like Itsumi Hayashi, but Kayo's decently charismatic in her own right.
STAMINA: 4 - Never her strongest point in the first place, the length of her career and many a deathmatch in that time have weakened her cardio still further.
SPIRIT: B - Kayo wouldn't have been wrestling so long if she didn't have plenty of spirit. On the other hand, she might be a bigger star if she had a bit more.
HONOR: A - She's a big believer in fighting honourably, drilled into her by both Ryoma Arino and her family's history as shrine-tenders. But she's willing to be more pragmatic against people who give her a good enough reason.
MALEVOLENCE: C - Against most opponents, she's not malevolent. But when she's facing someone she genuinely considers an enemy she becomes a LOT nastier.
TALENT: B - She's a good wrestler. She's not an amazing one. Realistically, if she was ever going to be a true major star it would have happened by now, but she's the kind of solid hand who bolsters the overall strength of a roster.
VIOLENCE: A - Kayo knows her way around the weapons of wrestling. In spite of how much she values honour, she's very much at home in the more violent end of the sport.
POTENTIAL: B - As noted, she's probably never going to be a top star at this point. She's only recently won her first ever top-tier title within a company. She's the kind of wrestler you hope wins just one world championship before their career is over, as acknowledgement of their years of dedication, and it wouldn't be shocking if they did but it also wouldn't be shocking if they didn't.
WRESTLING INFORMATION
WRESTLING STYLE: Technical - in particular, she's a submission expert, with a hold for every occasion. She also uses a fair number of kicks to weaken joints or stun opponents, and against small enough opponents can grapple. Very much about keeping things in the centre of the mat. But she has quite the history of garbage wrestling too, with some really rather shockingly violent matches to her name. She'll fly when she needs to, but she'd rather stay close and keep it in the ring when possible.
MATCH TACTICS: Work over joints and other vulnerable points, particularly on the limbs, in preparation for one of her main submission holds. She stays fluid and flexible both physically and mentally, and holds the philosophy that there's no situation an opponent can have you in where you can't find a joint to crank on; commentators have joked that if an opponent has her arms and legs completely trapped, she'll find some way to use her teeth to apply a hold. Against speedier opponents, assuming they're small enough, she'll use suplexes and other takedowns to drive the air out of them to make it harder for them to escape; against bigger opponents she'll do the same thing via kicks to their torso. Or… that's the plan. It doesn't always work like that. To put it bluntly, Kayo's used to fighting people roughly the same size as herself. It's not like she's never fought heavyweights, but she's pretty inexperienced at it. She's not stupid at all and knows her suplexes will be no good against 240lb dudes but she hasn't yet developed a proper moveset and strategy against them.
She firmly believes in fighting honourably, which means no actual cheating as well as showing respect before and after matches, but that doesn't mean she can't embrace that kitsune trickster spirit. That means using feints, reversals, and other ways to catch opponents off guard, in addition to her flexibility allowing her to shift positions quickly to find new attacks before the opponent's had a chance to figure out the old one. In no-DQ matches she'll still be "honourable", per se, but she's not afraid to be violent. There's no need to be gratuitous but it's no good holding back either. She's adept at working things like folding chairs, chains and barbed wire into her submissions, if the match rules allow.
There are certain people, most famously her career rival Itsumi Hayashi, where all that honour business goes out the window. Then it becomes purely about sending a fucker to hospital. Against those who aren't specifically enemies but who still flagrantly flout the rules, she'll become more aggressive while trying to stay within the bounds of honour herself.
CHARACTER PERSONALITY: Kayo is a model wrestler in many ways - respectful, persistent, and even after fifteen years in the business still always trying to learn. She's a student of wrestling's past, yet excited about its future. She's a big advocate of wrestling remaining an honourable contest of skill and is willing to confront people on that point. But everyone has a dark edge, and in Kayo's case it takes the form of a streak of brutal sadism. Most of the time it's deeply buried and she works to keep it that way, but people who push her enough can draw it out of her - most famously, "Blood Tornado" Itsumi Hayashi. Kayo and Itsumi have been arch-nemeses for over a decade at this point, and have literally nearly killed each other multiple times. There's nobody else whose very existence offends Kayo like Itsumi's does, but some other opponents have certainly roused Kayo's ire only to find themselves on the wrong end of a violent rage they weren't expecting.
Kayo has a reputation for seriousness, which isn't helped by her violent side nor her efforts to keep said side in check. There's even kind of a running joke that her idea of relaxation is spending hours watching tapes of matches from 1873, which isn't entirely fair - she enjoys fun! - but she does prepare HARD for matches, and can brood like nobody's business after disappointing losses. Meanwhile the shenanigansy side of wrestling, your dance-offs and blow up dolls and lightsaber duels and what have you, just kind of nonplus her. She doesn't really play along with stuff like that; she'll just stand back and watch and let the others get on with it until they're ready to fight again. Her disinterest in such things might be connected to the fact she's not very adventurous. She's definitely the kind of person who always orders the same thing off the menu. She doesn't care for travelling, and the idea of competing internationally is something she's always found intimidating, which has definitely hindered her career. Admittedly, though, one area in which she's extremely adventurous is when it comes to the kinds of in-ring challenges she's willing to take on, especially the kinds of matches she's willing to wrestle in.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS: Kayo's been wrestling a long time, but she's never broken the glass ceiling to become a major name. Part of that might be that she's never really focused on trying to make a name for herself outside of Japan, minus a few short runs in South Korea, and at that she spent the first half of her career very much focused in Tokyo and the second half focused in her hometown of Kobe. As such, she's well known and well respected in those regions, but not so much elsewhere. Arcadia's a stage the likes of which she hasn't trod in some time, and her primary motivation is to show the world what it's missed with her.
GIMMICK DESCRIPTION: Trickster spirit, drawing on imagery of the animal-kami of Japanese folklore, particularly the kitsune and tenko. Like those spirits, she's wily and deceptive, but ultimately on the side of good. All of this is inspired by family stories, since she's descended from a line of Shinto priests. Part of the reason she adopts that imagery to is to continue the family trade in a manner more befitting a less spiritual age.
MOVESET INFORMATION
FINISHERS
PRIMARY FINISHER: "Spirit Possession" - Inverted Indian deathlock with double chickenwing [this www.youtube.com/watch?v=boer_Ie7MDE but with the Indian deathlock correctly applied >.>].
SECONDARY FINISHER: Running air raid crash (only on light opponents).
DESPERATION FINISHER: "Kitsunebi" - Over the shoulder crossface chickenwing [Alex Shelley's Border City Stretch / Johnny Gargano's Garga-No Escape / Drew McIntyre's Iron Maiden], often as a counter to an opponent's big move.
FINAL FINISHER: "Phantom Iris: Black" - Elevated scorpion crosslock [Bull Nakano's Bull's Angelito / Paige's PTO] (only on light opponents).
SIGNATURES
1. "Clouded Moon's Gate" - Single leg Haas of pain [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W41_56nbl8k] (often used as setup for Spirit Possession, Phantom Iris: Red or Phantom Iris: Black).
2. "Ghost Wedding" - Diving flipping senton bomb.
3. "Phantom Iris: Red" - Elevated scorpion crossface [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykI4Q60hCS4] (only on light opponents).
4. "Tenko's Justice" - Kayo stands over a prone opponent and grapevines one of their arms with one of her own to keep them in place and put tension on their back, then gives them a kerb stomp to the back of the head. Can be done with repeated stomps.
5. Keylock.
REGULAR MOVESET
1. Stomps to a downed opponent's arms/legs, especially on the joints.
2. Spinning arm/leg holds.
3. Suplexes (mainly ones which rely more on positioning more than strength, e.g. backdrop, exploder, northern lights).
4. Takedowns like legwseeps, space tornadoes and huracanranas, transitioned into submissions.
5. Americana.
6. Basement dropkick to the ankles or knees, to drop an opponent.
7. Boston crab.
8. Bow and arrow choke.
9. Chop Block.
10. Diving tornado DDT.
11. Dropkick (standing, missile, shotgun).
12. Flying armbar.
13. Grounded headscissors.
14. Hiptoss into kneeling shoulder lock.
15. Huracanrana pin.
16. Inverted indian deathlock.
17. Leaping baseball slide.
18. Roundhouse kick.
19. Running high kick.
20. Omoplata.
21. Seated armbar.
22. Sleeper.
23. Slingshot crossbody.
24. Slingshot senton.
25. Spinning back kick.
ENTRANCE INFORMATION
ENTRANCE THEME: "Cannibal Coast" by Aural Vampire
ANNOUNCER INTRODUCTION: | ERIN LAMBERT: From Kobe, weighing one hundred and forty-two pounds... "Mayonaka no Kitsune"... KAAAYYYOOO.. TABUCHIIIIII!!
ENTRANCE DESCRIPTION:
Coloured lights around the arena begin pulsing in time to the electronic intro of Aural Vampire's "Cannibal Coast", and when the beat kicks in a couple of second later counterpointing the synth bass, white and red lights flash around the stage along with it. The two sets of lights alternate until the 10 second mark, when they all flare on and stay on when the main riff kicks in. At that moment, Kayo Tabuchi sweeps onto the stage, spinning round like she's dancing, dipping low and bobbing to the beat. Her face is obscured with a kitsune-styled luchador mask with a peak reminiscent of an eboshi hat, and she has a long, draping, open robe over her ring gear. She straightens up and poses at the head of the entranceway, thrusting one hand into the air and spreading a fan with a scene of foxes, while she casts her other arm behind herself dramatically. Then as the vocals begin she snaps the fan back closed again and begins jogging towards the ring, hugging one side to slap the outstretched hands of fans with both palms on the way.
Closer to the ring she breaks off to cross to the other side, to favour the fans there too, before she darts to the ring as the song's chorus begins and in one fluid motion spins herself up into a kneeling position on the apron. She casts a look around before ducking through the ropes and crossing to a corner, where she climbs up and repeats her pose, holding it long enough for the crowd to get pictures before rushing to the opposite corner and repeating. Then, at last, she drops to the ring, stashes her fan in a pocket inside her robe, then removes both it and her mask and passes them down to an attendant at ringside.
> Before the match starts, she'll bow to the opponent and/or offer to shake their hand, unless it's someone she really doesn't like. For those big matches where everyone's announced once they're already in the ring, she'll keep her mask on until her name is called, and raise it up in the air at that point.
CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRANCE DESCRIPTION:
Coloured lights around the arena begin pulsing in time to the electronic intro of Aural Vampire's "Cannibal Coast", and when the beat kicks in a couple of second later counterpointing the synth bass, white and red lights flash around the stage along with it. The two sets of lights alternate until the 10 second mark, when they all flare on and stay on when the main riff kicks in. At that moment, Kayo Tabuchi sweeps onto the stage, spinning round like she's dancing, dipping low and bobbing to the beat. Her face is obscured with a kitsune-styled luchador mask with a peak reminiscent of an eboshi hat, and she has a long, draping, open robe over her ring gear. Visible beneath the robe is her title belt, strapped around her waist. She straightens up and poses at the head of the entranceway, thrusting one hand into the air and spreading a fan with a scene of foxes, while she casts her other arm behind herself dramatically for just a moment before bringing it down to gesture at the championship she currently holds. Then as the vocals begin she snaps the fan back closed again and begins jogging towards the ring, hugging one side to slap the outstretched hands of fans with both palms on the way.
Closer to the ring she breaks off to cross to the other side, to favour the fans there too, before she darts to the ring as the song's chorus begins and in one fluid motion spins herself up into a kneeling position on the apron. She casts a look around before ducking through the ropes and crossing to a corner, where she climbs up and raises her fan up in one hand and the title belt, held by the faceplate, in the other. She holds the pose long enough for the crowd to get pictures before rushing to the opposite corner and repeating. Then, at last, she drops to the ring, stashes her fan in a pocket inside her robe, then removes both it and her mask and passes them down to an attendant at ringside. Last of all, she stares into her championship one last time for luck, then hands it over to the referee.
BIOGRAPHY
Kayoko Tabuchi's story starts much the same way as a lot of other wrestlers - a childhood fan of the wrestling she watched on TV, she went to train in the discipline herself after she finished at school. But one slight difference is that her trainer was none other than the great Ryoma Arino. She particularly favoured submission over other aspects of wrestling, and the master technician known as Papa helped her understand the depth of the science at play in her holds, giving her an outstanding technical grounding. Thanks to this, and her imagery drawing on her family's legacy as Shinto shrine attendants, she quickly started making a name for herself on the indies around Tokyo Bay (the area to which she had moved, seeking her fame) and it wasn't long before she landed tryouts with Tokyo Pure Joshi. After a couple of years she was a staple of the organisation, and gained repute for her matches in the Kanto Championship division - particularly those against her fierce rival, Itsumi Hayashi.
Kayo had always had some degree of interest in garbage wrestling, primarily for the intensity of the challenge. Feeling that her rivalry with the dangerous Itsumi required her to get both tougher and more able to cause harm to her enemy, she decided to take it up herself… but when she broached this with Ryoma, the staunch traditionalist absolutely refused to have any part in it. So Kayo instead went to Akitoshi Takayama, known as the "Iron Ogre" for his brutal but effective training, to prepare her body for the deathmatch scene. This paid dividends, with Kayo proving a natural in the field and cementing her place as one of TPJ's top midcarders.
After TPJ folded she, like much of the roster, transitioned to its spiritual successor Kansai Star Pro - based in her hometown of Kobe. Being a local gave Kayo some locker room leader credibility among the roster, especially as many of them were new rookies from Cannonball Kayama and Harumi Gensai's Kansai Star Dojo. With the respect of many of her younger coworkers, and as a senior member of Kayama's unit Meiyo*stars, Kayo has blossomed into the role of a wily veteran in K*PRO. 2017 saw her finally claim her first top tier title, the wUc Joshi Star Championship - taking it from none other than her lifetime nemesis, Itsumi Hayashi.
When Kayama arranged for Candy Mitsuyoshi to be taken on by Arcadia PRO, Kayo volunteered to be the one to go with her to try to keep her focused and motivated, seeing the opportunity for new challenges and new things to learn, and just maybe, get her name a bit more out there internationally. For now, Kayo's only with Arcadia for shows run in Japan and South Korea, but she definitely has a view to finally conquering her apprehension about wrestling in the rest of the world.
Kayo has a long term boyfriend, a middle-tier employee in an Osakan advertising company. They have one son together, aged 6 as of May 2018.