JDStar

JDStar (also spelt Jd'), was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. In the wake of the joshi puroresu boom of the early 1990s, several different groups opened with distinct approaches. The Jd'Star promotion, with its subtitle, "Beauty Athlete," summed up the company's approach.

History

Jaguar Yokota came out of retirement and announced the formation of her promotion, JDStar, in a press conference, in 1996. In the beginning, she was the focal point of most of their shows. She left the promotion in 1998, seeing that the promotion was going nowhere and worked freelance, which she still does today. After her departure, JDStar was bought by Kiyu Uji, and much like Yokota before him, the promotion got nowhere, even with the help of established stars Lioness Asuka, Aja Kong, and Chigusa Nagayo.

The company had a nice roster, but none with the ability or personalities to attract much attention. In 2001, Hidenobu Ichimaru bought JDStar from Kiyu Uji, and establish a new gimmick to promote JDStar's talent: the "Athtress" (athlete-actress), which used girls with model good looks to market them for their athleticism in the pro wrestling ring, and hopefully establish them as actresses. Coming mainly from an acting background, the first run of girls had few skills, and the fanfare dropped slightly. The "athtress" gimmick however, created more controversy than anything and the attempt to create an idol never quite caught. Also dropping was the wrestlers respect for Ichimaru, as several of the established wrestlers in joshi puroresu thought that the "Athtresses" should not be in the same ring as them.