Birth name Kaori Housako Billed weight 52 kg (115 lb) Height 1.55 m Trained by Fuka Kakimoto | Billed height 155 cm (5 ft 1 in) Debut January 7, 2012 Weight 52 kg | |
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Born September 23, 1988 (age 28)
Hikari, Yamaguchi ( 1988-09-23 ) Ring name(s) Doku
Kairi Hojo
Kairian
Kairian 3.0
Pirates Kaiser Similar Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani, Act Yasukawa, Yoko Bito, Kyoko Kimura Profiles | ||
Kaori Housako (宝迫 香織, Hōsako Kaori, born September 23, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Kairi Hojo (宝城 カイリ, Hōjō Kairi). She made her debut in January 2012 for the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, where, over the next five years, she became a one-time World of Stardom Champion, three-time Goddess of Stardom Champion and a three-time Artist of Stardom Champion, while also winning the 2015 5★Star GP and 2016 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League. In March 2017, Housako signed a three-year deal with WWE.
Contents
- Early life
- World Wonder Ring Stardom 2011present
- WWE 2017present
- Personal life
- Filmography
- Television
- In wrestling
- Championships and accomplishments
- References
In 2016, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter called Hojo and her fellow Stardom workers Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani "three of the best wrestlers in the world".
Early life
Housako has an extensive sports background in yachting, competing in intercollegiate and national competitions, while also taking part in world championships with dreams of making it to the Olympics. After graduating from Hosei University, Housako began pursuing a career in acting. She also did some theater work and one of her performances, where she performed as a professional wrestling villain, was seen by Fuka, the general manager of the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion, who invited Housako to one of their events. She quickly fell in love with professional wrestling's aspect of combining acting with sports and decided to become a wrestler herself.
World Wonder Ring Stardom (2011–present)
Housako started training with Stardom in 2011. On November 14, 2011, she passed her "pro test" and graduated as part of Stardom's third class of trainees, alongside Act Yasukawa, Natsumi Showzuki and Yuuri Haruka. Housako, now working under the ring name "Kairi Hojo", made her debut for Stardom on January 7, 2012, losing to Yuzuki Aikawa. Playing off her yachting background, Hojo was dubbed "Pirate Princess". She quickly became a founding member of the Zenryoku Joshi stable, led by Aikawa. In November 2012, Hojo formed a new tag team with Natsumi Showzuki, with the two finishing second in the 2012 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League. Zenryoku Joshi disbanded in January 2013, when Hojo unsuccessfully challenged her stablemate Yuzuki Aikawa for the Wonder of Stardom Championship. Hojo won her first title on April 29, 2013, at Ryōgoku Cinderella, where she and Showzuki, billed collectively as "Ho-Show Tennyo", defeated Hailey Hatred and Kyoko Kimura for the Goddess of Stardom Championship. Their reign, however, lasted only a month, before Showzuki was sidelined with a cervical spine injury and she and Hojo were stripped of the title. Showzuki never returned from her injury, instead resigning from Stardom.
On June 23, 2013, Hojo teamed with Kaori Yoneyama and Yuhi to defeat Christina Von Eerie, Hailey Hatred and Kyoko Kimura for the vacant Artist of Stardom Championship. They lost the title to Kimura, Alpha Female and The Female Predator "Amazon" on November 4. In May 2014, Hojo made her Mexican debut by representing Stardom in the DragonMania 9 and Lucha Fan Fest 8 events. In August, Stardom's roster was split in half as part of a storyline rivalry between older wrestlers born in the Shōwa period and younger wrestlers born in the Heisei period. Hojo, having been born in the Shōwa period, aligned herself with the likes of Nanae Takahashi and Miho Wakizawa. On August 10, Hojo regained the Goddess of Stardom Championship, when she and Takahashi defeated Alpha Female and Kyoko Kimura. After an eight-month reign, Hojo was again stripped of the title, when Takahashi was sidelined with an ankle injury.
In February 2015, following an incident between Act Yasukawa and Yoshiko, Hojo was named an intermediary between the wrestlers and management in order to bring the two sides closer. Following the incident, Stardom's top title, the World of Stardom Championship, was declared vacant with a tournament announced to determine the new champion. On March 29, Hojo first defeated Kyoko Kimura and then Io Shirai to win the World of Stardom Championship for the first time. After a four-month reign, she lost the title to Meiko Satomura on July 26. Hojo bounced back by winning Stardom's top singles tournament, the 5★Star GP, by defeating Hudson Envy in the finals on September 23. At the end of the year, Hojo was named Stardom's MVP of 2015. In January 2016, Hojo came together with former rivals Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani to form a new stable. On February 28, 2016, the three, now billed collectively as "Threedom" (a combination of the words "Three" and "Stardom"), defeated Evie, Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kellie Skater to win the Artist of Stardom Championship. In April, Hojo, along with Iwatani and Shirai, traveled to the United States to take part in events held by Lucha Underground and Vendetta Pro Wrestling. On May 15, Hojo won another title, when she defeated Santana Garrett for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, winning the title in her fourth attempt. On August 8, Hojo made her debut for the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), defeating Jungle Kyona at an event in Shanghai. On September 3, Hojo defeated Io Shirai to take over the leadership of the Red Stars block in the 2016 5★Star GP. However, during the match, Hojo suffered a concussion, which forced her to pull out of her remaining matches, eliminating her from the tournament. On October 2, Threedom lost the Artist of Stardom Championship to Hana Kimura, Kagetsu and Kyoko Kimura in their third defense.
On November 11, Hojo and Yoko Bito defeated Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani in the finals to win the 2016 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League. Following the match, Shirai turned on Iwatani and announced that Threedom was history. On December 22, Hojo and Bito defeated Kagetsu and Kyoko Kimura to become the new Goddess of Stardom Champions. They lost the title to Hiroyo Matsumoto and Jungle Kyona in their second defense on March 5, 2017. Also in March, it was reported that Hojo had told Stardom's office that she was leaving the promotion for WWE the following month.
WWE (2017–present)
In October 2016, it was reported that Hojo had been contacted and offered a WWE contract, starting in 2017. Reportedly, Hojo had stated that she was interested in going to WWE, but had not made a final decision yet. There were also questions over whether she could pass the company's physical examination due to her two concussions during the past two years. In March 2017, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Hojo had signed a three-year contract with WWE.
Personal life
Housako has a sister, who is three years older than her. She is an ambassador to her hometown of Hikari, Yamaguchi.