Rina Yamashita (山下リナ, Yamashita Rina) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for her time in Pro Wrestling Wave.[4]

Rina Yamashita
Yamashita in April 2023
Born (1989-03-12) March 12, 1989 (age 35)[1]
Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Rina Yamashita
Billed height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)[2]
Billed weight77 kg (170 lb)
Trained bySawako Shimono
Debut2013[3]

Professional wrestling career

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Independent circuit (2013–present)

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Pro Wrestling Wave (2013–2018)

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Yamashita made her professional wrestling debut at Pro Wrestling Wave's WAVE GAMI Libre 6, a house show from November 4, 2013, where she fell short to Kana.[5] She continued to make notable appearances for the promotion such as at WAVE GAMI Libre - Lucky 7 from December 30, 2013, where she participated in a 77-person rumble match, competing against other popular superstars such as Danshoku Dino, Isami Kodaka, Minoru Suzuki, Sanshiro Takagi and others.[6]

Yamashita took part in various notable tournaments of the promotion. She started with Catch The Wave 2014 Young Block, where she competed against Kaho Kobayashi, Sumire Natsu, Risa Sera, Fairy Nipponbashi and Shiori Akiba, scoring a total of five points.[7] At the 2015 edition of seniors, Yamashita entered last as chosen by Mikiko Futagami and finished on the last position after competing against Kana, Hikaru Shida, Yumi Ohka, Ryo Mizunami, Misaki Ohata, Kaho Kobayashi, Maika Iida, Cherry and Sakura Hirota.[8] Her best result was at the 2018 editionwhere she placed herself in the Block A, competing against Nagisa Nozaki, Ryo Mizunami, Yumi Ohka, Asuka and Miyuki Takase, winning it with a total of nine points, and defeating Ayako Hamada in the finals to win the tournament.[9] She also competed in the 2014 Dual Shock Wave tournament where she teamed up with Sawako Shimono as Satsuma Kotsuji-gun, fighting Kyoko Kimura and Tomoka Nakagawa into a time-limit draw, succeeded by Yamashita falling short to Nakagawa in an overtime singles match.[10] At the 2015 edition, she teamed up with Kaho Kobayashi as Fafrotskies, falling short to Haru☆kura (Kayoko Haruyama and Tsubasa Kuragaki) in a first-round match on October 2.[11] At the 2016 edition, she scored her best performance, teaming up with Dynamite Kansai as GReeeeN, defeating Chōjin Shitei Konbi (Mika Iida and Yuki Miyazaki) in the first-round match,[12] fWo (Fairy Nipponbashi and Kyusei Sakura Hirota) in the second-round match,[13] obtaining a bye victory in the semi-finals, and finally picking up the decisive victory against Redbull (Chihiro Hashimoto and Ryo Mizunami) in the finals on October 10.[14]

Various promotions (2014–present)

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Yamashita began working for other promotions such as Pro Wrestling Noah, where at SEMex In Shinjuku Vol. 3 on October 2, 2014, she fell short to Kana.[15] Another notable promotion for which she worked was JWP Joshi Puroresu, her best victory taking place at JWP Spring Hurricane In Osaka on April 26, 2015, where she defeated Rydeen Hagane to win both JWP Junior Championship and Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship.[16] On May 17, 2015, Yamashita competed for Oz Academy at OZ Academy Reincarnation, event where she teamed up with Kaori Yoneyama and Sakura Hirota, falling short to Manami Toyota, Aja Kong and Dynamite Kansai.[17] She worked a couple of matches for All Japan Pro Wrestling, at AJPW Starting Over 2017, where on November 6, she teamed up with Itsuki Aoki, first falling short to Fairy Nihonbashi and Saori Anou, but getting revenge in a second match against them pulling out a victory in less than 5 seconds.[18] At Seadlinnng Grow Together! 2021 on March 17, Yamashita fell short to Asuka, failing to win the vacant Beyond the Sea Single Championship.[19]

Ice Ribbon (2014–present)

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Yamashita also works for Ice Ribbon, making sporadic appearances such as at Ice Ribbon #1117 from May 9, 2021, where she teamed up with fellow Rebel X Enemy stablemates Maika Ozaki and Ram Kaicho to defeat Banny Oikawa, Miku Aono and Hiroyo Matsumoto in a six-man tag team match.[20] At Ice Ribbon #1100 ~ RE:BORN 2021 on February 20, she unsuccessfully challenged Tsukasa Fujimoto for the ICE Cross Infinity Championship.[21]

Game Changer Wrestling (2022–present)

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At GCW Homecoming: Part 1 on 13 August 2022, Yamashita defeated Alex Colon to win the GCW Ultraviolent Championship.[22]

Championships and accomplishments

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Yamashita is a former one-time Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion
 
... and a Game Changer Ultraviolent Champion
  • Reina

References

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  1. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Rina Yamashita • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  2. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Rina Yamashita/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  3. ^ "Joshi Wrestler Profiles - Rina Yamashita". joshicity.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  4. ^ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). "Rina Yamashita Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  5. ^ Purolove (November 4, 2013). ""GAMI LIBRE 6", 04.11.2013 Osaka BODYMAKER COLOSSEUM #2". purolove.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  6. ^ Quebrada (December 30, 2013). "WAVE GAMI*Libre LUCKY 7 GAMI Retirement Match DVD 12/30/13 Korakuen Hall". quebrada.net. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  7. ^ Pro Wrestling Wave. "いきなりフライデーナイト!vol.2". pro-w-wave.com (in Japanese). Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  8. ^ "8時だョ!全員集合!~Sakurasaku 3.6~". Pro Wrestling Wave (in Japanese). Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  9. ^ "Catch the WAVE 2018~波女決勝戦~飯田美花引退「ごちそうさまでした!」". Pro Wrestling Wave (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  10. ^ "小林香萌が飛鳥プロジェクトとWaveのダブル所属になることを発表!Dual Shock Wave 2014の組み合わせが決定!". Battle News (in Japanese). September 17, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  11. ^ "いきなりフライデーナイト Oct.~ハルヒHappyBirthdayWave~". Pro Wrestling Wave (in Japanese). Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  12. ^ "9・22 Wave新木場大会 水波&橋本vs春日&長浜 フェアリー&乱丸vs桜花&夏 山縣&下野vs文子&朱崇花 山下&関西vs飯田&宮崎". Battle News (in Japanese). September 24, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  13. ^ "大阪ラプソティー vol.31". Pro Wrestling Wave (in Japanese). Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  14. ^ "10・10 Wave後楽園大会 【Wave認定シングル】山縣vs米山 【Dual Shock Waveトーナメント決勝】関西&山下vs水波&橋本". Battle News (in Japanese). October 13, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  15. ^ Dark angel (October 3, 2014). "Pro Wrestling NOAH: Results «SEMex in Shinjuku Vol. 3» -02/10/2014". superluchas.com. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  16. ^ Taigermen (April 28, 2015). "RISULTATI: JWP SPRING HURRICANE IN OSAKA 26/04/2015". zonawrestling.net (in Italian). Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  17. ^ Taigermen (May 18, 2015). "RISULTATI: OZ ACADEMY REINCARNATION 17/05/2015". zonawrestling.net (in Italian). Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  18. ^ Dark Angelita (November 8, 2017). "AJPW: Resultados «Starting Over 2017» – Sigue el torneo junior en parejas". superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  19. ^ Dark angel (March 22, 2021). "SEAdLINNNG: "Grow Together!" Couples tournament and new monarch". superluchas.com. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  20. ^ Ice Ribbon (May 9, 2021). 2021年05月09日 開始時間 12時00分~ / 開場時刻 11時30分 アイスリボン1117 in SKIPシティ. iceribbon.com (in Japanese). Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  21. ^ Daly, Wayne (February 20, 2021). "Ice Ribbon Results: New Ice Ribbon #1100 ~ Re:Born 2021 – Tokyo, Japan (2/20)". wrestling-news.net. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  22. ^ Defelice, Robert (August 13, 2022). "New GCW Ultraviolent Champion Crowned At GCW Homecoming Part 1". Fightful. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  23. ^ "Ironman Heavymetalweight Title (Japan)". wrestling-titles.com. April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  24. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 27, 2021). "FantastICE Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  25. ^ Samurai TV [@samuraitv] (December 31, 2020). 2020年の「輝く!日本インディー大賞」の結果は以下となりました。 [Here are the results of the 2020 Japan Indie Awards.] (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
  26. ^ Wrestling Titles. "JWP Junior Title (Japan)". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  27. ^ Wrestling Titles (April 4, 2021). "OZ Academy Tag Team Title (Japan)". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  28. ^ Oz Academy (May 9, 2021). OZアカデミー女子プロレス新宿大会 OZ 25th~春嵐強襲~. oz-academy.com. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  29. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "OZ Academy Tag Team Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  30. ^ Wrestling Titles (March 20, 2021). "POP (Princess of Pro-Wrestling) Title (Japan)". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  31. ^ Wrestling Titles (August 10, 2020). "Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Title (Japan)". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  32. ^ 2021.2.9 東京・後楽園ホール. pw-freedoms.co.jp (in Japanese). February 9, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  33. ^ Ross, Patrick (October 27, 2022). "Full 2022 PWI Women's 150 list revealed". aiptcomics.com. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  34. ^ Ruth, Sondra (September 14, 2023). "Complete 2023 PWI 500 List Revealed, Top NJPW Star Absent". tjrwrestling.net. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  35. ^ "2018年7月25日(水)東京・後楽園ホール". Seadlinnng (in Japanese). July 26, 2018.
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