Actor

1 series in the catalog

Kaori Yoneyama (米山 香織, Yoneyama Kaori; born February 26, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, working as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. Yoneyama started her career in 1999, working with the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion. During the following years, she became a one-time JWP Openweight Champion, a one-time JWP Junior Champion, a five-time JWP Tag Team Champion, a one-time Pure-J Openweight Champion and a three-time Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion. Notable titles she has held outside of JWP include All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling's AJW Championship and AJW Tag Team Championship, Ice Ribbon's International Ribbon Tag Team Championship, Big Japan Pro Wrestling's BJW Women's Championship, and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling's High Speed Championship. In July 2011, Yoneyama announced that she would be ending her twelve-year career the following December. After a retirement tour, which took Yoneyama not only across the Japanese independent circuit, but also to the United States, she announced during her retirement ceremony that she had changed her mind and decided to continue her career. In January 2013, Yoneyama quit JWP to become a freelancer, working for promotions such as Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling, Oz Academy, Union Pro Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom.

Professional wrestling career

JWP Joshi Puroresu (1999–2013)

Yoneyama made her professional wrestling debut for the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion on November 29, 1999, in a match against Kayoko Haruyama, during which she suffered an eye injury, which forced her to take an early break from her new career. After making her return in early 2000, Yoneyama continued wrestling for JWP, but also made appearances in promotions such as All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion, JDStar, International Wrestling Association of Japan, Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (LLPW) and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling. Yoneyama won her first professional wrestling championship on July 6, 2002, when she defeated Erika Watanabe for the JWP Junior Championship. On July 20, Yoneyama and Kayoko Haruyama defeated Mika Nishio and Miyuki Fujii for the AJW Tag Team Championship, which was followed by Yoneyama defeating Fujii in a singles match on November 29 to win the AJW Championship. On January 2, 2003, Yoneyama won yet another title by defeating Princesa Sandy for the BJW Women's Championship. Her AJW Championship reign ended two days later, when she was defeated by Mika Nishio, and a month later she and Haruyama were stripped of the AJW Tag Team Championship.

On January 25, 2004, Yoneyama and Haruyama defeated Etsuko Mita and Misae Genki in a tournament final to win the JWP Tag Team Championship. On August 15, Yoneyama ended her two-year reign with the JWP Junior Championship by vacating the title. On December 12, Yoneyama and Haruyama lost the JWP Tag Team Championship to Akino and Tsubasa Kuragaki. Yoneyama would regain the title from Akino and Kuragaki on May 15, 2005, this time teaming with Toujyuki Leon. On August 7, Yoneyama defeated Tanny Mouse to become the 199th Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, but immediately afterwards vacated the title and entered a battle royal to determine the 200th champion. In the match, Mouse would regain the title. After a fifteen-month reign, Yoneyama and Leon lost the JWP Tag Team Championship to Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu on August 6, 2006. While still maintaining JWP as her home promotion, in September 2006, Yoneyama began working regularly for her friend Emi Sakura's new Ice Ribbon promotion. Yoneyama ended the year by winning the Daily Sports Christmas Cup. On February 28, 2007, Yoneyama and Toshie Uematsu won a one night tournament to become the number one contenders to the JWP Tag Team Championship. However, they would fail to capture the championship in their title match against Kazuki and Sachie Abe on March 21. In late 2007, Yoneyama began feuding with JWP Openweight Champion Azumi Hyuga, which led to a title match between the two on December 9, where Hyuga retained her title. In January 2009, Yoneyama debuted a new character, Yoneyamakao Lee, a Chinese wrestler supposedly signed to the nonexistent New Beijing Pro Wrestling (NBPW) promotion. The character mainly made appearances for DDT, the inventors of the NBPW concept. On July 19, Yoneyama and Emi Sakura defeated Command Bolshoi and Megumi Yabushita for the JWP Tag Team and Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championships. On August 2, Yoneyama defeated Pro Wrestling Wave representative Yumi Ohka in the finals to win the 2009 Natsu Onna Kettei Tournament. On September 20, Yoneyama made an appearance for NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, defeating Natsuki☆Taiyo for the NEO High Speed Championship. The following day, Yoneyama and Sakura won another championship by defeating Minori Makiba and Nanae Takahashi for Ice Ribbon's International Ribbon Tag Team Championship, meaning that, for the second time in her career, Yoneyama was now holding four different championships simultaneously. Yoneyama's and Sakura's three reigns ended on December 13, when they lost all of their tag team titles to Azumi Hyuga and Ran Yu-Yu.

On July 4, 2010, Yoneyama defeated Kayoko Haruyama in a tournament final to become the number one contender to the JWP Openweight Championship. On July 18, Yoneyama defeated Nanae Takahashi to win the JWP Openweight Championship for the first time. Afterwards, Yoneyama announced that start of the "Yoneyama Revolution", during which she offered to defend the Openweight Championship against any wrestler from any promotion. On July 24, Yoneyama entered the 2010 Natsu Onna Kettei Tag Tournament, teaming with JWP founder and promoter Command Bolshoi, with the two defeating Kayoko Haruyama and Tanny Mouse in their first round match. On August 15, Yoneyama and Bolshoi first defeated Dynamite Kansai and Tsubasa Kuragaki in the semifinals and then Kagetsu and Leon in the finals to win the Natsu Onna Kettei Tag Tournament. On September 19, Yoneyama defeated former partner Emi Sakura in a JWP Openweight Championship vs. Hair match; as a result, Sakura was shaved bald. On October 10, Yoneyama faced American Hailey Hatred in a match, where she put her JWP Openweight Championship and Hatred her Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) Women's and Totally Lethal Wrestling (TLW) World Women's Championships on the line. After the first match ended in a double knockout, Yoneyama and Hatred wrestled another match, which also ended in a double knockout, meaning that both champions kept their titles. On November 22, Yoneyama made her debut for Smash at Smash.10, where she teamed with Emi Sakura in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kana and Syuri. After the match, Yoneyama offered to defend the JWP Openweight Championship against Syuri. On November 30, Yoneyama and Hailey Hatred, known collectively as "Queens Revolution", defeated Cherry Bomb and Sexy Star at a Joshi 4 Hope event to become the inaugural TLW World Women's Tag Team Champions. Yoneyama returned to Smash on December 11 at Smash.11, where she teamed with Command Bolshoi to defeat Syuri and Nagisa Nozaki in a tag team match. On December 24 at Happening Eve, Yoneyama defeated Syuri in the main event to retain the JWP Openweight Championship. In January 2011, Yoneyama brought back the Yoneyamakao Lee character and, under it, began making regular appearances for Ice Ribbon. The following month, Yoneyamakao formed a tag team with Hikari Minami, which eventually led to the two unsuccessfully challenging Emi Sakura and Ray for the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship two months later. Back in JWP, Yoneyama and Hatred joined forces with Kyoko Kimura and Sayaka Obihiro to form a stable named Yoneyama Kakumei-gun ("Yoneyama Revolutionary Army"). On April 3, Yoneyama lost the JWP Openweight Championship to Leon in a match, which was also contested for the NEO High…