Thoughts on REINA's demise

Ah REINA...

In the current dying joshi landscape, REINA is the next to go. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long.

REINA is yet another Yumiko Hotta led promotion which seemed like a bad idea from the start. Just to show you what a bad idea this was in advance, I'll break it down:

1. Joshi and wrestling's overall situation - Worldwide, wrestling is in a rough state right now. It's not drawing and aside from Wrestlemania, it's not going to. The same thing applies to japan and even more so applies to joshi, which is a niche of a niche. Starting a promotion at this time seeks like a risky venture and is not one I would consider trying, unless my name was Rossy Ogawa and I was running Stardom.

2. Bringing in mexican wrestlers to anchor your cards - I like Lucha. I think it's great and when luchadores are brought into other styles, it can work out really well, but let's face it, chances are it's not going to draw. Unless your name is Mil Mascaras in Japan, it just isn't happening, and even if it is, you are probably looking at Shin Kiba tops. For those of you who have never been to Japan, Japan isn't cheap. You are looking at a $1,000+ plane ride then expensive hotels and other things with the keyword being expensive. Why bring in a random midcard woman wrestler from CMLL when you could bring in an Aja Kong who is atleast a name that might have value and will save you thousands of dollars in expenses? And let's remember here that they didn't just bring in one foreigner who is expensive in their own right, they brought in sometimes 2-5 a show. That's a minimum extra $2,000 and for what? Nothing. No one cares about  Marcela in Mexico and no one cares about her in Japan.

3. Trying to use rookies who have histories of quitting or just plain sucking - Everyone deserves a second chance. Some girls like Akira Hokuto ran away 3 or 4 times from the dojo back in the day and still ended up okay, but Aoi Ishibashi and Natsumi Kawano are not nor ever going to be Akira Hokuto. Let's not even talk about using BASARA who may have the distinction of being the worst decision maker in all of joshi, and you are setting yourself up for problems.

4. Buying stupid things - Not only would I not waste my time on some of those girls, I also wouldn't waste my money on them by buying a dojo to train them in. Seriously, Mariko Yoshida trains girls, send them to her. Heck, even send them to the Ice Ribbon Dojo where they can get a more regular schedule.

Taking a look at these reasons and it's no surprise REINA is getting ready to close already. While I did think some of their ideas like pushing Ayumi Kurihara were good, a niche of a niche of a niche wrestling promotion was overall a bad idea. Had they just stuck with Kurihara and the rest of the IBUKI crew while trying to get some new younger talent, they might have delayed the process a little longer.

According to my sources, REINA may stay alive but will get rid of the japanese talent minus the IBUKI crew and will keep the mexican girls since the owner's wife likes them. Seems like a waste of time to me, but when making money is not your goal, I guess it really doesn't matter. The big question out of all of this is what happeneds to the Chiba Blue Field training facility. That should never be the biggest question when a promotion is dying.