Emi Sakura

Emi Sakura
Emi Sakura
	Sakura in April 2014
Birth name	Emi Motokawa
Born	October 4, 1976 (age 47); Kimitsu, Chiba, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Black Cherry #3; Emi Motokawa; Emi Sakura; Kyoko Inoue #5
Billed height	158 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Billed weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Billed from	Chiba, Japan
Trained by	Akio Sato
Debut	August 17, 1995

Emi Motokawa (元川恵美, Motokawa Emi, born October 4, 1976),^[1]^[2]^[3] better known by the ring name Emi Sakura (さくらえみ, Sakura Emi), is a Japanese professional wrestler performing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW),^[7] Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling and on the independent circuit.^[5] After starting her career in International Wrestling Association of Japan in August 1995, Sakura worked for several promotions across Japan, winning numerous titles, before founding her own promotion, Ice Ribbon, in early 2006. Sakura not only wrestled for the promotion, but was also solely responsible for training wrestlers for the promotion, where she went on to become a two-time ICE×60 Champion and a five-time International Ribbon Tag Team Champion.

During 2009, Sakura held not only both the ICE×60 and International Ribbon Tag Team Championships, but also the Daily Sports Women's and JWP Tag Team Championships and the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships, which led to the Tokyo Sports magazine naming her the 2009 joshi wrestler of the year. After six years with Ice Ribbon, Sakura left the promotion for "personal reasons" in January 2012. The following month, Sakura formed the Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling promotion in Bangkok, Thailand. During 2012, Sakura also became a regular for JWP Joshi Puroresu, winning the JWP Openweight Championship in October.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d さくらえみ. Ice Ribbon (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d さくらえみ. Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). January 1, 2013. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d さくらえみ. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference GTKN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c さくらえみ [EMI SAKURA]. Pro Wrestling Gatoh Move (in Japanese). Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
^ "#AEW Dark EPISODE 4: PITTSBURGH, PA". All Elite Wrestling. December 11, 2019. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019 – via YouTube.
^ "All Elite Wrestling Roster". All Elite Wrestling. All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved September 8, 2023.