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Slam Fest promises to be the perfect way for pro wrestling fans to get amped up in the week leading up to WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas.
Paragon Talent Group and Palms Casino Resort will host the festival, which begins April 15th to April 18th. Talent from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), House of Glory (HOG), World Wonder Ring Stardom and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling will be featured in several days of high-octane matches.
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Miyu Yamashita takes on Yuka Sakazaki during the Pro-Wrestling ‘Cyber Fight Festival’ at Saitama Super Arena on June 6, 2021 in Saitama, Japan. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
Miyu Yamashita will be among the TJPW stars in the mix. She returns to Las Vegas a year after battling WWE legend Nattie Niedhart at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XIII. She spoke with Pakinomist Digital about what it meant to be able to return to Las Vegas for the star-studded event.
“It feels special for me to be in America as the Tokyo Joshi team,” she said through her translator Koryu Haku. “In Vegas, we were there last year, same place. It’s a very special feeling – the atmosphere, the air, it being a special week. The fans are extra excited, extra hyped, and that translates directly to our motivation and fight in the ring.”
To the average American pro wrestling fan, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling may be unfamiliar. The all-female promotion itself was founded as a sister promotion to DDT Pro-Wrestling in 2012 and became its own independent business in 2015.
Yamashita joined the promotion in 2013 and quickly earned his way up the ranks. She became the first Tokyo Princess of Princess champion in 2016. She has held the title four times in total and has been a Princess tag team champion twice. She also won the Tokyo Princess Cup in 2023.
She gave an insight into what fans can expect from the TJPW wrestlers.
Miyu Yamashita celebrates her victory during the Pro-Wrestling ‘Cyber Fight Festival’ at Saitama Super Arena on June 6, 2021 in Saitama, Japan. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
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“The distinctive thing about Tokyo Joshi is that each wrestler has a very unique character,” she told Pakinomist Digital. “Their personality is very strong, and I feel that it will improve when we come to the U.S. Maybe everyone thinks about the language barrier and they try to feel more or try to make new fans understand who they are.
“So new fans who come to Tokyo Joshi, I think they’ll be able to identify a favorite, find someone they like because everyone is different, and especially when we come to the U.S., that difference also stands out because everyone is trying to be super expressive and trying to make people understand who they are.”
Yamashita will also be involved in BloodSport XV that same week, as will Neidhart.
It is unclear, at this time, whether they will face each other. But Yamashita said she hoped to meet the WWE star again.
“Nattie is someone I’ve watched from a very early stage in my career,” Yamashita told Pakinomist Digital. “And she’s someone that I not only look up to, I find very cool. She fights a style that I like. One of my goals is to be like her – a strong woman, a tough woman.
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“It was BloodSport with BloodSport rules, so one day I want to fight Nattie again in regular wrestling rules and pin her for one, two three.”
The Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling event will take place at the Pearl Concert Theater on April 16 from 11am PT to 1:15pm PT with a meet and greet afterwards.
