History Wrestling / LionessAsuka

* LeotardOfPower: Usually striped, had plenty enough to keep it interesting.

* UrExample: Innovator of the towerhacker bomb.

* {{Awesome McCool Name}}: In the Puro/Joshi tradition of "Kill You My Last Name".

As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lioness_Asuka The Other Wiki]]. Not to be confused with Wrestling/KanakoUrai, whose Wrestling/{{WWE}} ring name of Asuka was a ShoutOut to her.

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Early in AJW she inspired many young girls to become pro wrestlers as The Crush Gals overcame the Atrocious Alliance trying to run roughshod over the company. But then she was forced to retire. That Asuka continued to work for AJW almost exclusively for the first two years of her return suggested she wasn't ''that'' bitter about it but when Nagagyo founded her own company capable of standing on near equal footing with AJW, GAEA, which largely made up of women inspired by The Crush Gals, Asuka lead a hostile takeover with the help of other AJW veterans, which included some of The Crush Gals' old Atrocious Alliance enemies, in order to put the new comers out.

* {{Trope 2000}}: When she and Nagayo reformed their team in the year 2000, they changed the team's name to Crush 2000.
* UrExample: Innovator of the towerhacker bomb

** A fairly minor but memorable one with Yuko Kosugi in Jd', FMW and FMW {{spinoff}} Fuyuki Army. The ''main'' rivalry in all three enterprises was between Lioness Asuka and Kosugi's tag team partner Jaguar Yokota but there was the question over whether Kosugi or Asuka had the better diving foot stomp. On that front, Kosugi was probably the winner, but Asuka still won the majority of their matches, including all of their one on one matches.

* VillainTeamUp: Super Star Unit took on Akira Hokuto and Las Cachorras Orientales in their efforts to retain control of GAEA. That ended being a mistake, as though Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda were old friends Asuka proved unable to get along with Hokuto, the group's defacto leader. Asuka went so far as to personally tag with the notorious Mayumi Ozaki, which proved to be an even bigger mistake.

** Averted in Jd', where Lioness Asuka's only reign with the TWF World Women's Tag Team Titles was the result of a victory during over then champions Sumie Sakai and Megumi Yabushita by herself when Sakai was forced to forfeit due to an injury. Rather than defend the belts against tag teams solo Asuka awarded the titles to Wrestling/{{FMW}} wrestlers Crusher Maedomari and Drake Morimatsu.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lioness_Asuka The Other Wiki]].

'''Tomoko Kitamura''' (b. 1963) is a retired UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er best known for her work in Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling as '''Lioness Asuka.''' She debuted in 1980 and made an immediate impact, winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-j.html AJW Junior Title]] within her first year. She would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-s.html AJW Singles Title]] twice. In 1983, she and Chigusa Nagayo formed the TagTeam the Crush Gals, who would be hugely successful, both in terms of titles won and in terms of television ratings. They were 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/wwwa-t.html AJW WWWA Tag Team Champions]], and, ''long'' after their initial breakup, they won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/gaea/aaaw-t.html GAEA AAAW Tag Team Titles]]. Asuka also competed for Wrestling/AjaKong's [=ARSION=], [=NEO=], [=Jd'=] and various other promotions. She made her [=PPV=] debut in the women's match at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95'', where she was on Team Bertha Faye, and was the first one eliminated, courtesy of [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blayze]]. She was inducted into the AJW Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1999.

** Mariko Yoshida and Lioness Asuka usually worked together as a tag team, but Asuka's first order of business was [[TheWorfEffect proving]] that Yoshida was not "the best woman wrestler in Japan" ''[[YouAreNotReady just yet]]''. After that they beat Asuka's old buddies Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda for the Twin Star Of ARSION and stayed tight until Yoshida challenged Asuka for the Queen Of ARSION Title. Asuka retained the belt but lost her tag team partner.

* TenMinuteRetirement: She retired in 1989 but came back in 1994.
* ActionGirl: Being a female pro wrestling obviously calls for it, especially in Zenjo. To be a Zenjo breakout is extra special.

* BreakupBreakout: Averted. Nagayo found success on her own until she was forced into "retirement."
* CaptainErsatz: The Crash Gals were too good for ''Videogame/FireProWrestling'' to pass up.
* FinishingMove: K Driller, [=LSD=] II, [=LSD=] III, [=Towerhacker=] Bomb

** Raideen Array (sometimes referred to as Raijin Corps)

* [[DistaffCounterpart Queen]] [[KingOfBeasts Of Beasts]]: She's called ''Lioness'', after all.

!!! "[=Troperhacker=] Bomb":

* ActionGirl: Obviously
* {{Awesome McCool Name}}

* LeotardOfPower

'''Tomoko Kitamura''' (b. 1963) is a retired UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er best known for her work in Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling as '''Lioness Asuka.''' She debuted in 1980 and made an immediate impact, winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-j.html AJW Junior Title]] within her first year. She would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-s.html AJW Singles Title]] twice. In 1983, she and Chigusa Nagayo formed the TagTeam the Crush Gals, who would be hugely successful, both in terms of titles won and in terms of television ratings. They were 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/wwwa-t.html AJW WWWA Tag Team Champions]], and, ''long'' after their initial breakup, they won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/gaea/aaaw-t.html GAEA AAAW Tag Team Titles]]. Asuka also competed for [=ARSION=], [=NEO=], [=Jd'=] and various other promotions. She made her [=PPV=] debut in the women's match at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95'', where she was on Team Bertha Faye, and was the first one eliminated, courtesy of [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blayze]]. She was inducted into the AJW Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1999.

* TeenGenius: She was 16 when she had her first match.

* ChildProdigy: She was 16 when she had her first match.

!!! "Lioness Asuka's Tropes":

* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Nagayo's Red.

'''Tomoko Kitamura''' (b. 1963) is a retired UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er best known for her work in Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling as '''Lioness Asuka.''' She debuted in 1980 and made an immediate impact, winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-j.html AJW Junior Title]] within her first year. She would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/ajw-s.html AJW Singles Title]] twice. In 1983, she and Chigusa Nagayo formed the tag team the Crush Gals, who would be hugely successful, both in terms of titles won and in terms of television ratings. They were 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/zenjo/wwwa-t.html AJW WWWA Tag Team Champions]], and, ''long'' after their initial breakup, they won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/gaea/aaaw-t.html GAEA AAAW Tag Team Titles]]. Asuka also competed for [=ARSION=], [=NEO=], [=Jd'=] and various other promotions. She made her [=PPV=] debut in the women's match at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95'', where she was on Team Bertha Faye, and was the first one eliminated, courtesy of [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blayze]]. She was inducted into the AJW Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1999.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Nagayo had a huge feud after they split as a team.