Sumie Sakai was born November 24, 1971, in Suzuka, Mie, Japan. She is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She currently lives in the United States of America, appearing with professional wrestling promotions in the northeastern United States such as Women's Extreme Wrestling and CHIKARA.
Sumie started out practicing judo. From 1995 to 1997, she halted her judo practice to work with senior citizens at the Kasugamachi Care Center in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.
Sakai started wrestling when her friend and fellow judo practitioner, Megumi Yabushita, invited her to join the wrestling industry. Sakai trained with Jaguar Yokota and made her debut on April 20, 1997 with the Yoshimoto Ladies Pro Wrestling promotion, facing her friend Yabushita in the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. She went on to form a tag team with Yabushita named YABUSAKA.
Later in 1997, Sakai began wrestling for Yokota's JDStar promotion. While competing for JDStar, Sakai won both the JDStar Junior Championship and the JDStar Queen of the Ring Championship. She also won the Women's Championship of the affiliated American Wrestling Federation, the North American Women's Championship of the affiliated New England Championship Wrestling promotion and the Tag Team Championship of the affiliated Trans-World Wrestling Federation. In 1999, she suffered a broken leg while wrestling Lioness Asuka. While rehabilitating, Sakai became enamoured of American professional wrestling, and resolved to one day wrestle in the U.S.
While in Japan, Sakai faced several prominent male Japanese wrestlers, including Dick Togo, The Great Sasuke and Jinsei Shinzaki. She furthered her training under Bison Kimura, Cooga and Lioness Asuka.
Sumie's first match in the United States was in 2002. In 2003, she left JDStar and relocated to the United States.
In December 2003 and January 2004, Sakai appeared with Ring of Honor, defeating Alison Danger and losing to April Hunter. She returned to Ring of Honor on August 20, 2005, losing to Lacey at Do or Die 5.
On April 17, 2005, Sakai organised "WE LOVE SABU", a pair of shows held at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo. "WE LOVE SABU" was organised in support of Terry "Sabu" Brunk, an American wrestler who had been afflicted with a serious virus in the summer of 2004, with the proceeds of the show going towards paying Sabu's medical bills. The show featured Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling alumni such as Masato Tanaka and ECW alumni such as The Sandman. A similar benefit show entitled "A Night of Appreciation for Sabu" had taken place in the United States on December 12, 2004. Sabu eventually made a complete recovery, returning to the ring on May 21, 2005.
In 2005 and 2006, Sakai wrestled with the French Queens of Chaos promotion.
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Sakai made her mixed martial arts debut on October 14, 2006 in Boise, ID, fighting American kickboxer Amy Davis in a bout promoted by the Primal Tribe Fighting Club as part of the Xtreme Fight Series II event. The bout ended in a no contest at the end of the first three-minute long round after Davis suffered an arm injury and was unable to continue as a result of an armbar applied by Sakai.
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