Emi Motokawa

October 04, 1976

Emi Motokawa is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Sakura Emi. After starting her career in the International Wrestling Association of Japan, Sakura worked for several promotions across Japan, winning numerous titles, before founding her own promotion, Ice Ribbon. 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 record five-time International Ribbon Tag Team Champion. 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 Singles and NWA Pacific Women's Championships, which led to the Tokyo Sports magazine naming her the 2009 Joshi wrestler of the year. Sakura would later form the Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling promotion in Bangkok, Thailand. During 2012, Sakura also became a regular for the Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling (JWP) Project, winning the JWP Openweight Championship in October. More recently, she has made appearances for the American wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW).