Participants announced for Hana Kimura memorial show, Jungle Kyona to appear

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2022/02/08/participants-announced-for-hana-kimura-memorial-show-jungle-kyona-to-appear/

Wrestlers and organizations announced for the second Hana Kimura tribute show.

This coming May, for the second consecutive year, the life of the late Hana Kimura will be celebrated via a memorial show. This year’s event is scheduled for May 23rd at Korakuen Hall and a press conference was held to unveil more details about the forthcoming event.

Hana’s mother, Kyoko Kimura spoke at the presser and touched on the 2021 event and how heartwarming that was for her. She said there were wrestlers who wanted to compete at last year’s event, but could not appear due to scheduling conflicts. The 5/23 show is titled ‘Bagus.’

Last year, we were able to share a really heartwarming and wonderful feeling with everyone, but there were anniversary of the event, I decided to hold it. The name of the tournament, ‘Bagus,’ means ‘the best’ in Indonesian, and I hope we can literally share the best space together.

Confirmed for this year’s show are Saori Anou, ASUKA (freelancer), Kaori Yoneyama and Ram Kaicho. The PURE-J, Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling WAVE and Wrestling of Darkness 666 promotions are contributing to the show as well.

Jungle Kyona is scheduled to appear. Kyona departed STARDOM in September 2021 and she has not wrestled since October 2020. Kagetsu is going to serve as a special ambassador for the show.

Saori Anou was in attendance for the press conference on behalf of the wrestlers and spoke about her relationship with Hana:

I’m confident that I’ve for hours when we were just starting out. I still love Hana-chan to this day, and when I see her smile in full bloom, I naturally have the biggest smile on my face. So I’d like to make it a great show for Hana-chan so that she can watch me with a smile on her face.

Hana passed away at the age of 22 on May 23rd, 2020.