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STARDOM STAR HANA KIMURA PASSES AWAY

STARDOM issued the following announcement:

Kimura, 22, had posted some disturbing material on social media yesterday that many believed at the time was a suicide attempt, which sadly was indeed the case.  Kimura had appeared on a Netflix reality series in Japan, Terrace House, during which there was an incident where she became very upset about her ring gear being ruined by a male contestant on the series doing laundry and tossed her gear (which was in the machine) in the dryer with his, not realizing it was there, causing it to shrink.  Kimura was attacked on social media for her reaction, which including her physically going after him and slapping him as she was upset because the gear was important to her, as she had worn it in her Tokyo Dome debut.

Kimura, who was still part of the reality series at the time of her death, had commented that she couldn't take the negative responses she was receiving on Twitter any more, stating they were in the hundreds.   The attacks certainly appear  to have been a major factor in her mental state when she attempted to take her life and she blamed them, saying farewell to her mother and everyone who had supported her.  Kimura's farewell message led to STARDOM getting calls and reps from the company immediately rushing to Kimura. 

This is a horrible, horrible tragedy.

Kimura, a second generation star (her mother was Kyoko Kimura) debuted in 2016 and had shown a ton of charisma in the ring working for STARDOM, where she held the Goddess of STARDOM title and was a two-time Artist of STARDOM Champion.   She was very much one of the top stars of the promotion and was going to be a central piece of the company going forward.

Kimura grew up around the business as she would travel every weekend to shows with her mother, who suggested Kimura try pro wrestling after her interest in dance waned in High School.  She initially turned down the idea, but later reconsidered, looking at professional wrestling as a possibility after visiting at a show her mother was working and became inspired by current WWE NXT star Io Shirai's work in the ring.  At that point, she decided to try because she wanted to see what it would be like working in the ring.

Kimura noted in interviews later that the training to learn wrestling was harsh but she had promised her mother she would give it three years and at times, talked about wrestling for nine years before getting out of the ring.  She was four years into her career when she passed away.   

Kimura had appeared on the 2020 New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom event this past January, teaming with Giulia in a losing effort to Arisa Hoshiki and Mayu Iwatani and had come to the United States in 2019 to represent STARDOM in Ring of Honor on several events, including the G1 Supercard event in Madison Square Garden Wrestlemania 35 weekend.  Kimura had considered wrestling in the States to be a major deal and often credited STARDOM with giving her the platform to make that happen and had posted a number of excited videos from NYC at the time. 

Kimura had become the centerpiece of STARDOM's Tokyo Cyber Squad stable last year and won the promotion's 5 Star Grand Prix tournament last year.    She had also toured the UK with the Pro Wrestling EVE promotion.  Beyond STARDOM,  she had also appeared quite a bit for JWP in Japan, holding multiple titles there as well as well as smaller promotions such as WRESTLE-1, Sendai Girls and AGZ. 

Although she did not officially become a wrestler until 2016, Kimura did end up the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion (think WWE 24/7 title but weirder) several times in 2005 when she was just seven years old.

PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to Kimura's family, friends and fans. 

If you are feeling suicidal, please ask for help.  In the United States, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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