In the vast, glitter-covered wilderness of joshi wrestling, Kakeru Sekiguchi is what happens when a theater kid learns how to dropkick you in a Santa costume. You won’t find her headlining the Tokyo Dome. You won’t hear her name whispered in hushed tones like Meiko or Aja. But Sekiguchi’s been quietly punching her way through Japan’s independent scene since 2017, slipping from faction to faction like a warlord with a short attention span and a bag of questionable fashion decisions.
Born on September 27, 1994, in Chiba—a town famous for Disneyland and spiritual regret—Sekiguchi got her start late by wrestling standards. But she brought with her a strange hybrid of showmanship, grit, and “I’ll wear antlers to the ring if I damn well feel like it” energy that made her impossible to ignore. Trained by Yumiko Hotta—a woman known for kicking people so hard their ancestors winced—Sekiguchi could’ve turned out a killer. Instead, she became something weirder. More unpredictable. A wildcard with wrestling boots and a cosplay drawer that looks like a fever dream exploded at Comic-Con.
Actwres Girl’Z: Where It All Started (And Never Quite Ended)
Her debut came in 2017, at AgZ Act 18. She lost to Asami Hisato, but that didn’t matter. Losing is practically a rite of passage in Actwres Girl’Z, where performance art and pro wrestling shake hands in a fog of glitter and dropkicks.
She competed in battle royals, gauntlets, and more “Act” events than any theater major with muscle tone. In 2020, at AWG Act 45, she was tossed into a 19-person battle royal that included veterans, rookies, and possibly a confused stagehand. Rina Amikura won, but Sekiguchi made sure her presence was known—because nothing says “I’m here to fight” like a body press from someone dressed like your anime nightmare.
Actwres girl’Z was more than a launchpad. It was a home. A strange, unstable, high-drama home where Kakeru Sekiguchi could be as theatrical as she wanted, so long as she remembered to throw a forearm once in a while.
Mission K4: A Faction with Attitude (and Matching Outfits)
When she wasn’t gallivanting through gauntlet matches, Sekiguchi found herself aligned with Mission K4, a stable of badass women who understood the importance of coordination—both in strikes and wardrobe.
With stablemates like Sonoko Kato, Mika Akino, and Kaho Kobayashi, Sekiguchi got her reps in tag matches that felt like carefully choreographed bar brawls. On December 30, 2020, at Oz Academy: The End of the Year, she and Kaho Kobayashi took home the Oz Academy Tag Team Championship. It was the kind of match that felt like four sisters fighting over the aux cable at full speed—and somehow Sekiguchi walked out with gold.
It was a rare piece of championship hardware in a career defined more by chaos than coronation. But it meant something. It meant that amidst the freelancing, the comedy matches, and the cosplay chaos, Sekiguchi could still throw down with the best of them.
Oz Academy: Getting Gritty in the Land of Mayhem
Oz Academy isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s the kind of promotion where veterans sharpen their elbows on your face, and stables like Ozaki-gun treat rules like they’re suggestions from a sleep-deprived manager. But Sekiguchi didn’t back down.
She debuted at OZ Academy Plum Hanasaku 2017, teaming with Mission K4 ally Sonoko Kato against the aforementioned Ozaki-gun. Spoiler alert: they lost. But Sekiguchi kept coming back, each match another notch in the belt of a woman who refused to be categorized.
In 2018, she challenged Hikaru Shida for the Openweight Championship in a rookie challenge match. Shida, who would go on to AEW stardom, slapped the challenge away—but Sekiguchi showed flashes of a woman who didn’t care about odds. Only outcomes.
The Indie Odyssey: A Tour of Mayhem and Mistletoe
Outside of her regular promotions, Sekiguchi’s indie resume reads like the itinerary of a wandering ronin with impulse control issues. She showed up at Wrestle-1’s Trans Magic Tour in 2018, teaming with Natsumi Maki against Hana Kimura and Saori Anou—a match where three out of four wrestlers looked like idols and the fourth (Sekiguchi) looked like she might headbutt you backstage for fun.
At LLPW-X Takako Inoue 30th Anniversary, she and Tomoko Watanabe lost to CRYSIS, featuring the ever-immortal Jaguar Yokota. But again—Kakeru wasn’t here for wins. She was here for war stories.
Her Christmas cosplay match in 2021 at YMZ Wrestling may be her most on-brand bout ever. An eight-person tag with Rina Yamashita, Asuka, Hikaru Sato, and more weirdness than a DDT street fight. Snowflakes, arm drags, and Yuletide suplexes. If wrestling is performance art, this was the Warhol meets Rudolph edition.
Tag Team Spirit and the Battle Royal Blues
Sekiguchi has always had a knack for tag matches. Maybe it’s the camaraderie. Maybe it’s the ability to hit someone from behind while your partner distracts the ref. Whatever the case, she’s been part of countless tag wars across WAVE, Oz Academy, Pure-J, and 2AW.
In 2021, she teamed with Shiori Asahi to beat Itsuki Aoki and Ricky Fuji in a 2AW retirement match. Later that year, at Pure-J Climax, she rejoined the Mission K4 army to defeat Kazuki, Momo Tani, and Rydeen Hagane.
But battle royals? That’s where she thrives. Toss her in a pool of chaos, give her a costume, and she’ll find a way to stand out. Like a raccoon in a dog park. At Come Back To Shima!, a 13-person rumble, she tangled with Cherry, Yoneyama, and Yoshiko, surviving just long enough to remind everyone that Sekiguchi is never out of the match—you just haven’t seen her hiding under the ropes yet.
No Crowns, No Problem
Kakeru Sekiguchi has never held a singles title. She doesn’t have a win streak to protect. No five-star classics to her name. And that’s fine.
Because some wrestlers are built for belts. Others are built for moments.
And Sekiguchi is the queen of moments: slipping through ropes in cosplay chaos, nailing a dropkick when nobody expected it, surviving just long enough in a battle royal to be remembered when the stream cuts off.
She’s not the Final Boss. She’s the backstage brawler. The wildcard in the shuffle. The woman in the Santa hat who just cracked your jaw with a crescent kick.
You won’t always see her coming. But once you do—you’ll never forget her.