DDT Live! Tournament – Makoto Oishi vs Maki Ito

In Round 1 of DDT’s tournament to kick off their new weekly show, Makoto Oishi fought Maki Ito to a time limit draw. In this tournament, draws are decided via an audience vote – which was won handily by ‘the idol you can fight right now,’ Maki Ito.

Mildred Burke
[1937]

When professional wrestling was budding as an industry, promoters were often looking for a new attraction to make them stand out against rival promoters in nearby territories. Luckily for promoter/trainer Billy Wolfe, such an attraction walked into training one day as the muscular and beautiful Mildred Burke stepped into the ring. Reluctant to train her, Wolfe instructed a wrestler to body slam her so that she’d see how hard the ring was, but instead, Burke body slammed the wrestler herself, changing Wolfe’s mind. The two would eventually begin dating and would later marry, with Burke defeating Clara Mortenson for the Women’s World Championship in January of 1937.

Despite having earned a lot of money both for herself and her promoter husband, and despite defeating over 200 men in her career, Burke’s accolades in the ring were cut short for political reasons that are sickening to recall. Billy Wolfe was a womanizer, and would often go outside of their marriage with other women. This led to Burke eventually leaving Wolfe, who in turn blackballed her from professional wrestling. The spot that Burke had worked so hard to attain was then passed onto another young wrestler by the name of Lilian Ellison, better known as The Fabulous Moolah.