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>Shinjuku FACE, known as a pro wrestling venue, will celebrate its 20th anniversary on July 31 with a special event titled “milestone,” featuring 23 wrestlers from 8 different promotions. In advance of the event, Yukaka Ogawa (51), who oversees the venue, reflected on its history and shared a few unexpected stories about the ring.
>Ogawa, a manager at Humax Entertainment (which runs Shinjuku FACE), has been there from the beginning—joining in June 2005 just before it opened. “It used to be a venue called Liquidroom,” she recalled, “and the renovations to turn it into a wrestling space with a ring were just underway at the time.”
>The venue officially opened on July 29, 2005. The debut event was “W-FACE,” a joint card of women’s MMA and pro wrestling, featuring five MMA bouts and one wrestling match. The wrestler on that debut card? Mayumi Ozaki—who’s also booked for the 20th anniversary show, teaming with HARASHIMA and Yukio Naya against Shin Hirota Sakura, Antonio Honda, and Soshi Shoda w/ Sanshiro Takagi. “The only people involved in both the opening and the 20th anniversary might just be me and Ozaki-san,” Ogawa said with emotion.
