>>14883424They started when in succession AJW & GAEA died (2005). It wasn't just dark ages for joshi, it was downswing for pro wrestling in Japan all together - MMA surge, Inokism NJPW, dwindling crowds comparably. There were like 2-3 years where fucking HUSTLE was keeping any interesting in pro wrestling for the Japanese fans.
Known more as the "dark ages" because all the companies lost tv or were relegated to late night spots and subscription services like Samurai TV. If you weren't going to shows, or buying DVDs it was gone from the public eye.
Dragon Gate, AJPW and Oz Academy (only because they got GAEA's tv slot) stayed on GAORA, a cable tv channel but at odd hours and days.
2010 is when WAVE began to peak with a loaded roster and had iirc one of the first streaming services and a small tv show shown somewhere. Stardom began that year, and joshi wrestlers started to get exposure overseas through groups like Shimmer.
So 2005-2010 give or take. It wasn't so much a talent pool thing it was an availability thing.
