10 Shocking Japanese Wrestling Incidents That You Need To Know About

7. GAEA Girls

Life training inside a Japanese pro-wrestling dojo is tough. BBC viewers got to see just how tough it is when the channel showed Kim Longinotto's unflinching documentary GAEA Girls. The documentary shows the brutal day-to-day life that trainees endure in their quest for wrestling superstardom. Longinotto assumed that wrestling was all show and that she would be making a documentary showcasing dedicated athletes co-operating with each other to put on a great performance. When she got there, she was horrified to find out that the women were battling each other for real and that prospective wrestlers were routinely humiliated by their superiors. The film shows some of the trainees drop out when they realise they cannot take the physical and mental abuse. The focus shifts to one trainee, Takeuchi, as she prepares for her 'test'. The most uncomfortable moment in the film comes when her trainer Chigusa Nagayo kicks her around the ring and she suffers a full-force dropkick to the face by one of the trainers. It is an absorbing documentary, no question, but it is brutal and hard to watch at times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCo8a7tgPw