Watanabe, along with the rest of the Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling roster, will be in Arlington on March 21.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling will once again tour Texas later this month, and one of the biggest stars of this tour is the Japanese women’s wrestling company’s top champion, Miu Watanabe.

Watanabe, the Princess of Princess Champion, got her start in TJPW as part of the Up Up Girls, a group of idols who sing and dance as well as perform in the ring. This is the first time all of the Up Up Girls will be in Texas, and Watanabe said she’s excited for the group to perform for the fans.

This is the second tour for TJPW across Texas, and they’ve added shows to Austin this time around, as well as returning to DFW and Houston. 

[Editor’s note: The following quotes were given in Japanese and translated via a live interpreter during the interview.]

“TJPW is set to spread their culture and message all over the world,” Watanabe said. “Texas in particular, since we visited last year, we really fell in love with it.”

The all-women’s promotion sets itself apart from typical wrestling groups through its incorporation of song and dance and elements from Japanese idol culture, while also keeping the hard-hitting style that Japanese wrestling is known for.

“The uniqueness of TJPW is that we focus on making everybody happy,” Watanabe said.

With four shows in one week, Watanabe said it will give TJPW wrestlers the opportunity to meet with new and returning fans, which she’s excited to be able to experience.

“The other thing I’m excited about is having tacos again,” Watanabe said.

Watanabe said she doesn’t like anything too spicy on her tacos, but that she wants to try several different meats this time around the Lone Star State.

This tour around Texas is to build to one of TJPW’s biggest shows of the year, Grand Princess 2026 on March 2029 at Ryogoku Hall in Tokyo, and Watanabe said the matches on this tour will help prepare her to defend her championship.

Watanabe was in a critically-acclaimed match against Shoko Nakajima on TJPW’s last tour of Texas, so much so that it was released for free on YouTube. She said this match with Nakajima has been influential on her career going forward.

“The way the fans cheered in a different way from what they do in Japan, and the way Shoko Nakajima aggressively fought was something memorable, and I think it’s had lots of impact on my style,” Watanabe said.

Tickets are still on sale for TJPW’s show on March 21 at UT-Arlington’s College Park Center.