Gaea Girls Joshi Documentary 2000 DVD

2000 documentary chronicling the life of trainees in the joshi puroresu federation Gaea, under head coach/top fighter Chigusa Nagayo, and in particular the struggles of Saika Takeuchi, who has already tried to make it once, but quit, being unable to withstand the brutal training. And by brutal, I mean BRUTAL. There's one sequence where, after a series of ineffectual dropkicks, she is on the receiving end of one which is just monstrous. The next scene has her being berated by the trainers for her failings - only eventually does the camera pan to show Takeuchi standing there, taking the abuse, blood streaming down her face.

Really, between the emotional and physical punishment on view, you wonder why anyone wants to become a pro wrestler, but there are apparently no shortage of applicants, though as shown here, most fail to stay the course. But as a depiction of the relentless grind that goes on behind the scenes, it's the equal of any documentary I've seen.

Quality isn't the greatest, but it's still perfectly watchable. In Japanese with English subs.