Eimi Gloria Matsudo was born in
London,
England, to an
Italian father and a
Japanese mother, who was studying there. One year after her birth, they moved back and she was raised in Japan's
Chiba Prefecture. She worked as a manager in an Italian restaurant before applying to train as a professional wrestler with
Ice Ribbon in 2017.[2] In an interview for Shūkan Bunshun in 2022, Matsudo disclosed that she suffered
bullying as a child due to her mixed race background, which was the reasoning for her attending a private high school.[11]
Professional wrestling career
Ice Ribbon (2017–2019)
Matsudo, going by the ring name Giulia, made her
professional wrestling debut at New Ice Ribbon #845, an event promoted by
Ice Ribbon on October 29, 2017, teaming with the legendary
Takako Inoue in a loss to Nao Date and
Satsuki Totoro.[12] In November, she entered the Young Ice Tournament where she was eliminated by Totoro in the first round.[13] In April 2018, she wrestled Ice Ribbon's ace,
Tsukasa Fujimoto, for the first time, losing in 39 seconds.[14] On September 24, Giulia got her first singles victory when she defeated Asahi.[15] In the latter part of the year, Giulia began a feud with
Tequila Saya, which eventually bought in male wrestlers
Shinya Aoki and
Hideki Suzuki, who acted as mentors for the female wrestlers and taught them new moves throughout their feud.[citation needed] After a match on December 31 where Tequila Saya and Hideki Suzuki were defeated by Giulia and Shinya Aoki, Giulia and Saya reconciled and formed a tag team known as Burning Raw.[16] At the end of the year, she was presented with Ice Ribbon's New Face award, the equivalent of winning rookie of the year.[citation needed] On January 27, 2019, Burning Raw unsuccessfully challenged
Kyuri and
Maika Ozaki for the
International Ribbon Tag Team Championship.[17] After February 17, Giulia announced she would be taking a month off from pro wrestling due to nerve damage in her hip.[citation needed] After returning, she began a feud with
Maya Yukihi, which culminated in Giulia unsuccessfully challenging for the
ICE Cross Infinity Championship on May 25.[18] In July, Burning Raw defeated Maya Yukihi and
Risa Sera to win the
International Ribbon Tag Team Championship.[19] After 3 months as champions, Burning Raw lost the titles back to Yukihi and Sera on September 23.[20] On October 13, Giulia announced she would be leaving Ice Ribbon.[21][22]
On October 14, 2019, Giulia announced that she had signed with
World Wonder Ring Stardom.[2] On December 8, Giulia made her in-ring debut on Stardom where she defeated
Hazuki.[28]
On March 3, 2021, at
All Star Dream Cinderella, Giulia was defeated by Tam Nakano in a
hair vs. hair match for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, ending her reign at 220 days. Post-match, she had her head partially shaved in the ring, with the rest cut off backstage.[40] At
Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021 on April 4, Giulia teamed up with Syuri to win the
Goddess of Stardom Championship from fellow Donna Del Mondo members Maika and
Himeka after an inter-stable clash. Giulia and Syuri would later name their tag team
Alto Livello Kabaliwan, often shortened to ALK, meaning High Level Madness.[41] Giulia made it to the second round of the
2021 Cinderella Tournament on May 14, where she lost to Maika.[42] At
Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021 in Summer on July 4, ALK successfully defended their Goddess of Stardom Championship against
Stars (
Mayu Iwatani and
Koguma).[43] Giulia took part in the
2021 5 Star Grand Prix, competing in the Red Stars block, but pulled out of the tournament after three matches due to dealing with several injuries.[44] She made her in-ring return on December 29 at
Dream Queendom where she successfully picked up a victory against Konami, who was departing from Stardom.[45][46]
On January 3, 2022, Giulia revealed
Thekla from
Ice Ribbon and
Mirai from
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling as the two masked superstars who kept attacking various other wrestlers at the end of 2021. All three of them teamed up to defeat
Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano,
Mai Sakurai and
Unagi Sayaka) in a
six-woman tag team match.[47] At
Nagoya Golden Fight on January 29, Giulia battled Mayu Iwatani into a time-limit draw in a number one contendership match for the
World of Stardom Championship, which awarded both of them an opportunity to challenge for the championship at
World Climax 2022.[48] On the first night of the World Climax 2022 from March 26, Giulia unsuccessfully challenged Syuri for the World of Stardom Championship. After their match, Syuri announced she will leave Donna Del Mondo to walk on her path and form another stable, later revealed to be
God's Eye.[49] On the second night from March 27, Giulia teamed up with Maika, Himeka and Thekla to take out
Prominence's
Risa Sera,
Suzu Suzuki,
Akane Fujita and
Mochi Miyagi, with whom all the Donna Del Mondo members had been in a feud. However, Suzu Suzuki stated that she was not finished with Giulia despite her unit's loss, which meant that the feud was still standing.[50] At the
2022 Cinderella Tournament, Giulia reached the second rounds on April 10, where she lost to Koguma.[51] At
Flashing Champions on May 28, Giulia teamed up with Mai Sakurai to unsuccessfully face
FWC for the Goddess of Stardom Championship.[52] At
Fight in the Top on June 26, Giulia, Maika, and Mai Sakurai unsuccessfully challenged Oedo Tai (Saki Kashima, Momo Watanabe and
Starlight Kid), and God's Eye (Syuri, Mirai and
Ami Sourei) in a
three-way match for the Artist of Stardom Championship.[53] Giulia was announced compete in the
2022 5 Star Grand Prix on July 30.[54] She won the whole competition on the last day of the tournament from October 1 by defeating Tam Nakano in the finals.[55] On December 29, at
Dream Queendom 2, Giulia defeated Syuri to win the World of Stardom Championship for the first time in her career.[56]
On February 4, 2023, at
Stardom Supreme Fight, Giulia had her first successful title defense of the World of Stardom Championship by defeating Suzu Suzuki.[57][58] On March 4, Giulia's second title defense, against
Maya Yukihi, ended in a
double countout.[59] It was later reported that the reason for the match ending in a double countout was due to real-life
heat between the two.[60] On April 23, at
All Star Grand Queendom, Giulia lost the title to Tam Nakano, ending her reign at 115 days.[61] On May 27, at
Flashing Champions, Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla, together known as the
Baribari Bombers, defeated the Artist of Stardom Champions
REStart (
Kairi, Natsupoi and
Saori Anou) to win the titles.[62]
At
New Years Stars 2024 on January 3, 2024, Baribari Bombers participated in the
2024 Triangle Derby. After reaching the finals and deciding to defend the Artist of Stardom Championship, they lost the match and titles to
Abarenbo GE.[63]
On April 5, 2024, Giulia was spotted taking photos with fans at the
WWE World convention. The next day on April 6, 2024 it was rumored that Giulia had signed with WWE and would start in their
developmental brandNXT once she is done with all of her planned appearances in Japan.[73] At
NXT Stand & Deliver she was shown in the crowd sitting with Vice President of Global Talent Development
William Regal and
Rossy Ogawa. On April 11, 2024 in an interview with Tokyo Sport, Giulia said she could not confirm any reports but would make an announcement “in the not too distant future”.[74]
Dream Star Fighting Marigold (2024–present)
On April 15, 2024, Rossy Ogawa held a press conference to announce his new promotion
Dream Star Fighting Marigold, with Giulia being one of the initial members of the roster.[75][76][77][78]
Wrestling style and persona
During her time in Stardom wrestling, Guilia received the moniker "Beautiful Madness".[79] One of Guilia's signature wrestling manoeuvres is "Bianca", a variation of the
Scissored armbar crossface/Rings of Saturn.[79]
^Michael, Casey (December 8, 2019).
"Giulia Makes STARDOM Debut". Squared Circle Sirens.
Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
^Wrestling Titles (April 4, 2021).
"Goddess of Stardom Title". wrestling-titles.com.
Archived from the original on January 11, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
^Pollock, John (January 3, 2022).
"STARDOM 2021 award winners". postwrestling.com.
Archived from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.