“Myself, I think I am a genius. I think I’m not going to lose to any female wrestler when it comes to bumping and getting beat up.” Mayu Iwatani, Sportiva Interview, 2021.
Chapter 1 – Hikikomori
Mayu Iwatani was born on February 19th, 1993 in Mine, Yamaguchi, Japan. One of the most southern prefectures of Japan’s main island or ‘Honshu’, Yamaguchi Prefecture is known for its breath-taking scenery, incredible sea-food, hidden shrines and Samurai history and is – as of the 1st October 2022 census – the 27th most populous of Japan’s 47 prefectures. Sandwiched between the two most populous cities in Yamaguchi City and Shimonoseki, Iwatani’s home city of Mine exists as one of the quieter cities in the prefecture, boasting one of the lowest populations. In a particularly rural part of this scenic city, Iwatani and her brothers – both her seniors by 3 years and 6 years respectfully – alongside their mother and father, lived and by all accounts were very happy. In primary school, Mayu would find an early passion for track and field, become an orange belt in judo and would take up tennis for three years before ultimately giving it up.
It was during her time at High School however that her life would take a sharp decline. Mayu has been loath to discuss the specifics of this in public, and therefore I will not be speculating here, but an undisclosed incident occurred during her freshman year. One of the drawbacks of being from such a rural and relatively sparsely-populated city such as Mine is that everyone knows everyone, and once people found out about the aforementioned incident, Mayu felt the only form of defence was to retreat into the safety of her house. Believing she could feel the ever-judging eyes of the entire community on her wherever she went, Mayu subsequently dropped out of high school and ensconced herself in her house, slowly becoming a hikikomori.
For those unaware, hikikomori is a Japanese term that refers to what we in the west may more commonly call a recluse or shut in, and involves an individual withdrawing and isolating themselves entirely from society. When discussing this, the term can be used interchangeably to describe both the ailment, and the affected individual aswell. According to a CNN article from back in 2017, an estimated half a million Japanese youths are affected by the condition.
For Mayu, the condition strengthened its grip over the ensuing 2 years, with her only leaving her house on three solitary occasions – each time going no further than her garden in order to, in her words, ‘see the sky.’ The trauma of the incident had affected her to such a point in fact that when discussing the matter with Mugiko Ozaki for a Sportiva interview – which has been incredibly well-translated by Dana of the Shine Today Believe Tomorrow Blog – Mayu stated
‘At first, I was a shut-in because I was scared. I was traumatized, I’d have nightmares about it and stuff like that. I was so scared every day, it felt like I was hiding in my house’ admitting that at times she would just stare blankly at the ceiling.
As time passed, she progressed to spending the hours reading manga and creating fantasies in her head in order to while away the time, becoming more and more impatient with her own direction – or lack of – as she thought about her classmates going to university and getting jobs.
It wasn’t until a fateful night in the Iwatani household and a lost argument with one of her brothers regarding who would choose what was on TV during dinner, that Mayu not only found her elusive direction, but found one that would set her onto a course for super stardom – pun very much intended. Her brother, a wrestling fan, took charge of the remote control and flicked onto a channel that was showing pro-wrestling, more specifically a show from Dragongate.
‘As I was eating dinner I couldn’t stop watching it, and I was thinking “What the hell is this?!”’ Mayu said in the same Ozaki interview, ‘it was a Dragon Gate show, it was really fast-paced and I was thinking “wow, I can’t believe people can do stuff like this!” Until then I hadn’t even known there was a sport called pro wrestling, but just like that I was instantly hooked. That was when my daydreams started to change!’
Chapter 2 – Ultraman
From here, the idol romantic thoughts that had once filled the empty hours for Mayu were suddenly replaced with vivid dreams of pro-wrestling.
‘I started to fantasize about myself as a pro wrestler. What moves would I use, what would my costume look like, stuff like that. I bought a CD of Dragon Gate entrance music and I would imagine that it was my entrance music.’ she would tell Ozaki.
When her brother later invited her to a live Dragongate show, she jumped at the chance to attend, marking the first time she had left the sanctuary of her home for a long time. The show itself only galvanised Mayu’s burgeoning love of the art of pro-wrestling, with Ultimo Dragon in particular having a lasting impact on her. It was now a case of how she was going to make this dream a reality, and luckily for Mayu, that opportunity presented itself by way of a 2010 advert looking for recruits for a new wrestling company; World Wonder Ring Stardom. As if by fate, it was her love of Dragongate and her seeking out the wrestler’s columns, that led to her finding the Stardom advert.
She contacted the general manager of the company, Fuka Kakimoto, and was asked to train in the dojo as part of the first class of Stardom trainees; an illustrious class that also included future champions Yoko Bito, Arisa Hoshiki and Yoshiko. There were, however, two hurdles standing in the way of her dream; the eleven-hour drive from Yamaguchi to the Stardom dojo in Tokyo, and her parent’s disapproval.
‘I’m a runaway. My parents were against it, so I forced myself to pack my things without telling my parents or anyone in the family…’ she stated matter-of-factly to proresu-today.com back in a 2019 interview.
She also had no money, meaning that the journey’s logistics were proving more and more difficult. However, with Fuka speaking to company president Rossy Ogawa and persuading him to pay for the trip, Mayu gathered the money she had – around ¥6000 or $55 – and left home for Tokyo. It’s this impulsive nature that would manifest a lot in her early days in the Stardom dojo, and it’s a trait Mayu acknowledges in herself, telling proresu-today.com;
‘I have a wide range of behavior, or rather I’m often impulsive…when I wanted a TV, I was like, I can’t resist, I’m going to buy one today!’
Something that is worth noting, aside from moving 11 hours from your comparatively tiny rural home to the largest and most populous city in Japan without telling your parents, is that Mayu had no real-life experience as a result of her two years as a hikikomori.
‘I was completely clueless’ she told Ozaki ‘I had never even had a part-time job, so I had no common sense about stuff like that at all.’
It was perhaps this naivety that led to her spending half her money on gifts for the people in Stardom before even reaching the dojo. With barely any money and nowhere to stay whilst she trained, it was Rossy Ogawa who offered her a place to stay whilst she found her feet. Staying in a stranger’s house, in a strange city whilst embarking on a dream with a little over $30 in your pocket was certainly a gamble, but it was a gamble that paid off, with Ogawa taking on the mantle of a father figure for Mayu, buying her food and even doing her laundry at the local laundromat. When asked in the Ozaki interview if she was anxious about her big move, or the situation upon arriving in Tokyo, Mayu simply stated;
‘Absolutely not. I had nothing else. At that point I was like, if I remain a shut-in like this I’ll have no job, no hope, no reason to live, no one would need me. I was thinking, “this is my only chance, as long as I go to Tokyo I could get murdered immediately and at least I did that much. I figured if I stayed in my home town then dying was all I had to look forward to anyway.’
There is something relentlessly endearing about this type of outlook, and it’s one of the things that made Mayu such an easy person to support in Stardom’s fledgling days.
Despite her stars – again, pun intended – aligning in actually getting herself relatively settled in Tokyo against a whole host of odds, the progress was slow in the Stardom dojo. In her interview with proresu-today.com, Mayu stated;
“Everyone thought I would be the first to quit…I really couldn’t even do a single push-up…I don’t know how to do it. I can’t support myself. I couldn’t even do 10 squats on my own. When I moved to Tokyo, I only weighed 45 kg.”
Her pacing during training and matches proved to be an early issue too, with her nervous energy causing her to expend all of her stamina during the opening salvo of a match, leaving her physically exhausted for the remainder and earning her the nickname ‘Ultraman’. Unfortunately, this early clumsiness and the perception that she was behind her piers wasn’t helped by her own self-professed hatred of training, regularly skipping it until she was called out by one of the senior wrestlers. After a particularly gruelling session given to her as a punishment, Iwatani’s attitude to training changed, though this didn’t stop her missing two consecutive shows by oversleeping, telling Ozaki;
“Yeah I overslept and missed the bus for the tour, and I couldn’t get in contact with anyone, so they just did the show without me. I was like “Oh shit, I overslept!” but then I figured, well it was too late to get to the show on time anyway, so I thought “Ah, it’ll be fine. I’m going back to sleep.” There was another show the next day, but I felt too awkward to see everyone and I didn’t want them to be mad at me, so I didn’t get in contact with them for that one either. Then I saw on the Stardom Twitter that they’d announced the card had been changed, and I was like “Ah, I guess I’m absent now.” But I did at least go to the venue. Very responsible of me, don’t you think?”
The summer of 2010 melted into the autumn and winter before Stardom announced their first show – Birth of Nova – in Shin-Kiba 1st RING on the 23rd January 2011. An incredibly awkward-looking Mayu would have her first ever professional match on the card, losing in just over 9-minutes to fellow debutant Arisa Hoshiki and, though she was competent in the ring and certainly didn’t do anything wrong, the shortcomings we discussed were very evident. Unfortunately, this would be a pattern for vast swathes of Stardom’s early months and it wasn’t until July of 2011 that she would record her first victory in Stardom – alongside Hoshiki in a tag team match against Eri Susa and Saki Kashima in Stardom’s first foray into Korakuen Hall. However, it wouldn’t be until December that she would finally gain that first elusive singles victory, beating Eri Susa in a sub-two minute affair in Shin-Kiba 1st RING. Of the 30 matches she wrestled in Stardom’s inaugural year, Mayu would ultimately win just five, drawing 3 and losing her remaining 22 with only Eri Susa having a worse win percentage for the year. Meanwhile her return of one singles victory out of a possible 15 made for poor reading as Stardom, and Mayu, saw in the new year. In spite of all of this however, the support for Iwatani was palpable at each and every venue, with the lines for her merchandise often being one of – if not the – longest of any other on the roster.
“Right from the day I debuted it was incredible” Mayu told Ozaki “Like, does everyone want to root for the loser? I think they were looking at me like they were my parents. I got comments like “You worked so hard out there!” or “Wow, you could do a dropkick!” I think back then, fans were used to watching established wrestlers very comfortably without worrying, but I wanted to keep the fans excited and engaged the whole time.”
Chapter 3 – Another Girl, Another Planet
Having managed to curb the constant thoughts of quitting, 2012 would prove to be something of a pivotal year in Iwatani’s wrestling career. She would ultimately end the year with a healthier 12 victories to her name, including 3 in singles competition, and was noticeably improving in-ring. This improvement was such, that Io Shirai would take both Mayu and her AMA tag team partner Arisa Hoshiki under her wing with the formation of the Planet stable. Arisa would ultimately retire in May of 2012 to pursue a career in music with her band Unlimited Dream Navigator, with this departure proving to be the beginning of a premature end for Planet.
However, it was the flourishing partnership developing both inside and outside the ring with Shirai that would prove so important. Speaking about this very subject with proresu-today.com in a 2019 interview, Mayu would say that Io lent her clothes, and that;
“Even in my private life, she’s like an older sister to me, so I feel like she’s really my mentor…we formed a team called Team Planet from the beginning, and even as a tag team, there was a time when I couldn’t do anything. Io-san was the one who supported Mayu Iwatani from the start, and by the end, we were able to become what we considered to be the best tag team in the women’s professional world. I’m grateful in my private life, and I’m also grateful as a wrestler.”
The tag team she is talking about here is the team she and Io formed in order to take part in the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in 2012. After asking for fan submissions for names, the pair plumped for a name that still resonates deeply in Stardom history today – Thunder Rock. Though even on a surface level a very cool name, it’s actually the literal translations of parts of each of their names; ‘Rai’ meaning Thunder and ‘Iwa’ meaning Rock. It was an inauspicious beginning for the pair, finishing bottom of the block having achieved just a sole victory, though that victory would be against eventual tournament winners Natsuki Taiyo and Yoshiko.
Under Shirai’s watchful tutelage, Iwatani’s 2013 was another improvement in terms of her standing in the company. She made her first challenge for a championship alongside Io at the end of January – cashing in their opportunity at the Goddesses of Stardom Championships having beaten champions Taiyo and Yoshiko in the tag league – in a losing effort. However, it was the company’s inheritance of NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling’s High-Speed title that gave her the opportunity at her first singles belt. Again, she would come up short – losing to champion Kaori Yoneyama in July – before losing against Act Yasukawa and rookie Yui Yokoo and failing to qualify for the 2013 5Star Grand Prix. She was then knocked out of the 2013 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in the opening round when teaming with Miho Wakizawa, but Mayu would ultimately be rewarded for her persistence, determination and steady refinement by finally getting her hands on her first ever championship. Having formed an alliance with Hiroyo Matsumoto and Miho Wakizawa, and calling themselves Tawashis, the trio would defeat the Kimura Monster-gun champions to become the fourth Artist of Stardom Champions during the final show of the show – Year-End Climax 2013. It was a record run at the time that would last over 200 days, and would also be the first of an incredible 14 separate title reigns she would amass over her time with the company.
Things only got better for Iwatani, with 2014 not only being the year she would finally qualify for the 5Star Grand Prix and Thunder Rock would finish as runners up in the 2014 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, but it would most importantly see her win her very first singles championship. After unsuccessfully chasing Yuzuki Aikawa for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, Act Yasukawa had finally managed to win the belt from Dark Angel at the tail-end of 2014, only for her to then be forced to relinquish the belt due to illness. This unfortunate set of circumstances left Stardom’s secondary singles championship vacant, and thus a four-woman tournament was announced to crown the new champion. In July, Mayu would defeat Kairi Hojo and then Miho Wakizawa in the tournament final to be crowned the fourth Wonder of Stardom Champion, easily the biggest achievement of her career so far. Successful title defences against Wakizawa and Mystique would lead to Mayu seeing in the end of 2014 as a double champion, having lost and subsequently regained the Artist of Stardom Championships as the year drew to a close.
It wasn’t just championship glory and tournament accolades for Mayu though. Her increased attention – alongside that of Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo – would be rewarded with her first overseas tour in the shape of three dates in Mexico in May. An incredible experience certainly, but one that was affected by Mayu’s overwhelming homesickness, which she outlined to proresu-today.com;
‘It was my first overseas trip to Mexico. As soon as I arrived at the airport there, I started crying. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want to (…) I feel lonely. I want to go home because I like home. I want to see my cat.’
To go from hikikomori to an internationally-travelled wrestler in the space of just three years is a daunting feat, certainly a testament to Mayu’s mental fortitude, and it goes without saying that something like this would overwhelm the vast majority of people. Thankfully, it is something that Iwatani has been able to manage a lot better since this first taste of international touring, and she would return to Mexico a year later.
Chapter 4 – Out of the Shadows
Act Yasukawa ultimately returned to action following her battle with illness, and would go on to regain the title she never actually lost from Mayu at the 4th Anniversary Show on January 18th 2015 inside Korakuen Hall, ending Iwatani’s reign at 175 days. The tail-end of 2014 had seen Io and Mayu join forces with Takumi Iroha, Yoshiko and a debuting Reo Hazuki to form a stable known as Heisei-gun, with Io, Mayu and Iroha winning the Artist of Stardom Championships in December. Heisei refers to the Heisei-era of Japanese history, which corresponds to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, beginning in January 1989, with all 5 of the aforementioned wrestlers being born after that date. With the exception of Hazuki, each of the members held championship gold – with Yoshiko being the fourth World of Stardom Champion – and seemed to be poised for a dominant run. Unfortunately, the stable would be brought to an abrupt end due to the events of February 22nd 2015 where an infamous match between Yoshiko and Act Yasukawa led to the former being stripped of the title and fired from the company. Nanae Takahashi, one of Stardom’s founders and someone that Mayu has described as a consummate professional, also departed in the fallout of the match, becoming a freelancer on the 12th May. Not only did this leave two gaping voids at the top of the company, but the company itself was now under severe scrutiny for the handling of the entire situation, with some people believing this to be the premature end of Stardom.
Tasked with attempting to drag the company out of the shadows alongside Io and Kairi as the newly christened ‘Three Daughters of Stardom’, Mayu began in earnest to prove that she was main event calibre. She began by winning the inaugural Cinderella tournament at the end of April – then called the Cinderella Champion Fiesta – and used this to parlay her way into her first ever match for the World of Stardom Championship. She would come up short in that match, losing in just over 18 minutes to Kairi Hojo, but would manage to capture the vacant Goddesses of Stardom Championships for the first time alongside Io as Thunder Rock; coincidentally defeating the Candy Crush team of Kairi and Chelsea in the final of a four-team tournament.
October would see Stardom complete its first US tour, where they would use their partnership with Empire Wrestling Federation to put on two shows in California. Mayu wrestled on both nights, defeating Nicole Savoy on Night 1 in the Knights of Columbus Hall, before successfully defending the Goddesses of Stardom Championships alongside Io Shirai against Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kellie Skater in the main event of night 2 inside the Esther Snyder Community Center.
The end of the year would bring no rest for Iwatani however, quite the opposite in fact! Her and Io would win the 2015 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, defeating Hiroyo Matsumoto and Santana Garrett in the final, making them the second team after 7Kairi the previous year to win the tournament as champions. She would begin the defence of her newly won High-Speed Championship, achieving her first title defence against former-champion Kaori Yoneyama, and would find herself on the losing side in a three-way match for the vacant Artist of Stardom Championships.
A crossover between Stardom and Sendai Girls took up a large part of November and December, with Mayu as a part of Team Stardom winning a Gauntlet 12-Woman match against Team Sendai Girls in Korakuen Hall. This victory would lead to Mayu challenging for the Red Belt for a second time against imperious champion Meiko Satomura, who had dethroned Kairi Hojo back in July. It was not a happy match for Iwatani however, as Satomura blitzed through her challenge in a shade over 11 minutes, forcing a referee stoppage with a Rear-Naked Choke. It was a definitive loss for Iwatani, but it would ultimately lead to her Thunder Rock partner Io Shirai capturing the belt for a second time in December. However, as bright as things were looking heading into 2016, something would happen that would make it perhaps the most important year of Mayu’s career.
Chapter 5 – Threedom
On top of wrestling a career-high 74 matches over 2016, Iwatani would also wrestle her way into the Stardom record books by successfully defending the High Speed Championship for a ninth time – a gargantuan record that would stand for another seven years, where it would ultimately be broken by AZM – defending it 8 times just in 2016. Not content with this rather stellar achievement, Mayu would go back-to-back in Cinderella Tournament victories, defeating Hiroyo Matsumoto in the 2016 Cinderella Tournament Final before laying down a challenge for Io’s World of Stardom Championship. Once again, Mayu would be unsuccessful in her challenge, but she was able to push her Thunder Rock partner to the limit, with Shirai noting the rapid growth and development of Iwatani.
More importantly still however, Iwatani would join forces with Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo in the early months of 2016 to form the iconic Stardom trio ‘Threedom’ who, despite their relatively short lifespan, held every single championship the company had to offer at the time concurrently, beginning a period of unprecedented dominance over the main event scene. It was Threedom who were then chosen to represent Stardom on a mini tour of USA that included a rather famous appearance on Lucha Underground. Debuting as the enforcers of Black Lotus (the ring name of Angela Wong), Io, Kairi and Mayu – under the names Hitokiri, Doku and Yurei respectively – entered the Aztec Warfare III match (akin to the WWE’s Royal Rumble match) in order to help eliminate Pentagon Dark after he had kayfabe broken Wong’s arm. This interference led to Pentagon looking to reap his revenge against the Triad, taking on each of the members one after another. Though he would defeat Doku (Hojo) and Yurei (Mayu) he would ultimately succumb to Hitokiri (Io). This would mark Threedom’s only match in Lucha Underground, but it is still a match that remains spoken about in glowing terms even now, thus upping international interest in Stardom as a result. As a part of this US tour, the three also made an appearance at Vendetta Pro Wrestling in Las Vegas where Thunder Rock defended the Goddesses of Stardom Championships against Kairi and Cheerleader Melissa, with the match going to a time-limit draw.
Having wrestled for the first time in Europe earlier in the year, defending her High-Speed Championship against Camile in France and unsuccessfully vying to be the next number 1 contender to the SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship in England, June would be even busier for Iwatani. She returned to Japan to defend both her High Speed title and the Artist of Stardom titles, before reconvening with Shirai to defend the Goddesses of Stardom Championships against the Oedo Tai team of Kagetsu and Kiyoko Kimura on the 16th June 2016. Unfortunately, Thunder Rock’s record-breaking reign with the titles would end here, and it would be Iwatani who would eat the decisive pinfall. For fans of Io and Mayu, it was this moment and this loss where the first kernels of doubt as to the rosiness of the Thunder Rock garden were sown. There was little time to dwell on this loss mind you, with the 2016 5Star Grand Prix on the horizon. It’s not a tournament that started well for the young Iwatani, dropping her first match to Kay Lee Ray in under 12-minutes. That being said, she would not lose another match for the rest of the block, but a time-limit draw against eventual-winner Yoko Bito and a double TKO against Toni Storm left Mayu with a record of 3-1-2 and unable to qualify for the final; missing out by a solitary point. Disappointment at not qualifying aside, there was lots to be positive about; she had just gotten her highest points total and best placing in a 5Star Grand Prix to date, and was still a double champion heading into the fall of 2016.
This sense of cautious optimism didn’t last though. With just three matches between the end of the 5Star Grand Prix and the start of the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, Mayu lost all three including taking the pinfall in the Artist of Stardom Championships match against Oedo Tai on the 2nd October 2016, with Threedom losing the belts after 217 days. Having being pinned to lose both the Goddess and Artist belts, tensions began to increase in Shirai and Iwatani’s relationship. The 2016 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, a tournament Thunder Rock won the prior year, seemed to paper over the cracks however, with Mayu and Io managing to navigate some miscommunication to make it to their second successive final.
Unfortunately, it was here that everything unravelled.
More miscommunication between Shirai and Iwatani led to the former attacking Mayu before turning and walking away, leaving her in the ring to take the deciding pinfall from the eventual tournament winners Kairi Hojo and Yoko Bito. The air felt very much as it though had been sucked out of Shinjuku FACE as the new tag league winners embraced with Io seen slapping Mayu across the face on the floor before rolling her onto the apron and stamping on her ferociously. After BY Ho then gave a rather awkward summation of their victory, Io got onto the apron and congratulated them begrudgingly before savagely chastising Mayu further, eventually bringing out a hooded figure that would turn out to be Reo Hazuki, now rebranded as HZK. Io then went on to completely tear down Mayu, telling her that Thunder Rock were supposed to win the tag league and then, along with HZK, they would rule Stardom as a trio. She had changed her mind though, believing Mayu to no longer be pulling her weight, getting weaker as Io continued to get stronger. Then and there, Io dissolved both Thunder Rock and Threedom and formed Queen’s Quest, leaving a broken Mayu sobbing inconsolably in the corner of the ring.
This sense of betrayal only intensified when, less than two weeks later, Momo Watanabe defected from Mayu’s team during a tag team match to make Queen’s Quest the trio Io had always wanted them to be. Furious, Iwatani secured herself another World of Stardom Championship match on the 4th December during a six-woman tag team match, demanding to face her former-Thunder Rock partner Io Shirai for the belt at the upcoming Year-End Climax 2016 show in Korakuen Hall. Sure enough, the match was made official for the 22nd December, and Io and Mayu put on what is widely considered to be one of the greatest matches in Stardom’s extensive canon. A frantic and emotionally-fuelled sprint, the match showcased Mayu at her unbridled best and Io at her cold and destructive worst. For Iwatani, the overwhelming emotion got the best of her and, despite pushing Io even further than their previous title match all the way back in May, she still walked away from the match empty-handed.
Despite her incredible rise in 2016, something was going on behind the scenes for Mayu. Whether it be a slump, the wear and tear of the business or any other number of factors, Mayu intended on quitting Stardom and making 2016 her last year in order to become – of all things – a pet groomer, even going so far as to make the rounds of the venue in order to say her goodbyes to everyone.
“I’m actually not really sure why I wanted to quit that time” Mayu told Ozaki in 2021, “I made the rounds at the venue and spoke to everyone. I was like “Oh by the way, I’m quitting at the end of this month” and everyone was like “wh-what?!” “Yeah, I’m going to become a pet groomer. Thank you for everything, sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused, I owe you so much.” I said my goodbyes very properly. But, y’know, then I was still there at the next show…..”
Her trademark impulsive nature almost led to her leaving the business, something that she has admitted to having thoughts about previously, and it’s a decision that, according to rumour, led to the finish of her match with Io Shirai at Year-End Climax. Thankfully however, it’s a decision that Mayu would ultimately not follow through on and – looking back on it – it’s arguably one of the most important moments in Stardom history, especially given that two of the company’s biggest stars were beginning to wind down their time before venturing to pastures new…
Chapter 6 – The Passing of the Torch
It was inevitable that with the star power of the ‘Three Daughters of Stardom’ that the juggernaut that is the WWE would eventually come calling. It would be Kairi Hojo that would be the first to leave, confirming her departure from the company in June to join the WWE, taking part and winning the inaugural Mae Young Classic. Embarking on a retirement road of sorts, Kairi would try and beat the record for defences of the Wonder of Stardom Championship – then standing at nine held by Santana Garrett. This was going well until Mayu stepped up to be the next challenger, dethroning Kairi to secure the White Belt for the second time in her career in an excellent match in May of 2017. This certainly helped recover what had been an up-and-down start to the year for Mayu, having finally dropped the High Speed Championship after an incredible 509-day reign in a three-way to Kris Wolf in February, and having come within inches of winning the Cinderella Tournament for an unprecedented third consecutive year, before losing in the final to Toni Storm.
She would try unsuccessfully to regain the Artist of Stardom Championships from Oedo Tai alongside Jungle Kyona and Natsuko Tora at the end of the month, before making her first defence of the Wonder of Stardom Championship against Hana Kimura in a match that ended in a disqualification. However, as May melted into June, Mayu had set her eyes on a larger prize.
In the months between their last match in December and June, Io Shirai had gone on to break her own record of successful title defences with the World of Stardom Championship and was sitting pretty at fourteen retentions. It was at the end of this fourteenth defence against Cinderella Tournament winner Toni Storm in Korakuen Hall that Io would once again be confronted by Mayu Iwatani, challenging her for the belt in what would be the third in an incredible trilogy of matches. Not only was Mayu looking to finally end the near-550 day reign of a seemingly insurmountable Io Shirai, but she was also looking to achieve what nobody else in the company had ever done; hold both of Stardom’s top singles championships simultaneously. The match took place at Galaxy Stars 2017 on 21st June in Korakuen Hall, and was the perfect way to end this colossal rivalry. Far from Mayu’s attempt at Io’s belt almost a year ago, it was an unnervingly different dynamic to see Shirai in the amount of trouble she was in in this match, and nowhere was that more obvious than in her moveset. Before, she seemed so imperious and confident delivering these moves in an offensive manner whereas in this encounter, she seemed to be using them primarily to give herself time to recover and recuperate, which is quite the transition, especially when you consider the flicker of doubt that flashes in Io’s eyes when Mayu kicks out of the second Moonsault; the first time we’d seen Shirai as anything other than supremely confident in her own abilities since the beginning of her reign. This was a different Mayu and, after failing to connect with the Two-Step Dragon Suplex in their previous two matches, she finally made it count and covered her former-partner for the three count, winning the World of Stardom Championship for the very first time in what was unquestionably the passing of the torch moment. Io wouldn’t go to the WWE for another year courtesy of the need to recover from a neck injury, but this moment made it perfectly clear that it would be Mayu guiding the company into its next transition; one which would not include arguably its two biggest stars in Shirai and Hojo!
The first-ever Stardom double champion, the workload increased for Iwatani, defending the Red Belt first against Yoko Bito at Stardom X Stardom 2017 before defending her White Belt against Viper just a week later in EDION Arena Osaka #2. With the 2017 5Star Grand Prix looming large, there was time in the calendar for one last Red Belt defence before the tournament, with Mayu again successfully retaining the title in a fantastic match against Oedo Tai leader Kagetsu. Going into the 5Star Grand Prix as champion is a challenge Mayu had never faced before, with every single competitor coming for you and a chance at your belt. Despite losing her opening match in the competition for the second year running – this time to Viper – Mayu’s run in the tournament was excellent, sweeping aside all other competitors to enter the final night with a record of 5-1 and 10 points. Her opponent on that final night however was Kagetsu, and she would inflict on Mayu her second loss of the tournament and one that would prove to be definitive, stopping her progressing in lieu of eventual 5Star runner-up Yoko Bito. It would actually be Bito that Mayu would face next in the ring, defending her White Belt for a third time on the 23rd September in Osaka. This would ultimately prove to be Mayu’s final defence, as Bito won the match in under-15 minutes to become the new Wonder of Stardom champion, ending Iwatani’s second run with the company’s secondary title at 132 days. There was no time to mourn the loss however, with Mayu defending her World of Stardom Championship the very next day in Nagoya against 5Star Grand Prix winner Toni Storm. 2017 had been quite year for Storm, having become the only person in Stardom history at the time of writing to win both the Cinderella Tournament – beating Mayu in the final – and 5Star Grand Prix in the same calendar year, and was looking to top it off by becoming the first foreign talent to win the top prize in Stardom since Alpha Female in 2013.
She would win it, but in perhaps one of the most unfortunate and unorthodox of circumstances…
Just two-minutes into their match, Mayu attempted a Dropkick with Storm seated against the ropes – a move she had executed hundreds of times. This time however, as Storm moved out of the way, Mayu’s impact on the ropes caused her to land awkwardly on her left arm, legitimately dislocating her elbow. Referee Daichi Murayama called for the bell and awarded the belt to a very obviously confused Toni Storm, who confirmed in later interviews that this title change was indeed unplanned. Storm would make the most of this however, going on to hold the title for 258 days.
It was desperately unfortunate end to Mayu’s reign with the World of Stardom Championship after being christened as the ace of the company. The injury would ultimately keep her out of action until the middle of January 2018, with the one exception being an appearance in Yoko Bito’s retirement gauntlet match on December 10th 2017.
Chapter 7 – Woman of Honor
Mayu’s eventual return to in-ring action after the elbow injury would see her defeat Rachel Ellering in a singles match at the 7th Anniversary show in Korakuen. Following the main event, she would offer the hand of friendship to a fallen Tam Nakano after she was ousted from Oedo Tai following the Loser Leaves Unit match against Queen’s Quest. As a result, the pair would unsuccessfully challenge for Kagetsu and Hana Kimura’s Goddesses of Stardom Championships at Queen’s Fes on the 18th February in Korakuen Hall, giving Iwatani her first loss of the year.
Meanwhile, in America, Ring of Honor were in the process of introducing their first women’s title – the Women of Honor Championship – and announced a tournament to crown the inaugural holder of the new title. Iwatani was confirmed to be amongst the Stardom representation in the tournament alongside HZK, and the Oedo Tai duo of Kagetsu and Hana Kimura. Iwatani dispatched HZK in the first round of the tournament before then defeating Deonna Purrazzo in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final date with Kelly Klein – someone with whom Mayu would be very familiar with over the course of the next 12 months. The match, broadcast on Ring of Honor TV, would end in a referee stoppage in favour of Klein, with her eventually losing to tournament winner and inaugural champion Sumie Sakai. In spite of losing out in the semi-finals, Mayu was not done with Ring of Honor or with the Women of Honor Championship, and would wrestle twice more in the United States at Ring of Honor events before the year was out.
Meanwhile, Mayu’s reintegration into the World of Stardom picture saw her get her long-awaited rematch against Toni Storm at the beginning of April in Nagoya, but she would ultimately be unsuccessful in recapturing the title. The landscape of Stardom was changing however with the company looking at implementing more factions and allegiances, and the inaugural Stardom Draft in April of 2018 would see the formation of STARS. A stable made up of the babyfaces in the company, and ones who had been teaming unofficially since the end of 2017, the first incarnation would see Mayu Iwatani lead the group consisting of Tam Nakano, Saki Kashima, Shiki Shibusawa, Starlight Kid and Hanan.
April would also see Mayu enter the Cinderella Tournament for a fourth consecutive year, making her way through to the semi-finals by seeing off STARS partners Tam Nakano and Saki Kashima in the first round and quarter-final respectively. In the semi-final, Mayu would meet Io Shirai in what is, to date, their last singles match. Though the match would ultimately end in a ten-minute time-limit draw, eliminating both women from the tournament in the process, it was fitting that there was nothing to split the two women in their final dance, illustrating the similarity between them and the progress of Mayu.
After surprising the Oedo Tai team of Kagetsu and Hana Kimura to win the Goddesses of Stardom Championships alongside Saki Kashima, Thunder Rock would team one final time at Io Shirai’s farewell show in June before she headed to the WWE against Jungle Kyona and Momo Watanabe. Watanabe had been given the nod of approval by Shirai as the face of the company as she left, leading to an Ace vs. Icon rivalry between Mayu and Momo that continued to bubble long after Io’s departure.
Mayu and Saki would defend the belts twice more in the lead up to the 2018 5Star Grand Prix, first against the Oedo Tai team of HZK and Natsu Sumire, and then against the Queen’s Quest team of Momo Watanabe and Konami before Iwatani failed once more in a bid to recapture the Red Belt, this time in a fantastic encounter with new champion Kagetsu at the champion’s 10th anniversary show in Korakuen Hall. Mayu seemed to carry this lack of singles momentum into the 5Star Grand Prix, losing her opening encounter for the third year in a row, this time to her Ring of Honor nemesis Kelly Klein, before losing again on night 2 to her tag team partner Saki Kashima. Early detractors might think this was Mayu’s tournament over, however she would then go on to win her next four matches in a row before grabbing a crucial time-limit draw against Momo Watanabe on the final night. This result, and helpful results elsewhere in the block meant that Mayu would overcome the poor start to her tournament to make her first ever 5Star Grand Prix final. Her opponent in that final would be the ‘Super Rookie’ Utami Hayashishita, who had had an incredible start to her own career having debuted just a month prior. However, Mayu was able to overcome this new challenge and secure victory with the Two-Step Dragon Suplex, winning her first ever 5Star Grand Prix in the process. She would break with tradition with this victory though, challenging Momo Watanabe for the Wonder of Stardom Championship rather than attempting to go again for the Red Belt, choosing to continue the ‘Ace vs. Icon’ feud set into motion with Io’s departure. It would be Momo securing the victory however in an all-time classic White Belt match at True Fight at the end of October.
Her and Saki would ultimately drop the Goddesses of Stardom Championships just before the 2018 Tag League, but would capture the Artist of Stardom Championships on the very same day alongside Tam Nakano. The trio would hold them for the rest of the year, defending them twice. It was during this second defence against Queen’s Quest in December where disaster struck, and Mayu tore her MCL. She finished the match, and would then wrestle again the next day, but would then face a month on the sidelines recuperating from the injury;
‘During the time I was absent, all I did was watch everyone else’s matches.’ She would reflect in the 2019 proresu-today interview ‘It was really mentally exhausting.’
She would return to action in January 2019, and by February had her eyes firmly set on the United States and the Women of Honor Championship. Returning to Ring of Honor TV on the 9th February, Mayu would defeat Holidead in singles action before dethroning Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein at the Bound By Honor 2019 PPV in Florida to become the third woman to hold the belt, and the youngest at 25. She would defend the belt against Konami back in Japan, before retaining in a rematch with Klein at Ring of Honor’s 17th Anniversary show. After securing a third successful title defence against Natsuko Tora in Korakuen Hall, it was confirmed that Mayu would next defend the belt at the G1 Supercard in the historic Madison Square Garden in New York against Klein.
‘I was just too happy.’ she told proresu-today.com in the second part of her 2019 interview about wrestling in Madison Square Garden, ‘That space is truly an unforgettable sight in my career as a professional wrestler. It’s rare to be surrounded by so many people, and because it’s overseas the atmosphere is good. It felt really good, and I never thought I’d be paired in the main event of an event hosted by New Japan and ROH, rather than just an under-match. It was all a miracle, a miracle, a miracle. One miracle after another… so it feels like a dream. It was a moment when I really thought I was glad I didn’t quit professional wrestling.’
And how did Mayu find out she would be wrestling in one of the most iconic wrestling venues in the world?
‘I found out about it on Twitter.’ she told proresu-today ‘I do a lot of ego searching, and then I saw Mayu Iwatani’s name come up at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling press conference. I was like, ‘What does that mean?”’
Though not the main event she was hoping for, the Women of Honor Title Match would go on third, with Klein successfully regaining the championship from Mayu in just under 11 minutes. Though undoubtedly a highlight in her career, there were questions about whether she had perhaps rushed back from her MCL tear a little prematurely as she alludes to in her interview with proresu-today;
‘I was kind of skeptical about whether I would be able to perform at Madison Square Garden, so I was like, will it really be scheduled? Will I be able to perform? Well, I have the belt, so I guess I’ll be able to perform….I got injured around December of last year. I think I took a bit of a break after the injury and then returned. But at that time, my knee was in a terrible pain. I lied and hid the fact that my knee was hurting, and went to MSG, and won the ROH Wrestling World Championship belt overseas. It was really hell at that time…it felt like I was dragging my leg when I was walking. I lost the belt again and it was really hard, so when I asked to be allowed to sit out, I thought that this would give me a chance to really rest. I made my second absence a real rest.’
She would sit out the remainder of April after the second Stardom Draft, missing the Cinderella Tournament for the first time in her career, returning for a one-off unsuccessful Artist of Stardom Championship defence against Tokyo Cyber Squad in May before coming back properly at the start of June. STARS regained the Artist belts from Tokyo Cyber Squad at the end of June, just in time for Mayu’s mini-excursion to England to wrestle three matches in London-based Pro-Wrestling EVE alongside Kagetsu and Arisa Hoshiki, who had returned to Stardom and joined STARS at the end of 2018.
STARS would ultimately drop the Artist of Stardom Championships to Oedo Tai just before the start of the 2019 5Star Grand Prix, a tournament where Mayu would continue with her unenviable record of losing on the opening night with a loss to Saki Kashima. Unlike the previous year, Iwatani was unable to turn this around however, and losses against Natsu Sumire and then Momo Watanabe on the final night meant that she would end with a record of 4-3 and 8 points, 2 points behind eventual tournament winner Hana Kimura.
Despite an ultimately disappointing 5Star Grand Prix and a Goddesses of Stardom Tag League that saw her and Saki Kashima pick up just a single victory, Mayu Iwatani would once again earn an opportunity to regain the World of Stardom Championship when she challenged Bea Priestley at the start of November. Iwatani would dethrone Priestley in Korakuen Hall on the 4th November, becoming only the second woman in Stardom’s history to hold the World of Stardom Championship more than once. After the disappointing way her first title defence had ended, this was the chance for Mayu to craft a legacy with the belt and embark on the reign many knew she was capable of. As though this wasn’t already a great way to end 2019, Mayu would also receive the accolade of the Tokyo Sports Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize for the first time in her career, as recognition of what had been a truly fantastic year for The Icon.
Chapter 8 – Steering the Ship
As a bi-product of Bushiroad’s purchase of Stardom in 2019, Stardom and New Japan Pro-Wrestling became sister companies, which in turn allowed Mayu to tick another historic wrestling venue off her bucket list as, for the first time ever, Stardom were put onto a Wrestle Kingdom card. It wasn’t televised, but the tag team match between the AMA team of Arisa Hoshiki and Mayu Iwatani, and Hana Kimura and Giulia at Wrestle Kingdom 14 allowed fans to dream that one day, Stardom would have televised matches inside the Tokyo Dome.
Mayu’s second reign as World of Stardom Championship had begun with a successful defence against Kagetsu at Year-End Climax 2019, with the challenger then announcing that she would be retiring from in-ring action at the start of 2020. Having been enemies for the vast majority of their tenure, the pair would put aside their differences to team together in Kagetsu’s final match against Jungle Kyona and Momo Watanabe at the end of January. It was Mayu’s second defence however against the aforementioned Momo Watanabe on the 19th January that was most notable, not only because it is still to this day talked about for its in-ring action, but also because it would achieve a then-record attendance of 1,604 with both Mayu and Momo – the Ace and the Icon – on the top of the card.
Unfortunately, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt, and Stardom were forced – as were many other wrestling companies – to cease operations. Stardom came back to produce one show – No People Gate at Korakuen Hall – with Mayu taking on Saki Kashima in the main event after Saki became the latest person to turn her back on her back in January. The company would run the Cinderella Tournament, with Mayu and Hana Kimura eliminating themselves from contention in the first round via over the top rope, but that would ultimately be the last show the company would run until July.
Once they did come back, the company was in a much different place with the untimely and tragic passing of the late, great Hana Kimura and the injury-forced retirement of then-Wonder of Stardom Champion Arisa Hoshiki. Once again, Mayu was a constant the company could rally around, and her next title defence against Jungle Kyona in July from Nagoya was another blistering encounter, which set the champion up to enter the 5Star Grand Prix. That being said, Mayu carried on the tradition of losing her opening match, this time to Giulia, before finishing the tournament with a record of 5-2 to finish as a runner-up in the block to Himeka. Taking advantage of attendance caps due to the pandemic, Stardom began to run bigger venues, with the first being on the 3rd October in the Yokohama Budokan. Mayu would defend her belt successfully against Syuri to make her fourth successful defence before entering the 2020 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League alongside Starlight Kid as the MK Sisters. It was not a successful tournament with the pair accruing just two wins, though Iwatani’s fifth defence of the title would come in the midst of this tournament. In Korakuen Hall, Iwatani avenged a singles loss that happened pre-COVID courtesy of Marvelous Ace Takumi Iroha by defeating her and retaining the World of Stardom Championship on the 18th October.
As her reign with the top prize in Stardom surpassed a calendar year, Iwatani’s next challenger would emerge in the form of the winner of the 2020 5Star Grand Prix; Utami Hayashishita. The venue was set as the Sun Plaza in Sendai on November 15th, and would see Mayu fail in her sixth defence, dropping the belt to Hayashishita in a match that won Stardom’s Match of the Year for 2020. Her reign may have come to an end, but its importance in what was undoubtedly an incredibly difficult time for the company cannot be understated. 377 days, 5 successful title defences and six excellent matches; Mayu successfully carved out the reign that injury robbed her of back in 2017, with it happening when Stardom most desperately needed it.
2020 had been a difficult year, and many were glad to see the back of it. Iwatani started 2021 much as she had 2020 however, with another dark match in the Tokyo Dome on January 5th, this time teaming with Tam Nakano against the Alto Livello KABALIWAN team of Giulia and Syuri. However, even bigger news came in the form of Stardom announcing that, for the first time ever, they would be running Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. It would need to be a show full of special matches, and it was announced that Mayu would be having a special singles match against none other than her former Heisi-gun stablemate Yoshiko, who had mended fences with the company following her acrimonious departure back in 2015. Sure enough, for the first time in 6 years, Yoshiko stepped into a Stardom ring at Nippon Budokan on the 3rd March 2021 to face a wrestler barely recognisable from the last time she had seen her.
‘I think Yoshiko-chan and I suit each other well.’ Mayu told Ozaki in 2021 ‘There’s a six year period where neither of us watched the other person’s matches at all. So in a situation like that, for our chemistry to be so good, your feelings about each other need to be really really…. (with tears in her eyes) like, I think a lot of like, compassion, or…. I just know it felt amazing. Today I’m fairly far along in my career in Stardom, so most of the people I fight are my juniors. But Yoshiko-chan is from the same generation I am, and I really really didn’t want to lose, and it’s been a while since I got seriously beaten to a pulp, it was just so, so fun. I was feeling like “Aaahh yeah, this is pro wrestling!!”
Iwatani would walk out of Nippon Budokan as the victor in the match, pinning Yoshiko with the Moonsault after a frantic and delightfully-stiff 15-minute plus encounter. It’s a match still remembered fondly by fans despite being followed by two blow-away matches on a phenomenal card. It was undoubtedly the highlight of the year for Mayu, who would ultimately see out 2021 in far more quieter fair. A typically great in-ring 5Star Grand Prix would end with Mayu as runner-up in the Red Stars block to Momo Watanabe; the person who had seen Iwatani’s tournament start off with another loss on the opening night. She would fight twice unsuccessfully for the Goddesses of Stardom Championships – first alongside Starlight Kid and then the recently-returned Koguma – against champions Alto Livello KABALIWAN, before she would team with Marvelous’s Rin Kadokura as Blue MaRine in the 2021 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League.
The year may have ended with Mayu in a temporarily quieter role in-ring, however behind the scenes, her life and story were about to get the blockbuster treatment…
Chapter 9 – An International Icon
In the midst of her second run with the Red Belt, Mayu Iwatani released her autobiography in 2020, with the title translated loosely from Japanese to ‘I Was a Shut In and Useless Until I Became a Women’s Pro-Wrestling Icon!’ Such was the buzz around the book and Mayu’s uplifting story, that in June of 2022 it was announced that the book would be adapted for the silver screen, with Yoshiki Watanabe brought on board to write the script and Jun Yoriko to direct, with a tentative release date of early 2024.
It was the start of 2022 that would ultimately see Stardom make their first televised appearance at Wrestle Kingdom, featuring on the main card with Mayu taking pride of place in the match alongside Starlight Kid against Tam Nakano and Saya Kamitani in a losing effort to create even more Stardom history.
With all this happening, and in the midst of Iwatani performing a flurry of promotional work for the upcoming movie, she would fail to regain the World of Stardom Championship from now-champion Syuri on the second night of back-to-back shows from Ryogoku Kokugikan in March of 2022, before ultimately recalibrating her sights on becoming a Stardom Grand Slam Champion by capturing the only belt she had never held before – the SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship. Standing in her way was champion Thekla, with the pair squaring off in the Fukuoka Convention Center at Fukuoka Goddess Festival in May. After 17-minutes, Mayu stood tall to become the ninth SWA Undisputed World Women’s Champion, in the process becoming only the second ever Stardom Grand Slam Champion after Io Shirai. It was an achievement that clearly meant a lot to Iwatani, with this championship – by way of its unique rule-set – opening the doors for Iwatani to test her talents against more international talent.
However, at a Stardom strategy meeting in July, an announcement would well-and-truly turn Iwatani’s head.
For years, rumours had flickered in and out of existence about the possibility of New Japan Pro-Wrestling establishing a women’s championship. With New Japan and Stardom now sister companies following Bushiroad acquiring Stardom, the creation of the IWGP Women’s Championship was formally announced at the aforementioned meeting, with the first champion to be crowned at Historic X-Over – the first ever joint show produced by both New Japan and Stardom.
August 23rd would see a seven-woman tournament announced, with four Stardom wrestlers – Mayu, Himeka, Utami Hayashishita and Momo Watanabe – and three international talents – Ava White, Alpha Female and a recently-returned KAIRI – comprising two brackets – a Japanese bracket and an international bracket, with the two winners facing off at Historic X-Over to crown the first champion. By this time, Mayu had already defended her SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship against both Fukigen Death in May and then KiLynn King in New York at Rumble on 44th Street on October 28th. Simultaneously, she had booked her place at Historic X-Over after beating both Momo Watanabe and Utami Hayashishita. Another successful SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship defence against Alpha Female at November’s Hiroshima Goddess Festival brought the news that Mayu would be vacating the SWA belt in order to focus her attention solely on the upcoming IWGP Women’s Championship match against her old friend and Threedom-ally KAIRI.
‘I’ve been a Grand Slam champion in STARDOM, but I haven’t been the ‘first’ anything.’ She would tell NJPW1972 in the lead up to the event ‘As the first women’s champion, I want Mayu Iwatani’s name to go down in history, and against KAIRI… I won’t let this be the KAIRI show’
In front of over 7,000 people in the Ariake Arena, Mayu and KAIRI would go on in the main event and did not disappoint. That being said, it was the Pirate Princess KAIRI that had her hand raised as opposed to Mayu, with the ‘Icon of Stardom’ forced to watch as her former-friend became the inaugural champion.
‘That was so heartbreaking, really.’ Mayu admitted to NJPW1972 in her ‘Iconic Kingdom’ interview ‘I wanted to be the first champion so badly, and then coming up short like that, like what was it all for?’
Having relinquished the SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship to focus on her pursuit of the IWGP Women’s Championship, the loss left Mayu in limbo. 2022 would end with Iwatani treading water somewhat, having finished that year’s Goddesses of Stardom Tag League on just 6 points alongside Momo Kohgo, before wrestling in an all-STARS 8-woman tag team match at Dream Queendom in December.
The start of 2023 would see Mayu keep her distance from the IWGP Women’s Championship.
‘You know, I’d actually said to a lot of people there was no point in me going for that belt if I wasn’t the first, I wouldn’t challenge after losing in the tournament.’ She stated to NJPW1972.
Instead she entered the inaugural Triangle Derby alongside Hanan and Momo Kohgo, whilst watching on as KAIRI was dethroned by Mercedes Mone at Battle in the Valley in February. The former-Sasha Banks would then defend the belt successfully in a three-way with AZM and Hazuki at Sakura Genesis before being confronted post-match by none other than Mayu Iwatani.
‘I was encouraged not to give up, and sure enough little by little I started feeling ‘you know, I do kinda want that title’ and then ‘I’ll win it, I’ll definitely win it!’ she conceded in the same New Japan interview.
Something of a dream match, Stardom announced that we would indeed be getting Mercedes Mone vs. Mayu Iwatani at April’s All-Star Grand Queendom in Yokohama Arena. Mone did not make the build-up easy for Mayu, penning the rather catchy song ‘Mayu Sucks’, blindsiding her at the Cinderella Tournament final and then putting her through a table with the Money Maker at the All-Star Grand Queendom press conference. All these mind games were for nought however as, in front of a then-record Stardom crowd of 5,500 in the Yokohama Arena, Mayu Iwatani would hit her Two-Step Dragon Suplex to pin Mercedes Mone and win the IWGP Women’s Championship, becoming the third champion of its early lineage.
‘And when I did (win the championship), I felt in a way that it was better I never won it the first time.’ Mayu would later gush to NJPW1972 ‘Someone with the presence that she (Mone) has, it doesn’t seem real that I would be able to face her, right? Like it shouldn’t happen, but it did, and it was such an important experience. Mercedes is amazing. The way she carries herself, she’s just such a pro’s pro. The way she’s so good at getting a rise out of opponents and the people. Io Shirai and Nanae Takahashi are the two women I’ve always respected the most in wrestling, but Mercedes definitely joined that list. I’m not really one to show frustration, and I’ve got a pretty long fuse. A lot of girls will grab hair at press conferences and go for that trash talk and I’m not the type to do that. With Mercedes I got really hot. She made me want to tear her apart, and that’s to her credit (laughs). That’s the superstar in her, she can do that and then when the time is right make sure all of the attention is on her and her alone in that ring.“
Following this monumental moment in Mayu’s career, focus would switch to her 10th 5Star Grand Prix where, finally, she would shift the opening night curse by recording a victory over Hazuki. She would ultimately finish the tournament with 11 points securing a record of 5 wins, three losses and 1 draw. It was in the midst of the tournament where Mayu would make the first defence of her IWGP Women’s Championship against Utami Hayashishita at Stardom X Stardom in mid-August. She would then team with KAIRI and Nanae Takahashi before the former’s second departure to the WWE at the Nagoya PPV in early October before entering the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League alongside Hanan as Eye Contact. It would be Iwatani’s best outing in the tournament for years, with Eye Contact finishing as block runner-up to eventual winners Divine Kingdom with a record of four wins and two losses. Injuries were beginning to mount up for Stardom though, with Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani, Starlight Kid, Natsupoi and Tam Nakano all out of action, and unfortunately Mayu would soon join that long list. Defending her IWGP Women’s Championship in the United States for the first time at Lonestar Shootout against Stephanie Vaquer in November, Mayu would dislocate the little finger on her right hand. She would finish the match, but the injury would result in her being pulled from the Gold Rush PPV and remaining out of action until the end of December.
‘Yes, it hurts like hell. Even when shampooing and stuff, little fingers are easy to get caught, right? When I first got injured, I thought I was glad it was my little finger, but what an inconvenience!’ She would say when Kakutolog caught up with her about the injury, with translation courtesy of Puro Subs on Twitter. ‘It hurts so much. It was in a cast until the 5th of December this month, so it’s been a week since I took it off. I am currently undergoing rehabilitation on the finger that was immobilised to increase the range of movement. My little finger really started to look like a tsuchinoko (mythical snake-like creature with thick midsection). It’s in a state where I don’t even know if it will come back to shape. For now, the instructions are to “rehabilitate and expand the range of movement,” so I’m currently undergoing treatment and receiving electrical therapy.’
Despite her initial concerns that her finger may never return to its normal size and shape, Mayu returned as announced on the 29th December to team with Hanan, Saya Iida and Hazuki against Oedo Tai at Dream Queendom with attention turning swiftly to her third IWGP Women’s Championship defence against Syuri coming up on January 4th. It was a match that wouldn’t be taking place in the Tokyo Dome however, much to Mayu’s chagrin, instead taking place at Tokyo Dome City Hall before Wrestle Kingdom. Perhaps Iwatani took that anger into the match with Syuri, as what played out is still widely regarded as one of the greatest IWGP Women’s Championship matches of all time. She would retain in a monstrous war of attrition – made all the more impressive when considering that her injured finger was still not 100% – and it’s a match she still considers one of her favourite defence.
‘January 4th in T.D.C. Hall with Syuri was awesome.’ she would reminisce to NJPW1972 during her ‘Iconic Fight’ interview prior to her next defence against Mina Shirakawa ‘The adrenaline was pumping, I went all Super Saiyan (laughs)… I was so beat up, I shouldn’t have been moving, but instead of having all this pain, it was just like a fire shot through my whole body. I’ve never felt an adrenaline rush like it. Up to now, I’ve had a list of my best matches in mind, like against Io Shirai and against Kagetsu… Right (the match with Syuri is joining the list). That’s a hard thing to do. I’ve always felt like I cling onto my past a little, nostalgia’s a bit of a factor. But I really think on January 4th, I had the best match of my 13-year career. Right after the match, I just had this huge sensation of, this is it, I did it and it felt amazing.’
With 2023 in the rear-view mirror, and there being just enough time for Iwatani to claim the Oustanding Performance Award at the Stardom End of Year Awards, Mayu had her eyes set on a busy year in 2024 both personally and professionally.
Unfortunately, all was not well behind the scenes in Stardom, and events were about to unfold that would shake Stardom, and in particular Mayu, to their core!
Chapter 10 – I’d Pick You Every Time, My Marigold
Stardom’s founder Rossy Ogawa was officially let go from Stardom in controversial circumstances amidst allegations of talent poaching immediately following Supreme Fight 2024 in February. He had notified the company of his intentions to leave at the tail-end of 2023, however after a now infamous group photo at the end of the Supreme Fight PPV, Ogawa was allegedly told his contract was terminated and was put in a cab. Just over a month later, it would be announced that Utami Hayashishita, Giulia, Yuzuki, Mai Sakurai, Nanae Takahashi and MIRAI would also be leaving the company at the end of their contracts to join Ogawa in the formation of Dream Star Fighting Marigold.
The man who had been Mayu’s constant since she ran away to join Stardom 13 years ago was now gone, and the impact on her was understandably huge. She told Tokyo Sports that it was all she could think about, and that it had led to her crying for days. Her state of mind also led to several troubling Twitter posts, with it taking new Stardom President Taro Okada to personally phone and check on her, leading to Mayu apologising and taking down the social media posts.
Eventually, and after much soul searching, Mayu opted to stay with Stardom;
‘I, myself even thought about transferring at one point.’ Mayu revealed in a Samurai TV interview translated by Mera Wrestling on Twitter. ‘On top of that, I had many conversations with Ogawa-san and the current president, (Taro) Okada-san. The answer I finally came to was that if Uta (Utami Hayashishita) and Giulia were gone, and Ogawa-san and Mayu Iwatani were gone, STARDOM would no longer be STARDOM. I have to properly repay the favor to the company that has allowed me to work there for 13 years. I also owe a lot to Ogawa-san, but I think I have been able to repay him by working hard up until now. So, from now on, I will properly give back to the company. As long as I am there, STARDOM will remain STARDOM. It was really something I thought on my own, but after talking with Okada-san about it, I decided to stay.’
Despite the reported persistence of her worries, Mayu threw herself into wrestling, putting on a typical clinic against Mina Shirakawa at New Japan’s New Beginning in Sapporo show on 23rd February, before spear-heading Stardom’s first sole-promoted shows in the USA since 2019 when the company headed to Philadelphia over WrestleMania week. In spite of what must have been going on internally, never once did Mayu let this show and continued to not only be a consummate professional, but also put on the phenomenal matches we had come to expect from the ‘Icon of Stardom’. All-Star Grand Queendom provided Mayu the opportunity to wrestle the match that never was against Sareee. Originally slated to happen at the February show before the COVID pandemic, Sareee came down with illness before the match and was replaced by Takumi Iroha, with Sareee’s exploits in the WWE meaning that it would be four years before the match could finally take place. It was worth the wait, as the near-2,800 people in the Yokohama BUNTAI witnessed a fantastic match that saw Iwatani make her fifth-title defence as her reign eclipsed the one year mark.
In the midst of all of this, ‘Runaway Wrestler’ the film based on Mayu’s 2020 autobiography would release on May 17th. Anna Hirai played the role of Mayu, while Stardom wrestlers Syuri, Momo Kohgo and KAIRI all made appearances, with the film receiving a warm reception from critics, currently sitting at a respectable 7.5/10 on IMDB. The promotion and media Mayu had to do in relation to the film’s release kept her very busy,
‘Right now, I’m getting offers to give lectures at IT companies and schools’ she revealed in a Tokyo Sports interview ‘so I want to get out there and be a bridge to people who have never seen professional wrestling.’
Mayu would make her sixth defence of the IWGP Women’s Championship against Ice Ribbon stalwart Tsukasa Fujimoto in June, but the match would unfortunately end in a referee stoppage with Fujimoto breaking her elbow following an awkward landing from a Missile Dropkick. It would be her last title defence before the start of the 2024 5Star Grand Prix, with the tournament seeing a slight structural shift to allow for quarter and semi-finals. After finally shifting the unwanted curse of losing on the opening night in the previous year’s tournament, she would defeat Tam Nakano in the main event of the opening night before ending the block phase with an impressive record of 5-1 – losing only to AZM – to progress as block winner. She would then dispatch Natsupoi in the quarter-finals before falling short against eventual tournament-winner Maika in the semi-finals. It would ultimately be Iwatani’s final 5Star Grand Prix, with her announcing her retirement from the tournament in a Tokyo Sports interview in September;
‘This year I was in top condition and gave it my all, and yet I lost’ she lamented to Tokyo Sports with translation once more by Mera Wrestling ‘I don’t know if I’ll be in better condition next year than I was this year… Because I have such strong feelings about this year, I will not be appearing in 5★STAR next year. I will be retiring from 5★STAR.”
Having dropped that bombshell, Mayu’s focus returned to the IWGP Women’s Championship, and the return of a ghost from her past. AEW’s Toni Storm had made her first Stardom appearance in five years when she appeared in-ring at Stardom’s Philadelphia show in April to sow the seeds for a Forbidden Door match between herself and Mina Shirakawa. She would then appear again via a pre-recorded video package at the Namba Grand Fight PPV on September 14th to challenge Mayu for the IWGP Women’s Championship at the Nagoya Golden Fight show at the start of October. Having never beaten Storm in their previous four singles meetings, Mayu would finally avenge her miserable record by defeating the Timeless one and moving to an incredible 512 days and seven title defences.
The work of a champion is never done however, and the next challenge came swiftly. Following a victory on the opening night of the 2024 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, Mayu was confronted by a furious Momo Watanabe, seething that Mayu had used her bat against her in their 5Star Grand Prix match. Her anger led to a beatdown of Iwatani and a formal challenge for the IWGP Women’s Championship at the second Historic X-Over show. Having lost to KAIRI at the previous event two years prior, this defence meant more than most for Mayu as chances for redemption don’t present themselves everyday. It was a chance she grasped with both hands, with the two members of the Stardom roster putting on a blistering match in the semi-main event at the EDION Arena Osaka. 25 minutes later, and Mayu was having her hand raised having secured an eighth successful title defence, but she was not done. Still needled at the fact that she and the IWGP Women’s Championship had been omitted from the Wrestle Kingdom 18 card at the beginning of the year, she issued a challenge for the Tokyo Dome in 2025, with it being ultimately answered by AZM – the only person to beat Mayu in the 5Star Grand Prix. The pair shook hands, and the match was set; Mayu’s first singles match at the Tokyo Dome would be on January 4th 2025 against a fellow homegrown Stardom talent in AZM.
Having entered the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League alongside Momo Kohgo as Peach Rock throughout November – finishing with a record of 3-5 – Mayu would ultimately see out what had been a tumultuous year with an eight-woman tag team match against NEO-GENESIS at Dream Queendom 2024 on December 29th as preparations for her first ever singles match at the Tokyo Dome intensified.
The fact that she had been champion for over 600 days by the time of Wrestle Kingdom 19, it was a singles match that Iwatani believed long overdue.
‘When I heard I wasn’t on the card in 2024, I was really beaten up about it. Like, this is an NJPW belt as well, right? Why have it if not to be defended there? I was upset, and I was mad, and then had the matches that I did after that feeling like ‘so why didn’t you put me at the Dome, then?’ She would state defiantly during her ‘Iconic Kingdom’ NJPW1972 interview in December. ‘It made me go through the year with a chip on my shoulder I guess, not just with the company, but the fans as well. I wanted to wrestle and have matches so the company couldn’t turn me down, and so the fans were demanding a Dome match as well. That’s what I was thinking when I took the mic at X-Over.’
It was clearly a moment that meant a lot to Mayu, but was also one she was adamant she had earned. Needless to say the match on January 4th 2025 was a typically outstanding addition to the catalogue of outstanding Mayu Iwatani defences, defeating AZM in less than nine-minutes in another frenetic and breathless match that undoubtedly brought more eyes to Stardom as a whole.
Mayu would then travel Stateside to be a part of Sumire Sakai’s retirement match at New Japan’s Battle in the Valley show in San Jose before reconnecting with Momo Kohgo in March as Peach Rock challenged unsuccessfully for the Goddesses of Stardom Championships against new champions Hanan and Saya Iida in Okinawa. However, when it became time for Stardom to visit the United States once more as a part of WrestleMania week in Las Vegas, Iwatani was conspicuous by her absence, with many puzzling as to why Stardom would leave one of their biggest stars at home.
The Marigold rumours had never really gone away in truth, and her absence so close to the end of her Stardom contract only served to add more fuel to the blazing inferno of wonder already circulating. It could be explained away of course by the proximity of Stardom’s shows in Las Vegas to All-Star Grand Queendom 2025 in the Yokohama Arena, with the events taking place just a week apart from each other. Mayu was after all front and centre in an IWGP Women’s Championship rematch against Syuri and perhaps a period of rest before Stardom’s biggest-ever show was something thought necessary. Regardless of the rumour, Mayu marched out in front of over 7,000 people in the Yokohama Arena on April 27th to face Syuri once again, the Icon of Stardom in the company’s biggest ever show. It was here, after what can only be described as a war, that Mayu Iwatani’s historic IWGP Women’s Championship run would grind to a screeching halt, with Syuri ending her run at an incredible 735 days and 9 successful title defences, making it the longest single reign with an IWGP-branded title in New Japan’s entire history, eclipsing Kazuchika Okada’s gargantuan reign with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by 15-days. It was a remarkable achievement, with it brought to an end by an equally remarkable match. However, there was something about the way that Mayu left the ring following the match that led many to speculate that this could be the last time we would see Mayu in a Stardom ring.
‘I love this STARDOM ring.’ She would tell the assembled crowd ‘But now that the belt is gone, I entrust the future of the belt to Syuri-san. That belt is a really, really heavy belt. It’s the belt you took from Mayu Iwatani, so please continue to defend it! STARDOM’s icon Mayu Iwatani will search for a new path.’
Stardom would announce a press conference for the following day.
Sitting next to President Taro Okada on April 28th, Mayu Iwatani would announce that she had taken the decision to leave Stardom, effective immediately;
‘I have left STARDOM. 14 years and 3 months. Thank you so much!’ She said to those in attendance, ‘I wanted to leave with a smile on my face, but I was surprised to find myself crying.I’m also surprised at myself for making this decision. I will be an icon not just of STARDOM, but of women’s wrestling. I hope you will continue to follow me.‘
Her destination was something of an open secret. The moment that Marigold announced their own press conference on the 1st May however, no-one was in any doubt whatsoever as to what it could relate to.
Sure enough, Mayu was sat next to Rossy Ogawa, wearing a smile that said a thousand words, and announced that she had joined Dream Star Fighting Marigold.
When asked why she had joined, Mayu would give a litany of reasons, telling the people in attendance that;
‘…The attendance at Korakuen is still not quite there. Also, when people ask who the ace is, I want to be the face of Marigold. I’ll be its savior.’ Before going on to say that the chance to wrestle the likes of Io, Kairi and Giulia with Marigold’s partnership with WWE was also something that intrigued her. ‘To put it in a positive way, it feels like a homely place, but to put it in a negative way,’ She continued ‘it feels like an indie. It makes me feel nostalgic. As someone who has experience in the majors, I am somewhat nervous, but excited about the idea of building something up from here.’
However it was a simple exchange between Iwatani and Ogawa that showed the main reason she had joined. Turning to Rossy, Mayu asked if Marigold needed her. Ogawa replied that she was there because they needed her, with Iwatani replying in the affirmative. Mayu had found a new calling, a new passion, a new home, and – poetically – it’s with the person with whom it all began.
14 years and 3 months, 976 matches, 2 World of Stardom Championships, 2 Wonder of Stardom Championships, 1 IWGP Women’s Championship, 1 SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship, 2 Goddesses of Stardom Championships and 5 Artist of Stardom Championships. The Stardom adventure may be over but Mayu has never seemed so invigorated and excited at what the future could possibly hold alongside Rossy as a member of Dream Star Fighting Marigold.
Chapter 11 – Legacy
Mayu Iwatani is without question the most important wrestler to have ever stepped foot inside the World Wonder Ring. Others have gained more international fame since their time in Stardom of course, IO SKY, Kairi Sain and Toni Storm to name just three, but there is a strong argument that, without Mayu Iwatani, there would be no Stardom. She had been that one constant throughout the company’s turbulent history, being that flag around which the company could rally again and again, whether that be due to the Yoshiko and Act incident, Io and Kairi’s departures, the torrid year of 2020, Rossy Ogawa’s departure, Mayu’s loyalty never wavered. Even when it was widely rumoured she would be leaving to join Marigold, her in-ring work never suffered, epitomised by that wonderful passing-of-the-torch match against Syuri we mentioned earlier on. That in itself speaks more to her integrity as a person, and is worth so much more than the countless personal accolades she’s garnered over the course of her incredible tenure; the nickname ‘Icon’ is not bestowed on just anyone after all.
5210 days and 976 matches later and Mayu Iwatani is comfortably the company’s most tenured wrestler, and only their second-ever Grand Slam champion, racking up the most victories with 480, the most title reigns with 14, the most title matches with 106 whilst winning absolutely everything she was able eligible to. No wrestler in Stardom is ever likely to reach the heights of what Iwatani has managed to accomplish, and no-one is ever likely to eclipse the indelible mark she has left on the company.
‘Myself, I think I am a genius.’ Mayu quipped back in 2021. Based on this inspirational story of a hikikomori defying the odds to become one of the best Japanese pro-wrestlers in modern history, it is very hard to disagree with the new ‘Icon of Joshi Puroresu!’
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Matt Turner, Scott E Wrestling and Sonny Gutierrez for taking the time to read through this retrospective, point out any mistakes and help with some fact checking. Their time, patience and attention to detail has been invaluable. A full list of the interviews cited in this piece can be found below;
- Mayu Iwatani is a Self-Proclaimed Pro-Wrestling Pervert – Sportiva Interview (Translated by Dana of the ‘Shine Today, Believe Tomorrow Blog’.)
- Mayu Iwatani 2019 Interview Part 1 – proresu-today.com
- Mayu Iwatani 2019 Interview Part 2 – proresu-today.com
- ‘ICONIC FIGHT’ – NJPW1972.com (Archived)
- Mayu Iwatani Talks About Finger Injury – Kakutolog
- Mayu Iwatani Talks the IWGP Women’s Title & Runaway Wrestler – Tokyo Sports
- ‘ICONIC KINGDOM’ – NJPW1972.com
- Mayu Iwatani Retires From 5Star Grand Prix – Tokyo Sports
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