Saya Kamitani On If Deciding To Put Her Career On The Line Against Tam Nakano Was Necessary

By Lewis Carlan

On April 27th, one of the best feuds currently in all of professional wrestling will seemingly come to its conclusion. At STARDOM’s All Star Grand Queendom 2025 at the Yokohama Arena, the World of STARDOM Champion Saya Kamitani will face her despised adversary Tam Nakano in a career vs. career match.

Over the past few months, Kamitani and Nakano engaged in a heated feud that has captivated the fans of STARDOM. Kamitani has been getting the better of Nakano in one on one matches. On Dec. 29th, Kamitani defeated Nakano for the World of STARDOM Title and on March 3rd, Kamitani once again defeated Nakano in a Loser Leaves Stardom bout. Nakano has continued to compete for STARDOM as a freelancer since her March 3rd defeat.

Both careers will be on the line on April 27th which means either Kamitani or Nakano will be forced to walk away from in-ring competition forever.

In a recent interview with Number Web, Kamitani was asked if putting her career on the line against Nakano was necessary.

Here was Kamitani’s response:

“Yes, it’s true that I probably didn’t need to put my retirement on the line. But, and this may be a feeling that only a pro wrestler can have, the challenger said she was putting her life on the line, so I wanted to accept that. I thought that by doing so, we would be able to see the best spectacle of pro wrestling that pro wrestlers have not seen in recent years. I have no intention of losing, but it’s a competitive world, so the possibility of losing is not zero.”  (H/T goes to meraWRESTLING for English translation.)

In addition, Kamitani was asked, should she lose and have to retire, what would be her plans outside of Joshi Puroresu:

I don’t have anything to do. Since I debuted, all I’ve done is pro-wrestling. Even when I think about what I should do, I can’t think of anything. Should I do another job or work behind the scenes? Or should I leave Japan and go overseas? Right now, the only thing I’m thinking about is winning. It’s only natural that I can’t think of anything.” (H/T goes to meraWRESTLING for English translation.)

While we won’t know who will prevail between Kamitani & Nakano on April 27th until one of their hands are raised in victory, we do know for sure that one of the combatants in that match will have to end their Joshi Puroresu career.