President Taro Okada Says Saya Kamitani Has Played A Pivotal Role In The Rising Attendance For STARDOM

By: Lewis Carlan

Back in 2024, STARDOM saw a mass talent exodus as numerous top competitors including Utami Hayashishita, Victoria Yuzuki, MIRAI & Mai Sakarai all departed to join Rossy Ogawa’s new promotion Marigold. One of their all time top stars Giulia also left STARDOM in 2024 to help Marigold get off the ground before heading to the WWE. All those departures were major losses for STARDOM but the talent exits were not done going into 2025.

This year, we saw more talent deciding to leave STARDOM. In April 2025, the face of STARDOM Mayu Iwatani shocked the pro wresting world when she announced that she was leaving the promotion after 14 years. This was considered the biggest loss ever to hit STARDOM. Iwatani soon signed with Ogawa’s Marigold where she immediately became the focal point of the young promotion.

In addition, Mina Shirakawa & Thekla both departed STARDOM and joined AEW in 2025. To make matters worse, STARDOM lost superstars Maika and Syuri for an indefinite amount of time due to injuries and Tam Nakano was forced to retire.

With all the departures, one would think that STARDOM would experience declining fan interest and event attendance but incredibly this has not been the case. The popularity of STARDOM is thriving and event attendance has been on the rise.

At this year’s 5★STAR GP, a total of 13,989 attended all 14 tournament events compared to 9,603 from last year. On Aug 23rd, STARDOM drew 2,856 at Ota Ward General Gymnasium which was a sell out. STARDOM drew it’s highest attendance of 2025 on April 27 when 7,506 fans filled the Yokohama Arena and witnessed Saya Kamitani defeat Tam Nakano in a loser must retire match.

The rise is attendance is occurring in smaller venues as well. For example the attendance at Kyoto KBS Hall is up from 506 last year to 746 in 2025.

STARDOM President Taro Okada spoke with daily.co.jp recently and stated that the current World of STARDOM Champion Saya Kamitani has played an instrumental role in the growing attendance at STARDOM events due to her rising star power.

From Taro Okada:

“We were helped by the star that is Kamitani. The February show (Fuji TV’s “Chidori no Oni Renchan”) became a hot topic, her retirement match with Tam Nakano went viral on social media, and she caught the eye of TV people. Kamitani seized that luck and timing with her own efforts.”

Photo Credit: STARDOM

STARDOM superstar Natsuko Tora weighed in on the impact Kamitani has had on attendance numbers for the promotion:

From Natsuko Tora:

“The impressive thing is that she didn’t just become popular on TV, she actually drew crowds. The composition of our audience has changed. Especially in regional areas, we’re seeing more young women and housewives.”

Tora and Kamitani are both members of the H.A.T.E. faction in STARDOM.

Photo Credit: STARDOM

President Okada mentioned that STARDOM can’t create new stars but the talent needs to step up and earn the right to be called a “star”.

From President Okada:

“In this day and age, we can’t create stars ourselves. I’ve learned that they have to grab it themselves.”

STARDOM has survived the mass exodus of talent over the past two years and seems to be more popular than ever. They have many young stars ready to step up and grab the spotlight as well as veterans such as Kamitani, Starlight Kid, Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Momo Watanabe & AZM all ready and willing to carry the torch.

The promotion appears destined to thrive for the remainder of 2025 and have an even bigger 2026.

(H/T goes to meraWRESTLING for English quote translations)

(STARDOM attendance numbers quoted above courtesy of daily.co.jp)