Utami Hayashishita To Appeal To GHC Committee For a Shot at Mayu Iwatani’s GHC Women’s Title

By: Lewis Carlan

On Jan. 12th, Utami Hayashishita joined forces with Marigold World Champion Miku Aono as they faced the tandem of GHC Women’s Champion and Marigold Superfly Champion Mayu Iwatani & Marigold United National Titleholder Victoria Yuzuki in a huge tag team battle at MARIGOLD NEW YEAR GOLDEN GARDEN 2026. The bout took place at Korakuen Hall in front of a disappointing attendance of 705 fans.

In a thriller of a bout that lasted nearly thirty minutes, Hayashishita pinned Iwatani to win the match for her team. Following the victory, Hayashishita challenged Iwatani for her GHC Women’s Championship which she won on Jan. 3rd 2026. Iwatani responded it was up to the GHC Executive Committee who her first challenger will be. Hayashishita stated she will seek out the GHC Exeuctive Committee.

Hayashishita took to X and reiterated that she intends to appeal her case to the GHC Executive Committee as to why she deserves a shot at the GHC Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani. Hayashishita also indicated that she wished that more people were in attendance at the Jan. 12th Korakuen Hall event.

From Utami Hayashishita:

“Although I should have won, my body is completely exhausted. Personally, I wanted to do it, but I also had a strong desire to see the ultimate tag team. I was confident we could show something absolutely amazing. I wished even more people could have seen it! There are still a lot of challenges ahead. That said, I defeated Mayu Iwatani. As for GHC, I’ll go get permission myself! Where can I meet the executive committee? I have something to discuss.” (Translated via Google Translate)

As Hayashishita pinned Iwatani on Jan. 12th, she has a great case to present to the GHC Executive Committee as to why she deserves to be the first challenger for Mayu Iwatani.

It was be extremely surprising if Hayashishita is denied an opportunity to challenge for the GHC Women’s Title and quite frankly, the committee would be hard-pressed to come up with reasoning to say no to Hayashishita.