Utami Hayashishita Reveals She Felt A Tremendous Amount Of Jealousy Towards Saya Kamitani

By: Lewis Carlan

After a two year stint with Marigold, Utami Hayashishita left the promotion on May 23rd and three days later surprised the pro-wrestling world by returning to STARDOM.

Hayashishita appeared at the STARDOM NIGHTER IN KORAKUEN 2026 MAY on May 26th and confronted Saya Kamitani. A highly anticipated singles bout between the two appears to be inevitable.

In a new interview currently on the official STARDOM website, Hayashishita revealed that she had feelings of extreme jealousy towards Kamitani due to the tremendous amount of success she had been achieving throughout 2025 and into 2026.

From Utami Hayashishita:

“I felt a tremendous amount of jealousy toward Kamitani. But while I obviously have a desire to catch up to her, it’s precisely because of how massive her presence is that it made me want to work harder as a professional wrestler. I’m just being jealous of her on my own, and her existence is pushing me forward on its own. In both good ways and bad ways, the existence of Kamitani has been my driving force. Kamitani won a historic double award (MVP and Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize) at the Tokyo Sports Pro-Wrestling Awards, which left a huge impression on me. More than anything, she was appearing on TV shows where she’d catch the eyes of all sorts of people, and she was wrestling in live televised matches. Those were all things that I wanted to achieve myself someday. Winning major awards is one thing, but she was doing exactly what I wanted to do: delivering professional wrestling to people who don’t even know what it is.”

Photo Credit: STARDOM

In addition, Hayashishita discussed her feelings and emotions when she stood inside a STARDOM for the first time after being away for two years.

From Utami Hayashishita:

“There were just too many different emotions… My desire to stand before Kamitani was incredibly strong, but I also worried that the people supporting the current STARDOM might look at me and think, “Who is this person?” or that they might not even know me at all. Even if there were people who did know Utami Hayashishita, I figured there would definitely be some who didn’t think well of it, so I worried I’d face a lot of criticism. There was the nervousness of standing before Kamitani, but the anxiety of standing in front of the fans was also huge. First of all, when my entrance music started playing, there were already people who recognized Utami Hayashishita right then and there, which honestly made me feel relieved. I’d been so terrified up until that point, but having people recognize me, and then hearing the ‘Utami’ chants when I walked out… I hadn’t even stepped into the ring yet, and I hadn’t properly stood before Kamitani either, but I felt so relieved… It felt as if the fans were pushing me forward of their own accord. It made me think, ‘It really is okay for me to be back here.’”

On June 20th, Hayashishita will team with AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid as they face Saya Kamitani, Momo Watanabe, Konami & Bea Priestley. This will be the first time Hayashishita & Kamitani will be on opposite sides of a bout since Hayashishita has returned to STARDOM and fans can expect fireworks between the two.

STARDOM fans are hoping all roads will lead to a Utami Hayashishita vs Saya Kamitani singles bout and their hopes are expected to become a reality in the near future.

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