Can Saori Anou Win the Wonder of Stardom Title?

Has the time come for Saori Anou, or will MIRAI’s soul-filled reign continue on?

By: James Carlin

It was back at the beginning of April that Saori Anou made a surprise re-appearance for STARDOM for the first time following her loss of the ICExInfinity championship to Totoro Satsuki. Many had thought that she would continue to stay as a prominent freelancer without making an impact in STARDOM as others had also been doing at the time, but instead the revelation was that she had returned and now she was part of the re-united members of stArt alongside Natsupoi and KAIRI, winning the Artist of Stardom championships at Yokohama Arena from Prominence.

REstart with the Artist of Stardom championships at All Star Grand Queendom, 4.23.23

As the year moved forward, Anou would find herself butting heads against Natsupoi which ultimately cost REstart the trios championships, and the two still weren’t able to get themselves on the right page until things were settled once-and-for-all in a Indian Strap match. It was a long, tough and emotional battle that showed that both Natsupoi and Anou had what it took to become Wonder of Stardom champion in the near future.

In August, Anou and Natsupoi would reconnected with each other and defeat Rose Gold (Mina Shirakawa and Mariah May) to become Goddess of Stardom champions in a short-lived reign that ultimately forced the duo to vacate after Natsupoi’s injury.

With Anou going solo for the time being, she entered into the 2023 edition of the 5★STAR GP, tying for third place alongside Momo Watanabe and MIRAI who also got ten points. However, Anou had defeated the Wonder of Stardom champion in their tournament match, making her elligble to challenge for the title.

Just like Anou, Watanabe would stake her claim to MIRAI’s belt after defeating her in their tournament match, yet MIRAI’s strong heart, determination, and undoubtably her soul, enabled her to get her second victory as champion.

When it finally came for MIRAI and Anou to battle for the White Belt, the two went to a draw. Neither were satisfied with the result, and yet again the champion and the challenger will meet – this time at Ryogoku Sumo Hall at Dream Queendom. But can Anou actually win the championship from MIRAI?

MIRAIというスターダムのワンダー・オブ・スターダムのチャンピオンはすげぇよ。
私が言うんやから間違いないやろ。 pic.twitter.com/irocXLKFRi

— 安納サオリ (@anou_saori) November 18, 2023

The Statistics for Saori in STARDOM

After her return to STARDOM for the first time since defeating Hiromi Mimura at the Sixth Anniversary show in 2017, Anou has a record of 7-3-3. The three draws came from Giulia, Maika and then MIRAI in their Wonder of Stardom title match at Gold Rush. Her three losses, however, come from AZM, Utami Hayashishita and Momo Watanabe – all in 5★STAR matches. Since then, Anou re-gained her win back against AZM at Nagoya Golden Fight in a high-speed matchup.

She has managed to hold her own against former White Belt and Red Belt holders, even defeating some of them in the process, but her record shows that the liklihood of her leaving Sumo Hall steers towards a victory, especially with Anou holding a win over the champion, whilst the champion can only say that she holds a draw over Anou.

Following the multiple injuries and title relinquishments as of late, it wouldn’t be a shock if a new era of champions come around to usher STARDOM into 2024. AphroditE have the tag team titles for the first time since 2021, and either Suzu Suzuki or Maika will become a first-time World of Stardom champion, leaving the White Belt as the only main championship in the company that could possibly see a new owner if MIRAI succombs to Anou once again.

In tag team action in Niigata five days ago, MIRAI and Syuri went to a draw against Megan Bayne and Anou, The champion spoke about how strong Anou was, but was optimistic about her chances of keeping hold of her belt next week, and she will definitely put her heart and soul into it.

Whilst other challengers to the belt like Konami and Watatanabe have gone out of their way to trash talk MIRAI prior to their matchup, Anou has been vocal with her praises to the champion on multiple occasions, but now she must show the Cinderella Princess what it means to be “absolutely indomitable”.