Kouki Amarei Reveals She Suffered From Depression During Injury Rehab, Says Nanae Takahashi Reached Out To Her

By: Lewis Carlan

Back on Jan. 3rd at Marigold’s First Dream event, the GHC Women’s Champion Kouki Amarei was making her first defense of the title against Chika Goto. Unfortunately for Amarei, this would be her last match for a few months as she suffered a torn ACL during the bout.

During a press conference on Jan. 9th, Amarei announced that she would be out of action for an indefinite amount of time due to the injury. She set a goal for herself to return to action at the Marigold SHINE FOREVER 2025 May 24th event in Yoyogi.

Amarei underwent surgery on January 16th and soon after began a rehabilitation program on her knee. It was revealed in a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, that she became depressed during the injury rehabilitation. Amarei indicated that one individual who reached out to her during her depression was Nanae Takahashi.

From Kouki Amarei:

“I was really depressed that I got injured even though I was the champion, and it was really painful to have the fluid drained from my knee for the first time in my life. At that time, the person who reached out to me was Nanae-san. That’s why I couldn’t stand the thought of not being part of Nanae-san’s retirement show as a wrestler. I worked hard on my rehabilitation, with the sole desire to absolutely return at Yoyogi.”

Amarei also disclosed the emotions she felt when she first learned about the injury:

“The moment I got injured, it hurt, but when I walked down the final ramp myself, it didn’t hurt at all. Even when I was being taken to the hospital by ambulance, I thought it was just a sprain, so the moment I heard the diagnosis, I almost cried.”

There is good news to report as Amarei is fully healed and will be participating at the Marigold SHINE FOREVER 2025 event on May 24th in Yoyogi. She will team with Kizuna Tanaka as they face Chika Goto & Minami Yuki in tag team action at the event.

From Kouki Amarei:

“I’m completely fine now. I’ve resumed in-ring training and I’m also taking bumps again.”

It was a long road of rehabilitation for Amarei but she set a return goal for herself early on and has achieved it. It’s quite obvious that Amarei is thrilled to be returning to in-ring competition. She knows that as the once again active GHC Women’s Champion, the target on her back has returned as many would love to dethrone her for that title and Kouki Amarei wouldn’t have it any other way.

Marigold SHINE FOREVER 2025 will be available on Wrestle Universe PPV on May 24th.

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