By: J. Curbelo
Streamers and puroresu go hand-in-hand, historically speaking. Unfortunately, the 2020s have seen an absence of them due to hygiene safety measures after the pandemic broke out. This was just one of multiple enforcements to make sure that shows were able to happen, including banning vocal audience reactions until very recently.
As Japan is gradually easing on their safety policies, we can finally say that the ban on streamers is slowly being lifted as well, and STARDOM will follow suit next March 18th in Yamaguchi. Hometown hero Mayu Iwatani will finally return to the place she ran away from to become a wrestler, Yamaguchi City. Just for the main event of that show, streamers will be allowed when Mayu joins Hazuki and Koguma against Natsuko Tora, Saki Kashima and Starlight Kid.
紙テープルールが、分かりずらくて
申し訳ありませんでした🙇💦
分かりやすく追記して頂きました！！
山口大会、紙テープ限定解禁は
６選手に投げ入れ可能です！！！！✨#KDDI維新ホール#岩谷麻優山口凱旋 pic.twitter.com/elo5iOaxOp— 岩谷麻優 MayuIwatani (@MayuIwatani) March 9, 2023
Fans are expected to bring their own rolls of paper tape and throw them to the ring each time all competitors’ names are announced after their entrances. Usually, fans would coordinate themselves to pick different colors of paper tape to match those of the wrestlers’ attires or color palettes. It’s safe to say this tradition has been sorely missed by fans in Japan and all over the world, and it can be expected that streamers will return to being a common visual in the coming months.
Mayu has expressed excitement not just about this piece of news, but also about returning to the place she once called home, and has been doing multiple P.R. activities with town authorities and media personalities. Iwatani used to be a voluntary recluse inside her house -commonly refered to as “hikikomori”- never being able to find any purpose in life until she was taken by her brother to see professional wrestling live, which left Mayu infatuated.
She would end up running away to Tokyo and staying with President Rossy Ogawa, who had massive amounts of faith on her, even if she didn’t show her full potential right from the start. Mayu’s life story was told by the Icon herself in a memoir book released in 2020, and is currently being adapted into a movie called Runaway Wrestler, starred by actress Anna Hirai.
Date:
March 9, 2023
Category:
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