Mayu Iwatani Retains IWGP Women’s Title Against Syuri

The Icon of Stardom gets her third victory as champion hours before Wrestle Kingdom 18

By: James Carlin

Although this year’s Wrestle Kingdom didn’t feature a showcase of STARDOM inside the Tokyo Dome, Mayu Iwatani reigned supreme as she successfully defended her IWGP Women’s Championship in the main event of Stardom Gate 2024 against Syuri.

The last time that the two had a one-on-one title encounter before January 4th was in 2022 at World Climax when Syuri defended her World of Stardom championship against Iwatani in the main event, having defeated her former Donna del Mondo stablemate Giulia the previous day, forming God’s Eye with Ami Sohrei after their match. Their last singles match saw Syuri defeat Iwatani in the 2023 5STAR GP, with this bout marking their fourth singles match together in total.

Iwatani defeated Mercedes Mone back in April at Yokohama Arena to become IWGP Women’s Champion, and since then has defended her title against Utami Hayashishita, Stephanie Vaquer and now Syuri, during her ongoing reign of 257 days.

Current World of Stardom champion Maika had indicated her ambitions to win the IWGP Women’s title at the press conference following Dream Queendom 2023 on the night she became the new holder of the Red Belt.

All photos by Masahiro Kubota. Copyright Monthly Puroresu LLC.