By: James Carlin
The story of STARDOM can be seen as the story of Mayu Iwatani; both started at the same time and continues to grow and develop to this day. She’s the promotion’s longest tenured active wrestler and has rightfully earned the name of being the STARDOM Icon, becoming the second person in their history to complete their grand-slam after Io Shirai by holding the World of Stardom, Wonder of Stardom, High-Speed and SWA championships.
The Stardom Icon, Mayu Iwatani, is your new SWA champion. A rule that applies to the SWA title is, you can only defend it against someone from a country other than your own (for example, it can’t be Japan vs Japan).
Where will Mayu go to defend this belt?? pic.twitter.com/oPbptTr7wn— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) May 6, 2022
Having seen and done almost everything there is to do, there’s no doubt that comes at a cost – having been betrayed numerous times in the past by her friends to join opposing units and factions. She was once part of Threedom, a portmanteau of “STARDOM” and “Three”, which consisted of herself, Io Shirai (teaming as Thunder Rock) and Kairi Hojo, but Io turned on Mayu and formed Queen’s Quest in 2016. At one point, Mayu’s unit STARS only had three active roster members, but the inclusion of Goddess of Stardom champions Hazuki and Koguma as well as newcomer Momo Kohgo has meant that her group has been better than ever before.
Of course, the STARDOM Icon has been there for many of the company’s first-times, including holding the Red Belt and White Belt at the same timem being the first two-time winner of the Cinderella Tournament, and taking part in one of STARDOM’s very first cage matches (and the first ran by a major joshi company since AJW in 2002).
She’s one of the most popular wrestlers in Japan right now to the point where when she was unavailable for a show, the fans apologised to management for Mayu just being Mayu, proving that her silly antics (affectionally dubbed “Mayuism”) and undeniably lovable personality is the one to bring STARDOM into the wider wrestling world in addition to being one of the most talented and must-watch wrestlers in joshi wrestling.
！(◎_◎;) https://t.co/yatrbtJw2d pic.twitter.com/qtQVpi8zqK
— 岩谷麻優 MayuIwatani (@MayuIwatani) June 12, 2022
Mayu Iwatani is no stranger to fans of joshi wrestling far and wide, and there’s little left on her checklist of things to accomplish — but she gets our Ones to Watch this week in her pursuit of winning the 5★STAR GP for a historic second time while simultaneously being the reigning SWA Women’s Champion. If anyone should win the 5★STAR GP this year, it’s the Icon of STARDOM in possibly her last ever chance to shine atop the mountain of the World Wonder Ring.
Date:
July 19, 2022
Category:
The Midcard