Seri Yamaoka Injures Shoulder at Marigold Shining Attack, Forfeits BEW Women’s Title

By Noah Leatherland

Another injury has struck the Marigold roster. At Marigold Shining Attack in Shinjuku FACE, Seri Yamaoka suffered a shoulder injury in the main event.

In the fifth minute of Yamaoka’s defence of the BEW Women’s Title against Maddy Morgan, she connected with a dropkick on her opponent. However, as she landed on the mat, something was off immediately. She was tended to by the referee, who quickly brought an end to the match. As such, Morgan was crowned the new BEW Women’s Champion.

Yamaoka was seen being taken out of the building on a stretcher and taken to the hospital via ambulance. However, she made a brief comment to the press after the match:

I’m so frustrated, and I wonder if it’s acceptable for a professional wrestler to lose like this. I want to get much, much stronger, recover from my injury, challenge for that belt again, and win it back.

Tokyo Sports were also able to get a comment from Marigold owner, Rossy Ogawa, on Yamaoka and the wider injury crisis that Marigold finds itself in:

This is just part of the reality of the sport. We’ll just have to see if we can hold out. I suppose it’s our lot in life… Well, what’s done is done. It’s happened. I suppose we just have to focus on getting [Yamaoka] better… Injuries are unforeseen circumstances. It’s just that they’re piling up. But it’s not a good situation, is it?… Everyone’s carrying an injury somewhere, so we’re all having to cover for each other… Just performing a purification ritual won’t be enough, though. We’ve got to do something

A number of Marigold stars were already out with injury, including current champions Mayu Iwatani, Victoria Yuzuki and Erina Yamanaka. Yamaoka now joins that list.

Since the incident, Marigold have posted a statement with Yamaoka’s diagnosis:

Seri Yamaoka, who sustained an injury to her left shoulder during her match at the Shinjuku FACE event on May 28th and was forced to forfeit due to a referee’s stoppage, was taken to hospital by ambulance and diagnosed with a dislocation. She will undergo a further examination tomorrow to determine when she can return to action. She will be sidelined for the time being, and we kindly ask for your understanding.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)