Mina Shirakawa Challenges for IWGP Women’s Title, Her Faction Gets a Name

Mina Shirakawa has challenged for the IWGP Women’s Championship, and her faction with Maika now has a name

By: James Carlin

After the revelation at Stardom Award 2023 that Mina Shirakawa and Maika had come together to create a new unit, following the dissolution of Donna del Mondo, the group has finally has a name. The name was revealed at today’s Sendai PIT show, with the faction being named Empress Nexus Venus (or EXV for short). This isn’t the first time that a faction in STARDOM has had two leaders – the original Oedo-Tai in January 2015 had both Act Yasukawa and Kyoko Kimura in the role – but it remains to be seen if the two can stay on the same page, but their stablemate Waka Tsukiyama remains hopeful.

💎💎💎💎💎E neXus V💎💎💎💎💎
　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　is

　　　　　　　　here!

目指すのは世界だ。ずっとそうだ。

新たな仲間と共に、世界一になる。#EXV #STARDOM pic.twitter.com/Z87woAYmcp

— 白川未奈　Mina Shirakawa (@MinaShirakawa) January 27, 2024

Express Nexus Venus wasn’t the only news to come out of STARDOM today: Mina Shirakawa has officially challenged Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s Championship at a later date. Shirakawa had originally made her ambitions clear when Mercedes Mone was the champion, but with no one else staking their claim Shirakawa’s time is now.

With no date set in stone for their title match, it could take place at either of the Cinderella Tournament shows, or even at their Yokohama Buntai event in April. Wherever it may happen, Shirakawa has sure to let people know she wants to use the championship to be able to “spread her wings across the world”.

January 27 Sendai
★Mina Shirakawa made a challenge to Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s title. Mayu said they’ll decide when and where later. pic.twitter.com/bJwIfI2KPb

— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) January 27, 2024