STARDOM President Taro Okada Issues Statement on Supreme Fight Main Event

By Noah Leatherland

The main event of STARDOM Supreme Fight saw Saya Kamitani retain the World of Stardom title against Starlight Kid, completing the match despite suffering a dislocated finger. STARDOM President Taro Okada has issued a statement on the matter.

Kamitani suffered an injury part-way through the title match. The match was paused whilst Kamitani could receive medical treatment. Then, the match was resumed, and finished with Kamitani claiming the victory. Okada’s statement addresses the manner in which the injury was handled. Posted on the STARDOM website, Okada said:

I believe it is my role as the organization’s representative to clarify where responsibility lies for this decision, and so I have decided to issue this statement. First of all, I would like to state that the organization bears full responsibility. On that basis, it is also true that the decision on whether or not to continue the match and the ruling are left to the referee.

 

It is well known that in professional wrestling matches, the referee’s discretion and authority are broad and weighty. The often-discussed decision to issue a foul is one example of this. And in addition to temporarily suspending or ending the match, as in this case, by referee stoppage, knockdown, or knockout, there are also decisions that sometimes involve the careers and even lives of wrestlers.

 

We believe this decision was the result of close cooperation between STARDOM’s refereeing team, led by referee Daichi Murayama, and the medical and training teams. Referee Murayama stopped the match clock after noticing something was wrong with Kamitani. This was because the injury was not in a location or severity that warranted an immediate stoppage of the match, i.e., was not of a nature that would directly affect the athlete’s career, and it was also a decision to prevent a recurrence of a past incident (the victory at the 2024 Ryogoku event, in which a false injury was used).

 

At the same time, Starlight Kid pointed out, “This has happened before,” and anticipated that this was Kamitani’s strategy, so she did not let her guard down. Eventually, Kamitani returned after the referee announced the resumption of the match, and attacked without waiting for the bell to ring, but Kid responded brilliantly, and the match continued to go back and forth.

 

As explained at the scene, the doctor and trainer treated Kamitani’s dislocation. We will disclose the details of the exchanges between the time stop and the resumption of the match.

• Referee Murayama noticed something was wrong with Kamitani, checked the situation, and stopped the match.
• He immediately gave instructions to the ringside team and the second’s corner to call in a doctor and trainer.
• After the doctor and trainer treated Kamitani, Referee Murayama, who was in charge of the match, decided that the match could continue after confirming Kamitani’s decision to continue.
• After promptly informing Okada, the referee gave an explanation to the crowd and the match resumed.

 

Doctors and trainers are generally in a position to stop a match. In cases where an incident directly affects the athlete’s career, they will immediately issue an order to stop the match, regardless of the athlete’s wishes. In this case, they first cleared that line, confirmed the athlete’s wishes, and then the referee made the decision.

 

Because this was an Osaka event, the doctor in charge was not the main doctor who regularly shares details of the athletes’ conditions (even at the Tokyo events, the doctor changes depending on the timing). However, I believe this proves that through daily cooperation, the criteria for judgment are not dependent on individuals, but rather a system has been established in which decisions can be made by the organization.

Okada concluded his statement by saying:

As the skills of the wrestlers improve every day, the people and systems involved in running the event must also evolve. We take this responsibility seriously once more and will spare no effort in our daily operations to create a ring where wrestlers can perform with confidence and fans can feel passionate.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)