The joshi scene was dramatically shaken up when news broke in February that Rossy Ogawa was fired from STARDOM, owing to allegations of talent poaching. In the coming weeks as more information was made available, it was clear that this huge news was just the first piece of a larger puzzle, and that Rossy had been preparing to launch a brand new promotion.
The questions were answered on April 15, and Dream Star Fighting Marigold was born. A fully formed vision that will be hitting the ground running with a Korakuen Hall show on May 20, and a full schedule immediately following. Given Rossy Ogawa’s history there’s plenty of reason to be intrigued by this new promotion, but what can we expect from Marigold, and what does it mean for the wider joshi scene?
LIVE ON WRESTLE UNIVERSE
While not the topic that had everyone talking in the immediate aftermath, perhaps the biggest news from the press conference is that Marigold will be joining the Wrestle Universe streaming service. Starting with their opening event being live streamed and featuring English commentary, their shows will be readily available to a worldwide audience on an established and high value for money service.
It’s huge news for both Marigold and Wrestle Universe. For the former, it automatically solves one of the biggest hurdles – ease of access is essential in convincing fans to invest their attention in a new promotion. Not only will Marigold be available, but it will be on a service that is already a proven commodity and has a built-in userbase. For the latter, it’s yet another reason for people to subscribe, potentially drawing in fans that otherwise might have been on the fence.
More benefits to the Wrestle Universe connection are already being seen. Although not under direct ownership like other CyberFight promotions, we’re already seeing some interpromotional work. After a scuffle on NOAH’s Monday Magic show that saw Ogawa hit with green mist, four members of Marigold will be facing Miyuki Takase, Takumi Iroha, Nagisa Nozaki and Great Sakuya on May 4 at Ryogoku Hall.
Whether this will just be a one off or not remains to be seen, but considering NOAH’s joshi involvement is relatively minor, if they are able to call upon the Marigold roster as well as freelancers it will help them flesh out any exhibition matches they run. For Marigold, more exposure as they’re getting established can only be a good thing – and if it leads to their four opponents working Marigold then that’s even better given their talent.
The Who’s Who of Marigold
Much of the drama that came from the fallout of Rossy’s departure from STARDOM was the question of who might leave with him. Considering the initial reports of a mass exodus and subsequent threats of legal action, there may still be more wrestlers who intend to leave when they’re able to.
The five who were willing and able to follow Rossy to form Marigold were Giulia, Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI, Mai Sakurai and Yuzuki (now going by Victoria Yuzuki). It’s a strong starting base. Giulia and Utami are both big main event level draws that serve as great starting points for building a new promotion around. MIRAI is a handy upper midcarder capable of working the main event, Mai Sakurai is a popular midcard character act, and Victoria Yuzuki is a nineteen year old rookie with massive upside.
The elephant in the room is Giulia’s long-term plans. Her departure was known before everyone else because reports were clear that she was leaving for WWE. The current belief (as reported by Corey Brennan from Fightful) is she will make her debut on NXT on their July 7 show. While this would mean Giulia is only there for a month, a later report from Dave Meltzer suggests that she would be working what is essentially a dual contract for a while. The longer Marigold are able to call upon Giulia the better, especially when they have the ace up their sleeve of the never before seen Giulia vs. Utami singles match.
Rossy was never going to be able to fill the roster with just STARDOM defectors though. Joining him is industry veteran Nanae Takahashi (who was there with Rossy back when he first formed STARDOM) whose wealth of experience should prove invaluable, as well as Nao Ishikawa. Perhaps best known for her brief stint as an imitation Tam Nakano, Ishikawa seems keen to prove she’s more than just a mirror, especially considering she’s spent the past seven months working with the Deathmatch troupe Prominence.
The seven Marigold wrestlers took to the stage alongside Rossy, which was then invaded by a surprising group of six Actwres girl’Z members, led by long-term Rossy associate Fuka. This group included the promotion’s top champion Natsumi Sumikawa (who will be returning to her Natsumi Showzuki name she had back when she debuted with STARDOM), as well as company ace Miku Aono, and a host of other great prospects like Misa Matsui, CHIAKI, Chika Goto, and KOUKI.
The loss is a devastating blow to Actwres girl’Z and a huge coup for Marigold. They aren’t long term prospects; all six can immediately contribute in a meaningful way and all bring a unique edge to help add some variety and style to Marigold. On top of that, Fuka returning under the Rossy umbrella is incredibly valuable, adding an experienced trainer and industry mind.
The final thing of note are the three foreign talents being brought in. The German powerhouse Bozilla will be an instant imposing threat against the roster given her incredibly physique and strength, alongside MLW rookie Zayda Steel and promising British Talent Myla Grace. One reason to be excited is that Sonny Gutierrez, who helped with much of the foreign scouting for STARDOM, is also involved in the Marigold project. Given the recent track record with Mariah May, Megan Bayne, and Xena, there’s reason to believe these three will be great additions to the roster.
One small thing worth noting too is that there may be other names that haven’t yet been announced. Something to note: during the training session uploaded to YouTube there are two women standing on the apron and at ringside whose faces are blurred out. One of those may have been the recently revealed Minami Komomo, who was a STARDOM trainee who never debuted, but that would still leave one unaccounted for.
What Does it Mean for the Joshi Scene?
It’s fair to say that STARDOM has stood atop the scene unchallenged for years. Only TJPW has been seen as any kind of competitor in the past half decade, but they can’t really compete with the kind of numbers STARDOM pulls, and they also offer a vastly different type of wrestling product.
Entering 2024, it was STARDOM, then a sizeable gap to TJPW, then a bunch of small independent promotions with limited rosters and a heavy reliance on freelancers. They all have their positives, but the shadow cast by the top promotion has grown more and more noticeable.
How high Marigold intends to aim remains to be seen, but the early signs are promising. Their opening show at Korakuen Hall sold out within a day with only half a match announced, and it’s clear from their busy opening month and aims for big shows to compliment Korakuen Hall events that Marigold is coming out of the gates hard.
Even if they can’t financially compete with Bushiroad, they can provide a legitimate and viable alternative for talent – which means talent have leverage if they’re unhappy. The ability to chose from multiple promotions that can offer you financial security to make a career in pro wrestling is massive. On top of that, freelancers will also have another company to be able to work with. These are all positive things for the industry.
Of course, not everyone wins in this situation. Small independent joshi promotions now have another company to compete with other valuable talent, with Actwres girl’Z losing half a dozen key stars to Marigold as well as their producer and trainer. It’s the kind of blow that has the power to kill a small promotion. Actwres is not completely innocent – their wrestlers aren’t contracted and so lack the security and guarantee of work and pay as well as a stringent rule on inter-promotional work. It’s a system that has seen them bleed talent to bigger promotions almost periodically over the years, though nothing to this extent.
Smaller promotions will now have another hungry big company to deal with when trying to retain both talent and fans. However, if Marigold is successful, it should inject a renewed interest in the scene that some of these other promotions can hopefully use to grow themselves.
The WWE Factor
Looming over the entire Rossy Ogawa saga, from the moment he was fired to the announcement of Marigold, were the rumors and theories surrounding his alignment to the industry juggernaut WWE. Given nothing has been officially announced there’s a lot of assumptions flying around, but here are the key points of interest that have come out from it all:
- Upon the news of Rossy Ogawa’s firing due to ‘poaching of talent’, Sean Ross Sapp Tweeted that there were rumours of Ogawa being ‘WWE bound’. Upon later reports from Dave Meltzer that this was not the case, he ceded that Dave might have the more accurate information here. Although later he hinted again on air that he had been ‘hearing things’.
- AEW owner Tony Khan held a late night Twitter GIF party celebrating the news of Ogawa’s firing, fueling the initial theories of Rossy’s WWE involvement. In that time AEW and STARDOM have worked together more freely, though when asked in an official capacity Khan’s official responses were more diplomatic.
- Rossy Ogawa travelled to America for WrestleMania Weekend, and was backstage at several of their shows. Part of this seems to be in support of Giulia who was seemingly finalizing her plans to join the promotion later in the year. As mentioned she appeared on NXT in the crowd, and Rossy Ogawa was next to her although not featured.
- Upon the announcement of Marigold, it was clarified through several Japanese reporters that there is no outside financial support from both Cyberfight and WWE.
- In an interview with Tokyo Sports, Rossy Ogawa did mention that he wanted to invite WWE superstars (and STARDOM alumni) Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, and had apparently mentioned that to Triple H personally. This is on top of news that Giulia may be working some shows for Marigold while under contract to WWE. Ogawa does also mention that if there was going to be any kind of relationship with them then it would be announced by WWE.
There’s a lot to read between the lines, with the final comments by Ogawa probably providing the clearest bit of direction surrounding these rumours. Ogawa has clearly been planning Marigold for some time. It is very possible he had been in talks with WWE for a while about bringing in Iyo and Kairi for his mystery promotion (this was also iterated by Dave Meltzer in the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter). Sean Ross Sapp’s information may have come through these early discussions, along with Ogawa helping Giulia with her transition to WWE.
Does this mean WWE will have a working relationship with Marigold? It’s still too hard to tell. Japanese wrestlers have been allowed to work special one off shows without any apparent ‘repayment’ – notably Shinsuke Nakamura facing Keiji Mutoh for NOAH and Meiko Satomura being allowed to work Fortune Dream. We’ve also seen Charlie Dempsey appear for AJPW, although the circumstances surrounding that have been less clear.
An agreement between the two might be as simple as that, or something more complicated. Until something more concrete is presented however it will likely be the cause for continued speculation. Rossy is no stranger to negotiating with WWE, considering they were in talks to buy STARDOM back in 2019 before he sold to Bushiroad.
In Conclusion
There’s a lot to be excited about when looking at the potential of Marigold. The same core trio of Rossy Ogawa, Fuka, and Nanae Takahashi headed up the original STARDOM over a decade ago, and they didn’t start with the depth of proven talent that they do in 2024.
Come May 5, we’ll know the full card for their first show. Though even what we already know – a tag match with Giulia in one corner and Sareee in the other – is reason enough to be excited. The addition of the Actwres six is a huge addition – those unfamiliar with them will soon find new favorites to cheer for.
Ultimately, more competition is a good thing. Both Marigold and STARDOM will need to be at their best and the winners at the end of the day are both the talent and the fans. We know a lot already, but there’s plenty still up the sleeve of Rossy Ogawa between now and May 20 to keep people talking.
RESURA 