One of the biggest strengths of the joshi scene was always the great rookie classes, with every joshi company bringing out at least one great young wrestler that we saw developing into a huge star over time. It was seen especially in AJW and in recent history with the 2013 class. In the past couple of years, the fantastic rookies got less, especially after the 2018-2019 Golden Generation class built around Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani, Suzu Suzuki, and more came up. While the reasons were mainly the ongoing pandemic, it seemed rough for the joshi scene until 2022 started.
Multiple fantastic rookies debuted in the past 24 months that will take over the joshi scene in the next years as fantastic rookies from Stardom, TJPW, Diana, and many more came up. In this series, I’ll introduce some of the biggest prospects of the 2022-2024 joshi rookie class.
We kick off this series by looking at the rookies of the biggest joshi promotion—Stardom. The Bushiroad-owned promotion has been known to bring out some of the best wrestlers in the world, but after the retirement of Kagetsu and the pandemic starting, it took a while for the promotion to debut their next generation of wrestlers with only Lady C being the exception.
That started to change in 2022 and especially 2023-2024, when Stardom debuted eight rookies in under two years with seven of them debuting in the past 12 months and all of them have been successful additions to the already stacked roster.
Miyu Amasaki
Age: 21
Debut: March 11, 2022 vs. Utami Hayashishita
Nickname: The Supernova
The 21-year-old is the first Stardom trainee trained by legendary junior wrestler Milano Collection AT. From the first day, she was presented as the next super rookie in Stardom, and her arrival was treated as such with her debut being on March 11, 2022, at the first New Blood Event in the main event against the former World of Stardom champion Utami Hayashishita. While she came short in a great effort, Utami offered her a spot in Queen’s Quest, which she agreed to, and she has been in the stable since.
Amasaki was presented as a “Super Rookie” at the beginning and fans have been expecting her to get a major push right out of the gate similar to Utami Hayashishita, but that was not the case, as the Supernova only has been slowly moving up the card as a singles wrestler and is getting established as a solid midcard act above the new generation of rookies instead of the big rookie treatment right out of the gate. In Queen’s Quest she is paired up with AZM as the “02Line” which is a tag team that is just waiting to have bigger success in Stardom. They have great chemistry in the ring and are one of the top tag teams in the future in Stardom, especially with them aiming constantly for gold as they have a shot at the Goddess of Stardom Championships at the Yokohama Buntai show.
Her in-ring skills improved a lot since her debut. She struggled in the first few months of her career, but her improvement really started to kick off in 2023. She added many moves to her already great move-set that includes the Tensei (Double Underhook Facebuster), her roll-up “Amanohashidate”, multiple DDTs, and Keiji Muto’s Space Rolling Elbow. Furthermore, she is slowly putting it together in 2024 and is showing the potential that Stardom promised when they debuted her.
Overall, Miyu Amasaki has cooled off after her beginning hype, but it’s clear that she is meant for bigger things in Stardom, and it’s only a matter of time until the company puts her into bigger spots. While Amasaki couldn’t grab gold yet, it’s only a matter of time until the top prospect captures the Future Of Stardom Championship that she has been aiming for since her career started. She has challenged unsuccessfully twice so far, with her most recent loss being against Rina in February.
Match Recommendations:
vs. Syuri (March 25, 2023)
vs. Momo Watanabe (May 15, 2023)
vs. AZM (June 2, 2023)
vs. Utami Hayashishita (March 24, 2024)
HANAKO
Age: 23
Debut: August 28, 2022 vs. Risa Sera
Nickname: “181 cm Wonder Tower”
The “Wonder Tower” made her first in-ring experience under the name “Fella Risa” as a copy of Risa Sera in Prominence, where she wrestled a couple of matches, and gained more experience in an amateur wrestling club before she decided to join the Stardom Dojo at the end of 2022. The tallest member of the Stardom roster made her official debut on the New Blood Premium show on March 25, 2023, in the Yokohama Budokan, when she teamed up with Lady C to face Maika and Himeka. She had a strong showing in this match, against the top powerhouse tag team in Stardom at that time. While she lost the match, she gained the fanbase’s respect quickly and it started the connection between her and Maika.
The 23-year-old is now active for around a year in a Stardom ring, and it shows that she will be a big thing in the future. She built up great chemistry with Suzu Suzuki, Megan Bayne, and Saya Iida, whom she competed with in the Goddess of Stardom Tag League, in the first few months of her career, before she formed E-neXus-V together with World of Stardom champion Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Waka Tsukiyama, and the returning Xena.
Since her debut in Stardom, the 5’11” tall wrestler from Kyoto has been aiming for championship gold. It only took 2 hours to call out the New Blood tag team champions together with Lady C, and she also unsuccessfully challenged Rina at New Blood in a Future of Stardom Title match. Her recent title challenge came in a hard-fought loss together with her EXV stable partner Waka Tsukiyama against Saya Iida and Hanan for the New Blood tag Team titles in her hometown.
HANAKO is the typical rookie powerhouse, who is trying to figure out how to work with her size, which she still has trouble with at times, but is slowly improving. Her teaming up with Maika will help in that regard since the “Empress” is great at helping to improve her powerhouse partner, as we have seen with Himeka and Megan Bayne. HANAKO has gotten more aggressive, as well as showing more fire, in the ring since joining EXV and is finding her grove and her spot in the company. She has a long way to go, but with every match, she is one step closer to reaching her potential as a future champion in Stardom.
Match Recommendation:
with Saya Iida vs. Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki (Oct 22, 2023)
with & Lady C vs. Himeka & Maika (March 25, 2023)
Aya Sakura
Age: 27
Debut: March 23, 2023 vs. Giulia
Nickname: The Karate Girl
The “Karate Girl” made her pro wrestling debut as part of the New Blood Premium, where she battled the back-then World of Stardom champion Giulia. Sakura went on a little run before she suffered a serious back injury just three months into her career, which put her out of action for eight months.
It’s tough to come back after getting injured early into a career, but Aya pulled it off, worked hard, and returned. She made her official in-ring return in March of this year and announced her intention to become a member of the Cosmic Angels, which kicked off a little rivalry between her and Sayaka Kurara on who would be accepted as a full-time member faster. Both ended up being accepted on the April 12th Korakuen Hall show after a Six-Woman Tag Team Match against Natsupoi, Saori Anou, and Tam Nakano. As the newest member of the Cosmic Angels, Aya is at the bottom of the pecking order together with Sayaka Kurara, who together have formed a tag team named “Sayakurara” in recent weeks.
Sakura can display some impressive offense, particularly with her kicks, which all look good. She currently lacks much in many departures to make her stand out next to other rookies in the promotion. Her strength is in her bumping & selling, which she can do really well and helps in her role as the typical underdog rookie who is fighting from underneath against the much more experienced wrestlers in the roster.
Match Recommendation:
vs. Giulia (March 25, 2023)
Sayaka Kurara
Age: 23
Debut: December 25, 2023 vs. Saya Kamitani
Nickname: N/A
After just four months, Kurara is already one of the fan favorites due to her likable personality in the ring and her being unintentionally one of the funniest wrestlers out there. She is the pure underdog that fans just want to cheer on.
It didn’t take long for her to ask to be a Cosmic Angels apprentice and just two months later, she was accepted as a full-time member of the group together with Aya Sakura. She just fits perfectly into the Cosmic Angels with her vibe. Rarely did a rookie fit better into a stable so quick as Kurara does to Kouzen, especially since her chemistry with Tam Nakano was perfect from day one.
She has a clear weakness, and that is that her wrestling isn’t the greatest compared to the other rookies as she lacks fundamentals in laying out matches and executing moves. It was especially obvious in her match against Aya Sakura, but she is able to make this one of her strengths due to the beloved underdog character she is portraying, one who is trying to do her best regardless of who the opponent is and how tough the challenge is for her. Her move set is what makes her stand out compared to the rest as it is developed well and features her devastating spear that is one of the best in the industry.
Kurara hasn’t been successful so far as she only won three matches over her career and her only singles win came via a disqualification victory against Oedo Tai Leader Natsuko Tora in the Cinderella Tournament. She had the biggest match of her career at the recent Yokohama BUNTAI show, where she challenged Rina for the Future of Stardom Championship, while coming short, she continued to show that she’s a special talent that fans need to keep their eyes on.
It’s only matter of a time until Kurara is shining and getting the bigger spots in the company. She’s what Stardom wants from a wrestler, and when she eventually figures it out, she’ll be a tremendous asset to the company.
Match Recommendation:
vs. HANAKO (Jan 3, 2024)
vs. Suzu Suzuki (Feb 25, 2024)
Ranna Yagami
Age: Unknown
Debut: December 25, 2023 vs. Syuri
Nickname: N/A
Ranna Yagami, who debuted on the same day as Sayaka Kurara, is an interesting prospect as she wrestles a totally different style than the other Stardom Rookies and stands out as a result of that. With her debut being against Syuri, it was established quickly that Ranna is more of a grounded Wrestler compared to the others Rookies.
Just a month after her debut, Yagami asked Syuri to join God’s Eye. It’s the perfect fit for her as a wrestler, as she has a similar style to Syuri’s. Ranna’s in-ring work is more grounded and features many kicks and holds, so it’s the perfect stable for her to learn how to get better at that particular style. From an in-ring standpoint, she is one of the best in the rookies and already nails the fundamentals well. She hasn’t fully figured out her presence in the ring and as a character, but with Syuri as a mentor, it’s only a matter of time until she finds herself in that department and becomes the great wrestler she’s destined to be.
While she was not able to have much success so far in Stardom as a singles performer, she has the chance to compete in the Young Block of the Catch the WAVE Tournament in Pro Wrestling WAVE for the next two months, which should give her in-ring experience in singles matches against talents on her development level. Her future looks bright, and it will be great to see how far she can go.
Match Recommendation:
vs. Suzu Suzuki (Feb 17, 2024)
Rian
Age: 19
Debut: March 30, 2024 vs. Starlight Kid
Nickname: N/A
Stardom’s newest Rookie made her debut just a month ago on a show in the Sendai PIT against Oedo Tai’s Starlight Kid, which was a great debut match and performnace for her. She seemingly wants to be a High-Speed wrestler and her few performances make it seem like she’s suited for that division soon. In her short time, she impressed with her fast pace and a well-developed move set for a rookie at that stage that includes a Fisherman Suplex and a really cool roll-up, that will get her many wins in her career.
It’s too early to predict her future or say much more about her, but it’s noticeable that she clearly has something in her and it’s only a matter of time until she develops into a great prospect.
RESURA 