Mayu Iwatani didn’t always seem like a World Champion. The awkward runaway who stumbled into professional wrestling struggled from the outset – contrasted against the natural athletics and confident women she trained alongside. Yet less than a decade later, she would not only be STARDOM’s World Champion, but its most important one. When the company needed its Icon the most, Mayu Iwatani stood up and led them through the storm.
Yet when Mayu won the Red Belt on November 4th, 2019, there was no storm on the forecast. Quite the opposite: STARDOM seemed destined for a true golden age.
Just a month prior on October 17, it was announced that Bushiroad had bought and acquired STARDOM. The move dramatically changed the company’s trajectory, aligning it with New Japan Pro Wrestling and bringing with it more money, more marketing and a grander vision. It was a big statement from the new owners that Mayu Iwatani would win the World of Stardom title a month later – whatever changes STARDOM might go through under new management, the one constant would remain its Icon.
What followed was a wild couple of months. Their Korakuen Hall shows reached a point of overflowing as they hit record numbers, the women were now appearing on television and even getting a spot at Wrestle Kingdom, wrestling in the Tokyo Dome for the first time. At the forefront of all their marketing and presentation was Mayu Iwatani.
It made sense too. As strong as the STARDOM talent pool was, it was still a growing one. It was full of young up and comers like Utami Hayashishita and established midcarders on the cusp of taking that next big step like Tam Nakano. Mayu Iwatani was the trusted and established veteran star that could help lead this bright future forward.
To give you an idea of STARDOM’s astronomical growth with the potent Bushiroad/Mayu Iwatani combination, here are the attendance figures at Korakuen Hall from the same time periods, one year apart.
- Best of Goddesses November 27, 2018 – 960
- Best of Goddesses November 4, 2019 – 835 (Mayu wins the Red Belt)
- Year End Climax December 24, 2018 – 820
- Year End Climax December 24, 2019 – 1334
- 8th Anniversary Show January 14, 2019 – 910
- 9th Anniversary Show January 19, 2019 – 1602
- Queen’s Fest February 17 2019, 820
- Way to the Major League February 9 2020, 1519
While the average attendance through 2018 and 2019 hung around that 800-950 mark, now people were suddenly paying attention. Bushiroad’s marketing campaign ramped up right around this time, pushing Mayu Iwatani alongside White Belt Champion Arisa Hoshiki, the uber popular Hana Kimura, the up and coming star Utami Hayashishita, and in time they would be joined by newcomer Giulia. But in the main event of every show was Iwatani.
Mayu’s first defense at the Year End Climax show was an important one. While she won the title a month prior against Bea Priestley, the real test as to whether she was ready to lead STARDOM as their top champion awaited her in December. The dangerous and devious leader of Oedo Tai: Kagetsu.
All throughout Kagetsu’s run with the Red Belt in 2018 and 2019 she was testing her opponents, looking for someone to step up and usurp her as company leader. There was a ticking clock hanging over her head – Kagetu had planned on retiring back in 2017 before Io Shirai talked her into continuing. She didn’t want to leave until someone proved themselves ready
It was Bea that would get that title win, but Kagetsu knew deep down who had to lead the company: Mayu Iwatani. They had been fighting for years, pushing each other to be the best version of themselves. The last three times they had fought though Mayu hadn’t been able to win.
On the final show of 2018 Mayu Iwatani broke that streak, overcoming all of Kagetsu’s peerless wrestling and dastardly tricks to prove herself ready to lead STARDOM in this new era. And so Kagetsu announced her retirement in the aftermath of their war, calm in the knowledge that the Icon had stepped up.
The Anniversary show would be her next title defense, a fitting location for the one wrestler who had been there for all nine years. Her opponent: Momo Watanabe, who had been the next appointed Ace of the company after Io Shirai left. Icon vs Ace. The one person equally as hungry for the job, yet Mayu Iwatani cemented her claim as the one to lead STARDOM forward.
She might have fallen short in a special singles match with former STARDOM talent and current Marvelous Ace Takumi Iroha (who was a last minute replacement for Sareee), but even that didn’t hurt her claim. Mayu defended STARDOM with all her heart and drew the sold out crowd into a fever pitch supporting her efforts against the tireless onslaught from the bigger and stronger Iroha.
There was a lot of be excited about with Mayu Iwatani at top. She was in career form inside the ring, and had finally built the confidence necessary to be their top star. There was the chance of a Takumi rematch with the title on the line, the dream Sareee match we didn’t get due to the latter’s last illness, and a bevy of exciting matches with top tier stars like Arisa Hoshiki and Hana Kimura. As well as anything else Bushiroad had up their sleeve.
Their investment was paying off, and it seemed like nothing short of a freak disaster could slow down STARDOM heading into 2020…
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the entire world to a halt, and that included the Japanese professional wrestling scene. Right as momentum was at an all time high for STARDOM they were forced to sit and wait. Two shows in March (one without a crowd) with uneasy vibes and then nothing until the end of June.
On top of that, the roster STARDOM was now markedly different to the one it had. There were the expected departures of Hazuki and Kagetsu – which hurt but they were able to prepare for. What they couldn’t have foreseen were the shock losses of Arisa Hoshiki and Hana Kimura within days of each other. Arisa Hoshiki – the Wonder of Stardom Champion, was forced to retire due to her deteriorating physical and mental health. Hana Kimura was their up and coming megastar who unfortunately lost her life to suicide.
Mayu Iwatani won the championship prepared to lead STARDOM towards new heights, now she had to fight to keep the company going. There was now no established main event scene to support her at the top. Fans were hesitant to leave their houses as the pandemic continued to rage, let alone entire a confined space to watch pro wrestling. Those who came couldn’t cheer or support their favorites, instead having to settle for clapping. To top it off, no matter how hard Mayu and the others worked to draw a crowd – that crowd would be cut in half due to attendance restrictions.
Her first defense under these new conditions was against Jungle Kyona in Nagoya. Compared to the raucous crowds she had been defending the title in front of mere months prior, the awkward clap crowd didn’t really know how to show their support. Still, the two put on a fantastic match that hit hard and fast. A few months later after the 5 Star GP Mayu did it again against the veteran Syuri, who had been something of a sleeping dragon at this point of her STARDOM run.
A thousand and seven people would enter the Yokohama Budokan for that match, on a show that was a bit of an experiment for STARDOM. It was their first arena show since 2013, but the first of many moving forward now after the new year period had proven how much they had outgrown Korakuen Hall as their ‘big venue’.
Mayu then had to avenge her loss to Takumi Iroha from earlier in the year. While the location was the same – the hallowed Korakuen Hall – the setting was not. February’s fever pitch crowd were now forced to be eerily silent. It was a fantastic rematch, calling back to key moments from the first and expanding upon it. Takumi’s fierce overwhelming style nearly conquering her again until she managed to outsmart the woman she once teamed with as a part of Heisei-Gun.
For all of the hard work Mayu had put in to keep the company afloat during this time, there was one more important job to do: make the next champion look like a superstar. When she entered the ring as champion for the last time in November, she stood across from a young wrestler fresh into her third year in pro wrestling. Utami Hayashishita had been treated as the next big thing for STARDOM since she first walked through the door. However she was still a bit rough around the edges at this point; still a little underdeveloped in the ring and as a performer to be the top champion.
By the end of the night, Utami Hayashishita walked out of Sendai as a bona fide top star. Mayu Iwatani was the perfect final hurdle for the Red Queen to clear, serving as a great contrast to the bruising power game that the challenger brought in. Mayu Iwatani bumped and sold as well as she always does; every move Utami hit her with looked like it could be a match-ender, every submission bringing her to the brink of unconsciousness.
She fought with the heart of a champion and made Utami earn every bit of the glory that was about to be bestowed upon her, but when the bell rang Mayu heard it with her back on the mat and her dazed eyes looking up at the ceiling. Her work was done.
It was an impossible situation, yet STARDOM couldn’t have asked for a better leader during this time. Mayu Iwatani put the company on her back as they scrambled to prepare the next batch of top stars, and the proof of her success can be found in how STARDOM continued to grow during this difficult time.
By the time Mayu Iwatani dropped the championship in November, STARDOM had endured the worst of the initial storm. They had managed to prepare their heir ascendant in Utami Hayashishita, Giulia had been able to properly establish herself while Syuri, Tam Nakano and more were gearing up for big years in 2021. While it would still be some time until things would return to normal (it wouldn’t be until 2023 that cheering would be allowed again) everyone had managed to settle into a bit of a groove.
When she won the title in November, it felt like Mayu Iwatani was finally going to be able to make amends for her first run with the Red Belt in 2017. After a year of chasing Io Shirai for the belt she finally won it, and in doing so became the first person to hold both the Red and White Belts simultaneously. It was a true passing of the torch moment – with Io and Kairi both leaving for WWE it was now on Mayu to lead STARDOM.
Only the reign never got going. Just three months into her time as champion, she would suffer a freak elbow injury performing her signature dropkick on Toni Storm mere minutes into the match. Forced to forfeit the championship, it felt like all of her hard work to ready herself to lead the company had been ripped away from her, and it would be another two years of waiting until she would get to hold the title again.
It took around three months for this second reign to become cursed as well: Sareee pulling out of their match at the last minute as new headlines around the world covered a mysterious and devastating illness that was starting to creep into Japan and across the world.
This time at least, Mayu could still stand tall. It was practically destiny that when STARDOM came back from their pandemic break and needed her most, she had to overcome her own demons and defend the title in the very same venue she had lost it due to injury.
For 377 days Mayu Iwatani ruled STARDOM as its top champion, doing so in two extreme circumstances.
When she rose to the top it was to be the face of the company right as they were prepared to explode under new leadership. She drew record crowds and helped make STARDOM the hottest product in wrestling.
Then, she had to lead a company shellshocked by sudden losses of key talent and a pandemic that brought the entire industry to its knees. Mayu had to be a big draw when people didn’t want to leave the house, and bring the energy up for a crowd that couldn’t respond when they did show up.
When STARDOM needed a hero the most, The Icon stood up.
RESURA 