On July 15th, Maika will come to her old home to defend her World of Stardom Championship against her rival Tomoka Inaba, but the two are much more than just “rivals”. They are old friends, partners, and even sisters.

The two started together at TAKA Michinoku’s promotion “JTO” in 2019 as Maika debuted at TAKATaichiMania in May, while Inaba debuted two months later at JTO’s first official show at Korakuen Hall in July of 2019. Maika was always seen as the “Golden Girl” in JTO as she quickly challenged Utami Hayashishita to a Future of Stardom Championship match, while Tomoka Inaba was the young 16-year-old teenager who just started her pro wrestling career.

This was similar backstage as Maika was seen as an “older sister” to Tomoka, who cooked for her, did laundry, and much more to support her and JTO the best she could, but once the bell rang, the two were bitter rivals that beat the hell out of each other with no remorse.

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Maika and Tomoka Inaba clashed twice before in singles matches with the first match happening on February 12th, 2020, as part of the first round in JTO’s “Only Give Up Tournament” where all matches were decided by submission only.

It was a more grounded and technical match between the two, which fits perfectly into the style JTO wants to present. Tomoka begins with an impactful low kick to Maika’s leg that begins the story of the match. Inaba constantly goes for Maika’s leg while Maika goes for Inaba’s arm, which creates an interesting dynamic for the match. The selling performances of both were fantastic, especially for two wrestlers who had around 20 matches in their careers at that point as they were able to express their desperation well.

Maika’s advantage over Inaba in this match was that she had gained experience from her big single-match losses with top joshi wrestlers such as Syuri, Sareee, and Utami shortly after her debut as well as her being the more advanced technical wrestler at that point, so she managed to use Inaba’s inexperience to surprise her with the Sazanka to put on the armbar to submit her rival.

The second match happened at JTO’s 1st Anniversary show in July 2020 as Maika walked into the match as the reigning Future of Stardom and Artist of Stardom Champion and was on the verge of signing with STARDOM shortly after.

It had a similar layout as the first match as Inaba once again went for the leg, while Maika targeted the arm like usual in her rookie days, but this time it was meant to be a longer match and the longest singles match in the young careers of both. The closing stretch was fantastic as it was a great call back to the first singles match of the two. Maika once again hit the Rock Bottom and went for the Sazanka to put on the armbar, but this time Inaba saw it coming. She countered it with two high kicks and finished Maika off with the One Hit Kill Tomoka Kick.

The match was obviously set for Maika to pass the torch to Tomoka Inaba as the new ace of the company and it worked well. Maika signed with STARDOM just a week later, which held the rivalry between the two on pause for the time being as Inaba focused on climbing the ranks in JTO while Maika tried to find her footing in the ring of STARDOM.

In September of 2022, Maika had a one-night comeback match at TAKA Michinoku’s Anniversary show, where she teamed up with MIRAI, who is also trained by TAKA, against Tomoka Inaba and Aoi in a special Tag Team Match between the older and newer generation of TAKA trainees.

Since Maika moved to STARDOM, Maika and Inaba haven’t faced each other in the ring, which made this interesting as it was the first clue for them of how much the two have evolved as wrestlers since their last meeting.

From the moment they started to wrestle each other in this match, the intensity of the match picked up. Inaba started to kick as hard as she could. The kicks and lariats of Maika and Tomoka colliding made loud sounds that fans were able to hear everywhere in the venue. An amazing spot was where Maika hit a superplex, but Inaba instantly recovered from it and kicked Maika’s head off. They not only showed how much they have developed but also how fantastic they work together. The spark was there between them and the chemistry was incredible. Maika hit Aoi with the Sazanka and then the Michinoku Driver II to win an incredible match.

It showed that Maika and MIRAI are still a step ahead of their JTO opponents even though the gap is getting closer. After the match, Inaba’s younger sister Azusa, who had yet to make her debut by that time, came into the ring and had a staredown with Maika. From that moment another singles match between Tomoka and Maika was inevitable, but it needed nearly another two years for it to happen.

Four years have passed since their last singles match, and a lot has changed between them. Maika successfully moved on to STARDOM and became a star. She is the current World of Stardom Champion, holding the Red Belt for over six months, while Inaba made it to the top of JTO as a three-time Queen of JTO Champion. She is now in the role that Maika was back in 2019 and looks over the younger wrestlers including her younger sister Azusa Inaba and is a regular coach at “JUST FITNESS”, which is JTO’s training program.

While the situation of the two changed, the rivalry didn’t, so it was no surprise that Maika showed up at JTO’s show at Korakuen Hall to challenge Tomoka Inaba to a special singles match for the Korakuen Hall show on July 15th, which marks the fifth anniversary of JTO and Tomoka Inaba. A perfect date and place for the two to show the improvement under the banner that brought the two onto the scene. After STARDOM’s show “STARDOM The Conversion” on June 22nd, the match was officially made for the World of Stardom Championship, as Maika tries to defend her title for the sixth time, while Tomoka Inaba tries to claim her first Championship in STARDOM and make history.

Both are better than ever and are more motivated than ever to face each other with both having clear goals in their minds for that match. Tomoka wants to overcome Maika and show that she is more than just the “little sister” and that she has developed from a teenager to a wrestling star as Queen of JTO Champion in the past four years. Meanwhile, Maika returns to JTO on a mission – showing the audience how much she has grown and why she deserves to be on the top of STARDOM as the Red Belt Champion. She has the confidence to put the title on the line and has already beaten some of her biggest rivals during this run, Tomoka is next on her list.

Maika and Inaba will clash one more time, with the winner not only walking out as the World of Stardom Champion but something more important for the two—pride. Walking into the match with a singles match record of 1-1 between the two, neither wants to lose this match, but one will and it’s a matter of “Who wants it more?” as they will walk out as the winner in the match between the two Golden Girls of JTO.