Wrestlers are an anomaly. There are so many things that go into making a good wrestler. Things take time and progress, but at the end of the day, everyone has their level of success in this business.
Yamaoka Seri, who is 18, was on the poster of MARIGOLD’s first event of 2025, First Dream, and she’s showed how you make an excellent debut.
Yamaoka’s style is built on grappling and a lot of mat work. She’s an Olympic athlete, kind of like Kurt Angle, just a little more calculated in her approach.
She gave MIRAI a run for her money, and in her debut showed the resilience needed to compete in the sport.
What I love about Yamaoka is she isn’t afraid to use her forearm, to, well, forearm. I believe you can see how good a rookie’s going to be by how they forearm. It’s a simple move, but how a wrestler throws them is revealing.
She did not seem afraid to show MIRAI that she was a target for her. MIRAI did a good job being a bully here, giving Yamaoka something to fight for. If you say you want to be a wrestler, you can’t give up effortlessly. Her facial expressions and selling were also pretty decent.
I loved her two bodyslams and her side suplex. They looked dynamic. It’s a great start to 2025 seeing someone as special as Yamaoka hit these moves so effectively.
While I wish every rookie could be great right out of the box, that would be boring, and it’s great to track a wrestler’s progress. We also cannot set unrealistic expectations as every wrestler can’t be Jun Akiyama.
The match ended with a stellar German suplex, but Yamaoka got on the mic and declared one more which got the fans to cheer. She doesn’t display an amazing charisma, but she got the point across. She and MIRAI went back at it and it looked like MIRAI was about to tap to a rookie. However, she got to the ropes in time before this was made into an upset victory for the ages.
Her presentation here was brilliant.
Yamaoka’s submission game is really interesting. She cinches in those moves which is great because MIRAI looks like she’s about to cry but she is a fighter. It’s admirable on both ends.
You could even hear the other rookie girls cheer. Seri most likely gives them hope that they can be as good too.
The second German Suplex could bring tears to any human’s eyes. However, her light was dimmed when MIRAI caught her with a lariat.
This was an impactful debut.
Yamaoka cried after this. I can tell in my heart that she loves pro wrestling as much as the fans or MIRAI even does. She is super cool. Losing in front of her sister doesn’t matter.
She just made an argument for Rookie of the Year.
It seems that even Nanae Takahashi has taken a liking to her, so she and Nanae challenged Marigold’s TwinStar Championships against Bozilla and Tank on January 19th in Korakuen Hall.
Stay tuned because the future is bright for this woman.
RESURA 