Welcome to Rising Destiny Digest In this recurring column, Ryan Dilbert takes you on a journey through the joshi scene, spotlighting the wrestlers and stories that have caught his eye. Complete with a one-question mailbag and a bold prediction.
Seto Looking like a Star
Rea Seto, all 157 cm of her, is going to make a lasting mark on the joshi landscape.
Marigold’s roster boasts a lot of wrestlers getting massive (and deserved) attention, from super rookie Seri Yamaoata to the Superfly champ Victoria Yuzuki. Don’t sleep on Seto, though. She’s already showing signs that she’s going to be outstanding.
Seto came into Marigold with just a smattering of matches on her resume from her time with Sendai Girls. She’s yet to wrestle for two full years. But even with such little experience, she has a strong presence and a growing confidence.
In the last few months, it’s felt like Seto has shifted into a new gear, being more aggressive, smoother, more larger than life.
Her April 12 bout against Yuzuki for the Marigold Superfly Championship was a strong showcase of her stiff kicks and pitbull aggression. She brought a welcome nastiness to her offense and came off as a real threat to the champ.
Seto has also shined with her facial expressions. She’s been very emotive, dramatically expressing fury and pain. This is a tough skill to master as it’s so easy to fall into overacting.
When Team Marigold faced Team Marvelous on April 25, Seto again stood out. This was a busy gauntlet match with many a moving part, and the black-haired sparkplug was one of its stars.
Against Maria, she was feisty and crisp with her attack, very much proving she belonged on the same stage as the decorated Marvelous star.
Seto hit Maria with a vicious version of the Fujiwara armbar. Relying on submissions like this is a smart way to counterbalance her lack of size and still be convincingly formidable.
She’s a honey badger in the ring, and it’d be great to see her get more spotlight. Perhaps she gets another crack at Yuzuki or fights her way up to a shot at Mai Sakura’s United National title. Either way, sign me up. I’m very much enjoying seeing Seto with her claws out.
All Hail Anou
Someone Photoshop Saori Anou’s face on that famous pic of Ultimo Dragon draped in championships. Anou’s resume just got even more impressive after she knocked off Ryo Mizunami on April 13 to win the OZ Academy Openweight Championship.
The Ice Queen has now won titles in STARDOM, Sendai Girls, Actwres girl’Z, Pure J, Ice Ribbon, and DDT. In the case of several of those, she was the top champion in the company. No one else has won both the Sendai Girls world title and ICExInfinity Championships. She’s also one of only five women (Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano, Io Shirai, and Act Yasukawa the others) to have two reigns as Wonder of STARDOM champ.
Anou now boasts a total of 10 different titles including seven singles belts. And in a wild stat, she’s won a championship every year since 2017 except for 2020 and 2021.
What’s next? Mei Suruga might want to hold onto that Super Asia Championship extra tight.
5-Count: Top 5 Dream Joshi Yoshihiko Opponents
The blow-up doll that demands your respect. The stone-faced man in black. Yoshihiko is one of the most unique figures in the wrestling world, a competitor who has faced the likes of Chris Brookes, Konosuke Takeshita, and most recently in Las Vegas, Minoru Suzuki.
Which joshi wrestlers would we most like to see challenge this legend? We’ve already seen Shoko Nakajima battle Yoshihiko in singles action. The following quintet should follow her lead.
5. Mio Momono
Momono’s speed versus Yoshihiko’s skill. One of the best sellers on the joshi scene against the overwhelming offense of the 20-time DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal champ. Take my money!
Perhaps we get a Yurika Oka vs. Yoshihiko bout as a warmup until Momono recovers from injury.
4. Sakura Hirota
Hirota remains one of the funniest, most creative wrestlers working. She mocks her opponents by dressing like them. She wears outlandish outfits. Hirota is sure to come up with some compelling means to battle Yoshihiko.
3. Hyper Misao
To avenge Shoko Nakajima’s loss to Yoshihiko in 2023, who better to call than TJPW’s resident hero and Nakajima’s tag team partner? Let’s see how the fearsome Yoshihiko fares against Misao’s cold spray attack and getting rammed in the gut with the Hyper Cycle.
2. Max the Impaler
Max would be so angry and indignant about doing this match, and that’d be highly entertaining on its own. Please let the powerhouse beat the holy hell out of Yoshihiko. Someone needs to teach that smug bastard a lesson.
1. AZM
The High Speed Bomb Girl does amazing things in the ring against everyone. Imagine her buzzing around the ring hitting acrobatic move after acrobatic move to Yoshihiko. Wrestling gods, please make this happen.
Mini Mailbag:
With the recent exodus of Mayu Iwatani, Thekla, and Mina Shirakawa from STARDOM and the retirements of Tam Nakano and Meiko Satomura, where do you see joshi wrestling going in the foreseeable future?
The joshi scene is in major flux, for sure. In addition to everything you mentioned, Nanae Takahashi and Risa Sera are both retiring this year. All of these changes create open doors, and there is ample talent ready to walk through them.
STARDOM has such a loaded roster that it can absorb big losses better than just about any company. Saya Kamitani is killing it as the promotion’s top villain. Syuri was stuck doing a lot of midcard tags, but is now IWGP champ and poised to absolutely run with that opportunity. Starlight Kid’s popularity is soaring.
Those wrestlers or others (Momo?) can now battle to fill in the massive hole Mayu is leaving behind.
And beyond the immediate future, the joshi scene as a whole boasts a lot of rookies and young talents with major promise. Senka Akatsuki. Seri Yamaoaka. Victoria Yuzuki.
You don’t just replace legends overnight, but someone will step up and be the next megastar. A big part of the fun of watching wrestling is seeing who emerges out of the crowded field to claim Ace status.
The Prediction Plex:
Last month, I predicted Mizuki vs. Miyu Yamashita for the TJPW Princess of Princess Championship with the MOTY for the promotion. I wasn’t quite spot on.
As of this writing, CAGEMATCH voters have it as the 6th best match of 2025 with an 8.27 rating. Mizuki’s title win over Miu Watanabe sits at the top spot with an 8.58 mark. Not the worst miss I’ve had by any means.
For this go-round, I want to focus on STARDOM, and specifically the IWGP Women’s Championship. Syuri seized that title from Mayu Iwatani at All Star Grand Queendom, becoming the fourth wrestler to hold that belt.
I predict Syuri will successfully defend it more than five times. That would surpass everyone else’s number of defenses other than Mayu who fended off challengers an impressive nine times. Mercedes Mone and KAIRI both had just one successful title defense.
Those first two reigns were transitional ones in a way.
Syuri, however, is about to be treated like a star. She’s been a marquee talent stuck in the midcard for the past two years. This is STARDOM’s chance to truly use her star power and big-match ability.
Expect her to follow Iwatani’s historic reign with a great one of her own. First, she’ll knock off Sareee, and then at least four would-be new champs. You don’t have Mayu lose (and exit the company) to just turn around and have the woman who bested her not build on that momentum.
Send any questions for the mini mailbag to @resuramag on Twitter via post or DM.
RESURA 