This is second of a two part series looking at the story between Mayu Iwatani and IYO SKY ahead of their Grand Destiny match. For part one, go to Mayu Iwatani Vs. Io Shirai: Becoming The Icon.
A lot can change in seven years.
When Io Shirai left Japan in 2018 to go to WWE and eventually become IYO SKY, the joshi wrestling landscape looked very different to what it does now. It occupied a niche market, appealing to only the most hardcore of fans both domestically and abroad. Promotions didn’t venture to venues bigger than Korakuen Hall, so that was where anything important happened.
It was there that she said goodbye to her home and her family, teaming one last time with her Thunder Rock sister: Mayu Iwatani. The dear friend she had spent over a year preparing to take over the mantle as STARDOM’s top star.
One last tearful goodbye, and she boarded a plane, to see if the Genius of the Sky could soar above the clouds in America, while Mayu set out to forge her own path as the Icon.
The next time they meet won’t be inside Korakuen Hall, as hallowed as those grounds are, but the imposing Ryogoku Sumo Hall. A venue that for years was only for men’s wrestling or a touring WWE. Yet now three separate women’s promotions (and one crazy Eel) have all booked it. Even bigger venues are being run, as seen with STARDOM filling the Yokohama Arena with over 7000 earlier this year.
Just as IYO has grown in her time away, joshi wrestling has seen a resurgence in popularity since her departure. Yet it would be disingenuous to ignore the contributions she made in building those foundations.
Whenever women’s wrestling in Japan penetrated the online discussion during the mid 2010s, the name Shirai was almost always attached to it in some way, shape or form. Whether it was the 2015 match of the year candidate with Meiko Satomura, her work as one third of the Three Daughters of Stardom, any number of GIFs showcasing her unreal athleticism and skill, or even her wild appearance on Lucha Underground, Io Shirai drew many early eyes onto joshi before it was ‘cool’ to be a fan.
Then there was her work in WWE.
Her reputation preceded her as she arrived in America. Asuka had already opened the eyes of WWE fans as to what joshi wrestling was capable of, and Kairi Sane’s early success in NXT proved that the Empress of Tomorrow wasn’t a one-off. Yet there was more talk surrounding Io. She was the one with the record-breaking championship reigns and whose name had somehow seeped into the corners of online discourse as some whispered secret. She was the one who was meant to arrive a year earlier until health complications seemingly put an end to that – yet they were still intent on bringing her in now.
Shirai was always spoken of with a particular reverence. If Asuka and Kairi were special, how good was the Genius of the Sky?
The story of IYO SKY in WWE is one of gradual progression followed by explosive recognition. Her earliest days in NXT were decent if not spectacular, bogged down slightly by trying to import her character 1:1 from Japan, which didn’t quite have the same impact as Kairi’s instantly appealing pirate gimmick.
Her heel turn and the unveiling of her Joshi Judas persona is where things really began to pick up. While Io’s attempts to be the villain in Japan were often lost on a crowd that still wanted to cheer someone they loved too much, that same barrier wasn’t there in America. She updated her look and style, and suddenly everything started to make sense. It was like she was free.
It didn’t take long for Io to rise to the top of NXT, racking up over 300 days as its champion. It seemed like only a matter of time until she’d get her chance on the main roster. Yet she nearly didn’t make it to the main roster. Before she joined Bayley and Dakota Kai to form Damage CTRL in 2022 (and officially changing her name from Io Shirai to IYO SKY), she had been considering returning to Japan.
Damage CTRL earned a fanbase early, but like in NXT it took a while for IYO to break through the crowd. A bit of patience, some stellar performances, and a few crazy dives off of cages wearing trash cans, and suddenly the IYO SKY train was full steam ahead. Now she was getting title matches at WrestleMania and positioned as one of the most important women in the entire company.
Around this time, she made a brief stop in Japan to pay a visit to an old friend. Her former boss Rossy Ogawa had set up a new promotion called Marigold and was set to run a show at Ryogoku Hall.
It was a venue she hadn’t wrestled in since 2013, when she first won the World of Stardom title – the night Rossy crowned her as the new ace while saying goodbye to another in Yuzuki Aikawa. Waiting for her would be one of his new aces: Utami Hayashishita. A wrestler who had quite literally followed in IYO’s footsteps, joining STARDOM because she was there, only to see her leave for WWE a month later.
If there had been one question looming over IYO during her time in WWE it was this: did she still have it in her to turn it on like she would in Japan? For all of the great matches she put on while in America, those who knew her as the unbeatable Red Belt Champion knew there had been another gear on her engine that she hadn’t been engaging. After all this time, maybe she didn’t have it in her anymore?
As the bell rang and she locked up with Utami, IYO quickly dispelled any such questions. It might have been her WWE name, look, and theme music, but the way she wrestled was not a day removed from the kind of ferocious, unbridled tenacity that had terrorised the joshi scene up until 2018. The Genius of the Sky had only gotten better in 2024, combining everything she had learned from Japan and America into the truly indominable force she had become. As valiant as the Red Queen fought, she couldn’t bring down the SKY.
Fans of her time in Japan rejoiced that the Queen still lived. Those who weren’t familiar of her work pre-WWE realised that there was a beast inside of her that’s been chained up for years for everyone else’s sake. And as quickly as IYO had arrived in Japan, she was gone again…
…But before she left, as she and Ogawa relaxed after the show at a chanko restaurant, she made it clear to him that there was someone else she wanted to face the next time she walked through the Golden Fields of Marigold…
She had made it known publicly there was someone she had in mind, and for fans It wasn’t a difficult puzzle for fans to solve. Only there was one issue. Mayu Iwatani wasn’t in Marigold – at least not yet.
When Rossy Ogawa left STARDOM to form Marigold, Iwatani had a unique contract with the Bushiroad promotion due to her soon-to-be released movie. As much as she might have wanted to be there at Ryogoku, she was on the outside looking in.
If it can be said that the transformation from Io Shirai to IYO SKY was a big one, then there’s even more that can be said of Mayu Iwatani’s continual growth in the absence of her friend as she rose to the mantle of Icon of Joshi Puroresu.
Her first World of Stardom Championship reign might have been cut short due to injury, but when she returned in 2018 it felt like Iwatani had made the decision to truly start putting the company on her shoulders alongside Kagetsu. Even if she wouldn’t win the title back straight away, Mayu shone that much brighter as both a wrestler and a general leadership figure. As younger wrestlers got their chances, she remained a constant presence, making everything she did and everyone she faced feel more valuable.
Then when the end of 2019 approached, the time was right for her to wrap the Red Belt back around her waist.
The timing of this couldn’t have been more pertinent. Bushiroad had just bought STARDOM, and with it came a big push in marketing, launching them from a niche promotion with groundswell to the hottest ticket in town. Mayu was front and center of this newfound charge as its top champion and veteran star.
Her growth into the role became even more important when things suddenly went south. The combination of losing several key stars of the future and COVID halting their momentum could have brought everything crumbling down, but Mayu helped steady the ship by being exactly what was needed at the top of the promotion (for more information, read ‘The Most Important Champion’).
Mayu had essentially fulfilled her destiny, but as STARDOM continued to grow out of the initial pandemic shutdowns, so did she. Iwatani no longer needed a top championship to be recognized as one of the best, she was a standard bearer all by herself. People proved themselves just by stepping in the ring with her. She was The Icon.
At her core this was still the same Mayu that had been coaxed out back in 2016 by her old friend. She still used much of the same offense and carried that same relatable ditziness, but she had surpassed her old self in every way. Every move Mayu used to hit she now did so with much more crispness. Her strikes are harder, her suplexes more ferocious. She moves from spot to spot with the kind of confidence and maturity befitting of someone whose name consistently belongs in the discussion of Best in the World.
When Rossy Ogawa took in an awkward runaway back in 2011, he saw something in her. Now Mayu had truly blossomed into the Icon of Joshi Puroresu, fulfilling that vision while her sister IYO SKY was fulfilling hers on the other side of the world.
That final year in STARDOM felt like a statement from Mayu, even if she wasn’t doing much story wise. Her iron grip on the IWGP Women’s Championship (ending in an astronomical 735-day reign) led to her putting on classic matches with Sareee, Syuri, Momo Watanabe, and AZM, as well as her classic performance throughout a final run in the 5Star Grand Prix.
Despite having called only STARDOM her home throughout her 13-year career, the moment she stepped foot in a Marigold ring at Korakuen Hall in May, it felt like a homecoming. The final piece of the puzzle had arrived. No matter who might come or go, at least The Icon was there.
It didn’t take long for Iwatani to assert herself as the preeminent star in the company, even if she wasn’t their top champion. Such is the gravity that surrounds her in 2025. It’s a testament to how far Mayu’s come, from struggling to look comfortable in a ring to owning any one she steps in.
Which begs the question: What does a Mayu Iwatani and IYO SKY match look like in 2025? Sure, we’ve seen it before, but both wrestlers have grown and changed so much in the years since they’ve stepped foot in a ring together. They’ve both refined and matured as performers, yet seemingly not lost that thirst for violence that punctuated the heights of their wars.
They spent seven years together in STARDOM becoming as thick as thieves; as a part of Heisei-Gun, Thunder Rock, Threedom, or as rivals.
Then they spent seven years apart; one redefining themselves on the other side of the world with a new name but the same undeniable natural talent, while the other stayed to finally reach their potential and help shape the entire scene until it was nearly unrecognisable from what it once was.
They were never going to be kept apart forever, though. For all of their successes across the ocean, there was that burning desire to lock up one more time. The stars just needed to align.
Their matches in 2016-17 over the World of Stardom Championship were iconic matches of their era, and are still held up among the pinnacle of modern joshi wrestling.
When they stand opposite each other in the Marigold ring on October 26, so much will have changed since then. IYO the world conqueror. Mayu the Icon of all Joshi. A match that once was reserved for Korakuen Hall now needs the space and grandeur of Ryogoku Sumo Hall.
They both put it perfectly in their own way
“We’ve each walked such wonderful paths. Let’s speak to our hearts’ content and tell our story inside of the ring.” – IYO SKY
“We’ll show everything we’ve walked through up until now in this one match” – Mayu Iwatani
Seven years is a long time in wrestling, and in friendship. They spent seven years together and then seven years apart. IYO and Mayu will demonstrate all of of this when they go to war with smiles on their faces.
RESURA 