“If there’s even one person cheering for me—no, because there are people cheering for me—I want to show them hope. I want to be the hope of Marigold.”
These were the words of Chika Goto as she made her case for her singles match against Miku Aono to be upgraded to a Marigold World Title match on November 17.
Although she wouldn’t get her wish, it was hard to ignore her words. While she’s the biggest wrestler on the Marigold roster, skill wise she stands amongst giants. Future Hall of Famers, world champions, and prodigal talents. Chika Goto hasn’t ticked any of those boxes (yet), but that hasn’t deterred her from standing tall and putting herself forward.
‘The hope of Marigold’
If anyone has earned the right to fight for that role, it’s Chika Goto. Throughout 2025, she’s constantly stepped forward and challenged herself, growing through adversity. In situations where she could have wilted, she bloomed. Throughout that process, GoChika has grown into one of Marigold’s definitive personalities, and it’s all come from one of their more unlikely sources.
When Marigold first formed, six members of Actwres girl’Z made the jump with Fuka. Of those, Chika was perhaps the most innocuous on that debut Fields Forever show. She felt like a support act tagging with Kouki Amarei while Misa Matsui and Natsumi Showzuki both looked far ahead of her whenever they were in the ring. Meanwhile, Chiaki’s look and charisma stood out among the roster in her spotlight match against MIRAI, and Miku Aono got a comfortable win and carried a certain hype with her from the beginning.
In spite of this, she wasn’t hung out to dry. She won the matches she should have, and it wouldn’t be long until she got her first real moment in the sun.
In a match alongside Nanae Takahashi, Marigold World Champion Sareee, and the soon to retire Arisa Nakajima, where the story centered on the final match between her partner and Arisa, Korakuen Hall was filling the room with chants for Chika Goto.
She was the odd one out and wholly outmatched, but it was a role that suited her. It forced her to step up, just like in June when she had faced Nanae in a Passion Injection match. She had admitted to being scared ahead of that singles match, but it was a moment that put her decision to come to Marigold into the light, so she faced that fear head on. That step forward gave her the confidence to ask Nanae if she could stand alongside her, and proved enough to Nanae to say yes ahead of such an important and personal match.
She ultimately took the pinfall in that match as one would expect, but it was the best performance of her career by that point. She stood up to two of the hardest hitters in the industry and didn’t back down, and by the end of the match got the seal of approval from Nanae Takahashi.
It was in moments like these where Chika Goto would truly shine. Beyond the loud and bubbly woman that gets the crowd to follow along with her “AhChika, KoChika, GoChika” chant, but as the outmatched underdog who has to dig deep inside herself to survive while the entire building wills her forward because they believe in her.
That’s not to detract from the first part of her performance. It’s her natural charm and charisma that has endeared herself to fans so quickly. Her entrance chant and giant swing has been over from the first show, and as GoChika’s become more confident as a performer her likeable nature has proven easy to cheer for whether she’s entering a match the favorite or not.
It’s precisely because of that likeable and cheerful character that helps make the bigger moments all the more impactful. Like when Chika Goto was the last remaining wrestler on Team Marigold in the Gauntlet Tag match against Marvelous. Waiting for her in the ring was the terrifying final boss Takumi Iroha, someone who completely outclassed her in every way and nullified her advantages.
In that moment, there was no leading the crowd in her signature chant despite how popular it is. She didn’t even appeal to them at all or dare flash a smile.
As she walked out, she was trying to compose herself. The same ‘fight or flight’ feeling she had a year ago before her match with Nanae Takahashi was clearly welling up inside of her again. There’s no hiding the nerves that are clearly etched across her face (as well as possibly the need to burst into tears) but with one desperate cry out she energises herself and steps forward to meet her maker. The nerves don’t fade from her face, but she’s moving forward not backwards. She’s going to fight, not fly.
All of this as she represents Marigold. The final stand on that night against Marvelous.
There are a lot of flashy and impressive entrances in pro wrestling over the course of the year, but few contain as much storytelling as Chika Goto’s did. Contrasted with her normally cheery disposition it was clear in that moment how important Marigold was to her, and although she was unable to overcome the pure power of Iroha, her valiant effort further proved it.
That night might have solidified in her what it means to bear that weight, even as she still continues to grow in the ring. She might not be at the level of Marigold’s main eventers yet, but she’s still only a couple of years into her pro wrestling career and continuing to grow into her body as she keeps adding weight and muscle.
Just as visible as her growth in the ring has been is how much size she’s added to her body. Joining Marigold at just 62kgs, it was clear that her 5-foot-8 body had been moulded for modelling rather than wrestling. Despite towering over the rest of the roster (except for Bozilla when she was around), she didn’t have the strength to use that size advantage.
It would have been easy to GoChika to keep one foot in the modelling pool and be content with just being a personality-focused wrestler who stayed around the lower card. Yet throughout that first year she posted updates about how she was adding weight, building up her frame to add more impact to her moves.
By the time the 2025 Dream Star Grand Prix press conference rolled around, a bit over a year since she joined Marigold, she proudly displayed the scales that read 78.2kgs (now 83kgs). A 21kg jump. It was the kind of move that signalled just how dedicated she was to pro wrestling, that she was so focused on transforming her body to better handle the rigors and challenges of the industry.
It’s a move that’s paid off. She’s executing her signature giant swing with far more ease now, and higher impact moves have improved. As Chika Goto continues to grow comfortable in her body and gain confidence in the ring, she’ll only become better in her role as the resident heavy.
However, she operates in a very unique paradox.
While her towering presence and size advantage is undeniable, she is no overwhelming domineering force and nor will that ever be her best role. She’s an underdog at heart, pulling at the heartstrings of the fans as she rallies back into the match. Towing the line between the big powerhouse and the underdog face is a tough balancing act, but it’s a special role.
It’s something that another wrestler managed to great effect, and who perhaps serves as the best comparison to Chika Goto: Jungle Kyona. The two wear their heart on their sleeves and share a lot of that same infectious energy that inspired crowds, while also possessing the ability to flick a switch and sell the gravity of a moment by turning things down a notch. Jungle might not have had the height advantage of GoChika, but she threw opponents around the ring with power moves and levelled them with lariats, only starting to be matched in power later into her STARDOM run as other heavy hitters like Utami Hayashishita, Maika, and Himeka started to arrive on the scene.
It’s not just their in-ring roles that shine similarly. Kyona might never have been the face of STARDOM or its biggest star, but amidst a young and inexperienced in life roster she played an important role. She was often referred to as a bit of a ‘mother figure’ behind the scenes (as documented in VICE’s The Wrestlers, 2019), and it feels like no coincidence that Chika Goto is referred to as Marigold’s ‘mood maker’. Both important roles for keeping the ship afloat even if they don’t get the glory.
It was that ‘mood maker’ role that GoChika brought up ahead of her singles match with Miku Aono at Korakuen Hall on November 17th, along with her desire to be the ‘hope of Marigold’. Originally slated to just be a regular match, GoChika made the call for it to be something more. She had her sights set on Aono’s newly won Red Belt and made an impassioned plea as to why she should get a shot.
“I’m told so often that I’m Marigold’s mood maker. While those words make me incredibly happy, they also make me feel terribly sad sometimes. Now MIRAI-san is gone, Utami-san, Sakurai-san, Komomo are out, and Natsumi-san and Kouki aren’t here either. Right now, I feel like I have to be the top mood maker for this Marigold. I didn’t say I wanted that belt lightly. If there’s even one person cheering for me—no, because there are people cheering for me—I want to show them hope. I want to be the hope of Marigold.
Chika Goto – November 3 Press Conference (translated by @meraWRESTLING)
The other day, I went to Tohoku for three days and had an incredibly intense time. Right now, I believe I can be a pro wrestler and wrestle because there are people who create the venues, countless staff members, and fans who come to watch. I am prepared to bear all that weight.
Miku-san. I absolutely adore you, Miku-san. I’ve always, always loved you. But if I can say one thing, I absolutely despise the perfect little model student Miku-san. That’s why I’m going to destroy that Miku Aono-san. I’ll destroy her and wrap that Red Belt around my waist, no matter what.”
It was a plea that would keep falling on deaf ears. Miku Aono didn’t grant her the shot during the press conference. As they both stood in Korakuen Hall, Chika Goto tried to rally the crowd, and then asked Rossy Ogawa directly.
Despite all the support she’s garnered through her hard work, the fans weren’t as vocal as usual when she called for them to show their support. It was a tempered response – perhaps due to her lack of success against main event-level talent. If Rossy Ogawa was to be swayed, this wasn’t it. He crossed his arms together, rejecting her request.
She would have to prove her worth the old-fashioned way. Through combat.
It was a tremendous effort from GoChika as she tried to overcome a wrestler who had seemed nigh unbeatable over the past few months. She got in all her big moves and had the champion reeling at times, but the sheer force that is Miku Aono proved too much. After dumping her on her head, she locked in the Cloverleaf and forced Chika to give up, a pointed message that she still had a ways to go.
However it is important to note that the same crowd that hadn’t fully backed her in a call to arms before the match were in unison chanting her name by the end of it. Like she had done time and time again, Chika Goto had won over the crowd with her passion and effort.
Backstage after their match, Miku Aono had this to say:
“Gochika recently said, perhaps after Ryogoku, that she’s the only one of the members who came from Actwres (Girl’Z) who hasn’t worn a belt. I understand that frustration and impatience very well. Because I understand it so well, I think maybe that’s why she was rushing things.
Miku Aono – November 17 (translated by @meraWRESTLING)
However, if she cherishes that frustrating feeling, uses it as a springboard for training, and gets much, much stronger, Gochika won’t just be a mood maker, she’ll become the bright future and hope of Marigold.
I’m looking forward to that day, and I hope we can challenge each other for this belt sometime.”
There have been several harsh lessons for Chika Goto in the ring this year; when she was the last one left to defend Marigold against Takumi Iroha in the gauntlet tag match in April, when ‘S’ was revealed to be Sareee at Grand Destiny, and then squaring off against Miku Aono at Korakuen Hall. But these are important lessons for her as she continues to step up to the plate. All three are among the best in their field, and represent exactly where she needs to get to in order to be ‘the hope of Marigold’ and bare the weight of what that means.
The important thing is: GoChika has already shown she’s willing to put the work in. Her growth across the board over the past year is proof of that. There were clearly people who believed in her early, her Passion Injection match with Nanae was her seventh for Marigold and two months later she was alongside her for the match with Arisa Nakajima and Sareee. However she’s come a long way since that match, both in the ring and out of it.
‘The Mood Maker of Marigold’ isn’t just a fun idea, but a very real reality of what Chika Goto will represent moving forward. Her love for wrestling, her love for Marigold is the kind of thing that will help carry a new promotion through early challenges and teething problems. When she listed the names at the press conference who were injured; Utami, Sakurai, Komomo, Natsumi, Kouki (and MIRAI having recently left), she was making a concerted point.
Marigold needs people like Chika Goto.
Even if she is outmatched by Miku Aono, she’s not afraid to step up and try and prove herself. Even if she knows she’s outmatched by Takumi Iroha, she’s not afraid to go out and defend Marigold. Even if she’s going to be thrown a mystery opponent at the biggest show of the year she’s ready for whoever that may be – even if it’s perhaps the best wrestler in the world.
All because she possesses one of the most important things a wrestler can have: fighting spirit.
That will carry her a long way. The fans feel it in the way she carries herself and the way she wrestlers.
This way, that way, GoChika’s way. It will also be Marigold’s way soon enough.
RESURA 