There is no denying the impact that Mayu Iwatani has had as The Icon of Joshi Puroresu throughout her career. In STARDOM, she accomplished everything possible as she guided them to greatness, and now she’s looking to help lift up a new promotion in Marigold to the promised land.
There are two sides to Iwatani; the phenomenal wrestler with the catalog of enviable all-time matches a mile long, and the goofy oddball that seemingly shouldn’t be capable of such brilliance.
Here at RESURA we’ve already talked at length about the former (and will no doubt continue to do so) but it’s time we pay attention to the latter. Over the years a term has been coined to describe the many moments of empty-headed, clumsy or just downright hilariously silly displays from the Icon: Mayu-isms. And there’s been a lot over the years, both in and out of the ring, that help to take an otherworldly talent and make her oddly relatable and human.
On the cusp of Mayu Iwatani’s 15th anniversary in pro wrestling, it only felt fitting to take a look at the 15 greatest examples of Mayu-ism that she’s gifted the world. Whether it’s one-off moments of misguided brilliance or ongoing patterns that have come to define her, the quirky goofball that is The Icon has been just as important as her in ring acumen in making her so beloved. In an industry that often encourages the illusion of perfection, her willingness to lean into this side of her is all the more endearing.
This list is meant to be a celebration of what makes Iwatani uniquely great. It’s also important to understand this list had to be cut down substantially to get down to fifteen. That is the power of Mayu-ism.
15 – Mayu Makes a Match Nobody Understands
Dusty Rhodes was the brainchild behind War Games, Chris Jericho came up with Money In The Bank, and Mayu Iwatani was the mastermind behind the Naniwa Roulette.
What was the Naniwa Roulette? Good question. Even Mayu seemed a bit unsure when she tried to explain it to the Nagoya crowd after her All-Star tag match alongside Syuri, Utami Hayashishita, and Maika.
Mayu wasn’t off to a good start when she wasn’t sure where it was being held – Nagoya or Osaka – despite Naniwa referencing an area in Osaka. But she continued on with passion, letting out a battle cry-esque ‘WAAAAHHH’ as she tried to rally the others to take part.
Syuri unfortunately had a different plan, wanting to team with Konami. She even did Utami a solid by pitching it to be against Queen’s Quest which Hayashishita quickly accepted, stating her lack of interest in Mayu’s idea. Syuri then tried throw Maika under the Naniwa bus, but she was quick to remind everyone that she had a tag title match alongside Himeka that night.
It left Mayu pouting and throwing her ice pack around like a petulant child as her vision of wowing everyone fell on deaf ears, though she did seemingly convince Tam Nakano at least. To add insult to injury, the roulette chose her to be the first entrant on that night.
To date the Naniwa Roulette match has only been used once…
14 – Sareee: Friend or Foe?
The 2024 All Star Tag match at Sareee-ISM Chapter V was an absolute masterclass between four of the best joshi around. However, The Icon couldn’t let such a great match go down without sneaking in a classic little Mayu-ism.
Veny locked Mayu’s teammate Sareee in a rough looking submission, wrenching her arm back and trapping her in the middle of the ring with seemingly no clear escape. So Mayu went to make the logical move and break up the hold.
Only she went and kicked Sareee…unsurprisingly that didn’t cause Veny to break the hold, although it did potentially cause her enough confusion to lighten her grip a little. Thankfully Mayu quickly realised the error of her ways and changed the target of her attack, but not before everybody else started laughing. It’s perhaps the only mistake in the entire match that you should go out of your way to watch (available on Sareee’s YouTube channel) and because it’s a Mayu-ism it’s the good kind of mistake.
13 – Mayu Takes Down the Other Half of Spark Rush
It takes true talent to make the Ace of Marvelous, and the effortlessly cool Takumi Iroha look clumsy. But Mayu-ism can be infectious, as we found out after the two teamed up at the inaugural Dream Queendom event in a special tag match against Hazuki and Momo Watanabe.
The dream team won the match despite some communication errors, and that continued as the duo tried to leave, with the venue clearly knowing what The Icon would do to its name in the near future (don’t worry, that’s still to come).
It starts with Mayu kicking over a light by the entrance way as she’s posing to the crowd. Clumsy but a simple enough mistake which Iwatani and Iroha quickly go to fix. Yet somehow in a sublime bit of Mayu-ism she manages to get some string from her attire stuck in the side panelling in the process. It causes Mayu to fall over, and as she and Takumi try and make amends and apologise for their errors, they only make things worse and bring each other back to the floor in a Three Stooges-esque display.
This is all while Hazuki, still pissed at how the match went, no sells the ludicrous display and does absolutely nothing to help her STARS leader.
12 – Locked Out And Lost Out
Pro wrestlers spend a lot of time living out of hotel rooms, and for Mayu Iwatani that can be a dangerous thing. Over the years, Mayu’s had many an issue.
Back in 2021 while going to the vending machine Mayu forgot to take her key card, locking herself out of her room. A simple enough mistake to make. So, she went down to front desk and got a spare key. After unlocking the room to get her actual key, she went and returned the spare…only to realise she forgot the original key again. That mistake is a little more complicated…
At least she was at the hotel in that case. A couple of years earlier she couldn’t even remember the name of her hotel and wandered around late at night trying to find it based only on her memory. She ended up turning a five-minute trip into an hour-long one, but she did get there eventually. That’s to say nothing of the air-conditioning issues she has once she’s inside…
11 – Mayu Iwatani vs. The Curtain
STARDOM did Mayu a bit dirty on this one, because it would have been very easy for us to have never seen it. It was never shown on the official show broadcast, but in supplementary material. As Hanan prepared to go out and defend her Future of Stardom Championship, her STARS leader came and gave her a supportive hug.
All very kind and sweet and hardly a Mayu-ism. Except she then went to exit via the side curtain, only to flounder around trying to find the break in them. The camera keeps her in the shot while Hanan mentally prepares (with the later YouTube short forgoing Hanan completely to focus on Mayu’s misadventures because of course you would) showing Mayu awkwardly flail around looking for an escape.
10 – Mayu Hates Steel Cages
For someone who wrestles with such a devil-may-care wrestling style, it might surprise you that Iwatani seems to be deathly afraid of wrestling a steel cage match. Despite this, STARDOM booked in her two straight: one against Queen’s Quest, and then Donna Del Mondo the following year. Both times she had FWC backing her up, who lived up to their ‘Double Crazy’ moniker and were far keener at the proposition.
It resulted in Hazuki and Koguma having to drag their illustrious leader not only out to the cage, but even to the arena. Once Iwatani was there she made it her mission in life to try and get out as fast as possible, hoping to leave it to her teammates to entertain the crowd with crazy dives off the top of the cage.
Of course, she couldn’t leave her Mayu-isms to just the cage itself. At the press conference for the second cage match, Iwatani pushed FWC towards Donna Del Mondo while she went to run away, only for karma to bite her. The tablecloth slipped and fell under her shoes, causing her to begin a cartoon-like slip and tumble off the small stage. That fall is so well known it could have been its own entry if it wasn’t connected to the overarching cage narrative.
10 – She Also Hates Bugs
We learned back in 2021 that if Mayu was a Pokemon, she’d be weak to the bug type. Posting a video late at night on Twitter/X (always a great start to one of these) Mayu gave us a POV insight into the kinds of troubles she faces going home, as a bug menacingly blocked the way into her home.
She valiantly fought it with her umbrella, disturbing the rest of the floor with her screams as her dog Pochi watched on. Thankfully our Icon was not harmed in the altercation, though she might have lost the match via disqualification since she used a weapon.
9 – Schrödinger’s Toyama
STARDOM have travelled to a lot of places in Japan over the years, but if you had asked Mayu Iwatani back in the end of 2020 if they had made it to Toyama she would have confidently told you no.
Unfortunately for her, Starlight Kid was there to challenge that, reminding The Icon that she’s wrestled in Takaoka before, she’s stayed in the same hotel they’re currently using, and even mentioning the Toyama wrestling bar Nadareshiki they’ve been to – whose shirt Mayu was currently wearing.
The confusion seems to lay in the semantics. Toyama is the prefecture, but there’s also Toyama City, which is the capital of the prefecture. Mayu’s refusal to admit defeat wavers Starlight Kid’s confidence in the moment, leaving her to ponder which prefecture Takaoka actually is in (spoiler: It’s Toyama) and maybe ponder which faction she should be in at the time (spoiler: it’s Oedo Tai).
It ends with Mayu still confidently declaring that it’s her first time in Toyama, Starlight Kid deciding it’s not a battle worth fighting anymore and poor Riho wondering how much longer until she can go back to America. She’d leave at the end of the month.
8 – Mayu ‘Shohei Ohtani’ Iwatani
After streamers were banned during the pandemic, Mayu found a new entrance gimmick and became a baseball pitcher. That alone has resulted in some classic Mayu-ism moments as her name has been called, but that’s not why we’re here. This Mayu-ism happened on a far bigger stage than a wrestling ring – it happened on the baseball field.
Iwatani got the chance to pitch for real, getting the ceremonial first pitch at a Yokohama DeNA Baystars game in 2024. She was really excited for it, making a point to post clips of her practising on social media in the month leading up to it.
All for her to nearly hit the batter and drop it well short. Now to be fair, pitching from the mound in front of a full crowd is a very different experience than what she was used to, but given how excited Iwatani was for the moment and her immediate response (and said tantrum then being captured forever in a trading card) makes this a definitive Mayu-ism moment.
7 – The Faster Way Downstairs
When there’s a building as famous and unique as Korakuen Hall, it makes sense that wrestlers have come up with a few signature spots. Whether it’s slamming a head on one of the East/West signs above the bleachers, or Io Shirai taking flight from the top of the entry hallways amidst the fans, there are certain spots you can always rely on.
And then there’s Mayu Iwatani, who has made a habit of using the Korakuen Hall stairs to practice her backwards roll. Whenever she finds herself up among the fans it’s practically guaranteed she’s tumbling back down, even when they ran a show with no fans in attendance.
As ridiculous as that recurring spot is, Mayu has managed to outdo it. During a Stardom in Showcase event back in 2022 (which remember, were silly comedy shows) she took a wild staircase bump during a Falls Count Anywhere Four-Way match. It was in the outer concourse area, so completely away from the audience, and left her with some gnarly marks after the fact. Let’s hope she never stumbles across the Niesenbahn…
6 – Missing Trains, Planes, and Shows
If you follow Mayu on her social media, you will have come across at least one message from her talking about having caught the wrong train or missing a plane because she slept in (or gone to Narita instead of Haneda airport). It’s common enough that they barely even register as ‘events’ these days, and thankfully it doesn’t seem to cause her to miss events…anymore.
It was a problem earlier on in her career. This quote from The Icon herself maybe gives the best insight into her mind.
“I overslept and missed the bus for the tour, and I couldn’t get in contact with anyone, so they just did the show without me. I was like “Oh shit, I overslept!” but then I figured, well it was too late to get to the show on time anyway, so I thought “Ah, it’ll be fine. I’m going back to sleep.” There was another show the next day, but I felt too awkward to see everyone and I didn’t want them to be mad at me, so I didn’t get in contact with them for that one either. Then I saw on the Stardom Twitter that they’d announced the card had been changed, and I was like “Ah, I guess I’m absent now.” But I did at least go to the venue. Very responsible of me, don’t you think?”
Sportiva Interview with Mugiko Ozaki, translated by Dana
5 – Mayu Iwatani: Winner and Destroyer of Trophies
When you’re a champion in STARDOM and Marigold, you tend to get presented with a lot of trophies. Mayu’s held her fair share over the years, but not all of them have escaped with their lives.
After a long and draining match it’s only natural to want to lean a bit on the first solid thing you can find, and when you’re in the middle of the ring that’s often the trophy standing next to you. That has resulted in a few giving way, leading to hilarious visuals that momentarily break the triumphant moment for The Icon.
The trophies have their defenders though – in the form of the IWGP championship belt which has on multiple occasions hurt Mayu: from the very moment she won it only to accidentally headbutt it, to when the strap flicked her in the face during a press conference.
There may be no better encapsulation of the dichotomy of Mayu than her being good enough to win all these trophies and awkward enough to break them.
4 – “I Am Brain, This Is Chicken” and Other English Misadventures
English is hard (Japanese too, as we’ll see later…), especially for The Icon. So when she tried to explain herself in English on a 2022 television broadcast it was always a recipe for a prime Mayu-ism.
We were blessed with a true philosophical saying to carry for years. “I am brain, this is chicken.”. For those of us who don’t speak Iwatani, we had our resident translator Momo Kohgo on hand, who aptly explained in perfect English that what she meant was “my brain is like a bird, so I also forget everything.”
Of course, this wouldn’t be Mayu Iwatani’s only ill-fated tangle with the English language. As STARDOM occasionally flirted with international audiences and Mayu’s IWGP Champion duties had her wrestling overseas, she worked with Yuji Nagata to improve her English trash talk, which led her saying “I never youth” instead of “I never lose”. She nailed the “kick ass” though, which broke Saya Iida immediately.
3 – Mayu Iwatani: STARDOM Announcer In Debt
One of the most impressive traits for The Icon over her decade and a half career has been her availability (when she’s not missing shows due to sleeping in that is). It’s rare to see her out with injury, but even that didn’t keep Mayu away in 2019 during the Golden Week shows when she appeared as a special ring announcer during the Oedo Tai produce show.
Her job was simple: Don’t screw up. She promised she wouldn’t, even promising 10,000 yen for each mistake she made.
With all the confidence of a shy high schooler giving a presentation, Mayu proceeds to stumble and fumble over her announcements, ending up with 15 mistakes that Kagetsu and Oedo Tai would later try to collect payment on. Unfortunately, in their excitement they got distracted singing their ‘pay pay’ song, and Iwatani was able to make her escape. So, remember kids, The Icon doesn’t pay back what she owes…
2 – Where Am I? When Is It? What Promotion Am I In?
It’s difficult being a wrestler. You’re always on the road going to different venues and wrestling at different times. So when you want to wish everyone at Niigata a good evening, you might accidentally be saying it to Nagoya during the middle of the day.
This is not a one-off problem for Mayu. ‘Konbanwa’ has become a catch phrase for her precisely because of how often she’d say good evening, regardless of the time of day. So now it’s part of the gimmick and it doesn’t matter. Messing up the city or venue…that’s a more obvious problem.
Her recent move to Marigold has thrown a new spanner in the works, however. Now she has to remember which company she’s wrestling for too. During a recent promo when she was talking about how Seri Yamaoka beat her in the tournament, she may have accidentally referred to it as the 5 Star Grand Prix – STARDOM’s tournament.
An understandable mistake given how long she spent there and both tournaments being functionally the same, though when you need Victoria Yuzuki of all people to correct you then you know you’ve messed up. In her defense, she’s not the only Marigold wrestler to mix the two up, and she at least has wrestled in both…Komomo Minami…
1 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Ryogoku Kokugikan
Could it be anything else but this? For all of her many moments, few have lived on quite like this one. At a press conference for Nagoya Fight where she would be facing Tam Nakano and Guilia in a Triple Threat match, Mayu Iwatani found that her biggest challenge lay not in either foe, but in her own tongue and trying to pronounce the venue of a future event.
It’s important to note she wasn’t the only STARDOM wrestler around this time to trip up on the admittedly difficult Ryogoku Kokugikan pronunciation, but the sheer dogged determination to keep trying (and failing) to get it right combined with Giulia breaking and Tam’s death stare makes this by far the most famous Mayu-ism, and still one of the funniest to this day.
RESURA 