STARDOM’s Icon has addressed Rossy Ogawa’s firing.
On February 5th, STARDOM and Bushiroad announced that STARDOM founder and executive producer Rossy Ogawa’s contract had been terminated with immediate effect due to talent and staff allegedly being poached, with Ogawa recently revealing that he plans to start a new promotion.
IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani, who’s been with the company alongside Ogawa since its formation 13 years Ogawa, has now commented on the 66-year-old’s departure in a new interview with Tokyo Sports, where she first addressed several alarming tweets she made on February 9th seemingly regarding the situation, citing her inability to process the news due to feeling unable to talk to anyone about it.
“To be honest, I still don’t have my mind in order. I owe a debt of gratitude to Ogawa-san for raising me for the past 13 years, and I think that I need to continue to support my grandfather. But without Bushiroad, Stardom would not have become so famous. It was a time for me to think about all these things…I felt that what I said would affect other players, so as an icon, I had to be careful about what I said. I started to develop a strange sense of responsibility. I couldn’t talk to anyone about it, so I kept thinking about it in my mind, and my mind went over capacity…,”
-Mayu Iwatani
Thankfully, Iwatani eventually reassured her fans that she was okay, outside of some abdominal pain, and subsequently deleted her previous tweets.
Iwatani revealed that she’d been crying for days following the news and that it was a phone call from STARDOM’s new President Taro Okada that led her to delete the tweets, with the STARS leading initially fearing that she was in trouble with management.
“The phone didn’t stop ringing, but I didn’t answer anyone’s call, and then I saw the words ‘Taro Okada’ on the screen of my phone. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m in trouble,’ and the tears just stopped. I answered the phone, apologized, and erased the entire post.”
-Mayu Iwatani
Despite her worries about Rossy’s departure, Mayu’s attention will now turn towards her IWGP Women’s Championship match against Mina Shirakawa at NJPW’s New Beginning in Sapporo show on February 23rd.
Mayu noted that she’s unsure as to what her future holds amidst the drama within STARDOM and the potential of Rossy Ogawa starting a new promotion, however she’s aiming to stay focus on what’s likely to be one of her toughest title defences to date.
“Even if I don’t know where I will end up, the defence match on the 23rd is a sure future that I can see now. I’m trying to keep my mind focused on the defence fight in front of me,”
-Mayu Iwatani
Earlier today at STARDOM’s show in Toyohashi, Iwatani teamed with her STARS stablemates Hanan and Saya Iida to defeat EXV’s Mina Shirakawa, Xena, & HANAKO.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future of Mayu Iwatani as soon as we hear more.
Translated using DeepL.
