The STARDOM exodus may not be over just yet.
When Rossy Ogawa left STARDOM in February following Bushiroad terminating his contract, shockwaves were sent through the wrestling world. However, it later emerged that Ogawa was planning on starting a new joshi wrestling company off the back of his exit, and, with it reported that many STARDOM talent have deals expiring this month, many wondered whether a lot of the current roster members would leave to join Rossy’s promotion.
Recently, Tokyo Sports announced the first set of talent that have chosen to leave STARDOM, with Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI, Mai Sakurai, Giulia and Yuzuki all wrapping up by the end of the month. This is less than many fans had initially thought, but, per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, more could follow suit upon contract expiry in one year’s time, including Mayu Iwatani.
“In addition, there is the belief that a few of the women staying now may leave in one year based on expiration of current deals. Iwatani would fit into that category but a lot can change in a year based on how each company does over the next year. Several wrestlers and office people who had talked of leaving are now staying, in many cases because they’ve gotten raises to stay.”
-Dave Meltzer
While we know that a new Joshi company will soon be arriving on the scene, little is known about when it will begin or what it will look like. Regardless of logistics, the captures of former World of STARDOM Champion Utami Hayashishita, Wonder of STARDOM Champion MIRAI and promising rookie Yuzuki provide a great base for the roster.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the contract status’ of STARDOM talent as soon as we hear more.
