Mayu Iwatani Initially Thought There Would Be No Benefit To Leaving STARDOM For Marigold, Explains Why She Stayed An Extra Year With STARDOM

A candid interview with Iwatani.

April 2026 will be the one-year anniversary of Mayu Iwatani announcing her departure from STARDOM. She had been with the promotion since it launched in 2011.

Iwatani went on to join Dream Star Fighting Marigold, which is run by former STARDOM owner Rossy Ogawa. In a candid interview with ENCOUNT, Iwatani opened up about her decision to depart STARDOM.

She stated that it would have been safe to stay there, but she had a desire to leave. She revealed that she stayed in STARDOM for an extra year because of the movie about her life, ‘The Runaway Wrestler,’ coming out, and STARDOM being involved with that. She feels that if she had left when she was initially thinking of leaving, it would have caused trouble for multiple parties.

“I agonized over it. Staying would have been the safer choice, but I also had this desire to go… I wrestled with it endlessly. But then there was ‘The Runaway Wrestler’ (a film about Iwatani’s life). I thought, if I transferred now and this movie fell apart, it wouldn’t just affect me – it would cause trouble for everyone involved. So I decided to stay for a year, for the film and for STARDOM.

Also, if I lost the IWGP Women’s Championship, I would have felt like I had done everything I could in STARDOM… I think there are wrestlers who aim for the IWGP, but in my case, the IWGP came after I had conquered everything, so I felt that I had a place in STARDOM because I had that belt.”

She spoke further about departing STARDOM, and initially, she had thoughts that there was no real benefit to her move to Marigold.

Iwatani was worried about what it would be like when she got to Marigold, but it was not like what she was concerned about, and it’s been nothing but rewarding.

“Honestly, there was no real benefit to leaving (STARDOM) (laughs),” Iwatani recalled her thoughts when she initially made the decision. “I thought to myself, Did I make a stupid choice? And felt anxious, wondering if I was heading into some crazy place. But once I actually joined (Marigold), it wasn’t like that at all. It’s nothing but rewarding. As for making mistakes in techniques, I make mistakes myself, and I think it’s important to know how to recover afterwards, and my honest impression was that, surprisingly, everyone can do that. I thought, ‘Everyone’s got this.’”

As of this writing, Iwatani is a champion in two promotions. She is the Marigold Superfly Champion and the reigning GHC Women’s Champion of Pro Wrestling NOAH.