Maika Enraged By Saya Kamitani Title Challenge; Utami Unmoved

Written by Liam Wyatt • Published 20th October 2022

Donna del Mundo member Maika was left enraged at Stardom’s latest contract signing after champion Utami Hayashishita refused to be drawn over Saya Kamitani’s controversial title challenge.

Maika had been installed as the next challenger to Utami’s World of Stardom Championship prior to Stardom’s Tokyo Dome showcase as part of the Wrestle Kingdom 15 event, however in the event’s aftermath, all eyes appeared to be on Saya Kamitani.

Saya, who had pinned Maika’s DDM stablemate Natsupoi as part of the dark match double bill, made an unexpected challenge to her Queen’s Quest cohort Utami, whom herself appeared to be caught off guard.

With the pair going face to face ahead of their Korakuen Hall clash on the 17th, Maika took the opportunity to express her frustration at the QQ stablemates seemingly overlooking her title challenge:

I haven’t even fought with Hayashishita yet, but she (Saya) expressed her challenge? What’s happening with QQ’s education? Moreover, Hayashishita is defending (against me) and talking about that (Saya’s challenge) – insane. Hayashishita says, “I’m going to create a new era,” but I say, “I’ll take the Red Belt and make Stardom interesting”.

The current owner of the Red Belt, Utami, appeared altogether more composed, quipping around Maika’s recent Future of Stardom Championship loss before questioning her main event credentials:

If you bark like that, you look weak. Maika couldn’t protect her Future belt – has something changed from that time? With me, who climbed up with a Red Belt, Maika lost her belt and nothing changed. You can see the result, right? This Utami Hayashishita, who is leading the new era of Stardom, is not even close to the current Maika.

After the fiery exchange, the champion mockingly handed her challenger a red rose, which Maika, now at boiling point, promptly snatched and threw away in disgust.

The match will take place at Stardom’s 10th anniversary show on January 17th, which emanates from a sold out Korakuen Hall.

With thanks to Tokyo Sports for the transcript.