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>Mina Shirakawa of women's pro wrestling company "Stardom" formed a new unit by fighting with world champion Maika at the Takadanobaba event in Tokyo on January 20. The new move has been met with a resounding response.
>Shirakawa launched her own unit "Club Venus" last April. In May, she proposed a double title match to the then world champion, Tam Nakano. but lost the Wonder title and suffered the despair of her life.
>In addition, the foreigners who had belonged to the unit led by Nakano returned to Japan one after another. One Japanese member, Waka Tsukiyama, was also absent due to injury, leaving Shirakawa on his own. A few days before forming a new unit with Maika, she told this newspaper, "I was disappointed last year, so my goal as an individual this year is to become singles champion again. As a unit, we will start the second chapter of Club Venus! she declared.
>Of course, with the unit's numbers dwindling, I lobbied as the unit leader. She said that she had asked the company to invite a foreign player but could not come to an agreement, and "Mariah (May) and the other members said they wanted to stay in Japan, but there were too many things I couldn't do anything about. I was frustrated there, too," she said, her shoulders drooping.
>When she was alone in the unit, she was set up for single matches and 3-way matches with younger wrestlers in the 0th and 1st matches. Even though she was a main eventer, she was treated like a youngster, "To be honest, I was frustrated and impatient. That's why I started watching other people's matches and looking at stardom as a whole," she recalls.
>That is why she plans to expand the scale of the unit. The concept of 'aiming for the world' will not change. On April 4, Stardom will hold its first solo show in five years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a great opportunity! I'm going to do a lot of things, so keep an eye on me in 2024! She called out to the audience. Look for Shirakawa to strike back.
