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>Saya Kamitani (28), the world champion of the women's professional wrestling Stardom, is unstoppable. She attracted attention with her heel (villain) turn last summer, and this year her popularity has skyrocketed thanks to her performances on terrestrial TV variety shows. Although she only made it to the quarterfinals of this summer's single league tournament, "5STAR GP," she certainly contributed to an increase in the number of spectators. Her dedication shines on TV, while "Saya-sama" draws cheers in the ring. We spoke to her about how she views this gap and her ambitions to dedicate herself to the industry.
>A sold-out crowd of 2,856 attended the Ota Ward General Gymnasium event on August 23rd. After her warm-up match against Bea Priestley, who will challenge her at the Yokohama Budokan event on September 6th, Kamitani roared, "I'm going to make you understand that Saya-sama is on a roll!"
>This year, 13,989 people attended all 14 tournaments in the annual summer league, up from 9,603 people in 13 tournaments last year. This was not limited to venues in the Tokyo metropolitan area; small regional venues also performed well, with attendance at the Kyoto KBS Hall increasing from 506 to 746 last year.
>Taro Okada, president of the group, expressed his gratitude, saying, "We were helped by a star named Kamitani." The group continued to attract more attendees even after the mainstays, Maika and Syuri, were forced to withdraw due to injuries, "icon" Mayu Iwatani left the group in April, and Tam Nakano retired.
>Kamitani's heel turn last summer attracted a lot of attention, and at the end of the year she was crowned the world champion, the highest level in the organization. In February of this year, she appeared on Fuji TV's "Chidori no Oni Renchan" track and field segment, and her hard-working appearance drew a lot of attention.
