Stardom announced that former IWGP Women's Champion Mayu Iwatani (32) will be leaving the company.
On the same day, Iwatani attended a press conference with Stardom president Taro Okada, who announced that she would be leaving the company as of that day.
Iwatani began, holding back tears, "Everyone, I'm Iwatani, the icon of Stardom. As Okada explained, I will be leaving Stardom today." She then changed her mind, saying, "I tried not to cry, but the tears are coming out," and explained the circumstances that led to her departure.
She revealed that she had been thinking about leaving the company since around last year. "But still, Stardom can't do without Iwatani Mayu, and Stardom would no longer be Stardom, so I decided to stay because I felt that I absolutely had to protect it. Since then, I'm glad that I stayed, and even now I put everything into the IWGP. Every time we defended the title, I would think that if I lost, I would just quit, and I fought with the feeling that I absolutely would not lose."
However, at the Yokohama Arena event the day before, she defended her title for the 10th time against Akari. After a fierce battle, she was hit with a cross arm Shu Sekai and given the three count. "My feelings of loving Stardom will not change. But I felt like I had done everything I could with Stardom, and I lost the IWGP yesterday. I really put my all into the IWGP, so when I lost this belt, I thought that would be the end of Iwatani Mayu with Stardom, and so I officially spoke to Okada about it," she said.
The icon who led the organization finally expressed her gratitude with a smile and tears, saying, "This brings to an end my 14 years and three months of Stardom career. I haven't thought about my future yet, but for now my time as a Stardom icon is over. From now on, I will be an icon of women's professional wrestling. Thank you to everyone who supported me and to all the wrestlers and related parties."
