>>7798055Mei Suruga was a cute and mysterious wrestler before ChocoPro. With ChocoPro, she began to expose herself more and more through live streaming, and became completely geared towards overseas fans. (I believe the ideal for idol wrestlers is for them to maintain a certain distance from the fans, so they are almost like untouchable goddesses.) "Overseas fans" do not hold her to the same standards as "otaku fans" so I think she became more comfortable being close to a man and showing affection towards a man in public. Idols who care about their fans will not show even a hint of "male involvement". The same is true for idol wrestlers. WWE superstar Asuka is over 40 and lives in the United States. There is no reason to expect that she is not romantically involved with a man, but she does everything in her power to not expose that because she cares deeply about her (otaku) fans and wants them to live with peace of mind. I admire her humanity. There are women's wrestlers in Japan who have public friendships with male wrestlers, and they are careful to not make fans uncomfortable. Starlight Kid-El Desperado, for instance. El Desperado himself acknowledged that he did not want to make Ki-chan's fans uncomfortable and is careful in his interactions with her. And vice versa. Baliyan Akki does not have this same awareness. He may not care about (otaku) fans or may be repulsed by them. Or cultural differences may prevent him from understanding the perception he is creating. But Mei-chan herself doesn't seem to care. She must be repulsed by otaku fans. Or is too naive to understand the image she is creating. I think Mei-chan strayed further away from "otaku fans" as she began to embrace "oversea fans". Mei-chan may have completely divorced herself from being an idol wrestler. These are only my selfish thoughts.. I will continue to support Mei-chan as a wrestler, but I will miss the Mei-chan who was cute and mysterious, and catered to otaku sensibilities.
