Stardom has announced the lineup for All-Star Grand Queendom 2026.
Megan Bayne will have a chance to win the IWGP Women’s Championship on the show, as she has been announced as challenging Syuri for the title.
Also announced for the April 26 event at Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa, Japan, Sayaka Kurara will challenge Saya Kamitani for the World of Stardom Championship. Hanan will challenge Konami for the Wonder of Stardom Championship. Natsuko Tora and Ruaka will defend the Goddess of Stardom Championship against AZM and Miyu Amasaki.
The full lineup is available below.
Stardom All Star Grand Queendom lineup for April 26, 2026
IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri defends against Megan Bayne
World of Stardom Champion Saya Kamitani defends against Sayaka Kurara
Wonder of Stardom Champion Konami defends against Hanan
Goddesses of Stardom Champions Natsuko Tora & Ruaka defend against AZM & Miyu Amasaki
Future of Stardom Champion Ranna Yagami defends against Ema Maishima
Suzu Suzuki & Rina Yamashita vs. Maika & HANAKO
Saori Anou vs. Fuwa-chan
Natsupoi vs. Maki Itoh
/／ 🌟ミツカン フルーティス presents🌟 ALL STAR GRAND QUEENDOM 2026 ＼
Visa issues have led to three wrestlers being pulled from Stardom’s WrestleMania week show in Las Vegas.
As part of Palms Slam Fest, Stardom is holding an event next Friday (April 17) at the Pearl Concert Theater. The card for the show is being adjusted with Stardom announcing that, due to an “unusually long visa process,” Maki Itoh, Yuria Hime, and Fuwa-chan will not be able to make the trip to the United States.
“Due to an unexpectedly long visa processing period for some athletes for the Las Vegas event in the United States, their visas were not issued in time for the scheduled matches,” the promotion said. “The updated match card will be announced as soon as it is finalized. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and concern caused to everyone who was looking forward to this event.”
Itoh added that all of her scheduled bookings in the United States this month have been canceled.
“Due to visa issues, I’ve had to cancel all of my US bookings this April. I’m really sorry to everyone who was looking forward to seeing me,” she wrote. “My team did everything we could to try and fix this, but it seems like the world is a bit complicated right now. But don’t worry I’ll definitely be back in the US!”
The April 17 Stardom event, named American Dream 2026, is being headlined by Alex Windsor defending the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship against Saya Iida. Among the others set to compete on the show are Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron, Kris Statlander, and Mina Shirakawa.
With almost a couple of weeks left for WWE WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas on April 18-19th, 2026, Japanese wrestling promotion STARDOM has now announced their updated lineup for American Dream on the same week.
Multiple AEW talents will be visiting Las Vegas on April 17 during the WWE WrestleMania week to compete in the Stardom American Dream event.
NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion and AEW wrestler Alex Windsor is scheduled to defend her title against Saya Iida. Maika & Mina Shirakawa will take on HANAKO & Yuria Hime.
Athena is also scheduled to face Rina, while Mei Seira, Starlight Kid, & AMZ will take on Harley Cameron, Willow Nightingale, and Kris Statlander.
NJPW has agreed to give shares of Stardom to its parent company.
The company announced on Tuesday that they have agreed to give their share of their sister company Stardom to Bushiroad, which is the parent company of both promotions.
“We hereby announce that at a Board of Directors meeting held on March 25, 2026, we resolved to transfer all of our shares in Stardom Co., Ltd. to our parent company, Bushiroad Co., Ltd,” they wrote on their website.
Bushiroad first acquired Stardom back in 2019. In 2024, it was announced that New Japan Pro Wrestling would fully acquire the company. One of Stardom’s original owners, Rossy Ogawa, was fired from the company in 2024 after being accused of poaching talent.
On Tuesday, Stardom announced the first matches for their event that will take place during WrestleMania weekend, American Dream 2026. These include Alex Windsor vs. Saya Iida for the NJPW Strong Women’s title, Mei Seira, Starlight Kid, and AZM vs. Babes of Wrath and Kris Statlander, Athena vs. Rina, and Maika & Mina Shirakawa vs. Hanako and Yuria Hime.
Getting Stardom to the point where it can run the Tokyo Dome is a huge ambition for company president Taro Okada.
Okada, speaking with Japanese outlet Pro Wrestling Today, opened up about Stardom’s expansion efforts both domestically and internationally. Because of the costs involved, the promotion is not overly concerned with staging its own standalone international events. Instead, Stardom is focused on partnering with establish promotions overseas to showcase the talent in each organization.
“Regarding our international expansion, our policy is that, given the costs and risks involved in organizing events on our own, we should actively seek partnerships with local organizations,” Okada said. “Sending wrestlers to CMLL not only enhances their experience but also helps spread the name of Stardom worldwide. Conversely, when unknown top-tier wrestlers from overseas come to Japan, it serves as a major source of excitement for Japanese fans. Streamlining our respective businesses and strengthening our collaboration is essential to prevent the industry as a whole from shrinking.”
Okada also serves as a director for NJPW in addition to being Stardom’s president. In his Stardom role, he believes strengthening the promotion’s communications and advertising is an important step that needs to be taken. He ultimately wants to get Stardom to the Tokyo Dome because of how much value that stage holds in the entertainment industry.
“In the Japanese entertainment industry, the ‘Tokyo Dome’ brand is unrivaled,” he told Pro Wrestling Today. “Whether it’s an overseas artist performing in Japan or a comedian holding a live show, the fact that it took place at the Tokyo Dome is the ultimate status symbol and the most compelling argument to the public. Making the Tokyo Dome event a success — that is the proof of being number one in the Japanese pro-wrestling industry as a world-class entertainment business, and it will completely set us apart from the rest. I want to achieve this goal head-on, no matter what it takes.”
Saya Kamitani (who won MVP in the 2025 Tokyo Sports Awards) and new roster addition Maki Itoh have also mentioned a Tokyo Dome show as being among their Stardom goals.
The Big Audio Nightmare returns as Adam Summers and Mike Sempervive celebrate the the 20th anniversary of the original alternate here at f4wonline.com~!
Hear all about the latest in Japanese wrestling and thoughts from our first two decades.
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today.
A detailed look at the WBD/Paramount/Netflix situation, what the latest decision of WBD to Paramount entails, the keys to why this is happening, business notes, how this affects AEW and can it get approved.
A look at the UFC and WWE business in 2025 and in the final quarter of this past year. We look at the numbers, what they mean, why WWE was more profitable in 2025 than UFC and the key thing that can change that in 2026, Mark Shapiro talks ESPN value to WWE, lots of news about the business of the White House show, UFC fighters upset over pay, why WWE wrestlers are so underpaid but not publicly upset over, and business initiatives going forward
The violence in Mexico and tons of wrestling shows canceled this past week
We look in depth at the Janel Grant speech from last week, what we learned, what she said, and where everything stands.
Update on the build for WrestleMania, Elimination Chamber, business notes, ticket sales and favorites for the weekend.
An updated look at AEW Revolution and business notes
The retirement of AJ Styles looked at
The most detailed look at the television ratings from the past week, including comparisons with a year ago, competition, demos and much more.
Notes from Arena Mexico
CMLL attempts to break a North American record next week
Cinderalla tournament in Stardom
Fantastica Mania notes
The life and times of former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas, his coaching career, his beating Dan Gable, and two notable pro wrestlers he coached
College wrestling sets an attendance mark already this season
Who had the most top ten matches of the year over a career according to Cage match.
City builds a bust memorializing top 80s star
WrestleMania week schedule
Former MMA fighter and pro wrestler running for Governor
Robbery of the ring truck for an indie group
Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows over the next two months.
How many subscribers does Paramount need to make up for UFC expenses
More talk on Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano
Stand & Deliver moves and why
When Roman Reigns and Brock Ldesnar are booked for TV in the Mania build
Pro wrestler who is active in Japan competes this weekend for the U.S.national team in anther sport
— Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk about the latest from the Paramount investors call and how this may affect both UFC and AEW, as well as talk about Raw, Demolition, the Johnny Consejo vs. Angel de Oro hair match and more.
— At today’s Paramount call regarding the WBD purchase, AEW was never addressed at all. I wouldn’t have expected it to be given it’s not a sports property and even with sports properties they only addressed the high dollar ones, such as UFC but not many of the others. David Ellison talked about merging Paramount + with HBO MAX, which would mean both UFC and AEW would be available in more homes as both have actually a very small number of crossover homes. So that would be good news for both, and for AEW would also mean more homes would have access to the PPVs shows at a discounted price. The only thing negative for AEW is something notable for UFC. Ellison outright brought up the idea of UFC’s airing on TNT on Saturday nights. I guess that would depend on what and when. If it takes the place of Collision and they move Collision to Thursday, that would be beneficial to AEW. If it moves AEW after UFC, it could help AEW at least early in the show getting the far bigger lead-in than it gets now, but would hurt it later in the show if part of the show is moved out of prime time. And if it leads to Collision disappearing, obviously that would be bad news. Collision is under contract through the end of 2027.
— There has been a lot of talk today about how aside from the NFL, all sports properties are going to have stagnant or even declining media rights deals when their contracts come due. Keep in mind we’ve heard that since the 70s and it’s ever come to pass, but with fewer buyers the leverage goes down, and with television numbers for everyone but the NFL falling that means less value and ad revenue.
— Raw tonight is from Indianapolis with Gunther vs. Dragon Lee, Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta for the IC title, plus CM Punk, AJ Lee, Danhausen and Roman Reigns all appear on the show that starts the hard build to WrestleMania. At this point they had 9,000 tickets out for the show, so far from a sellout but it’s still a good crowd.
— We’re looking for notes from Indianapolis for anything off television such as Main Event or dark matches to [email protected]
— We’re doing our weekend poll on both WWE Elimination Chamber and NJPW New Beginning from Trenton, NJ, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— Announced for Friday’s Arena Mexico show which is an all-women’s card, is Mercedes Mone vs Persepone for the CMLL women’s title, Mina Shirakawa vs. Zeuxis, Megan Bayne vs. Olympia plus Mei Seira and Starlight Kid from Stardom will be on the card.
— WWE leaves ABEMA in Japan for Netflix on 4/1. WWE PLE events in Germany and Austria start exclusively on Netflix on 4/1 as well.
— Announced for the 4/17 Stardom show at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas today are Maika, Hauzki, Hanako, Starlight Kid, AZM< Mei Seirae, Natsupoi, Ahya Sakrua,Suzu Suzuki, Rina Yamashita, Saya Iida, Yuria Hime, Rina, Maki Itoh and Fuwa-chan.
— I saw the Johnny Consejo vs. Angel de Oro hair match from Friday. It had the most heat of any match I’ve seen this year so far. When it was over, people were jumping up and down like they just saw a world title change. They really had one hell of a match.
— The Jeff Jarrett documentary “The Jeff Jarrett Story: Heart of a Promoter” debuts tomorrow night on YouTube and will also air on the CW affiliate in Nashville, likely right after NXT.
— At yesterday’s Alto Voltage show in Monterrey in the main event, Xelhua & Star Black & Explosivo beat Hechicero & Los Calaveras Jr. I & II when Xelhua pinned Hechicero clean in fall three. This leads to Hechicero defending his High Voltage title against Xehuah on 3/15 in Monterrey. A key is that would indicate no Hechicero on the AEW PPV show that night. (thanks to Paul Sosnowski)
— The Ultimate Fighter starts a new season weekly on Paramount + on 3/27. The season has men’s bantamweights and women’s strawweights.
— Kind of sad to see Jake Hager signing for six fights with PowerSlap. They’re probably paying him a lot more than the usual indie guys who make little for doing that, but it’s still sad to see someone past 40 go on that show. He debuts on 4/17.
— Floyd Mayweather Jr. was announced as facing Mike Zambidis, who was a star in the K-1 MAX heyday in Japan as a kickboxer when Masato was a top star, in a June exhibition boxing match in Greece. Zambidis is 45 and retired from kickboxing in 2015. He fought in K-1 as a star from 2001 to 2010.
— Manami Toyota, arguably the greatest woman wrestler who ever lived, turns 55 today. Lola Gonzalez, the top woman star in Mexico for a long period of time, turns 67 today. Debra Marshall, better known in the 90s as Debra McMcihael, the ex-wife of Steve McMichael and later ex-wife of Steve Austin, turned 66 today. Lorraine Johnson, the mother of Baby Doll and one of the best female wrestlers of her era, was born 96 years ago today. Charlie Cook, a former NFL football player who became a pro wrestler, was born on this day in 1941. Mike Von Erich would have turned 62 today. Lance Cade, who wrestled in WWE, would have turned 45 today. In a little-known fact, Lance Cade’s father-in-law was Black Gordman, who is still alive and one of the oldest still living wrestlers. Doug Furnas, the former 27 time world record holder in powerlifting and a good friend of mine, passed away on this day 14 years ago at the age of 52.
— Green Mountain Wrestling presents Shamrocks &N Headlocks on 3/15 at 2 plm. in Barre, VT at 2 p.m. at Elks Lodge #1535.
— Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano will have a press conference on 3/10 at Noon at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA.
A multi-promotional event has been announced for WWE WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas.
Palms Casino Resort, in partnership with Paragon Talent Group, will host Slam Fest from Wednesday, April 15 through Saturday, April 18. Paragon is led by Dean Muhtadi, who wrestled in WWE as Mojo Rawley.
The Pearl Theater inside the resort will hold two days of in-ring shows on Thursday, April 16 and Friday, April 17 featuring TJPW, CMLL, House of Glory, Stardom, and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
The Pearl Theater schedule, per the press release, is as follows:
On Thursday, April 16 at Pearl Concert Theater:
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW) will present its live event from 11:00 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. PT, followed by a meet and greet from 1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. PT.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) will present its wrestling event from 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. PT, followed by a meet and greet from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. PT.
House of Glory (HOG) will close the night from 8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. PT.
On Friday, April 17 at Pearl Concert Theater:
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW) will present a fan fest meet and greet from 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PT.
World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom) will present its live wrestling event from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. PT.
Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling will close the night from 9:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. PT.
Additional events scheduled for the weekend include “40 Years of Mick Foley” with Mick Foley on Wednesday, April 15, a Hardy Party with Matt and Jeff Hardy on Saturday, April 18, a Bella Twins meet-and-greet on Thursday, April 16, a live episode of “Rulebreakers” with Saraya on Friday, April 17, and Bully Ray’s “Sin City Rooftop Rocker” on Friday, April 17.
“Slam Fest is designed to elevate what an event week experience can be,” said Dean “Mojo” Muhtadi, Co-Founder of Paragon Talent Group. “We are bringing together the very best professional wrestling organizations from multiple countries, uniting them inside one iconic Las Vegas destination, and creating a fully integrated platform that spans live events, premium digital distribution, and immersive fan engagement. Slam Fest is a strategically coordinated, large-scale festival built to demonstrate the depth, diversity, and global commercial power of professional wrestling.”
Tickets go on-sale on Friday, February 27 at 10 a.m.
STARDOM RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS! 🇺🇸
On Friday, April 17th, #STARDOM comes to The Pearl Theater at The Palms as a part of SLAM FEST!
Though she’ll be sidelined for a bit, Saya Kamitani won’t have to vacate her World of Stardom Championship.
Stardom sent out an update last night announcing that Kamitani requires surgery for the finger injury she suffered while facing Starlight Kid on February 7. Kamitani will miss approximately one month of matches but will not have to relinquish the World of Stardom title.
ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
After conducting a detailed examination of Saya Kamitani's injury in Osaka on Feb. 7, the decision was made to pursue surgery and minimize further risk.
As a result, Saya Kamitani will miss 1 month of in-ring competition, with a return date yet to be announced.… pic.twitter.com/yxdaNMyE5F
“After conducting a detailed examination of Saya Kamitani’s injury in Osaka on Feb. 7, the decision was made to pursue surgery and minimize further risk. As a result, Saya Kamitani will miss 1 month of in-ring competition, with a return date yet to be announced,” Stardom wrote. “Kamitani will remain World of Stardom Champion in this period. Thank you for your continued support.”
Kamitani was able to finish her match against Starlight Kid despite the injury, though she needed medical attention and had to have her fingers taped. The bout lasted almost 30 minutes with Kamitani retaining the World of Stardom title.
In 2025, Kamitani was one of the best wrestlers in the entire world. She made history by becoming the first women’s wrestler to ever win MVP in the Tokyo Sports Awards.
Stardom also announced that Suzu Suzuki, Saya Iida, and Bea Priestley will miss the promotion’s February 13 show at Korakuen Hall due to injury. The injuries to Suzuki and Priestly were described as “minor,” while Iida is undergoing a follow-up procedure from a previous surgery.
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today: *Road to WrestleMania including the booking changes and injury changes that have caused several changes of plans since they were first in place. We discuss the evolution of this year’s two main events. *We look at how the Royal Rumble show changed on the last day *Full Royal Rumble coverage *Status of different matches *AJ Styles and is this his final match *Business notes on the show *Plans for Elimination Chamber *How Royal Rumble did on Netflix *What changes in Nielsen have meant to the TV ratings and why this has happened, and how it will happen multiple more times in 2026 to a lesser degree *Has the increased in reported viewership helped pro wrestling in the TV world *Full UFC 325 coverage *Death of Frankie Cain/Great Mephisto, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 60s and 70s with ties to many different worlds *Death of Bob Lueck, a former Stampede Wrestling headliner who was a CFL All-Star and how he was responsible for getting one of the most important and most influential wrestlers of all-time into the industry *The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling shows this past week including placings, demos and silliness *Box office record set *CMLL star arrested *AEW stars spend the week in CMLL *Major Arena Mexico shows coming *Reyes del Aire report *Hiromu Takahashi leaving *New Japan major show this week *Fantastica Mania cards announced *Best matches of 2025 *AEW booking direction *New AEW signings *Advance ticket sales for all the major WWE & AEW shows *Dana White’s testimony regarding his job *Pride star passes away *Ava departure from WWE
— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the weekend in pro wrestling and other notes.
— Bron Brekker had surgery for a serious hernia. No word on how long he’ll be out.
— Bad Bunny is performing at halftime of the Super Bowl today. It’s possible you’ve heard about it.
— Fred Ottman, the former Tugboat, Typhoon, Big Bad Steel Man, Big Bubba, Shock Master, Uncle Fred and other names said he’s been in the hospital for the last 30 days after his gallbladder exploded. He said his wife was told that if he had waited another day to come to the hospital he may not have made it. He said he’s lost a lot of muscle, being on his back for a month and is learning how to walk again. He is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow. He still will need regular kidney dialysis for now and will need surgery later this month.
— Chelsea Green’s ankle injury was a bruise and not a break, and while she did miss last night’s AAA show where she and Ethan Page lost the mixed tag team titles (Lola Vice & Mr. Iguana are the new champions), I don’t expect her out for too much time.
— I don’t know all the Observer awards winners right now, but do know that so far that at least nine companies have had winners representing four countries. There could be more.
— Andrei Arlovski, 47, defeated Ben Rothwell to win the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship heavyweight title last night before a sellout crowd of 18,217 in Philadelphia. Arlovski won via third round stoppage due to a nasty head cut. BKFC claimed 2 million people watched the show.
— YouTube numbers for last night’s shows had it at 324,000, and keep in mind that’s a number watching at least ten seconds, not the entire show and can count the same person multiple times. For a comparison, the English language feed of AAA was at the same time at 231,000 and the taped MLW Battle Riot from a few weeks back was at 190,000.
— For the matches we’ve heard a lot about, Saya Kamitani vs. Starlight Kid for the World of Stardom title has gotten a lot of talk. Kamitani suffered a finger injury legit, worked a long match after the injury and retained her title. Friday’s Arena Mexico didn’t have a great star power lineup on paper, but boy was it a fun show. I’d highly recommend Yutani vs. Capitan Suicida as a high flying match, MxM Collection vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja which was an awesome tag title match, Johnny Consejo (Johnny TV) vs. Soberano Jr was very entertaining and the main event was usual standard Arena Mexico trios on top with Averno & Cavernario & Hechicero over Neon & Templario & Flip Gordon with them setting up Templario vs. Averno for the CMLL middleweight title for next Friday. It was the usual style, although not quite as heated or as many flashy moves with no Mistico & Mascara Dorada. Templario took the Mistico spot as the star of the team and he’s an awesome wrestler, not as over at all as Mistico, but better in the ring and like with Mistico, they focused the match around him. The show didn’t sell out but there were way more women at the show than usual and the clear draw ws Soberano Jr., to the point there were a lot of empty seats during the main event. Last night’s show at Arena Coliseo was sold out. Tuesday’s Reyes del Aire match was spectacular.
— For Google searches this weekend, as you can imagine, it was dominated by the Super Bowl and Olympics. The only top 100 searches were Mario Bautista (46) and Kyoji Horiguchi (96) from last night’s UFC show at the Apex. The show itself did 100,000 searches. Smackdown got 2,000 searches and nothing from AEW made the list. The biggest search in pro wrestling was Ricky Steamboat, who is fine.
— Wednesday’s AEW show not only did the best ratings in months for a television show, but was up 6.5 percent higher in web searches for AEW than any other TV show since November, beating out 1/14 (MJF vs. Bandido), 1/28 (MJF vs. Brody King and Kenny Omega vs. Andrade among others) and 1/24 (Tommaso Ciampa vs. Mark Briscoe). Essentially Google searches continue to corroborate that interest level is up and it’s not just a ratings change with these increased numbers. The ratings change does help though.
— SmackDown will be on Syfy on Friday due to the Olympics.
— MLW from last night in Chicago sold out Cicero Stadium: Shotzi Blackheart b Shoko Nakajima to win the women’s featherweight title, Mistico b Diego Hill in a babyface battle, Donovan Dijak & Bishop Dyer b uke Gallows & Karl Anderson to retain the MLW tag team titles, Kushida b Alan Angels to keep the middleweight title, Josh Bishop vs. Matthew Justice street fight (not sure who won) but Justice tok a crazy dive off the bleachers and was shaken up but said to be okay, Killer Kross NC Matt Riddle for the MLW title when Alex Hammerstone attacked both guys, Okumura b Victor ?, Soberano Jr. b Neon (really good), Scarlett Bordeaux b Blair Onyx, Hammerstone b Ultimo Guerrero, Mads Krule Krugger b Bishop Dyer with a DDT on a belt, Austin Aries b Blue Panther (Panther looked like he got hurt on a flip dive off the paron and may have landed on or near his head), Zamaya b Lil Ruiz, Mistico b Templario with La Mistica. Match started after 11 p.m. so not the usual level of Mistico reaction. (thanks to Lance LeVine)
— They teased the idea of Dominik Mysterio putting up his hair against El Hijo del Vikingo on 3/14 in Puebla. Either way they are doing an AAA Mega title match. The Grande Americano who qualified for the Rey de Reyes finals was Chad Gable, not Ludwig Kaiser, winning over Rey Fenix, Dragon Lee and Octagon Jr.
— AEW Collision will go head-to-head with Elimination Chamber on 2/28.
— Misty Blue Simms turned 67 day. Paul Wight turned 54. Royce Isaacs turned 37. Duke Hudson turned 36. Xyon Quinn turned 36. Fred Blassie was born on this day in 1918. Jim Neidhart was born on this day in 1955. Sherri Martel was born on this day in 1958. Kat LaRoux was born on this day in 1965. Chicago figurehead promoter and TV announcer Bob Luce died 19 years ago today at the age of 78. Ricky Hunter died four years ago today at 86. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— DDP has uploaded three episodes of his “Change or Die” reality show on Tubi. The show features Page helping Buff Bagwell and Butterbean.
— On yesterday’s PFL show in Dubai, Usman Nurmagomedov retained the lightweight title via fourth round submission over Alfie Davis. Ramazan Kuramagomedov went to 14-0 and wn the vacant welterweight title beating Shamil Musaev via decision on scores of 48-46 across the board. Kurammagomedov told announcer Dan Hardy after the fight that he may have suffered a broken arm and also talked about possibly retiring.
The Big Audio Nightmare returns as Adam Summers and Mike Sempervive discuss everything happening in the very busy world of Japanese professional wrestling.
Topics include the departures of EVIL and Hiromu Takahashi from NJPW, the state of the promotion’s rebuild, and previews of the coming week’s big Stardom and NJPW shows.
Top female wrestling prospect Bozilla will miss a considerable amount of time due to a completely torn ACL that will require surgery.
The 5’11” standout took to Instagram Thursday to confirm the news that she sustained the injury in a January 11 match at Stardom New Year Stars in Tokyo, Japan. She noted she was able to make it through the five-on-four handicap match, but her knee completely gave out at the end.
“Honestly, it still doesn’t seem real. I’m deeply devastated and still struggling to find the right words. I wish this wasn’t true, but unfortunately, it’s reality,” she wrote.
The Deutschland, Germany, native credited the Stardom team for their help that night and as she has begun her recovery.
She has no idea when she will return or how long she will be out for as the surgery hasn’t happened yet.
“The next chapter will be the road to recovery and I hope you keep (continuing) supporting me through this chapter of my (life),” she wrote.
The 22-year-old has been a fixture in Stardom and made her AEW debut at last August’s Forbidden Door in a four-way TBS title match with Mercedes Mone, Persephone and Alex Windsor.
Stardom is keeping its options open after allegedly being the victim of intellectual property theft.
The all-women’s Japanese wrestling promotion issued a statement on Monday announcing that it has completed an investigation into the intellectual property violation — which concerns another company selling trading card products featuring photos of wrestlers when they were still with Stardom. While the offending party is not named in Stardom’s statement, it appears to concern a Mayu Iwatani card collection that is being sold by rival promotion Marigold.
Iwatani departed Stardom for Marigold in 2025, joining the new promotion one year into its existence. Marigold was founded by former Stardom boss Rossy Ogawa in 2024 following his contentious split from Stardom.
Stardom’s full statement concerning the alleged intellectual property violation can be read below. It does not state that legal action is being taken but appears to keep the door open for that.
To All Concerned Parties and Fans,
We sincerely thank you for your continued support of Stardom.
Currently, card products utilizing the likenesses of former Stardom wrestlers (hereinafter referred to as ‘the subject products’) are being manufactured and sold by another company.
Following an investigation conducted by our company, we have confirmed the following facts regarding the advertising copy for the subject products and some of the cards enclosed within them:
The products bear the advertising text ‘Stardom Memorial’
They use portraits of wrestlers from their time under our management
They utilize intellectual property managed by our company, such as belts and logos
They use photographic materials shot by our company for product use, and incorrectly display copyright notices attributing copyright to the other company
However, as the company managing the rights to the aforementioned intellectual property and past athlete portraits, we have neither been requested to grant permission nor have we been involved in any way regarding the sale of this product.
Moving forward, we intend to consider necessary measures to protect the intellectual property rights we hold or manage.
We would appreciate your understanding of the above. Thank you for your kind attention.
Marigold has not commented publicly on the situation.
A NJPW wrestler and a Stardom star have been married.
Tokyo Sports reported on Monday that Shingo Takagi and Natsupoi have been married. The two have been dating since May of 2024, when Takagi made a guest appearance at a Stardom event. NJPW is the sister company of Stardom, with both companies owned by Bushiroad.
In the article, Takagi noted that he would like to have children in the future and show them his active career as a professional wrestler. Natsupoi agreed, saying she hopes they hope to build such a future someday.
Both have seen tremendous success in professional wrestling. A former IWGP World Champion, Takagi is a former member of Los Ingobernables de Japon. After Tetsuya Naito left the company last year, Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and Yota Tsuji remained unaffiliated for most of 2025. It was made official, however, that the unaffiliated group would form a new faction with remaining Bullet Club War Dogs members to form a brand new faction, Unbound Co.
Natsupoi is a former World of Stardom Champion and has also held the High Speed Championship in the past. At Stardom’s Dream Queendom event at the end of last year, she lost to Sareee.
Maki Itoh has officially signed with World Wonder Ring Stardom.
At Stardom’s show at Korakuen Hall on Saturday, Itoh was revealed as the mystery woman behind a series of vignettes that had been airing. Stardom president Taro Okada announced the signing and presented Itoh with an official Stardom tracksuit to commemorate her becoming a full-time member of the roster.
Okada said on today’s show, “Today, Stardom has signed a contract with pro wrestler Maki Itoh.”
Itoh said, “After 9 years of professional wrestling, this is the first time I’ll be doing it as a part of this organization. I will be joining STARDOM. Nice to meet you!”
Itoh’s debut match with the promotion will take place on tomorrow’s show, also at Korakuen Hall. She will team with Saori Anou against Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara on the show.
Itoh left Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling in August 2025 after having been with the promotion since 2016. Outside of Japan, Itoh made several appearances with AEW from 2021 to 2023, with her last match having been on the June 14, 2023 show in Washington. She also regularly performs for GCW, with her last match for the promotion having been on the November 22 Dream On pay-per-view from New Jersey.
Pres. Taro Okada: "Today, #STARDOM has signed a contract with pro wrestler Maki Itoh."
Maki Itoh: "After 9 years of professional wrestling, this is the first time I'll be doing it as a part of this organization. I will be joining STARDOM.… pic.twitter.com/8OkVRtpI01
