On July 25 Stardom ran its last event before the 5STAR Grand Prix at Korakuen Hall. The event was headlined by two 5STAR block previews featuring some cross-faction dream teams doing battle but that was not to be the only newsworthy moment of the show. Mai Sakurai also made her debut during the show and stated her intention to begin wrestling for Stardom.
July 25 Korakuen Hall
◆Mai Sakurai came to the ring and announced that she will begin wrestling for Stardom.Unagi Sayaka came to the ring to confront her. Unagi wants to be the first to face Mai, and says it's even ok if it's a Future of Stardom title match. pic.twitter.com/cym5JcuJj1
— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) July 25, 2021
Mai Sakurai debuted for Actwres girl’Z in February of 2020 but departed the company on July 15. Sakurai debuting just before COVID-19 shut down most Japanese wrestling means that she has only wrestled 21 matches in her career so far so she is definitely not even close to the finished product. Despite that Sakurai has been pretty solid in most matches, she hits a very nice big boot and a solid axe kick that can form the basis of a fun wrestler. She also excels at the intangibles and exudes a confidence that most rookies couldn’t even dream of.
Sakurai already has a direction as her debut was interrupted by Unagi Sayaka who essentially challenged her to a Future Of Stardom Championship match, this will likely lead to Sakurai joining the Cosmic Angels as her age and background in acting fits in well with Sayaka, Mina Shirakawa, and Tam Nakano. It’s likely that Sakurai won’t be a full-time fixture in Stardom as she is still acting and competing in beauty pageants which could lead to her being the main pin eater of the Cosmic Angels.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. If you want to see more from Stardom, you can check out their subscription service Stardom World for all your wonderous Joshi needs.
