Dream Star Fighting Marigold, Rossy Ogawa’s brand new joshi wrestling promotion, is mere days away from its historic inaugural show. Marigold Fields Forever will air live on Wrestle Universe on the 20th May and will emanate from the historic Korakuen Hall.
Among the six wrestlers who left World Wonder Ring Stardom to form Marigold was former-Wonder of Stardom, Goddess of Stardom and Artist of Stardom champion MIRAI, who joined the company back in 2022.
We were lucky enough to be granted an interview with the back-to-back Cinderella Tournament winner as we inch closer to this historic event, and were able to chat about her departure from Stardom, people she wants to face in Marigold, her favourite matches and so much more…
Q. You made your debut in 2019, what was your journey like into wrestling, and what and who were some of your inspirations to start this journey?
MIRAI: I am from Iwate Prefecture. When I was in elementary school, I experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake. My first encounter with pro wrestling was at a charity match. When I saw it for the first time, I felt the power of pro wrestling. It was truly amazing. It changed the stagnant atmosphere. From there, I became a pro wrestling fan. At first, I didn’t think I want to be an athlete. But my passion for pro wrestling grew and grew. When I was thinking about my career path in high school, I stopped doing judo, which I had been doing since elementary school, I decided to become a pro-wrestler; I chose to become a professional wrestler. At first, my parents were very much against it. But I am a woman who does things when she decides to do them! I had no choice but to never give up on this path!
Q. Having been in Stardom since 2022, you’ve followed Rossy Ogawa to start this new company in Marigold, can you talk about why you chose to take that leap? Can you tell us why you took the plunge and decided to do so?
MIRAI: The reason for my decision is Rossy Ogawa! I want to wrestle under Rossy Ogawa. I want to follow Rossy Ogawa. That’s why I chose Marigold!
Q. During your time at Stardom, you developed a really close bond with both your Donna Del Mondo and God’s Eye teammates when in Stardom, how hard was the decision to leave them and make the jump to Marigold?
MIRAI: I was truly blessed with my friends. They were the best of friends, with whom I could have friendly competition. So I was sad to separate from them. But everyone kindly accepted my choice. We will only get bigger and stronger in our respective places so that we will have no regrets about the path we have chosen. I hope we can meet again in the ring.
Q. You were the Goddess of Stardom champion as The New Eras with Ami Sourei. Later in your career, were there ever any talks of you and Shuri going for the title? And if so, what team would you have wanted to face?
MIRAI: Shuri and I talked a lot about what kind of entrance we wanted to make if we formed a tag team, what we wanted to do in our matches, and what we wanted to communicate in our daily lives.
We didn’t talk about titles, but we both wanted to be strong and big, and I thought the belts would come after that. By the way, the team I personally wanted to play against was AphroditE!
Q. You are only the second person to win the Cinderella Tournament twice and in back to back years, what are some of your proudest achievements from your time in Stardom? Similarly, do you have any regrets as you begin your new adventure? Maybe something you wish you had achieved or done before you left?
MIRAI: I am proud of all my accomplishments at Stardom, as I had absolutely no results in the past. Two years in a row Cinderella, Goddess, Artist, Wonder…I am amazed at myself for being able to achieve these accomplishments. But this is because of your support; if I had fought alone, I am sure this would not have been the result. I am truly grateful to everyone. I am a woman who is never satisfied with the status quo, and I always strive to get bigger and stronger, so I wanted to be the Cinderella for the first time in history for three consecutive years, and I also wanted to win the 5☆Star. Of course, I wanted to win the Worlds, STRONG, and IWGP, and I still have opponents I want to beat. But I don’t consider it a regret that I couldn’t do it! I may have another chance to make it happen! Wrestling is a world where anything can happen!
Q. You’ve had some of our personal favorite matches of 2022 and 2023 including your pair of matches with Saori Anou and your match with Momo Watanabe, but what matches from Stardom stand out to you as some of your own favourites?
MIRAI: 2022.01.29 World of Stardom Champion match vs Syuri. The day when many things changed. The day that was a turning point for me.
Q. Obviously Rossy is a legend in Wrestling, can you talk a little bit about your own personal relationship with him? Marigold will have its inaugural match on May 20 at Korakuen Hall, how excited are you to start and what are some of your ambitions in the company?
MIRAI: Rossy Ogawa-san is a very great person. I respect him very much! Whenever I see Rossy Ogawa-san, he says, “Put your soul into it!” or “Are you really putting your soul into it?” and he teases me about my soul! LOL! I’m so excited about the flagship event, it’s the most exciting! I am also able to translate the high expectations and attention from the audience into positive emotions! I believe that Marigold will be an organization that can and must provide a high level of satisfaction to its customers in many aspects! Because of that, we will aim for the top and keep pushing forward.
Q. With the first show currently only having one match announced, who on the current Marigold roster would you be most excited to work with on the 20th May?
MIRAI: It was announced that CHIAKI will be my opponent for the first show! She is one of the unknown fighters that I have never fought before, so I am very much looking forward to it! I don’t know anything about my opponent’s game yet, but she seems kind of heelish and evil. I am trying to be a hero, so I have to beat the bad guys! In Marigold, I hope to open up a few more drawers of my non-power side that I haven’t shown before. Please enjoy!
Q. With rumours of perhaps a partnership with WWE, IYO SKY and Kairi maybe appearing on future shows, and with Sareee appearing on Marigold Fields Forever, what are some other talents that you would like to face inside a Marigold ring or dream matches you would like to have?
MIRAI: I get excited just thinking about it! I’m looking forward to every match with someone I’ve never played, but closer to home, I’m really looking forward to a match with Bozilla! Also, I don’t know if it will come true, but Rina Yamashita-san. Really cool in my opinion!
Q. You’re a very submission based wrestler. did you get the chance to train at the Snake Pit in Japan, and if so what was that like? You’ve been in the ring with some of the hardest strikers in Joshi – Momo Watanabe, Syuri, and Mayu Iwatani to name a few – in your opinion who is the hardest-hitting fighter in stardom?
MIRAI: I have had the opportunity to train at Yuuki Nakai’s place a few times, but it was cut short after an injury a long time ago. He let me freely do what I wanted to do and taught me all kinds of things when I asked. Now that I am in good physical condition, I would love to ask him to let me practice again! Speaking of hard hitting, I would have to say Syuri, the leader of God’s Eye! I wouldn’t want to get kicked by Syuri if I could help it! LOL! It hurts not only where you are kicked, but also to the core of your body. But pain is spice for pro wrestling. If someone kicks me, I become a catcher’s mitt. I take it all, still get up, and finally hit a MIRAI lariat for the three count. The coolest top hero ever made!
A huge thanks goes to Dream Star Fighting Marigold and MIRAI for doing this interview and giving up their time during an incredibly busy week to make this happen. A big thank you also goes to friend-of-the-show Sonny Gutierrez for facilitating this and being amazing with all of our questions and requests!
We would like to take the time to thank Chiyoko Asakura, without whom this interview wouldn’t happen. Chiyoko kindly translated all of the questions we had for MIRAI and we truly appreciate the effort and kindness. You can follow Chiyoko on Twitter right here: @chiyoko_asakura
You can learn more about – and follow – Marigold on both their Japanese (@DSF_Marigold) and English (@Marigold_Joshi) twitter channels. You can also check out their website right here
Finally, another huge thank you to MIRAI for agreeing to this interview. You can follow her on Twitter here: @MIRAI_SS_
Marigold Fields Forever, including MIRAI’s match against Chiaki, airs live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE on the 20th May 2024. Sign-up with a seven-day free trial here.
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