Stardom’s Favorite Daughter—Icon or Illusion?

Kyle Ginsbach

I think I like Mayu Iwatani. The thing is you never really feel like you’ve seen enough of a wrestler until you’ve seen everything, and that goes for everyone—minus a few exceptions, exceptions in which I can count on one hand.

Mayu Iwatani is not one of those exceptions.

Call it morbid curiosity, or perhaps it’s a weird infatuation, but there’s just something about Mayu that has me intrigued. Maybe it’s the fairy tale story of her journey from castaway to wrestler, or perhaps I find a more human connection to her clumsiness and lackadaisical attitude. It could be something typical in the you’re-good-at-wrestling category such as her knack for taking nasty bumps or selling a limb. Who knows what I’ll find or what conclusions I may come to—seriously, I have no idea—but the fact is I’m already suckered in, enough to dedicate a significant amount of time for a project like this. Still, said time isn’t something I have unlimited amounts of, so I’m not going to track down and watch everything, but with a hundred or so match reviews, I think I’ll finally have a grasp on someone so beloved.

So, think of this as something similar to analysing a GWE case, and know this is intended to be a condensed, albeit comprehensive career retrospective on Mayu Iwatani. I’ll dig into what I think about Iwatani’s work, where she’s worked, and who she’s worked with along the way. Is she the greatest of all time, or top three (ever) like cagematch suggests? I’m telling you now, no. I don’t need a extensive watch catalog to tell you that Mayu isn’t great enough and that where she’s worked has held her back. I’m not going in blind. Plus, that was never a question, the question, or anything like it. But whether or not Stardom’s favorite daughter lives up to the moniker of Icon?

Consider me curious.

Match recommendations will be highlighted in bold.

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**Last Updated 8/08/2025