Mayu Iwatani’s next challenge in her gargantuan reign with the IWGP Women’s Championship has been confirmed.
Having dispatched eternal rival Momo Watanabe in a stellar match at Historic X-Over on November 17th to achieve her eighth successful defence of the IWGP Women’s Championship, Mayu Iwatani called out NEO-GENESIS’s AZM as her next challenge, with the High-Speed Bomb Girl having seemingly been on the periphery of the title picture since before the 5Star Grand Prix. The match itself has since been made official, though it will not be on Stardom’s final show of the year at Sumo Hall on December 29th as many predicted, but will instead take pride of place at Wrestle Kingdom in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th; just the second time the title has been defended there after KAIRI defended the belt against Tam Nakano in 2023. All together, this will be Iwatani’s fourth time at the Tokyo Dome, though this defence will mark only her second televised appearance, while it will be AZM’s second appearance and first televised match – a well-earned reward for some outstanding work throughout 2024.
This match will be AZM’s second for the IWGP Women’s Championship, having lost to Mercedes Mone in a three-way at New Japan’s Sakura Genesis 2023 that also included Hazuki.
Place: Tokyo Dome 🏟️
— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) November 18, 2024
Match: Booked 📝
AZM: Ready ✅ #njpw | #STARDOM pic.twitter.com/u9Kh01ISe0
By the time Wrestle Kingdom 19 happens on January 4th, Mayu Iwatani will have held the IWGP Women’s Championship for 622 days, making it the second longest reign with any championship in Stardom’s history, with only Natsuki Taiyo’s 674 day run with the High-Speed Championship surpassing it.
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