BITE-SIZE SHOW REPORT: Marigold Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 1 (Friday, 25th April 2025)

Pre-Show Notes

• After the initiation of the inter-promotional war between Marvelous and Marigold, the latter drew first blood with Nanae and Seri defending the Twinstar Championship successfully against the Marvelous team of Senka Akatsuki and Takumi Iroha. A brawl ensued between the two companies after the match, setting up a second inter promotional match at Marvelous’ Shin-Kiba show on the 10th April. In that match, the team of Victoria Yuzuki and Hummingbird lost to Ai Houzan and Riko Kawahata. Another brawl ensued, with this setting up a 5-on-5 elimination match between the two companies at Marigold’s Korakuen Hall show on April 25th.
• Interestingly, this match is not contested under orthodox tag rules, but more as a ‘winner-stays on’. Kizuna Tanaka volunteered herself to go first for Marigold at the press conference, but the order other than that for both teams has not been decided.
• 4th Marigold Twinstar Champions Nanae Takahashi (1) & Seri Yamaoka (1) have been champions for 94 days – in their first reign. This will be the third title defence of their reign.
• This will be Misa Matsui’s first challenge for the Twinstar Championships, though CHIAKI is a prior champion alongside Nagisa Nozaki, having lost the belts to Bozilla and Tank at First Dream on January 3rd. 
• Following Utami Hayashishita’s successful Marigold World Championship defence at the previous Korakuen Hall show, MIRAI came out to challenge her for the belt. However, Utami denied her the opportunity citing her lack of credentials, and in particular the fact that she lost to Bozilla in the number one Contendership match. As a result, a tag match has been set up for this Korakuen Hall show, with Utami granting MIRAI at title match if she proves herself and wins in this ‘contender assessment’ match. 
• Komomo Minami will return to action at this show for the first time since the December 26th show at Korakuen Hall after injuring the medial collateral ligament and the meniscus in her knee during a tag team match.
• This will be the 14th time that Marigold have run Korakuen Hall, with the 1535 people drawn to their inaugural show in May 2024 remaining their highest attendance at the venue. Their average attendance at Korakuen Hall is 901, with their previous show there (30th March 2025 main-evented by Utami Hayashishita and Bozilla for the Marigold World Championship) drawing a house of 911.
• Kouki Amarei will be missing from all shows due to a torn ACL. Her tentative return date is May 2025.
• Naho Yamada will miss an undisclosed period of time through a knee injury she sustained in Shinjuku FACE on the 7th February. She has since confirmed that she has ruptured the ACL and lateral ligament in her right knee and will undergo surgery to repair the damage.

• Attendance Notes: The announced attendance inside Korakuen Hall was 680. This is a 25.39% decrease from the company’s previous house inside Korakuen Hall (911 on the 30th March, main-evented by Bozilla vs. Utami Hayashishita for the Marigold World Championship). Though a significant decrease, it is worth noting that no singles titles were defended on this show compared to the two defended in March.

Quick Results

• Three-Way Match: Hummingbird def. Nagisa Tachibana & Komomo Minami w/ European Clutch (5:06) (**1/2)
• Singles Match: Minami Yuki def. Riara w/ Inside Cradle (5:27) (**3/4)
• 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Darkness Revolution (Nagisa Nozaki, Megaton & Gigaton) def. Erina Yamanaka, Chanyota & Ryoko Sakimura w/ Dormir III (7:23) (***)
• Marigold Twinstar Championships Match: Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka (c) def. Darkness Revolution (Misa Matsui & CHIAKI) w/ Refrigerator Bomb (15:40) (***3/4)
• Marigold World Championship Contender Assessement Match: MiraiSaku (MIRAI & Mai Sakurai) def. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki w/ Lariat (16:11) (****1/4)
• Marigold vs. Marvelous 5-on-5 Elimination Tag Team Match: Team Marvelous (Takumi Iroha, Ai Houzan, Riko Kawabata, Maria & Sora Ayheme) def. Team Marigold (Miku Aono, Chika Goto, Natsumi Showzuki, Rea Seto & Kizuna Tanaka) (3-2) (****1/2)

– Kizuna Tanaka def. Sora Ayame w/ Armbar (1:00) (1-0)
– Kizuna Tanaka def. Ai Houzan w/ Armbar (5:21) (2-0)
– Maria def. Kizuna Tanaka w/ Pinfall (2:39) (2-1)
– Maria def. Rea Seto w/ Armbar (4:32) (2-2)
– Maria vs. Natsumi Showzuki Ended in a Time-Limit Draw (10:00) (2-2)
– Miku Aono vs. Riko Kawahata Ended in a Time-Limit Draw (10:00) (2-2)
– Takumi Iroha def. Chika Goto w/ Running Three (9:31) (2-3)

Show Notes

• As confirmed by Sonny Gutierrez on commentary, Komomo Minami was initially supposed to return to action at the previous Korakuen Hall event alongside Hummingbird, but a broken nose sustained in the dojo forced her to put back the return date.
• As a result of pinning Utami Hayashishita during the Marigold World Championship Contender Assessement Match, MIRAI secured herself a Marigold World Championship match. This will take place at the 1st Anniversary Show on May 24th in Yoyogi.
• After the Marigold World Championship Contender Assessement Match, Misa Matsui emerged to challenge Mai Sakurai to for the United National Championship. This match has been confirmed to be taking place at Korakuen Hall on May 4th.
• Following Marvelous’ victory in the 5-on-5 elimination tag team main event, the Magenta team of Maria and Riko Kawabata officially challenged the team of Nanae Takahashi and Seri Yamaoka for the Twinstar Championships.
• During the post-match, Kizuna Tanaka also made a challenge to Miku Aono for a singles match.

You can check out the Marigold roster win/loss records for 2025 right here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11_PWxd5BDxeHIfKqtQ2YtiwhGteRrVUZ3B5L4yrDQE0/edit?gid=517287206#gid=517287206

You can check out a comprehensive run down of the Marigold Championship Histories here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18MJ2Cebe36Nvfcpj8uVs1AtMbAV1chn-lG7t-xn44DY/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Upcoming Shows

• Saturday 26th April – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 2, Osaka 176BOX, Osaka (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Sunday 27th April – Saturday 26th April – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 3, Chunichi Hall, Aichi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Tuesday 29th April – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 4, Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa (LIVE)
• Saturday 3rd May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 5, Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Sunday 4th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 6, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
• Tuesday 6th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 7, Sendai PIT, Miyagi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 10th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 7, Osaka 176BOX, Osaka (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Sunday 11th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 8, Gifu Jyuroku Plaza, Gifu (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 17th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 9, Gateau Kingdom Sapporo, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Sunday 18th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 10, Gateau Kingdom Sapporo, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 24th May – Marigold 1st Anniversary: Shine Forever ~A Glorious Celebration~, Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2, Tokyo (PPV)
• Friday 30th May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 11, Kumamoto City Moritoshin Hall, Kumamoto (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 31st May – Rising Spirit 2025 – Night 12, ACROS Fukuoka, Fukuoka (VIDEO ON DEMAND)