Rossy Ogawa on Mayu Iwatani Leaving Stardom & Joining Marigold, Ogawa Fat Shames Utami Hayashishita & Kenny Omega Responds Bashing Ogawa’s Comments

Sports Graphic Number held a recent interview with Marigold founder Rossy Ogawa. One of the topics discussed included Ogawa’s thoughts about Mayu Iwatani’s recent departure from Stardom and her joining Marigold.

“Whatever she does, there will always be people who say something. People may ask if it was decided beforehand, but that’s a stupid question. She properly announced her departure. With the current contract system, it’s over when the contract expires. It’s not the same as using the wrestler forever or looking after them. (Mayu) Iwatani said, ‘Marigold is my family, and STARDOM is my company.’ STARDOM, which has many wrestlers and only performs their roles, must have run out of things for Iwatani to do. Of course, there were probably attempts to keep her, but there was nothing motivating her anymore. She would have had better conditions at STARDOM. She’d get a salary, there would be less work, it would be easier. But because there are so many of them, it’s hard to tell when someone’s gone. Even if you’re just one of several top wrestlers, you need to always be at the center of attention.”

Ogawa also gave his thoughts about current Marigold World Champion Utami Hayashishita and his disapproval of her being fat and wants her to have a toned body due to him not liking fat wrestlers.

“She (Utami Hayashishita) has already bloomed once in STARDOM. I think she has a sense of mission for the organization, but it is difficult for her to bloom a second time. Personally, I want to see her show a toned body as a wrestler. It’s not like the Showa era, so I’m not saying that just because she’s a pro wrestler, she should drink and eat a lot. But I don’t approve of a fat wrestler.”

Following the release of the interview, a recent Twitch stream held by Kenny Omega featured Omega’s thoughts about Ogawa’s fat shaming comments towards Hayashishita and his longtime issues with Ogawa.

“Yeah, that’s very odd. The funny this is, is I remember comments I made [on Twitch], and maybe I said too much. People attacked me, instantly, ‘How dare I say anything bad about Rossy. I’m lying. I’m a liar. What would I know? If I know something, maybe I should just say what it is because if I don’t say it, I’m just as guilty.’ It doesn’t work that way. If you think it works that way, you don’t know how life works. Someone like Rossy does a good job of revealing himself to the world on his own. Sooner enough, whether he goes full mask off on his own and will start talking, the writing will be on the wall. I don’t want to be caught up in this. I’m doing my own thing. As soon as I said anything, I didn’t even allude to anything, necessarily, but what happened was his buddy in the industry, Fumi Saito, came to his rescue and had some disparaging remarks towards me. It became this entire thing that I didn’t want it to become.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com