Utami Hayashishita on Her Decision To Leave Marigold

As noted before, Utami Hayashishita will be leaving Marigold after her final scheduled match with the company at their May 23rd event.

ENCOUNT held a recent interview with Hayashishita. One of the topics discussed included Hayashishita’s thoughts about her decision to leave Marigold was due to her wanting to increase her presence in the pro wrestling and her belief that while she is 28 years old, she feels she has a shorter window to make the impact she wants for her wrestling career.

“I had vaguely thought, ‘I want to go higher,’ but I felt that I had more to do for the younger members of Marigold, so I kept that feeling bottled up. Then, at the New Year’s Eve event, I received the Fighting Spirit Award, and it felt like that lid just popped off. Since there are so many younger wrestlers in Marigold, while my own career was important, of course, the feeling that they needed to grow was even stronger.

When I saw the success of the wrestlers around me, I felt a sense of jealousy, or rather, a natural desire to keep trying my best. After all, I’m only in my eighth year, and I’m 28 this year, so I figured I’m still at an age where I can keep pushing myself, and that feeling started bubbling up inside me. When the lid came off during the New Year’s show, I realized that while life at Marigold is truly wonderful—and I have so many adorable juniors—and while I can support their growth, I wondered if it would be difficult for me to become a bigger presence in the pro-wrestling world from here on out. Since it’s a brand-new promotion, it’s still very much in its growth phase. Even though I say I can still do this at 28, I also realize I’m already 28, so when I think about it that way, I can’t wait around for the long term. I don’t have much time left… At Marigold, where everyone is focused on growing together from here on out, I felt like I wouldn’t make it in time.”