ROH: Exciting Times Could Be Ahead With Mayu Iwatani As Champion

ROH has a huge year ahead in 2019, and their decision to put the Women of Honor Championship on Mayu Iwatani could be a game-changer for the promotion’s growing Women’s Division.

At Supercard of Honor last April, veteran wrestler Sumie Sakai became ROH‘s first Women of Honor Champion, defeating Kelly Klein for the title. Klein, who was once undefeated, had an acclaimed feud with Deonna Purrazzo, before the latter left for WWE NXT, eventually winning WOH’s top prize in a Four Corner Survival match. The dominant veteran of Ring of Honor had to defeat Karen Q, Madison Rayne, and Sakai in that December match at Final Battle.

Though Klein had a handful of successful title defenses, including a Street Fight win over the rising Jenny Rose at ROH’s Honor Reigns Supreme last month, she ran into her toughest opponent yet at tonight’s Bound By Honor live show in Miami, Florida.

That opponent? None other than Mayu Iwatani, one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Unfortunately for Klein, her reign ended at around two months, as she dropped the Women of Honor Championship to Mayu.

Klein and Iwatani, as recently re-signed ace commentator Ian Riccaboni teased on Twitter, surely won’t finish their story here. We’ve seen how focused Klein can be when she has a chip on her shoulder, and she did take the title off of Sakai after losing to her in the finals of the WOH Tournament eight months earlier.

That said, this WOH Title win was a revenge victory for Iwatani, who actually lost to Klein in the tournament’s semi-finals last April. The loss to “The Gatekeeper” came after Mayu defeated HZK and “The Virtuosa” in the first two rounds of the tournament.

Although it was a surprise to see ROH take the title off of Klein so quickly, it is even more exciting to see they have chosen Iwatani as her successor. I cannot stress Mayu’s talent in the ring enough, because there’s a reason why she’s one of the most respected wrestlers in the world. The ace of Stardom right now, she is one of the Artist of Stardom Champions and a former World of Stardom Champion.

Iwatani brings an incredible amount of prestigious to the WOH Title, and there could be so many potential dream matches for her as a champion. ROH needs to make big moves to keep up with the immense growth in professional wrestling this year, especially with All Elite Wrestling’s first show on the horizon (May 25 in Las Vegas, to be precise).

We haven’t seen the Women of Honor Championship main event a show yet, and it wasn’t until Tenille Dashwood and Sumie Sakai’s match at Death Before Dishonor in late September where we saw the title featured heavily by Ring of Honor.

Hopefully that changes with the exceptionally proficient Mayu winning the championship at this show in Miami, because she is definitely worthy of having a main event Pay Per View title defense. Iwatani is one of the most recognizable names in wrestling for the hardcore fans who watch ROH, and she has to be mentioned as one of the best wrestlers currently working with Ring of Honor; that alone makes her deserving of winning this championship.

This is such a huge move for ROH, especially if they follow up on it correctly. Growing the brand, gaining the trust of the fans, and building a better product that showcases a wider range of talented performers should be high priorities for ROH. Finally giving the Women of Honor Division some serious shine has to happen in 2019, and perhaps Mayu Iwatani’s championship reign will get that ball rolling.

As for Kelly Klein, there’s no shame in losing the championship to one of the best in the world, and judging by the moves she was hit with – and the moves she hit – I doubt she’s finished. But it also seems like Mayu will (and should) have a long reign with the title, meaning it will take a special effort to knock her off the throne.