Women’s Wrestling Herstory Spotlight: Utami Hayashishita

In honor of Women’s History (Herstory) Month, I’ll be spotlighting four women who contributed to women’s wrestling but are often overlooked.

The first two women that I spotlighted were Luna Vachon and Gail Kim. The next spotlight is on STARDOM standout, Utami Hayashishita.

Hayashishita is one of the most decorated women in the company having held the Future of Stardom Championship, Artist of Stardom Championship, SWA World Championship, Goddesses of Stardom Championship (twice), and World of Stardom Championship. She also won the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League and Trios Tag Team Tournament. She is also a former Pro Wrestling: EVE International Champion.

Adding to the accolades, Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Utami as the second-best women’s wrestler behind Bianca Belair for 2021. Her match with Syuri received 5 1/2 stars from Dave Meltzer. This was the first women’s match to receive over five stars from Meltzer in 26 years.

2021 was a banner year for her as laid out by Last Word on Sports. “Io Shirai is Stardom royalty and for good reason. Hayashishita is the woman who is positioned to replace her after all this time.” It’s an extremely lofty goal, but Utami seems ready for the challenge.

“The Red Queen” has accomplished so much and she only debuted in 2018. Prior to her debut, she was part of a reality show called Tsuukai! Big Daddy, which focused on her 12-person family.

After graduating from STARDOM’s dojo, STARDOM president, Rossy Ogawa, added Hayashishita to the 5Star Grand Prix as the final entrant. In the finals, she lost to Mayu Iwatani but became known as the “Super Rookie”. She would go on to win the Goddesses of Stardom Championship just three months after her debut.

Hayashishita made history by wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 15. She teamed with AZM and Saya Kamitani against Natsupoi, Maika, and Himeka in one of two matches featuring STARDOM wrestlers. The matches were only seen by fans in attendance, but they wrestled in front of a sold-out crowd.

Heading into her fourth year, Hayashishita has established herself as one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world. She is poised to be a top star for years to come and is blazing a path for what women’s wrestling can and should be.