DREAM STAR FIGHTING MARIGOLD
MARIGOLD SHINE FOREVER 2026 – A GLORIOUS CELEBRATION
MAY 23, 2026
OTA WARD
Watch: Wrestle Universe
Well, when it rains it pours. In the mere four months since First Dream the sky has started falling and Marigold enters Shine Forever with GHC & Superfly holder Mayu Iwatani injured, Kizuna Tanaka injured, United National holder Victoria Yuzuki injured, new 3D champion Erina Yamanaka injured, Utami Hayashishita leaving after this show, and even when Sareee was booked out of the blue to offer some cavalry, she managed to get injured too!
Never have I seen a second anniversary celebration feel more like a death march but this card is lacking in heat and excitement while the perception around Marigold isn’t much better. Here’s hoping they can pull something out of the bag.
YUUKA YAMAZAKI & SHINNO VS NAGISA TACHIBANA & KOMOMO MINAMI – DRAW
A very good opener that let four of Marigold’s prospects showcase their talents in a tag team match. Everything they went with worked and Tachibana/Shinno was a strong closer that let the two try and build something to pay off down the line. The draw is a bit of a cop out and makes you wonder what disaster it’d take for Komomo Minami to get some consistent wins but with how they’ve been pushing the Young Marigold stuff recently a draw was a way to keep them all on an even level for now. ***1/2
CHI CHI DEF. REA SETO
Chi Chi is what I imagine lighting a match in a firework shop is like. Everywhere she goes there’s an energy that follows her and she drags something interesting out of every opponent. In just one month as a part timer she’s already provided a facelift to the young core in the company and put a big target on her own back as the outsider antagonist. This was a strong match with Seto who in her own right has been a workhorse for the company in every situation she’s been put in.
The visual after the match of the four from the opener descending on the ring to join the line of talent wanting a piece of Chi Chi was great. The absence of Yuzuki is massive but if it gets us a Chi Chi storyline that elevates some of these wayward Marigold youngins then it works for me. ***3/4
NYLA ROSE, NIGHTSHADE, JOHNNIE ROBBIE & NAGISA NOZAKI DEF. SYOKO KOSHINO, ANGEL HAYZE, NAO ISHIKAWA & NATSUMI SHOWZUKI
There was some fun stuff in this courtesy of Nyla Rose and Nightshade being powerhouse monsters but it was a totally heatless tag match. Nao Ishikawa got some focus with Rose which was nice but there was no buildup to this match on screen and there likely won’t be much follow-up on Rose since she won’t be able to lose even if she stays around. I also dislike Syoko Koshino and Showzuki being stacked up and pinned like total geeks to outsiders when Robbie and Rose are unlikely to wrestle here again. ***
EVIL QUEEN D (REVEALED TO BE DUMP MATSUMOTO) DEF. MEGATON
Definitely the weakest of these Megaton surprise opponent matches that they’ve been running on the bigger shows but it did get us the visual of Megaton bleeding as the crowd fired up for her. It’s also always nice to see Dump and hear the Gokuaku Domei theme soooo at least it was short. **
SERI YAMAOKA DEF. SENKA AKATSUKI
As long as there is Seri Yamaoka, there is hope for Marigold. Seri and Senka delivered a main event worthy match that had the kind of intensity that is so often lacking in some of their peers. The no holding back slap exchanges mixed seamlessly with the two’s ability to work on the ground with shoot pins being utilised throughout and Yamaoka eventually catching Akatsuki with the Aoki clutch to get the win and beat her at her own game in some regards.
I wasn’t really a fan of this match going in mostly because these two are on such different paths in their home promotions. Akatsuki is still in her rookie gear and holds the rookie Sendai belt while Yamaoka is a former tag champion and current BEW Champion. The win didn’t really serve to elevate Yamaoka in the way Marigold needs with all the cards falling down around them but that’s a bigger picture issue.
Ultimately, they won me over with their work in the ring and continued their generational rivalry as the two premiere rookies of the past 18 months (heavy kayfabing there yes but roll with it). Hopefully on to bigger things for Seri who in an ideal world has her name on the Dream Star trophy already. ****
TWIN STAR CHAMPIONSHIP
TWIN TOWER (KOUKI AMAREI & CHIKA GOTO) DEF. DARKNESS REVOLUTION (CHIAKI & MISA MATSUI) (c) – NEW CHAMPIONS
This had a strong heel/babyface dynamic with all the bells and whistles of Darkness Revolution like chair bowling, using outside help, and pulling the referee from the ring. The whole match was laid out so Gochika and Kouki could overcome the odds of taking on the record Twin Star defenders and it worked pretty well.
Some of the Twin Tower offense was a bit choppy, and they’ll have to work on being more fluid as a team when the match eventually breaks down into constant team offense stuff, but both members looked good throughout the match, with Goto and Matsui having a solid stretch together in the middle of the match.
Kouki got the win for her team to win the titles because ultimately the long-term hope of Marigold is for her to become the star from this pairing. ***1/2
MAI SAKURAI, MIRAI & MIKU AONO DEF. UTAMI HAYASHISHITA, MADDY MORGAN & TAKUMI IROHA
Marigold opted for the interesting choice of aschewing a world title match or an Utami send-off match in favour of this special six-woman tag which sees MIRAI and Iroha pass by for a visit and Maddy Morgan fill in as the replacement for someone Rossy hinted at that was 100,000% Giulia.
The match was pretty good from an in-ring action standpoint. Considering who was involved that was the least of my worries. What it struggled with was finding a hook to focus the match on, instead switching people in and out pretty consistently to keep things flowing. It’s not a bad thing, but I would’ve hoped for something more focused to try and make someone from the home team feel important. Mai Sakurai eventually pinned Utami but it was after a finisher train from her team so it didn’t have the same impact as it would have if they’d been 1 v 1.
I would have liked a bit more from this one but a solid main event to steady the ship isn’t the worst thing ever given the company’s recent turmoil. ***3/4
FINAL THOUGHTS
Shine Forever ultimately didn’t address some of the bigger issues Marigold have, the main event didn’t help the world title picture, they still have three different titles currently out of commission due to injuries, and one of the highlights of the roster is still an outsider who is on a part time schedule. There’s lots of speculation being places on the shoulders of KAIRI and for Rossy’s sake that had better be true as the upper card is still quite light.
What I will say is, the roster did their best to show out, every match on the card outside of Megaton was good. All of Seri Yamaoka, Rea Seto, Komomo Minami, Shinno, and the other future hopes for Marigold showed that they are ready to handle more of the pressure in the company, it’s just on the booking to give it to them. The Twin toWer run will be a fascinating one to follow as Kouki is one of the first projects that Ogawa tried to get off the ground in MG, her and Gochika as Twin Star champions will be make or break for their short-term chances of becoming stars and maybe elevating the tag division back to its Year 1 status as Korakuen main event worthy.
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