“Leadership is an action, not a position.”
Donald McGannon
On May 15, 2022 Utami Hayashishita won the right to lead Queen’s Quest, beating four other members of the group in a battle royal.
Yet it was a year later on June 25, 2023 when Utami truly earned the role of leader, guiding the faction to an important and emotional victory over Oedo Tai inside a steel cage.
She might have officially held the position for over a year prior, but the journey to being a true leader was one she still had to walk. It wasn’t until things were at their most dire that the Red Queen would find in herself what it meant to stand at the head of the group. With that discovery, Utami Hayashishita is ready to not only lead Queen’s Quest, but to guide the entire company as its Ace.
The STARDOM Ace is a role that has felt reserved for her since she first walked into the company back in August 2018. She debuted in a time limit draw, made it to the final of the 5 Star Grand Prix and carried four titles at once all before the calendar turned over to 2019. Two years later and she was the World of Stardom Champion, asserting herself as a true prodigy and as the strongest wrestler in Queen’s Quest.
However, leadership isn’t just about being individually strong. When Utami took over as the group’s leader in 2022, she struggled to really guide the once dominant Queen’s Quest to great heights. They merely floated around as a group, the individual success of record breaking Wonder of Stardom and High Speed Championship title reigns from Saya Kamitani and AZM respectively not really translating to overall faction dominance.
On the surface it wasn’t too dissimilar to how the faction had always operated. Founder Io Shirai designed it to be cutthroat in nature, demanding unyielding excellence in a survival of the fittest approach. You didn’t join Queen’s Quest to make friends, you joined them to find the strongest version of yourself.
Queen’s Quest was born in a time where only Oedo Tai existed as a true opposing faction, since then STARDOM has morphed into a company full of warring factions. Individual success is great, but the strength of the faction as a whole matters just as much. The ‘A-Team’ of Utami, Saya and AZM were about as strong as any other’s top three, yet the faction as a whole hadn’t asserted itself.
It was hard not to look in Utami’s direction and ask questions: was she really fit to be a leader?
It’s an important question, especially when Hayashishita is being eyed as a potential Ace of the entire promotion. If Utami can’t lead Queen’s Quest, how can she ever hope to lead STARDOM?
It was a question that seemed to hang over Utami’s head ever since losing the World of Stardom Championship to Syuri in December 2021. Since then she has been without a championship, subsequently coming up short in challenges for all of the major titles in the company. As the weeks turned to months turned to years, cracks started forming in the once impenetrable armour of the Red Queen. Both as a wrestler and as a leader.
The first questions arose from one of the most respected names in the company’s decade plus history: KAIRI. She seemed bemused by the news of how Utami had ascended to the top of Queen’s Quest (“you just won a match?”), and questioned the leader’s approach to training up the new rookie Miyu Amasaki.
You’re supposed to be her leader right? Are you maybe trying to train Miyu Amasaki-kun while taking it easy on her? […] Because for me, right in my debut even I got a nosebleed thanks to my beat in face, my training was harsh. But for me it feels like now I have this really strong, like, proof, so I’m glad I went through that, I feel like it’s thanks to that that I became strong.
KAIRI at the Flashing Champions press conference. English Translation by Dana
Then the questions began to come from within.
In Queen’s Quest there is no combination closer or stronger than AphroditE. Utami Hayashishita and Saya Kamitani, two vaunted members of the Golden Generation and former Goddesses of Stardom Tag Champions. Utami was the one who presented her with the chance to join the group in the first place, and the duo quickly hit it off together.
The primary reason the pair hadn’t achieved more together was because both went on to enjoy dominant singles title reigns, they simply didn’t have time to focus on the tag titles. The night Utami’s year long reign with the World of Stardom Championship ended, Saya’s record breaking run as the Wonder of Stardom Champion began.
It was that white belt run for Kamitani that the dynamic between the two would begin to shift. Back when Saya first joined Queen’s Quest, she was just seven months into her career. She idolised Utami (even developing a crush on her), who just a year prior had shown was what possible from a rookie. Even as a tag team Saya was clearly underneath her partner, following in Utami’s footsteps as she developed from promising rookie to a true rising star.
It wouldn’t be until the beginning of 2023, three years after joining Queen’s Quest, that Saya Kamitani would start to feel that she was no longer looking up to Utami, but standing as a true equal. The allure of the super rookie and young ace had started to fade away, the honeymoon period was over.
Saya’s Wonder of Stardom Championship reign would come to an end at All Star Grand Queendom at 480 days and a record breaking 15 defenses. Even in defeat to Mina Shirakawa there was no denying how strong Saya Kamitani had become, maturing into a true top star of the company.
For 480 days Saya had been a top champion, and for 480 days Utami had not. When the pair reprised their team in Fukuoka a month later against Giulia and Maika, it was Utami who was decisively beaten and pinned.
In the aftermath the frustrated Queen’s Quest leader took an offhanded comment from Saya to heart; the once cool, calm and collected Utami was no more.
She fired back and the championship winning chemistry the two shared began to slip away. Their timing in matches was noticeably off, each suffering from friendly fire throughout the weeks. As mistakes built so too did the frustration, with AphroditE even coming to blows in the middle of a match several times.
Like a shark that smelled blood, Oedo Tai quickly inserted themselves into the drama. At the forefront was Momo Watanabe, the former Queen’s Quest leader who knows the group better than anyone. She had long wanted to bring an end to her old faction, and there was no better time than now.
It wasn’t the first time Oedo Tai had tried to pull Queen’s Quest apart.
After nearly crippling STARS back in 2021 Natsuko Tora and her villainous band of miscreants came for the queens. However, fate intervened. As Utami defended her red belt against Tora, the Oedo Tai leader suffered a major injury, putting her on the shelf for over a year. They still managed to disrupt the group when then leader Momo Watanabe defected, but it was just part of the puzzle. Without the guidance of their leader, they merely settled for taking another.
Now in 2023, both Natsuko Tora and Momo Watanabe wanted nothing more than to see Queen’s Quest burn. The challenge was put out. Both teams would be locked inside a cage, the last person to escape had to leave their faction.
In prior matches Oedo Tai would often get the better of Queen’s Quest and the frustration was beginning to grow. AZM, who had been in the group basically from the beginning as one of Io’s first recruits, grew frustrated and disassociated. Miyu and Hina were both too young to really have much of a say, and Lady C didn’t have the authority. All the time, Saya’s patience wore thin.
There was rampant discussion surrounding the group’s future, but actions speak louder than words. After Oedo Tai had successfully defeated Queen’s Quest in an elimination match, Natsuko Tora laid it all out nice and clearly as she stood face to face with Utami:
“Look. Nobody looks up to you. Queen’s Quest is falling apart under you. Nobody believes in you!”
Natsuko Tora. 11th June, 2023
Oedo Tai left the ring, revelling in their victory. And then too left Queen’s Quest. AZM and Saya didn’t look back. Lady C and Miyu Amasaki hesitated as they too followed. There were no words exchanged, but the image of a lonely and crestfallen Utami Hayashishita alone in the ring as she watched her faction walk away said more than enough.
There was one final warning shot fired over the bow. On the final show before their cage match, Momo Watanabe offered Saya her baseball bat, a chance to let out her frustrations on her AphroditE partner. It took some haunting time before Saya passed it back, the lingering look betraying the conflict in her mind. Saya walked away without using it, but she also walked away without helping Utami who would then get assaulted from behind.
The questions were flying heading into the STARDOM Sunshine event. Had Utami lost the full trust of her team? Had she given up on trying to win them back? Would one betray the other with the threat of being kicked out of the group?
If Utami’s leadership was being questioned heading into the cage, the answers would come soon after the door closed and locked both groups in. Despite being scared of entering the cage last year, Utami Hayashishita put her fears aside to deliver a truly inspired performance. She showed poise, acting as an experienced ring general. She directed the rest of her family, covered their blind spots and protected her teammates as one by one they escaped the cage.
She was their captain, and the captain goes down with the ship. If Queen’s Quest were going to lose, Utami wouldn’t let any one else but her take the weight of that loss on their shoulders.
Still, it wasn’t without its problems. Once again miscommunication between AphroditE led to friendly fire, with Utami accidentally slamming the Oedo Tai case on her teammates head. If Utami had any intention to betray her old friend though, it had long disappeared from her mind as she helped Saya climb out of the cage, leaving her alone against both Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima.
The cost of protecting Queen’s Quest was high. Natsuko Tora cracked her lead pipe across Utami’s skull, not only sending her plummeting from the top of the cage, but it cut her open deep. Blood poured from her forehead as she kept fighting for both herself and her team, until finally an opportunity presented itself when she slammed the final surviving member of Oedo Tai to the mat.
She used what little she had left to drag her broken and bloodied body slowly up the cage. On the other side both Saya and Momo climbed up – one looking to clear the path, the other to obstruct it. It was then that the moment of truth revealed itself.
Momo Watanabe passed her baseball bat to Saya Kamitani, just as she had done a week prior. Utami was clutching to the top of the cage, with no way of protecting herself. Years of friendship and admiration versus months of frustration and dissonance. Did the fire within AphroditE still burn?
The moment was a mirror image of 18 months ago, when Momo Watanabe found herself steel chair in hand, with the choice to break it over the head of Starlight Kid or her old tag partner AZM. She had made her deal with the devil back then, and now she offered Saya the same choice.
Saya Kamitani chose loyalty.
She knocked Momo off the cage with the baseball bat and reached out for her bloodied friend. They shared a moment atop the cage and then climbed down together, bringing victory to Queen’s Quest and keeping the group whole.
The aftermath was the most emotional the group has ever been. Their normally stoic demeanour shed away as they embraced as a group, sharing in their joy and relief. Tears were shed as Saya and Utami embraced in the ring having endured the biggest test to their partnership yet.
They found themselves on the brink of self destruction, but through that fire Utami Hayashishita was forged into a true leader. Not one because she was simply the strongest or because she had won a match, but a leader because she had become someone willing to inspire and do whatever it takes for her team. Utami fought for them like no-one had, now Queen’s Quest could trust and believe in their Red Queen.
From the very first day she walked into STARDOM, it felt like a matter of when and not if Utami would lead the company. She has stood atop the mountain as the World of Stardom Champion, but it wasn’t until June 25, 2023 that she truly proved herself ready and capable of leading. Queen’s Quest now bow to her, the question is how long until the rest of STARDOM do?
Wrestle Inn 