Sareee: Prepared For ‘Intense’ 5STAR GP Rematch Against Suzu Suzuki | Interview

Sareee and her overall work remain one of the hottest topics of pro wrestling, and she’s not planning to slow down this weekend.

This Saturday, Sareee will make her second defense of the IWGP Women’s Championship when she puts the title on the line against Suzu Suzuki. The defense comes just two weeks after Sareee’s first successful defense of the belt as she defeated Konami at the STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix Finals. “The Sun God” hasn’t slowed down since winning the IWGP Women’s Championship over the summer, nor does she seem to want to anytime soon, coming off her run in the 5STAR Grand Prix for the very first time and headed into another defense.

Despite not winning the tournament, Sareee has used her run to push her forward even more, and she’s happy with her overall experience now that it’s over.

“I couldn’t win the tournament, so therefore, I am very frustrated,” Sareee told Fightful’s Scott Edwards, regarding her run in the tournament. “But I did have a great experience. Each match was something different and meant something special. The loss in the first match made myself wake up and made me prepare myself more for the rest of the league, which made me come in first place in the block.”

Sareee’s role in the 5STAR GP this year included being the antagonist for many, as STARDOM fans made their dislike for the IWGP Women’s Champion well known in the early going. However, as the tournament went on, those boos slowly became cheers — making it much more of a mixed reaction, which she certainly noticed.

“The amount of fans booing in the opening day vs. the finals was so different,” Sareee said. “It felt like the whole arena was against me at first, but as the league went on, some places even had more cheers than booing. My fans started to team up and cheer me on. Even Stardom fans started to change and cheer for me.”

In terms of coming up short, Sareee was eliminated by eventual 5STAR GP winner Momo Watanabe in the quarterfinals. It was Watanabe that Sareee singled out ahead of the start of the tournament as the opponent she looked forward to facing the most. “The Sun God” and “The Black Peach” traded victories, with Sareee getting the first win in their league-play match before Watanabe, with the help of H.A.T.E., earned the victory.

With each of the wrestlers having a win apiece, Sareee isn’t done with Watanabe just yet.

“I am prepared for any place at any time for the third match,” Sareee said regarding one final match between the two. “It’s a matter of STARDOM and her.”

It’s hard to argue that the noise caused by Sareee throughout the tournament, especially when facing H.A.T.E., was the most talked-about part of the 5STAR Grand Prix from start to finish. So much so that following her successful defense against Konami at the Finals, she was the one who landed on the cover of ShuPro’s Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine, leaving STARDOM fans angry that it was her and not Watanabe on the weekly edition.

Fans were outspoken regarding Sareee’s placement on the cover, but Watanabe eventually received a special edition cover. Sareee understood the frustration, but she was honored to make it on the cover once again.

“It’s always great to be selected to be on the cover, especially when there was a lot going on,” Sareee said. “I understand their point, but this is what Weekly Pro-Wrestling selected, so it’s out of my control. But Momo ended up getting the cover on the 5STAR GP Special edition of Weekly Pro Wrestling so…”

All focus for Sareee is now on Suzuki this weekend, a match that is highly anticipated by fans and “The Sun God” herself after their 15-minute draw during the tournament.

“Since it was a draw before, I wanted to have a match against Suzu also, and she challenged me, so I accepted,” Sareee said. “I wanted to have a rematch again so actually it worked out well.”

The matchup between the two competitors will be the first of three championship matches on Saturday’s STARDOM TO THE WORLD pay-per-view at the Yokohama Budokan. With being the first title matchup, Sareee is all the more determined to prove that the IWGP Women’s Championship is the championship in STARDOM right now. Based on her comments, Sareee believes that this is the exact match to showcase that.

“I think IWGP is an attractive and great title,” Sareee stated. “I want to keep defending it and make history.

“We can continue where we left off with a longer time limit, in which I am confident that I can beat her this time. I am sure it will be an intense match. Not only do I want to win against Suzu, but I also want to have the best match that day against the other title matches and make IWGP even more attractive.”

As always, we’d like to thank Sareee and her team for taking part in this latest interview, given her busy schedule.

Fans who are interested in watching Sareee’s defense of the IWGP Women’s Championship can check out STARDOM TO THE WORLD this Saturday on PPV. The show goes LIVE at 3 a.m. EST and is available for purchase here.

To stay up to date with everything Sareee has going on, make sure to follow her YouTube channel “Sareee Channel.” Make sure also to follow Sareee’s X account to never miss anything going on in her career, as well as the official Sareee-ISM account.

Fans can also check out the exclusive interview Sareee had with Scott back in June prior to winning the IWGP Women’s Champion. The interview features English and Japanese subtitles. Sareee also provided comments regarding her opening loss in the tournament to Konami, as well as the massive boos from earlier on. You can check that out here. Also check out Sareee’s thoughts regarding Takumi Iroha and her goals for their tag team, SPARK RUSH, following their 30-minute draw, as well as Sareee’s thoughts from before her match with Momo Watanabe.