The Shining Stardom Dream, the Top Kawaii of the Cosmos, the Cosmic Chief, or however you choose to address her, Tam Nakano has become one of the most polarizing figures in joshi wrestling. The former idol-turned-world champ has become one of the most integral pieces of Stardom over the last few years, and has spent her time since leaving the STARS faction establishing Cosmic Angels as a group to be respected. Though her lore dumps on Twitter and melodramatic interactions with her fellow Stardom wrestlers has left many fans disinterested in much of her work, Tam Nakano's style and passion has been a major factor as to why many people (myself included) have come to love her. If you follow me on Twitter then you probably already know how much I love Tam Nakano, so I will spare you an entire article of me making her out to be the greatest of all time. Instead, I simply want to reflect on her career up to this point and give my reasons as to why I enjoy Tam Nakano so much.
Side note: this turned out much longer than I anticipated, so my personal reflection is way at the bottom of the recap of Tam's career (titled "Unno's Anecdote)
False Idols
Prior to starting her wrestling career, Tam Nakano was a part of an underground idol group known as Katamomi Joshi until April 2015. However, in an interview in 2020, Nakano would state: "It didn't go very well. Every day I'd fight with management, throw plastic bottles, get into scuffles... I would cry everyday". That idol group would soon shut down, and feeling like she had no way to repay the fans who had supported her until that point, Nakano would receive a call from a colleague and turn to pro wrestling.
Initially, Nakano would start out as an idol performing during shows for Actwres girl'Z (AWG). She was actually performing twice during shows, leaving her with little time to watch the in-ring action and understand why anyone was fighting. Tam Nakano had leaped into a new domain and was unsure if she would even be able to become a wrestler. However, after seeing just one full women's wrestling show, Nakano's perception had flipped and she was seemingly onboard with becoming a wrestler.
"Watching just one ten-minute match is as interesting as seeing a whole movie. You laugh, you feel frustrated and sad, you get emotional." -Tam Nakano
In 2016, Tam Nakano began training under Yuna Manase to become a full-time pro wrestler. Nakano noted, as many have before her, that training was very tough and she would train from roughly 10am to 4pm, even being pushed through symptoms of cyanosis to complete her drills. This would culminate in Tam Nakano making her wrestling debut in July 2016 in a losing effort against her future stablemate, Saori Anou.
Nakano competed in various promotions throughout the remainder of 2016, though AWG was her home promotion. However, June 15, 2017 would be Tam Nakano's last match for AWG as she announced she would leave to become a freelancer. During this brief freelancing stint, Nakano would compete in various promotions across Japan; however, the most notable thing to take place was her receiving tutelage from deathmatch legend, Atsushi Onita. The very first match Tam Nakano competed in after leaving AWG was a Lumberjack Deathmatch against Miss Mongol on July 15, 2017. Nakano worked a handful of events on Onita's retirement tour during 2017 and competed on another show produced by him back in 2019.
Rise to (Super)Stardom
Unlikely Alliance
After briefly competing as a freelancer, Tam Nakano would show up in World Wonder Ring Stardom (otherwise known as Stardom) in July 2017 and declare that she wanted to participate in that year's 5 Star Grand Prix. She then competed in a qualifying match against Natsuko Tora on August 13th, winning the right to compete in the 5SGP. However, Nakano's luck would be very short lived as she would only garner a single victory in the tournament with a win over Konami.
A stark contrast from the vibrant and idol-like style she portrays currently, the first stable that Tam Nakano would be a part of was actually Oedo Tai, Stardom's resident heel faction. Though they may be villainous and tend to bend the rules, Oedo Tai is a very close-knit group and are almost like a family (maybe a little more so back then than nowadays). However, Nakano's run with the group is often forgotten because it was... well, a pretty forgettable stretch of time.
Throughout most of her time with Oedo Tai, Tam Nakano was injured, leaving her to be a manager of sorts for the few months that she was a part of the group. On top of this, Oedo Tai's leader at the time, Kagetsu, brought in Natsu Sumire as a new member without discussing the decision with anyone else. This caused tensions to rise within Oedo Tai. Things would settle down for the time being, but it seemed as though Nakano's time with the group was over. On January 21, 2018, Oedo Tai competed in an elimination match against Queen's Quest with the last person eliminated being forced to leave their group. Unfortunately for Tam Nakano, it would be her time depart from the group after being eliminated from the match last by Momo Watanabe.
Enter, "The Icon"
"Congratulations on your return... and congratulations on your graduation from Oedo Tai... let's be together in the Stardom Army", words offered to Tam Nakano from Stardom's Icon, Mayu Iwatani. Though Nakano would decline offers from both Iwatani and Queen's Quest leader Io Shirai, Iwatani would pretty much kidnap Nakano without letting her make the decision for herself. Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano would team up for the first time just seven days later in a winning effort against Team Jungle (Jungle Kyona and Natsuko Tora).
However, the relationship between Iwatani and Nakano would come to be very... strained. Likely due to her troubled past in the idol industry, Nakano had seemingly always been looking for a family of sorts within the wrestling industry. People that she can always look to for support and whom she can reciprocate that feeling to. But, Iwatani was seemingly just looking for more allies. Though she talked about wanting to protect Nakano upon her recruitment to the Stardom Army (now known as STARS), Iwatani brushed her off swiftly when presented with new comrades. It seemed as though Tam Nakano's affection for Mayu Iwatani was a one-way street.
The first instance of this would be seen on April 1, 2018 when it was actually Io Shirai who teamed up with Tam Nakano to take on Kagetsu and Natsu Sumire in an exploding bat deathmatch. Another important development would be the return of Saki Kashima who was coming off the heels of a five-year hiatus from in-ring action. It would be Kashima who Iwatani often teamed with upon her return to the company as opposed to Nakano. Kashima and Iwatani would even go on to win the Goddesses of Stardom Championship in June 2018 after defeating Hana Kimura and Kagetsu.
The most notable instance of Tam Nakano feeling like she didn't belong was with the return of Arisa Hoshiki. Hoshiki trained alongside Mayu Iwatani in the first class of Stardom trainees, even having their very first match against each other. They then formed a tag team by the name of AMA and were a part of the faction known as Planet alongside Io Shirai. Iwatani and Hoshiki had over seven years of history which made it only seem natural that they would want to team once again, but this did not sit well with Tam Nakano. When asking to join the STARS faction alongside her former friends, Hoshiki was met with a resounding "no" from Nakano. Despite this, Hoshiki was still brought into the group by Iwatani.
About two months prior to this (September 2018) , Nakano would win the Artists of Stardom Championship alongside Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima. Nakano and her stablemates would lose the Artists titles, though, in May 2019 to Tokyo Cyber Squad (consisting of Hana Kimura, Konami, and Jungle Kyona). It was after this that Tam Nakano would finally take her first big leap and challenge Arisa Hoshiki for the Wonder of Stardom Championship.
"My goal is to defend my title, but also to understand Tam-chan" -Arisa Hoshiki
As mentioned before, there was a lot of tension between Hoshiki and Nakano upon her return to the company (though, mostly coming from the side of Nakano). Nakano felt like she was once again pushed away in favor of a new recruit, and abandoned by the people she thought would become her family. She could not come to an understanding with Hoshiki because, to Nakano, she was an outsider who came and stole her spot. So, the pair thought it would be best to try to understand the other through wrestling. Though Nakano would come up short in her challenge for the title, she vowed to be the one to beat Hoshiki for the White Belt one day.
Nakano's hatred for Hoshiki would soon turn into respect and blossom into a sort of light-hearted rivalry as Nakano would describe Hoshiki as "a rival who [she] can really cross swords with". Arisa Hoshiki and Tam Nakano would later team together to compete in Stardom's annual Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in 2019. The pair would end up winning the Tag League, but fell short to Konami and Jungle Kyona in their challenge for the Goddesses Titles on November 24th.
Ascent to the Cosmos
Though Nakano and Hoshiki came up short in their quest for tag gold, Hoshiki continued to defend the White Belt for the next few months. However, in May 2020, Arisa Hoshiki announced that she would retire from wrestling due to injuries, thus vacating the Wonder of Stardom Championship. With Giulia having won that year's Cinderella tournament, the only person who stood in her way to stop her from winning the White Belt was Tam Nakano. Though Nakano could no longer keep her promise to beat Hoshiki for the title, she could still win it and carry on the legacy that Hoshiki had built.
"Maybe today I lost, and I don't have the belt, but I'll chase you to the end of the universe to take it from you!" -Tam Nakano
On July 26, 2020, Tam Nakano would be unsuccessful in her attempt to beat Giulia and win the vacant Wonder of Stardom Championship. This would lead to one of the most prominent rivalries in Stardom, lasting for the next four years before Giulia's departure from the company.
Through all of this, Tam Nakano still felt unfulfilled. Just as she had finally found her family in Arisa Hoshiki, it was snatched right from her. On top of this, Saki Kashima ended up betraying Mayu Iwatani to join Oedo Tai. However, even as Nakano still stood by Mayu Iwatani's side, it was Starlight Kid who Iwatani would favor over Nakano. Nakano would come to understand that if she wanted a faction to become a family of her own, then she would have to start one herself. This would lead Tam Nakano to form the new Cosmic Angels faction with Unagi Sayaka and Mina Shirakawa (they were initially a STARS sub-faction but broke off after December 20, 2020).
Alongside Sayaka and Shirakawa, Nakano would hold the Artists of Stardom Championship for nearly a year, dropping the titles to MaiHimePoi in October 2021. In the midst of this reign, though, Nakano would revisit her feud with Giulia and set the challenge for a hair vs hair match for the White Belt at Stardom's 10th Anniversary show in March 2021(this was actually their third encounter as they fought again in October 2020). It was in this bout that finally, after two long years, Tam Nakano would win the White Belt and complete her promise to Arisa Hoshiki.
It seemed as though Tam Nakano finally had everything she hoped for: a family, a place to belong, and the Wonder of Stardom Championship. However, demons of the past slowly crept up on Nakano throughout this entire title reign. The first defense of her White Belt title reign would be against Natsupoi, who was out for revenge. Filled with anger at Nakano leaving her in AWG years ago, as well as being jealous at seeing the tight bond Nakano would form with Arisa Hoshiki in Stardom, Natsupoi was absolutely vicious in the pair's encounter on April 4, 2021.
Nakano would be victorious in this encounter, but the story with Natsupoi was far from over. Nakano's next challenge, though, would be a signal of the end: Saya Kamitani. Though there were many who helped her on her path to becoming a wrestler, Kamitani stated that "Tam is [her] only mentor" and that without her she "wouldn't even think of becoming a wrestler". Kamitani came from the same walk of life as Tam Nakano, being a former idol herself. However, she realized that was not the life she wanted to devote herself to and was soon introduced to pro wrestling.
Throughout her title reign, Nakano would come to believe that the White Belt was cursed. She felt as though it fed on the emotions of those who desired it, leading the White Belt to become known as the "passion belt". However, none had more emotion and passion than Tam Nakano herself. With each title defense, she grew stronger and stronger, leaving no one able to break the curse. No one besides the one person who arguably understood her most: Saya Kamitani. Though she was unsuccessful in her first attempt for the title, Kamitani knew what it took to defeat Tam Nakano. Their styles may have been different, but the passion and emotions that they carried, along with their mindsets, were all too similar. And with that, Saya Kamitani was able to dethrone Tam Nakano in December 2021.
The next saga in Tam Nakano's career has a lot to do with Natsupoi and the eventual formation of Meltear. HOWEVER, that is a very long story in itself and one that I have written about previously, so I suggest you go read it.
The sparknotes of the matter, though, is that Natsupoi betrayed Donna del Mondo after going through a journey of self-realization with Tam Nakano. Much like with Arisa Hoshiki before, Nakano and Natsupoi had to come to understand each other through wrestling. This led to Natsupoi joining Cosmic Angels and Tam Nakano's family growing stronger. Just a month after joining Cosmic Angels, Meltear (Nakano and Natsupoi) would beat FWC (Hazuki and Koguma) for the Goddesses of Stardom Championship in August 2022. They would hold on to the titles until Dream Queendom in December 2022 where they lost to Nanae Takahashi and Yuu.
This would lead to Tam Nakano and Giulia facing off once again at All Star Grand Queendom in April 2023. However, it's important to backtrack a little bit here. In February 2022, Mai Sakurai would betray Tam Nakano and Cosmic Angels as she left them to join Donna del Mondo (led by Giulia). Sakurai cited that she wanted to wrestle and not dance as her reason for leaving the group. This stung Nakano as not only did she lose a part of the family she strived to create, but Sakurai completely disrespected the style of Cosmic Angels. This would cause further tension in the blood-feud between Giulia and Nakano. As previously mentioned, this would be followed up by Natsupoi's betrayal of DDM in July 2022.
In August 2022, Giulia beat Tam Nakano in the finals of the 5 Star Grand Prix and went on to win the World of Stardom Championship at Dream Queendom in December. With no one set to face Giulia at All Star Grand Queendom, none other than Tam Nakano stepped up. Offering Giulia her hair, money, and even her name for the title, Giulia simply put the World of Stardom Championship on the line. In quite a shocking turn of events, after nearly 30 minutes, Tam Nakano would hit Giulia with the Violet Screwdriver and put her down for a three-count to win the Red Belt. This would just about end things between the two, though they would interact various times before Giulia left Stardom a year later.
This brings us to another jump back in time with the introduction of Club Venus. In November 2022, Mina Shirakawa faced Saya Kamitani for the Wonder of Stardom Championship. It was a great bout, but one that ended with an unfortunate turn of events. At the end of the match, Kamitani went for a second Phoenix Splash but she didn't complete the full rotation and landed way too high up, causing her to completely lay her heel right into Shirakawa's mouth. This ended up causing a severe injury to Shirakawa's mouth that kept her out of action for weeks. When she returned at Dream Queendom 2022, she was accompanied by Mariah May and Xia Brookside.
Shirakawa would announce her new group as Club Venus and would go on to break off from Cosmic Angels in April 2023. Once again, Tam Nakano had lost her family. With Unagi Sayaka gone and Shirakawa leaving the group with Waka Tsukiyama (and the COLORS sub-group mostly freelancing), there was not much left of Cosmic Angels as Nakano watched her family slowly fall apart. On the other hand, Mina Shirakawa was finding success as she had just won the Wonder of Stardom Championship at All Star Grand Queendom.
Scott Edwards at WrestlePurists did a great job breaking this feud down in a lot more detail than I will be able to here, but the gist of it is that Shirakawa felt she was ready to step out of Nakano's shadow. Much like Nakano before, Shirakawa felt like it was time to step away and lead a faction of her own. Now, with both Shirakawa and Nakano holding the company's top titles, it was time for them to put all the gold on the line to see who was truly at the top of Stardom. Though this match was a spectacle to behold (seeing as the only other person to hold both the Red and White Belts in Stardom history was Mayu Iwatani in 2017), there was never going to be a real winner. Or, more so there could only be one big loser. Unfortunately, on May 27, 2023 it would be Mina Shirakawa who would lose the match and drop her title after just 34 days.
Tam Nakano would only hold the White Belt for 36 days, losing to that year's Cinderella winner, MIRAI. Sadly, Nakano's Red Belt reign would not fair much better as she only defended the title two more times following her match with Shirakawa. A title reign clouded by inconsistent booking and injuries, Tam Nakano's underwhelming title reign ended on November 20, 2023 after it was announced that she had to vacate the title due to injury.
Unno's Anecdote
Alright, so there's honestly quite a bit of stuff I left out of this, but this would be almost two times as long if I included every single thing that has happened in Tam Nakano's career. Anyways, I wanted to get into why I have come to love Tam Nakano so much over the years, but it's gonna get a bit personal so I need you all to lock in for just a bit. So I have mentioned this in another article before, but, in January 2022 I dropped out of college (I’m back now :D). I had been through bouts of sadness and mental turmoil before, but that would be the first time I would ever say I had battled depression. As I sat at home trying to reconfigure everything going on inside of my head, I began to get into wrestling again for the first time since the pandemic had started in 2020.
Though I soon began working, I spent almost all of my free time watching wrestling. Amongst a return to watching AEW and New Japan, I was then led to begin watching Stardom and my mind was blown. Now, it wasn't the first time I had heard of the promotion, but, it was the first time I had the money to subscribe to Stardom World (lol) and the time to add another promotion to my watch list. I spent days researching as much as I could in order to jump in and understand as much about the promotion as possible. Funnily enough, it would actually be Saya Kamitani who was my first favorite (and still one of them!) in Stardom. I was just astonished by the workrate of this promotion and how even a sub-ten-minute match could be so damn good.
But getting back on track, life was still... strange. As I entered the summer of 2022, the fog in my brain had began to lift, but I felt like I was still very lost. I didn't really know my purpose or what goal I was moving towards. I know this all sounds completely bizarre in relation to wrestling, but let me land. I mentioned an article regarding Tam Nakano and Natsupoi that I wrote previously, and it was one that I had wanted to write from the moment I started this website. The feud between these two was special to me in a way that's kind of hard to really describe, so I guess I'll just rip a quote from my own writing: "there has rarely been a time in all my years of watching wrestling when I have ever felt as emotional as I did when watching this feud unfold, from the cage match up until Natsupoi's departure from DDM. Even having only watched the promotion for roughly five months when I first saw these matches, there was something about the emotion and drama that captivated me while the in ring work was stellar as well".
Maybe my judgement is clouded because I fell out of love with wrestling multiple times before 2022, but there have been very few stories that I have ever been invested in as much as I was with Tam Nakano and Natsupoi. I felt so connected to these two in a way that I have only felt when watching Bryan Danielson at the height of the "Yes Movement" and Kofi Kingston during "Kofimania" (again, there are others I am omitting here, but I mean very few). The story of Natsupoi and Tam Nakano culminated in each of them reconnecting with the person that understands them most, rekindling an unbreakable connection and finally forging the family that Nakano had longed for. Maybe it's because subconsciously that had been something I was searching for at the time, or maybe it just really tugged at my heart strings. I'm not sure, but either way, I loved every second of it. I don't think I'm really explaining why this story had such an impact on my life very well, but I'm trying my best here.
Anyways, as I am in a much better place now mentally, what continues to compel me about Tam Nakano (and Cosmic Angels as a whole) is the level of emotion and passion that she shows. I know that many people are turned off by it, citing her as "over the top" and "melodramatic", but that's why I enjoy her work. When I saw Tam Nakano vs Natsupoi, Giulia, Saya Kamitani, and much of her work since I began watching Stardom, her emotion just feels so natural and like she is 2000% invested in everything she does. People tend to throw out the word cinema a lot, but that's truly the word I would use here. It didn't feel forced or scripted, her stories felt like I was watching two people have a genuine interaction. Is some of her stuff a bit too much? Yes, but, personally I don't mind it.
Maybe that's a weak argument, or one that could be made for many other wrestlers that people enjoy, but I guess it's what drew me to her and keeps me invested to this day. First it was Tam Nakano vs Natsupoi, and then it was Tam Nakano vs Giulia at All Star Grand Queendom 2023 that really helped me when I was going through rough spots in my life. Again, maybe it's absurd to say that wrestling of all things helped me find some sort of light in my life, but, it's not entirely metaphorical to say that Tam Nakano might have been a spark that lit a fire under me more than once (am I glazing too hard now?).
I guess I write all of this to say that, for all the tweeting and nonsense I do regarding Tam Nakano, it's because she has been quite important to myself and my passion for wrestling. So, if you ever have an outlandish love for a wrestler that people can't quite understand, know that you are not alone. Though they may affect us in ways often unbeknownst to them, wrestlers and their work can be very important to many of us. Wrestling is an escape, but, sometimes that love for something so outlandish sticks so much that we can't help but to have it become such an integral part of our lives.
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