Originally published at Aya Sakura ended up with STARDOM after accidentally applying for tryout, thought she was auditioning for Mayu Iwatani movie
The story of how Aya Sakura ended up with STARDOM.
27-year-old Aya Sakura is one year into her pro wrestling career. She got her start in 2023 with STARDOM and has been with the promotion since then.
She told the story of how she ended up in STARDOM as she was being interviewed by KAKUTOLOG. Sakura shared that she accidentally applied for a tryout. She was looking for acting work and thought she was applying for a role in ‘Runaway Wrestler’, the film about the life of Mayu Iwatani.
She did not realize what she signed up for until after the intro interview. She went out with fellow STARDOM talent HANAKO and during their conversation, she had a moment of realization. Sakura said she misunderstood during the interview and did not catch the signs. Despite that, she performed well and was accepted on the spot as a trainee. She added that she did not tell her day job about her venture until she passed the pro test. When she checked that off, she began scaling back her work hours.
Yes, I made a serious mistake. At that time, I was working almost full-time at a regular job. I had almost no work in the entertainment business, and I was only doing photo shoots on weekends. I thought I really needed to work hard, so I set myself a quota of applying for 10 auditions a day, and I was submitting so many submissions a day (she laughed)… The audition for the movie required registration on a pay site, and I thought you could do it from the official site. When I looked at the official site, I saw that they were recruiting, so I applied, and it turned out that I had applied to become a trainee… Yes, I was (aware that Runaway Wrestler was based on professional wrestling). I had always wanted to be an action actress, so I thought I could play a pro-wrestler… After the interview, I went to a café with HANAKO, who was also taking the interview. We were chatting… then I realized (what I signed up for)… I didn’t notice (during the interview). I somehow misunderstood…
I was accepted (to be a trainee) on the spot. We had auditions in each city, and Tokyo was the last one… I had not been praised recently in my life, and I had failed about 100 auditions, but when I was told that I had passed, I said, ‘Well, let’s give it a try…’ But I didn’t tell the company I was working for until I passed the professional test. I (then) told them that I had to reduce my shifts because I had to practice more action.
Sakura’s first-ever opponent was Giulia. Giulia is one of five names that are set to depart STARDOM.
She’ll be exiting the promotion along with Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI, Mai Sakurai and Yuzuki.