Tokyo Sports has awarded its MVP award in professional wrestling to the first female recipient to receive it.
Saya Kamitani, the World of Stardom Champion, was voted this year’s MVP and became the first female winner in the history of the award.
Kamitani held the championship throughout the year after beating Tam Nakano at Dream Queendom last December.
The two continued with two of the biggest matches of the year in Stardom. Kamitani beat her rival on March 3 in a Loser Leaves Stardom match, which led to a Career vs. Career match on April 27 at All-Star Grand Queendom at Yokohama Arena, where Kamitani won.
The year featured title defenses against Natsupoi, Bea Priestley, AZM, and Momo Watanabe.
She was also part of a huge exhibition match with Hanan in September, which was broadcast on the TBS network and was the first women’s match to air live on terrestrial television in the country since 2002.
Tokyo Sports has issued the award annually since 1974, with past recipients including Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, Tatsumi Fujinami, Genichiro Tenryu, Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Muto, Kazushi Sakuraba, Mitsuharu Misawa, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Tetsuya Naito.
The only foreigners to win were Bob Sapp in 2022 and Zack Sabre Jr. last year.
Full list of winners:
- MVP: Saya Kamitani
- Best Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. OZAWA (Pro Wrestling NOAH, Jan. 1)
- Best Tag Team: OSKAR & Yuto-Ice
- Outstanding Performance: Konosuke Takeshita
- Fighting Spirit: Sareee
- Best Technique: Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Rookie Award: Kaisei Takechi
- Women’s Pro Wrestling Award: Saya Kamitani
