#this ended up WAY longer than I expected lol add Komomo to the list of 'don't even get me started' ig

[nakanotamu]

Why does Mayu dislike Kokomo?

I wouldn't really say she dislikes Komomo so much as she's disappointed in Komomo, which is of course worse.

There are a few wrestlers in Stardom right now whose like, defining character trait is how much they LOVE WRESTLING, just as like, as a physical artform, the techniques, the matches, the fighting. That's not Komomo. Momo loves Stardom, specifically Stars, extra-specifically Stars from around 2018-19, when they were defined by Mayu/Arisa/Saki/Tam as the core of the unit. She idolizes that era of the unit a LOT - that's why she specifically requested to join Stars, even despite Tam and Unagi rolling out the reverse-psychology red carpet to try and invite her to Cosmic Angels.

But even out of those four, Saki is her #1, her bias, her babygirl. For a while she had this belief that Stars is SO GREAT that she would be able to bring back all the former members just by asking them, though she's pretty much gotten over that. But even with her Oedo Tai ways, Momo's love for Saki has not diminished in the slightest. She's uh. Maybe even a little into it.

Okay, maybe a lot into it.

In their 5 Star match, Saki said Momo could either have a free signed photobook, or she could have the two points from their match. Momo said "Easy, the signed photobook, no question. And then I'll just beat you anyway." Saki tried to make her give the photobook back once she actually pulled it off but it seemed like she just liked that too.

So anyway, despite clearly being the best wrestler of all time, Momo performs pretty poorly as far as actual results. She's not really a rookie any more, not that she's extremely experienced, but she's been wrestling for a few years and should kind of be doing better than she does; the idea is she basically loves Stardom too much to just focus on the fact that she's actually there now and should be trying to win.

So she teams with Mayu in Tag League this year. It's a dream come true for Momo and she is SO DETERMINED to make Mayu proud. Mayu is... supportive, basically saying she thinks Momo has potential, but lacks discipline, so she's not sure how it'll go. At one point she says "Komomo could be my best tag partner ever or my worst tag partner ever, that's up to her."

They do... okay? I'd say, better than you'd expect from a "one of the strongest people in the company and an underperforming rookie" team. But Mayu knows Momo's trying, and that's what counts. They do get some wins that are decent for them, but some disappointing losses too.

But their opponents on the last day are Team We Love ToSpo, Saki and Fukigen Death, and Momo shows up looking like this:

(In case you can't make it out, her extra gear all says "Saki Kashima" and "LOVE")

They actually win the match, thanks to Mayu "I definitely don't pay attention to or care about Saki Kashima" Iwatani pinning Saki with her own move, but Mayu is PISSED at Komomo for going into this match where she is supposed to be her tag partner completely decked out in Saki stan gear. Saki Kashima, who did betray her horribly. She says she's not taking it seriously enough, that the rest of Stars give her dirty looks for this stuff, that this is why Hazuki gave up on training her.

Komomo is gutted. She says this is who she is but she doesn't want to let Mayu down and doesn't want Stars to hate her, so she'll reflect on it and work really hard to make them proud. She enters Triangle Derby alongside Mayu and Hanan, and it's not quite clear whether she specifically asked for that to be their team, or if she's just happy with the team she was assigned. Hanan constantly assumes everything in Stars is great so she's happy as a clam. Mayu is pissed though, and while she seems to feel maybe a little bad for coming off so harsh after last time, she also REALLY doesn't want to deal with that shit again.

Idk if you've seen the gifs/clips, anon/readers, of Hazuki slapping the absolute shit out of Komomo in their match in December, but that's what it was about. Komomo was so excited to wrestle against Stars and got caught up doing the kuma dance with Koguma, and Hazuki slaps the daylights out of her not because she hates her or something, but because she's being a Stardom stan first and a wrestler second AGAIN.

So so far, that's been Komomo's story in Triangle Derby. She's trying SO, SO HARD to squash down the stan part of herself, and is managing to try really hard and wrestle seriously! They fought Saki's team, Gold Ship, in their very first match, Momo specifically volunteered to go first, AND tried to call out Saki to prove she would fight her seriously this time. (Saki ignored her, obviously, but once they were in the ring together Komomo did pull it off!) They also fought their Stars teammates again, and once again this time Momo took it very seriously instead of getting caught up like she did in the past. H&M's lost both times, but Hazuki said she could tell Momo was really trying to win and that's the part of her she loves to see.

But it hasn't translated to success. H&M's are the only team in the tournament, aside from Lollipop, Waka Tsukiyama's team, that haven't won a single match yet. And if you know who Waka is you know their goal is literally just to win one match, so that's a pretty pathetic comparison for the team that has Mayu in it.

And that being the nature of tournaments, that's where things are at now. We'll have to keep watching to see how things go for Mayu and Komomo. Personally, I really, really want Momo to fail at keeping her ultra stan aura down and absolutely explode on Mayu, brutally turning on her and at the same time finally getting the full, complete Stars experience. I'm kidding, mostly, but I do hope she leaves Stars. I think if the story ends up just being "she squashed down the part of herself that loves this more than anything and eventually started winning" that would be a major fucking bummer.

As for where she could go if things do shake out that way, I would accept pretty much anywhere. I think lots of people see her joining Oedo Tai to be with Saki, and I wouldn't complain about that at all. However, if I can be selfish and just pick one, well, there's one team that loves weirdoes who are too passionate about the things they care about, that she's teamed with before, that have her old friend with them, that even invited her to join them once.

I don't know how likely it might be, but there's not a shred of doubt in my mind as to where I hope she ends up.

Anyway thank you for reading, have some Komomo pics I love her so, so much that's my WIFE