Visa issues impact Stardom WrestleMania week show
Visa issues have led to three wrestlers being pulled from Stardom’s WrestleMania week show in Las Vegas.
As part of Palms Slam Fest, Stardom is holding an event next Friday (April 17) at the Pearl Concert Theater. The card for the show is being adjusted with Stardom announcing that, due to an “unusually long visa process,” Maki Itoh, Yuria Hime, and Fuwa-chan will not be able to make the trip to the United States.
“Due to an unexpectedly long visa processing period for some athletes for the Las Vegas event in the United States, their visas were not issued in time for the scheduled matches,” the promotion said. “The updated match card will be announced as soon as it is finalized. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and concern caused to everyone who was looking forward to this event.”
Itoh added that all of her scheduled bookings in the United States this month have been canceled.
“Due to visa issues, I’ve had to cancel all of my US bookings this April. I’m really sorry to everyone who was looking forward to seeing me,” she wrote. “My team did everything we could to try and fix this, but it seems like the world is a bit complicated right now. But don’t worry I’ll definitely be back in the US!”
Stardom President Taro Okada noted that, while Stardom did everything they could on their end, the promotion will still look to strengthen its processes moving forward as Stardom aims to continue its international expansion.
The April 17 Stardom event, named American Dream 2026, is being headlined by Alex Windsor defending the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship against Saya Iida. Among the others set to compete on the show are Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron, Kris Statlander, and Mina Shirakawa.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.