Star Gazing is our series which will add to our already growing coverage of World Wonder Ring Stardom (Also known simply as Stardom) and the Joshi scene where we will get you up to speed with members of the Stardom roster. Today we will be focusing on Giulia, the leader of Donna Del Mondo and one of the top stars of Stardom.
It’s been less than a year since Giulia made her way to Stardom in a rather controversial manner. In that time she has been pushed to the moon by the company to the point she is already a double champion, cinderella tournament winner, and went undefeated in the company until the summer of 2020. Let’s take a look at the career of Giulia to see how she got here.
Background
Half Italian, Half Japanese, born in England Giulia was anything but a wrestling fan. She went to school to work in the hair and beauty sector but also worked in a cabaret club. It was here that she first saw professional wrestling and immediately became engrossed while watching Ice Ribbon. She decided that she wanted to become a professional wrestler.
Ice Ribbon
Giulia took part in wrestling circle, an Ice Ribbon initiative to allow beginners to learn wrestling. She would become a proper trainee eventually before being presented as a wrestler in August 2017. She made her in-ring debut against Hamuko Hoshi on October 21st in a dojo match. Her journey from becoming a trainee to her debut was broadcast as part of Fuji TV’s Bonus Of Women. In 2017 Giulia didn’t do much of note but in 2018 she got to share the ring with a number of legends. She notably got to wrestle Aja Kong and Command Bolshoi while also getting her first-ever singles win in August over Satsuki Totoro. She capped off her 2018 by winning the New Face Award in Ice Ribbon. 2019 would see her finally get a notable run in Ice Ribbon.
Burning Raw
Giulia would form the tag team Burning Raw with Tequila Saya. Although the two would briefly stop teaming as Giulia had ambitions of chasing the ICE x Infinity Championship and Tsukasa Fujimoto. It was this ambition that elevated Giulia, she took Tsukasa Fujimoto, the measuring stick of Ice Ribbon, to the edge in a match before challenging Maya Yukihi and having a back and forth 26-minute match with the dominant Yukihi. After this match, Giulia turned her attention back to Burning Raw and the team captured International Ribbon Tag Team Championships from Yukihi and Risa Sera in July. This marked Giulia’s first championship win and frankly, things only went downhill from here.
Controversial Exit From Ice Ribbon
Tequila Saya announced that she would be retiring and that her retirement event would take place on October 12th. Saya’s retirement event was cancelled due to a Typhoon, two days later Giulia abruptly announced her departure from Ice Ribbon online before showing up at Stardom on October 14th to announce that she had joined the company. Ice Ribbon, obviously, were not too happy with this as Giulia had not gone through the proper procedures to procure her release from Ice Ribbon before showing up for another company. What left a sour taste for many fans was the fact that Giulia was planning to leave just days after her tag team partners retirement. In the end, Saya was forced to extend her career to make up for Giulia’s remaining 2019 dates while Giulia’s Stardom debut was delayed until November.
Stardom Domination
Giulia debuted in Stardom on November 28th and immediately began a feud with Hana Kimura. Throughout December Giulia won a number of singles matches leading up to her match with Kimura at Korakuen Hall. The two wrestled to a vicious draw, a result that told many fans that Giulia was a top star for Stardom as she had avoided losing to the 5STAR Grand Prix winner Kimura. Giulia was also announced as one of the participants in the Stardom offer match at WrestleKingdom, another sign that she would be a leading name for the company.
Many were left wondering if Giulia would slot into one of the factions in Stardom as her addition to any faction would make them much stronger. She didn’t join any, Stardom gave her her own faction which became known as Donna Del Mondo. Giulia initially recruited fellow outsiders Syuri and Maika to the group which has now grown to include Himeka and Natsupoi. Giulia, Syuri, and Maika didn’t wait long before winning the group’s first titles as they defeated AZM, Momo Watanabe, and Utami Hayashishita to win the Artist Of Stardom Championships.
Giulia has individual success when she won the Cinderella Tournament, defeating Natsuko Tora in the final. This was another feather in her growing cap as her instant success made her the likely successor to Arisa Hoshiki’s Wonder Of Stardom Championship run. We never did see Giulia and Hoshiki wrestle for the title as COVID-19 caused Stardom to shut down operations and during the time off Hoshiki was forced to retire due to injuries.
When Stardom returned Giulia picked up right where she left off and won the Wonder Of Stardom Championship in a one-night tournament, defeating Konami and Tam Nakano to win the championship. Giulia remained unbeaten in singles competition until show 2 of the 5STAR Grand Prix, her first actual loss came weeks before at the hands of Saki Kashima, but retained her Wonder title at Yokohama Cinderella and continues to hold two championships.
In just under a year Giulia has wrestled at the Tokyo Dome, led a faction, beaten some of Stardom’s top names, won the Cinderella Tournament, and won two championships, all while remaining unbeaten for months. This is a woman that will be at the forefront of Stardom for years to come and for those that love, love, love Giulia that’ll be news to their ears.
Check Out Some Of Our Other Star Gazing Profiles
- Mayu Iwatani
- Momo Watanabe
- Konami
- Utami Hayashishita
- Tam Nakano
- Jungle Kyona
- Natsuko Tora
- Saya Kamitani
- Arisa Hoshiki (Retired)
- Kagetsu (Retired)
- Hana Kimura (RIP)
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. And make sure to subscribe to Stardom World to see all the action from Stardom. Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the LWOS Boards to engage in conversation with fellow fans!
