It was on May 4th of 2019 that Bea Priestley defeated Kagetsu to become the new World of STARDOM Champion. That victory would be Bea’s first time winning the title and she held onto it for seven months. During her reign, she defended the title against the likes of Hazuki, Konami, Momo Wantanbe, Utami Hayashishita and Hana Kimura.
Priestley’s reign as champion came to an end on November 4th when she met former two-time World of STARDOM Champion and former Women of Honor World Champion, Mayu Iwatani. I had the opportunity to chat with Bea Priestley this past November at Starrcast IV and get her thoughts about her seven-month world title reign and she did not expect to win the title when she did. She shared that it was an overwhelming moment and doesn’t think she was ready when she initially won it, but went on to prove that she is a main-eventer.
“So I did not expect to win the belt when I did. It was a very overwhelming moment. I do think I grew a lot when I had the belt. I don’t think when I had it, I was particularly ready but I think I proved a point that I am a main-eventer, I am one of the top STARDOM wrestlers they have on the roster and I think that the matches I’ve had [are] some of the best STARDOM matches of the year, based off my reign. I’m not sad about dropping… I was sad when I lost it to Mayu [Iwatani], but I also think Mayu is one of the best females that STARDOM has to offer and not just in STARDOM, but in the world. Mayu’s surpassed it, so I’m not upset about losing to Mayu.”
On top of working for STARDOM, Bea also works part-time with All Elite Wrestling. She debuted for the company at Fight For The Fallen where she teamed with Shoko Nakajima to defeat Britt Baker and the current AEW Women’s World Champion Riho. It was at Fight For The Fallen where Bea and Britt Baker’s rivalry started and that rivalry came to a head at AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9th.
Bea’s last televised match on AEW Dynamite was on November 27th. She explained her current situation with AEW and STARDOM and talked about how unique of a situation she is in.
“So, I am the only full-time foreigner in STARDOM, so I’m the only one that has that privilege. I’m also here [AEW] part-time so, I think the only other person who does STARDOM and AEW would be Jamie Hayter who’s my tag partner in STARDOM. Pretty much, I wrestle in STARDOM full-time. I come out to AEW on a part-time basis when they want me.”
While we were on the topic of STARDOM, at the time, there was a clip that made the rounds on social media from a match that Bea Priestley had with Mayu Iwatani. It appeared that Bea and Mayu were either setting up for a hurricanrana or a powerbomb from the top rope but Bea’s foot slipped and Mayu came crashing down. Fortunately, no one was hurt and they were able to continue and finish the match. Bea saw the negative comments rolling in and said that all that happened was her foot slipped. She said that type of stuff happens in wrestling and she had a conversation with Mayu who is a close friend of her’s, and Mayu said there was no problem and no pain on her end.
This is really scary… I'm glad Mayu is ok after that pic.twitter.com/Fs6LenBybn
— NAUFAL (@NaufalNoorSWS) November 4, 2019
“My general thoughts is that my foot slipped. That’s what happens. Sh*t happens in wrestling. People slip, people f*ck up, it happens, it’s wrestling. Mayu is not hurt, Mayu did not really care. I messaged Mayu, she said, ‘No pain, no problem. Thank you’, with a love heart. Me and Mayu are good friends so I think basically, people on the internet, they just like to over exaggerate anything they can to make foreigners — especially STARDOM. They do not like foreigners — make [them] look like bad people and it’s like, we’re actually good friends backstage. But yeah, it’s simple, my foot slipped. It went wrong, but Mayu is fine, no one is hurt, nothing is broken. The match continued, finished, there we go.”
Bea was recently in action at STARDOM’s show at KFC Hall on January 4th. The former World of STARDOM Champion can be found on Twitter @BeaPriestley and on Instagram at @beapriestleypw. The audio from our interview can be heard on the Andrew Thompson Interviews YouTube channel.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rZP9whX-YA[/embedyt]
