After turning on her best friend and mentor, Mariah May has become one of the top heels in wrestling.
After winning multiple fantastic matches to win the Owen Hart Foundation Cup, she brutally attacked Toni Storm to set up a huge clash at Wembley Stadium.
It has been a long road. Mariah May turned down the WWE to start a journey which led her to stardom in Japan, before becoming a main event star in AEW.
In this article, we’ll look at Mariah May’s best matches in wrestling so far.
5. vs. Hikaru Shida – AEW Beach Break 2023
The first match on the list of Mariah May’s best matches came from her involvement in the Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament. It was one of her first main event matches in AEW, and she more than proved her worth against former women’s champion Hikaru Shida.
The pair wrestled well together. It was a fairly unpolished match, but that only added to the realness of the contest. It seemed more a throwback to a classic wrestling match, as opposed to a choreographed modern-day affair.
Mariiah May picked up the win, advancing to the final of the tournament. It was, at that point, her best match in AEW, and got fans excited about an eventual clash with Toni Storm at Wembley Stadium.
4. vs. MIRAI – Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix 2023
Mariah May put on a fantastic show against Japanese star MIRAI during the 2023 Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix. The tournament is the Stardom-equivilent of the G1 Climax, and provides the opportunity for some incredible matches.
This was no different. It was a fantastic back-and-forth contest, with some nasty-looking suplexes coming close to getting the win for both women. On particular belly-to-belly suplex looked like it broke Mariah May’s next, but that’s just the skill of these joshi stars.
The Englishwoman showed a new side to her in this match. She wrestled a varied bout, showing her brawling, technical and grappling skills. It showed a more rounded Mariah May, one which she has built upon as her career has gone on.
3. vs. Natsupoi & Saori Anou – Stardom X Stardom 2023
The appearance of Mina Shirakawa had fans intrigued about her tag team matches with Mariah May in Japan. Well, they are in luck. They were fantastic!
The two women teamed together as Club Venus in Stardom, and their best tag team match was at the Stardom X Stardom event in 2023. Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa faced Natsupoi & Saori Anou in a bout that needed no backstory to enjoy the in-ring action.
Shirakawa and May had some wonderful tag team moves, and worked together brilliantly. Their close relationship shone through, although that is not to take anything away from their opponents, who also worked wonderfully in this match.
2. vs. Willow Nightingale – AEW Dynamite, 10/7/24
The final of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament ended with Mariah May attacking Toni Storm, turning on her after months as best friends (or maybe more). However, that rather overshadowed the brilliant main event of AEW Dynamite that preceded the drama.
On a show that also saw Bryan Danielson beat Adam Page, this stole the show. Both women put it all on the line. It was clear how much wrestling at Wembley Stadium meant to both women, and they pulled out all the stops to try and earn that title shot.
It had a lot of near falls and false finishes. Both women had clearly defined roles, although the crowd would have been happy to see either woman take home the trophy. While the post-match completely overshadowed it, the bout itself was a very good match, and one of Mariah May’s best.
1. vs Giulia. – Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix 2023
The best match of Mariah May’s career has to be her Stardom clash with Giulia from the 2023 5STAR Grand Prix. They came out of the blocks with an aggressive lock-up, showing an intensity that has been missing from the English wrestler’s matches so far.
They traded huge slaps to start the match, as the crowd got louder and louder. It was an incredible back-and-forth encounter, with both women laying in some nasty looking suplexes on one another.
A number of near falls had the crowd on edge. Mariah May showed she could be a main event star in this match, holding her own against one of the best joshi wrestlers in the world. While she fell to a spinning Tombstone Piledriver, she put on the best match of her career so far.
