Bea Priestley is coming off a highly successful 2019, which saw her win the World of Stardom Title, make the finals of Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League, and debut for AEW.
She won the World of Stardom Title in May, defeating Kagetsu and held the title until November, losing to Mayu Iwatani. Speaking to Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling, Priestley discussed her title run.
“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," she said.
While she had a successful year as far as accolades go, there was a sore spot for Priestly in the ring. During her match with Mayu Iwatani in November, a top rope botch occurred in a scary-looking incident for Iwatani.
This is really scary... I'm glad Mayu is ok after that pic.twitter.com/Fs6LenBybn
— NAUFAL (@NaufalNoorSWS) November 4, 2019
When asked about the incident, Priestley stated, "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.”
Priestley currently works full-time in Stardom, but has a part-time deal with AEW as well. She took on Britt Baker on the AEW Full Gear pre-show in a match many felt should have been on the main card given the story behind it. She recently competed on the Jan. 4 Stardom event, teaming with Jamie Hayter & Zoey Skye in a loss to Leyla Hirsch & Tokyo Cyber Squad (Jungle Kyona & Konami).
