Yuki Aino: She’s a good powerhouse, and they don’t have a lot of them, and Miu hasn’t fought one yet.

She’s been kinda aimlessly filling in whatever gap they need her to fill, she was tag champ again for a hot minute with a different sibling-like figure (Ryo Mizunami) early this year, she’s put on a very aggressive matchup with Runa where she showed off a lot of fire, and Koda has tried to push her as a singles performer before. I could totally see this happening but I would never expect her to win the title off of Miu. Though I also didn’t expect her and Mizunami to win the Tag Title three-way, so what do I know.

Mizuki: Former champion, also basically a non-entity since her reign was unceremonoiusly ended by Yamashita, could be poised as a serious threat, but ultimately I don’t expect her to win either with how her reign went.

Yuki Kamifuku: She’s very over and has improved leaps and bounds from 2023 onwards, but she’s also currently a champion in 2 different promotions, which would complicate shit with putting over other talent while being the top champion (I expected her to win the IPC in her match against Arai last time they fought, but it’s clear they wanted the rookie lineup of champs for the final shot of the event).

This on the one hand means you could have her at least go the distance and challenge, as that shows her more dominant than just losing in the tournament itself, on the other hand unless she wins the loss would be more high profile and public, so it really depends on what the agreements are between the promotions (if any).

I would, however, absolutely die if I got to see Belt Collector Kamiyu live in October, so hope springs eternal that I’m wrong and it’s finally time to push Kamiyu, dammit.

Ryo Mizunami: Much like Aino, she’s a big powerhouse who can go and can put on a fun match with anyone, and Miu still hasn’t been out-powered in her matches thus far. I wouldn’t expect her to win, as she’s not signed, but having her challenge for the belt could be a way to bridge-build with Sendai Girls Pro where she wrestles a lot, now that it’s also on Wrestle Universe.

Watanabe herself: That would be boring, please don’t. It wouldn’t be the first time but Miu is not an underdog and it would just suck to see the tournament wasted on somethin like this, especially since the only sensible choices for Miu to make would be re-threads: Yamashita, her eternal rival, or Tatsumi, her tag partner.

Yuki Arai: She’s the current IP champion, she’s gonna go far but I don’t expect her to be even in the finals, it would be mental to have her get to the end and tease a possible belt unification considering how green she is, but she is a draw, so that’s not impossible, and Miu seems to be situated to become the next big thing, so they could unify the belts on her.

Wakana Uehara: She’s extremely good at self-promotion and she’s clearly a future winner, might be they decide to already pull the trigger on her.

Toga: Same as Wakana, though even less likely.