SHOW REPORT: Stardom Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 – Night 6 (Monday, 4th November 2024)

Notes

• Ami Sohrei will be absent from all cards as she begins the process of recovering from ACL and meniscus tears in her knee.
• Kaori Yoneyama – more commonly known as Fukigen Death in Stardom – has also suffered an ACL tear and will be out of action for a year.
• Xena has suffered a ligament injury in her knee, and will be out of action for an undisclosed period of time.
• Attendance Notes: This show is Suzu Suzuki’s Triumphal Return show at the UMK Sports Studio in Miyazaki, with the attendance being announced as a sellout of 420 people. This is only the second time that Stardom have run the Kyushu prefecture – the first being the previous night in Oita – and is the first time that Suzuki has wrestled in front of her home crowd.

Current Block Standings (Before 4th November 2024)

Quick Results

• 12-Woman Tag Team Match: Syuri, Lady C, Hina, Mei Seira, Starlight Kid & Miyu Amasaki def. Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Rian, Tam Nakano, Sayaka Kurura & HANAKO w/ Gedo Clutch (12:54)
• Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Blue Goddess Match: Sakuradamon (Yuna Mizumori & Aya Sakura) (2) def. DEVIL/PRINCESS (Rina & Azusa Inaba) (2) w/ High Kick (13:00)
• Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Red Goddess Match: BMI2000 (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (4) def. Inaba & Yagami (Tomoka Inaba & Ranna Yagami) (0) w/ Lariat (10:55)
• Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Blue Goddess Match: SaoriPoi (Natsupoi & Saori Anou) (9) vs. Winggori (Hanan & Saya Iida) (1) Ended in a Time Limit Draw (20:00)
• Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Red Goddess Match: Fukuoka Double Crazy (Hazuki & Koguma) (8) def. Peach Rock (Mayu Iwatani & Momo Kohgo) (2) w/ Sleeper Hold (13:33)
• Suzu Suzuki Triumphal Return Match: Suzu Suzuki def. AZM w/ Locomotion German Suplex (16:53)

Undercard

Goodness gracious me, where do you even start with a match like this? Maybe with Maika handing out drinks of an ominous transparent liquid and chocolates to the members of NEO-GENESIS. Maybe it’s with Syuri missing getting tagged in because she was too busy eating chicken at ringside. Maybe with Tam and Mina vibing like the early days of Cosmic Angels. Or maybe it’s the conga line as all twelve women leave the ring following Hina pinning Rian. Wherever you start, it’s yet another instance of the Stardom wrestlers having the absolute time of their lives at the moment, with positivity and fun plapable through the 13 minute run time! (***)

Sakuradamon are quickly becoming the living embodiment of fighting spirit the longer this tournament goes on. Not only because they are almost-impossibly full of energy and passion, but the way that they both repeatedly get back up when being knocked down is one of a host of reasons that they are getting some of the biggest reactions on these shows. Sakura starts hot but, as has been the case prior, finds herself isolated by Rina. Yuna enters the fray to add that bit of power, but the moment Aya is back in the ring, DEVIL/PRINCESS to keep her in the ring and away from Mizumori. Inaba rather unwisely decides to try and trade kicks with Sakura and, though her kicks are nothing to sniff at, you can’t help but feel it’s playing with fire against someone who bases a lot of their offence around their arsenal of kicks. Aya does survive long enough, with a rather large does of help courtesy of Yuna, to make Azusa regret this choice, slamming into the side of her head with a huge right High Kick for the victory, Sakuradamon’s first of the tournament – and against the New Blood Tag Team Champions no less! (***1/2)

It’s the raw power of BMI2000 against the striking acumen of the team of Inaba and Yagami next, and even though Inaba and Yagami are able to haul themselves into moments of promise, it feels like they can never really come to terms with the way Tora in particular is able to bully them. Ruaka as well seems to be coming into her own in this tournament, following a 5Star Grand Prix where she outperformed expectations. The cheating is becoming less formulaic and less glaringly obvious, whilst her in-ring style is evolving well. Stardom are clearly building a little bit of momentum behind the Violent Freezer as it is she again who gets the pinfall – to go with the pinfall she got against 02 Line – with a Lariat over Yagami. (***1/4)

A match highlighted before the tournament started as one to look forward to next, and one between arguably the two favourites to win Blue Goddesses. Needless to say, it does not disappoint! Opening with a war of Poi vs. Muscle, the action explodes at a ferocious rate, from Saori Anou and Hanan revisiting their White Belt match from back at All-Star Grand Queendom, to a truly scintillating exchange between Natsupoi and Saya Iida which underpins this entire match. Seriously, the way Saya is able to bring out the aggression in Natsupoi mixed with the sheer ferocity of some of her Lariats and overall strikes is a true sight to behold. Hanan playing the part of babyface in peril is perfect for the dynamic of Winggori, aided in no small part by the fact that her selling game has improved exponentially. You only have to listen to the way she screams as Natsupoi takes apart her arm, or the way she gasps for air when she’s locked in the Muta Lock by Saori Anou; it really isn’t lost on me the sheer pace with which Hanan is ascending up this Stardom roster! Yes, ultimately the match goes to a time-limit draw, but rather than sucking the air out of the room which can often be the case if the draw isn’t necessarily earned, the quartet get a raucous ovation as both Anou and Poi show their belts off towards Winggori before leaving. Plus, how can you be upset at a time-limit draw when you have a closing stretch like the one you have in this match. I’d wager you’d be hard-pressed to find a single Stardom multi-woman match all year with a better final stretch! Not only is this an easy match of the tournament so far – a pretty high bar considering how good this tournament has been – but it also sews a few seeds of a possible Saya Iida and Natsupoi program which, let’s face facts here, would be incredibly good and no less than Iida deserves! (****1/2)

Main Event Matches

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Red Goddess Match: Fukuoka Double Crazy (Hazuki & Koguma) (8) def. Peach Rock (Mayu Iwatani & Momo Kohgo) (2) – An all-STARS – pun very much intended – affair here, though it’s interesting to note that both teams forgo the pre-match handshake, with Momo Kohgo the only one even attempting it. Speaking of Momo, if they are any latent doubters out there about her ability or the speed of her development, you only need look at the opening chain wrestling with Hazuki, where she seamlessly and confidently matches her trainer move for move, or the equally-smooth transitions into the Rings of Saturn she locks Koguma in during the match’s explosive closing stretch. Kohgo in fact seems to be taking it as a personal challenge to prove her worth to the remaining three members of STARS, Hazuki in particular given their tough love relationship as mentor and mentee. I’ve waxed-lyrical a lot about FWC during this Tag League – and indeed before it – but there is very little in this world more cathartic than seeing Peach Rock connect with his perfectly-timed Stereo Superkicks, or Momo Kohgo hitting her variation of the Tornado DDT, and we get both here! Needless to say, the times we get Hazuki and Mayu in the same ring are excellent, while the notably Kuma-free Koguma and Momo’s closing blitz is tremendous. With Hazuki on the outside and Momo primed for the Nectar Peach on Koguma, it looks like Peach Rock are about to collect their second win of the tournament, but this is where it all falls apart. Hazuki intervenes, but in a bid to throw her from the ring, Momo inadvertently flings her into a Suicide Dive onto Mayu on the outside. During the confusion, Koguma snatched Momo into a Sleeperhold and ragdolls her violently as she spins her round, dropping to the floor like a stone with the Bodyscissors applied. Momo doesn’t know what’s hit her and she submits, moving FWC to 8 points, and in the process makes it almost certain that they will be in one of the three top places come December 7th. Koguma and Momo embrace following the match, and though Hazuki is noticeably more standoffish as Momo’s former-trainer, she does shake her hand before smiling awkwardly as Momo throws herself into a brief hug, patting her gently on the head. Judging from this and the approving nod from Mayu, it seems that Momo has gone some way to proving herself in the eyes of her peers here! (***1/4)

Suzu Suzuki Triumphal Return Match: Suzu Suzuki def. AZM – Suzu is back wrestling in Miyazaki for the very first time, and the streamers are back in Stardom – all feels right with the world. I know the streamers were back for Fukuoka Triple Crazy, but for a singles match the streamers add even more! She gets an excellent reaction from her hometown crowd, made all the more emotional by the fact that her mother is in the front row, and the remaining members of NEO-GENESIS are at ringside wearing special Suzu Suzuki shirts. Couple this with the visual of Suzu standing on the top rope as the red streamers fly, and it just feels special. The match itself has everything you could possibly want from these two. Opening with the ferociously quick-paced salvo, reminding everyone that Suzu is a deceptively quick wrestler – making her even more dangerous – before we move to the more chaotic brawling section on the outside. After NEO-GENESIS politely escort an older lady from her seat, Suzu and AZM fling each other into the front row, before Suzu takes it a step further by then launching a chair into AZM’s leg, sitting her on the chair trolley and literally bowling her into the seats where her own Mum had been sitting not five seconds earlier. We do get a chance to catch our breath mind you, as Suzu repeatedly tries to get her NEO-GENESIS stablemate back into the ring, only for a woozy AZM to roll to the other side of the ring and fall out to the floor. Once the action does restart, it does in earnest, with the pair putting on an outstanding battle. From trading suplexes and forearms, to AZM’s relentless work on Suzu’s arms and brief revisiting to the quicker-paced opening with a one-two of roll-ups, the pair ramp up the intensity and the pace as we head towards the end of the match. Speaking of the end of the match, AZM manages to kick out of the Tequila Shot but, at the loud behest of the crowd, Suzu goes to the top rope to attempt her Skytwister Press. Not wanting anything to do with that, AZM manages to join her on the second rope, only to then be hit with a towering Avalanche Dolphin Buster. Needless to say, this rocks AZM and though she puts up a desperate fight as Suzu looks for the Locomotion German Suplex, she just doesn’t have enough left in her, with Suzuki planting her for the three count in what is a wildly entertaining match! (****1/4)

Block Standings

You can check out the Stardom roster win/loss records for 2024 right here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/103h_Y27csTgcS-CcBwswaj-D7hVazTC_Wn0SPn0BZBM/edit

You can check out a comprehensive run down of the Stardom Championship Histories here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Dk6T0ukSXm6R8eOTQU96i4rsfoy34wnz0-rKP5mwmQ/edit

Upcoming Shows

• Saturday 9th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 7, New Pier Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
• Sunday 10th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 8, TKP Garden City, Chiba (LIVE)
• Monday 11th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 9, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
• Saturday 16th November – New Blood West 2, Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka (LIVE/YouTube)
• Sunday 17th November – NJPW x Stardom Historic X-Over II, EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka (PPV)
• Wednesday 20th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 10, Aomori Budokan, Tohaku (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Thursday 21st November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 11, Akita Furusato Village Dome Theatre, Tohaku (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 23rd November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 12, Aztec Museum Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall, Miyagi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Sunday 24th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 13, Big Palette Fukushima, Koriyama City (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 30th November – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 14, Ishibashi Sports Center, Tochigi (LIVE)
• Sunday 1st December – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 15, DUO CEREZO, Niigata (TBA)
• Saturday 7th December – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 16, Act City Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu (TBA)
• Sunday 8th December – Goddesses of Stardom Tag League – Night 17, Act City Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu (TBA)