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.
- Mayu Iwatani will miss the two shows in Aomori as she will be receiving treatment for an unspecified injury.
- Thekla will miss the two shows in Aomori for unspecified reasons.
Quick Results
- 8-Woman Tag Team Match: Cosmic Angels (Saori Anou, Yuna Mizumori, Sayaka Kurura & Aya Sakura) def. STARS (Hazuki, Koguma, Momo Kohgo & Saya Iida) w/ Pottering (9:10)
- Three-Way Match: Saya Kamitani def. Hanan & Waka Tsukiyama w/ Schoolboy Suplex (7:24)
- 6-Woman Tag Team Match: NEO-GENESIS (AZM, Mei Seira & Miyu Amasaki) def. EXV (Mina Shirakawa, Xena & HANAKO) w/ Azumi Sushi (11:45)
- 8-Woman Tag Team Match: H.A.T.E (Natsuko Tora, Ruaka, Momo Watanabe & Konami) def. God’s Eye (Syuri, Saki Kashima, Lady C & Ranna Yagami) w/ Peach Sunrise (11:45)
- Singles Match: Maika def. Rian w/ Michinoku Driver II (13:56)
- Tag Team Match: meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) def. NEO-GENESIS (Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki) w/ Tiger Suplex (15:30)
The Undercard
If STARS were hoping that the passage of time would make things better for Hazuki, this match proves them dead wrong, with her outright sitting out huge portions of this match. Again, it takes Koguma almost dragging her into the match for her to take part and when she does, the lack of any sort of fire infuriates Yuna Mizumori who, quite rightly, takes it as a personal insult. The rest of STARS do their best, but find themselves overrun due to Hazuki’s apparent apathy towards helping them. Ultimately, this results in Koguma being pinned with the Pottering after a great exchange with Saori Anou, ironically perhaps the only person in the ring who can sympathise with how Hazuki is feeling. (***1/2)
Hats off to Taro Okada. When Saya Kamitani initially joined H.A.T.E, I was critical to the point of incredulousness. However, watching her come out here to a great reception proves me absolutely wrong whilst, ironically, cementing the fact that she’s perhaps the most popular person on the roster! She’s certainly the star of this match, though her condescending mannerisms do earn her Stereo Hip Attacks from both Waka and Hanan, the latter seemingly having the time of her life whilst performing them. After a flurry of failed roll-up attempts, Saya is able to hit her Bridging Schoolboy Suplex on Waka for the victory. (***)
I will never not be impressed by the speed at which AZM and Mei Seira are able to operate, but this is brought into even sharper relief when the pair are performing this offence in tandem! It definitely adds to an already fun multi-woman match, with us getting a brief but incredibly well-received return to Mei and Xena’s High-Speed Championship match, Mina absolutely levelling both AZM and Miyu with typically hard forearms and Xena and HANAKO taking it in turns to showcase their strength and power. However, it’s the end of HANAKO’s dominant run, with AZM slipping free of the JP Coaster and wrapping her up in the Azumi Sushi for the victory. (***1/2)
It is pandemonium to begin this match, but even for a H.A.T.E multi-woman match it feels chaotic. To start with, the moment the action moves to the outside, the frenetic nature of the brawl means the camera’s desperate attempts to catch everything actually misses a great deal, meaning we only glimpse snippets of what’s going on. President Okada protecting the fans, a Tora doppelgänger, chairs everywhere, and Yuna Mizumori somehow being dragged into the action. Once the action returns to the ring, it plays out as you might expect, though it should be noted that the ordinarily cowardly Saki stands up to open things up with Momo, looking to protect Syuri. However, it’s Syuri and Momo that are when the match reaches its crescendo. Saya Kamitani blindfolds the referee with a towel so that everyone can get their strikes in, culminating in Momo cracking the baseball bat of Syuri’s ribs and hitting the Peach Sunrise. Irrelevant of the manner in which it happened, Syuri is very rarely pinned, especially in multi-women matches. It’s a powerful visual therefore as we near the God’s Eye and H.A.T.E Goddesses of Stardom Championships match at Korakuen at the end of the month. (***)
Main Event Matches
Maika def. Rian – We are in Rian’s hometown tonight, and we get a ceremony to start proceedings with her being given an ungodly amount of flowers. After struggling to hold all of the bunches of flowers long enough for the photos, she then has to face off with former-World of Stardom Champion Maika.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Rian embark on mat-based wrestling, and though she is undoubtedly Maika’s subordinate in this area, her willingness to do it clearly impress Maika. Unfortunately that doesn’t curb the way Maika is going to wrestle this match, and for the vast majority of the rest of the match she is complete control. Even when Rian rallies, it’s like Maika is surveying her and seeing what she is made of. Indeed, when Maika absolutely destroys her with a Lariat, she demands that Rian at least try and get to her feet. The rookie does, managing to slowly crawl to her knees and aim a very lethargic forearm into Maika’s midriff. This is enough for the EXV co-leader, who gives a curt nod before immediately scooping her up into the Michinoku Driver II for the win.
Post-match, Rian officially asks if she can join EXV. Having impressed in matches against Xena at the PPV, Mina yesterday and Maika today, the faction welcome her with open arms. After weeks fawning over her development, it’s nice to see the excitement EXV have for acquiring Rian; fingers crossed that she is able to use this new home to continue her development! (***1/2)
meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) def. NEO-GENESIS (Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki) – If looks could kill, Suzu Suzuki is going to get life without parole. The cold look she fixes Tam with prior to the match is enough to frighten even the hardest of wrestling fans. Perhaps angered at this match not happening last year when it should have done, Suzu seems terrifyingly focused on making this opportunity count whilst she has it.
Tam’s never one for backing down of course, and it can be argued that she prefers a knock-down drag-out brawl. She gets that here, with both women leathering each other as hard as they possibly can, with Nakano coming out of this match with an enormous welt under her right eye and a bloodied mouth. There’s history as well between Kid and Poi, with the pair teaming up as Mutual Love earlier in the year, whilst also having done battle over the High-Speed Championships. Their exchanges are considerably more cordial that Suzu and Tam’s, though they are predictably blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.
Ultimately, in spite of what is a great match, it comes down to who has the better tag team chemistry, and that is undoubtedly the former-Goddesses of Stardom Champions meltear! After a breathless closing stretch, Natsupoi drops Kid with a rather gnarly-looking Release German Suplex, which gives Tam the opening to pin Suzu with a Tiger Suplex for the victory. Suzu is livid, and that anger drips off of every word she delivers in the post-match, storming to the back where she then refuses to give so much as a word to backstage interviewers. Just as another little side note, it appears that Starlight Kid then throws her name in the ring for a White Belt match down the line with Natsupoi before NEO-GENESIS retreat.
I can imagine that the Red Belt match in Nagoya is going to be quite the brutal spectacle! (****)
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 21st September – Stardom in Sendai 2024 Sept., Sendai PIT, Miyagi (LIVE)
- Sunday 22nd September – Stardom in Kaminoyama, Yamagata Sanyu Engineer Sports & Culture Centre, Yamagata (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Monday 23rd September – Stardom in Niigata, Niigata City Industrial Promotion Center, Niigata (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Saturday 28th September – Stardom in Korakuen 2024 Sep 2., Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Sunday 29th September – New Blood 15, Saitama Tokorozawa Sakura Town Japan Pavilion Hall, Saitama (LIVE)
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