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 and Thekla return to action from this show onwards after missing the back-to-back shows in Aomori.
Quick Results
- 6-Woman Tag Team Match: NEO-GENESIS (Starlight Kid, Mei Seira & Miyu Amasaki) def. STARS (Hazuki, Koguma & Hanan) w/ Dropkick (10:23)
- Singles Match: Saya Iida def. Aya Sakura w/ Lariat (9:09)
- Three-Way Match: AZM def. Saki Kashima & Waka Tsukiyama w/ Azumi Sushi (7:36)
- Three-Way Tag Team Match: Peach Rock (Mayu Iwatani & Momo Kohgo) def. EXV (HANAKO & Rian) & H.A.T.E (Momo Watanabe & Konami) w/ European Clutch (8:52)
- 6-Woman Tag Team Match: EXV (Maika, Mina Shirakawa & Xena) def. God’s Eye (Syuri, Lady C & Ranna Yagami) w/ Thunderstruck (13:43)
- 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Cosmic Angels (Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurura & Yuna Mizumori) def. H.A.T.E (Natsuko Tora, Saya Kamitani & Ruaka) w/ Tropicana (10:51)
- Tag Team Match: Suzu Suzuki & Thekla def. meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) w/ Tequila Shot (16:28)
The Undercard
When will Miyu Amasaki learn? Again she volunteers to do the Kuma Dance, and again she finds herself on the back foot when Koguma attacks immediately afterwards. In a similar note, it appears that Koguma is learning that the supportive side she has been showing Hazuki hasn’t been working. After dragging her into the match twice, including bringing her back from sitting sullenly on the steps of Sendai PIT, she loses patience and slaps her across the back, yelling at her to focus up. This, coupled with Starlight Kid’s fury at her lack of fight, seems to briefly wake Hazuki from her slump and she begins fighting back with a roar of passion. It doesn’t last though, and when Mei Seira hits her with a Dropkick, it seems to drive out the microscopic flicker of fight she had mustered with the High Speed Champion pinning her for the win. (***)
Aya Sakura continues her march towards her Future of Stardom Championship with Rina at New Blood 15 with a singles match with Saya Iida. Unfortunately, similar to the match she had we Ruaka in Aomori, she comes out on the wrong side. She fights valiantly of course, responding to Saya’s meaty chops with a volley of kicks to the chest, but the moment Saya is able to Powerbomb her way out of Sakura’s Triangle Choke, it looks like the writing is on the wall. A thunderous Lariat is enough for Saya to take the victory, condemning Aya to two singles losses in a row; not exactly the build of momentum she needs heading into her first ever singles championship match! (***)
Amid the inevitable chaos and shenanigans that seems to follow Saki Kashima three-ways, there are pockets of really good wrestling in this match, especially during a frenetic closing stretch. Of course, we still had Kashima picking a fight with Daichi Muryama for counting too slow, only for him to then perform a ludicrous fast-count when AZM attempts a pin seconds later, and we opened with AZM and Saki making Waka run the ropes for such a long time that she needed a time out and a bottle of water provided by Maika and Mina at ringside. Though it looked like Saki might steal the victory, just as she had done back in Aomori, AZM is able to grab victory with the Azumi Sushi to bring to an end what is an entertaining if inconsequential undercard match. (**3/4)
It’s quite the baptism of fire for poor Rian. Yes, she may now officially be a member of EXV, and have an actual home for the first time in her short career, but the opening of this match is little but both STARS and H.A.T.E taking liberties with the youngster. She perseveres though, and even tags back in once HANAKO is through levelling the playing field – figuratively and physically as she hoists Momo Kohgo into a Torture Rack and begins using her as a weapon to clear the ring. However, it’s worth mentioning that she does have a good back and forth with Mayu Iwatani during the closing stretch of this match. A few of her roll-up attempts almost have the fans in attendance believing that she may get the win even, but she falls short, and Mayu is able to navigate her into the European Clutch for a victory. Interestingly, in the backstage interview, Momo is so excited with their victory she begins gabbling about a possible Peach Rock entrance into the tournament, which Mayu seems to brush off. (***)
It turns out I’m an easy man to please. The extremely brief exchange between former-Donna Del Mondo stablemates Syuri and Maika is enough to make me yearn for the World of Stardom Championship match we were teased with but never got. Elsewhere though, this is an entertaining match, with Lady C and Xena given a lot of time to take part in an exciting closing stretch. Lady C seems more at home in God’s Eye right now than she ever did in Queen’s Quest, and though it’s a hammer-blow to lose such a storied faction, it has perhaps benefitted The Human Tower to have this change of scenery. She is the only person that I can remember making Xena flinch when returning fire with her own set of chops, and is actually mere milliseconds away from securing a victory with the Giant Chokeslam. Unfortunately for her, and indeed for God’s Eye who are on a horrendous run of form recently, she can’t make it count and Xena is able to hoist her up into the Thunderstruck for the victory moments later. (***1/4)
Main Event Matches
Cosmic Angels (Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurura & Yuna Mizumori) def. H.A.T.E (Natsuko Tora, Saya Kamitani & Ruaka) – In spite of Cosmic Angels jumping H.A.T.E before the bell, it pays little dividends as the heel stable are able to wrestle back control almost immediately, completely isolating Sayaka Kurura from the rest of her team.
Kamitani in particular takes great pleasure in attacking Kurura, ensuring that she takes the time to do it in front of Saori Anou, with bubbling tensions between the two seemingly ready to reach the surface very soon. Finally, the Angels are able to reverse the H.A.T.E momentum with Yuna and Ruaka rekindling their 5Star Grand Prix feud.
Even though Ruaka once again introduces the box into play, it’s Saori Anou that is able to head her off before Mizumori rolls her up with the Tropicana For the win. Seeing as this is the H.A.T.E combination attempting to take the Artist of Stardom titles from Cosmic Angels tomorrow in Kaminoyama, I don’t think there could possibly be a worse prelude for them. (***)
Suzu Suzuki & Thekla def. meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) – There’s a really interesting dynamic in this match. It feels very much like two singles matches as opposed to a cohesive tag team match, but that’s to the match’s benefit.
On the one hand, Thekla and Natsupoi seem to have this unspoken and eery respect for each other, a respect that goes as far as stopping Thekla from utilising her usual heelish bag of tricks, at one point throwing down the belt instead of striking Poi with it. Each time Thekla chooses to actually wrestle Natsupoi, the High-Speed Fairy smiles encouragingly. Though I don’t see an imminent turn in either woman’s future, what is clear to see is that Thekla will soon be gunning for the White Belt. But what is with this unusual truce they’ve struck up…
Tam and Suzu simply continue from where they left off in Aomori, bludgeoning each other fiercely, forgoing wrestling for large parts of the match in favour of just trying to hurt each other. Again, Tam’s face is a tapestry of welts and bruises, but as we know, it’s the type of wrestling she enjoys. Suzu does get the win, revenge for her loss in Aomori, with the Tequila Shot, but their brawl continues into the backstage area post-match. Whether Suzu blames Tam for their match not happening last year, or whether there is something we don’t know about, there seems to be a real, palpable hatred between these two that appears to have sprung up very quickly. It’s going to make for very interesting viewing as we head towards Nagoya. (****)
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
- 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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