STARDOM
STARDOM’s annual Dream Queendom show happened in front of over 3,000 fans in the Sumo Hall on December 29th. The show featured eight matches, including four undercard matches and four championship matches. In the main event of the show, Maika and Suzu Suzuki collided with the World of Stardom Championship on the line.
The undercard of the show was fun. The crowd was vocal for every match and seemed to enjoy them. The opener was a rookie bout, where Yuzuki, Miyu Amasaki, and Azusa Inaba defeated HANAKO, Ranna Yagami, and Sayaka Kurara with Yuzuki picking up the first victory of her month-long career in a good showcase for the 2022-2023 Generation of Joshi Rookies. After the match, Tam Nakano came out and made her first public appearance since her injury. She said she wants to be back around March-April time, which would make a comeback match at the Yokohama Buntai show at the end of April likely.
In the second undercard match, Saki Kashima & Ami Sohrei picked up a victory in a four-way tag match when Sohrei pinned Mizumori. The match was nothing special, with all 8 wrestlers doing simple but fun stuff. Mayu Iwatani made her return to action after a month due to a dislocated finger in the next match when she teamed up with STARS to face off against the rest of Oedo Tai and she didn’t miss a beat. This match over-delivered with Iwatani and Starlight Kid being the standouts of this match. The Icon picked up the win with the moonsault over Fukigen Death.
An All-Star Six-Woman Tag with six great wrestlers up next on the card, with Nanae Takahashi & Yuu teaming up with AZM to face Syuri, Mina Shirakawa, and the High-Speed Champion Mei Seira in trios actions, and it was great. All six had a great showing, with AZM & Mei Seira having fantastic high-speed action, and Shirakawa and Takahashi having a little singles match at the end of the match. Takahashi pinned Shirakawa with the Nana Rocker to win the match for her trio.
In the first Championship match of the night, Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani defeated Momo Watanabe & Natsuko Tora to retain the Goddess of Stardom Championship for the first time. The Oedo Tai-Queen’s Quest story has been one of the few highlights the promotion had this past year and came here to another important moment. The four had a great match, with the XL duo taking over the control until AphroditE found their footing in the match. Towards the end, a title change seemed possible, but Utami & Kamitani overcame the Oedo Tai duo and pinned both of them at the same time in the ring to retain their Championships
Giulia defended her STRONG Women’s Championship against Megan Bayne. This will be the second match between the two, after facing off on a house show last month that ended in a time-limit draw. This match was a breakout match for Megan Bayne, who took control over the match and looked like a star against the former World of Stardom Champion here. Megasus got the crowd behind her by the end of the match and was as close to winning as could be. Giulia needed two Nothern Lights Bomb and a Guillotine to put Bayne to sleep and retain her belt. Trish Adora appeared on the screen after the match and challenged Giulia to a Championship match at the NJPW BITV show in San Jose.
In the semi-main event, Saori Anou defeated MIRAI in 24 minutes to be crowned the 20th Wonder of Stardom Champion. They had a good match that picked up drastically in the final five minutes, where both gave everything they could to elevate the match to the heights it should be. Anou used Manami Toyota’s “Japanese Ocean Suplex” to defeat MIRAI. She has been one of the focal points in the promotion this year by holding the Artist Of Stardom, Goddess Of Stardom Championship, and now trying to win the Wonder Of Stardom Championship on STARDOM’s biggest show of the year. Natsupoi seemingly stared her down a bit, which teased a future championship match between the two tag team partners.
In the main event of the show, Maika and Suzu Suzuki battled for the vacant World of Stardom in the most important match for STARDOM this year. The story leading up to the match was great, with the 5STAR winner Suzuki trying to fulfill her destiny and become World Champion, while Maika is trying to overcome her failures in the past, and defeat the one who has been calling her a loser over the past year, and finally claims the top prize of Joshi Wrestling.
This started hot and only got hotter throughout the match. A well-told story with both just battling each other for 20 minutes and never backing down from the other. Suzu was great in this match and controlled the pace, while Maika started her fantastic comebacks with her power moves. The turnaround of this match was when Maika hit a Michinoku Driver II out of nowhere and planted Suzu. She then hit her rival with the Running Powerbomb from her retired tag team partner Himeka, and three consecutive Michinoku Driver II’s to win the World of Stardom Championship and overcome all the doubts of her past. Backstage, she was hugged by Himeka, who made her first public appearance since her retirement, and the MaiHime duo walked off together. A fantastic and emotional way to end STARDOM’s year.
In a press conference on the day after, Rossy Ogawa announced that on the January 6th Korakuen Hall show, a New Years Rumble will happen with the two winners challenging for the World and Wonder Of Stardom Championship on the February 4th Osaka EDION Arena show. It’s yet to be revealed who will be in the Rumble. It was also said that Saori Anou & Maika will team up against Giulia and the winner of Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri in a special World & Wonder Champion vs. NJPW Strong & IWGP Women’s Champion Tag Team Match.
After that, STARDOM announced a new rookie named “Rian” who will make her debut soon. She seemingly was planned to be part of the 2023 generation, but due to an injury, she is debuting later as planned. She said that she would try to catch up with the other rookies soon.
Ice Ribbon
Ice Ribbon held their annual final Korakuen Hall show of the year named “Ribbonmania” on January 31st in front of 503 fans with 7 matches on the card, including two Championship matches with the International Ribbon Tag Team Title and the ICExInfinity Title being on the line
In the semi-main, Ancham & YuuRI tried to defend their International Ribbon Tag Team Titles for the second time against Kyuri & Mifu Ashida. The champions have the experience advantage, with Ashida just wrestling her 14th match of her Pro Wrestling career after debuting in August at the last Korakuen Hall show. They had a fun match with a great finishing sequence, where Mifu outsmarted Ancham on the outside, and Kyuri rolled up YuuRI to win the Tag Team Championships for their team. It’s the first title in the career of Ashida, while Kyuri wins her second International Ribbon Tag Team Championship.
Ibuki Hoshi and Kaho Matsushita battled in the main event for the ICExInfinity Championship. The story heading into this was simple: Kaho is aiming to win her first title in Ice Ribbon, but has been failing to get the job done in the Tag Titles matches together with Ibuki Hoshi. After Hoshi’s latest defense, Kaho officially announced her challenge and is going for the Top Title of Ice Ribbon for the first time and trying to win the first title of her career. The match itself delivered and was a great main event to cap off the year. Kaho & Ibuki went out there and killed it. After a run time of over 25 minutes and many close nearfalls, Ibuki Hoshi defeated Kaho Matsushita to retain her Championship for a second time
The biggest news happened in the middle of the show when Yuuki Mashiro came out and announced that she officially would make her comeback to Pro Wrestling on January 27th at Korakuen Hall. The “Gacha King” retired at last year Ribbonmania, and now, after just 13 months, we will be back in the ring again. This is awesome news for Ice Ribbon since they are getting a future star back in their struggling roster.
