STARDOM
The annual 5STAR Grand Prix of STARDOM started on August 10th in the Yokohama Budokan and will go on until August 31st. This year, STARDOM made a couple of changes. It’s a four-block system with 7 wrestlers in each block, so 28 wrestlers overall. The first two wrestlers of each block will advance to a quarter-final that will be held in Shinjuku FACE. The semi-finals & final of the tournament will be on the final show on August 31st.
The first few nights of the tournament already happened, and they were very eventful, including new looks, new theme songs, major upsets, and the first wrestlers being on the verge of elimination.
Red Stars A
The Red Stars A had a mixed first three days in the 5STAR as the top matches of the block delivered, but some of the matches in the middle were rather fine. The biggest problem the block has is that it’s on the same day as the Red Stars B block, which has one great match after another.
Yuna Mizumori had two strong performances in the 5STAR and the wrestlers are seemingly really proud of her considering that many watched her match against Natsupoi from the back and waited to congratulate her on her performance even though she lost her first two outings. She is stepping up to this big occasion and showing out well. The same goes for Manami, who came from Sendai Girls and won over the fanbase with her first match in which she lost to Hazuki on the opening night of the show. She currently has three points with her big win being over Konami, which was an entertaining match.
The two H.A.T.E. members in the block, Konami & Ruaka, are doing fine. Konami had a good performance against Hazuki, and it was one of her better ones in a long time, while Ruaka is just Ruaka and fans know what to expect from her. Her longer matches aren’t entertaining, and she struggles to stand out next to the other H.A.T.E. Members of the stable who are more interesting & better than her. Their respective matches against Hazuki showed the difference between Ruaka & Konami here. In both matches, Hazuki stood out as well and delivered as she always does. Her fire and fighting spirit is just incredible and elevates every match she is in.
Maika debuted a new look, including a new theme song, gear, and haircut that fits her well. An overhaul was expected after she lost the World of STARDOM Championship to Natsuko Tora. She started off her Grand Prix well with two victories over Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori, in which she had two good performances. Her win over Natsupoi was an interesting decision as it was the first singles match for Natsupoi after winning the Wonder of STARDOM Championship from Saori Anou, and this loss derailed some of her momentum, although she got the ball rolling again by beating Yuna Mizumori.
Red Stars B
The Red Stars B Block is one of the most stacked blocks wrestling has ever seen in a round-robin setting, with only two of seven of the best women’s wrestlers of the year going through, and the first three days showed why the block had so much hype coming into the Grand Prix.
Mayu Iwatani has had the two best matches of the entire tournament so far, including a great main event of Night 1 against her rival Tam Nakano that had everything fans expected from the two. It wasn’t as good as their match at Korakuen Hall last year, but still a great match nonetheless. Iwatani’s second win came over her STARS partner, Saya Iida, in the main event of the second show that had a great showing from Iida. It was different from the Nakano match and showed how awesome Iwatani is at different styles & match layouts. Even in times of change and uncertainty, nobody embodies STARDOM more than Mayu Iwatani as the Icon continues to show why she’s one of the greatest of all time.
After her great showing against Iwatani, Saya Iida had another good outing against Tam Nakano and even was able to defeat the former World of STARDOM Champion by rolling her up with the Iidabashi to get the biggest win of her career. Iida has been gaining a lot of momentum in recent months and is better than ever before, starting with a strong performance in the Goddess of STARDOM Championship match and now in the 5STAR Grand Prix.
AZM, Tomoka Inaba & Mei Seira all had an interesting start to the 5STAR as their matches against each other all ended in a draw, as Mei Seira fought to a 15-minute time limit draw again AZM and Tomoka Inaba, while Inaba and AZM went to a double count-out on the latest show. All three are on four points as all defeated Momo Watanabe to get their first win of the tournament.
Momo Watanabe has had the worst start to the tournament, having lost her matches to AZM, Tomoka Inaba, and Mei Seira to start off her 5STAR with zero points after three matches in the toughest block. It’s now extremely unlikely that she will advance in the tournament as she has Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Saya Iida left and could be eliminated as soon as the show at Korakuen Hall this week. A disappointing start for the ‘Black Peach’, who was in the main event of STARDOM’s biggest show of the year in April. Tam Nakano also had a bad start as she is has yet to get a single point, losing to her rival Mayu Iwatani in the main event of the opening night, getting tapped out by World of Stardom Champion Natsuko Tora in a tag team match and then losing to Saya Iida on the latest show, which puts her on the second to last place of the tough Red Stars B Block.
Both Watanabe & Nakano are already on the verge of elimination and could be out of the tournament by the Korakuen Hall show on August 15th as Momo Watanabe is out if she loses to Mayu Iwatani or if AZM & Tomoka Inaba both win their matches, while Tam Nakano is out if she loses her match against AZM and Mayu Iwatani wins her match. If both survive the day, their match in Kobe on August 18th could be an elimination match with the loser being out of contention.
Blue Stars A
The highlight of the block so far has been Syuri, who had two best matches of the Blue Stars A block so far against Starlight Kid and Saori Anou. She’s the best worker in the history of the 5STAR Grand Prix, and her consistency is unmatched in pro wrestling, as she is showing in this tournament.
Miyu Amasaki & Koguma have each only had one match so far. Amasaki won her match against Xena in two minutes, while Koguma lost in a typical Koguma match with a comedy start and a serious ending against Xena, who started her tournament well with two fun performances.
The big question mark of this block was going to be – how will Anna Jay perform? After the first two matches, she was fine and did everything she needed to do well. Her match against Saori Anou was fine as she beat the former 2x Wonder of STARDOM Champion with a roll-up, while her match against Starlight Kid had a good match layout. SLK worked slower than usual, but she used it to go for the leg of Anna Jay to set up the Black Tiger Leg Kill submission that brought her the win. These are the kinds of matches Anna needs against some of the best in the world that will help her get better match by match. If she comes back to AEW as an improved wrestler, regardless of how big the improvement is, then this excursion is a success.
Blue Stars B
The Blue Stars B Block has been the weakest so far, which was to be expected since it’s the lowest in terms of quality of the four. While the second Blue Stars Block has top names such as Hanan & Suzu Suzuki, overall it doesn’t have as many big-hitters as the other blocks.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the best bout of that block so far has been the match between Hanan & Suzu Suzuki, where both put on a tough fight on the first night that led to a
double count-out finish. Suzuki’s second match was a fine little comedy match against Saki Kashima, while Hanan had a major hometown victory over Risa Sera in a solid match, but not as good as these two could deliver. Something happened mid-match with Sera that took her out for a bit, but she was able to finish the match without problems.
Saya Kamitani was certainly the biggest question mark in this block, as nobody knew how she would perform as the newest member of H.A.T.E.. While the expectations were low, she had terrible performances in her wins against Risa Sera & Thekla. In her first match against Sera, she leaned into the brawling type, which she had never done before. In theory, it fits against Risa, who has a lot of experience in that and technically can fill her gaps in that regard, but, on this occasion, Sera wasn’t able to fill the gaps. The match had a ref bump early, while there were many chairs in the ring. The spot where Risa grabbed chair after chair with the referee trying to stop her before she hit it anyway looked goofy. Meanwhile, the Thekla match was outright terrible, and the worst singles match in STARDOM this year. Saya Kamitani, who is the new top heel of STARDOM, worked babyface against Thekla, including her own stable interfering against her and allowing Thekla to use the chairs. Kamitani was able to win the match, but it was a mess and didn’t help her develop her heel style.
Official G1 Climax Standings after Night 11:
Red Stars A –
4 – Maika (2-0-0)
4 – Konami (2-1-0)
4 – Hazuki (2-1-0)
3 – Manami (1-1-1)
2 – Natsupoi (1-1-0)
1 – Ruaka (0-0-1)
0 – Yuna Mizumori (0-2-0)
Red Stars B –
4 – Mayu Iwatani (2-0-0)
4 – AZM (1-0-2)
4 – Tomoka Inaba (1-0-2)
4 – Mei Seira (1-0-2)
2 – Saya Iida (1-1-0)
0 – Tam Nakano (0-2-0)
0 – Momo Watanabe (0-3-0)
Blue Stars A –
2 – Anna Jay (1-1-0)
2 – Miyu Amasaki (1-0-0)
2 – Saori Anou (1-1-0)
2 – Starlight Kid (1-1-0)
2 – Xena (1-1-0)
2 – Syuri (1-1-0)
0 – Koguma (0-1-0)
Blue Stars B –
4 – Saya Kamitani (2-0-0)
3 – Hanan (1-1-0)
3 – Suzu Suzuki (1-1-0)
2 – Ranna Yagami (1-0-0)
0 – Thekla (0-1-0)
0 – Saki Kashima (0-2-0)
0 – Risa Sera (0-2-0)
