5★STAR Grand Prix Winner To Be Decided On Sunday
STARDOM will conclude its annual 5★STAR Grand Prix on Sunday at the legendary Ryogoku Kokugikan, the same venue that hosted New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s G1 Climax one week earlier. The event will feature nine matches, including two semi-final bouts, a tag team title match, and, of course, the 5★STAR Grand Prix final.
The semi-final matches will feature two wrestlers from each of the Red Stars and Blue Stars blocks. The Red Stars final will see Maika take on Rina, while Starlight Kid will battle Suzu Suzuki in the Blue Stars final.
Maika enters the event with plenty of history on her side. After finishing as runner-up in 2023, she won the 2024 5★STAR Grand Prix and will now look to become the first wrestler to win the tournament twice.
Standing in her way is 19-year-old Rina, the youngest wrestler remaining in the tournament. Should she defeat Maika, Rina would also become the youngest finalist in 5★STAR history, surpassing the record currently held by Utami Hayashishita. Rina reached the semi-finals last year but was defeated by AZM.
The other semi-final will see reigning World of STARDOM Champion Suzu Suzuki look to become the first wrestler to win the 5★STAR Grand Prix while holding the red belt. Should she go all the way, she could also become just the third wrestler to simultaneously hold both the World and Wonder of STARDOM Championships, following in the footsteps of Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano.
Suzuki will face Starlight Kid in the other semi-final, with the Neo Genesis leader having made a strong impression throughout the tournament. Kid defeated two of STARDOM’s biggest competitors, Ami Sourei and HANAKO, on the same night to earn her place in the semi-finals. Widely regarded as one of the promotion’s leading future stars, Kid is also among the favorites to win the tournament. The bout could also offer a preview of their scheduled main event at STARDOM’s Dream Queendom event in December.
The event will also feature a special singles match between close friends Natsupoi and Saori Anou, which is expected to be their final meeting ahead of Natsupoi’s retirement in January. It will be the seventh time the pair have faced each other and their fourth match in STARDOM, having first met in 2016. The two have crossed paths throughout their careers, with Natsupoi even defeating Anou to win the Wonder of STARDOM Championship in 2024. Neither woman competed in this year’s 5★STAR Grand Prix, but their latest encounter is set to be a significant moment.
If all of that wasn’t big enough, Itoh Respect Army’s Kikyo Furusawa and Rian are set to challenge Aya Sakura and Sayaka Kurara for the NEW BLOOD Tag Team Championships. The Cosmic Angels duo have held the titles for nearly 300 days and are less than two weeks away from surpassing HANAKO and Waka Tsukiyama for the longest reign in championship history. This will be their third defence of the titles.
The final match of significance will be a classic STARS vs. H.A.T.E. tag team bout, with Hanan and Saya Iida taking on the recently reconciled Momo Watanabe and Saya Kamitani. The match will provide an early test of whether Watanabe and Kamitani can truly put their differences aside or if tensions will resurface once they step into the ring together.
The event will take place on Sunday, August 23, at 4:30 p.m. Japan time, or 8:30 a.m. in the UK and 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The show will be available to watch live on STARDOM World.
For more coverage from the event and everything surrounding STARDOM, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.
