STARDOM
STARDOM kicked off its year with three bigger shows in Toyko with a Yokohama Budokan show on the 3rd, a Tokyo Dome City Hall show on the 4th and a Korakuen Hall show on the 6th. Over the three shows many title matches happened, future challenges got laid out and angles happened.
January 3rd – Yokohama Budokan
The show featured the “Rookie of Stardom 2023” Tournament where the four active Rookies from 2023 battled to find out who is the strongest Rookie of them. It’s the first time this tournament happened since Saya Kamitani won it back in 2019. This year’s winner was Yuzuki, who won it by defeating HANAKO in the final. She debuted in November last year and won her only two singles victories on this show. HANAKO was disappointed with her loss to the “Moon Arrow” and showed an unknown emotional side of her, which kicked off the rivalry between her and Yuzuki.
Also, the “Triangle Derby II” happened on this show and only went for one day instead of multiple weeks like last year’s tournament did and it was a good decision. The eight teams fought for the spot of being the number 1 Trio in STARDOM, and in the final, the BariBariBombers and the original God’s Eye Trio met, the Champions decided to put their Artist of Stardom Championships on the line. In the match of the night, Syuri was able to pick up the win for her team by pinning the Toxic Spider and God’s Eye crowned themselves the new Artist of Stardom Champions and the winners of the Triangle Derby II. It’s the first Artist Title run for Sohrei & MIRAI, while Syuri crowned herself a 2x Champion.
January 4th – Tokyo Dome City Hall
After a great match, the semi-main event of the Ittenyon show between Maika & Megan Bayne vs. Suzu Suzuki & Giulia ended in a 20-minute Time Limit Draw, but the biggest news on this show happened after the match when Giulia announced that Donna del Mondo would disband after today. The reason why they disbanded is because when DDM was founded Syuri-Giulia-Maika promised that every of them would do their best in their own ways and with Maika winning the Red Belt, they feel like they fulfilled their mission. During their final promo together, Thekla said after that she would take a break from STARDOM due to a neck injury, but come back stronger than ever before.
In the main event, Mayu Iwatani retained her IWGP Women’s Heavyweight Championship for the third time against Syuri in a bit under 20 minutes with the Poisonrana from the top rope. This was the best match from the first January week for STARDOM, and it was one hell of a match. The two went out there and had only one pace – All Out. Iwatani & Syuri threw bombs and created an outstanding and dramatic atmosphere in the sold-out Tokyo Dome City Hall show. At the end of the match, Syuri was able to hit the Syu-Sekai, but Iwatani kicked out and is now next to Giulia the only Wrestler who ever kicked out of the super finisher of Syuri. The Icon then started her comeback and finished Syuri with the Poisonrana from the top rope to end the match.
January 6th – Korakuen Hall
On the Korakuen Hall show, STARDOM held two Rumbles to find out the next challengers for the World and Wonder of Stardom Championship. In the New Year Wonder Rumble, Starlight Kid beat and eliminated Hanan to become the new No.1 Contender for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, and will challenge Saori Anou on February 4th. Other Wrestlers in the match were the likes of AZM, Mei Hoshizuki, Hazuki, Saki Kashima, and more. It will be the first White Belt Championship match since July 2022, when she lost to Kamitani.
The World of Stardom Championship contender was decided in the New Year World Rumble. The “Golden Phoenix” Saya Kamitani beat Mina Shirakawa at the end of the match with the “Phoenix Strike” to become the new No.1 Contender for the World of Stardom Championship. She is challenging Maika on February 4th for the Red Belt Championship, which will be her first Red Belt Championship match since the Nippon Budokan show in March 2021, where she challenged Utami Hayashishita. Maika has not beaten Kamitani in singles matches since their first match in 2020, since then Saya beat her three times & drew once, with her recent loss being in her hometown in Fukuoka.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
TJPW held their annual Ittenyon show in the Korakuen Hall in front of 1235 fans with 10 matches on the card including three championship matches. In the first title match, Yuki Arai beat Max The Impaler in 10:19 minutes to crown herself the new International Princess Champion. The match itself was solid, Max was a good powerhouse, and Arai fought her way back into the match nicely and was able to overcome the Champion and beat them with the “Finally” Kick to win her first singles Championship. In the semi-main event, the vacant Princess Tag Team Titles were decided, after Free WiFi needed to vacate, due to Hikari Noa’s illness. Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino defeated Daisy Monkey and Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe in a three-way match in 13:19 minutes to crown themselves the new Champions. It felt like it was the night of Suzume & Endo, but Yuki Aino’s sheer power and will made her overcome and pin Endo to win her second Princess Tag Title.
In the main event of the show, Miyu Yamashita defeated Masha Slamovich in 17:20 minutes to retain her Princess of Princess Championship for a third time in a must-see match for every wrestling fan. It was hard-hitting and brutal with the two women just relentlessly going at each other for the whole match. Slamovich looked on par with the Ace of Tokyo Joshi here and showed why she is one of the best female Wrestlers in the entire world. Yamashita ended the match with a brutal Crash Rabbit Heat to move on to the Sumo Hall.
Yamashita’s challenger for Grand Princess was decided two days later in a Battle Royal between Shoko Nakajima, Rika Tatsumi, Mizuki, Yuki Kamifuku, and Miu Watanabe. The last two names were the final Wrestlers remaining in the Battle Royal, and it was Miu Watanabe who pinned Kamifuku and is the no.1 contender for the Princess of Princess Championship at Grand Princess on March 31st. It will be Watanabe’s first shot at the top price of TJPW after her devastating loss to Rika Tatsumi in 2021. While walking into the match as the favorite, Yamashita needs to focus on the match, since their last singles match in the Princess Cup 2022, ended with Miu Watanabe beating the Ac and moving to the final of the tournament, which she lost to Yuka Sakazaki. A lot is at stake in the main event of Grand Princess.
JTO
TAKA Michinoku’s Promotion JTO held a special JTO Girls show on January 6th in Shinjuku FACE with five matches on the show including three Championship matches. In the first title match, Sumika Yanagawa defeated PURE-J’s Chie Ozora in a Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship match after 13:38 minutes to retain the title, that she won from her tag team partner Misa Kagura, for the third time in her nearly 50-day-long title run. The semi-final was for the newly introduced JTO Girls Championship when Unagi Sayaka defeated the first Champion Misa Kagura to win her first title in Japan after leaving STARDOM 14 months ago, and is now a double champion with the Kitsune World Title that she was able to win in America.
In the main event, Aoi and Tomoka Inaba clashed one more time for the Queen of JTO Championship, which is more of a ranking system than an actual Championship, with the number 1 ranked Wrestler being the Champion. Aoi came into this match intending to finally overcome her rival Tomoka, whom she wasn’t able to beat in a singles match yet. After winning the top title of JTO from Yuu, Aoi had more momentum than ever coming into the match and it seemed she could beat Tomoka Inaba, but she couldn’t and once again lost after over 18 minutes. Tomoka Inaba was able to crown herself a 3x Queen of JTO Champion and is once again on the top of the promotion.
After the match, Azusa Inaba, Tomoka’s younger sister, came out to challenge, but Tomoka declined and said Azusa is only #7 in the rankings at that moment, and she needed to deserve a Championship match, with the JTO Girls Tournament starting this is the perfect time for the 16-year-old to do that. The tournament shuffles the ranking system with Tomoka Inaba trying to defend her top spot with it being on the line in the entire tournament, while the others try to climb the rankings. A potential Inaba vs. Inaba match-up in the final seems likely.
OZ Academy
OZ Academy kicks off its year with a sold-out Shinjuku FACE show on January 6th with the main event being for the OZ Academy Openweight Title when the Champion AKINO defended her title against Mio Momono, who earned her shot by winning a 36-minute no. 1 Contender Elimination Six Match Tag Team Survival Showdown at the latest Korakuen Hall show. After 24 minutes, Mio Momono beat AKINO to crown herself the new OZ Academy Openweight Championship and ended the 644-day reign of AKINO. This result continues the Marvelous vs. OZ Academy rivalry that has been building up over the past six months, with Ozaki winning the AAAW Championship from Momono, and now Mio was able to win the top Championship from OZ Academy.
