Maika Defeats AZM To Cap Off Third Night Of STARDOM’s 5 Star Grand Prix

The fans inside Herbis Hall in Osaka, Japan were treated to a fun evening of tournament matches as STARDOM rolled on to the third night of their 5★STAR Grand Prix.

Headlined by two singles matches in which the respective members of High Hai Mate battled 02line, HANAKO and Maika both emerged victorious, avenging their tag team loss against AZM and Miyu Amasaki for the Goddesses of Stardom belts from two weeks ago.

Momo Watanabe continued her strong start as she defeated Kikyo Furusawa, who herself dropped to 0-3 in her first ever 5★STAR Grand Prix. Following that, Rina Yamashita, one day after her time limit draw against Utami Hayashishita, defeated Azusa Inaba to notch her first career win in the competition.

Hina was then able to get a bounce-back win of her own against Cosmic Angels leader, Aya Sakura, and get her first two points on the board. On the other hand, her God’s Eye teammate, Lady C, was unable to clinch her first win in the 5★STAR after she fell to Saya Iida after nearly 12 minutes.

Wonder of Stardom Champion, Hanan, earned two more points, being able to end her former STARS compatriot Koguma’s hot start to her own 5★STAR. Then, in a minor upset relative to the latter’s recent success, Tomoka Inaba defeated former World of Stardom Champion, Sayaka Kurara to give her the shared lead in her block so far.

Finally, as mentioned, the penultimate match of the evening then saw HANAKO take out Miyu Amasaki with less than one minute remaining to give her two crucial points. To end the show, former World of Stardom Champion Maika was able to hit AZM with her patented Michinoku Driver II, which she learned from the move’s originator and her former trainer TAKA Michinoku, to get the win in her 5★STAR opening match.

STARDOM’s next event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 25th in Kanazawa. The card will feature eight matches including Rina vs. Akira Kurogane, Sayaka Kurara vs. Maika, Tomoka Inaba vs. AZM, and Saya Iida vs. Maki Itoh in the main event.

For more coverage from the tournament and everything surrounding STARDOM, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.

5★STAR Grand Prix – Current Standings:

Red Stars Block A:

Sayaka Kurara – 2-1 (4 points)

Tomoka Inaba – 2-1 (4 points)

Itsuki Aoki – 1-0 (2 points)

Maika – 1-0 (2 points)

Akira Kurogane – 0-1 (0 points)

AZM – 0-1 (0 points)

Natsuko Tora – 0-1 (0 points)

Rina – 0-1 (0 points)

Red Stars Block B:

Saya Iida – 2-0 (4 points)

Rina Yamashita – 2-1-1 (3 points)

Maki Itoh – 1-0 (2 points)

Mei Seira – 1-1 (2 points)

Utami Hayashishita – 0-0-1 (1 point)

Azusa Inaba – 0-2 (0 points)

Konami – 0-0 (0 points)

Lady C – 0-1 (0 points)

Blue Stars Block A:

Ruaka – 2-0 (4 points)

Aya Sakura – 1-1 (2 points)

HANAKO – 1-1 (2 points)

Hina – 1-1 (2 points)

Suzu Suzuki – 1-0 (2 points)

Julia Hart – 0-0 (0 points)

Miyu Amasaki – 0-2 (0 points)

Rian – 0-1 (0 points)

Blue Stars Block B:

Hanan – 2-0 (4 points)

Koguma – 2-1 (4 points)

Momo Watanabe – 2-0 (4 points)

Ami Sourei – 0-1 (0 points)

Kikyo Furusawa – 0-3 (0 points)

Saya Kamitani – 0-0 (0 points)

Starlight Kid – 0-0 (0 points)

Yuna Mizumori – 0-1 (0 points)