New Champions Crowned As STARDOM 5 Star Grand Prix Begins
STARDOM’s annual round robin extravaganza, the 5★STAR Grand Prix, kicked off on July 18 inside the Ota City General Gymnasium with a show that had strong opening night action, a major title change, and a match of the year contender in the main event.
The first night of the tournament saw former World of Stardom Champion Sayaka Kurara beat Akira Kurogane, and 2025 5★STAR winner Momo Watanabe come out victorious against High Speed Champion Yuna Mizumori as ‘The Black Peach’ looks to become the first ever two-time tournament winner in company history. Elsewhere, Koguma took out Kikyo Furusawa, Ruaka upset Miyu Amasaki, Saya Iida defeated Azusa Inaba, Mei Seira got the win over Rina Yamashita, Itsuki Aoki outlasted Tomoka Inaba, and Aya Sakura survived a clash with HANAKO.
Following the 5★STAR action for the day, STARDOM then hosted two massive championship clashes. The show’s semi-main event saw Dream Trine’s Ami Sourei, Hina, and Lady C attempt to defend their Artist of Stardom Championships against the invading trio of Julia Hart, Skye Blue, and the AEW World Women’s Champion Thekla. After nearly 14 minutes of action, ‘The Toxic Spider’ hit her patented curb stomp on Sourei to earn her team the promotion’s trios titles.
Being relative newcomers to the promotion, Skye Blue and Julia Hart now have their first taste of STARDOM gold, while Thekla, who has five years of experience with the promotion, claimed her third championship under the company’s banner having previously been SWA World Champion and one-half of the Goddesses of Stardom Champions with Momo Watanabe.
In the main event, former Wonder of Stardom and Goddesses of Stardom champion Natsupoi went to war with her former Donna Del Mondo teammate Syuri for the IWGP Women’s Championship. While most of the news surrounding this show here in the west will focus on the semi-main event, particularly as it features wrestlers from AEW, it’s matches like this that should absolutely be celebrated and talked about. These two women had a match of the year contender that every fan of women’s wrestling should take the time to see. It’s just a shade under 21 minutes and only ended after Syuri caught Natsupoi with a Syu-sekai to seal the win and notch her fifth successful defense of the belt.
STARDOM’s 5★STAR Grand Prix will continue on Sunday inside the Loisir Hotel Toyohashi Holiday Hall and will feature opening round matches for Rina, Natsuko Tora, Maki Itoh, Utami Hayashishita, Hina, Rian, Hanan, and World of Stardom Champion, Suzu Suzuki.
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
Itsuki Aoki – 2
Sayaka Kurara – 2
Akira Kurogane – 0
AZM – 0
Maika – 0
Natsuko Tora – 0
Rina – 0
Tomoka Inaba – 0
Red Stars Block B
Mei Seira – 2
Saya Iida – 2
Azusa Inaba – 0
Konami – 0
Lady C – 0
Maki Itoh – 0
Rina Yamashita – 0
Utami Hayashishita – 0
Blue Stars Block A
Aya Sakura – 2
Ruaka – 2
HANAKO – 0
Hina – 0
Julia Hart – 0
Miyu Amasaki – 0
Rian – 0
Suzu Suzuki – 0
Blue Stars Block B
Koguma – 2
Momo Watanabe – 2
Ami Sourei – 0
Hanan – 0
Kikyo Furusawa – 0
Saya Kamitani – 0
Starlight Kid – 0
Yuna Mizumori – 0
