STARDOM
STARDOM held two shows over the past week with an important one in Nagoya that was sold as a PPV. The show in the International Conference Hall had multiple important story advancements on the road to Yoyogi.
Following the match between Queen’s Quest and OEDo Tai, Natsuko Tora announced a final big match between the two factions will take place at STARDOM THE CONVERSION on June 22nd. One year after the Steel Cage match between the two factions, another match is coming. Natsuko Tora has teased a faction disbandment stipulation, while Taro Okada is teasing another Loser Leaves Faction stipulation that resulted in Saki Kashima leaving OEDo Tai last year. At tomorrow’s press conference, Taro Okada will present the rules of the match with both stables being forced to agree to them. Undoubtedly an interesting match-up that can change the landscape of STARDOM forever.
Another match has been set for Yoyogi as Starlight Kid and Mei Seira will go one-on-one in a special singles match. That was decided when Seira decided to jump into a conversation between Cosmic Angels & STARS, who both tried to convince the Sky Tiger to join their unit. This should be a great mid-card match for the Conversion PPV.
From an in-ring quality standpoint, the match between Hazuki & Saya Iida was the best match in STARDOM this week as the two just beat the crap out of each other for 10 minutes straight without a break. Sadly the Nagoya crowd didn’t care for the match and the show in general as it was dead silent, which sadly has become a pattern for STARDOM in recent times that the crowds are not making any noise, and that hurts the vieweing experience.
Ice Ribbon
Tsukasa Fujimoto, who is one of the best Joshi wrestlers of the 2010s, appeared after Iwatani’s match against Sareee at All Star Grand Queendom. The ace of Ice Ribbon made her shocking return to STARDOM and made a challenge to Mayu Iwatani that saw her team up with her retiring tag team partner Arisa Nakajima to face Mayu Iwatani and Hanan at Flashing Champions, with Best Friends emerging victorious. After that, they set up an IWGP Women’s Championship match.
After appearing on the big screen at a recent Ice Ribbon show, Iwatani made the match official for the company’s June 23rd Korakuen Hall show, where Mayu Iwatani will defend her IWGP Women’s Championship for the sixth time against Tsukasa Fujimoto. This is the type of match fans would expect to happen in STARDOM, but this time the smaller promotion is getting the big match, which seems to be a trend as Maika will face Tomoka Inaba in JTO and Mei Seira challenged Haruka Umesaki in Diana. An interesting development that could help new fans being attracted to the smaller Joshi promotions as they will get more spotlight
Mayu sharing the ring with Tsukasa Fujimoto makes this match a must-watch as the ‘Icon of Stardom’ has never faced Tsukasa in a singles match before and the few sequences fans got to see in the tag match at Flashing Champions were fantastic. This could be one of the best Joshi matches of the year.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
TJPW held its ‘PRISM’ show at Korakuen Hall. The show drew 707 fans, which is a good number, and one of the better Korakuen Hall numbers for Tokyo Joshi in recent memory. The card had two championship matches with the International Princess & Princess of Princess Championships being on the line as the Champions defended against foreign wrestlers.
In the International Princess Title Match, Yuki Arai defeated the debuting LA Taylor in 10 minutes in a solid match. Both are green and not every spot hit like they wanted to, but Taylor showed potential in her debut match and can be a good regular foreigner for Tokyo Joshi in the future. Arai retained for the third time and is walking into Summer Sun Princess as the reigning champion.
In the main event of the show, Miu Watanabe retained her Princess of Princess Championship for the third time against Vert Vixen, who has been a regular in Tokyo Joshi for a while, but this was her biggest spot so far. It was a good match as Vert was one of the better foreigners in recent memory who got a POP Championship match. It was not a top main event, but a good one with Miu Watanabe continuing to headline Korakuen Hall with good matches.
Her run is off to a great start, and it will get even better as the next challenger is her Hakachumu tag team partner, Rika Tatsumi. The two have faced each other twice in championship matches before, with Rika being able to win both, including her winning the International Princess Title from Miu Watanabe last year at Grand Princes. It’s the biggest match of Miu’s title run so far and the most important one as she needs to prove that she can finally overcome her mentor to be established at the top of Tokyo Joshi.
