STARDOM
STARDOM continued their start to 2024 with two shows in Takadanobaba on the road to the Supreme Fight show on February 4th in Osaka EDION #1. The first show was the newsworthy one with two title matches and multiple faction developments.
Waka Tsukiyama made her return in a Tag Team Match together with Mina Shirakawa against Maika & HANAKO, where Maika pinned Waka. After the match, all four Wrestlers agreed to form a new stable. After being gone for six months, Xena made her return to STARDOM and proposed to join the group. They will announce the name of the faction at a later date.
In the first Championship match, Mei Seira defeated Fukigen Death in under five minutes to retain her High-Speed Championship for the third time and called out Hazuki after the match. They will face off on the Supreme Fight show. It’s the first straight-up singles match for Hazuki for the High-Speed Championship since 2019 when she defeated Saki Kashima to retain the Championship that is synonymous with the “Wild Heart”.
In the main event of the show, Syuri, Ami Sohrei & MIRAI defeated the STARS Trio of Hazuki, Hanan & Mayu Iwatani to retain the Artist of Stardom Championship for the first time when MIRAI pinned Hanan in a bit under 17 minutes with the Lariat. Hanan is coming closer in every single one of her big matches, which continues to tell her story this year. It is only a matter of months until the “Young Lioness” wins her first bigger match and claims her first major championship gold in STARDOM. She is still aiming for Mei Seira, aiming for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, and still wants to win the Goddess of Stardom Championship together with Mayu Iwatani. 2024 is Hanan’s break-out year.
Another faction development happened during the closing promo of God’s Eye, when Ranna Yagami came out and requested to join the faction, which Syuri accepted. Ranna made her Pro Wrestling debut in December against Syuri and sees her as her mentor, who she can look up to. Their in-ring styles are similar, and it only helps Yagami to train & work under the wing of the former World of Stardom Champion. With that, Sayaka Kurara is the only active Rookie from the 2023 Generation who has yet to join a unit, which tells an interesting story in the upcoming weeks.
The second show was rather less newsworthy, but it had an emotional moment with Megan Bayne having her final match in STARDOM before going back to America to wrestle in AEW. She teamed up with Maika & HANAKO in a defeat against Giulia, Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira. All six in the match have been part of Megan’s tour since the beginning, and it was the perfect way to end it. Bayne started her run on the first night of the 5STAR Grand Prix, where she attacked back then World of Stardom Champion Tam Nakano, and challenged her for the Red Belt at STARDOMxSTARDOM just in her 8th match in the promotion. Over time, she developed into one of the MVPs of the second half of the with her great Tag Team together with Maika as Divine Kingdom, and her matches with Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki, which created many fantastic and hilarious moments. Her break-out match was for sure her rivalry against Giulia which concluded with a match for the New Japan STRONG Women’s Championship at Dream Queendom at the end of the year. It’s sad to her go, considering there is so much more to do, but she said that she wants to come back down the line. For now, she will go back to All Elite Wrestling and seemingly will play a huge role there.
In the main event of the show, Saya Kamitani, Utami Hayashishita, Mayu Iwatani & Hanan def. AZM, Starlight Kid, Hazuki & Saki Kashima when Iwatani pinned her STARS stable partner Hazuki with the Moonsault in a bit over 19 minutes. This was the 13th Anniversary match, where all eight Wrestlers in the match trained & debuted in a STARDOM. A perfect Anniversary pairing, with AphroditeE & Eye Contact winning the match, and ending the show together with the losing team.
Later on the day, STARDOM announced its annual awards for the year 2023:
MVP: Tam Nakano
Best Bout: Giulia vs Megan Bane (Dec 29)
Best Tag Team: Natsupoi & Saori Anou
Best Unit: Queen’s Quest
Most Outstanding Performance: Mayu Iwatani
Fighting Spirit: Suzu Suzuki
Best Technique: MIRAI
Shining Award (voted by fans): Maika
Sareee-ISM
Sareee held Chapter III of her Sareee-ISM Produce show, with her facing off against her rival Chihiro Hashimoto in a re-match of the main event of the first Sareee-ISM, which Hashimoto was able to win. This match was all about revenge, Sareee wants to fight her win back and polish her only singles blemish she had since coming back to Japan after her WWE run.
The match started off slow with good mat work, but the pace quickly picked up. Hashimoto was the perfect beast in this match and made Sareee fight for every single piece of offense in this match, which created a dramatic atmosphere with Sareee fighting from underneath. The final five minutes were out of this world, with Sareee trying her best to slay Big Hash, but Hashimoto always got back up, until Sareee hit the Uranage and got the win and most importantly the revenge on Hashimoto. This match is a must-watch and one of the best matches in Joshi Wrestling in the past few months.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
The 4th Max Heart Tournament in Tokyo Joshi Pro started, where the winner of the single elimination tournament will challenge Yuki Aino & Ryo Mizunami for the Princess Tag Team Championships at Grand Princess in the Sumo Hall. This past weekend, the first two days happened, where we had the first and second-round matches of the tournament. After the two shows, the semis finals were decided.
The first team that made it to the semis was Juria Nagano & Moka Miyamoto after defeating Miyu Yamashita & Toga in the first round and having a second-round bye. They will face off against Arisu Endo & Suzume, who advanced by defeating Raku & Pom Harajuku in the second round of the tournament. The other semi-final is between Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi and Wakana Uehara & Yuki Arai. Hakuchumu defeated Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao, who were considered the tournament favorites in the second round, while Arai & Waka is the only team in the semis, that won two matches to advance to the semis by defeating Haru Kazashiro & Kaya Toribami in the first round, and Mizuki & Shino Suzuki in the second round.
The semi-finals are scheduled for January 27th and will decide who will advance to the final in the Korakuen Hall main event and have a chance to win the Max Heart Tournament this year.
Semi-Final Match-Ups:
Arisu Endo & Suzume vs. Juria Nagano & Moka Miyamoto
Miu Watanbe & Rika Tatsumi vs. Yuki Arai & Wakana Uehara
PURE-J
PURE-J is holding a no.1 contender round-robin tournament called “PJOC League” over the next six weeks, with the winner challenging Hanako Nakamori for the PURE-J Openweight Championship. Nakamori is holding the belt for 400 days in her fifth reign as Champion on top of PURE-J. Twelve Wrestlers are in the tournament, and they are split up into four groups, with the four group winners advancing to the semi-finals.
Green: KAZUKI, Kaori Yoneyama & Mochi Natsumi
Red: Leon, Cherry & AKARI
Yellow: Rydeen Hagane, Crea & SAKI
Blue: Chesca, Chie Ozora & Momo Tani
