STARDOM held 5STAR show in Fukuyama on Saturday with four 5STAR Grand Prix Matches, including Momo Watanabe facing Giulia and Ami Sourei battling Mayu Iwatani. It was a really fun show with four great tournament matches.
In the first 5STAR Match, Mariah May (3-2-0) battles Utami Hayashishita (2-2-0). Utami is trying to stop her losing streak after her two recent losses to Maika and AZM, while May wants to continue her momentum after defeating her Tag Team Partner Shirakawa in the Korakuen Hall. The Match starts off with May offering the Queen’s Quest Leader a White Rose as a mind game, but Utami doesn’t fall for the trap when May tries to attack her. The former World Of Stardom Champion dominated the early parts of the match, but it turned more into a 50-50 affair the longer the match went, with a great finishing stretch that saw Utami as the winner with the Torture Rack Bomb.
AZM (2-3-0) is just one loss away from being as close as it gets to being eliminated, while Mina Shirakawa (3-2-0) wants to reach the 8-point mark. Their match can have huge implications for the Block results on the final night, and both know it. They started off with a great high-speed sequence with AZM trying to focus on the arm, while Shirakawa goes after the leg of the former High-Speed Champion, which continued to be the story of the match. The match featured many counters from both Wrestlers, with AZM’s quickness being on display, but Mina tried to stop her with Dragon Screws, but the Queen’s Quest Member overcome the work from Shirakawa and pinned her with the Azumisushi.
Momo Watanabe (3-1-0) faces Giulia (2-2-1) in Blue Stars Block action. Momo’s winning streak was ended by Mariah May, so she wanted to get her momentum going here, while Giulia wanted to prevent the deadly 3rd loss in the 5STAR. Watanabe attacked Giulia before the bell, and controls the match, destroying the NJPW Strong Women’s Champion with her Baseball Bat. Towards the end of the match, Giulia got more offense in, but Watanabe is a tough opponent, that stopped the former World of Stardom Champion before, but not today. The Leader of Donna del Mondo countered Momo Watanabe’s attempt into the Nothern Lights Bomb for the three count and two important points.
In the Main Event, Mayu Iwatani (2-2-1) faces Ami Sourei (2-2-0) in a loser is eliminated situation. Both already lost to the Red Stars Block Leader Natsuko Tora, who sits at 12 Points, and with another loss, both couldn’t overtake the Oedo Tai Leader anymore, so a lot was on the line here. Sourei attacked Iwatani right at the bell and shocked the IWGP Women’s Champion with her power, but Mayu fought back and got her offense in. Both build up a great in-ring story, with Ami dominating, but Mayu Iwatani finds a way to pick up the win with a Hurricanrana. With that, Ami Sourei is the first Wrestler to be eliminated in the 5STAR Grand Prix, while Mayu Iwatani’s dream to win the 5STAR again can continue for now.
STARDOM held a 5STAR GP Special in Hiroshima on Sunday, with multiple titles being defended and 5STAR Matches from the Blue and Red Stars Block being held.
In the opener, Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa teamed up against Maika and Megan Bayne. This was a really fun match, with Bayne being once again presented as a dominant force, that Mina and May tried to overcome together as a team, but the power of the Megasus. In the end, Maika and Bayne worked together with a Doomsday Device to plant Mariah May, and Megan Bayne hit the F5 on May for the three count.
The first 5STAR Match is one with a lot of history, Momo Watanabe (3-2-0) faces her former Tag Team Partner Utami Hayashishita (3-2-0). They have a history that goes long back, and a rivalry that started when Watanabe turned on Queen’s Quest and Utami 18 months ago to join Oedo Tai. This is their second singles match since, with the first ending in a Time Limit Draw, with important Points being on the line, both Wrestler will try to avoid it. The match started off slow but progressed to being as violent and brutal as expected. Momo and Utami had a war, with both hitting everything they had in their arsenal to get the advantage of the other, which included great counters. Hayashishita planted Momo with the Hi-Jack Bomb to pick up the win in a great match.
Starlight Kid (2-3-0) has a tough match-up in the Red Stars Block against Tam Nakano (2-1-1) and needs to beat the World Of Stardom Champion to stay alive in the Grand Prix, but Nakano needs to win to be one step closer to her dream to win the 5STAR. The pace was on a high level from the first moment in the match, with Starlight Kid trying to out-wrestle the Champion, but Tam is on par with the Oedo Tai Member here. The determination in the face of SLK was seen, with her hitting multiple Tiger Suplexes to near falls, but with every move, she came closer to victory, but Nakano had a Tiger Suplex of her own. Both gave everything in the match, but there was only one who could possibly win this match, and it was Tam Nakano in a great sprint with the Violent Screwdriver. Kid gave everything, but Nakano was once again just one level above her, and she eliminated Starlight Kid from the 5STAR.
Mayu Iwatani (3-2-1) also fights against the elimination against Syuri (2-1-1) in the next Block Match. The match had a slow start but picked up quickly and got amazing. The two former World Of Stardom Champions build up a fantastic dynamic, with an insane last 8 minutes. They gave everything with brutal kicks, suplexes, and bumps and put on one of the best matches of the entire tournament. The ending sequence was incredible, but it ended with a shock ending, as Syuri pinned Mayu Iwatani clean to eliminate the IWGP Women’s Champion from the tournament early.
From then on the Championship matches started, with the first being for the High-Speed Championship with Saki Kashima defending against Momo Kohgo. This was a quick sprint, with roll-up sequences and close near falls. Saki Kashima retains for the third time and defeats Momo Kohgo.
Saori Anou and Natuspoi won the Goddesses Of Stardom Championships from Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa, now they are defending it against Suzu Suzuki and Mei Seira, who aligned themselves after both joined STARDOM. The match kicked off with high speed action between all four wrestles but quickly turned into the challengers dominating, but the match turned more into a 50-50 affair the longer the match went. All four went crazy, with especially Mei Seira standing out, and proving how awesome she is. The chemistry between Anou and Suzu Suzuki was fantastic in this match and showed once again why they are one of the best pairings in wrestling currently, but Anou and Seira had fantastic sequences, and with big Match Natsupoi in the mix the match only was able to be outstanding. The Champions got the win and retained for the first time when Saori Anou pins Mei Seira. After the match, AZM and Utami Hayashishita announced their challenge for the Tag Belts for the big show in Nagoya
In the semi-main event, the hometown hero Konami tries to win the Wonder Of Stardom Championship from MIRAI. The backstory here is that both got into an argument over Kashima’s role in God’s Eye, while MIRAI defends the decision to let her into the stable, while Konami is totally against it. The match started off with great mat work until the challenger got control and started to work over the left arm of MIRAI with a brutal arm bar. From then on she made it her goal to destroy it, and it worked. MIRAI had no chance in the first 10 minutes of this match, with Konami countering everything, and taking apart her body to set up the Triangle Lancer, but MIRAI was able to escape it. Konami was on the verge of victory, until MIRAI started her comeback, and was able to get the shock pin with a brutal Lariat to retain her Championship in an incredibly structured match that solidified the Wonder Of Stardom Champion as a great underdog.
After the match, Konami and Saki Kashima made up again and God’s Eye is happy. Syuri then challenged anyone to a UWF Rules Match, with none other than Mina Shirakawa accepting the challenge for the Nagoya show next month. It will be the first UWF Match for Mina, and it will be interesting how she will look in that environment, but there is no better dance partner for it in STARDOM than Syuri.
In the Main Event, Giulia puts on her NJPW Strong Women’s Championship against Risa Sera. The Prominence Wrestler makes her first appearance in a STARDOM ring since losing the Artist Of Stardom Championship in April. The match went to the outside quickly where Giulia set up a table to hit her Piledriver, but Sera saw it coming and countered quickly, moved the table, and threw Giulia and herself through the table with an Air Raid Crash. Back in the ring, the violent match continued with Giulia hitting a brutal headbutt and German Suplex, while Sera hit the Sera-rhythm Buster. From then on, it just got more brutal with planting each other on the head several times, including an insane Glorious Driver from Giulia and a Powerbomb from Sera for two close near falls. The ending sequence was insane, with Giulia hitting the Tiger Lila, a shout-out to Hana Kimura on her birthday, and the Nothern Lights Bomb for the three count.
Next Week’s 5STAR Grand Prix Matches:
Day 11 – September 9
- Blue Stars: Maika vs. Giulia
- Blue Stars: Saori Anou vs. MIRAI
- Red Stars: Hazuki vs. Starlight Kid
- Red Stars: Tam Nakano vs. Suzu Suzuki
Official 5STAR Grand Prix Standings following Day 14:
RED STARS BLOCK –
12 – Natsuko Tora (6-2-0)
9 – Natsupoi (4-1-1)
7 – Tam Nakano (3-1-1)
7 – Syuri (3-1-1)
7 – Mayu Iwatani (3-3-1)
4 – Suzu Suzuki (2-3-0)
4 – Starlight Kid (2-4-0)
4 – Ami Sourei (2-3-0)
4 – Hazuki (2-3-0)
0 – Saya Kamitani (0-5-0)
BLUE STARS BLOCK –
8 – Utami Hayashishita (4-2-0)
7 – Giulia (3-2-1)
6 – Mina Shirakawa (3-3-0)
6 – Momo Watanabe (3-3-0)
6 – Saori Anou (2-3-2)
6 – MIRAI (3-2-0)
6 – Mariah May (3-3-0)
6 – AZM (3-3-0)
5 – Maika (2-1-1)
2 – Hanan (1-5-0)
Sendai Girls
Sendai Girls held one of its biggest shows of the year on Saturday in Niigata. The BIG SHOW featured six matches, including some of the best talents in Joshi Wrestling and top stars like STARDOM’s Natsupoi and future WWE Wrestler KAIRI. In the Main Event, Chihiro Hashimoto and Yuu clashed with DASH Chisako and Hiroyo Matsumoto for the Sendai Girls Tag Team Championships
KAIRI made one of her last appearances before her hiatus in Sendai Girls on Saturday, teaming together with Veny, who is challenging the Regina di WAVE Champion Hikaru Shida next month against Miyuki Takase and the next challenger for the Sendai Girls World Championship, Mika Iwata. The match started off with KAIRI and Iwata facing off, who have a history with each other. In 2015, they had a well-known match in STARDOM, where KAIRI went full berserk mode and beat Mika, a Rookie at the time, so hard that you felt terrible for the Sendai Girls Wrestler. This was Iwata trying to get some revenge a few years later, together with her trusted Red Energy Tag Team Partner. This has the feeling of an all-star Tag Team Match with all four Wrestlers just going at it. The dynamic was quickly in the hands of the KAIRI and Veny, with Red Energy working the underdog role, and taking a ton of bumps. The momentum never shifted in the favor of Iwata and Takase, so KAIRI and Veny had an easy match-up here for them, with the Pirate Princess hitting the Insane Elbow for the three-count.
In the Main Event, Team 200kg is defending their Sendai Girls Tag Team Championships Reiwa Ultima Powers, who are trying to reclaim the titles after vacating them at the end of 2022 due to an injury suffered by DASH Chisako. She and Hiroyo Matsumoto won the titles last time by defeating current Champions, Yuu and Chihiro Hashimoto, who once again hold the titles over 200 days. The Match starts off with a fantastic Hoss sequence between Yuu and Matsumoto, that sets the tone of the match – violence. The Champions dominated the early part of the match, with Yuu and Hashimoto showing their power to the challengers with nasty moves, including a nasty Powerbomb on the Aperon, and insane Suplexes. The Reiwa Ultima Powers started their comeback by dodging the Double Splash of the challengers, and DASH went crazy, hitting multiple Double Footstomps for a near fall, it didn’t take long for the Champions to get control over the match again, but DASH never gave up and is kicking out of everything, until the Albright by Hashimoto stops her and retains the Championships for 200kg for the second time in a fantastic match.
