STARDOM is presenting its biggest show of the year, All Star Grand Queendom, on April 27th in Yokohama BUNTAI. The expectations were high for this card as it’s the show that kicks Stardom off in the new era with Taro Okada as the head booker, and well to say it in a nice way – the expectations weren’t met. The show doesn’t feel like the biggest show of the year, and it certainly doesn’t feel close to the show last year that had seen Tam Nakano & Giulia fighting for the World of Stardom Championship in the main event.
Still, the card has a couple of great match-ups and a great top three that make you want to tune into the show. The eleven-match card features a good mix of special tag matches, multiple championship matches, a dream match with Sareee & Mayu Iwatani, and a Two out of Three Falls World of Stardom Championship match between Maika and Momo Watanabe.
Let’s dive into the main card of the show.
Rina (c) vs. Sayaka Kurara for the Future of Stardom Championship
Rina is continuing her historic Future of Stardom Championship run as she puts her title on the line against Sayaka Kurara. ‘The Pink Devil’ is closing in on one year as Champion and is not only just two months away from being the longest reigning Future of Stardom Champion, but also just three defenses away from tying her sister Hanan’s defense record of ten successful defenses.
The match was set after Rina essentially called the rookies of STARDOM “weak” after Miran from Diana put on a tougher fight than STARDOM’s young prospects, so now Sayaka Kurara is stepping up and has the chance to prove Rina wrong. Kurara has been gaining momentum as part of her being finally accepted into Cosmic Angels. She has a tremendous & exciting move set that includes her devastating Spear. While the only singles victory of her career came with a disqualification win in the Cinderella Tournament, Kurara has it all to take the belt of the Champion.
This is one of the more exciting matches on the show as Kurara will have her chance to have a break-out performance here. This could be her night if her opponent wasn’t Rina, who isn’t done with her run as Future Champion yet. She will be highly motivated to break the defense record of her sister.
Prediction: Rina
God’s Eye (Syuri, Konami & Ami Sohrei) vs. E-neXus-V HANAKO, Xena & Waka Tsukiyama)
A showcase match for Konami, who will return to STARDOM as a full-time wrestler for the first time since December 2021. She will be a great addition to the roster as someone who can fill every role the company needs her in and it’s a blessing for God’s Eye, who needed a new number 2 after the departure of MIRAI.
The top God’s Eye trio will face HANAKO, Waka Tsukiyama, and Xena of E-neXus-V in a trios match. This will be nothing special and is just there to re-introduce Konami as a full-time wrestler. This may set up an Artist of Stardom Championship match in the future as Xena is 1/3 of the Champions together with Maika & Mina, but who knows really with STARDOM in 2024. They love to tease a ton but rarely deliver on it.
Prediction: Syuri, Konami & Ami Sohrei
Mina Shirakawa vs. Natsuko Tora
This was a late addition to the card as over the past weekend, Mina Shirakawa & Natsuko Tora have built tension as part of the EXV & OEDo Tai feud, including a post-match attack from Tora on Mina. With that, the two top names of EXV and OEDo Tai will face each other in singles matches with Mina facing Tora and Maika facing Momo Watanabe.
It has the simple story of Shirakawa believing that Tora is jealous of Mina as she has appeared & wrestled on national TV now, while Tora just laughs at Mina for believing she cares about any of that. The leader of OEDo Tai has been on a great run since the 5STAR last year and has delivered in various singles matches, so this match is likely to be a good one.
With Forbidden Door coming closer, a Mina Shirakawa win seems likely to continue her momentum for the inevitable clash with Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship. The winner of this match could potentially be in championship contention for all three top belts as well.
Prediction: Mina Shirakawa
Saki Kashima (c) vs. Fukigen Death vs. Saya Kamitani vs. Saya Iida for the High-Speed Championship
Don’t question it. Just accept it and hope for the best is my motto for the four-way match for the High-Speed Championship. Saki Kashima kicks off her second run with the belt after ending the great run of Mei Seira way too early as Seira is now more focused on the tag division. To set up this match, Saki Kashima got pinned by Saya Kamitani in Kobe and by Saya Iida in Osaka. That led to both announcing a challenge for the High-Speed Championship, which brought out Fukigen Death, who wants a shot at the belt as well. A four-way match was decided with Saki Kashima putting her title on the line against all three.
The High-Speed division has been lacking bodies for quite some time, especially after AZM, Starlight Kid and Natsupoi moved up to bigger things, so having two new names with Kamitani & Iida in this match helps the excitement since it will be interesting to see how both will do in this kind of environment.
Kamitani is by far the most interesting winner in this match as the ‘Golden Phoenix’ feels directionless and has had no momentum going on for the past few weeks even before Utami Hayashishita announced that she was leaving the company. From unsuccessfully challenging for the World of Stardom Championship to challenging for the High-Speed belt in just two months shows that, but under a new booker, it’s yet to be seen how the division will be treated under Okada.
That being said, Fukigen Death is in this match for just one reason, and that is to take the fall for Saki Kashima so that the Champion can escape the match with her title.
Prediction: Saki Kashima
Crazy Star (Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira) (c) vs. Young OED (Starlight Kid & Ruaka) vs. FWC (Hazuki & Koguma) vs. 02Line (AZM & Miyu Amasaki) for the Goddess of Stardom Championship
A four-way match for the Goddess of Stardom Championship has been decided after the Osaka show as Crazy Star has a tough challenge ahead of them by putting their titles on the line against three great teams in FWC, 02Line, and Young OED, who all are hungry for Championship gold.
While I would have preferred a straight-up tag match, STARDOM has been trying out the multi-way tag matches in recent weeks, and they have been fun, so this could be a potential show stealer if laid out well. It should be 15 minutes of just spot after spot with all eight going out and just delivering a fantastic match.
Seira & Suzuki have been the MVPs of the tag division for the past six months as they are just an incredible team that has built up tremendous chemistry since being paired together and should keep the belts longer, but I wouldn’t count out Starlight Kid & Ruaka as OEDo Tai could end the show by holding multiple titles, with Momo Watanabe in the main event and Rina in the opener. It’s the first time I’m struggling with a prediction, but I’m giving Crazy Star the edge over Young OED here.
Prediction: Crazy Star (Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira)
meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito
Tam Nakano & Natsupoi will be in special tag team action as they will face Aja Kong, who is making her long-awaited STARDOM debut, and Kaoru Ito. Aja & Nakano have been teasing to face each other ever since the Spark Joshi show, where they teamed up to defeat Mina Shirakawa & Janai Kai during WrestleMania Weekend. Natsupoi then added that she also wants to face someone who turned out to be Kaoru Ito, a close friend & mentor of Sareee.
What can a fan expect from this match in 2024? It’s tough to say since Aja Kong is great in her role, as it’s seen in TJPW, but she needs a tag partner with more agility to work well these days and Kaoru Ito is not that. She’s not mobile in the ring anymore and is way past the point where she can elevate or help a match. The match quality will be decided by how well Ito & Aja will make meltear bump for them, and knowing Natsupoi, she will bump a lot for both
The winner should be obvious as the legends won’t take a fall, and Natsupoi, who should be on the rise to the White Belt, continues to take losses.
Prediction: Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito
Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Sareee for the IWGP Women’s Championship
THIS is the match Joshi fans have been waiting for as Sareee & Mayu Iwatani will clash for the first time ever in a singles match. The word “Dream Match” gets thrown out a ton these days, but this is a legitimate dream match in the Joshi scene. Two of the best of our generation are facing off with the IWGP Women’s Title on the line, and the expectations couldn’t be higher.
Originally, these two were scheduled to face for the World of Stardom Championship, but it got called off at the last minute. Since then Sareee had a little stint in WWE and came back better than ever as she is in her prime and constantly having fantastic matches, while Mayu is Mayu and continues to be one of the greatest to ever step foot inside a wrestling ring. The ceiling of this match is one of the greatest women’s matches in the history of wrestling, and these two know it. They will be as motivated as ever. I would be surprised if anything on this card or even in women’s wrestling this year will be able to top this if given the time.
That being said, it would be surprising if Mayu Iwatani isn’t walking out as the IWGP Women’s Champion with her movie coming out in a few weeks.
Prediction: Mayu Iwatani
Saori Anou (c) vs. Hanan for the Wonder of Stardom Championship
Saori Anou will defend her Wonder of Stardom Championship against Hanan, who will have the biggest match of her entire career here.
Hanan earned this shot by winning the Cinderella Tournament as the ‘Young Lioness’ defeated all of her rivals, including 2x Cinderella Winner MIRAI, Starlight Kid, who eliminated her in the White Belt Rumble, her career-rival Ruaka, and then her recent rival Ami Sohrei in the final, to win the tournament. Now, it’s Hanan’s time to show that she’s worthy of the push in the upcoming biggest match of her career against Saori Anou.
Anou has been a champion for around four months and only defended the belt once so far against Starlight Kid. The reign hasn’t been hot up to now, but that could change instantly with this match. I’m expecting a lot from this, and both know how important this match is since it’s meant to be the match that puts Hanan near the top of the card.
Hanan herself has been ready for a push for some time with her great showings in recent months, including the Goddess Tag League and the Cinderella Tournament, and now STARDOM has decided that it is time to test her against their biggest stars. A victory would make her a top player, but with Anou just recently signing a deal and the Natsupoi match being on the horizon, at least I’d hope so, it could go in both directions
Prediction: Saori Anou
Maika (c) vs. Momo Watanabe for the World of Stardom Championship in a Two Out Of Three Falls match
The main event of the show is for the World of Stardom Championship as Maika & Momo Watanabe face off with a special stipulation – Two Out Of Three Falls. The first fall is a normal singles match, the second fall is a hardcore match with Falls Count Anywhere rules applied, and if a third fall is needed, it will be held under Last Woman Standing rules. This will be the first Red Belt match in STARDOM to have a stipulation since Kagetsu defended her title against Hana Kimura in a No Disqualification match back in 2018.
The build-up to Maika vs. Momo Watanabe has been great and has garnered hype well for the championship match. It has the simple story that both want not only to destroy each other, but also the Yokohama BUNTAI, as they will be in the main event of the first show in BUNTAI after the venue re-opened. Their story is personal & heated as they have a hatred for each other and fans can feel it whenever they are in the ring together. Maika wants to keep the Red Belt, while Watanabe finally wants to crown herself, and she’ll do everything necessary to achieve that.
I’m going to be real here – I’m worried about how this match plays out in terms of quality. Momo & Maika have fantastic chemistry together in the ring as they’ve shown in all of their matches since Maika made her debut in STARDOM four years ago, but the stipulation is worrying. This could end up being one of the best matches of the year or terrible, and it’s all about how they lay this match out and use the stipulation.
STARDOM is historically not the best at having hardcore rules especially with OEDo Tai being involved. The second and third fall scream that OEDo Tai stands in the ring and beats up Maika until EXV makes the save for her, which is the worst case. In the best case, this is a brutal war with creative spots, insane weapons, and most importantly, blood. Violence is what made Joshi wrestling special, and fans have seen in AJW how brutal things can get. If this match is going in that direction, then it’s going to be great.
With the chance of OEDo Tai being involved for the majority of the match, this match is tough to predict, but STARDOM needs an Ace figure as Champion after the recent departure and the troubling times in the promotion, so I’m leaning towards a Maika retention.
Prediction: Maika
