STARDOM
STARDOM held two Korakuen Hall shows this past week with the second one airing live on Pay-Per-View. The first show had an attendance of 690 fans, while the second had an attendance of 956 fans, which is the best-attended Korakuen for Stardom since November, which featured the comeback of AphroditE.
The Valentine’s Day Korakuen Hall show was more of a build-up show to the upcoming title matches, that were already announced. It had an elimination match between STARS & EXV, which the new unit was able to win with Maika & Mina Shirakawa being the survivors for their team. Mina pinned Iwatani with the Figure 4 Driver MINA to win the prelude match over Mayu just 9 days away from their IWGP Women’s Title clash in New Japan. In the main event, Natsuko Tora & Giulia had a prelude match, where Giulia picked up the win together with Crazy Star against Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid when Giulia pinned Natsuko after a Northern Lights Bomb. Going into the Championship match, the preview match score is 1-1-1 with Giulia having the momentum coming into the Championship match after winning this Korakuen Main Event.
On Saturday, the second Korakuen occurred and it was a “mini PPV” and it was the first live Korakuen Hall show since the 5STAR 2022. It was the more eventful show with a good crowd and Wrestlers being motivated. In the undercard, Miyu Amasaki pinned Rina in a Queen’s Quest vs. Oedo Tai Six-Woman Tag Team match and announced that she would challenge Rina for the Future of Stardom Championship on February 25th in Utsunomiya, which is in Rina’s hometown. While the match isn’t official yet, it will be soon enough. The show also featured the return of Koguma, who stepped in the ring for the first time since the end of October when she and STARS lost to God’s Eye after Syuri was able to submit Yuzuki with the sleeper hold.
In the first Championship match of the night, Saya Iida & Hanan defeated Chanyota & Mai Sakurai to retain the New Blood Tag Team Championship in a great match and the best match in the history of that Championship. This match over-delivered with Saya Iida & Chanyota shining. They were head-to-head and tried to kill each other with sickening Lariats & Headbutts so that both went out shaken up. The final stretch was great between them and the inclusion of Hanan & Sakurai elevated the match on top of it. Just a minute before the time limit elapsed, Iida was able to beat Chanyota to win the match. Wing*gori retained for the second time and will now face Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO from EXV next at an unannounced date.
In the main event of the show, Giulia defeated Natsuko Tora to retain the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship for the ninth with the Northern Lights Bomb. In a surprising press conference in the ring before the show, Giulia & Tora decided to make the match a No Disqualification match. Their Wonder of Stardom Championship match in January 2021 had the same stipulation, but this time the match got elevated by it. It was violent, brutal, and just awesome. Tora looked ruthless here especially when she cut Giulia’s braids with a scissor. Tora & Giulia went to war and it took the Champion a lot to take down Tora including a piledriver through a table and a Nothern Lights Bomb onto a table. After the match, both showed respect to each other and Tora thanked Giulia for coming to STARDOM.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
TJPW has announced that Hikari Noa will be suspending her activities for the time being as a Pro Wrestler and as an idol in the Up Up Girls group that includes fellow TJPW Roster Members Miu Watanabe, Raku, Shino Suzuki, and the newest member Uta, who has taken Noa’s place in performances of the group.
Noa has been absent from TJPW for nearly two months now with her most recent match being against Maki Itoh on December 17th. It stated by the company back then that she had an illness, which led to the Princess Tag Team Championships being vacated that Noa held together with her FreeWiFi Tag Team Partner Nao Kakuta. It’s yet to be said when Hikari Noa will come back.
Marvelous
The AAAW Tag League started with five teams competing to face Magenta for the AAAW Tag Team Championships on May 3rd in the Korakuen Hall. The matches will have a 20-minute time limit. 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 for a loss. In the event of tied points, a match with no time limit will be held to determine the winners.
The first day featured two Tag League matches with the first being Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato facing former AAAW Tag Team Champions Chikayo Nagashima & Takumi Iroha and it was an impressive match to open the tournament. Kato & Mizunami represented OZ Academy here and defeated the former Champions in 17:12 minutes when Kato rolled up Iroha. This was great and a match to seek out. All four Wrestlers had really good chemistry and worked together well. The OZ team gets the two first points and will be a favorite in this tournament.
The second tournament match in the main event featured Mio Momono & Tomoko Watanabe, who faced Ai Houzan and her surprise Tag Team Partner Sadie Gibbs, who returned to the ring in this match for the first time in over three years. A bit ago, Sadie teased that she was coming to Japan, which made fans wonder, where she is heading and now they have the answer. She’ll be in Marvelous and compete next to Ai in the Tag League. Sadie looked fine in the ring and had some ring rust, but over the match it improved, and her interactions with Momono were great. She picked up the surprise win for herself & Ai by pinning former AAAW Singles Champion Mio Momono to gain two points.
Official AAAW Tag League Standings following Day 1
2 – Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato (1-0-0)
2 – Ai Houzan & Sadie Gibbs (1-0-0)
2 – Chi Chi & ZONES (0-0-0)
0 – Chikayo Nagashima & Takumi Iroha (0-1-0)
0 – Tomoko Watanabe & Mio Momono (0-1-0)
