Suzu Suzuki’s Win Streak Reaches Five During Night 12 Of 5★STAR Grand Prix

Night 12 of the 5★STAR Grand Prix played host to nine tournament bouts, taking place on Friday night at Kobe Sanbo Hall. The first match of the evening saw former World of Stardom champion and undisputed Ace of the company, Saya Kamitani, in a match against reigning High Speed Champion, Yuna Mizumori. Mizumori arrived in Kobe knowing that she was already eliminated from the playoffs, so her motive here was to be a potential spoiler for Kamitani.

Kamitani quickly took control, taking the match outside the ring and throwing her opponent into a row of chairs. Yunamon answered that deliberate agitation by trying to outspeed Kamitani; however, she couldn’t get much going, and when she did land moves, as the former world champion quickly regained control. Unfortunately for Yunamon, Kamitani’s attacks were far stronger, and after she hit a Spinning Heel Kick, she would end the match with a Star Crusher at 9:29. With the victory, Kamitani is now sitting on a 3-0-2 record with eight points. At this point in the show, she was in sole possession of first place. Remember, the top three wrestlers in each group will make the playoffs, so Kamitani is in great shape. As noted earlier, Yunamon is already eliminated from contention.

The second match of the evening featured a Blue Stars A match between HANAKO and Rian. The young Rian came into the show already eliminated, just like with Mizumori, and had yet to win any of her matches. HANAKO, on the other hand, was in a race for one of the playoff positions with Hina and Ruaka. With that being said, Rian did really well during this match to cut off most of HANAKO’s offense and slow her down with strikes and ground attacks.

While Rian had some success with her strategy, HANAKO unfortunately walloped her with a massive big boot to start her decisive comeback. She would soon hit Rian with a wicked lariat, followed by a powerbomb, before pinning her at 9:09.

We then saw a Blue Stars B match pitting Kikyo Furusawa against Ami Sourei. Just like her ally Rian, Furusawa entered the show with a 0-5 record. Ami Sourei, on the other hand, was an even 2-2. Furusawa showed a ton of heart in this match, as she has in the entire tournament, but she was absolutely out of her depth against Sourei. She did hit Sourei with a few pretty good strikes and even got her in an ankle lock at one point, but the supposed next challenger for Hanan’s Wonder of Stardom belt was simply way too strong.

Sourei finished Furusawa with a devastating combination of a brainbuster, a lariat, and finally her Ikazuchi no Gotoku to win the match in 7:56, the shortest match of the evening so far. With the victory, Sourei now sits at six points and well within range of potentially challenging for a playoff spot. She has one more match remaining.

The next contest of the evening featured Lady C in her final league match of the year against Mei Seira. This was another fun style clash between the giant and the speedster. The former High Speed Champion largely dominated the match’s rhythm for the entire runtime here, forcing Lady C to rise up to her level. Lady C would hit a few impactful moves during this match, however she was unable to string together enough to fully slow the match down.

Mei Seira was eventually able to take control and hit her Nagareboshi to win the match in a sizzling 4:29. The Neo Genesis member leaves Kobe with a critical victory, thus keeping her hopes of advancing alive by a thread. Lady C finishes her tournament with fewer points this year than last year.

Moving swiftly along from one high speedster to another, the next match of the evening featured Koguma taking on Starlight Kid. Both of these wrestlers have high speed roots, as both have previously had reigns with the belt. This was yet another Blue Stars B matchup, and definitely one of the most anticipated matches of the evening.

“The Bear” and lThe Sky Tiger” had an odd match here, if I’m honest. They started things off with a pose-off, followed by a game of rock-paper-scissors. After all those minor shenanigans, they went into a series of pinning attempts before finally going into a striking battle. There was a really cool moment in the match where Koguma trapped SLK in a violent-looking giant swing, where she swung her by the neck. Then she went to the top rope and hit SLK with a really nice Missile Dropkick.

Unfortunately for Koguma, SLK won the match with a Moonsault Press after a C4 at 9:49. This win put SLK at seven points after only five matches. Koguma, on the other hand, is now 2-4 and officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The next match of the evening was a Blue Stars A match pitting Miyu Amasaki and AEW’s Julia Hart. I’ve made no bones about saying that Hart has been easily the worst participant of this tournament so far, as you’d expect if you’ve watched enough STARDOM and Julia Hart, but it has to be said that this was easily her best match so far. In fact, I’d be willing to say that this was actually kind of good.

These two had a spirited, physical match from the start. Both jostled for position with hard downward forearm strikes on the floor before Julia Hart started taking control with measured strikes in the corner. Hart started targeting her opponent’s arm with a rest hold on the floor, but Amasaki started firing back with strikes of her own, trying to kill Hart’s momentum.

Hart got a near fall with a standing moonsault and then followed that with an attempted running attack that was intercepted by an Amasaki leaping DDT for a near fall of her own. After Hart got back up, she trapped Amasaki with a devilish move in the ropes. Hart would soon win the match with a Hartless at 7:05. Hart is now 4-1, with her only loss coming against Ruaka, but it’s safe to say that this was her cleanest and best match since she arrived in Japan. As for Amasaki, she’s completely eliminated from playoff contention.

After a brief intermission, the next match featured another Blue Stars A match featuring Ruaka and Hina. This was a super fast-paced match, which was somewhat surprising given that Ruaka isn’t known for her quickness. Still, the H.A.T.E. member was able to keep her advantage going for the first few moments of the match.

Hina soon regained some ground, using her tremendous grappling and submission game to slow Ruaka enough that she could start dictating the match’s pace. She mostly used a Boston Crab and STF to do this. Hina would find herself in some trouble after Ruaka hit her with a brutal body press. She kicked out and answered with an STO, followed by another STF.

Finally thinking that Ruaka was weak enough and wouldn’t get back up to counter, Hina went up to the top rope and hit a Mad Splash for the massive win at 11:31. While Hina will need to hope for some help, she still has a chance to actually advance to the playoffs if everything works out. Of course, she will need to win her final league match against Miyu Amasaki, who will be wrestling in her hometown.

The semi-main event featured the final Blue Stars B match of the evening between Wonder of Stardom champion Hanan and last year’s 5★STAR winner Momo Watanabe. “The Black Peach” was seconded in her match by Saya Kamitani, with whom she had a 15-minute draw earlier in the tournament.

Watanabe absolutely dominated Hanan in the first several minutes of the match, using her strong striking ability to create a lot of problems for the White Belt holder. At one point, Watanabe even hit Hanan with an insane B Driver on the apron, which, if you weren’t aware, is the hardest part of the ring.

Finally, after so much effort, Hanan was able to dish some punishment right back to her opponent. Watanabe attempted another B Driver on the outside this time, but Hanan escaped and hit a plancha from the second turnbuckle to the outside. Both were finally able to get back in the ring before the match was called off, and Hanan continued her offense. Both would trade suplexes, Hanan with a back suplex and Watanabe with a german suplex. Right as the 15-minute mark was closing in, Watanabe hit Hanan with a Peach Sunrise, but just as the referee went to count the pin, the 15-minute mark hit, thus ending the match in a time limit draw.

Finally, we made it to the main event of the evening, which saw World of Stardom Champion Suzu Suzuki take on Cosmic Angels leader Aya Sakura. Talk about a tale of two different tournaments with these two. While Suzuki was absolutely dominating her opponents and was 4-0 coming into Kobe, Sakura was having a rough go of it, sitting at 2-3 and basically eliminated from the playoffs with two matches remaining.

This was a fun match that really showed that while Sakura wasn’t getting the results that she wanted, especially as a leader of a faction, she had a lot of heart. While Suzu Suzuki was taking it to Sakura for most of the contest, Sakura was able to respond with some good moments of shine here. That isn’t to say she had too many moments to showcase her offense, because Suzuki was simply too powerful to deny. She landed some truly hard attacks, both in strikes and grapples, and she often goaded Sakura to attack her back. It wasn’t until Sakura locked in a Triangle midway through the match that it looked like Suzuki had perhaps played this match a little too easily.

There was one moment toward the end of the match that really illustrated Aya Sakura’s heart. Suzuki dropped Sakura with a crazy Powerbomb in the corner and went about weakening her even more with a German Suplex. Sakura somehow flipped all the way through the move and landed on her feet, much to Suzuki’s surprise. Unfortunately for Sakura, that was her last moment to really do anything, as Suzuki would soon end the match with a lethal combination made up of a Tequila Shot, Buzzsaw Kick, and finally another German Suplex for the win at 11:55. With the win, Suzu Suzuki is the first wrestler to reach 10 points and is all but confirmed for a playoff spot.

For more coverage from the tournament and everything surrounding STARDOM, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.

5★STAR Grand Prix – Current Standings (W-L-D):

Red Stars Block A:

AZM – 4-1-1 (9 points) – 1 match remaining

Maika – 4-1-1 (9 points) – 1 match remaining

Itsuki Aoki – 4-3 (8 points) – Finished

Natsuko Tora – 3-2-2 (8 points) – Finished

Rina – 3-2-1 (7 points) – 1 match remaining

Tomoka Inaba – 3-4 (6 points) – Finished

Sayaka Kurara – 2-5 (4 points) – Finished

Akira Kurogane – 0-5-1 (1 point) – 1 match remaining

Red Stars Block B:

Rina Yamashita – 3-1-3 (9 points) – Finished

Saya Iida – 4-1-1 (9 points) – 1 match remaining

Konami – 4-2 (8 points) – 1 match remaining

Maki Itoh – 3-1-2 (8 points) – 1 match remaining

Mei Seira – 2-2-1 (5 points) – 2 matches remaining

Utami Hayashishita – 2-3-1 (5 points) – 1 match remaining

Azusa Inaba – 1-3-2 (4 points) – 1 match remaining

Lady C – 1-6 (2 points) – Finished

Blue Stars Block A:

Suzu Suzuki – 5-0 (10 points) – 2 matches remaining

Julia Hart – 4-1 (8 points) – 2 matches remaining

HANAKO – 3-2 (6 points) – 2 matches remaining

Hina – 3-3 (6 points) – 1 match remaining

Ruaka – 3-2 (6 points) – 2 matches remaining

Aya Sakura – 2-4 (4 points) – 1 match remaining

Miyu Amasaki – 2-4 (4 points) – 1 match remaining

Rian – 0-6 (0 points) – 1 match remaining

Blue Stars Block B:

Momo Watanabe – 3-1-2 (8 points) – 1 match remaining

Saya Kamitani – 3-0-2 (8 points) – 2 matches remaining

Hanan – 3-1-1 (7 points) – 2 matches remaining

Starlight Kid – 3-1-1 (7 points) – 2 matches remaining

Ami Sourei – 3-2 (6 points) – 2 matches remaining

Koguma – 2-4 (4 points) – 1 match remaining

Yuna Mizumori – 2-4 (4 points) – 1 match remaining

Kikyo Furusawa – 0-6 (0 points) – 1 match remaining