STARDOM
STARDOM continued the start of the year with two shows in EDION #2 in Osaka on the road to the 13th Anniversary show this past weekend, which built up the big Osaka EDION #1 show on February 4th.
The first show set up two future Championship matches, when Fukigen Death pinned Mei Seira and challenged Seira for the High-Speed Championship and Hanan pinned Ami Sohrei and wants to challenge for the Artist of Stardom Championship together with Mayu Iwatani & Hazuki. Both matches will happen on January 20th in Takadanobaba.
The main event of the second show was scheduled to be Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani vs. Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki for the Goddess of Stardom Championship, but due to Suzu’s poor health the match got changed to a special tag team match with Aphrodite’s stable partner AZM replacing Suzu Suzuki. It’s yet to be known when the Goddess of Stardom Championship match will occur.
The biggest news in STARDOM this week was that Yuzuki asked Mayu Iwatani to join STARS and the Icon accepted it With that the 2023 STARDOM Rookie of the Year is the new STARS Member, and is the first Rookie from the 2023 Generation to join a faction, which especially upset HANAKO, who has been starting a little rivalry with the “Moon Arrow” following their match in the “Rookie of the Year” Tournament at the first show of the year.
SEAdLINNNG
On January 11th, SEAdLINNNG held its first show of the year in Shin-Kiba, with the A Block of the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Title Tournament, where VENY & Maya Yukihi of Las Frese de Egoistas advanced to the final of the tournament in Match.
The injury of Arisa Nakajima in her first-round match together with Sareee against Natsu Sumire and Miyuki Takase overshadowed the show. After Takase choked Nakajima, the Ace of SEAdLINNNG rolled to the outside and couldn’t move anymore. She was helped out on a stretcher and was rushed to the hospital. A couple of hours later, SEAdLINNNG stated that Arisa Nakajima was able to respond and was conscious. She suffered a mild cervical cord injury and will be out for the time being. We from WrestlePurists wish Arisa a speedy recovery!
ARSION
On January 12th, ARSION made a one-night comeback in Shinjuku FACE in front of a sold-out crowd of 480 fans. The promotion was founded in February 1998 by the current executive producer of STARDOM Rossy Ogawa. However, due to financial difficulties, it ceased operations in June 2003.
The show featured many talk battles with stars from ARSION that made an appearance and three matches with Yumi Fukawa, who produced the show, having her send-off match in the main event after not being able to have one after a sudden retirement due to a head injury in 2001. She fought together with Michiko Omukai & Yumi Fukawa to a 10-minute Time Limit Draw against AKINO, Leon & Yuu Yamagata.
During the end ceremony, Ayako Hamada, ARISION’s greatest product, made a surprise appearance to the shock of the fans, wrestlers, and Rossy Ogawa. It was Hamada’s first appearance in Japan after getting arrested in May 2018 due to violating the Stimulants Control Act. The show ended with Yumi Fukawa and her daughter Kizuna Tanaka hugging together in the ring, and Fukawa raising the hand of her 19-year-old daughter.
JUST TAP OUT
The JTO Girls Tournament started this past Saturday. The tournament shuffles the ranking system with Tomoka Inaba trying to defend her top spot with it being on the line in the entire tournament, while the others try to climb the rankings. In the first round, Azusa Inaba squashed Nanase in under 3 minutes to advance to the second round, where she will face Aoi. The former Queen of JTO Champion defeated Misa Kagura in over 16 minutes in a must-win match for both, who want to gain momentum after their devastating losses on the January 6th JTO Girls show. Azusa Inaba vs. Aoi is an interesting match-up with both having logical reasons to go against Tomoka Inaba on the 5th Anniversary show in the Korakuen Hall.
On the other side of the bracket, Yuu Yamagata defeated rhythm and will face Tomoka Inaba, who defeated Sumika Yanagawa in the main event of the show. The two rivals will face off once again in the semi-finals of the JTO Girls tournament, and just like in 2022, a victory of Tomoka is more than likely here. Her advancing to the final of the tournament as the Champion with either Aoi or Azusa Inaba stepping up seems what JTO is going for.
