Stardom in Sendai 06/08/2017

Ruaka vs Hanan vs Shiki Shibusawa

Rookie three way opener. This is the quintessential Stardom opener, competently worked whilst still feeling quite rehearsed. There’s a few moments of hesitation, with Shibusawa looking the least comfortable of the three. Her offence at this stages seems to be mainly dropkicks. The sections with Ruaka working Hanan look the most coherent, they work very well together, and Hanan has a great looking rolling leglock. Ruaka gets the win by rolling up Hanan.

Natsuko Tora vs Konami

Konami is pretty great, really like her fighting stance. Her early offence targets the back with some sharp kicks and a nice knee drop. They work a fun headscissors section early on, with Konami battling to get to the ropes whilst Tora seems to choke the life out of her. Tora hits a surprisingly great spear, but Konami hits a big German suplex and kicks her in the face to win. Short match, but pretty fun.

Jungle Kyona & Mari Apache vs Shanna & Starlight Kid

Nicely worked battle of speed vs power. Starlight Kid has a very brief advantage until Kyona catches her on a 619 and nails a side slam. Apache works Kid on the mat, with her size advantage letting her control easily. It’s the speed advantage that allows Kid to make her escape and tag in Shanna, and her hot tag run is pretty fun. Her offensive run does include a double-underhook facebuster that basically drops Kyona on her head and her crossbody into a sunset flip looks great. Her mistake is taking out Apache with a big suicide dive, as this leaves Kid alone with Kyona, with Jungle nailing a big clothesline for the win. Good stuff.

Queen’s Quest (Viper, HZK & AZM) vs Toni Storm, Xia Brookside & Gabby Ortiz

Everyone gets paired off in the opening stages, with the big gun of both teams – Viper and Storm – having the best sequence. Viper is really good at using her size advantage in interesting ways, and her sudden crossbody looks deadly with how quickly she’s able to hit it. When things break down, it’s unsurprisingly the two least experienced, Brookside and Ortiz, who look slightly lost. Though AZM and HZK are both really young, their execution has a crispness that belies that and shows their experience. Storm hits a lovely suicide dive, but Ortiz ends up isolated and all three members of Queen’s Quest jump on her, culminating in a Viper senton for the win.

Oedo Tai (Kris Wolf, Kagetsu & Hana Kimura) vs Mayu Iwatani, Hiromi Mimura & Yoko Bito

This is the first time I’ve seen Iwatani since she’s become the World of Stardom champion, and it’s quite interesting to see her carry herself as the ace. She’s believable in the role, partly helped by the fact she’s the best performer in the match. Given the nature of Oedo Tai matches, this breaks down pretty swiftly. I loved the fact that, during the Oedo Tai pose, Wolf decides to tickle Mimura rather than put a boot into her face, somehow feels a bit more dickish. The faces later do the Kaientai pose on Kimura, which feels like a nice payback spot. Oedo Tai logically have the advantage when things break down, swifter at coming to each other’s aid and triple-teaming the first member they isolate. In this case, it’s Mimura who gets singled out. The superior teamwork of Oedo Tai even plays into the finish, as Kagetsu gets a blind tag during a Mimura/Wolf roll up exchange and gets the win with a 450 splash. Fun main event.

Stardom - Stardom of Champions 23/02/2017

Zoe Lucas & Christi Jaynes vs Natsuko Tora & Kaori Yoneyama vs Arisu Nanase & Hiromi Mimura vs Queens Quest (Azumi & HZK)

This is an elimination match, with eliminations by submission, pinfall and going over-the-top rope. Pretty much a fun spotfest opener, which puts some of the greener members of the roster in a position where they only have to hit their moves and get out, which keeps everyone looking good. I liked the gaijin Jaynes and Lucas working big against Nanase and Mimura – neither are huge, but there was a notable size difference which I’m glad was played up. Dug the Queens Quest girls hitting a swank double facewash into the same corner from opposite angles. Lucas pins Nanase after a series of big kicks, but is quickly pinned by HZK after a seated senton. Yoneyama and Tora had played it smart by staying outside a lot, and I loved their control on Queens Quest – Yoneyama hitting a dropkick on HZK and simultaneously landing a senton on Azumi looked killer. However, they make the mistake of going up top, and Queens Quest bundle them to the floor to win.

Konami vs Yoko Bito

Konami impressed in her Stardom debut in December, and I thought she looked excellent here. Liked the cagey opening with both wrestlers trying to sneak in a kick or find an opening. Konami is really tenacious here, quickly going to work on Bito’s leg and on release not giving her a moment’s recovery before pouncing with another submission hold. Bito tries a Jig’N’Tonic, but Konami is able to grab the injured leg whilst upside down and roll through into another sub. Bito’s comeback felt a bit premature, and she felt like the weaker link in the bout, as she picks up the win with a second try at the Jig’N’Tonic.

Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo

This is for Storm’s SWA title. Nice little sense of one-upsmanship to start, with both sneaking little bits of offense in as they work the mat for superiority – Purrazzo sneaks in a quick headbutt to the torso on a rope break, Storm holding her hands on the mat to stomp the fingers. Storm takes a really nasty spill on a suicide dive, looking like her feet caught the ropes, but she seems to recover quickly, hitting a nice running hip attack and a decent Fisherman’s suplex for two. Purrazzo seems to have a gameplan of working Storm’s arm, and I liked how that same into play when Storm tries a suplex, Purrazzo finding it easy to counter and go right back to an armbar. My only complaint is that the end seemed to come from nowhere for the second bout in a row, as Storm suddenly hits a backcracker and a piledriver to win.

Mayu Iwatani vs Kris Wolf vs Kagetsu

This is for Iwatani’s High Speed title, and the deck is stacked against her – not just because she’s facing two members of Oedo Tai, but because a third member in Hana Kimura is outside the ring, which we realise as she trips Iwatani in the early stages after Oedo Tai lure her outside for a foot chase round the ring. Fun comedy spot as Kimura and Kagetsu hold Iwatani in the ropes and tie some elasticated tape to her, and Wolf runs off into the crowd with the other end, letting the roll ping off into Mayu’s face. I dug Iwatani’s gameplan of trying to isolate one Oedo Tai member, hitting an Iconoclasm on Wolf onto Kagetsu. The obvious problem of which member of Oedo Tai will get the win is addressed as Kagetsu ties Wolf by the tail to one of the ropes, and even when Wolf gets free, her pin attempt is thwarted by Kagetsu hurling a briefcase at her. In the end, it doesn’t matter, as Wolf lets Kagetsu hit a sitout driver on Iwatani, then hurtles across the ring to cover both ladies and win the title. Fun match, felt like a big moment for Wolf.

Kairi Hojo vs Jungle Kyona

Absolutely loved this. This is for Hojo’s Wonder of Stardom title. Real big match feel, as Kyona rushes Hojo as soon as the bell ring, taking any legal advantage possible. Hojo is the smaller wrestler here, and noticeably her offence here is based around quick impact moves, but this costs her early, as she takes an insane high speed charge into the ring post on the outside. She just splatted into it with Kyona moving just in time. Kyona works over the back of Hojo, with a backdrop on the floor and an Argentine backbreaker, and there’s a big red mark appearing early on Hojo’s lower spine. Hojo makes a comeback with her quick offence, a spear looking surprisingly good considering the size difference, and a big crossbody to the floor looking immense. Hojo works over a body part herself, hooking an ankle pick on Kyona, and I loved how Kyona sold it. After escaping, Kyona is on one knee trying to level Hojo with strikes, but the injury means she can’t put pressure on the leg and as such means she hasn’t got a base to put any real force behind the blows, which Hojo barely feels. Kyona is able to get up to meet Hojo on the top rope, hitting a top rope powerslam to further hurt the back. This is followed by two awesome deadlift gutwrench powerbombs that get a real close nearfall. Hojo hits some big backfists (and one that looked a bit duff, sadly) and goes back up top, but soon has this great look of shocked horror as Kyona AGAIN gets up to meet her. This time, Hojo sends her back down with a double stomp and hits her perfect top rope elbow for the win. Incredible bout, felt like a real breakthrough performance by Kyona.

Io Shirai vs Shayna Baszler

This is for Shirai’s World of Stardom title. Really good stuff here right from the get-go, as Shirai fires off a blow right from the handshake, only to get caught in a big sleeper right away, showing how dangerous Baszler can be. Baszler works Shirai’s arm early door, and I love how they kept coming back to the injury throughout the match. Shirai sells it throughout, just little touches like not being able to properly grind her elbow into Baszler’s ribs on an abdominal stretch or giving it a quick shake in between moves so you know it’s still bothering her. Baszler locks another sleeper in on Shirai, this time in the corner from the top rope, and Io does this amazing limp body hanging sell. They fight outside, which is where Shirai takes over, dropkicking Baszler’s head through a chair, blasting her with a thrown chair and hurling her into the crowd, where Baszler only just makes the 20 count back into the ring. Shirai challenges Baszler to strike her, fighting through Shayna’s kicks to the leg, but not being prepared for Baszler to mix it up and kick the injured arm instead, which puts Io down. Baszler gets this amazing Falcon Arrow into a sleeper, and this leads to probably the only weak point of the match – the ref checks on Shirai, who is out, and rather than award the match to Baszler, he makes her break the hold and pin Io, only getting a two count. Very odd. Baszler lets herself get distracted talking to the ref, and this is her downfall, as Shirai hits a straitjacket German suplex, a tombstone and a moonsault to pick up the win. Great stuff.

Stardom Year-End Climax 22/12/2016

Ruaka vs Azumi vs Arisu Nanase

This is a rookie three way, with all three girls looking exceptionally young. You get the impression these three must have worked together and trained together a lot in their development, and thus a few sequences do look really slick – the quick exchange of role-ups where none of the girls looked lost for example. As the match progresses, a certain hierarchy in ability soon becomes apparent, highlighted by Nanase and Azumi putting a two-person crab on Ruaka, and only Azumi looking like she was applying any pressure. Nanase also has really flimsy looking strikes. Azumi looks the most capable of the three, though I was impressed at the angle of the Boston Crab applied by Ruaka to Nanase. However, Nanase escapes and cradles Ruaka for the pinfall. Nanase was probably the least impressive of the three, but this was a perfectly fine opener.

Konami vs Hiromi Mimura

The pre-match interview establishes this is Konami’s first Stardom match, though she has wrestled elsewhere. Her first move in the match is to snatch Mimura in a bodyscissors and go for the submission, and they work a nice little mat sequence of hold and counterhold. Mimura is a rookie, albeit more advanced than the girls in the opener, and she definitely seems to be improving from the matches I saw from her earlier in the year. Her selling was really good here as Konami decides to work on a leg, including it slowing her running the ropes and giving Konami an opening. At one point they work a strike exchange, but whilst Mimura goes for blows to the face, Konami unloads a kick to the leg, which takes Mimura longer to recover from. Mimura gets a close nearfall of a Majistral cradle, but a nasty looking rolling kneelock by Konami gets the tap. This was good.

Oedo Tai (Kris Wolf & Hana Kimura) vs Kaori Yoneyama & Saori Anou vs Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora

This match really flew by. After a brief bit of schtick at the start with Kimura, Anou and Kyona all posing for the cameras, this kicked off and didn’t slow down for the rest of the match. Hard to say there was any real structure, as people kept popping in and out of the ring without any tags, but it always felt like the people in the ring we actually trying to win. Nothing was done just for the purpose of looking cool, it always seemed to be to lead to a pinfall or a submission. Loved Anou teaming with Kyona, whipping her into the corner to splash Kimura, but then immediately rolling up Kyona from behind to try a flash pinfall. Yoneyama and Anou also locked a nice combo figure 8/head scissors on Tora, which looked cool. Wolf looked a lot more solid and confident than she did the first time I saw her compete, and Yoneyama, though short and stocky, was a little dynamo here, looked really good. The end saw Tora leap off her partner Kyona’s back to hit a big senton on Anou, but Wolf immediately dived in to cover Tora on impact and get the pin. A lot of fun.

Twisted Sisterz (Holidead & Thunder Rosa) vs Queen’s Quest (HZK & Momo Watanabe)

This was for the Sisterz NWA Vendetta Pro titles. Queen’s Quest seem pretty green, with mainly rookie offence like dropkicks and some soft looking blows, but they were game here, and sold nicely for the Sisterz. I really liked the fluid teamwork of Rosa and Holidead, with Holidead wheelbarrow suplexing her partner into a senton looking really choice. They zero in on the back of HZK, locking in pendulums and nailing a big back breaker, but I also liked that the moment Holidead makes a mistake and tangles her leg in the ropes, HZK goes right after it, kicking it in the ropes and locking in a figure four. Watanabe hits a really nice looking double-knees to Rosa’s face, but the result never feels in doubt due to the lack of power behind the rookie’s offence. They do get a really nice nearfall from a top rope senton, but Rosa is soon able to cradle HZK for the win.

BY HO (Kairi Hojo & Yoko Bito) vs Oedo Tai (Kyoko Kimura & Kagetsu)

This is for Oedo Tai’s tag titles. Odeo Tai take this to the floor early, which fits into their style of match more than their opponents. Kagetsu sends Bito sprawling into rows of chairs. Hojo has entered the match with strapping on her back, which is targeted by Kimura. It’s soon ripped off and Kimura lays in with a backbreaker and stomps. I liked the way, rather than go into a strike exchange, Kimura allows the smaller Hojo to unload with chops, in the process wearing herself out, and then levelling her with one big strike. Bito tags in, but doesn’t fare too well. However, her in ring stint does allow Hojo time to recover. Her flying punch from the top looks great. Loved Hojo diving in to save Bito from taking a knockout kick to the head to turn the momentum for their team. Oedo Tai try to use briefcases as weapons to turn the tide, but it backfires when Kagetsu hits Kimura by accident. Hojo blasts Kagetsu with her awesome elbow drop and Bito follows this with a Jig’N’Tonic for the titles.

Io Shirai vs Mayu Iwatani

This is for Shirai’s World of Stardom title, and is an absolute blast. Shirai played the role of dominant ace perfectly, with a cool and slightly cruel demeanour, giving a slight hint of a smirk after slamming Iwatani on the wooden floor. I liked the way they showed Shirai coming into the match with a gameplan, as she wedged Mayu’s leg in a chair before hitting it with a running dropkick. The injured leg provided an opening that Shirai would use to try and make comebacks later in the match when Iwatani was in control. Iwatani, as the challenger, really put it all on the line to win the title for the first time. A crossbody to the floor is followed by a Dragon Suplex on the floor. This is the match turning point that starts things really rolling for Iwatani, as Shirai can barely beat the count, and this is the first notable momentum shift. Iwatani goes for the Dragon Suplex at several points in the match, hitting a nasty one on the ring apron and a conventional one in the ring for a close nearfall. However, she goes to the well once too often as she tries for a top rope version, only to have Shirai land on her feet and nail a series of awesome rolling Germans, where she rolls over Mayu as if to make an O’Connor roll, then rolls through to her feet and suplexes Iwatani again. This was a very back and forth match, but the changes in momentum felt organic and both girls really sold their exhaustion in the closing stages. The end sequence was excellent, with Shirai spiking Mayu after reversing a tombstone, then nailing two consecutive moonsaults for the win. Terrific, terrific match.

Stardom 18/01/2015

Right, I've had this show sat around for a while waiting to be watched, but hadn't gotten round to it. As I've stated before, I've very little experience of Joshi, and despite enjoying some of the bits I'd seen, I'm not totally sure where to begin. However, given that I've bought tickets to the BEW/Stardom show in London this weekend, I figured that watching this would at least give me a headstart on what to look forward to.

Hatsuhinode Kamen vs Momo Watanabe

This is basically clipped to the finish, with the only Watanabe offence we see being a roll up. Kamen hits a suplex and cradle pin for the win

Hudson Envy, Kris Wolf & Kyoko Kimura vs Act Yasukawa, Dragonita & Heidi Lovelace

There seems to be some ongoing issue between Kimura and Yauskawa, and despite her teammates trying to hold her back, Act rushes the opposing corner to start, predictably getting beaten up and some beer poured over her. I don’t recall seeing much of Dragonita in this match, with Lovelace working the vast majority of it for her team, and she looks terrific throughout. I loved how the animosity between Yasukawa and Kimura meant that Kimura let her attention slip from Lovelace in the ring to have a strike exchange with Act on the ring apron, which allowed Lovelace to take control by attacking from behind. Lovelace hits a great looking STO. Wolf I found a bit irritating, but I loved her selling of a Rings of Saturn by Lovelace as, after Kimura rescues her, she continues to favour her left arm, even when clapping along with a delayed suplex. Lovelace gets worked over from that point on, and Envy hits a Celtic Cross for the win. After the bout, the 6 women seem to put their differences aside and look to be joining together.

Koguma & Reo Hazuki vs Risa Sera & Takumi Iroha

The team of Sera and Iroha have a bit of height on their opponents which they use to their advantage in this match, with both using their longer legs for a lot of leg-based offence. Dug the opening cat-and-mouse work between Koguma and Iroha, especially as Iroha cuts it off viciously with a nasty looking foot stomp. When Koguma is on offence, she’s pretty fun, following every bit of offence with this kind of excited hop, like she didn’t think she could pull the move off. Sera has a load of knee based offence that looks really good, loved her vicious running kneedrops to the back. Unfortunately, the ref is really poor here and hurts the match a bit, with his delayed count between 2 and 3 telegraphing the kickouts. There’s a lot of nearfalls you don’t buy because of it. Koguma reverses a suplex by Iroha into a reverse naked choke and, even though Iroha doesn’t tap, she’s so out of it that Koguma and Hazuki are able to control her for a good portion of time. When Sera does get the tag, they also double team her for a long period, until Sera fights back with more nice knee based offence. Sera hits a big top rope knee drop on Hazuki for the win.

Io Shirai vs Kaori Yoneyama

Yoneyama is quite squat and stocky compared to Shirai, so I was a bit surprised at how fluidly she moved throughout this match, especially at the start when they exchanged a really quick series of pin attempts. Shirai hits a pair of lovely topes just before a quick clip. When we come back, Shirai looks to be about to hit a one-person Spanish Fly, but Yoneyama wisely drops down, causing Shirai to fly to the mat in place for Yoneyama to hit a massive top rope senton for two. What I loved was the real sense of fight in this match – Yoneyama really feels like she’s trying everything to win here, and there’s a lovely battle for a top rope powerbomb, Shirai holding onto the turnbuckles for all she’s worth before viciously kneeing Yoneyama in the head to escape. Shirai is just that little to quick for Yoneyama, who gets caught climbing the ropes as Shirai hits the Spanish Fly to win. Really dug this.

Act Yasukawa vs Mayu Iwatani

This is for Iwatani’s Wonder of Stardom title. Yasukawa is accompanied by her new friends, which Iwatani also has an entourage on the outside, and this comes into play during the match. At first, Iwatani is in total control, wearing Yasukawa down with a series of stiff kicks. However, she tries to dropkick a down Yasukawa, who moves, causing Iwatani to get hung up on the bottom rope in a nasty looking bump. From this point, every time Iwatani tries to get back in control, Yasukawa’s entourage interfere to help her maintain control. At one point, it ends up 1 on 5 outside the ring. Yasukawa gets a Stretch Muffler inside the ring, before everything spills outside again and we get utter chaos as all parties get involved in a big brawl. Loved the dives by Iwatani from the top rope and again from the stage to take everyone out. Back inside, there’s a lovely moment where Iwatani kicks out of a rollup and Yasukawa transitions straight into another Stretch Muffler. Just when it looks like Iwatani is going to win, Kimura pelts her with a steel box, allowing Yasukawa to steal the win. Quite fun, albeit with a big case of smoke and mirrors to fill in the cracks. Yasukawa is a real charismatic presence, but doesn’t seem to be quite good enough in the ring yet.

Yoshiko vs Nanae Takahashi

This is for Yoshiko’s World of Stardom title. As soon as I saw Yoshiko, I knew I recognised her from somewhere, then remembered it was from a news story last year, where she’d assaulted another wrestler during a match, which had led to that wrestler needing surgery for fractured bones. Taking a look on t’internet, it turned out that the opponent was Yasukawa, who ended up retiring in December, so that was a slightly depressing thing to uncover going into this match.

Partly due to this, partly due to the full-body jumpsuit she wore and partly due to the vacant-but-dangerous look in her eye, this made Yoshiko remind me a bit of Nailz (albeit a vastly better wrestler). There was a lack of emotion on her face that gave off an aura of danger, and her size makes her look brutish. Takahashi’s plan therefore seems to be to outwrestle her, working over the arm of Yoshiko. Yoshiko’s raw power means that she’s able to turn the tide with one blow, but unlike someone like Brock Lesnar, she’s not portrayed as the smartest of wrestlers meaning her power advantage can be nullified. Here, it’s shown by her repeatedly clotheslining Takahashi with the bad arm, which she then sells the pain of, giving Takahashi time to recover. Both get nearfalls, with a hammerlock spinebuster and some sentons all getting two for Yoshiko, whilst Takahashi also gets some close two counts with a series of slams and suplexes. In the end, the overwhelming power of Yoshiko is too much, as she blasts Takahashi with a clothesline to pick up the win.