So Stardom's annual round robin tournament is coming up very shortly, and I've decided to bite the bullet and purchase a stardom world account so I can follow the shows, and review the mon here.




The blocks/schedule for this years tournament can be scene here 
i.redd.it/8io4fcgljtb71.jpg

and here 
i.redd.it/kk7mm94ujtb71.jpg

Some of the major stories going into the tourney 

1. Starlight Kid's Heel Turn- Starlight Kid was one of ayu Iwtanai's most loyal stable members/underling, and was kind of her protege. During the course of Mayu and Starlight's all oiy stable war wuth the heel group Oedo tai Stars lost a match that resulted in Starlight having to join Oedo Tai and over the weeks that followed started to show signs of becoming darker and more heelish although she seemed hesitant to go all the way with it. Recently Mayu won a match where as a result Starlight could leave oedo tai if she wanted to, but instead Starlight declined and told Mayu that she wanted to surpass her as her rival and enemy. Another factor too consider is Mayu's other stable mate Koguma. Koguma recently returned to Stardom after a long absence and has seemed to take over as Mayu's # 2 after Starlight when to Oedo Tai. Starlight has shown some jealousy towards Koguma's friendship with Mayu, and it will be interesting to see how this  affecets their matches in the tourney as all three are in the same block.

2. Syuri vs Utami- Syuri and Utami got a lot of hype recently for their 5 star + (in Meltzer's viewpoint) match recently and both are in the same block this year Will Utami finally be able to put Syuri away , or will Syuri dfeat the cha,p and potentially work her way into another title shot with momentum on her side 


3. Takumi Iroha role in the tournament - Takumi started her career in Stardom only to leave it in order to join another promotion called Marvelous  where she has had a very nice career as their ace.  Will Takumi be able to go all the way to the finals and win, embarrassing stardom by having another promotions star win their big tourney? 

In the lead up to the start of the tourney I will watch and review the tourneys from the previous two years. 
 

2019 Night 1

AZM vs Sumire Natsu
Just an ok match the closing stretch ws pretty messy but you can still see the talent AZm has. This was her first big showing after being seen as primarily a kids wrestler stuck in the opening matches. Natsu is ok but one the lower end of the joshi ranks more TJPW than Stardoms which makes sense as the wasn't trained by Stardom and is /was just a freelancer.

Hana Kimura vs Tam Nakano

Rea;;y weird seeing Hana’s matches now. Pretty good match all things considered. Tam is always solid, and you can decently see why people were so high on Hana she just had that it factor. Hana’ didn’t do a whole lot in the ring but she did do looked really nice. That grounded octopus she did especially. I really like Tam trying maneuver her way out of the submission and how that ended up costing her in the end as it just allowed Hana to lock the submission in ever more painfully.



Mayu Iwatani vs Sak Kashima
Mayu and Saki are two wrestlers who started around the same time but went on diffrent paths . Mayu stuck with wrestling and wen’t on to be one of the main event stars of Stardom while Saki took a break and only returned to wrestling a couple of years ago. Bceuas elf this I find Saki to be really under appreciated. Her move-set is fun, and I like her pinning combination finisher . This match with Mayu was way too short but still had some nice moments I liked Mayu trying and failing to avoid getting rolled up, and everything the did looked pretty good.


Arisa Hoshiki vs Jamie Hayter
Arisa is another josh who started ata young age and then took a hiatus only to come back several years later. Jamie Hayter people might know from the UK indy scene. Match got better as it went along. It was never bad but it got really good in the closing stretch IMO.Arisa is a really nice striker and did some nice kicks in this match. Jamie plays the brutish heel role well and didn't look out of place like some western wrestlers do when they have tours of Japan. The surprising result with Jamie ending Arisa’s undefeated streek.

Utami Hayashishita vs Jung Kyona
Utami people might recognize from the recent 5 star joshi match from a couple of months ago against Syuri. Utami only had about a years worth of experience going into this match. Jungle Kyona , Utami’s opponent, is also a really solid hand who works well with anyone. Kyona was actually Utami’s debut opponent. This was a pretty nice hoss(by joshi standards) fight. I liked Kyona trying to put Utami away early witha top rope splash and then going for her finisher Utami was nowhere near as smooth or impactful as she is now but you can see why they were always high on her.





Hazuki vs Momo Watanabe
This was a very nice match very physical and pretty fast-paced. It’s a shame that Hazuki retired a little over a year ago, as she was talented. You really got the sense that both Moms and Hazuki were trying to one-up the other with their physicality. Again nothing super fancy but everything was executed very well. Another pretty surprising finish as Momo was generally higher up the card than Hazuki


Kagetsu vs Konami
The battle of of the Meiko Satomura and Kana trainees. I came into this match expecting it to start off with a lot of grappling and chain wrestling given their backgrounds and while we do get some nice mat wrestling eventually, they start off by going for high impact offense which was surprising Another very physical hard-hitting match. I also liked how Kagetsu near the end of the match transitioned between submissions I also really like Konami’s submission finisher it really looks like it hurts especially how she leans into it. . Another surprising finish showing that night one was the night of upsets.
.











t

So I've decided to forgo reviewing the 2019 and 20 % star GP, as I just don't have the free time I use to. But I will be reviewing this year's tourney.

I just watched the first show and my thoughts are as follows,

The first two matches weren't great at all. Mina vs Yoneyama was pretty short and boring and had a bad botch in it.
Koguma vs Natsumi Maki was not great either. Too much comedy stalling at the beginning and it just didn't hold my attention very well. Koguma is far behind where she was before taking her hiatus mo, she is no Taylor Wilde.
Giulia vs Starlight Kid was a big step up. There were a few sloppy moments but overall the match was very entertaining. Starlight Kid has a nice increased intensity as a heel although you can tell she's still working things out with her wrestling style after being a babyface for so long. Most of her stuff looked really good though lie her work on Giulias legs, and her butterfly ddt. Giulia like I said about Hana in my previous post just has that factor that makes her stand out, she's not a top-tier in-ring wrestler as Joshi's go but she's good enough that she's believable as a top of the card wrestler. I felt she did a nice job of selling for SLK while still showing that SLK has a bit to go before she can beat her.

Tam Nakno vs Unagi- This match was solid. It was mostly Tam beating her stablemate up for the bulk of the match, with Unagi then hitting her finisher out of nowhere to win the match. Which is how Unagi's matches really go they aren't really back and forth contests but rather showcases of her resilience

Syuri vs Saya Kamantani - Pretty good match overall with one or two slightly sloppy spots. Syuri is a nice wrestler who has a style similar to Asuka, with a nice focus on strikes and mat wrestling but also has some nice more traditional spots and moves that she can pull off. Saya is really athletic which was showcased here and she and Syuri brought a nice intensity to the match. I do feel that some of the strike exchanges went on a little too long, which made the match feel a little repetitive.




M

Day 1 Part 2

Mayu Iwatani vs Momo Watanabe- Very physical hard-hitting match. The match really got good in the second half when the pace picked up a little bit. The execution of their moves was flawless. Really liked the ending where Momo debuted a new half-nelson driver finisher after hitting her Tequilla/peach sunrise finisher.

Utami vs Maika- This was a nice powerhouse fight. With some nice power spots such as the always popular suplex countered into a guillotine choke and the countered back into a deadlift suplex spot. Along with the power spots, there were some nice technical spots as well such as a nifty crucifix pin into the Rings of Saturn submission transition by Maika onto Utami. Bit of an upset with Maika beating the champ.

Overall a solid show but you really don't need to watch the first 2 matches. 

Day 2

The show started similarly to Night 1 albeit a bit higher quality. Unagi vs Azm was fine but not anything amazing, I'm not the biggest Unagi fan. Starlight Kid(SLK going forward in these reviews) vs Saki Kashima was fun with both trying to out heel the other, and SLK showing a new level of viciousness by debuting a nasty new finisher the Black Tiger Driver.

Momo vs Natsumi Maki was a fun fast-paced match. With Momo trying to beat Natsumi primarily with her kicks while Natsumi targeted Momo's Back. The match was hurt a bit by the finish being botched which is a shame because what they were going for seemed pretty cool.

Tam Nakano vs Konami was pretty good but suffered from being another Hell dominates for the majority of the match only for the face to get the win with a comeback at the end. Konami's offense is always fun to watch though, you can definitely see she was trained by Asuka/Kana with her strikes ad submissions.

The show really took off after this point.

Utami vs Saya Kamantani was a clash between stablemates. It started with a pretty generic face vs face match opening stretch but once they started to get going and move on to the bigger spots it got really. Good while Utami tried to beat Saya with Power moves like slams and powerbombs, Saya tried to beat Utami with flippy moves like a reverse frakenstiener, a counter of Utami's running lariat into a standing Spanish fly, and a springboard plancha to the outside.Eventually Utami's power overwhelemd Saya and she got the win with a spinning crucifix powerbomb

Syrui vs Maika- Syuri is just an amazing talent. I'm glad she's getting more of a showcase being signed with Stardom now. Her match with Maika was great. The matt grappling at the start was way more involved than the Utami vs Saya match, which I likd to see. Another really physical match with some gnarly spots like Maikia countering Syuri's attempt of a tornado ddt off the ring apron but slamming her onto the apron with a suplex slam. Lots of stiff strikes in this one they did a segment of Maika and Syuri headbutting each other which was uncomfortable and probably unnecessary. Syuri eventually got the win with a sick emerald flowsion.

Mayu vs Giulia- This match was a tiny step down from the previous two but still very good. Outside of the ring Mayu's Character is a goofy pure babyface but once the bell rings she can get pretty nasty. She started the match dominating Giulia with kicks, there was a particularly funny point where Giulia tried to do a Joshi /Fighting spirit scream only for Mayu to interrupt her by kicking her in the face. Giulia took back control by hitting a gnarly hanging neck breaker off the apron to the floor, and mayu had to struggle a bit to find an opening to get back in the match as Giulia took control with some nice submissions. The finishing stretch was pretty good with both women bumping and selling really well ofr one another, and Mayu getting the win with her Dragon Suplex finisher.

Overall I liked night 2 a bit more than night 1. But both were great.

Syrui straight out murdered Maika with that kick and flowsion.

Aug 10, 2021 22:55:28 GMT c said:

Syrui straight out murdered Maika with that kick and flowsion.

Yep she did indeed

 

Days 3, 4 , and 5 were a bit of a step down from the first two nights which is to be expected, as they were smaller shows. Still, a lot of the matches didn't stand out too much , but there were a few standouts, andd a couple more that were pretty solid.

Saki Kashima vs Giulia was pretty fun with Saki using her sped and heel tactics to try and compete evenly with Giulia, while Giulia tried to control the match with her power including hitting a nice Baldo bomb on Saki. Saki was eventually able to get the pin with one of her sneaky flash rollups that have gotten the best of the likes of May and Momo in the past, which always makes here a threat for an upset win.


Tam Nakano vs Saya Kamitani was also a fun physical match, Tam isn't a super great base ( they were still able to pull off a poison rana though) so Saya can't pull of some of the spots she can with the likes of Utami, but they were able to work around that and focused more on their strikes which were very nice. Eventually, Saya was able to get the upset win with a Rana pin.

Syuri vs Azm- Great fast-paced, technical, and hard-hitting match. Some nice spots like a Rana and suplex to the outside by Azm, and Syuri countering Azumi's crossbody attempt by kicking her while she was mid-air. Azm's speed is unreal as is Syuri's striking skills and overall talent. AZM was able to get the big upset win with her signature rollup pin after hitting a Canadian destroyer.

Maika vs AZM
Great power vs speed match It was intersting to see how much harder AZM had to work to inflict damage on Miaka, due to her smaller size and lack of powr in comarison to Maika. AZM was able to fight evenly with Maikia for the most part and hit some really submissions and transitions into submissios. Maika was really able to showcase her power against a smaller wrestler like AZM, one cool spots was when AZM tried to counter Maik'a suplex attempt into a small package, but Maika rolled them both through it and hit a suplex anyway. Maika's power was eventually too much for AZM and she got the win with ehr michinoku drievr.

So the % star GP has been on a bit of a hiatus because of Covid. Which is part of the reason for the delay in my reviews.

Anyways


Day 6
SLK vs Yoneyama
Not great imo. Too short with too much Comedy for my taste. No real botches or anything just not my type of match especially in a tournament setting.

Saya Kamitani vs Konami
The match was dragged down by following the Oedi Tai formula of having lots of interference and brawling outside the ring. The actual wrestling parts of the match were pretty good , Konami's strikes and submissions are always on point, and Saya always is exciting to watch with her high flying moves. Finish was a little weak with Saya getting the win with a Rana pin.

Giiulia vs Koguma- This match was pretty good . Koguma moves around the ring pretty well , and generally bumps and sells pretty well , but a lot of her offense specially her strikes look weak. In retrospect having weak strikes was a problem she had even before her hiatus but now she can't compensate with high spots because of her body changes, meaning her matches lack a bit of intensity on her end. Still a solid match though as Giulia is usually always at least decent , and I liked some of the spots in the match such as Giulia's octopus stretch on the top rope.

Need to watch in full, but based on the clips that blew up my twitter feed tonight, looks like tonight's show was really good.

Stardom had another show tonight with two 5 star gp matches, and they streamed it on youtube for free. You can watch it here.



Himeka vs Yoneyama was basically just a comedy match, with Yoneyama getting the upset win. This was ok, Himeka is a good powerhouse, and Yoneyama is solid it just feels like the comedy gimmick holds her back from what she is capable of in the ring.


Takumi Iroha vs Mikia- Iroha started this match dominating Maika with stiff strikes. Her kicks remind me of Hamada or Meiko, everything she does looks impactful and smooth. She really made Maika work for all of her offense especially early on in the match. Overall this was really solid especially when you consider this was their first time wrestling each other and Takumi is not a regular in stardom.


Also, the future of stardom title matches and especially the high-speed championship match are both well worth watching.

My thoughts on the 8/28/21 show

Ruaka vs Konami- This was decent imo. Ruaka is a very basic power wrestler who isn't super great, but this was ok. Konami's strikes and submissions were on point, and the match was executed cleanly. Konami got the win with her triangle lancer submission.

Matsumi vs Yoneyama- This was another Yoneyama comedy match that I'm not super fond of. Other than the comedy stuff everything was executed well there just wasn't much to it. Natsumi eventually got the win.


SLK vs Mina- Mia is usually not my favorite wrestler, she's not bad or anything she just is not on the level one would expect for Stardom usually. This however was a pretty solid match. SLK is really coming into her own as a Heel in the ring, and has adapted her moves to reflect her character change, and is wrestling a much more vicious style with h6ard strikes and painful-looking moves. Mia was able to hold her own in this match too, I particularly liked the sgement where she transitioned between different surfboard holds on SLK. SLK eventually got the win with her black Tiger Driver.

Unagi vs Maika- This was probably my favorite match of the night. Very physical and intense espcially during the closing stretches. Unagi is somone who usally needs the right opponentto shine, and in this match she did. Maika was excellentas well. I liked how Maika dominated the ealy portions of the match with he6r superior mat wrestling skills. Unagi evetually got back in the match with a sick axe kick leg drop on the ring apron. Maika was able to hit some of her really nice power spot sin the match, and Unagi was able to show her babyface fire and perserrence. Only small nitpick was that the arm work Maika did did not really factor into the match in the closing stretches.


Mayu vs Himeka- This was an okay speed vs power match- There were a few awkward moments, and some of the forearm exchanges went on a little too long, which dragged it down a bit. I feel as though it did get better as it went along. So j6ust an ok match overall. Mayu eventually got the win with a rollup.

Also, you can watch highlights from day one of the tourney here

Review for the September 4th show matches

Himeka vs Mina- I liked this match quite a bit. It was a nice speed vs power match where Himeka tried to beat Mina down with lariats and slams while Mina tried to gain the advantage through roll-ups and aerial moves. I've been pretty impressed with Mina's performance the past two matches. Himeka was also pretty impressive and moves around the ring well for a power wrestler. Himeka eventually got the win with a powerbomb.

Konami vs Takumi Iroha This match had a bit of a blah start with a little too much interference for my tastes, but really started to pick upas it went on. With wrestlers like Konami and Talumi you know you are going to see a lot of stiff kicks and other strikes between the two of them, and that was true with this match. Konami also busted out a bunch of nice submissions which were cool, there was one spot, in particular, I liked where Konami had Takumi in a triangle choke and Takumi tried to power out of it and lift Konami up into a powerbomb, but Konami was able to lean back and pull them back to the ground keeping the hold locked on. Konami was able to get the surprise win by countering Takumi's running crucifix powerbomb into a rollup.

Utami vs Syuri- This was a rematch of their great title match a few months back. It was not on the same level as that match but it still was very good. The match featured some nice callbacks to spots from their last match such as Utami countering Syuri's running Rana off the apron into a powerbomb on the floor. I also really liked the sense of desperation in both wrestlers as they tried to get the win near the end of the match. The time lime draw ending was a little annoying but it set up their no time-limit title match that will happen in the future.


Also here are highlights from night 2 of the tourney

Man this is disgusting looking.

September 06 21 Show review

Saya Kamitani vs Ruaka- This match was Ok but kind of balnd. Ruaka is not horrible but slower and more boring than your average joshi. Saya was able to liven up the match with some of her high spots at points, however.

Momo vs Yoneyama- Too short to be anything memorable.

Momo vs Saki Kashima - This was a fun sprint, with Kashima taking advantage of Momo just having had a match to take control early. There were some nice counters near the end leading to Momo Countering Saki's flash pin finishher with a rollup of her own.

Himeka vs Natsumi- This was a nice power vs speed match. I liked the story of the match with Natsumi throwing out everything in her arsenal to keep Himeka down, but just not having enough to actually beat her. While Himeka had a much easier time getting her offense in and controlling the pace of the match which led to her win.

Giulia vs Mina- his was decent. I was bit surpised with how much of the match Mina was able to control, and most of her offense did look pretty good. The ending was a bit abrupt however which Giulia countering a running crossbody into her finisher.

Koguma vs Starlight Kid- This match was decent. I would have preferred from SLK to have been in cotrol for more of the match, as a lot of Kogum'as offense is not there and the good spots she does do she overuses a bit, I hope in the next year or so she can get closer to where she was before her hiatus. She did have some nice spots in this match however like countering SLk's springboard Crossbody attempt into a german suplex. Koguma eventually got the win with her german suplex hold finisher.


Konami sv Syuri- Finally a Konami %GP match without any real Odeo Tai interference spots! This math was pretty much what you'd expect from these two with some really nice mat wrestling, strikes, and cool submissions, along with some good throws. It looked lie Syuri was going to win but Konami was able to fall abck and pint Suyri, when Syuri had her in a sleeper hold.

Takumi Iroha vs Tam Nakano - This was pretty fun although I'm not as high on it as some people were. I feel as though there were a bit too much no-selling/fighting sprit spots in thi match as is pretty common in Nakano's matches imo. Still this match is worth watching as there were some really nice kicks ad strikes, Tam and Takumi's kicking styles are a nice contrast, with Takumi being more power-based nad brutal like I said earlier Hamad eqsqu- while Tam's kicks are more flowery and eloquent with lots of spins and stuff but also a tad slower. Takumi eventually got the win-win wither her running crucifix powerbomb finisher.


Also more highlights from the tourney

So I've fallen way behind due to moving recently and working more So I don't know If i'm going to be able d do full reviews for every show.


Some thoughts on a random assortment of matches however.

Mayu vs Koguma- This was the first match since her return imo that Koguma looked pretty damn close to how she was before her hiatus. She and Mayu ghave really nice chemistry, and I liked the mentor vs mentee story. I also liked how when Koguma realized she probably beat Mayu she decided to destory with a tornado DDT on the outside into the barricade and a Yoshi-tonic to have the match result in a count out draw.

Azm vs Takumi- Azm is really one of my favorite wrestlers out there. I love the way she mixes submission based technical wrestling with high spots. She just moves around the ring realy quickly and hits really hard. For it being their first singles match together AZM and Takumi have really nice chemistry. Takumi had some really nice moments countering Azm's highspots with stiff kicks. I liked AZM getting the surpirse win with her rollup finish.

AZM vs Utami- Nice match between stable mates. I really liked AZM busting out a spirboard dropkcik. I also like how Utami was just ragdolling AZM with her suplexes , AZM's bumping is excellent. It's matches like this that really make me wish AZM was booked slightly stronger, as she dserves to be higher up the crad. Really liked the finish of a torture rack into a german suplex hold by Utami.


Himeka vs Starlight Kid- Very ncie power vs speed match. There was one pretty sloppy tilt-awhirl ddt that dinged it a bit, but most evrything else was pretty great. Himeka hit some sick lariats and slams including a brutal powerbomb. This match was great at highlighting SLK's resilience as she took a lot of punishment. Liked her wiining by using Momo Nakanishi's roll-up finisher as a counter to Himeka's running powerbomb.

SLK vs Momo Watanabe - Outside of one sloppy multiple revolutions headsicssoors I thought this match wa really good. I liked SLK being agressive and takign advnatage of Momo posing before the match started by hitting her with a Chris Jericho esque triangle springboard dropick. This was a pretty fast paced match, and I really like how SLK continues to be flashy despite being a heel, espexially when she's in the rig with a great base like mOMo. Outside of her baseing skills Momo really brought some stiff kicks and coll throws to the match and did a great job too. SLK got the W by taking advntage of Odeo Tai interference to pin Momo with a flashy rollup.

Some thoughts on the notable matches from the % star GP finals.


Mayu vs SLK- This while still pretty good was kind of disappointing. It could have sued another several minute, and I think because of the lack of time prevented them from getting out of second gear, there was also one pretty bad botched counter of a powerbomb. Still, there was a decent amount to like. The intensity between the two was really good especially during a chop exchange between the two. The match did a good job of shwoing for all SLK has grown she is still a level below Mayu.


Syuri vs Takumi- A very grounded match, lots of mat wrestling in th eopening half of the match leadiing to the second half of the match being composed of some great strke exchanges, including one particulary stiff slap from Takumi. The time limit draw finish has been a little overused in this tourney so that was disappointing , but overall the match was really good.

Utami vs Tam- This was pretty good. There were some nice spots in the match such as Utami press slaming Tam from the apron to the floor, Tam hitting a german to tiger suplex combo, and Tam busting out a steiner screwdriver, and then winning with her straight arm suplex finisher.Overall a nice match that like Mayu vs SLK could have used a bit more time.


Syuri vs Momo %GP finals- Just a great match that showcased how versatile a performer Syuri is. While her match with Takumi was slower-paced and more methodical. Her match with Momo was much faster-paced, and full of high impact moves and spots. The striekes in this match looked and sounded so painful, and there was a bunch of gnarly lloking spots such as Momo htting a b-driver (dudebuster) on Syuri on the ringside floor. Justa a great match and well worth watching.

Stardom recently had their end of the year show yesterday drawing over 3,000 people and finishing the year as the 3rd highest-grossing (attendance-wise) wrestling promotion in Japan in 2021 with Dragon Gate and NJPW grossing more.
Some highlights from the show I've seen posted online ( haven't seen it yet as PPVs don't get uploaded onto Stardom world for a couple of days)

Saw the clips come up on twitter, this show looks amazing.

Was Toni unwanted in Stardom by the fans? I recall seeing someone postings a meme when she signed with the E that read "the evil has been defeated". Obviously having a former wwe star on your rolls is always a borderline good thing, but was just wondering if the fans didn't like her run with the company?

Jan 1, 2022 19:03:52 GMT @ness said:

Was Toni unwanted in Stardom by the fans? I recall seeing someone postings a meme when she signed with the E that read "the evil has been defeated". Obviously having a former wwe star on your rolls is always a borderline good thing, but was just wondering if the fans didn't like her run with the company?

If I remember correctly people were annoyed that she wasn't able to spend much time in Japan during her title reign with Stardom's main belt, do to outside booking commitments in other countries. Which left Stardom without it's main championship for stretches of time.

Stardom's first show of the year tomorrow will be broadcast live on their youtube channel. 12:30 am eastern time start time, nut it will be available even after it airs live. So you can watch after it airs.

woah.