Review: Stardom – 2017.7.23

Starlight Kid & Shiki Shibusawa vs. Ruaka & Hanan
Kid, Ruaka & Hanan all continue to impress. Hanan in particular has very quickly looked very smooth in the ring. Shibusawa looked very green but this is only her second match. The match itself was a very standard junior/rookies opener. Starlight Kid pinned Hanan for the win. 2/5

Kaori Yoneyama & Natsuko Tora vs. Gabby Ortiz & Xia Brookside
Brookside and Ortiz are the latest in a long line of green gaijins Stardom has invited over for a few months. Both have a great look and move well enough although I think it slightly hurts their own talent who could be in the ring with more experienced wrestlers. The match was fairly stilted with several pauses between moves. Tora looks stronger every week though and Yoneyama is always entertaining. Xia Brookside pinned Natsuko Tora for the win. 1.5/5

Hiromi Mimura vs. AZM
I’m not convinced that Mimura can reach the top of Stardom’s card but she has certainly been improving over the last few months. AZM has enormous potential and seems destined for a great career. This match is very short but also smooth. Hiromi Mimura pins AZM for the win. 2.25/5

Mari Apache vs. Shanna
Mari Apache is great and the news that her daughter is training with Stardom is something to really look forward to. The match began with several holds from Apache followed by some stiff kicks. Shanna fought back with a good hurricanrana from the middle rope. When Apache was forced outside Shanna hit a suicide dive before they took turns throwing each other into the chairs at ringside. The match ended in a double countout as they brawled next to the ring. Solid match. 3/5

HZK vs. Jungle Kyona
This was a really great match with a lot of powerful offence BUT it was let down by a stupid early shoot headbutt spot that made a sickening noise. Both these wrestlers have the ability to be at the top Stardom but questions must be asked on why this spot was chosen and whether it was okayed by the management. It is an especially bad time to be doing these pointless spots with what happened to Shibata only a few months ago. Anyway, other than that the match was great and both looked like true stars. Hopefully next time I will get to talk more about how great it is instead of this rant. Jungle Kyona pinned HZK after a spinning powerbomb. 4/5

Michiko Ohmukai, Konami & Yoko Bito vs. Kris Wolf, Kagetsu & Hana Kimura
This was a really fun match. Oedo Tai’s new entrance is great and their character work continues to get better and better. A highlight being Kimura’s attempt to kidnap one of Ohmukai’s children who was at ringside after the match. The in-ring work was all solid to good. Yoko Bito pinned Kris Wolf after delivering the B Driver. 3.5/5

Viper vs. Mayu Iwatani
The match began as pretty much all Stardom Viper matches do with the smaller woman struggling to knock Viper off her feet. Mayu did well in this role though as her incredible speed was fun to watch. I particularly enjoyed the attempted crossbody by Mayu that resulted in her flying back the way she came.  Viper then threw Mayu to the outside where the other members of Oedo Tai beat on her. Once Mayu was back in the ring the match slowed down with several illegal holds while Oedo Tai distracted the referee. Viper proceeded with several big power moves including a great sit-down powerbomb. Mayu kicked out and then countered an attempted superplex from the middle rope. Mayu’s comeback didn’t last long but after Viper seized back control she attempted to climb the ropes only for Mayu to use a dragon suplex from the first rope followed by a big splash from the top rope. Viper kicked out of the pin but Mayu won with a sweet inverted Frankensteiner. 3.5/5