Review: Stardom – 2017.10.01

Before the main show started Mayu Iwatani made an appearance to let everyone know she was okay and to tell people to look forward to her return. She seemed to be in high spirits which was really nice to see.

Hanan vs. Ruaka vs. Starlight Kid
A fun opener even if there wasn’t really anything you haven’t seen if you’ve watched any of Stardom’s openers over the last few months. The work was solid though and there were very few mistakes. Starlight Kid pinned Ruaka after a splash. 2/5

Shiki Shibusawa vs. Xia Brookside
Everything that could go wrong for Shiki did go wrong in this match. She fell from the turnbuckle and then botched jumping over Xia. Also, her selling was again noticeably poor, with several moves by Xia resulting in little reaction. To Shiki’s credit she carried on and finished the match but this is the worst match I’ve seen from her since she debuted a few months ago. Xia did well to keep the match going and help Shiki recover from her mistakes. Though as her last mast on her current Stardom tour i’m sure she would have preferred a better match. Xia Brookside pinned Shiki Shibusawa for the win. 1.25/5

Konami & Yoko Bito vs. Hiromi Mimura & Mari Apache
It says a lot about Hiromi Mimura that just a few months ago she felt like “just another standard member of the roster” and now she is one of my favourite performers from the mid-card. The wrestling in this match was as you would expect, lots of kicks from Konami & Yoko and a lot of class from Mari Apache. But it was Hiromi who made the match entertaining with her infectious underdog personality. I laughed out loud when she attempted a Mexican Surfboard in tandem with Mari but (intentionally) got it all wrong but still looked happy with herself. She has tapped into a character nobody else is really doing and it is working great. Yoko Bito pinned Hiromi Mimura after a B-Driver. 3.5/5

Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora vs. Takumi Iroha & Rin Kadokura
This is my first time seeing both Takumi & Rin (I started watching Stardom in 2015, just after Takumi left). I was impressed by both but in particular by Takumi. This was a very stiff match at times, with both Takumi & Rin delivering big chops. There wasn’t quite the chemistry between the two teams that you would get if they were battling often but the match flowed well and it was longer than many recent Stardom matches at around 20 minutes. It was nice to see Stardom trust Natsuko Tora with a big match like this and she did well, not making any serious mistakes and got in plnety of offense too. Takumi & Jungle Kyona had a great segment of strikes late in the match before Takumi Iroha pinned Natsuko Tora after a swanton bomb for the win. 4/5

Oedo Tai (Kagetsu, Hana Kimura & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen’s Quest (Io Shirai, AZM & HZK)
A fantastic match that really let AZM shine on her 15th birthday. Oedo Tai immediately focused on AZM and Kagetsu spat water in her face. Queen’s Quest gradually got back in the match and AZM delivered an incredible octopus stretch to Tam Nakano. There was then a nice, but short, Io Shirai & Kagetsu face-off before Tam Nakano threw a wooden signboard into Io’s face while the referee was distracted. Kagetsu used this time to handcuff Io to the ropes. but Io managed to slide the handcuffs around the ring to tag out. AZM & Hana were left in the ring and they delivered big suplexes to each other before Hana submitted AZM for the win. A really fun match and it was so nice to see AZM shine in the main event! 4/5

There was a great segment after the main event with Kagetsu talking. Several future matches were confirmed:

Io Shirai vs. Hana Kimura
HZK vs. Kagetsu
AZM vs. Kris Wolf

Also several teams for the upcoming Tag League were announced:

Io Shirai & HZK
Kagetsu & Hana Kimura
Yoko Bito & Jungle Kyona
Konami & Hiromi Mimura
Natsuko Tora & Shiki Shibusawa
Starlight Kid & AZM

It was also announced that Tam Nakano will be taking some time off from wrestling to recover from some nagging injuries. She will continue to be at shows in Oedo Tai’s corner.