I watched my first Stardom show at the start of 2021 and ended the year carefully avoiding spoilers before I could watch their December show headlined by two of my new favorites in can’t-lose rematches of two of the best matches of the year. A quick glance around this website will tell you I’m a pretty easy mark, but this was a pretty clear-cut example of pro wrestling just working and making someone give a shit about an entirely new cast of characters, which is a real swell thing to experience if you can manage it.
This show took place at Sumo Hall.
0. 5-Way Battle: Saki Kashima vs. Lady C vs. Waka Tsukiyama vs. Rina vs. Fukigen Death★
This wasn’t a better wrestling match than WWE’s 5-way effort at Day 1, but a pre-show opener with rookies and a clown and other hijinks that ends with the clown doing a rollup while flipping off the audience just feels like a way more natural and frankly honest place for the 5-Way gimmick. *1/2
1. Future of Stardom Title: Ruaka [c] vs. Hanan
I haven’t seen a great Future of Stardom Title match yet but I really like the Future of Stardom Title, an admirable chance for rookies to have matches with more stakes than the norm. Here Ruaka and Hanan go just 6 minutes and are iffy on the delivery but big on the emotion, especially when Ruaka’s era of dominance comes to an end. **
2. Artist of Stardom Title: Maika, Himeka & Natsupoi [c] vs. Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Mai Sakurai
Footage airs of the champs training under a waterfall before the match and it sets a tone that is only slightly undone by all the dancing that followed. The gals were choreographing, triple teaming, keeping it breezy… the challengers are so filled with charisma and possibility that a win seems possible but the champions in white are just more composed. They also have Maika, who throws some particularly rough forearms to the chest and ends the match stoically dropping all three challengers with Michinoku Drivers. ***
3. 3-Way Battle – High Speed Title: Starlight Kid [c] vs. Koguma vs. AZM
Towards the end of this there’s a pretty wild series of cradles including one that fools the timekeeper, but otherwise the match drags three individual talents into having not much more than any other dumb Triple Threat. **1/2
4. Giulia Return & Konami Farewell Match: Giulia vs. Konami
Giliua headlined the first Stardom show I saw and lost her hair to Tam Nakano, then got injured a few months later. Now she’s back, she’s got hair again, and she’s facing Konami — who is retiring, or at least taking extended time off. It was a lot to process but they kept it pretty simple, lighting each other up right away with elbows before Konami tried to either grapple Giulia into submission or defeat her with the moves of her friends.
She wasn’t completely successful, and eventually fell to an entire showcase of Giulia signature moves including — and I am probably not getting this right — a snap Northern lights suplex and package sit-out powerbomb. ***
5. 10th Anniversary Match – Stardom Reunion: Mayu Iwatani & Takumi Iroha vs. Momo Watanabe & Hazuki
Mayu Iwatani and Momo Watanabe are a pair of Stardom babyface stalwarts, the latter of whom recently made a heel turn and joined the odious Oedo Tai faction. She teams with Hazuki, who retired in 2019 but returned last year complaining to Iwatani about invaders from other wrestling promotions. Iwatani teams with Takumi Iroha, who left Stardom for one of those promotions years ago but also returned last year. Maybe.
Momo’s heel turn means black lipstick and a purple hooded sweatshirt and shoulders slouched so as to tell you she does not give a SHIT. Her entrance was probably the most interesting part of the match though, just a tag that did not get going before Momo ditched her partner. Iroha’s kicks stay cool. ***
6. Wonder of Stardom Title: Tam Nakano [c] vs. Saya Kamitani
I purposely tried not to read up on Stardom when I began watching it and Saya Kamitani still quickly emerged as one or two of the Just Coolest. When she unsuccessfully challenged for the Wonder of Stardom (think Intercontinental) Title this past July, these thoughts came to mind: “fun and majestic … until it’s time to … rage and throw down.”
Her high-flying was Better Than Most, the regular high-altitude springboard plancha and once a dropkick that seamlessly turned into crossbody in mid-air on a different opponent. And high-flying is definitely a core competency for possible wrestling superstardom, but to get to being “the one” you’ve got to tighten up or evolve the approach a little. Here, in the rematch from July, she basically gets there. It’s similar to that match athletically, though it lacks the funky veteran vs. underdog vibe because this is just a more careful and serious performance from Kamitani.
It should go without saying that Tam Nakano made Kamitani’s ascent that much better (if not completely), but I’m going to say it anyways. Just a few days before she teamed with her at the Tokyo Dome, she borderline tortured Kamitani on offense. To toss her to the ringside floor, she opted to drag her over the top turnbuckle with a dragon sleeper and just drop her to the mats. The low key badass beneath the idol vibe is one thing, but it gets especially nasty for the main events.
They packed a bunch of great bits in a 20-minute runtime but one I thought was especially great was Kamitani’s process after she was able to hit her first offense in a while, a dropkick: 1) blood-curdling scream of relief, 2) hold head in agony, 3) springboard plancha. Somehow each response and decision tracked.
The reverse rana on the floor isn’t normally my favorite maneuver but when Kamitani pulls it out as her only option to stop Nakano’s onslaught, I stand up and I buy in. When she dumped Nakano on her head with one from the top rope, Kamitani gives the kickout an all-time great are-you-KIDDING-ME reaction before she climbs to the top to try victory by Phoenix splash. Nakano responds with a ROAR like a supervillain and drags her back down to the mat with a Tiger suplex before they start throwing elbows and damnit if Kamitani isn’t going toe-to-toe with Tam Nakano deep into the contest.
Close to the end Nakano hits Dragon suplex hold but Kamitani’s leg’s land on the ropes, and there’s a beat before the crowd and referee and Nakano all realize Kamitani was still in this. And hey, yeah — in this one she really is. She pulls it off. Excellent crowning of a top dog in the pro wrestling business. ****1/2
7. No Time Limit – World of Stardom Title & SWA World Title: Utami Hayashishita [c] vs. Syuri
Utami Hayashishita also stood out early, probably because she was Stardom’s World Champion all year. Most of the shows I saw ended with her defending the belt and she had a remarkably consistent title run, so remarkable I’m willing to use the word remarkable. After her incredible 6/12 title defense against Syuri, I found out she was 22-years-old and “has been wrestling for less than three years … for all I knew she was a 15-year vet finally getting the spotlight.” Sometimes you just have to commit.
Ace Hayashishita and I assume the Stardom main event in general has a formula to it, and it works. But Syuri provides the special to put it over the top, seasonings like hands and boots and just beast mode things. She rarely hits the ropes or even “hits a spot;” it’s more about the grappling and the beating and sometimes feels, dare I say, Shibata-esque.
Syuri’s unsuccessful challenge was my favorite Stardom of 2021 and the back half of the year seemed designed to position her as not just any challenger but the inevitable unbeatable next-in-line. Sometimes it was even to the detriment of the title match (sorry Maika). There they went almost 45-minutes (including a restart) and inexplicably used the time well (or at least made me think they did), and here they tried to stick the landing with two championships and a no time limit gimmick on top of it.
They end up going almost 40 here (without a restart) and with such runtimes wrestling can easily veer into meander-land, but for both matches Utami and Syuri just didn’t. They were different types of matches too, the June match more slow burn and extended matwork before the drama-soaked ass-kicking and this December match only a few minutes of grappling before Syuri tries a to get the party started with a rana on floor and Utami just powerbombs her flat. From there it’s about exhaustively just kicking each other’s ass, which is kind of where they left off in June anyways.
It goes without saying it’s a struggle for either to get a complete 3-count for a little bit, or in Syuri’s case maybe a submission or KO. Both crash to the mat when Syuri does the avalanche Hoverboard Lock spot yet she is still aware enough to eyeball when Utami is reaching the ropes so transitions out of it into a stretch muffler. The skills!
The professional wrestling can occasionally be cursed by a wrestler’s chase for triumph being more compelling than the triumph itself, and I think the June match had more meat to it — and this weirdly kind of lost the steam for an epic epic conclusion in the last like 60 seconds — but here’s the big deal crowning of another top dog in another great fucking match. ****1/4
Happy Thoughts: The undercard was actually weaker than the average card I’ve seen, but Stardom closed the year with two (two!) pretty brilliantly executed forward movements of two (two!) new stars. The kings of good basic logical Japanese elevation booking are right here. At Stardom. 9.0 / 10.0
