Stardom’s Budokan Hall show in March of last year was so good it convinced me to watch them at least monthly, and a year later it’s the most reliable wrestling show I follow. They use their roster intelligently by just using their roster, keeping things fresh with a clear hierarchy that — somehow! — has even clearer pathways to the top. The big shows usually deliver too, and this year in March they had two. The first night was headlined by a main event brewing all year as well as KAIRI’s Stardom return after an extended stay in America.
1. Future of Stardom Title: Hanan [c] vs. Rina
Hanan is the 17-year-old babyface champion, while Rina’s a gal with a baaaaaad attitude. They opened the show with 5-minutes of basic and spirited wrestling that actually built to the backdrop hold conclusion really well. **
2. Golden Generation Singles Match: MIRAI vs. Saya Iida
Saya Iida tore her ACL pretty soon after that March Budokan show and just returned a few weeks ago, so the only match I’ve seen her wrestle in was a Battle Royal with Emi Sakura and Kikutaro. She’s all fired up about being back, too — sometimes a simple bodyslam is cause for celebration. Over strikes that got progressively more heated as time went by, they had a fine match number two. ***
3. 4-Way Gauntlet Match: Himeka, Natsupoi & Mai Sakurai vs. AZM, Lady C & Miyu Amasaki vs. Saki Kashima, Fukigen Death★ & Ruaka vs. Mina Shirakawa, Waka Tsukiyama & Momo Kohgo
Here, four teams of three wrestlers had three matches that lasted about three minutes each. It was just a few sentences ago that I called Stardom’s roster use “intelligent” but you really have to disregard almost every single 3 or 4 or 5-Way Battle and Gauntlet Tag match ever for that to be entirely true. *3/4
4. DDM vs. Prominence: Maika & Thekla vs. Suzu Suzuki & Risa Sera
Thekla, Suzu Suzuki and Risa Sera all left Ice Ribbon at the end of last year along with a couple others featured on these two shows, a result of much context and history you’re better off seeking elsewhere. Here they all introduce themselves a little bit, though in my opinion not quite enough. ***
5. Goddesses of Stardom Title: Hazuki & Koguma [c] vs. Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid
This a fun match that has everything a wrestling tag could need: loud shit talk, slick double teams, and stiff leg kicks from a girl in a wrestling mask. Quality closing sequence too. Just as it seemed as if Momo and Starlight Kid were done with their last interesting thing, here they were right back in a prominent position. ***1/2
6. Pirate Princess Stardom Revival Special Tag Match: Mayu Iwatani & KAIRI vs. Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka
Because I’ve been posting in this Happy Wrestling Land for so long, I can reference thoughts from five years ago when I saw the first “Kairi Sane” match in WWE’s Mae Young Classic: “…[she] is THE STAR … My god she is the living embodiment of Legend of fucking Zelda or something, all in…” She built a body of work too, having the first good Bianca Belair match in the second round and lasting to all the way to the Finals before spending the next couple years winning over WWE’s tough audiences and making Triple H’s NXT feel sustainable.
How did she do that? Selling and charisma. Really really good selling and charisma, the kind that always conveyed the possibility of danger despite her being a 5’2″ Japanese woman. She also does a top rope Elbow Drop so wild it’s surpassed the Macho Man’s as the coolest ever. KAIRI (caps) made her obscenely anticipated return to Stardom after spending some time playing the part of Kairi Sane in WWE, and if there was ring rust it was invisible. Like the last match, she and the gals ticked the right boxes and kept the festivities bumping all the way through that Insane Elbow. ***3/4
7. Wonder of Stardom Title: Saya Kamitani [c] vs. Utami Hayashishita
Saya Kamitani unsuccessfully challenged for Utami Hayashishita’s World of Stardom Title in the co-main event of that first Stardom show I watched, and in the time since she persevered and won a different belt while Hayashishita lost her own. That first match left me a little disappointed, not from the quality but from having missed out on these two wrestling stars. Saya Kamitani — “a little wacky but mostly tremendous” — continued to climb the ranks all year as Hayashishita continued as company Ace headlining shows with a main event routine that peaked at Match of the Year and bottomed out at Very Good.
If I wanted to really de-construct it though I could probably make the argument that — outside of standard issue compulsions — the reason I kept watching after that first show was Saya Kamitani, whose performances had me writing out weird stuff like, “main event quality matches mixed with the aura of a modern day Sabu” and “New Japan on LSD.” Most interesting to me though was that even though her deep slate of high-flying moves could sometimes feel haphazard, a delivery one might in some bygone era term “sloppy,” there still seemed like some logical intent behind them… like she was just pulling out the right counter or modification at the right time.
Hayashishita dishes a similar punishment that worked previously and Kamitani takes her loony bumps, but she also kicks out of more things and seems to connect on stuff harder and harder as the clock ticks by — watch that axe kick! Their World of Stardom Match ran a little over fifteen minutes, but with another ten here they refuse to meander and are able to get across Kamitani’s growth while also delivering all the wacky but mostly tremendous wrestling that sucked me in a year ago. ****1/4
8. World of Stardom Title: Syuri [c] vs. Giulia
Last year Giulia was on the top of the world or seemed about to be. Tam Nakano beat her and cut her hair in March but she re-emerged somehow looking even cooler, then a Tag Team Title reign with Syuri felt like the right scenario to keep building momentum for a run at the top. Then she hurt her neck during the 5-Star GP Tournament and she had to watch from the sidelines as Syuri dominated the rest of the field to earn a shot at the World Championship.
Syuri went on to win gold at Sumo Hall in December, the same night Kamitani won the Wonder of Stardom Title and the same night Giulia returned to the ring. See how intelligently this roster is used?? Giulia does not quite reach the top of the world here yet again, but goes down in a way where it still seems like she will be one day. The kicks were laid in and submissions sold beautifully, but it was a piledriver through a table and other pizzazz that defined this match more than anything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing… Giulia leans more superstar than wrestler and I do mean that as a compliment, but the match before just felt like a more complete package. ****1/4
Happy Thoughts: Another first-rate big show from Stardom, with the final three to four matches being very worth checking out. 4.0 / 5.0
