The fourth and fifth Stardom PPV’s in July were also the first and second nights of this year’s 5★Star GP tournament, which began just days after New Japan introduced the IWGP Women’s Championship, presumably to be defended by Stardom wrestlers on New Japan shows.
The Stardom roster was on a roll, and now 26 of its’ most prominent members were competing in two 13-woman blocks to determine who statistically reigned supreme.
Stardom 5★Star GP 2022 Night 1 (7/30/22)
0. Gauntlet Tag Match: Tam Nakano & Natsupoi vs. Starlight Kid & Fukigen Death★ vs. Momo Watanabe & Saki Kashima vs. Koguma & Hanan vs. Ruaka & Rina vs. Miyu Amasaki & Hina
But first: a Gauntlet Tag Match. Or a harmless way to get the people not working tournament matches on Night 1 in front of the crowd. Or both. New friends Nakano and Natsupoi got attacked during their dance number entrance, then ran the gauntlet and won the match. You couldn’t possibly ask for more. **
1. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Mai Sakurai vs. Momo Kohgo
Mai and Momo opened the tournament by just getting right to the moves. Those included a 619, Northern lights suplex and multiple slaps to the face. It was a little unrefined and like 5 minutes long but made for a spirited start to the tourney. **3/4
2. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: Ami Sohrei vs. Saya Iida
Two Stardom young guns collide! There was shoving. Hard chops. Shoulder tackles. Eventually, struggles out of submissions. A good match that felt very different from the last one. ***
3. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: SAKI vs. Sayaka Unagi
They were kicking! Endlessly. Then they began dropping each other with suplexes, and remarkably kept up the energy. Then it was over before it felt like it really began. **3/4
4. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Risa Sera vs. Maika
Risa Sera, previously of Ice Ribbon, basically squashed Maika here. It was interesting. She kept up the pressure but not enough to make it very good or anything. Maika managed a superplex late in the match before Sera’s badass diving double knee drop put her down. **3/4
5. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Syuri vs. AZM
Syuri, current World of Stardom Champion and last year’s tournament winner, took on AZM, current High Speed Champion and a real up-and-comer AZM. It rocked. Ruled. Was amazing.
Syuri lit AZM up with kicks early only for AZM to rock her with a kick to the spine, so Syuri started kicking harder. AZM kept bringing it enough to reasonably seem like she might win, including a great spot where she ducked a Syuri kick with a legsweep and rollup. Eventually Syuri stopped AZM short with another nasty kick, which she emphatically kicked out at 1 on.
When Syuri finally caught AZM in a stretch muffler that she couldn’t escape, when the bell finally rang, Syuri’s initial response was disbelief that she had even won. They kept the World Champ strong while positioning the Midcard Champ as someone who could be next up, all in under ten spectacular minutes. ****1/4
6. Saya Kamitani & Lady C vs. Nanae Takahashi & KAIRI
Nanae Takahashi and KAIRI are both former World of Stardom Champions (Nanae was the first actually) but haven’t been around regularly in a while. In 2022 they both returned and here they were tagging against The Regulars: Saya Kamitani, who is the Wonder of Stardom Champion, and Lady C, who is still finding her way.
Kamitani began all cautious before KAIRI punked her in the corner and it was basically on from there. Nanae lit up Lady C, KAIRI threw a nasty backfist, and the babyfaces made a comeback when Lady C dropped down to setup a Kamitani springboard crossbody followed by a double jumping (Baba) neckbreaker. Nanae eventually bullied C into place for a frog splash and got the W.
Everyone was just beating the shit out of each other and creating compelling matches for the future – such an all-around win. ****1/4
7. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: MIRAI vs. Mayu Iwatani
As a follow-up to two great matches they kind of just riffed for a while, before Mayu just tope’d herself into nothing. Good action, forgettable match. ***1/4
8. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Himeka vs. Utami Hayashishita
Himeka did damage with a half crab hold early, Hayashishita with a sleeper. Hayashishita threw a sweet missile dropkick soon after, Himeka… another half crab. That’s commitment, though it doesn’t emphasize how compelling this match actually got. After Hayashishita escaped the second half crab, they threw clotheslines and powerbombs and German suplexes which resulted in some tremendous near falls and a well-earned 3. ***1/2
9. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: Hazuki vs. Giulia
Giulia missed almost a year of action recently while Hazuki missed the last three 5★STAR tournaments. Present now, they took the opportunity to destroy each other. They began by trading elbows then headed to the entry stairs, where Giulia did a step-up dropkick off the referee’s back only to get thrown down the steps a minute later. After they found their way back to ringside she headbutted the ring post by mistake too, so it was a rough night all-around for Giulia.
Back inside Hazuki kept on her until a butterfly suplex from the top evened things up. They threw a bunch of slaps before Hazuki backed up and hit a pump kick, then a Codebreaker which Giulia went absolutely wild on the bump for. Hazuki got a near fall off a frog splash before winning with the most incredible brainbuster. Lots of action and not much time commitment; it was like the inverse of the G1 Climax — ha ha! ****
Happy Thoughts: A bunch of singles matches can always run together but this was a strong effort as both a tournament opener and pay-per-view in general. Syuri/AZM, the KAIRI tag and Hazuki/Giulia were especially good. 3.75 / 5.0
Stardom 5★Star GP 2022 Night 2 (7/31/22)
It was back to Ota City for Night 2, where famous pro wrestler Yuji Nagata was on commentary.
0. Gauntlet Tag Match: Maika & Mai Sakurai vs. AZM & Miyu Amasaki vs. Hazuki & Hanan vs. Ruaka & Rina vs. Lady C & Hina
AZM managed a little magic here, doing sweet rope-running and dropkick exchanges like three teams deep. She and Amasaki began the match and almost lasted until the end before they were downed by Maika and Mai.**
1. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Koguma vs. Momo Kohgo
There was six minutes of fast-paced action and it ended with a rollup. Much like Night 1, what we had here was a short but spirited opener. ***
2. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: Mina Shirakawa vs. Momo Watanabe
Momo ran into frame during Mina’s dance entrance to kick her in the face, and it was on from there. Momo beat on her for a while before Mina surprised with a spinning backfist then just started teeing off with kicks. Momo’s Oedo Tai pals interfered and for a while it looked bleak, but Mina even used that to her advantage too. Similar a match with Himeka in June, Grudge Match Mina delivered. ***3/4
3. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Risa Sera vs. SAKI
This showcased each of their movesets well enough even if it never really got going. Sera impressively lifted out of a crab hold into a buckle bomb (ish) and SAKI mostly threw kicks before Sera caught her with an Air Raid Crash (ish). **3/4
4. Mayu Iwatani & Saya Iida vs. KAIRI & Natsupoi
KAIRI and Iida were choppin’; Iwatani and Natsupoi were rasslin. Iida took the opportunity of this big spot to show out, both opposite KAIRI and in front of Yuji Nagata. She used the Nagata Lock II during the match, though as she rolled her eyes back to properly tribute him she had to briefly let go and get her hair out of the way. Natsu and KAIRI soon dropped her with a quadruple footstomp (it really worked out to a double) then she managed a few near falls before KAIRI put her down with The Elbow. Another night, another great tag match starring KAIRI. ****
5. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Tam Nakano vs. Himeka
Himeka committed to the half crab again for what felt like a while before Nakano fought back with a powerbomb, avalanche-style backdrop suplex and Tiger suplex. All three looked incredible if not a little scary. A couple more Tiger suplexes wrapped it up. ***1/4
6. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: MIRAI vs. Giulia
There was a handshake to start, but MIRAI threw a dropkick. Then: they were grappling. It was another singles match on these two shows filled with them that had plenty of cool action if not anything to really stand out head and shoulders above the rest. MIRAI used her strength throughout the match to escape a few tricky situations, then used it again to secure a cradle win. ***1/4
7. 5★STAR GP – Blue Stars: Starlight Kid vs. Saya Kamitani
This was a rematch from their (great) Wonder of Stardom Title match at Kings of Midsummer, but with half the time. So at the bell these great high-flyers began throwing strikes. Starlight Kid was really laying in her elbows just a minute in before Kamitani fought back with a dropkick and springboard plancha. A few minutes later Kid missed a moonsault and Kamitani was quick to start throwing hard elbows. Good fun that ended before it became great fun. ***3/4
8. 5★STAR GP – Red Stars: Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri
This was a rematch of their (great) World of Stardom Title match last December and at nearly 15 minutes long, the longest tournament match of both nights. It had less meat than a big Stardom title defense but all the action, a more streamlined but less epic version of the title switch in December. ****
Happy Thoughts: Another good effort as both PPV and tournament show, though slightly less than the night before. The KAIRI tag, Mina/Momo, Kamitani/Kid and Syuri/Utami are all well worth watching. 3.75 / 5.0
