Stardom “5★STAR GRAND PRIX 2025 – DAY 1”, 7/27/2025
Ota City General Gymnasium – Tokyo, Japan
With with Mayu going to Marigold, Syuri on excursion / injury recovery and Maika still recovering from injury there is quite a bit of star power missing from this year’s tournament. The addition of Sareee should add some fresh matchups and interesting angles as we’ve seen her come in and basically be the top heel in the company over the last few weeks. I’ve been enjoying a lot of the work from the younger group and looking forward to quite a few matches in the tournament. There are SIXTEEN GP matches on this show with every competitor participating on Day 1.
Red Stars – Block A: Saya Kamitani vs. Lady C
Some heated forearms to start and from there it was basic action throughout. There is pretty much no world where Lady C wins this match so the outcome was never in question. What they did was fine, though mostly unimpressive, but they filled the time well. **1/4
Blue Stars – Block A: Ami Sohrei vs. Aya Sakura
Basically what you would hope for in a sub 5 minute match, which which there are quite a few of on these long tournament shows. **
Blue Stars – Block A: Miyu Amasaki vs. Yuria Hime
Yuria wrestles with passion, which I really like. You can see a great example of that from her qualifying match with Akira Kurogane on 7/21 which I think is her best performance so far. She also uses Stephanie Vaquer’s Devils Kiss properly, and doesnt’ have to telegraph it to the world first (really great transition into the move on 7/21). She’s got the fire here too, but the match is so short it doesn’t really develop into anything. Miyu hits her with the double arm DDT for the victory.
Red Stars – Block B: Rina vs. Rian
Very basic stuff here until the pace picked up at the finish, where they had a couple quick pinfall reversals. This felt like your basic young lions match and was clearly carried by Rina. *3/4
Blue Stars – Block B: Momo Watanabe vs. Momo Kohgo
Momo Watanabe is my pick to win the tournament (my hope pick at least). Kohgo got some stuff in but this was pretty much a squash, and Watanabe makes her tap out in under 3 minutes.
Red Stars – Block A: Mei Seira vs. Waka Tsukiyama
Current match of the tournament. Possibly the best 30 second match I’ve ever seen. Obviously this kind of pace can’t be kept up for an entire normal length match but this is the kind of stuff that I love. Speed. Urgency. Intensity. I NEED MORE OF THIS. *** (****1/2 if rating it as a 30 second match.)
Blue Stars – Block B: Suzu Suzuki vs. Hina
Hina stocks are definitely on the rise lately and I loved her title defense against Sayaka Kurara in Sapporo (top 10 Stardom match this year easily). This was the most competitive match over 30 seconds so far on the show as both Suzu and Hina are showing the competitive spirit. Aside from a few sloppy transitions this was fun while it lasted. **1/4
Blue Stars – Block B: HANAKO vs. Ranna Yagami
A fine match for the length, built mainly around the size difference between HANAKO and Yagami, which is what you would expect, but I wouldn’t say it’s really anything worth pursuing. I think they could have a nice little match together with some more time allotted. **
Red Stars – Block A: Yuna Mizumori vs. Bea Priestly
Bea is back, and I don’t know whether to be excited or not. Her first match back at NJPW Resurgence was not very good. She does my most hated thing in wrestling, taking a sip of a water bottle rather than pressing advantage. The stopping to pose/play to the crowd, and taking extra time to fix her hair in between strikes is taking me out. *
Red Stars – Block A: Hanan vs. Azusa Inaba
Decent 50/50ish match where they both got their stuff in. Inaba showed off some of her athletciism had some nice strikes. The surprise finish was well done. **
Blue Stars – Block A: Bozilla vs. Ruaka
Bozilla got a nice showcase match against AZM at Korakuen on 7/24 in what was probably the best singles match of her young career. This is very much a hoss fight. Big meaty women slapping meat. It wasn’t all that good though, but was a fun change of pace.
Blue Stars – Block A: Saori Anou vs. Saya Iida
The first singles match between Saori and Saya. It’s Iida’s chops vs. Saori’s kicks to start. So many chops. Kojima style chops in the corner that go on entirely too long while Saori just stands there not defending herself. Her chest is bright red at this point and Saya is still chopping and slapping her as she lays on the mat. The visuals are probably much better than how it was actually executed. The contrasting styles worked well later in the match, and and as the pace quickened it got better but that only lasted about a minute or two before the submission finish. Saori had a few nice reversal sequences and I could see that they have a good match available to them. **1/4
Red Stars – Block B: AZM vs. Natsuko Tora
This was under 5 minutes with some brawling on the outside and not all that bad when it got into the ring. AZM suplexed Tora to a nice crowd pop. Nothing much here to get excited about.
Red Stars – Block B: Starlight Kid vs. Tomoka Inaba
Deuling legwork that was effective because they did enough to make it believable while not going overboard to the point that what they were doing wasn’t registering. They let things breathe and worked a slower technical style over Kid’s high flying style. I don’t think this is even close to the best match they could have but with the upset finish that may be coming in the future. ***
Blue Stars – Block B: Sareee vs. Konami
Sareee being the top heel in the company at this moment is creating a world where the biggest heel faction in the company is actually getting positive crowd responses and it’s pretty fun. They build that heat pretty well here with Sareee escaping Konami’s control at the start and initiating a stiff strike exchange. Konami hits an insane spinning backfist that nearly knocks Sareee out and then gets a few near falls and kicks to the head before Sareee counters and takes control. She batters Konami’s knee with foot stomps, trying to get her to submit. Konami avoids the wrist clutch uranage and applies a sleeper, dropping to the mat and squeezing the hold until Sareee goes out and the referee stops the match. This had good intensity even through the submissions where they gave you the impression that they were actually trying to win / make their opponent tap out. ***
Red Stars – Block B: Natsupoi vs. Sayaka Kurara
It would be unfair to judge this as a main event, especially following up Saree/Konami though I think this match is better suited for a different spot on the card. A little slip up from Kurara early but Natsupoi does her best to cover it up. Natsupoi sprints through some offense and then this starts getting pretty basic. A few splashes of offense from Kurara, and Natsupoi does her usual stuff, but there wasn’t much in terms of continuous fighting or urgency aside from maybe one decent sequence. Nothing terrible, just uninspiring. **
Final Thoughts: A lot of matches. Most not worth going out of your way to watch unless you are a Stardom fan but I did enjoy the show overall. Mei/Waka is easily my favorite match of the show and is a must watch but it’s only 30 seconds. SLK/Tomoka and Sareee/Konami are recommended viewing for sure. A lot of champions ate pins which will set up some interesting matches in the future and hopefully a lot of drama towards the end of the tournament.
X: @ligersama
