Pantoja’s STARDOM Nighter In Korakuen 4.8.26 Review

STARDOM Nighter in Korakuen

April 8^th, 2026 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 906

My first show after a while was good. I skipped the next show but am back for Nighter in Korakuen, which are usually strong cards. Also, they FINALLY uploaded the Cinderella Tournament Finals, so hopefully I can get to that too.

Anne Kanaya, Rian, Tabata and Xena vs. Bea Priestley, Momo Kohgo, Honoka and Saran

I don’t know much about Honoka or Saran, though it looks like both are from Pro Wrestling WAVE. You kind of know what to expect from an opener like this on a STARDOM show. Solid, consistent action, and a lot of energy. A few spots didn’t quite click, likely because some workers are probably unfamiliar with the others from outside companies. Anne Kanaya continues to impress, and I again liked the power game that Xena brought to the table. I’d like to see her get a singles title opportunity soon. In the end, Saran used a pinning combination on Rian to secure the win at the 7:31 mark. Solid little opening contest. [**¾]

HANAKO, Maika and Waka Tsukiyama vs. Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita and Suzu Suzuki

Empress Nexus Venus is broken up but they’re still teaming together. The feud between these stables didn’t do much for me either. The faces attacked during the Mi Vida Loca entrance, getting the jump on their old foes. I will say, I liked this more than most of the matches during their feud. It was hard hitting and Waka was a very good underdog babyface. She can be very hit or miss but she was on here and she’s at her best when she’s taking a beating instead of trying to dish one out. When she did get going on offense, it was better than usual. Alas, she got hit with a lariat from Yamashita and then got beaten by an Air Raid Crash in 7:10. Another decent enough tag. [**½]

Hina, Kiyoka Kotatsu, Lady C, Ranna Yagami and Tomoka Inaba vs. Saki Kashima and Syuri

This is an interesting one as it’s the members of God’s Eye against the God’s Eye leader and the soon to be retiring Saki Kashima in a handicap match. There was fun to be had from the opening bell, including a surprise Nanae Takahashi appearance. Syuri handled a lot of the work until she made the big tag to Saki, who immediately tried to steal it with a quick pin. When she went to tag back out, her entire opposing team charged in to stop her, since she’s an easier target than Syuri. Nanae stepped in to help her, which was unexpected. The crowd was way into everything done here, right up until Hina pinned Saki with a pinning combination in 8:01. That wasn’t the greatest technical match but it was a ton of fun and that’s what I was hoping for. [***]

Rookie of Stardom Tournament Semifinals: Ema Maishima vs. Yuria Hime

Either I missed some tournament matches or there were byes. I’ve been impressed with the rookies in this tournament. There’s no veteran out there to lead them, yet they’re having quality matches. That was the case here again and I appreciated how it felt like both were trying to win. I didn’t get the sense that it was just two people doing moves to pop a crowd (a common problem among wrestlers just trying to earn stars). They were laying the strikes into each other and going for pins and submissions when it made sense. Of course, as rookies, there were a couple of rough moments but that’s to be expected. Ema kept working a single leg crab and got some close calls with it as Yuria was showing a lot of fight. Yuria used her headscissors submission for a bit but then got trapped in a tight pin, giving Ema the win in 13:05. A good match and Ema Maishima looks like a promising rookie. [***]

Rookie of Stardom Tournament Semifinals: Akira Kurogane vs. Kikyo Furusawa

There’s more potential with this matchup as Akira has been pretty damn good lately and Kikyo has shown a lot of personality alongside Maki Itoh. What really worked for me here was how Akira took things to the mat. Her stuff was very smooth and it played well against Akira’s more aggressive style that she adopted from her work with Mi Vida Loca. Kikyo put a target on the leg, dropkicking it and trapping it an ankle lock a couple of times. It was all smartly done and well executed. They did not look like rookies out there. Down the stretch, it was Kikyo applying the ankle lock and Akira firing back with stiff kicks and knees. Eventually, Kikyo found a creative way to tightly apply the Ankle Lock and Akira had nowhere to go, so she tapped at 13:51. The best singles match I’ve seen from either woman. Well worked, intense, and dramatic. [***½]

Fuwa-chan, Hazuki and Maki Itoh vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou and Yuna Mizumori

The idea here is to preview two matches coming up at All-Star Grand Queendom; Saori/Fuwa-chan and Maki/Poi. Fuwa-chan and Saori started this off and I was again reminded of how good the former is. It’s nuts that she’s so new to this as has caught on faster than any other celebrity I can think of. Poi and Maki had some good interactions too, while Yuna and Hazuki can be counted on to give quality efforts in these tags. All in all, it made for a highly entertaining match.  Judging by this, Maki is going to be a totally different kind of match for Poi and I like that. Fuwa-chan leveled Saori with the Shining Wizard, which is among the best variations of that move I’ve ever seen. They did the usual spot where Maki has a miscommunication bit with her teammate, which set up Fuwa-chan to fall to Saori’s flipping DDT in 12:42. That was a really fun multi-woman tag. [***¼]

Post-match, Poi and Maki Itoh went at it for a bit before Starlight Kid showed up, I believe, challenge Fuwa-chan to a future match. Hazuki also took time to try and motivate Fuwa-chan as she’s been taking losses recently.

AZM, Miyu Amasaki and Starlight Kid vs. BMI2000 and Fukigen Death

This is here to preview the BMI2000/02line title match coming up. Man, please make the title change. It’s nowhere near as bad as the House of Torture but the HATE formula is pretty tired. They took this outside for some mindless crowd brawling and it doesn’t help that these are the least entertaining members of the stable for me. Once things got back to the ring, the quality picked up. AZM makes for a great underdog trying to chop her opponents down to size and watching her manage to suplex Natsuko was pretty impressive. Things broke down late as the action picked up and then the Azumi Sushi was enough to keep Ruaka down after 9:16. It started rough but picked up nicely. [**¾]

Azusa Inaba, Konami, Rina and Saya Kamitani vs. Sakurara and wing*gori

With Saya/Sayaka as the impending red belt match, that was the focal point here. However, it looks like Hanan and Konami were also a big selling point here. Give Hanan the title to be honest. It was interesting to see Saya Iida step up against Saya Kamitani to start. They’re not feuding but it worked as the crowd popped hard for it. They really went at it and set the tone for a match where every exchange worked. It didn’t matter which pairing was in there, they were delivering. Hanan went after Konami like a woman possessed and they were given a lot of time to really build up some steam for their eventual clash. Again, I have to say that I feel like Sayaka/Saya is going to be really good. Their exchanges here were good and it feels like Saya is going to bring out the best in her. The final few minutes saw both quartets get in some tandem offensive bits, from Sakurara working together to take down Saya to the entire HATE squad taking out Sayaka. Sayaka came close to winning with a Spear and Falcon Arrow but the pin got broken up, and the same went for Saya when she hit Star Crusher. I was surprised to see Kamitani hit Sayaka with a big boot and get the win in 15:26. Kind of odd to beat a challenger who already feels like a longshot ahead of the match. Regardless, this was a high quality main event. [***¾]

 

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Another good show from STARDOM. They know how to put on consistently entertaining wrestling cards.