wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Night 10 Review
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Night 10
August 20th, 2023 | Kira Messe Numazu in Numazu City, Shizuoka | Attendance: 378
I’ve praised STARDOM World for getting these Grand Prix shows up quickly so far. However, they took their time with this one (4 days) though it’s alright since there are still two more days before the tournament resumes.
Red Stars: Ami Sourei [2] vs. Hazuki [0]
My girl Hazuki is looking to get on the board for the first time since starting 7-0 last year. Despite her dire need for a win, it was Ami who held serve early and really took it to her more experienced opponent. She worked the leg a bit with an extended single leg crab but Hazuki fought back with a crossface to put the pressure back on her. I want to praise Ami for busting out some stuff I’m not used to from her as it really feels like you can see her growth in these singles matches. She utilized her power in innovative and impressive ways, always cutting off Hazuki runs and eventually grounding her. Of course, Hazuki fought back, which set up a pretty fun closing stretch. The surprise here was that they got close to the time limit which I didn’t expect at all from them. Hazuki used a barrage of moves capped by a Brainbuster to finally get back in the winning column after 14:02. That was a really good match and probably the best I’ve seen from Sourei. It had a lot of action and told a simple yet effective story. [***½]
Red Stars: Mayu Iwatani [5] vs. Natsuko Tora [6]
You have to know what you’re getting here as Tora is a great bully and Mayu can play the sympathetic babyface well. Indeed, that’s just what we got here, with Tora going right after Mayu and beating her up both in and out of the ring. I wasn’t expecting to see leg work from Tora as I feel like she could’ve just dominated in other ways but I don’t mind something different. Plus, Mayu sold the shit out of it. Mayu knows how to make her comeback attempts engaging and things like a missile dropkick had a little something extra behind it because it’s Mayu. Still, you could tell that she couldn’t match up with her opponent in terms of strikes and got walloped there. I liked that when Mayu fell because she couldn’t land on her feet, Tora got mad and just stomped her out. Mayu fought valiantly and had a strong run late but Tora was too much for her on this day. I didn’t love Tora basically no selling a moonsault but her using mist instead of simply kicking out to escape was creative. She beat Mayu with a Swanton Bomb in 13;07. Better than the previous match though a step below the best of the tournament. [***¾]
