Pantoja’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Night 11 Review

STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Night 11

August 26^th, 2023 | Nagoya Conference Center in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 904

As much as I’ve been enjoying the AEW backstage drama right now, having this show to cover is a nice change of pace.

Red Stars: Natsuko Tora [8] vs. Tam Nakano [5]

So far, our champion is 2-0-1, while Tora is 4-2 with losses to Suzu Suzuki and Starlight Kid. Tora attacked during Tam’s introductions. She has found success in this tournament through a combination of her sheer size and her willingness to utilize underhanded tactics. From there, she proceeded to batter Tam around ringside and they had another David vs. Goliath style match, which has been the staple of Tora’s tournament so far. Thankfully, it worked again here because of how good Tam is as a lovable underdog babyface. When Tam rallied, it involved her grounding Tora with various submission efforts. Tam fought valiantly but in the end, Tora was too much and has been on too hot of a streak for the champion. A big senton kept Tam down after 11:16, capping a good match. Not the best effort from either woman but good stuff. [***¼]

Blue Stars: Giulia [5] vs. MIRAI [4]

There’s a lot of potential here given how well both have performed throughout 2023. Giulia held serve in the early goings as MIRAI was having trouble getting out of the blocks, much like she did in this tournament. Even when she fired up with a forearm, Giulia floored her with one of her own. It took a bit before we got to see MIRAI pick up some momentum and that led to a more level match. They traded stuff though it always felt like Giulia had at least a bit of an advantage. I got into this late when MIRAI blocked a knee strike only to eat a Saito suplex and it really hammered home that they were kind of throwing big shots at each other. I didn’t write a ton going into the closing stretch because it was kind of a basic match. Not bad, just nothing that blew me away. MIRAI laid out Giulia with a lariat from out of nowhere to get two points at the 12:17 mark. That was very good though it started pretty slow. It picked up down the stretch and made for something I’d recommend. [***½]

Blue Stars: Maika [3] vs. Utami Hayashishita [4]

Utami came back from a few weeks off and started hot but has struggled since, especially after failing to dethrone Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s Title. I came in expecting hard hitting stuff and I got that pretty early with them even taking the fight to the outside. Utami was the first to gain control, wearing down Maika and utilizing things like a Camel Clutch. Maika got stuff going with a powerbomb but there was Utami to slow her with a guillotine choke. It was similar in layout to the previous match and while I don’t love that in back to back cases, I think it was mostly fine here given the positions of the ladies involved. One thing you could tell here was that these two have great chemistry. The stuff they did felt seamless and they played well off each other. The two started throwing bombs at each other late and while it was even, Utami was the one really gaining momentum. However, her struggles continued when she got caught with a Michinoku Driver. Maika added another and won in 13:50. The best match of the night though it’ll likely be forgotten quickly due to the absurdly high quality of this tournament. [***¾]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

You know this tournament is stupid good when this was one of the worst shows so far. The three matches are all good though and you can’t go wrong with it here.