wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2024 Night 3 (Evening Show) Review
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix Night 3 (Evening Show)
August 12th, 2024 | Light Cube Utsunomiya in Utsunomiya, Tochigi | Attendance: 410
Oddly, we have less in attendance for the evening event.
We’re back to the Red Stars and the wrestlers getting the night off are Mayu Iwatani and Maika, so that’s two big names missing out.
Red Stars A Block: Natsupoi [0] vs. Yuna Mizumori [0]
An inter-stable Cosmic Angels clash, which meant I expected a respectful match. The opening exchange was quick-paced but when Natsupoi took control, she worked the mat and grounded Yuna. Never mind what I said about a respectful match because Poi started toying with Yuna while shoving her boot in her face. I love lovable babyface Poi but watching her be an asshole here was great. At one point, she ROCKED Yuna with a spin kick and then just stepped on her as she walked by. That forced Yuna to dig deep and respond with a series of corner lariats. Yuna was rocking her with shots as this got more vicious and intense as it went on. In the end, Poi used an armbar to make Yuna tap in 11:33. I doubt anyone will agree with me here but I kind of loved that. They went way harder than expected. [***¾]
Red Stars B Block: AZM [3] vs. Tomoka Inaba [3]
AZM almost always delivers and Tomoka has been good so far so I was pretty stoked for this. I was intrigued that they didn’t opt for just doing High Speed stuff. It shows some growth for AZM as she’s adapting to other styles. She put her focus on Tomoka’s arm, wearing it down with submissions and a diving double stomp off the top. Tomoka responded by also going after the arm. That’s not the route I expected this to go and that ultimately led to something that wasn’t as good as I hoped. They also kind of went away from the limb work for the hot finishing stretch, which kind of defeated the purpose of all that came before it. They took the fight outside where they traded kicks until they both got counted out in 12:47. A good match that had several things hold it back from being what it could be. [***]
Red Stars A Block: Hazuki [4] vs. Konami [2]
It really feels like the bigger matches are on the first half of this show. The layout of this card is weird. It’s a HATE match so guess what happened? The fight went outside early and Hazuki got thrown into a bunch of steel chairs. Hazuki has the fire to be able to fight from beneath and give the fight back to the devious heel, so that aspect of the match worked well. Watching then trade shots or Hazuki rain down forearms on Konami made for some quality television. This was going somewhere good with that but then it got bogged down by HATE interference. With referee distractions and such, it led to a visual win for Hazuki only for Konami to come back and put her down with a knee strike in 9:36. That was better than some HATE stuff so far but ran into the usual struggles that comes with that faction. [**¾]
Red Stars B Block: Mei Seira [2] vs. Momo Watanabe [0]
Oh, look. It’s HATE again. I hate this. There were some good idea in here though as Momo can play the brute convincingly while Mei gets to be the babyface who takes a beating and does her best to rally from it. Mei had a rough moment early on where she botched a springboard and awkwardly fell to the mat. Things were good afterward though, with Mei getting tossed around and coming back with her quickness. Spots like her springboarding right into a high kick came off well and I’ve got to praise Momo for being the one HATE member not resorting to an overabundance of cheating and shenanigans. Momo threw her best offensive moves out but couldn’t put Mei down and you could see the frustration growing. Just when it looked like Momo was going to win, Mei found a way to beat her with a pinning combination in 10:36. That was very good and I’m intrigued by Momo not using cheating and being 0-3. I wonder if a turn is in the books. [***½]
Red Stars A Block: Manami [2] vs. Ruaka [0]
Somebody needs to tell the booker that we don’t need to have three straight HATE matches every night. Manami has been decent so far but this wasn’t exactly the match to showcase that. Ruaka isn’t exactly the most polished worker. I did like some of the power spots they busted out in the early stages like doing a test of strength while both were doing neck bridges. It’s HATE so they brawled into the crowd and threw each other into chairs. I really can’t bring myself to care about that spot anymore. From there, this dragged on until I realized where it was going and I couldn’t believe it. They worked until the 15:00 time limit expired. I know STARDOM loves doing time limit draws but this wasn’t the place for it. Ruaka really isn’t someone who can go 15 with no issues. That was mediocre at best. [**]
Red Stars B Block: Saya Iida [0] vs. Tam Nakano [0]
Both have losses to Mayu Iwatani in great matches. Tam was pretty arrogant here, not taking Saya seriously. After all, she’s a top star and Saya has been an undercard talent for a while now. She was almost challenging Saya to step up to her level. Lucky for us, Saya was more than game. As she did against Mayu, Saya gave Tam everything she could handle. She also had the advantage of facing a Tam with a bad wheel, giving her an upper hand. Combine that with some of the offense Saya was utilizing, like a barrage of chops, and she was a true threat. She also took to the skies with things like a shoulder block off the apron and one off the top rope. Saya survived whatever Tam threw at her and then used a pinning combination to score the big upset in 13:52. Saya, Tam, and Mayu have hit at least this rating on their matches so far. A huge win for Saya and this tournament feels like her breakout. Tam starting 0-2 feels like the classic NJPW rally case where she makes a comeback to challenge or win her block. [****]
| BLUE STARS A | POINTS | BLUE STARS B | POINTS | RED STARS A | POINTS | RED STARS B | POINTS |
| Miyu Amasaki | 2 (1-0) | Saya Kamitani | 4 (2-0) | Maika | 4 (2-0) | Mayu Iwatani | 4 (2-0) |
| Starlight Kid | 2 (1-1) | Suzu Suzuki | 3 (1-0-1) | Konami | 4 (2-1) | AZM | 4 (1-0-2) |
| Syuri | 2 (1-1) | Hanan | 3 (1-0-1) | Hazuki | 4 (2-1) | Tomoka Inaba | 4 (1-0-2) |
| Suzu Suzuki | 2 (1-1) | Ranna Yagami | 2 (1-0) | Manami | 3 (1-1-1) | Mei Seira | 4 (1-0-2) |
| Anna Jay | 2 (1-1) | Thekla | 0 (0-1) | Natsupoi | 2 (1-1) | Saya Iida | 2 (1-1) |
| Xena | 2 (1-1) | Risa Sera | 0 (0-2) | Ruaka | 1 (0-2-1) | Momo Watanabe | 0 (0-3) |
| Koguma | 0 (0-1) | Saki Kashima | 0 (0-2) | Yuna Mizumori | 0 (0-2) | Tam Nakano | 0 (0-2) |
