wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2024 Night 5 Review
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix Night 5
August 17th, 2024 | KBS Hall in Kyoto, Japan | Attendance: 506
NOTE: For anyone following all of my reviews, my WrestleMania Series is still ongoing. It’s something I’m doing in my free time though so reviews from 2024 (like this one) take precedence. Also, I’m up to the Manias that are like, 7 hours long so it takes a while.
Night 4 was a doozy with a 14 match card. We’re back to just six on this smaller show that focuses on Blue Stars. The ladies getting the night off are Suzu Suzuki and Syuri.
Blue Stars B Block: Ranna Yagami [2] vs. Saya Kamitani [4]
There’s no doubt that the tournament for Saya has been a disappointment given how good she can usually be. Thankfully, this was one of her better showings. Instead of focusing on a bunch of HATE shenanigans, this was just some good, solid wrestling. Ranna brought her strikes and some submission work, putting Saya on the defensive. She fought back with her own offense that was just Saya doing her thing more than the overdone stable interference we’ve been getting. After an enjoyable 8:13, Saya won with Star Crusher. It wasn’t anything special but it was a step in the right direction for Saya’s Grand Prix. [***]
Blue Stars A Block: Anna Jay [2] vs. Xena [2]
Anna Jay has had a solid but unspectacular tournament so far. She hasn’t broken out the way that Mariah May did last year. Considering she already faced the top workers in her block (Syuri, SLK, and Saori), I was surprised that this was her best match. She and Xena clicked and there’s no doubt that Xena has upped her game in a serious way in 2024. Anna’s offense looked good here, especially her rope hung neckbreaker. The same goes for Xena’s spinning side slam, as always. However, the real kicker in this match came from Xena’s chops. She LIT Anna Jay’s chest up. Anna shared the evidence on social media afterward too. Xena pulled out the win by hitting her gutbuster in 10:03, capping a way better match than I expected. [***½]
Blue Stars B Block: Hanan [3] vs. Thekla [2]
This got off to a hot start with Hanan trying to get the jump on someone known for cheating. The HATE style has not worked so far but in the few cases where it has been decent, it comes against the best babyfaces in the promotion. And right now, Hanan is at least a top three face in 2024. The issue was when Thekla took over because she doesn’t have the interesting offense she did with DDM. Instead, she’s resorting to House of Torture levels of dull offense and underhanded tactics. Hanan weathered the storm of all of that and won with her bridging fallaway slam in 9:42. A solid enough match that could’ve been better had it been DDM era Thekla. [**¾]
Blue Stars A Block: Koguma [2] vs. Starlight Kid [3]
I feel like Starlight Kid is in the running to actually win this whole thing. Though I feel like Saya Kamitani will take it. There was the usual fun to be had with Koguma’s signature taunt at the start before we got into the meat of the match which say SLK work the leg. Like the best wrestlers, her leg work section actually was interesting and worked so much better than when some others try it. Plus, Koguma did well to sell it. Even with that, they still found a way to incorporate some good high speed wrestling and I always forget that Koguma is very good in that style. The back and forth here was very good but when SLK went to her Black Tiger Leg Killer, Koguma was in real trouble. She found a way to counter into a pin which set off a really fun exchange that was capped by the submission being applied again and Koguma tapping. The match went 13:35 and was just an absolute blast. [***½]
Blue Stars B Block: Risa Sera [2] vs. Saki Kashima [2]
I didn’t have high hopes for this one and it went the way I expected. Risa hasn’t been healthy throughout and it shows, while Saki is there to be the Toru Yano of the tournament. She spent most of this match involving herself in antics that included running away from Risa to avoid any kind of altercation. That was kind of the gist of this and it was fine enough. Saki kept going for her signature flash pin only for Risa to eventually counter it and win at the 9:50 mark. Like I said, this was fine enough though I’d rather it have gone 5 minutes than 10. [**]
Blue Stars A Block: Miyu Amasaki [2] vs. Saori Anou [3]
A big test here as Saori is an established star but Miyu is still very new. It’s also Miyu’s hometown. This followed the expected concept of Miyu having to show fire and fight as the inexperienced wrestler against the top star. Miyu started hot only for Saori to turn it around and kind of dominate. That worked because Miyu’s offense is rather limited, so this allowed her to hit the stuff she knows for her hope spots. The best part about it was that the hometown crowd was behind everything she did. Miyu survived a lot of what was thrown at her and got some flash pin near falls but fell to a flipping DDT in 10:20. A good main event that did what it needed to and was a nice showing for Miyu. [***¼]
| BLUE STARS A | POINTS | BLUE STARS B | POINTS | RED STARS A | POINTS | RED STARS B | POINTS |
| Syuri | 4 (2-1) | Saya Kamitani | 6 (3-0) | Maika | 6 (3-0) | Mayu Iwatani | 6 (3-0) |
| Starlight Kid | 5 (2-1-1) | Suzu Suzuki | 3 (1-1-1) | Manami | 5 (2-1-1) | AZM | 6 (2-0-2) |
| Saori Anou | 5 (2-1-1) | Hanan | 5 (2-1-1) | Hazuki | 4 (2-1) | Tomoka Inaba | 6 (2-0-2) |
| Xena | 4 (2-1) | Risa Sera | 4 (2-1) | Natsupoi | 4 (2-1) | Mei Seira | 4 (1-0-2) |
| Miyu Amasaki | 2 (1-2) | Thekla | 2 (1-2) | Konami | 4 (2-1) | Saya Iida | 2 (1-2) |
| Koguma | 2 (1-2) | Ranna Yagami | 2 (1-2) | Ruaka | 1 (0-3-1) | Tam Nakano | 0 (0-3) |
| Anna Jay | 2 (1-3) | Saki Kashima | 2 (1-2) | Yuna Mizumori | 0 (0-3) | Momo Watanabe | 0 (0-4) |
