Pantoja’s STARDOM All-Star Grand Queendom 2025 Review

STARDOM All-Star Grand Queendom

April 27^th, 2025 | Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Kanagawa | Attendance: 7,503

That’s a hell of an attendance figure for a STARDOM show. I watched most of the show on Sunday night and finished on Monday evening. That meant the last few matches were a different experience given the Mayu Iwatani announcement.

Future of Stardom Championship: Hina [c] vs. Ranna Yagami

Hina is solid but she hasn’t quite stood out yet the way her sisters, Rina and Hanan, did while they held this title. You could see their potential in this one as they had some nice little exchanges. As noted, Hina hasn’t really stood out but Ranna manages to do so because of her combination of strikes and submissions. Either way, after a good start, it did feel like they may have run out of ideas. This was a rare case of a match seemingly slowing down as it progressed. I liked when they were trading forearms as some of them sounded pretty stiff and I dug Ranna going after the arm. The crowd was into Hina escaping to the ropes, which was welcome. Ranna kicking out of a Jackknife was unexpected and I don’t really like finisher kickouts in opener. At least, I think that’s Hina finish. Either way, Hina landed a Frog Splash to retain in 12:14. Solid opener. They had a really good 8 or so minute match in there that was stretched a bit thin. [**¾]

Post-match, the God’s Eye ladies bowed to each other in a show of respect.

Sayaka Kurara vs. Thekla

If Sayaka wins, Thekla must join Cosmic Angels. If Thekla wins, she gets a match with Taro Okada, STARDOM’s president. Thekla gives me SHO vibes in that she’s someone I know is a good wrestler but her gimmick and such means a lot of her matches are disappointing or goofy. Oh my god, is that an 8K camera I see in STARDOM? Thekla’s entrance looked cool with it. Anyway, this was booked as a basic heel vs. face match. Thekla talked trash in between her offense, Sayaka bumped a bunch, and then she made her comeback. The issue was the execution as things here didn’t quite click. For example, Thekla whipped Sayaka into the guardrail outside but it came off awkwardly and Sayaka slowly stumbled into it. They had several moments like that. I did enjoy the fire that Sayaka brought, she’s developing into a good wrestler. Sayaka’s hot run was capped by a Spear and Falcon Arrow in 12:49. That didn’t really work. [**]

After the match, a frustrated Thekla attacked Taro Okada and brought him into the ring. The Cosmic Angels ran in to stop her and then Okada fired Thekla. Reports say she’s actually done with STARDOM and is headed to the States.

Rina vs. Yumiko Hotta

Hotta is 58, Rina is 18. Rina immediately had trouble dealing with Hotta’s size advantage. Things spilled outside where Hotta did a fair bit of no selling on Rina’s strikes. Hotta eventually knocked Rina silly and made sure to deliver shots to some of the HATE ladies at ringside. I was surprised to see Hotta take a couple of bumps. Usually, wrestlers in their late 50s or so tend to avoid having to take actual bumps. I’ve seen Togi Makabe matches past like, 2015. The biggest spot was the Bret’s rope superplex by Hotta. Of course, those wrestlers aren’t big on jobbing and Hotta beat Rina with a choke in 10:02. Better than expected. Rina is scary good for her age. [**½]

Aya Sakura, Natsupoi and Saori Anou vs. Meiko Satomura, Mika Iwata and YUNA

Okay, NOW we’re onto the meat of the show. I don’t know much about YUNA but I know Mika from her rivalry with Saori last year and of course, I know Meiko. Basic exchanges to start until we got a renewal of Saori/Mika and then Meiko came in to a pop and went at it with Saori. Poi got a relatively hot tag and had a sustained run of impressive offense, including a cross body off the top and a German Suplex. Just getting to see Poi against Meiko was great and made this more than worth it. Aya got a pretty big spot where she wiped out a pile outside with a dive. She also had a nice run against Meiko until she got hit with the Death Valley Bomb. Meiko then basically yelled at Aya to get up and show some spirit but as she started doing that, Meiko hit her cartwheel knee drop to win in 13:05. Oh yeah, now we’re cooking. That was really good from start to finish and a great final look at Meiko in STARDOM. She didn’t have a long history with the promotion but as a former World of Stardom Champion, it was an important one. [***½]

No Disqualifications Match: Mei Seira vs. Suzu Suzuki

This is a match I’m really excited for. I’m a fan of both women, loved their tag team, and am intrigued by the ongoing storyline. Suzu offered a handshake that Mei knew wasn’t sincere so she slapped her. That kickstarted an absolute war. We were maybe two minutes in before Suzu was busted open and launching chairs at the High Speed Champion. Suzu had a serious crimson mask and after a chair shot, Mei was bleeding just as much. This was Suzu’s wheelhouse and she was clearly more comfortable in this world than Mei. She was firing back shots at Suzu but Mei was battered and struggling. She did start getting it going, almost fueled by the blood and her animosity for her former partner. When she fired up, you believed it but then Suzu could stop her with something like a German Suplex. I thought Mei had it won when she countered the Tequila Shot into a pinning combination. That’s a very STARDOM finish so I bit. Suzu’s avalanche German Suplex looked incredible. Mei somehow kicked out of three more Germans and nearly countered one with a victory roll. She just refused to die. Suzu busted out a corkscrew moonsault to win in 15:55. One hell of a fight and that lived up to the hype. Brutal, bloody, it told a hell of a story, and it was a star making performance for Mei if she wasn’t one yet. I do think it should’ve ended with that third German rather than the top rope move but still, spectacular. [****½]

Sendai Girls World Championship: Chihiro Hashimoto [c] vs. Maika

It’s a big match but still, midcard Maika feels weird given the Okada booking era. This was just what I wanted. A good old fashioned hoss fight. They didn’t go straight into that kind of match though, starting with a feeling out process and some mat exchanges. These are versatile women, after all. I liked the spot where Maika worked an armbar and even after Hashimoto made it to the ropes, she followed outside and reapplied the hold only for it to get broken up by a powerbomb. That played into the match too as Hashimoto missed a lariat and hit the ring post, further softening up that arm. Hashimoto is still insanely tough though, eating a slew of lariats from Maika and finding the strength to deliver her own. Hashimoto picked up near falls on a Spear and top rope somersault before kicking out of the Michinoku Driver. Didn’t need that finisher kickout either to be honest. Maika went back to the arm whenever she was in trouble but Hashimoto fought through it to deliver a big German Suplex. She finished her off with a powerbomb (that Maika tried punching out of) to retain in 14:55. Very good stuff here. Hard hitting with some smart psychology and I love the finish seeing Maika fighting until the very end. [****]

Goddesses of Stardom Championship: wing*gori [c] vs. FWC

It’s tough to pick a most anticipated match on a card like this but if this isn’t number one for me, it’s a VERY close second. Though stablemates, there’s bad blood here between Hanan and Hazuki, with the former calling out the latter for her treatment of rookies and how things are run in STARS. Meanwhile, Hazuki has brushed her off a lot of the time. Hanan charged right at Hazuki at the bell and laid into her with strikes only for Hazuki to laugh them off. She offered Hazuki a free shot and again, Hazuki just laughed her off. While it wasn’t as personal, Koguma and Saya had hard hitting exchanges when they squared off. Everything these girls did had extra snap on it whether it was a simple Hanan body slam or FWC powerbombing Saya onto her partner. We finally got the tag into Hanan and Hazuki at the same time for their big showdown, which delivered in spades. An unexpected awesome spot saw Saya hit Koguma with a Muscle Buster on the apron. That left it down to Hanan and Hazuki, which was vicious and saw them trade headbutts. The sell by Hazuki on Hanan’s last one and how Hanan ragdolled her to pull her up was excellent. The Hanan Special put down Hazuki after 14:26. That ruled. The top two tag teams going right now putting on a stellar match with animosity making it even better. [****¼]

Post-match, Hanan offered her hand to Hazuki. Coming into this, she said the match would squash whatever beef they had. Hazuki rolled outside and left with Koguma instead of accepting. It’s worth noting that Koguma and Saya shook hands.

IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani [c] vs. Syuri

This has MOTY potential. Their match last year hit ****½. Mayu has been champion for just over two years but New Japan often forgets the title exists. Meanwhile, Syuri is one of the best in the world but has kind of been floating around since losing the World of Stardom Title at the end of 2022. At the time of this writing, Mayu announced that she was leaving STARDOM, meaning this was her final match with the promotion that she has been the face of since basically day one. I didn’t type much while watching this because I was enthralled by what they were doing. It was just some really good back and forth stuff that, when done by two of the best, is captivating. Things took a turn when Syuri hit a tornado DDT on the outside. Still, neither woman had the advantage for too long as this truly felt like a battle between two women out to be the best more than it was for a title. When Syuri locked in an armbar, I was so bought in that I believed it was the finish. But from there, we got even more. The spot where Syuri turned one brutal submission into another as Mayu began to fade only to barely get a foot on the rope was epic. Mayu tried the reverse rana that beat Syuri last year only for it to come off poorly and have to resort to a moonsault for two. Then there was Syuri kicking out of the Two-Step Dragon Suplex, which was breathtaking. Mayu kicked out of a German at one, then took two knockout kicks and got her shoulder up only on a reflex. She was done but part of her was still fighting. I think this should’ve ended with just one more move but Mayu survived that and then fell to Syu-Sekai in 21:54. Epic pro wrestling. As good as a sendoff as Mayu could’ve had, ending an all-time great title reign in an all-time great match. Mayu is the GOAT, Syuri is special. [****¾]

Post-match, Sareee hit the ring, seemingly to challenge Syuri for the title. That’s a big one as Sareee was one of the best wrestlers of the past year.

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Starlight Kid [c] vs. AZM

These two are like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in that they’re always connected. They started together, had an incredible rivalry in the High Speed division, have been enemies, and are now friends/stablemates. This is their first meeting since becoming stablemates and AZM’s first shot at one of the top two titles. Also, leadership of Neo Genesis is on the line. AZM started hot, harkening back to that High Speed style she mastered. Quick offense and some high flying. AZM went after the arm, while Starlight Kid combated it by attacking the leg. That’s been a staple of SLK’s matches since moving up in the card. Everything they did was pretty smooth, which is expected given their history. I think my biggest gripe with this match was AZM’s inconsistent selling of the leg. It took away from a lot of this as it was a main crux of what Starlight Kid did. AZM came close with several pin attempts but her eternal foe kept finding ways to kick out. The champ got going with a moonsault and Star Suplex that got her close to retaining before she hit a Spanish Fly off the top. Two more Star Suplexes and SLK secured the win at the 20:37 mark. These two don’t miss but I do think that was on the lower end of their encounters. [****]

World of Stardom Championship Career vs. Career Match: Saya Kamitani [c] vs. Tam Nakano

After Saya beat Tam to end her STARDOM career, Tam got one more shot, putting her entire career up against Saya’s. This also marks the end of their recent trilogy coming at Dream Queendom (****) and the 3/3/25 Korakuen Show (****½). I thought there would be a slow start as they try for an epic main but things were hot from the word go. Tam took a nasty bump off the top and onto the apron, setting the tone for a match where she gave her all. Saya kept the pressure on, choking Tam with a chain on the outside. Tam took a beating here but she’s the top babyface for a reason. She garnered a ton of sympathy here, especially with the added career caveat. A long running knee outside turned the tide only for Saya to snap off a sick rana that sent Tam off the apron and to the floor. Interestingly, Saya still couldn’t pull the trigger on the Phoenix Splash and commentary even noted that was the old Saya shining through. Down the stretch, you felt the emotion as both were fighting for their wrestling lives. Each strike and move meant more and more. Both women had massive kickouts at 1 and you could feel the desperation in a lot of what they did. I thought the finish was when Saya picked Tam up after a Star Crusher and hit a pump knee but that kickout really surprised me. Saya then hit a Twilight Dream of her own to win in 29:00. The hesitation on that three count by the referee was a nice added touch. A highly emotional match that lived up to the hype and felt like a truly special outing. When you add in the post-match, the whole experience is special. [****¾]

After the two shared some words through tears, Saya and Tam embraced and headed up the ramp walking shoulder to shoulder. They sat at the entrance as feathers fell from the sky before Tam looked to something above and pointed as the lights went out in the arena and on her career.

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

What an incredible show. The first few matches aren’t great but once you get to the six woman tag, it’s all bangers. Only one match below **** and that one is at ***1/2. Then, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better quintet of matches on a single PPV. My god. You add in the emotion of it being Mayu and Tam’s last shows, the appearance of Meiko, and it’s just enough for me to give it the full 10.