Pantoja’s STARDOM Award in Takadanobaba Review 1.25.25 & 1.26.25

STARDOM Award in Takadanobaba

January 25^th & 26^th | Belle Salle Takadanobaba in Tokyo, Japan

STARDOM ran a couple of smaller shows that I don’t think need to be covered in full but have a few matches worth checking out so I’ll be reviewing those here. There are two on the first night and three on the second.

January 25th

Future of Stardom Championship: Miyu Amasaki [c] vs. Azusa Inaba

I must say, I like this venue. Anyway, this has been building for a handful of shows. Azusa is one of those people who feel kind of like a prodigy. She’s very good for just being 17 years of age though that’s become very common for STARDOM. I liked the arrogance that Azusa brought to this. Little things like pinning Miyu by just placing a knee on her throat was vicious and cocky, which helps make a match more than just a case of two people trading stuff. Miyu’s DDT-based offense continues to be interesting. It’s not something you see often and doesn’t always work but here it did. Azusa held serve with an array of kicks while also getting help from some HATE shenanigans. She put the focus on Miyu’s leg and that set up a sense of desperation from the champion. It’s a welcome change of pace from Rina kind of dominating as champion. They flubbed a big late spot on a tornado DDT. Miyu then hit another DDT variation and won with Angel’s Wings like finisher in 11:07. Very good stuff here as the young crop of STARDOM wrestlers continues to impress. [***½]

Hazuki, Maika, Mayu Iwatani, Mina Shirakawa, Saki Kashima & Syuri vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saya Kamitani & Thekla

This main event stood out to me because even if it doesn’t mean a lot for immediate storylines, it’s cool to see several factions coming together against HATE. You have STARS (Hazuki and Mayu), God’s Eye (Saki and Syuri), and ExV (Mina and Maika). HATE attacked before the bell to spark their usual brawl around the ringside area, throwing people into chairs and all. If you’ve seen one HATE match, you’ve seen them all. Once this became a more traditional tag, the quality improved. Rina has been given a lot of shine lately and it made sense here since she had a big match the following night. The individual battles here were good from Syuri vs. Momo to Saya going toe to toe with Maika. We got the usual spots like everyone doing submissions at the same time. That’s a staple of this match type. I loved Mina lifting the ExV spot where her team holds her up for a big splash, but doing it with her unusual partners. Maika followed that with a Michinoku Driver on Thekla to win in 15:57. About what you want from this kind of main event. Get a lot of people involved on what’s basically a house show. [***¼]

Post-match, there was an interesting bit where Maika tried to get through to Thekla (they’re old buddies from DDM days) but the HATE member walked off.

January 26th

UWF Rules: Aya Sakura vs. Kiyoka Kotatsu

Not exactly a match featuring stars but given the stipulation, I figured it was something to check out. From what I gather, this is kind of Kiyoka’s style and she did look comfortable in there. For her credit, Aya showed up with no shoes under her kick pads and worked a way more aggressive style than she usually does. This had a lot of kicking, striking, and grappling. It’s the kind of thing that isn’t for everyone and honestly, I typically don’t dig when wrestling tries to incorporate this too much. Think NXT’s underground gimmick. Syuri has been involved in a few of these UWF Rules matches and they’re pretty good though. In the end, Kiyoka made Aya tap to a kneebar in 8:00. That was pretty good. [**¾]

FWC vs. Ranna Yagami and Syuri

Not a match that is really anything important but I love FWC and the Ranna/Syuri tandem intrigues me.  A lot of tags recently have set up a fun little feud between Ranna and Koguma, particularly around Koguma’s taunting. Ranna avoided it this time by rolling Koguma up and then mocking her taunting ahead of a camel clutch. It actually angered Koguma, leading to her being more aggressive than playful, which is out of the norm for her. She was even trading shots with Syuri, one of the hardest hitters around. Koguma eventually nearly put the camel clutch on Ranna in a bit of turnabout is fair play only for Syuri to break it up to a rare chorus of boos. Eventually, a dropkick from Hazuki saw Ranna fall right into a Koguma pin in 13:00. Good tag match and the Ranna/Koguma stuff was fun. [***]

Wonder of Stardom #1 Contender’s Match: Rina vs. Saori Anou

Not the main event but the most important match on the show. The winner gets a shot at Starlight Kid and this is a HUGE spot for Rina. Saori didn’t seem to take her too seriously at the start, prompting to Rina to spit at her and Saori to respond with violence.  Rina did her thing to keep up with Saori, showing way more poise than you would usually get from someone her age. She used a belt as a weapon to help level the playing field and garner a bit more heat. That was part of a closing stretch that included several close calls, with my favorite being on an abdominal stretch into a pin spot by Rina. Then the finish itself was cool as Rina popped up on a German and Saori went for her signature backslide only for Rina to be prepared and counter it into her own in to score the upset in 11:16. The finish was cool though it did come rather abruptly. Good match though I think Rina losing in a strong effort might’ve been better. I don’t think she’s quite ready for a big title match with Starlight Kid. [***¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I picked and chose here, so it makes sense that I got stuff I liked. I’m intrigued by the Starlight Kid/Rina direction and we got some good stuff in there.