Pantoja’s STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2023 Finals Review

STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2023 Finals

April 15^th, 2023 | Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2 in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,049

Vacation put me behind on a lot so I’ve caught up but couldn’t really do reviews. With this tournament finals show, I am officially back and should have a consistent review schedule again. It didn’t help that this took way longer than expected to end up on Stardom World.

Cinderella Tournament Semifinals: Mai Sakurai vs. Waka Tsukiyama

Waka has been on quite the roll since getting her first win in an incredible moment last month. This might’ve been the first time in her Stardom career that Waka felt like the favorite to win. That also made for an interesting match as Waka wasn’t wrestling as an underdog. She actually controlled a good chunk of this match which was different but not my favorite. She just works so well fighting from beneath that anything else feels odd. Think Honma during his 2014-2015 G1 runs. I did get a sense of Waka’s typical matches when she went for some desperate pins. I got the sense that whenever Sakurai got the momentum going, Waka felt like her hot streak could’ve ended and she wanted no part of that. Waka survived a big elbow drop but couldn’t kick out of a somersault leg drop, losing in 5:52. A solid way to kick things off. [**¾]

Cinderella Tournament Semifinals: Ami Sourei vs. MIRAI

These two are pretty consistent tag partners. Of note, Sourei is the Future of Stardom Champion and MIRAI is the defending Cinderella Tournament winner. You could tell they were teammates by how well they knew each other, having counters ready for their signature stuff. Though MIRAI has the power advantage, Sourei was throwing some pretty stiff shots her way, including a solid shoulder block and knocking her down with a two-handed chop. MIRAI got going and Sourei made it to the ropes on a submission but MIRAI didn’t let up and kept on the offensive. Down the stretch, they traded blows until MIRAI started throwing lariats that took Sourei down. Sourei blocked one and hit a Brainbuster but MIRAI kept coming with more before one final big one kept Sourei down at the 11:12 mark. Oh, I liked that more than I was expecting to. It started a bit slow but was technically sound, hard-hitting in parts, and picked up big late. [***½]

Hazuki, Koguma and Momo Kohgo vs. Jessie, Mariah May and Xena

After seeing a ton of Club Venus during the Triangle Derby, I haven’t had the chance to see a lot of the new girls, Jessie and Xena though I did Jessie do some jobs in NXT. Mina Shirakawa was with them to handle introductions. Mariah May has seemed to only get better/more comfortable in Stardom since arriving. Her arrogance plays well against someone who is a likable face like Koguma. For the most part, this was a simple multi-woman tag with everyone getting a chance to get their stuff in but never really hitting the next level. It reminded me a lot of New Japan undercard tags. It is important for Club Venus to get reps though. Xena and Jessie looked solid enough but are clearly still getting settled. Jessie did a sweet spinning slam near the end that only got two but that should be her finish because the similar move she did later to win looked far less impressive. This went 9:54 and was perfectly acceptable. [**½]

AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid

Queen’s Quest vs. Oedo Tai. This was one of those matches that looked better on paper than it was in execution. I think there were too many moving parts as everyone had to get a moment or so to shine in about 10 concise minutes. It meant that things moved along quickly but also that not a ton was allowed to breathe. If anyone stood out, it was Starlight Kid. She was throwing herself into bumps and made the most of her time in the ring. I don’t have much to say outside of that, to be honest. The finish of this chaotic match was a bit of a surprise as Amasaki took a beating from her opponents and dropped the fall to young Rina in 10:47. Nice to see her pick up a win. [**½]

Hanan, Mayu Iwatani and Saya Iida vs. Nanae Takahashi, Yuna Mizumori and Yuu

Given how long this took to hit Stardom World, I heard a fair bit about the show coming in, with the first news coming from this match or the aftermath, actually. Before that though, there is this action to consider. This mostly didn’t mean anything but the girls brought it. Well, it started rather slowly but once Mayu and Nanae tagged in and had a fiery sequence, this really picked up. The 7UPP team continues to be a consistent highlight of this company in 2023 and they work so well together. That Mayu/Nanae interaction was great and felt like it gave Mayu her first real thing of relevance to work with this year. I also liked Iida going toe to toe with Nanae given their size difference. They were involved in the ending too as Nanae made Iida tap to a sick-looking crossface after 11:46. Quality wrestling here. [***]

Post-match, Nanae flaunted her tag title at Mayu. Mayu cut a promo saying she’s not a tag wrestler right now so she wants to fight Nanae for a singles belt, which is why she’ll beat Mercedes Moné on 4/23. That brought out a surprise attack from someone in disguise and of course, it was Mercedes. I can’t wait for this match.

Konami vs. Syuri

Syuri is gearing up for a major match against Chihiro Hashimoto on 4/23 so I came in knowing she wasn’t about to lose. Syuri looked to prepare for her upcoming match which can only be won by KO, submissions, or ref stoppage, so she brought a hard-hitting edge to this. That included the two women daring their opponent to deliver harder kicks and we were only a few minutes into the action. That was kind of the story of this match. Two women looking to hurt each other in the name of winning and that’s simple to the point where I love it as a concept. They continued to trade stiff shots from bell to bell and they basically had their kicks collide in the end before Syuri got a one-count on a kick to the head. Konami kept getting up until a kick to the face ended this in 10:02. I liked what they did but wish it ended on a higher note. That final kick never felt like something that should end this kind of fight. [***½]

Cinderella Tournament Finals: Mai Sakurai vs. MIRAI

Can MIRAI repeat as tournament winner? The two shook hands at the bell but then held on and threw forearms at one another. Sakurai took control with some fighting outside until she ran into a body slam. Once back inside, Mai started in with some submission work but there was one glaring problem with that. Her submissions looked weak. It never looked like she was actually hurting MIRAI and that made it hard to buy into and it was kind of distracting. Once they got past that section and went back into kind of trading things, this worked better but it still never really did anything to fully grab me the way I’d want from a finals of a tournament. Mai survived a fair bit before falling to a diving crossbody in 13:12. That was an underwhelming finale and I never bought Mai as a winner. That said, I’m happy for MIRAI and hope she gets a significant push in 2023. [***]

Two Out of Three Falls Match: Giulia, Himeka, Maika and Thekla vs. Mina Shirakawa, Natsupoi, SAKI and Tam Nakano

Interesting that the finals didn’t headline but this one has me pumped. The Giulia/Tam rivalry is great from what I’ve seen so far, we get Himeka ahead of her retirement, some Natsupoi and Mina Shirakawa, and more. Plus, I’m a sucker for the 2/3 falls stip. This opened with a jump start as the teams went at it and most of it spilled outside, leaving Natsupoi and Thekla inside. That kind of set the tone as this never really slowed down. There was constant action with people sliding in and out in logical ways. We got a Giulia/Tam strike exchange, tandem moves by both sides and isolation segments from each team. Tam took a vicious quadruple team move where she ate two kicks and Giulia kept on her, beating her with what I believe was the Glorious Northern Lights Bomb to take the first fall. Natsupoi pounced as soon as things restarted but it went back to Giulia/Tam soon after, with them trading tiger suplexes. Tam escaped offense and hit the Screwdriver but the pin was broken up and I totally thought that would be fall #2. Cosmic Angels cleaned house and fall #2 came shortly after when Tam pinned Giulia with Twilight Dream. The final fall saw the focus shift from Tam and Giulia and allowed everyone else to get a moment to shine. Natsupoi and Maika went at it late and Maika bested her to take this match in 14:43. A very good main event that built to the bigger show well. [***¾]

After the match, Giulia cut a promo issuing another goodbye and thank you to Himeka before shoving Tam and saying she won’t win the title. After they left, Mina Shirakawa spoke to tell Tam she was leaving Cosmic Angels to focus on Club Venus and wanted to be the kind of leader that Tam is. She also told Waka Tsukiyama that she could pick where she wanted to go. Tam looked heartbroken when Waka thanked her but chose Club Venus.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

That was a pretty good show but it felt like the first major STARDOM event of 2023 that didn’t fully click for me. The main event ruled and we got two other matches I’d recommend, while nothing was bad, but it also didn’t do quite enough to be one of the better shows of the year.