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Pantoja’s STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2024 Night 1 Review
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM Cinderella Tournament Night 1
March 9th, 2024 | Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama, Japan | Attendance: 1,555
While the Cinderella Tournament isn’t on the level of the round robin tournament later in the year, I still came in with high hype level. However, even more than the tournament itself is my excitement at the return of Natsupoi!
Ami Sourei vs. AZM vs. Hazuki vs. Mai Sakurai vs. Mei Seira vs. MIRAI vs. Suzu Suzuki vs. Waka Tsukiyama
An interesting pre-show match given there are some major names in there. These eight ladies all have byes into the second round so they’re thrown here for some action ahead of that. With so many moving parts, it makes sense that this was fast paced and featured almost no slow down. Everyone got a chance to hit a signature spot or two though a few moments did feel like the girls were just waiting for the next spot. Like you’d see someone waiting in the wings for their cue to do something. I liked when half of the match did the Hazuki kicks on the ropes because I just need more Hazuki spots in my life. AZM was among the standouts but in the end, it was Suzu who pulled Mai Sakurai into a pinning combination to win in 7:44. Just a fun, quick moving match with a lot of talented ladies involved. [***]
Future of Stardom Championship: Rina [c] vs. Miran
We’re onto the official card now. Miran isn’t someone who I know much about. I believe I’ve only seen her on a couple of New Blood events last year. The wild thing is that Miran is only 14. And she’s shockingly good. Like she moved quickly and did so in a way that looked natural in the ring. You’d think she had a few years of experience. She fit into the plucky underdog role well and that worked against Rina, who has turned into a solid heel thanks to her time with Oedo Tai. That allowed this match to tell a simple yet effective story which is ideal with two inexperienced workers. Rina threw a nice big boot to combat the hope spots of Miran, which included a nice Lionsault. Alas, she never really felt like a threat to win the belt and Rina bested her with a Gory Bomb in 11:26. Better than expected and the future of Stardom (pun intended) seems to be in good hands with so many talented young wrestlers. [***]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Starlight Kid vs. Yuzuki
Oh, this is an exciting way to start the tournament. Yuzuki is ridiculously impressive so far and SLK is always great. As you’d expect, this got off to a fast start with the ladies trading stuff and picking up a handful of flash pin attempts early. Yuzuki looked like a woman possessed and desperate to win, which I really appreciated. SLK had to set her straight and got more vicious the longer this went on. The teases of SLK getting beaten by going over the top and to the outside were well done and I totally bought a few of them. Yuzuki also got in a few close calls on pin attempts that had the crowd going. SLK responded with a brutal looking half crab but Yuzuki kept coming with more fire and flash pin attempts. S:L weathered the storm and advanced with a moonsault in 8:21. This tournament isn’t known for bangers but the shorter format and style of this match fit them really well. [***½]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Natsuko Tora vs. Sayaka Kurara
The bully of the promotion against a rookie. You know how this was going to go. Natsuko jumped Sayaka during her entrance to give herself an even bigger advantage. This was more of an angle than a match as Natsuko never let up. She wailed on Sayaka both in and out of the ring to the point where the referee asked her to let up. She refused to do so and got disqualified for her actions after 3:52. Natsuko continues to look like an unhinged, sometimes unstoppable monster and Sayaka is the battered babyface. Not really a match though. [NR]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Lady C vs. Yuna Mizumori
So, this was the definition of “just a match.” On paper it wasn’t a pairing that sounded too exciting but it also wasn’t bad in any way. That meant it was kind of just two girls doing stuff. Lady C had control by using her height to her advantage though some of what she did looked awkward in moments. Yuna played the underdog, which is a role she’s used to, and some of her offense looked pretty good. She managed to hoist Lady C onto her shoulders and hit a front-falling variation of the Electric Chair Drop to advance in 5:04. Like I said, inoffensive but mostly just there. [**¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Momo Kohgo vs. Xena
For now at least, we’re kind of officially in sprint territory as the last match was short and this was even shorter. Momo is a solid undercard hand and Xena is the unproven member of her stable so I would’ve liked to see this get a bit more time. For the time they were given, they had a decent little back and forth affair though it was nothing to write home about. Momo brought the babyface fire and Xena did a feel fun heel things. Xena caught her with an impressive gutbuster to win in 3:39. Fine enough for what it was. [**]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Miyu Amasaki vs. Ranna Yagami
We’re back with another sprint. These are both basically rookies. Ranna is way new and while Miyu has been around longer, she still has a lot of growing to do. The played into their strengths here with Miyu bringing DDTs and a bunch of moves like that to try and combat Ranna and her strikes. The strikes and kicks that Ranna does makes me a fan of hers because I like stuff like that in wrestling. I do love Miyu’s finish, as she won with her leaping sitout Pedigree in 4:30. Acceptable little match here. [**¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Koguma vs. Ruaka
We are moving right along through this tournament. Now we’ve got a consistent undercard heel in Ruaka against a lovable undercard face in Koguma. They played into that as Ruaka was all about winning with minimal effort. She wanted to throw people over the top to win and she immediately attempted that. You have to respect someone who isn’t there to bullshit. Koguma responded with the babyface stuff that makes fans love her, from having fire behind her offense to rallying the crowd behind her comeback attempts. We got some decent back and forth before Ruaka sent Koguma to the apron where Oedo Tai interfered and hit Koguma with a weapon. Ruaka then dropped her to the floor to win in 5:16. A simple match and I meant that in a pretty good way. [**¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Saki Kashima vs. Saya Iida
Saki Kashima kind of excels in these short bursts so I had decent hopes for this. I really enjoyed how they played into Saki’s reputation here. Saya was wise to avoid the handshake at the bell since Saki is known to use that for rollups and she’s a Toru Yano-like thief in matches like this. That gave this an extra edge because the fans know they can buy into near falls and flash pins with Saki, so everything felt like it mattered. In the end, Saya gave her a taste of her own medicine, pulling her into a pinning combination to advance in 4:47. A very fun five minute outing. [**¾]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: HANAKO vs. Hanan
It’s the last of our tournament matches and it features a rookie in HANAKO against a fast rising star in Hanan, who has been one of the company’s MVPs of 2024 so far. HANAKO came out aggressively, using her size to overpower Hanan and put her on her heels. That was a smart move because Hanan is great at fighting from beneath. HANAKO kept up the pressure and nearly eliminated Hanan over the top but the fiery fighter remained alive. She found ways to counter HANAKO and combat the strength disadvantage before applying a modified Stretch Muffler to wear down the larger opponent. Hanan eventually won at the 6:30 mark by debuting a new submission that included the arm and leg as targets. Good stuff here. [***]
Fukigen Death, Momo Watanabe and Stephanie Vaquer vs. Giulia, Konami and Syuri
The point of this match was to preview the big Giulia/Vaquer match the following night for the STRONG Title. It’s dope as hell to see Giulia and Syuri teaming up given their history. Stephanie stared daggers through Giulia as soon as she laid eyes on her and she kept up that intensity throughout. It succeeded in making me want to see tomorrow’s match even more. Konami also looked good in there and I wish we got to see her more. Giulia’s team took control when Fukigen Death was in there as she and Syuri took turns beating her down. It actually worked though because Fukigen Death was way over and it kind of forced things to flip, making her the face in peril of sorts. That’s not ideal in most cases but seeing Giulia and especially Syuri as aggressors is something I always like. We got back to Giulia vs. Stephanie and it rocked. The headbutts were fierce and it really feels like the title match will be heated. Syuri secured the win via submission over Fukigen Death in 11:19. A really good preview that did its job and was enjoyable from start to finish. [***½]
Chihiro Hashimoto and Sareee vs. Natsupoi and Saori Anou
The return I have been waiting for! I mean Natsupoi though it’s good to see Hashimoto back and to get a look at Sareee away from NXT. Typically, I write bits of my review as the match is happening but because it was Natsupoi’s return, I opted to just watch and enjoy it before coming back here to write. Early on, a couple of spots kind of got flubbed and I was concerned but those worries were quickly quieted as these four ladies went all out. Hashimoto was an absolute monster, Saori did everything she’s known for, Natsupoi hasn’t missed a step, and Sareee showed why she could’ve been a bigger deal in NXT. She put a hurting on Natsupoi at every chance, delivering stiff forearms and dropping her on her head several times. She worked seamlessly with Hashimoto, playing so well off of her power game. I liked how Hashimoto threw Sareee around at times if it meant more damage could be down to her opponents as well. The closing stretch here was something special with the crowd eating everything up. The drama was also high as you never quite knew who would pull out the win. Natsupoi refused to give up no matter what was thrown at her but a few too many suplexes dropping her on her head did her in, with Sareee pinning her after 18:59. A spectacular match that is one of the best of the young year. Natsupoi is back baby and I can’t wait to see what comes next. [****½]
AZM and Saya Kamitani vs. Maika and Mina Shirakawa vs. Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano
A rare triple threat tag main event and one that is interesting given the crossover of stables for Mayu and Tam. One of my favorite things about STARDOM is that in tags like these, three wrestlers are legal at once. Multi-team tags with only two legal parties make no sense. That meant we constantly had interesting combinations of some of the best wrestlers in the world. It was cool to see Saya, someone pegged as a future World of Stardom Champion, mix it up with the last two champs, Maika and Tam. Nearly every moment of this match was filled with action and given the talent level involved, it was all highly entertaining. AZM kind of pinch hit here for Utami but fit right in and did so seamlessly. Down the stretch, she took a shot from Mina that set her on the path to a loss, falling to a Doomsday Device like powerbomb spot followed by the Michinoku Driver in 14:25. It felt like a high-end house show match in that it was filled with stars and while they didn’t go too hard, they can still have a four star match in almost any setting, which was the case here. [****]
Post-match, Sareee showed up to challenge Mayu Iwatani to what is a highly anticipated match
