Pantoja’s STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2024 Night 3 Review

STARDOM Cinderella Tournament Night 3

March 16^th, 2024 | Arcrea HIMEJI in Himeji, Hyogo | Attendance: 398

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.

Again, with so much of my time being dedicated to things like March Madness right now, I’m focused on the important matches only. For this show, that just means the four tournament bouts as we continue through the second round.

Cinderella Tournament Second Round: AZM vs. Sayaka Kurara

Hey, this is like those early New Japan World shows where it was a single-camera setup. That makes it feel like you’re at a house show. Anyway, this tournament is ideal for AZM because she excels in short bursts. She used her speed to her advantage here, while Sayaka did her best to keep up. To her credit, she was mostly able to. I liked AZM kind of shrugging off some of her offense like dropkicks and such because she is so far ahead of her on the totem pole. That was kind of the story here as Sayaka her to try for her best bits of offense while AZM remained a step or two ahead. AZM missed her double stomp and got pulled into an inside cradle for one of the match’s better near falls. Just when Sayaka started to pick up those close calls, AZM avoided a tackle and beat her with the Azumi Sushi in 7:14. A good sprint that was one of the better outings for Sayaka so far. [***]

Cinderella Tournament Second Round: Mai Sakurai vs. Miyu Amasaki

I expect a bit less from this match. Mai is a fun personality but she’s not the wrestler that AZM is and Miyu shows flashes but remains pretty green. Mai did her usual stuff like the Paradise Lock (I like it a lot more when she does it than when SANADA does. Maybe it’s because he’s supposed to be a top guy and it makes more sense for a midcard wrestler) and she held serve while Miyu had to fight from beneath with hope spots. Things were kept simple for the most part before Mai hit an interesting sitout suplex variation. However, she went up top and missed an elbow which opened the door for Miyu to pull off the upset with a pinning combination in 6:56. Nothing special here. It was just a match. [**]

Cinderella Tournament Second Round: Waka Tsukiyama vs. Xena

An interesting pairing here since both are members of ExV. They had the kind of match you’d expect from teammates in that there wasn’t a lot of aggression or intensity and we got a few fun little spots like Xena battering Waka with some goofy looking hip attacks. The highlight was Xena showcasing her power. I like the idea of Xena as an undercard powerhouse of sorts, especially since she doesn’t totally give off that vibe just from looking at her. Waka hit a nice rolling senton but it was Xena who won with her impressive gutbuster in 5:32. Again, not much to write home about here but a fine little match that kept me entertained enough. [**¼]

Cinderella Tournament Second Round: Hazuki vs. Ruaka

So we’ve got one of the best wrestlers in the company against Ruaka, who is more of an undercard heel who cheats a lot. Hazuki was the aggressor here, jumping Ruaka before the bell. It wasn’t a heel move per se because she’s been on the receiving end of that from Oedo Tai more often than not. It was a case of getting the jump on someone who was likely to do it to her. Ruaka weathered the storm and made things a bit more even once they got into the ring after some brawling at ringside. They did some back and forth here but none of it really stood out. Oedo Tai got involved and in Ruaka’s case, I feel it’s actually needed here because I haven’t seen enough of her to really engage me for an entire match. Plus, considering how low she is on the card compared to Hazuki, she kayfabe needs it. That interference allowed Ruaka to send her to the apron where she then hit a sliding cross body that knocked Hazuki to the floor for an elimination in 6:57. Hazuki wasn’t someone I expected to win this tournament but she needs to start getting key wins soon. She’s dangerously close to just being a really good, big match loser and she deserves so much more. [**]

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Kind of a nothing show here. The single-camera setup let you know right off the bat that it wasn’t going to be too important and they kind of punted the efforts on most of these matches. And that Hazuki result was certainly a choice.