wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2026 Night 1 Review
Image Credit; STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM Cinderella Tournament Night 1
March 6th, 2026 | Chunichi Hall in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 560
I went from not having much to review this month (I try not to cover weekly AEW since multiple people do already and I stopped watching WWE weekly) to now having the Cinderella Tournament and the New Japan Cup. So let’s get to it. As always, STARDOM has priority.
For those unaware, the Cinderella Tournament has brackets similar to the New Japan Cup. However, matches have a 15 minute time limit, you can win by throwing your opponent over the top rope, and matches are typically fast paced. The winner gets a shot at the World or Wonder of Stardom Titles.
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Rian vs. Yuna Mizumori
The first of eight first round matches today (with another eight tomorrow). This could be big for Rian as Yuna is the High Speed Champion. A win here could earn her a title shot. Rian is someone who has brought a lot of energy to tags but still clearly needs a lot of work. However, this was one of her better showings. She looked good going toe-to-toe with Yuna and didn’t feel out of place. They also worked this like a High Speed match, keeping up a good pace. As this progressed, I bit more into Rian’s near falls. I thought she had no chance but the closer she got, the more she pulled me in. She won a battle of pinning combinations to secure the upset in 7:44. Better than I expected and probably the best Rian performance to date. [***]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Aya Sakura vs. Fukigen Death
This was the usual stuff from Fukien Death. She did her antics and the crowd was into it but it’s still not really for me. Comedy stuff like this usually clicks for me, it just doesn’t with her. The fight went into the crowd for a bit, Fukigen Death and the referee mopped the ring for a while, and then Aya rallied to win with a German Suplex in 4:47. Pretty much what it needed to be. The right person won too. [**]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Ranna Yagami vs. Waka Tsukiyama
Sometimes, a clash of styles leads to a great match. That wasn’t the case here, though it was mostly fine. Waka remains a fine, goofy part of the undercard though she’s not someone who typically performs well in singles matches. She did her usual hip attacks and such here, though wasn’t all that interesting outside of it. Ranna continues to be a solid rising talent thanks to the way she incorporates submission work (especially on the arm) with her array of kicks. She kept going for an armbar but ultimately won with a driver that is apparently called the Beat Buster in 7:15. Like I said, this was fine enough. [**¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Natsupoi vs. Tabata
There’s potential for this to be really good or really bad. Natsupoi is obviously one of the best in the world and I’ve seen that Tabata is pretty good, but the CMLL girls haven’t translated too well in STARDOM yet, with many awkward moments. Thankfully, this one clicked as they worked pretty smoothly together. Tabata was able to keep up with Natsupoi’s pace while throwing some stiff shots in there for good measure. After a segment of Tabata holding serve, Poi got going but missed her twisting splash. A superkick and Stunner got Tabata a near fall before Poi made her submit to the Poi Rock in 8:45. Match of the night so far as they were a better pairing than expected. [***¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: HANAKO vs. Yuria Hime
HANAKO has been getting a solid push since she started working bigger and is now the Future of Stardom Champion. However, this match struggled for the same reason that her title defense the other day did. She’s not ready to lead a singles match and is much better suited to work well against more established wrestlers. Yuria is still very green, which wasn’t a good combination. Nothing they did was outwardly bad, it was just bland and never got interesting. HANAKO seemed frustrated that she couldn’t put down Yuria before things spilled outside. They traded blows and fought into the crowd, leading to a double countout in 9:59. Very surprised at that result because HANAKO felt like an obvious winner. Messy match though. If this is to set up a title match, I’m not looking forward to it. [*¾]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Kikyo Furusawa vs. Maki Itoh
Oh, there’s intrigue here as these two have been teaming up lately. An opening handshake led to a quick near fall but that was kind of where the fun and games ended. This was taken more seriously than I thought it would. Maki slapped Kikyo disrespectfully, as if she was trying to bring out more from her counterpart. This was a stiffer match from Maki than I’m used to and I liked it, though to be fair, I’ve always loved the teacher vs. student story in wrestling. Kikyo delivered what is probably the best performance I’ve seen from her, not backing down and giving Maki all she had. I liked the various submissions she pulled out. In the end, Maki won with her Texas Cloverleaf variation in 13:07. That was really good and I hope these two can make waves in the tag division. [***¼]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Fuwa-chan vs. Saori Anou
The previous match was intriguing but nothing tops this on paper. Fuwa-chan is ridiculously impressive for someone so new to wrestling and here she is against the beast that is Saori Anou. Interestingly, Fuwa-chan jumped Saori before the bell, giving this a hot start. Still, Saori didn’t totally take Fuwa-chan seriously, taking control and almost lazily holding serve. That forced Fuwa-chan to show what she’s got and make the big rally. She stepped up big time and continues to look like a seasoned veteran out there. Watching her just trade forearms with Saori was impressive as not many people can do that. I believed in an upset down the stretch, especially when Fuwa-chan hit the release German suplex. The finish saw them battle over the top and onto the apron where Fuwa-chan hit a suplex that sent both the floor for a draw in 10:56. That was the best thing on the show, even with that finish. I am ready for so much more singles stuff from Fuwa-chan. [***½]
Cinderella Tournament First Round: Hanan vs. Momo Kohgo
This is an odd choice for a main event, especially since Momo is really just an undercard vet. Together, they kind of just what you’d expect from a house show main event. Everything they did was fine and none of it was ever going to fully pull you in. I think part of it was that you never really bought Momo as a threat. As I said, the action was quite good and the crowd was into it, which was nice. They did a solid job on teasing over the top finishes and such. Momo had a couple of near falls before Hanan beat her with a backdrop hold in 11:37. A good match, just one that didn’t feel like a main event. [***]
