Pantoja’s STARDOM Flashing Champions 2023 Review

STARDOM Flashing Champions

May 27^th, 2023 | Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,759

Alright, a weekend of wrestling continues with this notable STARDOM event that I’m stoked for. It’s only their second show I’ve ever ordered instead of waiting the few days for it to appear on their streaming service.

Aya Sakura and Syuri vs. Maika Ozaki and Ram Kaichow

It feels odd to see Syuri so early on in the card. Rookie Aya chose to start for her team which showed enthusiasm but she bit off more than she could chew and got beaten up for a bit. Syuri swung the momentum when she got tagged in as you’d expect. She is above everyone else here in the pecking order for a reason. She hit things like a vicious running knee and diving Fameasser before allowing Aya another run that again, didn’t go too well. Syuri got one more run but Ozaki and Kaichow were too much for young Aya. She got trapped in a really brutal looking Torture Rack by Ozaki and submitted at the 9:41 mark. A fine little opener for the show but nothing more. [**½]

The 5Star Grand Prix kicks off on July 23^rd and STARDOM announced the participants at this point in the show.

STARS: Mayu Iwatani/Hazuki

Queen’s Quest: Utami Hayashishita/AZM/Saya Kamitani

Oedo Tai: Natsuko Tora/Starlight Kid/Momo Watanabe

Donna del Mundo: Giulia/Maika

Cosmic Angels: Tam Nakano/Natsupoi/Saori Anou

God’s Eye: Syuri/MIRAI/Ami Sourei

Club Venus: Mina Shirakawa

Suzu Suzuki and two more spots will go to winners of a Play-In tournament. I’d be down for them to go to Mariah May, Hanan, Saki Kashima, or Mei Seira off the top of my head.

Hina, Saya Kamitani and Utami Hayashishita vs. Rina, Ruaka and Starlight Kid

It’s also weird to see Kamitani and Hayashishita this low on the card. Rina’s first major show as the Future of STARDOM Champion. A jump start opened this because that’s Oedo Tai for you. A lot of this match was handled by Starlight Kid which is usually for the best because she’s so good. Hina and Rina remain impressive given that they’re only 16 years old. Things broke down near the end, giving us the main story of the match. Queen’s Quest continues to have problems. Kamitani accidentally hit Utami with a missile dropkick, causing the two to come to blows. Despite the issues, Hayashishita interrupted an SKL/Ruaka tandem move and Kamitani bridged a rana to beat Ruaka in 6:48. Short, to the point, and continued the ongoing storyline that it needed to handle. [**¼]

Hanan, Hazuki, Koguma and Mayu Iwatani vs. Jessie, Mariah May, Waka Tsukiyama and Xena

I feel like Mariah May has to get into the Grand Prix. She’s been very good lately, has a notable feud going on now, and it would give Club Venus another entrant. That notable program being her recent issues with Mayu, which feels like it ‘ll lead to an IWGP Women’s Title match. This opened with more fun from Koguma and Mariah as we’ve seen on house shows which involves Koguma taunts and Mariah twerking. There should be more twerking in wrestling from Mariah May to Kofi Kingston to Zeb Colter. Goofy fun was the gist of a lot of this match with a few changes of pace from things like Hazuki’s kicks or Xena’s displays of strength. The latter’s double Samoan Drop was a highlight. The Mariah/Mayu exchange also stood out, complete with Mariah flat out shouting “I WANT IWGP BITCH.” Both quartets got to hit team-up moves late before it was Hanan who secured the win with a pinning combination on Jessie in 12:46. Just a fun ass match. [***¼]

Post-match, Mayu and Mariah got in each other’s faces.

HANAKO, Nanae Takahashi and Yuna Mizumori vs. Maika, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki

HANAKO looks like a giant compared to everyone else. I’m VERY intrigued at the idea of Maika being on the same side as Suzu Suzuki. Their team got the jump start with an attack before the bell, which wasn’t what I expected. I mean I’ve seen Suzu do it but not really Maika or Mei. There have been some issues between Nanae and Yuna, which played out in a double team spot. The move saw Nanae suplex Yuna onto their opponent but instead of just doing the suplex, Nanae made sure to kick her in the stomach. It wasn’t needed and might be why the move failed. It’s a little thing but it worked. I liked the teamwork shown by Maika and Suzu, including the moment where they nearly collided but avoided it and did a baseball “safe” signal. This match was more serious than the previous one but was about on par in terms of quality. The Mei/HANAKO exchange was interesting given their size difference and it led to a sweet trios move by Maika/Mei/Suzu. Mei then beat HANAKO with a dropkick in 12:04. [***]

High Speed Championship: AZM [c] vs. Fukigen Death vs. Saki Kashima

The first of our four title matches. The idea here is that AZM’s historic reign is in jeopardy against two Oedo Tai members though it is two women she already beat during this title run. We got handicap match style action to begin though AZM is so fast she was able to mostly avoid them. AZM hit her first true snag when she slipped on a dive outside. Saki capitalized by trying to pin Fukigen Death though it didn’t work. Some of the spots the three worked together were very creative and fun, especially when they were trying for flash pins. They might’ve set a near fall record. AZM got knocked outside and Saki beat Fukigen Death with a pinning combination in 5:29. That was…odd. They did the high speed stuff well but with so many pins, it wasn’t really much of a match. I’m all for Saki winning, especially since it likely means AZM moves onto something new and bigger. Cool moment, mediocre match. [**½]

The emotion that overcame Saki Kashima as she was awarded the belt made this worth it.

Goddesses of Stardom Championship: The New Eras [c] vs. Momo Watanabe and Natsuko Tora

I’d heard a lot of good things about Momo Watanabe before I started watching STARDOM but she hasn’t had the opportunity to do all that much in 2023 until now. Most of Oedo Tai was out for this, meaning shenanigans were afoot. That included brawling through the crowd, Momo spitting water in MIRAI’s face, and hitting her leg with a bat. Clearly, the referees were giving leeway. Once back in the ring, Oedo Tai held serve due to the damage done on the outside. The tide turned a bit when Ami got the hot tag but she found herself in trouble soon after as well. It seemed like the champs couldn’t get anything sustained going as the challengers were relentless. MIRAI’s leg was the target and Tora kept going for the Stretch Muffler to exploit it. MIRAI applied her armbar and had it won until Oedo Tai intervened. Alas, she kept surviving whatever they threw at her before Tora missed a dive and she beat her with a pinning combination. This went 16:52 and was the first thing on the show to really stand out. They told a great story with the challengers being better but the champs being more resilient and finding a way to pull it out. It did drag at a few points though. [***½]

After the match, Queen’s Quest showed up to confront Oedo Tai. A brawl broke out and it was apparently announced that the factions with fight in a Steel Cage soon.

Artist of Stardom Championship: KAIRI, Natsupoi & Saori Anou [c] vs. Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla

I love the REstart trio but I also dig the challengers. The first third or so of this contest saw everyone get some time to shine with bursts of tandem/trios offense thrown in for good measure. The Natsupoi/Thekla exchange is where this really started to pick up, especially since it was followed by KAIRI/Giulia. The shots they were throwing were BRUTAL and I’d love a singles match between them. There’s a spinning backfist that KAIRI gave Giulia that was one of the hardest strikes I’ve seen/heard all year. I also popped for Thekla leaping over someone running at her and Matrix dodging a clothesline right after. Thekla is hella underrated to me. The biggest thing holding this match back a bit was the crowd, who were unjustly quiet for a lot of these exchanges. These ladies were WORKING and they were rather subdued. The action remained great in the final few minutes until some miscommunication proved costly. Natsupoi accidentally superkicked Saori and Giulia rolled her up to win the titles in 18:23. A surprising title change as this company continues to throw me curveballs. I like them. This ruled thanks to some intense, hard hitting action though I wish the crowd was better. [****¼]

Natsupoi looked crushed after the loss. Between this and the Shirakawa defeat, it has been rough for her lately. The champions had their celebration cut short by the arrival of Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, and Koguma, who issued a challenge as the first contenders.

World of Stardom & Wonder of Stardom Championships: Tam Nakano [c] vs. Mina Shirakawa [c]

Two of my STARDOM favorites in a major double title match that feels like neither can win because they’re both new champions. As is often the case, Mina went after the leg looking to set up her Figure Four. Even as the fight went outside and to the stage, she kept a focus on that target. I love the idea of Tam basically challenging her to step up. They traded vicious kicks inside and you got the sense that Tam was daring her to hit as hard as she was. This got more violent as it went on, including the two trading some stiff slaps on the top rope. There was an overwhelming sense of confidence from Mina to a fault. For example, she only scored near falls on big moves because she’d take a moment to cover and did lazy pins like she had this in the bag.  Due to that, Tam kept kicking out and she refused to submit to the Figure Four. The sequence where they held onto each other as they traded forearms was great and one particular shot seemed to wake Tam up. She got going, hit the Screwdriver, and added Twilight Dream to become a double champion in 17:43. What a main event. It didn’t go too long, was great from an in-ring perspective, and told an emotional story from start to finish. [****½]

Mina’s cries of anguish at her loss are going to be stuck in my head for a long time. I’ve seen some polarizing reactions to this result but I love it. Yes, it hurts to see Mina’s title reign end so soon but that’s the point. She left Tam and started her own stable, took Waka, and won the title that eluded her but she bit off more than she could chew when she got greedy and tried to take everything from Tam. Tonight, Tam proved she remained a step ahead and the post-match comments make it seem like this is far from over. Maybe Mina wins the Grand Prix and is the one to dethrone Tam. We’ll see but I’m liking the unpredictable nature of STARDOM booking, especially since I’ve heard that it was very predictable coming into this year.

MIRAI showed up to challenge Tam for the Wonder of Stardom Title.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

For a while, I felt like this show was rather disappointing. STARDOM has put on some of the best events of the year (and the very best in All-Star Grand Queendom) but this got off to a slow start. It picked up in the middle and ended with three strong matches that only kept getting better.