Pantoja’s STARDOM Goddesses Of Stardom 2024 Quarterfinals & Semifinals Review

STARDOM Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Playoffs

December 7^th, 2024 | Act City Hamamatsu in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka

I thought this show was a PPV that I couldn’t watch unless I paid extra. It turns out that’s not the case so I’m here to cover the four matches ahead of the Finals on 12/8 (which is a PPV).

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Quarterfinals: BMI2000 vs. High Mate

There’s potential for a good old fashion HOSS fight here unless HATE shenanigans get in the way. I wish they did these quarterfinals involving opposite blocks. High Mate vs. wing*gori and Crazy Tiger Girls vs. BMI2000 to mix things up. The first outing between these teams in the tournament was mediocre (**¾). Maika and Natsuko charged at each other and traded blows. It’s easy to forget that Natsuko ended Maika’s 212-day reign with the red belt, especially since her reign barely lasted a month. The fight spilled outside and man, I am so tired of saying that about matches involving HATE members. They didn’t seem to have many cameras outside and only part of this action was captured, which didn’t help. Maika managed to make the mild tag to HANAKO and she did alright in the role. You can tell that she still needs work though. High Mate got going and hit their tandem Samoan Drop on Ruaka before HANAKO finished her off with a sleeper variation in 12:12. That was largely fine and nothing more. [**¼]

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Quarterfinals: Crazy Tiger Girls vs. wing*gori

Their first match in the tournament ruled (***¾). This picked up right where that one left off. The early stuff from Starlight Kid and Hanan was pretty heated, with one SLK shot flat out knocking Hanan to the mat, only for Hanan to come back and lay shots into Starlight Kid that put her down. Then, Suzu and Saya had more of a powerhouse based fight, allowing this match to have some variety in it. Starlight Kid’s moonsault to the outside remains a thing of beauty. Saya and Suzu went at it again with some really good back and forth before Starlight Kid joined in for a cool tandem move. Saya missed on a few flash pins but following a running uppercut from Hana, she managed to roll Suzu up and advance at the 10:13 mark. I’m all for out of nowhere finishes but felt too abrupt. Take 2-4 minutes off the previous match and give it to them here because they were really starting to get cooking when this ended. [***½]

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Semifinals: FWC vs. High Mate

It’s now later in the show and time to see who advances to the finals. Their first match was won by FWC and was good (***¼). I could be wrong but I always feel like whoever wins the first meeting in aa round robin tournament loses the second. Especially when it’s booked by the folks at Bushiroad. Another match with a hot start as Hazuki was out of the blocks on fire. That girl works her ass off no matter how big or small the match is. Her and Maika had some good heated exchanges here and I thought HANAKO did well to use her size, like ramming Hazuki into the corner while in a Torture Rack. She’s getting better at that. Koguma was probably the standout here, bumping well and making sure that every move HANAKO did looked vicious. It was like it was her job to make HANAKO look as good as possible. That included the submission HANAKO used on her as Koguma looked on the verge of death. Koguma nearly scored a win with a rollup and her desperate flash pin attempts were a good source of late drama. HANAKO kicked out and hit her Torture Rack slam (I still don’t know the name) to beat Koguma in 13:47. That was good stuff though I wish FWC won. High Mate hasn’t really done it for me as a team. This was a good match boosted by the efforts of Koguma and HANAKO’s improved performance. [***¼]

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Semifinals: REStart vs. wing*gori

Their first meeting was probably the best match of the tournament (****). REStart attacked before the bell which was rather surprising. Saya fought through some tandem offense by using her hard hitting style. I love the power-based stuff she brings to these matches, like how she deadlifted Natsupoi up into a powerbomb to break an armbar. Saori and Hanan relived their great Wonder of Stardom Title match from earlier this year with some very good exchanges. For a lot of this, it felt like wing*gori was a bit more of a cohesive unit, working together to take down their opponents while Saori and Poi had the upper hand in individual interactions. That makes sense given where these ladies are on the card. There were some great close calls late, especially when Hanan got some flash pin attempts on Saori. REStart got going again only for Saya to lay them both out with lariats at once. From there, Hanan scored a huge win by beating Saori with her bridging back suplex in 12:44. About on par with the other wing*gori match on this show in that it was a very good, just shy of great, match. [***½]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

I wasn’t too big on the opener but the next three matches were good. The Finals might not be what I wanted, yet I’m intrigued by it.