Pantoja’s STARDOM in Osaka Review 6.16.24

STARDOM in Osaka

June 16^th, 2024 | EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 445

Alright, so STARDOM has properly uploaded the matches from this show without the giant watermark on it, so I can actually review it.

Aya Sakura vs. Miyu Amasaki

I know Miyu is a bit higher on the card now, especially since she started teaming with AZM but she still feels like a rookie in a lot of ways. So that gave this a Young Lion style vibe and that was okay. Two women going in there and fighting hard to prove themselves. It wasn’t the cleanest of matches but it had energy and vigor, which can often make up for a lot. There’s still a bit of sloppiness from Miyu and Aya didn’t look totally comfortable at times but they had some good moments in there like a solid strike exchange and a cool spot where Miyu ducked a kick and hit a DDT. Miyu beat her with the leaping Facebuster in 7:07 and this was fine, nothing more. [**¼]

Mei Seira vs. Rian vs. Yuna Mizumori

Rian is someone who I’m still not very familiar with. Yuna has done better under the Cosmic Angels banner and Mei is always awesome. This was the typical goofy three-way STARDOM is known for. There was fun to be had from the start with Mei and Rian having a test to see who was taller. There’s always a lighthearted nature to these bouts. They actually worked together to take down Yuna early and combat their size disadvantage. Of course, they went after each other for a bit and then Yuna got back involved. It did the WWE thing of one person seemingly being out of the action at a time. When all three were in there, this was enjoyable but it didn’t happen enough to really work. Mei got the win after a dropkick on Rian in 8:10. Just a match. [**]

HANAKO and Mina Shirakawa vs. Ranna Yagami and Saki Kashima

Honestly, the Ranna/Saki pairing is one I’d like to see more of. I like Ranna’s offense and her ability to kick/strike, while Saki brings a fun personality to the table that could help a team shine. Whenever I see Mina in a tag team, it just makes me miss Rose Gold. I liked the Mina/Ranna exchanges here, especially when Mina was taunting her on the mat and avoiding her big kicks. I always appreciate a veteran frustrating a youngster. There wasn’t much to this match other than it just being solid from start to finish. I thought HANAKO and Mina showed off some solid tag work and worked a bit smoother as a unit. I liked how HANAKO’s size made a simple vertical suplex seem more impactful on Ranna. Saki attempted one of her famous rollups but Mina countered with one of her own to win in 7:59. That was pretty entertaining though we’re still looking for something to stand out on this show. [**½]

Mayu Iwatani and Momo Kohgo vs. Saori Anou and Sayaka Kurara

I think it’s impossible to have a bad time when Mayu Iwatani is out there. As much as I love her being in major matches, because she’s one of the best in the world, I also love seeing her in these random tags. You can tell she’s just having a good time wrestling and it’s infectious. Momo and Mayu worked so smoothly together, you can tell they’ve been here before. Sayaka took a bit of a beating here as she was worked over a lot. Saori fared much better though I’m sad we only got a small bit of Saori/Mayu. Sayaka did her best to stand toe-to-toe with Mayu and she got some help from Saori. But then when Saori was taken out, she was left alone to eat a flurry of Stars offense. With Momo holding Saori at bay, Mayu beat Sayaka with High Fly Flow at the 11:25 mark. Just what you’d expect. Quality tag wrestling and a bit of fun thrown in because it’s Mayu. [***]

Ami Sourei, Konami and Syuri vs. meltear and Starlight Kid

This is the entire reason I wanted to review this show. My love for meltear knows no bounds and Starlight Kid is also one of my favorites, so seeing them team up is fantastic. On top of that, the fact that Natsupoi and Tam wore masks in solidarity with SLK made it must-see. By the way, apparently this is actually “Poiman,” Natsupoi’s alter-ego under the mask. You love to see it. I love the commitment, which played into the match as Poiman frantically avoided being unmasked by Konami. She took a beating for a bit before SLK got the hot tag and did some tandem offense with Tam. She fits in so well with meltear. The Tam/Syuri exchange was probably the highlight of the match. Their Grand Prix match last year was pretty great. Poiman became legal again late and that set up a strong finishing stretch capped by a sweet spinning pinning combination to give Poiman the win over Ami in 12:30. Of course I really liked this. There was almost no way I wouldn’t. Post-match, Syuri stole Tam’s mask and danced with it as Tam hid her face. Great stuff. [***¼]

AZM, Lady C and Saya Kamitani vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora and Thekla

Not sure if it was officially announced already at this point but this is a preview of the Queen’s Quest/Oedo Tai elimination match on 6/22 where one member will leave the losing team’s stable. They ran the same thing in a cage last year and it ruled though we don’t have Utami this time around. Surprisingly, there was no pre-match attack or anything like that. It was just Saya vs. Momo. Granted, things broke down rather quickly soon after though it didn’t become some brawl outside like so many Oedo Tai matches. AZM managing to hold her own while trading forearms with Momo was impressive. Forget what I said about the outside brawling because we got it, it just came much later than usual. It had some intensity to it as Lady C got launched into a bunch of chairs and she is not a small woman. Momo got cocky late, having AZM beat but picking her up during the count to do more damage. That meant getting her bat and wailing on AZM for a DQ finish in 14:17. That was a dumb finish. Just have her use the weapon. Having the match won and then deliberately stopping a pin to use a weapon made no sense. Match was solid otherwise. [**¾]

FWC and Maika vs. wing*gori and Xena

I love this idea. The two big matches on 6/22 are inter-stable with Xena vs. Maika and wing*gori vs. FWC. So, the stables crossover as ExV teams with Stars on both sides. On top of that, one side has the champions while the other has the three challengers. They found good ways to mix things up and keep it interesting here. For example, Saya and Xena doing tandem power spots made a lot of sense and felt fresh. Maika and Hazuki also had a few moments where I thought they looked really good as a tag team. Again, I was blown away by Hanan vs. Hazuki. I need a proper, 12-15 minute singles match between them this year. Maybe in the Grand Prix. Combine that with Maika and Xena running into each other like two immovable objects and they did a good job of previewing the upcoming title matches. Both seem interesting. They were trading big blows late and Maika won out, having things in firm control. However, she lagged a bit before going after Xena, allowing Xena to pull her into a pinning combination for a surprise three count in 15:29. Oh, that was interesting. Xena has no chance of winning the title but that’s a good way to make her seem like a threat and give her a pretty big win. A very good main event that has me pretty stoked about the 6/22 show. [***½]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Nothing must see on this show though I do think the Poiman match and the main event are worth checking out. The best thing here is that the show moves along quickly and it worked to hype you up for the bigger event coming up.