wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM in Sendai Review 3.30.24
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM in Sendai
March 30th, 2024 | Sendai PIT in Sendai, Miyagi | Attendance: 493
NOTE: I will likely not be covering New Japan for a while. My focus is on WWE, AEW, and STARDOM, which are companies I enjoy. Add in my Mania Retrospective Series and I’d rather spend what time I have covering the stuff I mostly have a good time with.
After a long, loaded WrestleMania weekend, I still have THREE shows from Stardom to cover. They’re finally starting to pop up on the streaming service after a week, so let’s get into it.
Rian vs. Starlight Kid
I don’t know much about Rian but she seems very young and new. Although SLK is only 22 herself, she played the grizzled veteran here, taking Rian to school. That included aggressive offense, hard chops, and seemingly some smack talk. It was kind of like when you a Young Lion in New Japan get beat up on by an established star. Rian had the expected fiery comeback attempt though it lacked something. She is still very new though so I get it. Rian did get a few close calls on flash pins even if you knew she had no real chance. SLK put her away with a moonsault in 9:30, which was a bit long for what they were going for. [**¼]
Aya Sakura vs. Sayaka Kurara
This time, we have two newcomers in action. Apparently, they’re both out to prove that can earn a spot in Cosmic Angels. I haven’t been too impressed with either lady so far but they surprised me by opting for what seemed like some judo action for a while before moving into the more traditional wrestling spots. It allowed for this to at least feel different from a lot of what we see on undercards. A lot of what they did had energy and emotion, making it feel like that spot on Cosmic Angels meant a lot to them. Aya was nearing a win when the bell ring as the time limit expired after 10:00. Better than I expected. Post-match, they seemed to set up some kind of match, likely to get one into the stable but it was hard to tell without subtitles. [**¾]
HANAKO and Waka Tsukiyama vs. Ranna Yagami and Saki Kashima vs. Rina and Ruaka
Every single time I see one, I will praise STARDOM’s triple threat tags for allowing three legal wrestlers at once. The standout performers here were Ranna and HANAKO. Both have progressed nicely in recent months and it’s because they’re learning to use what makes them unique to their advantage. HANAKO did well to utilize her height while Ranna threw some of her signature kicks and brings an element of MMA to the fray. The Rina/Ruaka pairing is one that hasn’t really worked for me in these undercard tags. Meanwhile, I appreciate that HANAKO and Waka have added some tandem offense to their arsenal. The finish here was pretty lackluster, with Ruaka pinning Ranna after a weak chokeslam bomb in 7:34. A fine little sprint with a fair bit of action. [**¾]
Lady C vs. Mai Sakurai vs. Yuna Mizumori
Three of the promotion’s more notable midcarders in a match that doesn’t seem like it has much on the line. However, it is one of the final STARDOM matches for Mai Sakurai as she’s one of the people departing after March. I popped for her throwing money at her opponents. Other than that, there wasn’t really anything about this that was memorable. It was largely fine and featured enough action for a five minute match. Surprisingly, Mai didn’t take the pin as she was knocked outside and Yuna rolled up Lady C to take this in 5:11. Like I said, it was pretty decent given the time. [**½]
Gauntlet Match: Hanan, Hazuki, Koguma, Mayu Iwatani, Momo Kohgo and Saya Iida vs. Yuzuki
The idea here was have the newest member of STARS, Yuzuki, face her teammates in short, quick matches. This also marked the tail end of Yuzuki’s run as she is also leaving the company. She started against her idol, Mayu Iwatani. It’s hard to really discuss each “match” though because they all had a one-minute time limit. That meant every interaction as fast paced and fun but too short to really get anything going. Despite that, they managed to pack a fair bit into the timeframe and it felt like each interaction had something special to it, at least in terms of what it means to each member of the stable. Interestingly, Saya Iida actually beat Yuzuki with two seconds left in their match, picking up the only decision. The final bout saw another draw with Hanan, even though everyone was hitting her with offense by that point. Then they all pinned her together after the bell. The whole thing went 5:58 and was fun for what it was. They said goodbye to Yuzuki afterward. [***¼]
AZM and Miyu Amasaki vs. Giulia and Tam Nakano vs. Momo Watanabe and Natsuko Tora vs. Natsupoi and Saori Anou
Oh this one is interesting on paper. Another case of multiple people being legal at once and in this case, it was some of the top ladies in the company. That made for some fun spots on things like stereo kick outs by AZM and Tam, leading to them trading kicks themselves. There were also things like the Oedo Tai girls falling on those who tried to slam them. Plus, just seeing Tam and Giulia on the same side was pretty cool. I liked the spot where meltear ended up working together only for it to lead to all four legal women downed on the mat. AZM and Miyu worked better together than expected for a team that isn’t very experienced together. Miyu nearly beat Saori with a rollup but the pin got broken up. Shortly after, Miyu ate a superkick from Natsupoi and Saori beat her with an impressive backslide in 10:31. A really fun match. [***½]
After the match, it seemed like Hanan came out to challenge Saori Anou for the Wonder of Stardom Title using her Cinderella Tournament title shot.
Artist of Stardom Championship: Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri [c] vs. Maika, Mina Shirakawa and Xena
The first of two title matches got off to a strong start with some really good exchanges from the interesting mix of wrestlers in here. Maika and MIRAI always throw bombs at each other, Syuri mixed it up with both Mina and Maika to great success, and then there was Ami and Xena. The two who remain unproven (Xena much more than Ami) and far beneath the others on the pecking order but with the likes of MIRAI out the door, others need to step up. Ami brought more energy than I typically see from her and Xena was laying in the chops, delivering harder ones than MIRAI which isn’t easy to do. The best stuff down the stretch was Mina against Syuri once again. However, it came down to Xena and MIRAI once more as they went back to trading stiff shots. In what was a surprising result until you remember that MIRAI is leaving, Xena pinned her following her gutbuster to win the titles in 17:35. Another very good match, especially due to the chemistry of EXV trio. Xena impressed a lot here and this is was the kind of performance she needed in a setting like this. [***½]
Goddesses of Stardom Championship: AphroditE [c] vs. Crazy Star
Utami Hayashishita is another wrestler leaving so that kind of sucked any drama out of this one. That said, it wasn’t like she gave a lesser effort on her way out. Utami was in her usual great form whether it was a fast-paced exchange with Mei, strike exchanges with Suzu, or showing off some of the best selling ability in the business. Every exchange was crisp and every counter came off well. I really appreciated how it didn’t fully follow tag formula, instead opting for a case where momentum shifted ever so often with neither team gaining a clear upper hand. In the end, it looked like it would come down to Utami against Suzu but Saya and Mei returned to the fray for double team moves or to break up a pin. Still, the focus was on Utami and Suzu with the former surviving everything thrown at her from the Tequila Shot to a rolling German. Finally, it took a German with the assistance of a springboard dropkick by Mei to keep her down at the 18:53 mark. A hell of a match that lacked real drama but was really good from bell to bell. [***¾]
