Pantoja’s STARDOM in Utsunomiya Review 6.3.23

STARDOM in Utsunomiya

June 3^rd, 2023 | Light Cube Utsunomiya in Utsunomiya, Tochigi | Attendance: 602

I am desperate for some content to review and STARDOM has only just FINALLY uploaded a show, about two weeks after it happened. The good news is that this is from 6/3 and the big Generation Battle was on 6/4. That match itself has been up for weeks but I want to do the whole show together.

Aya Sakura vs. Miyu Amasaki

The typical opener on these shows with some of the less experienced ladies. It went about how you’d expect as well, with neither woman gaining a clear upper hand and it being booked as a pretty evenly matched affair. Miyu seems a little more advanced at this point and she had the first big near fall with a sweet implant DDT. Just when this was starting to get good, Miyu picked up the win with a sort of leaping X-Factor at the 5:09 mark. Simple and straightforward but inoffensive. [**]

Hina vs. Rina vs. Saya Iida

The Future of Stardom Champion, her twin, and a small powerhouse. The twins worked together at the start but Rina quickly took Hina down with a dropkick to cut that short. They should’ve kept at it because Iida was able to overwhelm them at points with her strength. Rina had a really cool spot where she trapped both opponents in a standing submission. She’s very polished with a lot of what she does for being just 16. Hina got a near fall with a uranage but her sister got her shoulder up. Rina then countered a pin attempt into a combination of her own to score the victory in 7:21. An energetic little match as Rina and Hina are a fair bit of fun to watch together. [**½]

Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri vs. HANAKO, Lady C and Yuna Mizumori

The New Eras, our current Goddess of Stardom Champions, teaming with the former World of Stardom Champion against a trio of ladies who…don’t really have a chance here. That said, I have expressed my appreciation for Lady C before. She gives me vibes of like, YOSHI-HASHI years ago when he wasn’t even important enough to be in the G1 but always gave a good effort and was consistently solid. Sourei started against Mizumori and was in control until her opponents did some trios offense on her. That was kind of the gist of this match. The more established women did their thing before the underdogs got in more offense than you’d expect, leading to a competitive contest. If you’re looking for a standout, it was MIRAI, who was positioned as the star ahead of her Wonder of Stardom Title shot. She got the win with a Boston Crab after 11:41, capping a good multi-woman tag that exceeded my expectations. [***]

Fukigen Death, Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima vs. Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla

The theme of champions continues as we have our Artist of Stardom champs against a trio from Oedo Tai. Just look at Giulia. That woman SCREAMS superstar and has an air of coolness about her that is hard to match. Thekla is also a personal undercard favorite of mine. I was a big disappointed in the Thekla/Kashima exchange to start. There were good ideas in there but a few moments were awkward and that took away from it. Fukigen Death was her usual comedic self and Tora overwhelmed Sakurai with her size advantage at points. There wasn’t much else to this and when Giulia became legal, she pretty much dominated and beat Fukigen Death after 11:34. That was largely fine. [**½]

Maika, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki vs. Momo Watanabe, Ruaka and Starlight Kid

Suzu Suzuki has quickly shot up the list of my favorite wrestlers in this company. This was going along like a fine house show match until Starlight Kid came up against Suzuki. Those two were throwing big shots at each other and bringing a level of fire that hadn’t been seen yet on the entire show. Ever since Himeka’s retirement, it has felt like Maika has been more aggressive and that was the case again here. She did find herself in trouble though as the Oedo Tai girls triple teamed her at one point. She fought out of it and threw a pretty discus punch followed by the Michinoku Driver to get the 1-2-3 in 10:08. That moved along nicely and was boosted by the SLK/Suzuki interactions. [***]

AZM, Saya Kamitani and Utami Hayashishita vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou and Tam Nakano

AZM and meltear in one match? That’s three of my favorites right there and they’re joined by three really good wrestlers as well. The AZM/Natsupoi opening to this was everything for me. Just great action. Honestly, every exchange here was on point. The tandem offense by meltear is always a treat but there was also the building tension between Natsupoi and Saori, which is set to come to a head in an upcoming strap match. Tam got isolated a bit which I wasn’t expecting from the company’s top champion (two champions actually) but it did take some trios offense to get to that point. Saori got the tag and came in hot, including a sandwich superkick with help from Natsupoi. The final third or so of this match saw things really get taken up a notch, including big dropkicks from multiple competitors, barely any tags, and some singles exchanges that really has me looking forward to the 5STAR Grand Prix (if we get to see it in a timely manner). Saya vs. Saori was the final battle of sorts and when Saya hit a pretty German Suplex, time expired at the 15:00 mark before she could get a three count. A blast of a match where no interaction missed the mark. [***¾]

Hanan, Hazuki, Koguma, Mayu Iwatani & Momo Kohgo vs. Jessie, Mariah May, Mina Shirakawa, Waka Tsukiyama & Xena

Kind of surprised this is main eventing over the previous match. Club Venus took the early upper hand, working together against Hanan and taunting her as a unit. Then, it was Xena’s turn to be the person taking the heat of sorts as the STARS team worked her over for a little while. As this progressed, things spread out a bit more, including some fighting outside which saw Mayu trap both Xena and Waka in a Boston Crab there. That gave us Hazuki vs. Mariah May inside and I was feeling that. Mariah continues to impress and Hazuki is moving up the ladder of my favorites. I’m really hoping Mariah ends up in the Grand Prix. There was a lot of fighting outside actually, as it seemed like whoever wasn’t working in the ring was doing something out there. Some of the tandem moves these teams came up with were pretty impressive. Things broke down even more in the end as Hanan got the win with a leg trap back suplex on Waka in 15:52. That was good but I was hoping for more, especially since there was barely any interaction between Mayu and Mariah. [***¼]

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

My issues with this company come from their poor handling of the streaming service because pretty much everything else works. This is basically a house show that doesn’t mean much but it moved along nicely and was entertaining from start to finish.