Pantoja’s STARDOM Nagoya Golden Fight Review

STARDOM Nagoya Golden Fight

October 5^th, 2024 | Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 1,526

I am officially back from vacation and ready to review this show, even if it’s a week late. It’s a notable card for STARDOM so let’s dive right in. Also, this is the start of STARDOM having English commentary available.

High Speed Title #1 Contender’s Match: Hina vs. Koguma vs. Momo Kohgo vs. Ranna Yagami vs. Yuna Mizumori

It’s a battle royal for a shot at Mei Seira’s title. There wasn’t much to this as it was the standard pre-show multi-person match you get from STARDOM and New Japan. They kept up a quick pace fitting of the title they’re vying for and everyone brought their personality to the forefront, though Koguma stood out in that department. Alas, everyone worked together to eliminate her first. Then, Momo, Ranna, and Yuna teamed up to send Hina packing. I wasn’t fully listening to commentary so I didn’t understand why Ranna would save Momo from getting eliminated only to then be the one to eliminate her. Anyway, that left it down to Yuna vs. Ranna and Yuna won with a tight pin in 8:47. That was kind of just there but was inoffensive. [**]

Future of Stardom Championship: Rina [c] vs. Miyu Amasaki

Miyu already failed to dethrone Rina back in February (***) but this is a different Miyu. She’s now part of a stable and is a more established part of the roster. That has helped the crowd get behind her, which was important because they were really into this. That isn’t always the case with Future of Stardom Title matches. Rina is very good at playing up the heel role, taking control early and showcasing why she’s been the dominant champion, setting up Miyu as someone who has to fight from beneath. Her comeback was based around the wide array of DDTs that she has in her arsenal. That’s an interesting direction for her as I always find it intriguing when a wrestler centers their offense on variations of one move, like Nigel used to do with lariats. Things really picked up once Miyu survived Pink Demon and you got the sense that she could pull it off. From there, each DDT got a better reaction. She reeled off two before hitting Overkill to win the title in 14:03. That was very good and delivered as a strong way to end a dominant reign. Rina grew a ton in this role and Miyu as champion with Neo Genesis is very interesting. [***½]

Saya Kamitani vs. Sayaka Kurara

This stems from Sayaka scoring a shocking pinfall over Saya in Korakuen Hall. Sayaka is still very green though and hasn’t developed much of a personality. Even as she came down to the ring, it was a simple walk with nothing to it and the crowd wasn’t really into her. The match followed the usual HATE formula, including Sayaka getting launched into the chairs outside. I will say, she took a great bump on the typical spot. I do like Saya stopping to pose on a chair in the ring. She’s growing in the heel role. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to this and it felt like it dragged. Saya did her best to make Sayaka look good while remaining the villain though it didn’t hit the way they likely wanted. Saya survived a late flurry before winning with Star Crusher in 12:45. This should’ve been 6-7 minutes. [**¼]

Dump Matsumoto, Konami, Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Ruaka & ZAP vs. HANAKO, Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Rian, Waka Tsukiyama & Xena

Simple ExV vs. HATE (and Dump Matsumoto and ZAP) tag here. Okay, so I’m not going to write a lot here because there’s not much to say. This was just a HATE match with a bunch of brawling except it was all done at a ridiculously slow pace because Dump is in her 60s and it was very not good while she was in there. The crowd seemed to like some of it for nostalgia purposes, so there’s that at least. Waka got beaten by a DVD in 9:10 and the only reason I won’t go lower is because at least some of the younger workers tried at points. [*]

Hazuki vs. Starlight Kid

Nothing against Mayu/Toni or Tam/Suzu but this was far and away what I was most looking forward to on this show. That’s often the case with Hazuki matches, especially against my other favorites like Starlight Kid. SLK wants this to be a sort of #1 contender’s match for the white belt though that wasn’t confirmed. Meanwhile, Hazuki has been extra aggressive since losing to Natsupoi. Far too often are matches supposed to be filled with hatred and yet end up as a typical bout. That wasn’t the case here. SLK opened with a dropkick and the two just traded stiff shots, snug forearms, and violent offense from bell to bell. There was no slow down or things like chain wrestling. These two really feel like they hate each other. Of course, SLK still worked the legs to set the stage for submission attempts and even those looked brutal. SLK talking trash led to Hazuki bloodying her and that triggered something in Hazuki, who started to try and remove SLK’s mask to a rare chorus of boos for her. They threw headbutts and only got more violent as this went on. Then, it all concluded when SLK caught her with the Momo Latch for a flash win in 19:19. Everything I wanted. An absolute war that furthered the stories of both women so well. After the bell, Hazuki snapped even further, throwing the referee into chairs and then using scissors to remove Starlight Kid’s mask. [****¼]

Aya Sakura and Saori Anou vs. AZM and Mei Seira vs. Lady C and Syuri vs. wing*gori

After the intensity of that match, it makes to have something with less stakes. This is just a four-way tag to get people on the card. That said, I do enjoy some of these duos, most notably wing*gori and the AZM/Mei connection, who are a blast together. There was chaos at the start until the referee calmed things down and got it so only four legal women were in at a time. Lady C and Mei had some entertaining spots surrounding their size difference. STARDOM is wild because in a random match like this, you’ll get AZM vs. Saori and you realize how loaded this roster is. They’ve had two really good singles matches so far. In the end, Syuri beat Aya with Emerald Flowsion in 9:55. It looks like they might be setting up God’s Eye for an Artist of Stardom Title shot given the Syuri/Saori interactions here. Good stuff. [***]

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Natsupoi [c] vs. Thekla

There’s a long history here given their past as DDM members and though I like them both, Thekla’s HATE run hasn’t been very good. That said, the whole thing is weird because heel Thekla trying to get revenge for a turn from two years ago on a now-defunct stable isn’t exactly engaging. Thekla opened by spitting at Natsupoi, which was meant to establish the hatred here but it never quite clicked. I think this got hurt by being on the same card as Hazuki/SLK, which played up this dynamic so much better. Parts of Thekla being on offense dragged, especially when members of HATE ran down. That said, it did put Poi in the underdog spot and she’s good at fighting from beneath, so that aspect worked. The strike exchanges and such were good but again, felt like a much lesser version of what we got earlier. Poi countered Thekla’s finisher and had it won with La Magistral only for Saya Kamitani to throw the HATE bin gimmick in the ring and break it up. Poi ended up retaining with the Sky Twister after a disappointing 19:57. That could’ve been much better, it just didn’t come together the way they hoped. [**½]

IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani [c] vs. Toni Storm

Famously, Toni Storm won the Wonder of Stardom Title years ago in an unplanned situation after Mayu Iwatani got injured. Both ladies are MUCH different these days though. The match itself was kind of what you always get from big title fights in Japan. They opened with a feeling out process and it made sense here given there isn’t any real animosity here. They’re just trying to see who is better. Toni has been more about character work in the past couple of years but she can still go when she needs to, which was clear here when they had some quality exchanges. Most of the back and forth was crisp and fitting of two great wrestlers. As this progressed, they went into the bigger moves and close calls, building and building like a classic New Japan main event. Powerbombs, superkicks, Cloverleafs, and more. My issue came right at the end. Mayu kicked out of about five Storm Zeroes, then popped up and hit her double jump Poison Rana to retain in 18:37. Five finishers just to kick out and do your own thing is pretty lame even if having her survive a few makes sense given their 2018 outing. That said, while this wasn’t among Mayu’s best, she has done some incredible work with a title that New Japan forgets exists most of the time. [***¾]

World of Stardom Championship: Tam Nakano [c] vs. Suzu Suzuki

There was a chance this would’ve been the Dream Queendom main event for the title last year had Tam not gotten injured. They met in the Grand Prix last year and it was awesome (****¼). Right off the bat, I got vibes of Tam’s old wars with Giulia. Not quite on the same level but this was intense, hard hitting, and featured some nasty bumps. Tam is always willing to throw herself into spots when the occasion calls for it and Suzu seems like she’s heading down the same path in her young career. Suzu used some brawling outside to get in control and hold serve, with Tam selling and bumping her ass off. We got spots involving a table, including Suzu straight up just whacking Tam in the head with the broken piece of a table. She added the Tequila Shot and it really felt like this was going a long way towards further establishing Suzu as a legitimate top star. She continued the assault with multiple suplexes, including a German off the top, only for Tam to return with an avalanche Twilight Dream. I liked both women pushing the referee so they could get right back to fighting each other. They traded bombs down the stretch and Suzu shockingly survived the Screwdriver but fell to another Twilight Dream after 23:00. One hell of a match that further cemented Tam as the top star for now and Suzu as one who is on the cusp. [****¼]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

A very good major event for STARDOM. Not everything worked (specifically the Wonder of Stardom Title match and that giant HATE tag) but there was a lot of great stuff here. Hazuki/SLK and Tam/Suzu were both rad, Mayu/Toni was really good, Miyu’s big win came off well, and I enjoyed the majority of this.