Pantoja’s STARDOM Namba Grand Fight 2024 Review

STARDOM Namba Grand Fight 2024

September 14^th, 2024 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 1,407

Taking a break from the Marigold Dream Star Grand Prix to cover this important STARDOM PPV with some matches I’m really looking forward to.

I had to skip the pre-show match between Rian and Xena because it had no audio for some reason.

Mina Shirakawa vs. Saya Kamitani

A pretty loaded singles match to start things. Instead of focusing on the technical aspects of wrestling, this was more focused on their personalities. Saya as the dastardly HATE heel and Mina as the ultimate beloved babyface. The action itself was solid with back and forth that made sure neither woman looked too far ahead of the other. Saya is getting more and more comfortable working heel without relying on HATE nonsense, which is great considering how lackluster the start of her Grand Prix run was and how much better things are now. In the end, Saya won with a backslide with her feet on the ropes for leverage in 10:58. A good, solid match between two established stars that I was surprised to see low on the card. [***¼]

HANAKO and Waka Tsukiyama vs. Hina and Ranna Yagami

Hina is fresh off of coming close to dethroning her sister while Ranna Yagami had a solid showing in the Grand Prix. HANAKO and Waka have been working as a team for a while on the undercard. They have a fine big/little dynamic. HANAKO has a new look and gear, seemingly officially graduated from rookie status. This was a pretty standard tag, with Hina and Ranna trying to figure out how to combat HANAKO’s size. They did better against Waka but HANAKO is carving out a nice little spot as an undercard giant, similar to Lady C. HANAKO has some moves where she basically throws Waka into their opponents but it was a sideways Cobra Clutch that got her the win at the 8:03 mark. Decent enough for what it was. HANAKO should use the Torture Rack into a Facebuster instead of that submission for her finisher. [**]

Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori vs. Azusa Inaba, Natsuko Tora, Rina & Ruaka

It’s wild to think that Azusa is only 16. She’s good for her age though and actually more enjoyable to watch compete than Ruaka. The babyface team is basically Saori and the lower card Cosmic Angels crew. As I said about the previous tag, this was pretty standard stuff. A lot of these girls are still very young and green, so that’s what you kind of expect. Natsuko and Saori also looked at this as something of a night off and I respect that. The focal point here was Aya Sakura. She has been impressing in recent matches and was the focus here as she seems the most likely to step up against Rina next. Indeed, Aya fought through a lot and got the win with a modified triangle choke on Rina in 11:56. That’s a notable win and should get her that one-on-one title shot. Whether she has a chance at winning or not is something else. [**¼]

Koguma, Momo Kohgo and Saya Iida vs. Kohaku, Mei Seira and Starlight Kid

I don’t know who Kohaku is but having her team with Neo Genesis is a good way to get me invested. The STARS contingent on the other side is pretty good too. This was fun enough but felt like it didn’t have much meaning to it. While it was better technically than the previous bout, that one at least set up Rina/Aya. This was kind of just there and my biggest gripe with it was the lack of Starlight Kid. She barely had any involvement and she’s the most interesting wrestler involved. The STARS trio worked well together while Mei brings so much energy to everything she does. Kohaku showed surprising chemistry with SLK and Mei, adding to the fun of this match. The finish saw Kohaku pin Momo after a sweet double underhook piledriver in 8:41. I’d be intrigued by more Kohaku. This was solid stuff. [**¾]

Konami, Momo Watanabe and Thekla vs. Lady C, Saki Kashima and Syuri

The problem with this show so far is that while it has been fine, it hasn’t felt like a PPV. This didn’t really change that though I did appreciate a fair bit of it. For starters, the Syuri/Konami issue is still pretty prominent as they were face-to-face before the bell and a Konami cheap shot got this started. That set up the expected HATE brawl around the ringside area, complete with throwing into a pile of chairs. The Konami/Syuri of it all allowed this to have a more intense feel than the previous bouts, especially when you add in the bad blood between Saki Kashima and Momo Watanabe given their history as Oedo Tai members. Konami started throwing Saki around ahead of the finish, hitting German suplexes and beating her with a kick to the head in 12:04. That was good stuff and about on par with the opener. [***]

Suzu Suzuki vs. Tomoka Inaba

Okay, now we’re talking. Tomoka impressed during the 5STAR Grand Prix and Suzu is fantastic, so this is where the quality of the show should jump up. This fight almost immediately spilled outside and up the aisle, where Suzu nailed a running kick to the back. That put Suzu in firm control and it was clear as she talked trashed and smacked Tomoka around a little bit. When Tomoka turned the tide, this really picked up. She was throwing stiff kicks and giving it right back to Suzu as much as she was getting it. The pace only really slowed so Tomoka could work a couple of submissions but otherwise, this featured a lot of action at a frantic pace. Tomoka came close to winning with a modified Michinoku Driver of sorts. Suzu fought back and won with a deadlift German in 13:10. The first thing here that felt like it was PPV-worthy. Good back and forth between two very good wrestlers and a nice win to get Suzu back on track. [***½]

02line vs. Eye Contact

For anyone unaware, 02line consists of AZM and Miyu Amasaki while Eye Contact is Mayu Iwatani and Hanan. Any chance that I get to see AZM and Mayu mix it up is a chance I’m going to jump at. Their Grand Prix match was spectacular. They held that off at the start, giving us Miyu vs. Hanan and then combinations that mixed things up but it all came back to Mayu and AZM trading blows. They were going hard, including Mayu hitting a particularly vicious dropkick. 02line showed off some solid tandem offense including a spot where AZM assisted her on a tornado DDT. Hanan continues to impress and improve while Miyu didn’t look out of place at all, which would’ve been the case last year. And while they were good, this really was boosted by those AZM/Mayu exchanges. As expected, Miyu ate the pin after falling to a back suplex hold from Hanan in 14:23. Very good tag match bordering on great from some really good wrestlers. Hanan impressed again, Miyu continues to step up, and AZM and Mayu were their usual great selves. I need some kind of major singles push for AZM soon now that she’s out of the High-Speed division so maybe she can be the one to dethrone Mayu. [***¾]

AZM pointed at the IWGP Women’s Title and the two seemed to shake hands only for a video to cut them off. It’s Timeless Toni Storm. She wants to prove that her winning the World of Stardom Title in 2017 wasn’t a mistake (Toni won against Mayu because Mayu dislocated her elbow. The title change was unplanned) so she challenged Mayu for the IWGP Title at the 10/5 show.

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

My two favorites in STARDOM. Their Grand Prix match ruled (****) though there’s a chance for something better here. This started with simple wrestling but Poi made the mistake of slapping Hazuki, who responded with one of her own and then rag-dolled her all around the ring. That set the tone for an intense match that featured hard-hitting strikes and both women just throwing themselves into every bump and spot. From Poi firing off some boots to Hazuki’s spot where she just wails on her opponent with forearms until they’re on the ground, this delivered exactly what I was hoping for. Hazuki sold the hell out of every moment with her facial expressions. Even if a title change wasn’t really believable here (since it’s Natsupoi’s first defense), Hazuki made you believe and that’s so important. I loved the spot where they kept hitting the ropes right after each other with shots only for Hazuki to hop over Poi and hit a German, all in one fluid motion. The back-to-back Bret’s Rope sentons led to a very good close call for the challenger as did her countering a move into a crossface, though the best came on a rollup. Hazuki kept dishing it out and just when it looked like she might take this, Poi caught her with a rollup to retain in 19:08. One of my favorite matches of the year. Just great stuff from start to finish and that ending was crushing. I’m a huge Poi fan but Hazuki just keeps falling short of winning a big singles title. When she eventually wins, it should be huge as long as they don’t Goto her. Pull the trigger in 2025 at the latest. [****¾]

Hazuki laid with her face on the mat for all of Natsupoi’s celebration until Natsupoi offered words of encouragement. She offered a handshake but Hazuki didn’t accept and somberly walked off. Then Thekla walked out, wiped Natsupoi’s tears with a towel, whispered something to her, held her arm up in victory, and walked off.

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

The biggest match that post-Rossy STARDOM can book. Tam, the champion who never lost the title and now has it back against Maika, the former champion who is fresh off of an undefeated run through the Grand Prix. The problem with this match right off the bat was that there was no real drama. Maika went unbeaten in the tournament while Tam went winless. Having Maika beat her here would kind of kill Tam, so it couldn’t happen. They didn’t make me believe in anything like the previous match but that doesn’t mean this didn’t work. In fact, we got a pretty great main event out of it. The idea here was simple. Tam had to throw herself at her larger opponent at every opportunity, while Maika could use her considerable size advantage to wallop her. You got the sense that Tam was out to prove that her Grand Prix run was a fluke and that she was still someone at the top of the food chain. There was even a spot where they were kicking each other in the face and Tam talked trash to Maika to make her kick harder. Down the stretch, they both traded big moves as you would expect from a high-profile main event. They both kicked out of each other’s finishers a few times until Tam won with Twilight Dream in 22:32. A very good main event though I was turned away by the lack of drama and the finisher barrage late. That said, what we got here mostly delivered. [***¾]

Tam and Maika traded words on the microphone after the bell until Maika left Tam to celebrate. Suzu Suzuki arrived and is apparently the next challenger for the red belt. I love this because it puts Suzu back in the spotlight and gives us the match we were supposed to have last year before Tam’s injury after Suzu won the Grand Prix.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

A very good PPV from STARDOM here. There are aspects of it that don’t belong on a major show (a common New Japan problem) but the big matches delivered the way I wanted. Poi/Hazuki is one of my favorite matches of the year, the main event is strong, and we got some other bouts that I’d highly recommend.