Pantoja’s STARDOM New Year Stars Review 1.7.24

STARDOM New Year Stars

January 7^th, 2024 | Nagoya Conference Hall in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 511

Fell behind a bit on STARDOM since there has been a lot going on like the NFL Playoffs and the Australian Open. Alas, I’m here to cover this show given it has a notable one-night tournament.

Mina Shirakawa vs. Starlight Kid vs. Yuna Mizumori

Even if it’s a small one, we are in the midst of a Starlight Kid push and I’m here for it. She’s gearing up for a Wonder of Stardom Title shot at Saori Anou. Right off the bat, I could tell this would be better than the usual STARDOM multi-woman opener. Mina and SLK are great and Yuna is a fun undercard worker. SLK and Mina each went after the leg, which makes sense given who they are and when we got them one-on-one, it ruled. Yuna found ways to inject herself and keep things going at a nice, entertaining pace. She even got in on the leg work. I really liked the late battle as Mina did the Figure Four and SLK went for the Stretch Muffler. Yuna interrupted, took out both of their knees, and nearly stole this. I was surprised to see Mina win with a pinning combination on Yuna in 6:52. I totally thought SLK would win. That was about as fun as you can get in this short timeframe. [***]

Ami Sourei and Saki Kashima vs. Hazuki and Saya Iida

On a night full of tag matches, this is the only straight tag to not be part of the tournament. Kind of weird that Hanan is teaming with Mayu in the tournament since she’s tag champs with Saya. Anyway, Saki Kashima continues to be a blast with God’s Eye. Her attempt at launching Ami into the opposition at the bell once again failed. She brought the personality in a match that was kind of just there otherwise. Hazuki always shines while Ami and Saya didn’t stand out. The finish was cool, with Saki slapping Saya right into a Blue Thunder Bomb by Ami. Saki then covered to win in 8:09. I’d have switched this length with the previous match though this was fine. [**½]

AZM, Lady C and Sayaka Kurara vs. HANAKO, Ranna Yagami and Yuzuki

We’ve got the rookies with some Lady C and AZM sprinkled in. As has been the case with basically all of their appearances, the rookies impressed here. And once again, Yuzuki stood out. There were little things in here I appreciated, like AZM guiding Sayaka and telling her what to do next at times. AZM also had fun facing inexperienced wrestlers, going as far as to try cocky pins while talking trash. Yagami took the heat and when the tag came to Yuzuki, this got interesting. She had a really good exchange with AZM that AZM seemed impressed by. That match is going to be rad in a few years. The rivalry between HANAKO and Yuzuki was nearly their team’s downfall as they got into it after a blind tag, opening the door for their opponents. The focal point late was HANAKO against Sayaka which isn’t something I expected. It was pretty solid and saw HANAKO win with a stalling Brainbuster in 11:14. Probably a bit long but still pretty good. [**¾]

Tournament time! Of note, Momo Watanabe and Starlight Kid forfeited their match due to an injury to Momo. Due to that, Hanan and Mayu Iwatani were given a bye.

New Year Tag Tournament Quarterfinals: Crazy Star vs. Giulia and Mai Sakurai

The Giulia/Suzuki interactions in the early goings gave this an instant shot of life. It makes me sad that we’re likely not going to see them mix it up again anytime soon given Giulia’s contract situation. Suzu is no nonsense, so I liked her kicking Mai’s ass as soon as she started posing after hitting a move. Mei found herself in trouble when fighting Giulia but fared a lot better against Mai. There was some good back and forth throughout this match but it still felt like house show stuff. Like you know these four can go harder but they held back. Maybe it’s that it’s the fourth show of the year already. Things started picking up late as Giulia and Suzu went at it, only for time to expire at the 10:00 mark. That was good, though it never really threatened to go above that until the very end. [***]

New Year Tag Tournament Quarterfinals: Divine Kingdom vs. MIRAI and Syuri

Reminder that MIRAI and Syuri are two-thirds of the Artist of Stardom Champions, while Maika is the World of Stardom Champion. There’s a spot early here where MIRAI tried to goad Megan into charging and having the ropes pulled down on her but Megan stopped in her tracks and stomped MIRAI to the ground hard. It’s something small but it’s a nice twist on something we’ve seen a million times and I’m all for that. Of course, the God’s Eye ladies weren’t going to back down from Megan, attacking her like she wasn’t much larger than them. The Maika/Syuri back and forth was great and I’d be all for Syuri getting a title shot down the line. I wasn’t watching during her reign (I want to go back and see some of it but there’s not enough time on the day) so I’d be cool with another. The closing stretch saw both teams throw some bombs with Maika and MIRAI really going at it. MIRAI nailed a lariat as time expired at the 10:00 mark. So another draw though this one was really expected since you probably want to protect everyone here. Still, the best match on the show and a hell of a fight. Post-match, Syuri and Megan kept going for one another and Megan stomped her out. [***¾]

New Year Tag Tournament Quarterfinals: AphroditE vs. Natsuko Tora and Ruaka

So, due to forfeits and two draws, we won’t be having a semi-finals. Instead, it’s just the winner of this match facing Mayu Iwatani and Hanan in the finals. Surprisingly, Oedo Tai didn’t jump the champions before the bell but things still broke down relatively quickly. Saya and Utami weathered the storm easily enough and honestly, Tora and Ruaka never really threatened otherwise. It felt obvious that the champions weren’t going to lost to them. An Utami German Suplex on Ruaka at the 6:44 mark ended this one rather quickly, which makes sense. Inoffensive but there was really nothing to it. [**¼]

New Year Tag Tournament Finals: AphroditE vs. Hanan and Mayu Iwatani

The champs against a STARS duo. I find it so funny that AphroditE went to the back after their match just to do their entrance again. More surprising than Oedo Tai not doing a pre-match attack was that Hanan and Mayu did here. That felt uncharacteristic of them but it makes sense to get a jump on a team that just competed. However, I think that was a bit odd given how the rest of the match was laid out. Saya started slow because of the attack but once they righted the ship, the champs put Hanan on the defensive and she became the underdog. That kind of made the pre-match attack moot. Anyway, Hanan did very well fighting from beneath but she never really got to make the big hot tag to give us Mayu against Saya or Utami, which would’ve ruled. Instead, Saya bested her with her new finisher, winning in 9:17. That was a weird match though the action was good throughout. [***]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

That tournament was kind of a waste as it didn’t really do anything and it barely even happened given the forfeit and two draws. That said, this wasn’t a bad show as it has a handful of good matches and moves along quickly enough. Just a rare skippable show from STARDOM.