Pantoja’s STARDOM New Year’s Stars Review 1.3.24

STARDOM New Year Stars “Happy New Year STARDOM”

January 3^rd, 2024 | Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama, Kanagawa | Attendance: 960

It’s the first STARDOM show of the year! Instead of doing another long Triangle Derby tour like last year, it has been dropped down to a one-night event ahead of the big 1/4 show before Wrestle Kingdom.

This is kind of a notable venue to a show centered around a trios tournament and a rookie tournament. Of note, a Queen’s Quest trio of Miyu Amasaki, Hina, and Lady C had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury to Miyu, meaning Giulia, Mai Sakurai, and Thekla get a bye.

Rookie of the Year Tournament Semifinals: Ranna Yagami vs. Yuzuki

This tournament is an interesting one since the ladies involved mostly have very few matches under their belts. That said, I’ve mentioned before how impressive Yuzuki has been though I haven’t seen much of Ranna. This was harder hitting than expected with the two trading forearms and Ranna delivering some stiff sounding kicks to the back. I also liked Ranna going for submissions like an armbar. I’m so used to New Japan Young Lions and their Boston Crabs. They had some back and forth in the closing minutes before Yuzuki won a battle of pin attempts to land on top and get the three count in 6:52. Solid little match here. [**½]

Rookie of the Year Tournament Semifinals: HANAKO vs. Sayaka Kurara

Sayaka is like Ranna in that I don’t know much about her but HANAKO has been on a lot of undercards this year and stands out for being so tall. From what I’ve seen, that makes them work well together since HANAKO can use her strength and Sayaka is the plucky underdog who has to fight from beneath. They played right into that with Sayaka throwing everything she had at HANAKO and just getting run over at points. Wisely, that’s what they built the match around which gave it a good story. They’re still just a bit too inexperienced to turn that into much more. HANAKO picked up the win with a big boot and Brainbuster in 5:13. About what I expected. [**¼]

Hina vs. Lady C

Instead of teaming up, these Queen’s Quest ladies now do battle in singles action. A handshake further cemented that this would be a respectful contest. There was some decent back and forth here but it lacked some of the energy of the first two matches. I think it was a case of them being stablemates so it didn’t have the intensity of other bouts and also, the girls in the tournament are working to earn a spot and leave an impact. The match just finished and I already don’t really remember anything about it. Lady C picked up the win with weak looking Blue Thunder Bomb of sorts in 7:39. The expected result since Lady C is higher in the pecking order. Super forgettable and basic but inoffensive. [**]

Triangle Derby Quarterfinals: AZM, Saya Kamitani and Utami Hayashishita vs. Megan Bayne, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki

This is a hell of a way to start the tournament. Two loaded trios. Almost every interaction in this match was entertaining. AZM trying to combat Megan’s size, Mei and AZM’s high speed stuff, the hard hitting Utami/Suzu battles, Saya doing anything against anyone, etc. It all just worked to make for one hell of a match. There was constant movement here and neither team really gained a clear upper hand. There wasn’t a hot tag built to or anything like that. It was just back and forth from bell to bell. Megan really shined here, using that size and strength to stand out in a crowded match, throwing Saya around (who was bumping with some extra vigor). I really dug how Utami stood up to her and then used tandem offense with Saya to chop her down to size. I also liked the spot where QQ went for a triple dropkick that I see all the time in STARDOM only for Mei to roll away and have her teammates join the fray to turn the tide. Things only picked up after the 10 minute mark and you got the sense of frantic energy from two teams trying to win with time winding down. As AZM hit a German suplex on Mei, time expired at the 15:00 mark, giving us a draw. Kind of the expected outcome but still a really good match filled with action. [***¾]

 

Post-match, Suzu Suzuki voiced her frustration over the draw and not winning the red belt at Dream Queendom. She turned her focus to AphroditE and the Goddess Titles alongside Mei Seira. The challenge was accepted so we’re getting AphroditE vs. Crazy Star soon.

Triangle Derby Quarterfinals: Hanan, Mayu Iwatani and Saya Iida vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora and Starlight Kid

If you’ve seen these stables wrestle once, you’ve seen it a hundred times. They didn’t do anything new here and that’s alright because what they delivered was good. Starlight Kid felt like the standout. While Natsuko and Momo played the bruiser bullies (and played those roles well), SLK was bringing something different with quickness and some great exchanges with the likes of Mayu Iwatani. SLK seemed to be moving with some added vigor and I get the sense that 2024 is going to be a much better year for her than 2023 was. Saya Iida also deserves a shoutout because she’s often unheralded but she was going toe to toe with Momo in some of the match’s better moments. They were part of the closing stretch as Momo laid her out with a kick and beat her with a modified piledriver in 9:41. Just a good trios match. [***¼]

Triangle Derby Quarterfinals: Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri vs. Fukigen Death, Rina and Ruaka

On paper this is the weakest tournament match due to that Oedo Tai team. The usual Fukigen Death antics opened this against Syuri and again, it’s just not a gimmick that really works for me. Thankfully, she’s often relegated to shorter matches. Where this match started to click was when MIRAI entered. She gave off a vibe of someone who was all business after losing the Wonder of Stardom Title, which is what I want from her. A loss like that should hurt and do something to spark you. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to this bout. God’s Eye won after Ruaka was put down by a tandem powerbomb spot and a MIRAI lariat in 6:26. Ho-hum but it did its job. [**]

Triangle Derby Semifinals: Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora and Starlight Kid

Ever the dastardly villains, Oedo Tai came out right after the previous match to start the next one, giving God’s Eye no chance to breathe. They took the upper hand because of that but it wasn’t long before the babyface team managed to turn things around. A lot of this was centered around Ami which isn’t my favorite way to book a match but whatever. Again, SLK seemed to shine here, including hitting a cross body onto a pile of bodies on the outside. Her brawl outside with MIRAI was also really good which came right at the end. Everyone was fighting outside but Ami managed to get in the ring just before 20, resulting in a countout win for God’s Eye after 8:22. Different from the rest of the card so far as this was a solid little brawl. [**¾]

Hazuki, Nanae Takahashi, Saki Kashima and Yuu vs. Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Saori Anou and Yuna Mizumori

An intriguing match on paper as we have mixed up stables including Stars, 7Upp, and God’s Eye on one side and DDM, Cosmic Angels, and Club Venus on the other. This was also our first look at Saori and Maika as our new top champions. I liked a lot of the intertwining stories from Saki’s nervous energy around her tough teammates to the blossoming grudge between Mina and Nanae. My favorite bit though was the unexpected focus on Hazuki going right after Saori. I want either Natsupoi or Hazuki as the next Wonder of Stardom Champion so I’m here for that. There were some really good interactions between Yuu and Maika. I didn’t expect that but I’d be down for a singles or tag match with Maika getting a partner down the stretch. Things kept coming back to Nanae/Mina though so a singles match has to be on the horizon there. This did drag at times because it went 16:36 and probably only needed like 12 minutes. When this wasn’t involving those aforementioned stories, I wasn’t as interested or invested. Saki got the win with a pinning combination on Yuna, capping a very fun match. [***¼]

Rookie of the Year Tournament Finals: HANAKO vs. Yuzuki

These are the right choices for the finals here. Not only are they probably the best of the new crop (especially Yuzuki) but their styles work well together. HANAKO got to be the bigger powerhouse and Yuzuki played the plucky underdog. It’s a tried and true story that I’ve always liked when done well. For two rookies, they pulled this off as well as they could’ve. We could’ve gotten more hope spots or moments where Yuzuki was really overwhelmed but again, they’re super new and didn’t have a ton of time to really pull that off. Yuzuki’s springboard face slam spot is a simple yet effective one. Down the stretch, Yuzuki found herself in trouble but figured out a way to get a pinning combination to secure the tournament in 7:23. That was pretty good. [**¾]

Artist of Stardom Championship & Triangle Derby Finals: Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri vs. Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla [c]

Like last year’s tournament, the finals double as an Artist of Stardom Title match. The champions are well rested after seeing no action in the ring tonight. While the one night tournament is a great idea to help the bodies of these wrestlers and prevent further injuries, it does make for a somewhat repetitive review. Like the other earlier tags, this had some good action and a few exchanges that really stood out from the rest. Thekla working anyone is intriguing to me, MIRAI using her power worked well, and of course, there was some Giulia vs. Syuri. I just wish we had more of it, especially with Giulia likely headed for WWE very soon. My favorite spot was probably Thekla doing a release superplex and then slowly rising back to a seated position on the top rope. It just looked really cool. The idea here was that the challengers fought tooth and nail against a heel stable so far while the champs haven’t faced adversity and were much fresher. It was a quality underdog story being laid out. Syuri was the focal point of her team’s rally and her battle with Thekla down the stretch was really good. Thekla’s good but Syuri is Syuri, so she won out, taking the titles with Syu-Sekai in 14:00. A very good main event though not quite on the level of some of last year’s Triangle Derby stuff. The title change made sense given Giulia’s likely departure. [***½]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I give so many shows this score but that’s because there’s so much good wrestling out there. This event isn’t going to blow you away but it did what it was supposed to which was give us two entertaining one night tournaments, get a title off of Giulia, and set the stage for some future storylines.