Pantoja’s STARDOM Nighter in Korakuen Review 10.2.24

STARDOM Nighter in Korakuen Hall

October 2^nd, 2024 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 844

I want to preface this by noting that I’m heading on vacation next week so the review for the 10/5 STARDOM show will be later than usual. I should be good to go with Bad Blood though. I was going to do their show from a few days ago with the tag title match but I don’t have the time for it.

Aya Sakura and Tam Nakano vs. AZM and Suzu Suzuki

Opening match Tam? I’m here for it. The main focus here is to give us a preview of Tam/Suzu, which is the upcoming World of Stardom Title match. Suzu was casual to start and Tam laid into her, bringing the fire out of her upcoming challenger. This went a route I wasn’t expecting as we got a rare look at people brawling to the back. Tam and Suzu picked up the intensity during this fight, coming back out through the crowd and seeing Tam get thrown down the stairs. They kept that up as they got back to the ring, really bringing this match up a notch with it. AZM and Aya didn’t have to do much because this was all about Suzu and Tam. That said, it did come down to AZM and Aya to protect our title match and after a tandem move, AZM hit a diving double stomp to win in 12:48. Yeah, I really enjoyed that way more than expected and the excitement level for Tam/Suzu is through the roof. [***½]

Azusa Inaba, Rina and Ruaka vs. Hina, Miyu Amasaki and Tomoka Inaba

Double champ Rina is out with her New Blood Tag Title partner Azusa and Ruaka. Miyu took it to Rina at the start and I wonder if that’s where they’re going with the New Blood Title. Rina has been a dominant champion who beat Hina and Aya Sakura recently. Miyu is still young enough for the belt and is part of a prominent stable. Other than that, this was pretty standard. I could also see Hina and Tomoka challenging for the New Blood belts given their God’s Eye affiliation. Things broke down late and in the end, Ruaka beat Hina with the Albert Baldo Bomb at the 8:41 mark. Ho-hum stuff that seems to be setting up some stuff for Rina’s titles. Indeed, Miyu and Rina exchanged words after the bell and I looked it up and she does have a shot on 10/5. [**¼]

Momo Kohgo vs. Momo Watanabe

Winner gets to keep their first name. Kohgo knew she was overmatched in a lot of ways here, so she went for several flash pins right from the start. I like that idea and it should be implemented in more matches where the wrestlers are from different levels of the card. Watanabe is a member of HATE so she had to take things outside and throw Kohgo into a few rows of chairs. Kohgo didn’t really have a chance but used a tornado DDT for a near fall and countered a few of Watanabe’s big moves to give the crowd something to cheer for. Watanabe laid her out with a kick and then got the three count with the Jig and Tonic (I don’t know the name when she does it, only when Jigsaw from the old ROH days in the 2000s used it) in 8:56. [**½]

HANAKO, Rina, Waka Tsukiyama and Xena vs. Lady C, Nanami, Ranna Yagami and Syuri

I keep saying it but Syuri should be doing so much more than she is. This is a company that lost some major names and while I love the shine being given to the likes of Natsupoi and Starlight Kid, Syuri just hanging around the midcard with no direction is lame. This falls into that category as it’s a God’s Eye vs. ExV match and as far as I can tell, there’s not much reason behind it. That’s kind of what this match felt like too as it was technically fine and featured some good moments yet also felt kind of hollow as if some of them were just going through the motions. Waka had a solid stretch where she tried standing toe to toe with Syuri before Xena got involved. Xena/Syuri sounds interesting if that were to happen. The finish saw Rian fight hard but fall to a Northern Lights Suplex from Nanami in 11:02. Another solid yet unspectacular match on this card. [**¾]

FWC vs. Mei Seira and Starlight Kid

Oh, yes. Now this one has me intrigued. FWC have been one of the top teams of 2024 while this Mei/SLK pairing has great written all over it. I liked SLK’s arrogance at the start as she was disrespectful towards Hazuki, not taking her seriously. I wonder if that stems from Hazuki’s inability to win big matches. It cost SLK though as FWC shut her up with some of their quality tandem offense. As you’d expect from these teams, they kept up the fast pace throughout with a lot of exciting action and great exchanges. While it was good when Mei and Koguma were involved, the real story here was Hazuki and Starlight Kid. They went at it like two women who hate each other. They’re set for a singles match on the loaded 10/5 card. Whether it was trading forearms inside or Hazuki using a chair, this felt like a war. The fight got so intense that they were trading shots until a double countout was the result and their teammates had to get involved to try and break them up. This went 12:36 and was awesome. I am so pumped for Hazuki/SLK. Between that and Suzu/Tam, I might order the show on 10/5 and watch it before vacation. [***¾]

Elimination Match: Konami, Natsuko Tora, Saya Kamitani & Thekla vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara & Yuna Mizumori

It’s time to hype the white belt match for 10/5 with a Cosmic Angels vs. HATE elimination match. There’s also Sayaka vs. Saya to hype. The Thekla/Poi angle has been interesting as Thekla seems to be acting friendly towards her, even shaking her hand at the start which isn’t typical for HATE. Their stuff remained the most interesting of the match and I also liked Sayaka fighting hard against Saya, who didn’t seem to take her too seriously. When it came time for the usual HATE antics and tropes, this was less good, especially in terms of the length. I know elimination matches go long but parts of this dragged. Yuna did her best against Natsuko but got eliminated by the former champion at 8:01. The next elimination saw Saya and Sayaka fight on the apron and both fall to the outside at 11:16. Saori Anou got the big next elimination with a backslide on Natsuko, who doesn’t lose often. That left us with Poi and Saori against Thekla and Konami. At 15:08, both Saori and Konami got knocked to the floor, leaving it with Poi vs. Thekla. Thekla laughed at some of Natsupoi’s strikes before rocking her with one of her own. They had a lengthy battle that really gave us a preview of the upcoming PPV, which I wasn’t expecting. Not this much at least. Thekla kept trying to bring out more from Poi and then goaded her into superkicking the referee as Thekla pulled him in the way. She declined help from her stablemates only to pull the rug out from under as New Japan’s Clark Connors appeared and Speared the shit out of Natsupoi. She then hit her finish and got the pinfall in 26:54. I’m not a fan of the ending purely because it’s War Dogs. I don’t really like them and don’t think them working with HATE is good. I preferred meltear with Suzuki-Gun. It’s an interesting development though. Good, not great, match. [***¼]

Mayu Iwatani and wing*gori vs. Maika, Mina Shirakawa and Toni Storm

I respect that while Mariah May and Toni Storm have issues, Mina Shirakawa loves them both. We’ve got Toni vs. Mayu coming up in a few days. Though that’s the case, this opened with Maika and Saya Iida having a powerhouse battle and I am here for it. Saya has been on fire this year and getting to go toe to toe with Maika is awesome. She lit Maika up with chops. There was a fun spot where all three partners did Toni’s signature ass attack. Toni and Mayu went at it for a bit but then we got some intriguing pairings like Toni against Hanan. That’s not a match we’ll likely ever get so even a small bit of it was a blast. Mina and Toni work well together, their chemistry is clear. It makes sense that their singles match was good. Toni spiked Mayu with a piledriver and then had one for Hanan that ended this in 13:45. Nothing special here but a good main event that hyped Mayu/Toni well enough. [***]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

That acted as a “Road to” show and was one of the better ones. You had two matches that I’d recommend and a few others that were good too. Most importantly, this did the job of making the 10/5 PPV more interesting. I’m pumped for SLK/Hazuki, Tam/Suzu, Toni/Mayu, and Miyu/Rina, among others.