Pantoja’s STARDOM Nighter in Korakuen Review 3.3.25

STARDOM Nighter in Korakuen

March 3^rd, 2025 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,635

Well, I certainly didn’t want to review this before Path of Thunder but I chose not to order Path of Thunder, which was on 2/24, and it’s still not readily available on Stardom World. So, I’m jumping ahead of this which isn’t as packed a card but it features a massive main event.

Akira Kurogane and Aya Sakura vs. HANAKO and Yuria Hime

I believe Akira and Yuria are both rookies who I haven’t seen much of. HANAKO and Aya don’t have a ton of experience either but both have been pretty good in recent months. Aya and HANAKO attacked quickly, gaining an upper hand. I think HANAKO has done a good job of using her size, which she didn’t do much of early on. That team with Maika paid off. She was a  powerhouse here, running through both Aya and Akira. I thought Yuria showed a lot of heart with her work. Alas, Aya put her down with a series of high kicks in 6:33. Perfectly acceptable opener given who was involved. [**¼]

FWC and Momo Kohgo vs. Lluvia, Suzu Suzuki and Tabata

I am completely unfamiliar with Lluvia, who is a veteran luchador, and Tabata, who is also a luchador (though she doesn’t wear a mask). This is an interesting spot for Suzu though I’m pumped to see her against Hazuki. I also appreciate the ladies from CMLL being involved as it’s something different and helps freshen up the action. Things were interesting when they were in there. That said, what we got of Hazuki vs. Suzu was awesome as you’d expect, even if it was pretty short. I liked Koguma reaching in to try and pull Hazuki out of a submission predicament like a real teammate. There was just quality action throughout this and it ended after Tabata took out her opponents with a tope suicida and Lluvia beat Momo with something like a Widow’s Peak in 6:51. I liked that little sprint. [***]

Azusa Inaba, Konami, Rina and Ruaka vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara and Yuna Mizumori

Though I still haven’t been able to watch it, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Rina’s performance against Starlight Kid at Path of Thunder. For starters, this was HATE isolating Natsupoi by cutting off the ring, taking out her partners, and doing whatever they could to remain in control. That worked because Natsupoi is a popular, sympathetic babyface. The heat segment lasted longer than you’d expect in a big multi-person match. Saori was the one to come in and give the Cosmic Angels some momentum. Things broke down into a pretty big brawl involving everyone. Sayaka and Rina had a very good closing stretch, with Rina winning out after hitting a Gory Bomb in 9:34. Another good match and Rina’s momentum continues to go up. [***]

Post-match, HATE used a chair to beat on Natsupoi’s knee.

Hina, Saki Kashima and Syuri vs. Mayu Iwatani and wing*gori

Saki Kashima had some fun with Hina to start and then used that opening to roll up Hanan for a surprise win in 0:35. Classic Saki and on a show with what will likely be a long main event, something like this works. They seemed to be teasing Saki and Syuri vs. wing*gori for the titles. [NR]

Maika, Rian and Waka Tsukiyama vs. Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe and Thekla

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a jump attack by HATE. Instead, Thekla got into a shoving match with Maika as there still seems to be a story going on that includes their DDM past. That said, for the most part this was typical HATE stuff in that it was decent but never really grabbed me. Even seeing Maika and Natsuko throw some bombs at each wasn’t enough. Thekla focused a lot on Maika, working her over after Natsuko did a lot of the damage. Maika ran her over with a lariat before making the tag to Rian. The problem is that Rian and Waka aren’t exactly heavy hitters. Thekla beat Rian with her twisting DDT after 11:00. Not much here outside of furthering the Thekla/Maika stuff. [**¼]

After the bell, HATE jumped ExV until Mina Shirakawa ran out and made the save, beating on Thekla on the outside and trading shots with her.

Now it was time to announce the participants in this year’s Cinderella Tournament. The field is just 16 wrestlers this time, which is smaller than usual and the focus seems to be on smaller names. We’ve got Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara, Hanan, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Yuria Hime, Akira Kurogane, Ranna Yagami, Rian, HANAKO, Hina, Rina, Ruaka, Azusa Inaba, Tomoka Inaba, and Tabata. Depending on the bracket, Rina beating Hanan feels like a solid pick for the finals.

High Speed Championship Two Out of Three Falls Match: Mei Seira [c] vs. Fukigen Death

Maybe it’s because I haven’t been watching for a long time but I don’t really get it with Fukigen Death. There were shenanigans to start, as is often the case with Fukigen Death. That led to Mei rolling her and getting the first fall in 0:47. Fukigen returned the favor soon after, tying this at 1:28. The challenger hit a superplex for the first big move of the match and nearly won with a couple of flash pins. Mei then won with a powerbomb after 3:15. So a 3 fall match went 3 minutes. That’s a choice. The little bit we got was decent fun. [**]

Artist of Stardom Championship: AZM, Miyu Amasaki and Starlight Kid [c] vs. Lady C, Ranna Yagami and Tomoka Inaba

A big opportunity for the God’s Eye trio. We know Neo Genesis can deliver but with this not being a top group from God’s Eye, they have to step up. Each woman got a chance to kind of strut their stuff early and right from the start, it felt like Lady C was on a mission. She came in with her lower back taped up and sold some damage on it but she was on point. The stuff she hit was crisp and she had a lot of fire in her work. They gave focus to Ranna against Miyu, making me think that’s an upcoming Future of Stardom Title match. There also seemed to be some Starlight Kid/Tomoka Inaba focus. I don’t think that’ll be an upcoming title match but I wouldn’t be against it. The Neo Genesis girls work so smoothly together, especially AZM and SLK. Being rivals for so long will do that. AZM was bumping like crazy for Lady C, really making her offense look even better. I like that, at points, it took all three champions to keep Lady C down. As always in this kind of tag, things broke down late with lots of action and quick paced stuff. Lady C stopping a Starlight Kid dive and chokeslamming her from the middle rope looked really cool. It also got the crowd way behind her. She came very close to winning against AZM but only got a near fall. Miyu and Starlight Kid took out Tomoka and Ranna outside as AZM trapped Lady C in a vicious looking armbar and Lady C submitted at the 19:50 mark. Well that was way better than expected. The God’s Eye trio indeed stepped up and Lady C was the star of this. An action-packed, awesome semi-main event. [****¼]

World of Stardom Championship vs. Career Match: Saya Kamitani [c] vs. Tam Nakano

If Tam loses, she must leave STARDOM forever. They started this with some aggression that spilled over into the opening exchanges. There was the usual bit of mat work but it had some vigor behind it like it was two women who hate each other. That set up some brawling on the outside and through the crowd as is par for the course with HATE. Saya took control after that and held serve for a long while, which works because Tam is such a great sympathetic babyface and Saya has really grown into her heel persona. When Tam got going, she focused on the leg and had the crowd popping for the fire she brought. From there, they started trading shots and even headbutts in the middle of the ring, with this feeling like a legitimately huge match. The slaps sounded rough and they were laying into each other. Seeing Tam attempt and even hit the avalanche Tiger Suplex showed her desperation and having that be followed by Saya doing a desperation double stomp to counter a charging Tam was a great spot. Tam kicked out from the Star Crusher at one, rallying for one final attempt to pull this out. Unfortunately, we got some of the expected HATE interference and having Cosmic Angels help made you believe Tam might pull it out but then we got even more interfering. Natsuko hit Tam with a weapon and then Saya cracked her with a chair. She added the Star Crusher and then slowly picked up Tam to hit a sick kick to the face, beating her in 25:39. I think they overdid the shenanigans late but this was still a tremendous main event. [****½]

I couldn’t understand all of it but from what I gather, they’re actually gonna run this back at All-Star Grand Queendom. It’ll be Tam’s official last STARDOM match but this time, her entire career and not just STARDOM run will be on the line. To add to it, Saya agreed to put her career on the line as well, which is wild.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Obviously there are things on the show that didn’t fully click but it wasn’t a full on PPV so I get that it’s not designed that way. They did weird things like the 3 minute High Speed Title match but most of the stuff on the show was good. Then, you get two great matches to cap it off.