wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM Sunshine 2023 Review
Image Credit: STARDOM
Loading...STARDOM Sunshine
June 25th, 2023 | Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,715
I was going to review a show from 6/13 but surprisingly, STARDOM got this event uploaded in just a few days so here we are.
Aya Sakura, Waka Tsukiyama and Yuna Mizumori vs. Hanan, Momo Kohgo and Saya Iida
A pre-show tag and man, it is great to have commentary for this show. I may not understand them but it’s so much better than silence. This had the expected energy from these ladies as they are a bunch who always brings the effort. The STARS trio obviously worked better given they have more history as a team. Each woman was given a moment to shine. Waka seemed to be leading Aya and hyping her up, hitting offense that set up the youngster for near falls. Aya got left alone with Iida late and pulled off some Young Lion style close calls but Iida bested her with a Northern Lights Suplex in 7:13. That’s one of my favorite moves in history. As a match, this was fine. [**¼]
HANAKO vs. Nanae Takahashi
We begin the main card with another Nanae Takahashi Passion Injection match. These are designed to basically be Nanae putting younger, mostly green wrestlers to the test. HANAKO is one of the more intriguing of these women purely based on her size, which allows her to stand out. The issue here is that while this is a good idea on paper, HANAKO proved that she’s not really ready to work a 10+ minute match on a PPV. There wasn’t enough here for a 10 minute match and HANAKO started to look kind of lost. She had some sloppy spots as well and Nanae didn’t do the best job of selling either, meaning it was all kind of a mess. Things picked up a bit during the closing stretch with the ladies trading strikes until HANAKO submitted to a crossface in 11:59 but by that point, it was too little too late to really matter. [**]
Syuri vs. Xena
Here’s one that I came in pretty stoked about. Syuri is obviously great and Xena is someone who has been getting better with each showing and is a solid powerhouse. At first, this felt like Xena was trying to keep up with Syuri but once she hit an impressive spinning sidewalk slam, her confidence shot up and she took control. Xena actually held serve for a while and got in way more offense than you might expect. She stood toe to toe with Syuri as they traded forearms and it was easily the most impressive she’s looked so far in STARDOM. Xena survived a Stretch Muffler and got a shoulder up after a vicious looking kick but a second Stretch Muffler was enough to make her tap out. This went 7:50 and was a quality little match that worked to showcase Xena and give Syuri momentum heading into the Grand Prix. [***]
KAIRI and meltear vs. Maika, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki
I don’t think I can love a STARDOM trio more than KAIRI and meltear. The other trio certainly aren’t slouches. I liked Mei trying to overwhelm KAIRI with her speed to start and that it took all three opponents to finally slow Mei down. The Suzu/Natsupoi exchange was probably my favorite part of the match, though Suzu against everyone was great. Like, Suzu was such a disrespectful little shit to KAIRI and it was awesome. For a lot of this, those ladies were the focus but as we got into the back half of this match, Tam and Maika became legal and went at it. You’d think there was a match coming up between them because they were really given leeway to do their own thing. The tandem axe kicks by KAIRI and Tam was a cool spot. The closing stretch was very good, capped by Natsupoi beating Mei with a German suplex in 14:41. Outside of a few awkward spots, this ruled. [***½]
Goddesses of Stardom Championship: The New Eras [c] vs. Rose Gold
For those unaware, The New Eras are Ami Sourei and MIRAI while Rose Gold is the Club Venus duo of Mina Shirakawa and Mariah May. The thing is that meltear and 7UPP had interesting runs that made the tag division a highlight but the New Eras are kind of just there, which we should’ve known by how they won the titles (via countout). The early goings of this match weren’t anything special. The champs weren’t all that interesting and the challengers have clearly not teamed up a ton because some of their tandem offense was mistimed. One thing I appreciated here was not getting the overly long face in peril spot that so many tags follow. They teased the finish from their previous match with Mina trapping Ami in the Figure Four as MIRAI was held back by Mariah. Ami survived this time around and Mina had trouble capitalizing thanks to the damage she had received. Both teams had close calls late before Mina won with what I believe is the Glorious Driver in 16:04. That was good though it dragged a bit early. I’m very happy about the change as Mariah and Mina should bring some energy to the division and Mariah was in tears at the win. [***¼]
Artist of Stardom Championship Steel Cage Match: Giulia, Mai Sakurai & Thekla [c] vs. Hazuki, Koguma & Mayu Iwatani
Right off the bat, I was hooked. For starters, the competitors wore street clothes rather than ring gear, setting up for a fight. Then, you had the entrances. Mayu had to be carried out by her partners because she didn’t want to wrestle in a cage, while the champs were the essence of cool. That played into the start, with her immediately trying to escape. I liked the spots where teammates had to stop trying to leave/win because they wanted to turn back and save their partner. The exit the cage concept was interestingly utilized here because leaving gets you closer to winning but also leaves your team down a person. Thekla was first out but the champs were in firm control at the time. Hazuki got the first really big spot with a senton off the very top of the cage and she exited afterward. Giulia had a dope spot where she held both Mayu and Koguma in a submission, preventing them from stopping the escape of Sakurai. Giulia did her best to fight off both remaining opponents but numbers got the best of her and Koguma’s escape saw her dive onto everyone outside. Of course, that left us with Giulia vs. Mayu. Oh, baby. That’s great enough on its own but when you add in Mayu’s story of the match, it became special. Mayu went from someone who didn’t want to be in this match to someone who got more unhinged as it went in, going all in on the violence, hitting stiff shots, and adding in some dives. They built to bigger spots as this went on and just when you thought you were getting one more, Giulia trapped Mayu in a submission up top and then shoved her to the mat before escaping to retain in 16:47. That story with Mayu was fantastic and the action throughout was pretty great. Consistently entertaining. [****]
Loser Leaves Unit Steel Cage Match: Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid) vs. Queen’s Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita)
There’s a lot going on here from old rivalries being reignited to twins on opposing sides to the fact that Queen’s Quest has been a mess in recent weeks. Rina and Hina were the first two out without much interaction which was surprising. That also meant that some of the lower-tier ladies in their groups would stick around, meaning the end result would have actual ramifications. Of course, AZM and SLK don’t miss together. AZM is a freak of nature because watching her do a diving double stomp OFF THE CAGE only to immediately pop up and quickly scale/escape the cage was art. Amasaki was next out and QQ was halfway to a victory. Alas, the numbers advantage inside allowed Oedo Tai to turn the tide and Ruaka was next to escape. SLK nearly one upped AZM by doing a moonsault off the cage (that mostly missed) and then climbing out quickly after. In the end, it came down to Tora and Kashima against Kamitani and Hayashishita, which was interesting given the issues Saya and Utami have had with one another lately. Again though, that didn’t last too long before Saya exited, leaving Utami alone to fight for her stable. And fight she had to. Utami got busted open and took a Tora dive from the top of the cage before getting left alone with Saki Kashima. The emotion at the end was the next boost. Utami put down Saki and attempted to climb out but was stopped by Momo and Saya. Momo handed Saya a bat and she raised it against her partner who she has had problems with. Stopping Utami means Saya could likely step up as the leader of QQ. But then she hit Momo, reached out a hand to Utami and helped her out, winning in 23:23. I loved the storytelling here and the late emotion, plus there was some good action. I do think this is a case where, while the fast pace was good, a bit more time would’ve helped. Had this neared 30 minutes, we could’ve given a few things a bit more time to breathe as some escapes felt a bit too rapid fire. That said, this still ruled. [****¼]
Those dastardly Oedo Tai ladies proceeded to jump Saki Kashima and blame her for the loss. Queen’s Quest made the save but the Utami/Tora beef was a focal point. AZM surprisingly offered a team-up with Saki but the High Speed Champion stumbled out without accepting.
