Pantoja’s STARDOM Supreme Fight 2025 Review

STARDOM Supreme Fight 2025

February 2^nd 2025 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,614

STARDOM finally uploaded this show to their streaming service about a week after it initially aired. Good crowd on hand for this one.

Azusa Inaba, Momo Watanabe, Rina and Thekla vs. HANAKO, Maika, Mina Shirakawa and Waka Tsukiyama

Is it just me or are there way more lights at this show? It seems like the entrances have more light show vibes to them and I dig it. So the main idea behind this match was to continue the Thekla/Maika story. It seems like Maika continues to take it easy on her former stablemate and that was the opening the HATE members needed to capitalize. Otherwise, this was your standard multi-woman tag with Momo and Mina kind of going at it while Rina and Azusa went after the New Blood Tag Champions. Some solid back and forth all around until we got down to Thekla and Maika. Maika overpowered her and had the upper hand but help from other HATE members changed that. Eventually, a shot from Momo’s bat led to Thekla’s finisher on Maika to end this at 12:20. A good little opener to the show. [**½]

Hina and Lady C vs. Mei Seira and Rian  

Mei and Rian isn’t a team I think I’ve seen before but the duo of Hina and Lady C was part of the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League. There isn’t much to say about this one. Rian handled most of the action for her team, giving her something of a showcase while Mei mostly got a night off. They played this as Rian trying to navigate dealing with Lady C’s impressive size. I do think Lady C has improved a fair bit over the past year or so. As noted though, there was a lot of Rian in this which was good for her development but it doesn’t make for the most interesting of matches. She and Hina had the closing stretch to themselves, with Hina winning after hitting what looked like a fisherman’s Jackhammer at 10:06. [**¼]

Koguma vs. Ranna Yagami

I’ve enjoyed this little rivalry. Sure it’s mostly low stakes but it’s good fun and gives us a singles match on the undercard. Ranna nearly got sucked into the Koguma taunt to start, only to stop when she saw the disappointed look on Syuri’s face at ringside. The personalities of the two women in this is what made it work. Koguma is a fun, lovable goofball while Ranna is very stoic. Ranna may have to grow out of that over time but for now, putting her in there with someone so animated allows her to play the straight opposite like in a buddy cop movie. The entire match was based around comedy but in a good way. The action itself was good enough to carry the rest of the bout and I appreciated that Ranna came close a handful of times. I bit hard on a flash pin attempt down the stretch just before I then bit on Koguma winning via submission only for Ranna to get to the ropes. Koguma regrouped and won with a top rope splash in 11:16, capping a very fun match. [***¼]

Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara and Yuna Mizumori vs. Fukigen Death, Natsuko Tora and Ruaka

The Cosmic Angels trio made sure to jump the HATE girls. I always like it when babyface teams do that to stables like HATE and the House of Torture. They come across as smart rather than just a bunch of generic faces. Anyway, aside from the start of this and the spot where Sayaka got heat for interrupting Fukigen’s signature spots, nothing of note really happened. In the end, Fukigen rolled up Yuna to steal this in 7:41. Yeah, I didn’t write much because it’s the same thing we’ve seen a ton and wasn’t as fun/good as the HATE opener. Lame that this Cosmic Angels trio lost here after just putting up a hell of a fight for the Artist of Stardom Titles a few weeks ago. [**]

Hanan, Hazuki, Mayu Iwatani and Momo Kohgo vs. Kiyoka Kotatsu, Saki Kashima, Syuri and Tomoka Inaba

With just three matches left, this show needs a boost. Right now it feels like New Japan in that 85% of the card is kind of just there before you get two big matches at the end. That said, there’s potential here. The God’s Eye group is good and STARS is like prime LIJ in that even in unimportant matches, you can count on them to deliver. There was fun to be had early on with STARS taking turns chopping Kiyoka and Mayu doing a pose down and everything as a tribute to Saya Iida, who is on the shelf with an injury. God’s Eye had their own brand of antics, including a fun little spot where Tomoka slammed Momo onto the other members of STARS. Simple, yet effective stuff here. From there, it was quality back and forth with some focus on Syuri late. She and Mayu have had some notable interactions lately. I could see them running that back soon. In fact, it was Syuri who won with the Stretch Muffler on Momo at 11:51. That was a lot of fun. [***¼]

Post-match, the returning Konami jumped Syuri from behind. The rest of HATE joined her in on the beating. The Syuri/Konami feud has been very bad and needs to finally deliver in the ring to make it all worth it.

Artist of Stardom Championship: Natsupoi, Tam Nakano, and Saori Anou [c] vs. AZM, Miyu Amasaki, and Starlight Kid

Oh, this is loaded. There was high-octane action right from the opening bell and it almost never slowed down. There was so much to like here. Miyu Amasaki, as the least experienced, had a lot to prove but never backed down from Tam or Saori. Starlight Kid wrestled with a level of confidence fitting for someone on the run she’s on. Natsupoi reignited their end of 2024 feud with some hard-hitting exchanges in the middle of this. AZM reminded everyone that even though she hasn’t won anything major since dropping the High Speed Title, she’s still one of the best wrestlers in the company. The Cosmic Angels trio works so smoothly together, which makes sense since Natsupoi is in a damn good tag team with both partners. Meanwhile, AZM and SLK as partners feels right after their history. The spot where the champs hit a trio of Germans at the same time was dope but the challengers rallied and busted out some trios offense. We got a prolonged AZM/Saori back and forth that was excellent. I am all for AZM having a 2025 similar to Starlight Kid’s 2024. That led to the huge finish, with AZM beating Saori with the Azumi Sushi at the 18:12 mark. One of the best matches of the young year as everyone just went out there and put on a show. Tons of action, great bits of intertwining stories being told, and a welcome title change. This is the STARDOM I love. [****½]

World of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [c] vs. Suzu Suzuki

The first title defense for Saya Kamitani and it’s against a former Grand Prix winner. Where the previous match started with a bang and didn’t slow down, this was worked at a more methodical pace. They were slugging it out to open rather than moving quickly from spot to spot. I love balance like that on a card. Saya then annoyed Suzu by continuing to bail outside and then hit a dive onto her, outsmarting the challenger. I liked that when Saya sat on a chair inside to taunt, Suzu responded by sitting in a chair outside and flipping her off. Big matches need personalities, not just people doing moves. Various HATE members gave Suzu the boot from the chair, which put Saya in the driver’s seat. Suzu didn’t stay down for long, continuing to level Saya with some vicious shots. This was one of those matches where it felt like the two participants genuinely didn’t like each other. Saya also was a hit with her heel persona, even going as far as to embarrass Suzu by pouring water over her head. Her underhanded tactics did well whenever she got into trouble trading blows with Suzu. They were going all in on big spots like the avalanche German Suplex. Suzu looked to capitalize on that with more suplexes but Saya kicked out. The final few minutes had some stellar exchanges from counters to straight-up strikes to each hitting a Poison Rana. In the end, Saya retained with the Star Crusher in 18:23. A fantastic main event that lacked a bit of drama since I couldn’t imagine Saya already losing. Still, this was filled with some great stuff and I’m intrigued by Suzu. She keeps losing these big matches (not as many as Hazuki) and is now the only member of her stable without a title. [****¼]

Post-match, after Saya talked some smack to Suzu, Tam Nakano came out. It seems like the Tam/Saya is happening at the next major show.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Like I said earlier, this felt like a New Japan PPV in that it had a relatively skippable undercard before the final few matches made this something to watch. If pressed for time, check out the last two bouts because they’re spectacular.