wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s STARDOM The Conversion Review 6.21.25
Image Credit: Stardom
Loading...STARDOM The Conversion
June 21st, 2025 | Yoyogi National Gym in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 2,521
I was preparing to review the Korakuen show from 7/6 but saw that this was FINALLY uploaded to the streaming service, so here we are.
Future of Stardom Championship: Hina [c] vs. Rian
The Hina title reign has a lot to live up to given how well Rina did with the belt. It hasn’t been great so far but it also hasn’t been bad. One aspect of Hina’s game that is polished is her offense and that was the focal point here. She showed off some impressive moves right from the start and that worked to set Rian up as an underdog. She had some fire in her comeback and it was more than I’ve typically come to expect from her. It was the best performance I’ve seen from her. That said, I do think it dragged a bit at points. I don’t think it should’ve taken Hina 12:33 to put away someone who only has like one or two singles wins. That said, Hina did beat her with a frog splash. Spirited showing from Rian. [***]
Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara and Yuna Mizumori vs. Ema Maishima, Kiyoko Furusawa and Momo Kohgo
I remain rather unfamiliar with Ema and Kiyoko but that’s what I’m here for. This was a simple match that gave the rookies a chance to shine with the veterans leading the way. Sayaka and Aya have both been impressive in recent months and they were good again here. Ema stood out here and feels like someone who is going to be a staple of future High Speed Title matches. I also thought Kiyoko stood out a bit as her technical style felt different from everything else in the match. Aya got the win with a pretty gangster straight kick to Kiyoko’s face in 8:47. Solid little match here. [**½]
BMI2000 vs. FWC
They announced the 5STAR GP blocks and leaving Hazuki out is a choice. I know she’s competing in another tournament but she’s been a top 3-5 wrestler in the company for the past couple of years and the loss of some big names opens a spot for her to finally get a big singles title win. I digress. The HATE girls attacked FWC during their entrance and we got some brawling outside before things officially kicked off. Since Hazuki got beaten up outside, it left Koguma to work the majority of this on her own. That meant Tora and Ruaka bullied her. Hazuki got the tag for a short run but they never really threatened a win here. They survived a pair of body slams outside and hit some dives. Otherwise, Koguma got the mist spit at her and fell after Ruaka hit a splash off the top in 9:59. Surprisingly one-sided, which is alarming given how good FWC is. I have no idea what the booking team is doing. [**]
HANAKO vs. Risa Sera
Apparently, HANAKO was in the same stable as Risa before joining STARDOM so there’s history here. Risa Sera is someone who I’ve seen a fair bit of before but she’s not consistently around so I’m not really connected to her. Risa targeted the leg throughout, looking to chop her larger opponent down to size. It’s a tried and true, smart strategy but it has to be executed properly to really work. Here, it kind of wasn’t because HANAKO’s selling was inconsistent as she had no problem when it came to getting her signature stuff in. They also had a handful of awkward exchanges that showed their chemistry wasn’t as strong as you’d like. This finally started to click as it neared the finish with some strong strike exchanges. HANAKO got some solid shine before Risa beat her with Air Raid Crash in 14:54. It was longer than it needed to be. [**½]
Ami Sourei, Lady C, Ranna Yagami and Saki Kashima vs. Konami, Momo Watanabe, Rina and Saya Kamitani
Our World Champion in a multi-woman tag that doesn’t really have much to do with her. I know that her current feud seems to be with Natsupoi, who is not involved here. I believe this was the return of Ami Sourei, or she at least recently came back. I wasn’t big on the push she had before going down. This was mostly a solid tag team match with some entertaining exchanges. Ami was moving well and didn’t look to have too much ring rust. I dig her new look. This had the usual HATE staples like faces being tossed into chairs and brawling outside. Rina continues to shine in pretty much any match she’s involved in. The finish was surprising here as Kamitani pinned Ami following the Star Crusher at the 16:29 mark. I liked this more than I expected. That ending is odd though since Ami losing so soon after her return is a surprise. [***¼]
Goddesses of Stardom Championship: wing*gori [c] vs. Natsupoi and Saori Anou
Even more than the main event, this is the reason I was dying to see this show. Poi and Saori are great together, while wing*gori have been among the best tag teams anywhere for the past two years or so. Right from the start, you could tell this was going to be good. Lots of energy from the opening bell and really good exchanges. Natsupoi and Saya had a really good back and forth to start, Hanan was bumping all over the place, and Saori was her usual vicious self. Cosmic Angels held serve in the early stages but wing*gori didn’t let them dominate. They fought back with a lot of fire and this almost felt like them truly establishing that they belong in the same vein as some of the top recent tandems in STARDOM, which they absolutely do. A passing of the torch in some ways. This got taken to the next level when Natsupoi went up against Hanan in a brutal exchange down the stretch. They were LAYING into each other even though their respective teammates are more known for that style. It felt like Cosmic Angels were going to take this a few times only for Hanan to catch Natsupoi with a pinning combination to retain in 17:08. As expected, that was awesome. Just great tag team wrestling that added to wing*gori’s growing resume. [****¼]
No Disqualifications Match: AZM, Mei Seira, Miyu Amasaki and Starlight Kid vs. Akira Kurogane, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita and Suzu Suzuki
The story here is that Suzu Suzuki turned on Neo Genesis and started her own stable, Mi Vida Loca, which are the factions battling here. I admit up front that I am not too familiar with some of the ladies in Suzu’s new group so I apologize if I mess up names and such here. I loved the gear and just the looks overall for Neo Genesis here and appreciated that they left their titles in the back since this was supposed to be a war. Ultimately, it wasn’t all that heated. Well, that’s a bit of a stretch because this was filled with action and you got the sense at times that Suzu was battling against her former stablemates. I just think they didn’t really utilize the stipulation. It felt a lot like a really good multi-woman tag rather than a big, street fight style stable war. Again, the action we got was good and that included some plunder from Mi Vida Loca. I hope they don’t opt for some of those shenanigans too often outside of this match because HATE runs that shit into the ground. As is often the case, the closing stretch was a highlight here as people were moving in and out of the ring quickly, meaning action was almost always going on. The big news came at the end as a hooded woman showed up and took out various members of Neo Genesis before revealing herself to be Bozilla. She jumped from Marigold and was VERY impressive over there as a monster heel. That left Starlight Kid all alone to take a barrage of offense from her opponents, capped by a Bozilla powerbomb and Suzu German Suplex to end this in 22:44. Very good but not quite great main event. It absolutely felt like the first meeting with a bigger faction clash down the line. The Bozilla stuff is big news too. [***¾]
IWGP Women’s Championship: Syuri [c] vs. Sareee
The first title defense for Syuri after ending Mayu Iwatani’s spectacular reign with the belt. She’s one of the best on the planet and Sareee has been in the conversation for the best over the past year or so. Two of the best in a main event. Can’t ask for much more than that. And they delivered in a big way. This was everything you could want from them, including Syuri coming off more like a killer than she has in a long time. She was kicking the shit out of Sareee and laying into her with strikes. Sareee was taking the full brunt of these and responded with some of her own. You could tell these two were out to have an epic. That said, it’s also my biggest issue with the match. At times, it felt like they were stretching out what they were doing to go longer and it’s a case where they could’ve had an all-timer at 20-25 minutes rather than the 32:49 that this goes. It’s not a case like when SANADA and Okada would go 36 minutes and bore me to tears as what we got here was still fantastic, though. The brawling on the aisle, the battle for position on submission attempts, and the bombs they were throwing late were all excellent. I think Sareee going after the leg made sense since Syuri was lighting her up with kicks, though that aspect also could’ve been done better. I thought they might go double knockout when they both fell outside after trading headbutt barrages. The close calls late were also great until Sareee got the win with a modified suplex. Though I had some issues with it, this is still one of the best main events anywhere in 2025. [****½]
