Pantoja’s Stardom Triangle Derby I In Nagoya Review

Stardom Triangle Derby I in Nagoya

January 8^th, 2023 | Nagoya Conference Center in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 1,071

After covering the 1/9 show the other day, I now jump one day back to look at the 1/8 event, which only just hit Stardom World. We’ve got two Triangle Derby matches, a rumble, and a championship main event.

Nagoya Rumble

The participants include AZM, Hazuki, Koguma, Lady C, MIRAI, Miyu Amasaki, Momo Kohgo, Ruaka, Saya Iida, Super Strong Stardom Machine, and Yuna Mizumori. I’m a sucker for a Rumble like this. Like the New Japan RAMBO, you can eliminate someone via pinfall or submission. Iida and Kohgo got this started and had a fun little back and forth. Ruaka eliminated Iida first with a splash and soon after, Hazuki had a good run that saw her pin Lady C. Mizumori used a pinning combination to send Kohgo packing just as MIRAI arrived. She beat Ruaka with a backslide. Shit got real when AZM arrived. She’s only 20 and I’ve only seen a few shows but she’s already among my favorite wrestlers to watch. In Stardom, she’s in the top five with Giulia, Iwatani, Natsupoi, and Nakano. Super Strong Stardom Machine was the final entrant and after AZM and Amasaki dumped out Hazuki and Koguma, she beat Amasaki. That left it down to her and AZM and she eliminated the High Speed Champion at the 13:33 mark. A fine little pre-show match. Apparently, Super Strong Stardom Machine is Saya Iida from what I’m seeing online. [**¾]

Mariah May, Mina Shirakawa and Xia Brookside vs. Natsuko Toura, Rina and Saki Kashima

Club Venus vs. Oedo Tai. The Club Venus theme has me twerking in my theater room. So far, Club Venus matches have all been kind of similar and this was no different. They make sure to stop and pose when they get the chance and while Shirakawa delivers, May and Brookside seem like they’re still trying to get it together. Shirakawa got hit in the jaw and that has also been a recurring theme as it was targeted when she got isolated for a bit. Brookside got the tag and things are still coming off awkwardly for her on offense. Her bumping is fine. Shirakawa fought back when she was tagged again and worked a Figure Four but it was broken up by a senton. She had a solid exchange with Kashima before winning with her sitout Curtain Call that I don’t know the name of in 11:01. Probably the best Club Venus match so far. [***¼]

Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla [0] vs. Rina Amikura, Waka Tsukiyama and Yuko Sakurai [0]

Triangle Derby action! Both teams come in 0-1. Giulia is always a treat to see though this was kind of a night off for her. Instead, the focus was on Sakurai against Tsukiyama and they went at it. Obviously there was other stuff going on in here but the reason to watch this is for their exchanges. They felt like two people who hate each other and it had a lot of intensity behind it. Some of the moments away from them didn’t work as well, with a stereo DDT spot by Giulia and Thekla being poorly timed. Sakurai got the win with a 450 leg drop in 9:05. Solid stuff here but nothing to write home about outside of Sakurai/Tsukiyama. [***]

Kurumi Hiiragi, Risa Sera and Suzu Suzuki [2] vs. Natsupoi, SAKI and Tam Nakano [0]

More Triangle Derby and some Cosmic Angels! I really like the difference between the demeanors of these teams. Right off the bat, Natsupoi took a bit of a beating and her exchange with Suzuki were great. Tam got the tag and ran wild for a while but also ended up on the receiving end of a lot of offense. This did a really good job of making the Cosmic Angels trio into the underdogs you want to see win. Ah, so the spot where Natsupoi gets a caught doing a cross body only for Tam to hit one that follows and knocks everyone over is a consistent thing for them. It was really cool at Dream Queendom (and still is) but I’m intrigued that it happens somewhat often. The closing stretch was really fun and Natsupoi fell to a suplex from Suzuki after 13:25. One of the better tournament matches so far with lots of action, great suplexes, and a good story. [***½]

Maika and Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani and Syuri

Here’s a pretty notable all-stars tag match. So, I did my best not to check the results beforehand but I kind of had a feeling that this would go the distance. There were apparently several changes made to the card due to some wrestlers being sick and I figured we’d get a long match somewhere. That was both a positive and a negative here. The good was that we got a lot of action and everyone got plenty of time to shine. That was especially true of Maika, who more than held her own alongside three former World of Stardom Champions. In fact, I’d say she was the standout here which is great to see. Iwatani and Syuri is such a gangster duo to put together too. The bad side was that there were a few points where things felt like they dragged and you could tell they were killing time here or there to get to the 30 minute mark. Hayashishita had Iwatani bested but the pin got broken up just before time expired. There were some things holding it back from four stars but it’s still a banger worth watching. [***¾]

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [c] vs. Ami Sourei

I came into this with a bit of concern. Kamitani and Sourei’s exchanges in a previous tag disappointed me and never really grabbed me. How would it translate to a singles match in a main event slot? Ultimately, it was better than what we previously had but still not anything to write home about. It got off to a solid start but the segment where Sourei was in control didn’t work very well. I do give Kamitani props though because you could see the effort was there as she sold well for her challenger. I think the crowd never felt like they believed she’d win either and that’s important when you’re facing someone with a long title reign. Okada and Roman Reigns have pulled me and the audience in before despite outcomes being obvious and that didn’t happen here. Once Kamitani got back on offense, things picked up and this became good down the stretch. I especially enjoyed the final few minutes and Kamitani retained with a sitout Brainbuster and 450 splash in 18:16. I’ve seen two Kamitani title matches now and while both were good, neither has been great though I can tell Kamitani is very good herself. [***¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Once again, this was another enjoyable Stardom show from top to bottom. I was really looking forward to AZM vs. Starlight Kid but they did a good job of putting on a strong show. I know these aren’t their major events but I’m enjoying them.