wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s Stardom Triangle Derby Night 1 Review
Image Source: STARDOM
Loading...Stardom Triangle Derby Night One
January 3rd, 2023 | Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama, Kanagawa | Attendance: 1,605
As I said when I covered Dream Queendom, I’m looking to review more Stardom this year. Again, I will note that I am relatively new to the company and am still learning the wrestlers and the moves. I am no expert. I do believe that the Triangle Derby is a round robin tournament of six-woman tags.
Mariah May, Mina Shirakawa and Xia Brookside [0] vs. Rina Amikura, Waka Tsukiyama and Yuko Sakurai [0]
Mina’s team is Club Venus, who formed at the previous show. I am unfamiliar with the three ladies opposite of them though. The introduction of everyone before the match revealed that they are known as Lollipop. For Club Venus, you can tell they need to iron out some kinks to work as a team going forward. Some of their tandem offense had timing issues and didn’t come off well. Mina continued to look like the star I’ve been impressed by since I started watching but Xia and Mariah didn’t really click here. On the other side, Amikura was the wrestler to catch my eye. Neither team really gained a clear upper hand throughout. There was a spot where Xia slowly walked into a rana spot instead of running and it just came off really poorly. Xia did take a beating late and their triple neckbreaker spot was awkward but Xia still scored the pin after pulling Tsukiyama from the top into a slam at the 9:02 mark. Outside of Shirakawa, this was underwhelming. [**¼]
Haruka Umesaki, Ruaku and Starlight Kid [0] vs. Kurumi Hiiragi, Risa Sera and Suzu Suzuki [0]
From this group, the person who has stood out to me coming in is Starlight Kid. I know of some recent history here too the Prominence trio won the Artist of Stardom Title from a Starlight Kid led trio at Dream Queendom in a really fun match. Starlight Kid had quality exchanges with the likes of Suzuki which was the highlight of this outing. You got the sense it wasn’t going to get a ton of time and it didn’t, wrapping up in a mere 6:06. Hiragi came in to play the role of the powerhouse for a bit. In the end, a superkick and pinning combination kept Ruaka down. I thought this was a fine little showcase for our new champions. [**½]
Hanan, Mayu Iwatani and Momo Khogo [0] vs. Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima [0]
After two matches designed to give shine to a new stable and new champions, it felt like this was where the show really got going. This was an Oedo Tai trio against STARS (the Iwatani team). I saw this STARS team at the previous show and I believe the storyline coming in is that Iwatani needs to see more out of Khogo. In fact, Khogo offered to start this and came out with fire but was quickly overwhelmed and thrown around. She took a beating for a bit before tagging to Hanan but the match really got kicked up a notch when Iwatani battled Watanabe. They hit each other hard and stole the show. Khogo got going when she became legal again and came close a few times but was bested by a trio of moves capped by a Kashima diving double stomp in 9:29. That was good stuff and continues the Khogo story. [***¼]
Himeka, Lady C and Maika [0] vs. Natsupoi, SAKI and Tam Nakano [0]
More Natsupoi and Nakano? Yes, please. Himeka and Maika represent Donna del Mondo while Natsupoi and Nakano (meltear) represent Cosmic Angels. I don’t believe Lady C and SAKI are with those stables but I love that SAKI did the dance with her partners. I’ve quickly become a big fan of meltear. After her team got off to a hot start, SAKI got isolated for a lot of this before finally making the tag to Natsupoi. Her back and forth with every opponent was highly entertaining. There was a counter where she didn’t have a clean landing but she recovered nicely. Having Natsupoi handle the bulk of the match was a great call as both her offense and selling delivered. Tam didn’t do much, likely because she was working the Tokyo Dome the following day. Maika bested Natsupoi by rolling through a pin attempt after 11:20. Another really good match here. [***¼]
Hazuki, Koguma and Saya Iida [0] vs. Nanae Takahashi, Yuna Mizumori and Yuu [0]
The 7UPP duo of Yuu and Takahashi won the Goddesses of Stardom Titles in a tremendous match against meltear at Dream Queendom (****½). Parts of this felt like a preview for a potential matchup pitting Yuu and Takahashi against Hazuki and Koguma. Those were the last two teams to win the company’s tandem tournament. I popped for the spot where they teased a dive only for Yuu to get rolled outside and onto her opponents. The 7UPP team did a good job of using their size and power to hold serve throughout and forced the opposition to fight from beneath. Iida nearly lost from a triple Alabama Slam (though I always preferred the Concrete Crash name) but was saved only to lose shortly after around the 8:50 mark. Once again, solid stuff here. [***]
Ami Sourei, MIRAI and Syuri [0] vs. AZM, Saya Kamitani and Utami Hayashishita [0]
Syuri is fresh off of a CLASSIC against Giulia (*****) and AZM is someone who has greatly impressed me. I actually already like basically everyone in this match. The Queen’s Quest trio was a blast to watch as everything they did was fluid as hell. I loved seeing AZM go at it with Syuri. Seeing her step up to trade kicks with the former top champion added something to this match. They had a BANGER in the Grand Prix last year (****¼). Ami Sourei got a lot of shine here, taking the fight to the other team, specifically Kamitani. She hit her hard and got in a lot of offense but this was a pairing that didn’t really click for me. A Kamitani dive outside got caught and she was tossed into her teammates in a cool little spot. Just as Kamitani came close to winning this, the time limit expired at 15:00. Although I didn’t really like Sourei/Kamitani, the rest of this was really good and the best thing on the show so far. [***½]
Giulia, Mai Sakurai and Thekla [0] vs. Maika Ozaki, Maya Yukihi and Ram Kaichow [0]
The new World of Stardom Champion Giulia in action for the first time since winning the title. The big deal here was that there have already been teases of a match between Giulia and Yukhi and it’s apparently Yukihi’s debut. Ram got isolated in the early stages and faced a lengthy beating before tagging in Ozaki for a while. Everyone was just waiting for Yukihi though. As soon as she came in, she immediately went at it with Giulia, who she apparently has a history with in places like Ice Ribbon. They leveled each other with forearms and kicks that were vicious. We are in for a treat when that singles match comes to Stardom. Yukihi killed everything she did, beating the shit out of whoever was in her way. The finish saw her kick Sakurai in the head and then choke her out with a unique submission at the 14:38 mark. This one started slow and was only good to that point but got bumped up as soon as Yukihi entered and kicked this up a notch. [***¾]
Post-match, Suzu Suzuki was named as Giulia’s first challenger, set for a PPV in February.
