Pantoja’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2025 Night 4 Review

STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix Night 4

August 2^nd, 2025 | Sendai PIT in Sendai, Miyagi | Attendance: 470

This tournament has been better with shorter match cards than the 16 match card it opened with (shocker, I know). We have Red Stars on tap here and one of my favorite rivalries in the main event.

Red Stars B Block: Rian [0] vs. Sayaka Kurara [0]

Two lower card ladies kick this off and both are searching for their first point. As you might expect, there wasn’t a lot from this. Neither girl is all that accomplished in the ring just yet so this felt like when Young Lions wrestle in New Japan. A lot of what they do is ultimately basic but they put a lot of energy and heart into it, making for something relatively engaging. Rian’s cross body off the top was solid, while Sayaka has a nice fisherman suplex. Sayaka ultimately won with the Falcon Arrow in 8:05. Fine enough. [**¼]

Red Stars A Block: Bea Priestley [4] vs. Waka Tsukiyama [0]

I’ll give you three guesses how this turns out. Bea has been booked strong in her first two matches while Waka is 0-2 and her matches have combined to go less than two minutes. That said, my biggest issue with Bea matches so far is that they’ve been too long so this ended up being a nice change of pace. It’s kind of a catch-22 because this setting worked better for Bea but it was also not a ton of time to really get much going. That said, this was more what we needed from her. If they want her to look strong, book her to kind of run through the likes of Waka. She played the powerhouse here and Waka was willing to bump as much as needed. Then, they flubbed it by having her win by turning a Waka pin over and getting three. Her running through Waka in 4:53 would be fine but looking somewhat impressive only to get a fluke win over Waka Tsukiyama is bad booking. [*]

Red Stars B Block: Natsupoi [2] vs. Tomoka Inaba [2]

Tomoka is off to a strong start in this tournament, beating Starlight Kid in a very good match and losing to AZM in another strong match. Meanwhile, Poi is almost always a safe bet for something good. This got off to a quick paced start and they kept that up. Tomoka was unleashing some impressive kicks and Poi honestly takes stiff kicks better than almost anyone in wrestling. Tomoka also targeted the leg with several Dragon Screws, which Poi sold well. I loved the spot where Poi fired up with a series of forearms, only for Tomoka to eventually duck one and hit her with a body blow that dropped her. Poi rallied with things like a German Suplex but missed Fairial Gift and Tomoka pounced with a kneebar. Poi countered a slam into a pinning combination, taking this in 9:12. Very good stuff and the step up in quality this show needed. Tomoka is the one to watch after this tournament. [***½]

Red Stars A Block: Azusa Inaba [2] vs. Saya Kamitani [4]

HATE members collide. This isn’t House of Torture or even Bullet Club as there was no tease of Azusa giving Saya an easy win. She went after her stablemate harder than most people. Whether it was a running boot or the aggressive way that she went after an ankle lock, this was the most impressive that Azusa has looked so far. Saya was out there fighting for her life. They made me bite on a near fall when Saya fired up and hit Azusa with a big boot only for Azusa to counter her pin attempt with one of her own. That’s exactly the way STARDOM would book an upset. Saya powering up to deliver a dead lift sitout powerbomb was sweet and not something we see often from her. She then hit Star Crusher to win in 8:01. One of the best sub-10 minute matches you’ll find and possibly the best of 2024. Azusa was relentless, Saya led while making sure she looked like a star, and that was awesome. [****]

Red Stars A Block: Lady C [0] vs. Yuna Mizumori [0]

As one might expect, this was a comedown from the previous bout. That said, what we got here was better than we usually do from two undercard women. With all the STARDOM departures recently, the likes of Yuna and Lady C have needed to step up and they did well here. There wasn’t a lot here in the way of story or emotion, just a solid exhibition of sorts. Back and forth action, with Yuna bringing the speed and Lady C trying to wear her down with her size. Yuna threw a pretty impressive lariat but Lady C survived and won with a Dominator in 6:56. Better than I was expecting. They packed some solid action into a short timeframe. [**¾]

Red Stars A Block: Hanan [2] vs. Mei Seira [4]

Apparently, there’s some sort of history or maybe even bad blood here, which explained the aggressive start from both. Hanan was throwing Mei around by her hair while Mei reeled off a barrage of dropkicks in the corner as an answer. The fight went outside and I loved that both tried to win by countout only to stop each other and then get annoyed, leading to a brawl in the crowd before both beat the count. It’s not at all what I expected from them but the intensity never wavered. Even things like a submission by Mei had something extra behind it. They just kept up a ridiculous pace as this raced past the 10 minute mark. When they got near the time limit, you could see a shift from trying to hurt each other to trying to win as they went for a handful of flash pins and things like that. They countered pins just as time expired, giving us our first time limit draw of the tournament in 15:00. The match of the tourney so far for me. It felt like they hated each other, it was intense, and both sold the disappointment of not beating the other so well. I need more from them. [****¼]

Red Stars B Block: Natsuko Tora [4] vs. Rina [4]

The winner of this will end the show leading B Block. Another case of HATE member vs. HATE member. Natsuko must’ve taught Rina well because the young wrestler attacked her during her entrance with a dropkick as the action spilled outside for some tossing into chairs and the usual. Again, I appreciate that this wasn’t a stable interested in holding anything back against each other. Natsuko turned the tide and beat on Rina with chairs on the outside for a bit. Rina got in a lot of offense here and Natsuko isn’t exactly known to be the most giving out there, so that was surprising. Rina survived whatever Natsuko threw at her when she wasn’t in control too, making this very frustrating for the former World of Stardom Champion. Rina started in with flash pin attempts and never let up, eventually getting three on one of them at 9:58. Another match that exceeded my expectations. Rina is having one hell of a 2025. [***¼]

Red Stars B Block: AZM [2] vs. Starlight Kid [2]

One of my favorite rivalries around and both are among my five favorites in STARDOM (along with Natsupoi, Hazuki, and a fifth spot that could be Suzu, Saya Kamitani, Mei…I can’t decide). Anyway, the rivals are now friends and stablemates who most recently met at All-Star Grand Queendom (****). As usual, these two went right at it since they made their name in the High Speed division. SLK goaded AZM into trying to kick her in the back and ducked it before taking the leg and targeting it. That’s a staple of SLK matches. I do wish AZM’s selling of the leg was a bit better. She put her focus on Starlight Kid’s arm and that was the crux of the match. Their exchanges were, as always, smooth as hell and you could tell this was two wrestlers who know each other so well. The panic and desperation set in as they drew near the time limit until, yes, we got a second draw on the show at 15:00. Another great match from them though nowhere near their best work. [****]

Red Stars A Block	Points	Red Stars B Block	Points	Blue Stars A Block	Points	Blue Stars B Block	Points
Saya Kamitani	6 (3-0)	Rina	6 (3-0)	Saori Anou	4 (2-0)	Suzu Suzuki	4 (2-0)
Bea Priestley	6 (3-0)	Natsuko Tora	4 (2-1)	Ami Sohrei	4 (2-0)	Momo Watanabe	4 (2-0)
Mei Seira	5 (2-0-1)	Natsupoi	4 (2-1)	Bozilla	3 (1-0-1)	HANAKO	2 (1-0)
Hanan	3 (1-1-1)	AZM	3 (1-1-1)	Miyu Amasaki	2 (1-1)	Konami	2 (1-1)
Azusa Inaba	2 (1-2)	Starlight Kid	3 (1-1-1)	Aya Sakura	2 (1-1)	Sareee	2 (1-1)
Lady C	2 (1-2)	Tomoka Inaba	2 (1-2)	Ruaka	1 (0-1-1)	Hina	0 (0-1)
Yuna Mizumori	0 (0-3)	Sayaka Kurara	2 (1-2)	Saya Iida	0 (0-2)	Ranna Yagami	0 (0-2)
Waka Tsukiyama	0 (0-3)	Rian	0 (0-3)	Yuria Hime	0 (0-2)	Momo Kohgo	0 (0-2)

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Three matches at ****+ makes his the best show of the tournament so far. Things start slowly enough but pick up in a big way.