Cero Reviews STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2018

STARDOM, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, SHINE, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Cero Reviews STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2018

Post by cero2k » May 12th, '18, 09:18

STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2018
April 30, 2018
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Intro - They introduced all the participants to the Cinderella tournament. Kagetsu didn't come out because she was 'preparing things for later'. Group photo. Nothing to this. Also, may as well note it right now, the Cinderella tournament has an over the top rope rule in addition to other normal match rules, and in case of a draw, both competitors are eliminated from the tournament.

Mary Apache, Starlight Kid, Hanan, Nao Yamaguchi, & Natsumi vs Natsuko Tora, Shiki Shibusawa, AZM, Ruaka, & Leo Onozaki - 3.5/10
Mary Apache is almost playing mother hen for both teams, she was driving a lot of the wrestling when inside the ring. At her age, the can't move as fluently as she once did, but she still has enough speed to find herself in the right spots, and since most girls are small, she can easily handle them. The match itself wasn't much, a lot of Starlight vs Leo, which ended with Kid pinning Leo after a Sparkle Splash.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Momo Watanabe vs Konami - 6.5/10
/ight off the bat, a match with two Queen's Quest members. This is a match between two heavy kickers, but no one kicks like Konami kicks, so when Momo tried to bring her stuff to Konami, Momo just got her ass kicked, literally. Konami worked a bit on Momo's legs, but Momo made a comeback and got the win after a Meteora. Good hard fought opener, but short. It's a long tournament to be held in just one night.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Saki Kashima vs Candy Floss - 6.5/10
Two debuts to the Cinderella tournament, and this is Saki's first singles match since her return. Saki's intro song is pretty awesome. Candy Floss didn't exactly jump Saki, but she surely was ready as soon as the bell rang and went straight for her with some ugly looking spots, but overall a strong offense over the arms. Saki amde a comeback, her offense wasn't as polished as Candy Floss, but she kept the pace of the match, which helps hide being out of place with high intensity. The match was short, but again, good action. Saki won with an Unprettier. Damn, i'm 0-2 with my favorites.

I love that Candy Floss looks all nice and sweet (like Candy), but then she's all Suzuki when she wrestles.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Bea Priestley vs Session Moth Martina - 4.5/10
This wasn't the best example, but it's great seeing how much Bea has grown from last year doing WCPW to what she is now. During Martina's entrance, Kagetsu came out to dance with her, her dancing is exactly what I expected of Kagetsu dancing to Martina's song.

Match saw Martina be all jokes and Bea be serious, but in Japanese wrestling, comedy wrestling is a legit style that gets you the upper hand, so Martina was able to work over Bea for a while until Bea brought out the 2009 Bryan Danielson out of her. I wouldn't say Martina was botching a lot, but the execution of some of the spots were soo off that you can see the fakeness in them, but in a way, with all her theatrics, she is able to distract you enough that you won't notice. Match did get slightly better for the last two minutes which ended with Bea dropping Martina with a 2 Feet Curb Stomp. Not a good match, but it was short.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Natsu Sumire vs Brandi Rhodes - 4.5/10
This is a match between two Oedo Tai members, before the match, the whole stable was cutting their usual pre-match promo. They're all talking in Japanese, so obviously Brandi has no idea what they're saying. Kagetsu said she was gonna be in Brandi's corner, but then it seemed like they were making fun of HZK, Hana straight up said she was 'thoroughly stupid'. Martina was dancing all the time. This was really hard to follow on who was talking about who.

Natsu worked over Brandi's back and neck. Kagetsu was actively making sure the ref was keeping things in order and supporting Brandi over Natsu. Brandi made a bad comeback, bad as in her wrestling is stills sloppy, but a great portrayal of a babyface if that matters. Brandi rolled up Natsu for the win after Natsu had tried to cheat with her whip. 0-3 picking favorites.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
HZK vs Hana Kimura - 7/10
Another Oedo Tai clash. I guess this puts a better perspective on why Hana was being a dick to HZK during their group promo. HZK is still not sporting Oedo Tai colors, nor talking for that matter.

In this particular match, HZK did in fact jump Hana before she could even make it through the ropes, but as soon as Hana got her robe off and her head straight, they went back and forward, Hana doing what she does best, kick people in the face, and HZK working over the head via submissions and moves. Finish saw HZK and Hana battle it out in the apron, they teased some falls, but at the end, it was Hana trying to skin the cat when HZK kicked her off for the win. 0-4 picking favorites. This was a great match tho, this as a semi would had been great.

Post-match - HZK offered Hana a hand shake, which she took. Oedo Tai celebrated together. HZK brought lollipops for everyone, including a black one for Hana. Hana endorsed HZK by putting her robe on her. Bonding!

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Mayu Iwatani vs Tam Nakano - 7/10
Tam tried to get the quick roll up right after the ring bell, but Mayu was able to survive that first wave of attacks and come back to even out the match. They both worked over each other's heads and the pace did slow down a bit half way through the match. Tam also targeted the arm with an armbar, injuring Mayu enough that she couldn't even block moves anymore, but she could rely on kicks, which she hit enough to set up Tam for the Dragon Suplex for the win. Great short match. Iwatani took a hell of a beating here, so her second round match should have it easy.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Io Shirai vs Chardonnay - 6.5/10
Chardonnay is worried she has to face Io in the very first round, especially because Io has never won the Cinderella Tournament, and this time, she's set and focused to do it.

The previous two matches have been for the most part, slugfests, but this one started out with a bit more British submission work instead, at least until Chardonnay got Io on the apron and just tried pushing her off the ring for the win. Chardonnay was stronger than Io, and equally as good when it came to wrestling, but Io had the experience as she worked over Chardonnay's long legs. Io went full Tanahashi on the legs, ending the match with a Sharpshooter for the submission win. Good short match, a really different pace from the previous two.

Cinderella Tournament First Round Match
Kageko w/Oedo Tai vs Jungle Kyona - 6.5/10
Kagetsu came out with a really 'nice' song, dressed in a dress and long hair. She looked amazing. A true princess. Jungle Kyona is not laughing at the joke. She brought it to Kagetsu with all she had, and Kagetsu tried to keep up the shtick, but eventually she got pissed off at Kyona, took the dress off and went ape shit on the Jungle, at which point they went back and forward with the bigger spots adn near falls.

There was a great near fall with Oedo Tai trying to pull off Kyona from the ring, but babyface girls saved her. Finish saw Jungle and Kagetsu fight off in the apron, with Jungle powerbombing Kagetsu on to all of her stable for the Over the Top Rope win.

Cinderella Tournament Second Round Match
HZK w/Oedo Tai vs Bea Priestley - 6/10
This time, HZK came out wearing the Oedo Tai garb and mask. They also did the Oedo Tai dance for this match.

This was a much better display for Bea, she got to show off her Will Ospreay moveset. At one point when Bea had the upper hand, Oedo Tai interfered with Natsu distracting the ref and Kagetsu, Martina, and Hana attacking Bea. Eventually, the QQs girls came out to fight off Oedo Tai, letting Bea make a comeback and hit the Curb Stomp for the win. This was ok, could had been better if not for the tournament time restrictions.

Cinderella Tournament Second Round Match
Mayu Iwatani vs Saki Kashima - 6.5/10
Mayu is coming in with a worked arm AND head, she's selling it and added an shoulder guard to the attire. Once again, Iwatani almost lost in the first seconds when Saki went for the quick Unprettier, but this time, Iwatani was more prepared and was able to get out of it easily. After that, Saki went with plan B, target the injured arm via submissions. There were a ton of great near falls, mainly because I didn't see Saki getting the win here, but she kept pinning Mayu in ways that I could totally see the upset win happening. Mayu at the end hit a Dragon Suplex for the win. Mayu is gonna be dead if she makes it to the finals.

Cinderella Tournament Second Round Match
Brandi Rhodes vs Io Shirai - 5/10
Oedo Tai are still out here with Brandi even though Brandi didn't come out to the rest of the Oedo Tai matches. Anyway, let's see how good Io really is if she can get a short good match out of Brandi.

Match saw Io easily work over Brandi's knee from the get go. It was funny because in the first match, Brandi was doing Dusty Rhodes moves, and now she was being worked over with Figure 4 Leg Locks. This was really all Io with some Rhodes hope spots scattered here and there, but even after a Cross Rhodes, no one expected Brandi to win. After trying a lot of win, Brandi was put down with an Implant Buster and a Moonsault. Ok match, but not good enough for the level of the tournament.

Post-match - There was a small face off between Io Shirai and her former tag partner HZK.

Cinderella Tournament Second Round Match
Momo Watanabe vs Jungle Kyona - 6.5/10
These two are arguably, the most slugfest style women in STARDOM that I can think of, and they lived up to it. This was a lot of forearms, tackles, and such. Finish saw them wrestle in the apron with Kyona once again going for the powerbomb, but Momo turned it around and eventually got Kyona in a Dudebuster position to knockout Kyona enough to push her off the apron for the win. The match was good, but this was the 13th match today, it really felt similar to a lot of stuff we've seen already.

Cinderella Tournament Semi-Finals Match
Mayu Iwatani vs Io Shirai - 9/10
Mayu comes out and she's selling the exhaustion of a one day tournament where she's been picked apart. Io does as well, but she's arguably had an easier path here than Mayu, so bless her heart for selling for Chardonnay and Brandi.

Finally, Shirai and Iwatani have been unleashed! Io goes straight to work on the injured arm. Mayu ironically, is using a lot of arm drags to get Shirai off her feet and focus, and then rely on dropkicks to actually hurt her. There was a V-Trigger that makes Omega's look like a Lance Storm chair shot. There was a great near fall with Iwatani making a comeback and stopping Io from hitting the moonsault, she then lands two foot stomps, two frog splashes, and Io still kicked out. At the end of the match, they were just going all out, tons of kicks, tombstones, Iwatani finally got the Dragon Suplex, but the time...rans out. Both women have been eliminated. A huge face of disappointment in both's faces. This was an awesome match, and I really liked what they did with the finish to give us now a really interesting finals.

Cinderella Tournament Finals Match
Bea Priestley vs Momo Watanabe - 7/10
Momo initlally was all about dropkicks and kicks, Bea too, but she also started working the arm early, but as the match went on, Momo started going for the stronger moves like the Tiger Driver while Bea started targetting her inner Aerial Assassin. Brie had control for a while trying to submit Momo, but at the end, Momo did a comeback with tons of kicks., tried to choke out Bea, but when Bea wouldn't tap out, Momo landed the TIger Suplex for the win. Not the main event we hoped for in terms of wrestling, but it was still a good match with two women that had already wrestled twice tonight.

Momo becomes the third woman to ever win the Cinderella tournament, this is a huge push for her, and while I thought she had it back in early 2017 when she came back, I really hope she starts working on presenting herself as a top star. She has that awesome old school look like Toyota, but she needs the pageantry.

Post-match - Momo gets her dress and trophy. First order of business, Momo challenges Io Shirai for the white belt. Io comes out and congratulates Momo saying that she's won ton of titles, but she still can't get to wear the dress. She accepts the title.

This brings out Kagetsu, she cuts a promo saying that they're all assuming that Io will be defending, but since they have a date for May 5th and Kagetsu will end the champion, she calls out Io's BS. Kagetsu does tell Momo that she DID win the Cinderella Tournament and that no matter what, she will give Momo the title shot she deserves.

Kagetsu took off, Io put Momo over, and Momo closed the show.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This is not a tournament that you watch for the workrate, we saw 15 matches in one night, and it wasn't even a Wrestlemania length marathon, but if you ever want to watch a ton of small little matches, then this is the show for you. This show also usually works well as a starting point for new or returning Stardom fans.
Image

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests