Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 8.1

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Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 8.1

Post by cero2k » Aug 2nd, '21, 22:13

STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, Day 2
August 1st, 2021
Yokohama Budokan, Yokohama, Japan

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Unagi Sayaka [2] vs AZM [0] - 7/10
I can't imagine the Sayaka dream goes much further than here, but she's on cloud 9 right now, having defeated the White belt champ and AZM back to back. The match was for the most part a Sayaka match, with her getting beaten up for a while until she starts her slow comeback, and when it seems all is lost, she manages to hit a desperation move that turns everything around, she hit a codebreaker, Koreyori wa shura ni hairu, locked in a Gory Special for a bit and finished AZM with Taigi de atta.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Starlight Kid [0] vs Saki Kashima [0] - 6.5/10
This may have been bad. I no news as of this writing, but I believe Kashima may have injured her ankle. There was a spot early on with SLK doing a springboard planch on Kashima, but SLK didn't get enough distance and Kashima pretty much caught her with her legs only, and I'm guessing SLK landed with all her weight on an ankle that may not have been well positioned. Kashima wrestled the wrestle of the match, but you could tell she was hurting.

Sans the potential injury, the match itself was ok, nothing particularly special. They seemed to be starting as stablemates competing, but once the match started, SLK just went all out and Kashima had to wake up if she hoped to win, she didn't, but she would have lost quicker. This gives me the impression that SLK is tricking everyone in Oedo Tai into thinking she's part of them, and then backstabbing them, trying to destroy them from within.

Post-match - Interesting. After winning, SLK put one of her masks on the hurting Kashima, did the throat cut taunt on her, and left. I wonder if SLK intends to either take out Oedo Tai one by one, or turn them into Starlight Kids, either way an interesting development.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Natsupoi [0] vs Momo Watanabe [2] - 8/10
Great match, a nice clash of styles between the High Speed champion, and Momo, who is more grounded and technical. Momo was pretty dominant most of the match, Natsupoi would get some offense here and there, largely because she had a speed advantage and her gymnastics approach made it so that Momo couldn't anticipate her or block her as easily. Natsupoi kept pushing with her offense and looking for anything, and eventually, she rolled Momo from a rana position and got the win. Natsupoi was as surprised as we all were at that point.

At one point, Natsupoi locked in a great looking submission, I don't know if it has a name, but it was a like pulling the arms for a curb stomp, but pushing on the head with your legs. That could had been the finish for how painful it looked.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Konami [0] vs Tam Nakano [0] - 7/10
Konami jumped Nakano before the match and as they brawled outside the ring, she Pillmanized her arm. Once the match started in the ring, Konami dominated for a while until Nakano managed to get her off the ring and get her with a top rope plancha to the floor. From there on, they kinda went back and forth until Nakano got the win with a Dodom and Twilight Dream.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Utami Hayashishita [0] vs Saya Kamitani [0] - 8.5/10
Well, this is the night of stablemates clashing, isn't? We already had SLK and Kashima, we now get Hayashishita and Kamitani, right before we go into Syuri and Maika. Well, this told a different story than the Oedo Tai for sure. This was two stablemates that are competitive and they both want the same prize. It wouldn't be until they sounded the final bell that they smiled again and embraced.

Before all could be good and all, they beat the shit out of each other. Hayashishita style is big impact moves, so she focused mainly on the back of Kamitani. I think all of Hayashishita's signature moves are big slams, unless I'm missing one, so it just made sense for her to work the back. Kamitani on the other hand, her bigger moves are all high flying, so she had to work through the back pain and get enough space to go for her arsenal, but once she did, she really did a lot of damage on Hayashishita. As the match went to the end, Kamitani got a couple of good near falls with some of her secondary moves, but Hayashishita was smart enough to never allow her on the top turnbuckle so she could hit the Phoenix Splash, and without that, it was just a matter of time before Hayashishita hit the Towerhacker Bomb and won.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Syuri [2] vs Maika [2] - 8.5/10
The third of the inter-stable matches of the night. This went the way of the Hayashishita and Kamitani one, and for that matter, the match was somewhat similar to that, with both women just straight up going all out against each other. With both of them also being pretty similar in styles, they back and forth action was all about mirroring each other, but not on purpose. Whether it was going for the arm or the leg or the head, both would go from submissions to striking to big impact moves. The mirroring was so much there was a spot, that I actually didn't like as much, where both women, in a test of strength position, started hitting headbutt to shoulder over and over, it looked cool, but I thought it was a bit too much.

At the end, Maika tried to repeat what worked yesterday with Hayashishita, but Syuri managed to escape, took her out with an ugly Ryuen right on top of Maika's head, and won the match.

Post-match - Syuri cut a promo about winning and going after Hayashishita.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Giulia [2] vs Mayu Iwatani [0] - 9.25/10
Giulia revealed an attire closer to her old one, but still somewhat in the feel of the G.I. Giulia look. While neither are the top champions right now, this match definitely felt like a big thing between the two top stars in the promotion.

The match was an Iwatani match, with her getting beaten up for a long part of the match until her desperation offense kicks in and she turns things around. Giulia worked Iwatani's head and neck all of the match, and I guess Iwatani did so to, just started really late in the match. This all sounds kinda meh the way I describe it, but Iwatani is a master in this type of story, her selling is on another level. At the end, she won with the bridging Dragon Suplex.

This also had a headbutt exchange that I did like a lot, better selling and execution in my opinion.

Post-match - Iwatani cut her winner's promo.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Second show and we had another banger. Without really knowing what to expect from the N1-Victory and the G1 Climax this year, I really feel like I'm watching what will be the best round robin tournament of the year. This show in particular really delivered, the weakest match was for me for reasons outside of match quality, I just kept thinking of Kashima's injury, but everything else delivered.

Red Block
Giulia - 1-0-1 -- 2
Natsupoi - 1-0-1 -- 2
Himeka - 0-0-0 -- 0
Mayu Iwatani - 1-0-1 -- 2
Koguma - 1-0-0 -- 2
Momo Watanabe - 1-0-1 -- 2
Fukigen Death - 0-0-1 -- 0
Starlight Kid - 1-0-1 -- 2
Saki Kashima - 0-0-1 -- 0
Mina Shirakawa - 1-0-0 -- 2

Blue Block
Utami Hayashishita - 1-0-1 -- 2
Saya Kamitani - 0-0-2 -- 0
AZM - 0-0-1 -- 0
Syuri - 2-0-0 -- 4
Maika - 1-0-1 -- 2
Tam Nakano - 1-0-1 -- 2
Unagi Sayaka - 2-0-0 -- 4
Ruaka - 0-0-0 -- 0
Konami - 0-0-1 -- 0
Takumi Iroha - 0-0-0 -- 0
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