Cero Reviews STARDOM All Star Grand Queendom

[cero2k]

STARDOM All Star Grand Queendom
April 23, 2023
Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan

Pre-Show Rumble Match
Momoe Nakanishi vs. Fukigen Death vs. Koguma vs. Hanan vs. Yuna Mizumori vs. Rina vs. Hina vs. Saya Iida vs. Super Strong Stardom Machine (Saya Iida) vs. Momo Kohgo vs. Ram Kaicho vs. Mai Sakurai vs. Waka Tsukiyama vs. Lady C vs. Super Strong Stardom Giant Machine (Lady C) vs. Chanyota vs. Aya Sakura vs. HANAKO vs. Super Strong Stardom Big Machine (Yuna Mizumori) - 5/10
Overall, an entertaining rumble match, but nothing special. The most noticeable of runs were Waka and Sakurai's, with the former entering first and going long, and the second winning the whole thing after overcoming the Machines, of which, there is a new one added in SSS Big Machine, with Yunamon under the mask.

Kohgo indeed got knocked out midmatch and had to get dragged and stretchered to the back. She was out cold while in the ring.

Pre-Show 8-Person Tag Team Match
Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Ruaka & Saki Kashima) vs. Club Venus (Jessie, Mariah May & Xena) & Thekla - 6.5/10
OK match. Thekla really had to carry the foreigner team, as Jessie and Xena didn't do as much, and Mariah was only in there for a bit. The action felt really chaotic and uncontrolled during this match, especially when Club Venus were trying to be on the offensive side of things. Finish came when Club Venus got ahold of Ruaka's luggage and pushed Thekla to use it, but after the hesitation, she ended up taking out her own partner, who then got rolled up by Kashima for the pin and loss.

After the match, they seemed to show glimpses of dissension between May and Thekla, but instead they all kinda made out on their way to the ramp. Thekla still doesn't like these ladies.

AZM & Mei Suruga vs. Mei Seira & Starlight Kid - 8/10
Really great match. In true honor of the High Speed division, these four put on a great showing and if you blink, you lose. While the main feud had been AZM and SLK, this slowly started to break down into AZM and Seira, the former Mei Hoshizuki, who made her return to STARDOM. On the other hand, SLK and Suruga kept going at each other, following through with what SLK started when she went and invaded Ichigaya Chocolate Square during a Gatoh Move show.

The match had a bit of everything you usually see on a High Speed bout, with many many reversals, a couple of dives, and great back and forth pin exchange, one of which ended things when Seira caught AZM and pinned her for the three. Result wasn't surprising at all, as soon as they announced Seira as SLK's tag partner, opposite of AZM, it was somewhat predictable that she would kickstart a title chase, and pinning AZM seemed like the most obvious of directions.

Fuwa-chan & Hazuki vs. Queen's Quest (Miyu Amasaki & Utami Hayashishita) - 7/10
Fuwa-chan is a Japanese celebrity, quite popular, and not unfamiliar to being in the ring. She has wrestled once before for STARDOM, teaming up with Hazuki too, and back then, she showed that she had a lot of talent. This time around, she had a chance to train with the likes of Kazuchika Okada and Guilia, and obviously Hazuki. Not often, does a celebrity show this amount of dedication.

The match was so much more than I had expectations for. At the end of the day, this is still Fuwa-chan's second match, and yet, she looked quite good in the ring against ring general Hayashishita, who could indeed carry anyone to a good match, but also against Amasaki, who is still a rookie all things considered. This is also a strong point about Amasaki's growth since she joined Queen's Quest.

Match saw Fuwa-chan get beat up a lot, then make a great comeback with enough hope spots that they kinda stopped being hope spots, and they just started to feel like a normal match with any given wrestler. Hayashishita eventually got the pin over Fuwa-chan with a German.

Post-match - Utami and Amasaki shortly put over Fuwa-chan for her performance. Afterwards, Fuwa-chan cut a promo, saying that this was probably the last time she'd do this. Hazuki encouraged her to come back.

Himeka vs. Maika - 7/10
This was ok, it really lacked that special thing that any retirement match should have. They had nice new attires and hair, but they just went out there, Mina Shirakawa did the introductions, and they just wrestled a normal match that didn't feel emotional until the final minute when Maika knew the end was imminent and started to cry as she dropped Himeka with Michinoku Driver IIs and finally go the pin.

Post-match - Himeka cut her retirement promo, and sadly, that was it, only Maika was out there with her.
Post-addendum - They actually made Himeka work the ringside for the rest of the show. No wonder she insisted in going to WAVE for the final match.

Goddesses Of Stardom Championship Match
Neo Stardom Army (Nanae Takahashi & Yuu) (c) vs. God's Eye (Ami Sourei & MIRAI) - 6/10
This was painting out to be a good match, but then we got a really idiotic finish when AMIRAI and NSA brawled outside and the latter lost via countout, not when they couldn't answer the count, but when they did, and Sourei and MIRAI dropkicked them off the apron, on which they had already made, with both feet.

Unfortunate start for AMIRAI's title reign, they really don't feel like they earned the titles. I have to imagine it was a matter of politics and NSA didn't want to drop the titles via pin or submission, because otherwise I don't understand the decision to end the match like that.

Artist Of Stardom Championship Match
Prominence (Hiragi Kurumi, Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki) (c) vs. REstart (KAIRI, Natsupoi & Saori Anou) - 8.5/10
This was really really really good, I just wish that this could had rather been the main event of a lesser show and given these women more time to be in the ring. They kept Anou out of the ring for most of the match, especially building to Anou vs Suzuki, but that mean that she was only in the ring a couple of minutes compared to the rest. Having said that, that alone was enough for Anou to showcase how good she can be in the ring.

Match-wise, it was mostly Prominence having the size in Kurumi to cut off and destroy any of their opponents, but the teamwork done by REstart was enough to counter that power that Prominence holds. As mentioned, the match came down to Anou and Suzuki, who traded German after German, until Anou changed the plan, got Suzuki with a backslide, and picked up the win to crown REstart the new trios champs.

Wonder Of Stardom Championship Match
Saya Kamitani (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa - 8.5/10
In paper, this didn't excite me much, I'm not really into Club Venus, I rather watch Just 5 Guys at this point, but the story that Kamitani and Shirakawa had, going back to Shirakawa getting injured, and now coming back for revenge, made up for everything that this was missing. Kamitani held this title for 480 days, 16 successful defenses, longest reign if we don't count Aikawa's, whose was not your usual title reign, as STARDOM was only just beginning. We knew the end was near, and surely Shirakawa was getting that big push.

Match saw Shirakawa focus on destroying Kamitani's knee from the start, trying to cut off her aerial offense. Kamitani came back and mostly worked her way into the Phoenix Splash, which she eventually hit for a near fall, not a normal occurrence for Kamitani, but after she went for a second one, she had a short second of doubt, that Shirawaka used to recover, bring down Kamitani, drop her repeatedly with Glamorous Drivers, and get the pin for the really emotional finish.

Knockout Or Submission Only Match
Syuri vs. Chihiro Hashimoto - 9.25/10
This was my favorite match of the night. Even from the entrances, this felt like it had more heat that the main event. Syuri was in fighter mode and Hashimoto is the real monster badass that every big person wants to be.

The match was a slugfest, stiff and brutal, and with a stipulation like this, there was a big focus on just hitting each other hard and constantly trying to lock in a submission. Hashimoto relied a lot of power moves, but Syuri kept getting back up, until Syuri was able to catch Hashimoto straight in the head with a kick and get the KO win, when Hashimoto wasn't able to make it up for the 10 count.

Post-match - Syuri thanked Hashimoto and offered to go to Sendai to pay the favor.

IWGP Women's Championship Match
Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Mayu Iwatani - 6.5/10
Well, this was incredibly lack lusting. Everyone was like OMG, dream match, east vs west, blah blah, and it felt really underwhelming. I wasn't a fan of this. Felt really meh. I think fans and journalist alike are going to will this into a great match, just because it's a former WWE wrestler, because she's from the US, because she was was good in her old environment, but Mone is just leagues behind the top women in Japan, hands down.

Match was a generic babyface gets some revenge, gets cut off by the heel, heel heat, comeback, and after a little of back and forth, Mayu won with a Dragon Suplex. This was only about 12 minutes and while Mayu is fantastic at selling how beat up she is, the amount of offense she took wasn't that bad. They didn't even make use of the huge hematoma Mone had on her head, that could had been a great tool to add some drama to the match, and hell, protect Mone on her way out for the nerds out there that thought she should had won.

Post-match - Mayu cut a promo that Mone clearly didn't understand other than ありがとう, so Mone then had to respond in the most generic of promo responses ever.

World Of Stardom Championship Match
Giulia (c) vs. Tam Nakano - 9/10
Of the five title changes this show, this was the only that was a fifty-fifty toss up, either woman could had won, and it would had been understandable, smart, and prolific for the future of STARDOM. Giulia had just won the title, she is clearly handpicked to be at the top, and she delivers every time. Nakano is the sweetheart of STARDOM, also at the top of her game, always delivers, and clearly has Giulia's number.

Match was brutal, both women looked BEAT-UP at the end, both women had busted lips, Nakano straight up a bit puffy to the point that Giulia joked about it. This had slap-galore, tons of Germans and drops, several high stake spots, one of which was a table spot that was pre-cut and didn't offer much fall break. Worst of it all, were the multiple headbutts that Giulia loves, you could just hear them. Finish came after a long haul of big move exchange that ended with Tam spamming Twilight Dreams, a Northern Lights Bomb, and one final Violent Screwdriver for the win.

Post-match - Nakano had some words for Giulia, pretty much telling her that she beat her and took her prize. Giulia responded in her usual manner, cocky and all, telling her that she was ugly and that this was goodbye for now. Nakano then closed the show with a good promo, and her Trust in Tam with the crowd.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Fantastic show, top to bottom, not a single match was bad bad, just underwhelming. The show didn't even feel long, as some tend to do when you finally get to the main event. This was STARDOM's biggest show in history, arguably their biggest gate, but a lot of that was that this had COVID seating, or so it seemed. Nonetheless, a great show that any STARDOM fan should have already seen by now.

[Big Red Machine]

Between you and Rich Fann, this show is on my watch-list now, too.

[cero2k]

Between you and Rich Fann, this show is on my watch-list now, too.

nice!