Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
You go forever without a Korakuen, and suddenly Stardom is there every second week. Their latest visit to that hallowed hall was all about putting those vacant belts back on people. Throw in a High Speed three-way that’s been long in the making, and you’ve got the potential for a decent show.
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The Stardom return continued as they put together a two-show weekend to build to significant events in Korakuen, Osaka and Nagoya. While the cards were still unannounced going in, they had a lot of matches to set-up, so you could guarantee there was going to be a few interesting wrinkles.
Continue reading “Stardom New Summer (11/7/20) Review”
I don’t think a wrestling show has ever kicked off my anxiety as much as this one. A lot has happened since Stardom last ran, and while I was delighted to have them back, there is no denying that there is a large shadow over their return to the ring. Hana Kimura’s death is still being processed by many, and the thought of Stardom without her is going to take a long time to get used to.
Continue reading “Stardom Is Again (21/6/20) Review”
I thought I was safe from Stardom making me emotional, but they’ve only gone and pulled Kagetsu back for one last match. The traditional retirement gauntlet headlined this show, and I wasn’t going to miss a chance to ramble about that.
Continue reading “Stardom New Year Stars (15/2/20) Review”
Stardom recently rocked up in Osaka for one of their two-show days which brought with it another trio of High Speed Grand Prix matches. While this tournament has almost trundled along in the background of Stardom’s usual offering, it hasn’t stopped me enjoying it, so let’s see if the speedy goodness continued.
Continue reading “Stardom High Speed Grand Prix (11/2/20) Review”
Stardom’s second Korakuen of the year was supposed to be headlined by the dream match of Mayu Iwatani vs Sareee. Unfortunately, Sareee got ill, which led to her having to pull out at the last minute. Now we can only cross our fingers and hope they find a way to reschedule before Sareee ruins her career by moving to Tampa. Still, Stardom did a great job of leaping into action and finding a suitable replacement in the form of Takumi Iroha of Marvelous. Could it live up to the expectations placed on that original match? Time to find out.
Continue reading “Stardom The Way To Major League (8/2/20) Review”
Gosh, this came around quickly, didn’t it? It’s time for Kagetsu’s final Stardom match. While she’s doing a wee retirement tour around various joshi companies before facing off with her trainer Meiko Satomura one more time, it already feels like things are coming to an end. She certainly couldn’t have picked a better trio of wrestlers to say goodbye with, that’s for sure, as she and Mayu go up against Jungle and Momo in one hell of a main event. I could try and tease the idea of whether it delivered or not, but I suspect you know the answer.
Continue reading “Stardom 9th Anniversary In Osaka (26/1/20) Review”
On their 9th birthday Stardom did something they’d never done before and packed Korkauen Hall right up to the balcony. That famous old venue was bursting at the seams, and it was a beautiful sight. Yes, you can point to the advertising power of Bushiroad, but a card headlined by Mayu vs Momo is one of the biggest Stardom can deliver, and it had the crowd it deserved. Now, it was down to the wrestlers to impress.
Continue reading “Stardom 9th Anniversary Show (19/1/20) Review”
Stardom has decided to blow away the January blues with a little tournament. The High Speed Grand Prix is a five-person round-robin where the two people with the most points will face-off in the final with the winner challenging for Riho’s title. It seemed like the perfect slab of wrestling to follow along with, and the three matches reviewed below came from the two Osaka shows on January 11th plus the Shizuoka show from the 12th.
Continue reading “Stardom High Speed Grand Prix (11-12/1/20) Review”
A quick note before I get started, I am going to be cutting down on the number of shows I review this year. I’ll still be doing a decent amount, but I want to write about some other things, and it’s hard to do that when you’re trying to keep up to date on multiple promotions. With companies like Stardom, I’ll pick and choose the exciting or noteworthy events while I wouldn’t expect in-depth reviews of every New Japan tournament (cheerio, Tag League). It’s a small change, but one I thought was worth mentioning.
Anyway, today I am going to have a look at Stardom’s second show of the year, which ended on an angle that saw them give the hornet’s nest a boot before 2020 had properly woken up.
Continue reading “Stardom New Year Stars (3/1/20) Review”
Ramblings About Wrestling 