Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
Hey Covid-19, fuck you. Stardom had a pretty dress on the line, and they were gonna run the Cinderella Tournament whether you liked it or not. Although judging by the fact Korakuen was near-empty, the Japanese public wasn’t quite ready to return, and with what’s happened since, it’s probably the last time we’ll see this for a while. Oh well, that’s all the more reason to enjoy it now.
Continue reading “Stardom Cinderella Tournament (24/3/20)”
I think this is probably the most diverse match of the month list I’ve put together yet. In the past, I’ve had star ratings to work by when figuring this out and, honestly, I think that was restricting the way I did it. Now, I’m just pulling out the notebook and picking the ten that have stuck with me the most. So, welcome to a rather different, but certainly not worse, round-up of my favourites matches from last month.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches of February 2020”
Just a few months after her debut, Saya Kamitani has earned her first singles main event, taking on Utami for the Future Of Stardom Title. Sadly, as one wrestler stepped up, another stepped away, with this show marking Leo Onozaki’s retirement. So, let’s celebrate her career and toast to Kamitani’s future with a good old-fashioned review. I’m sure it’s the present they both wanted.
Continue reading “Stardom New Year Stars (16/2/20) 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’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”
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”
January the second was Stardom time! Wrestle Kingdom may have been the initial inspiration for this trip, but let’s not beat around the bush, I was just as excited about watching Stardom. I’ve fallen in love with this company over the last year and having reviewed every show (I think, I certainly didn’t miss many) of 2019, being at their first of 2020 was a no-brainer. I was sober and fully with it, so I’ll be returning to the traditional structure. However, don’t expect any great analysis of the matches themselves because I was not taking notes.
Continue reading “Stardom New Years Stars (2/1/20) Review”
Stardom’s final show of the year has taken on all kinds of meaning. In many ways, it is setting up a new era for the company as they move forward under the stewardship of Bushiroad. However, it is a new era tinged by sadness as they said goodbye to Hazuki and had another wrestler announce their retirement (more on that later). Change is coming one way or another.
Continue reading “Stardom Year End Climax (24/12/19) Review”
Ramblings About Wrestling 