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.
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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.
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With Tokyo Joshi finished, it was time to go to the second most important show of the day. January 4th at the Tokyo Dome is a New Japan tradition, and even if they were running two dates there this year, there was something extra special about the first. Watching Wrestle Kingdom a few years ago got me into Japanese wrestling and, well, have a look around this site if you want to know how important that was to me. So, let’s find out what New Japan gave me on my first trip to their biggest show of the year.
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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.
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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.
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The build to Stardom’s final Korakuen of the year has been almost perfect so far and with their last stop taking place in the comfortable surroundings of Shinkiba, let’s see if they could nail the landing.
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I’m working my way through my post-Tag League review backlog in chronological order, so it’s only natural that the next one will be Stardom’s second show from Osaka at the start of the month. Let’s see what went down.
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Stardom is on the road to their final show of 2019 and kicked off life post-Tag League with a doubleheader in Osaka. There aren’t any big matches on these, but they’ll be sowing the seeds for what is to come over the next few weeks.
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There is a chance this review could get emotional for reasons that I’m sure everyone is aware of. Still, it’s Stardom, and that always makes me happy even if it is also going to make me sad.
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Tag League is done and dusted, but Stardom’s year is far from over. They were back in Shin-Kiba for a show headlined by Andras and Kagetsu defending their Artists Titles for the first time since things went, well, let’s go with sour. How did it go down? The picture is a bit of a spoiler, but read on to find out.
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