Hanako might not have been delighted to see them return. Credit: Here
Arisa Nakajima is back! Let’s revel in that fact before we worry about the announcement made at the end of this show. Nakajima returned at Korakuen Hall in an all-star showdown that also included the start of a temporary return for Tsukasa Fujimoto. That sounds like a good time, doesn’t it? Let’s find out if it was.
It’s SEAd’s sixth birthday, and to celebrate, they’re giving the devil herself a title shot. It’s perhaps not how I’d have chosen to do it, but hey, it’s Aniki who is taking the beating, not me.
Twenty-five years is a long time to do anything, never mind something as physically demanding as wrestling. That’s doubly true when you are Nanae Takahashi, who hasn’t exactly taken it easy. Thankfully, she’s made it this far in one piece and chose to celebrate her 25th Anniversary by putting together one hell of a card. Although, I would question the logic of booking herself against Arisa Nakajima, who, let’s face it, probably wants to hurt her. But hey, what do I know?
My journey through Stardom’s history has become a bit of a leisurely stroll, but that’s not a problem! Who is in a hurry to get anywhere? We’ve made it to their first anniversary, so that’s not too bad! Let’s see pop in and see how Stardom was getting on.
It’s time to move into 2012 in our run through Stardom’s history, and while the shows on Stardom World are a bit sparse for around this time, I’m determined to try and get my hands on as many of them as possible. Thankfully, the first few shows are already there, so that’s a future Stuart problem, and we can look at how Stardom kicked off their year.
Yuzopon’s legs aren’t quite long enough. Credit: Stardom
It’s been a fair while since I did one of these, so let’s head back to 2011 and the end of Stardom’s first full year as a company. We’re unfortunately in a period where Stardom World is missing quite a few shows, but I’ll fill you in on the big stuff that we’ve missed. First up, there was a couple of title challenges, Io Shirai falling short against Yuzopon for the Wonder of Stardom belt and Taiyo failing to beat Nanae for the World of Stardom title. Stardom also ran their first ever tag league with Yuzopon and Yuko Bito beating Taiyo and Yoshiko in the final, making them the first ever Goddesses champions. Finally, they held a Rookie of The Year tournament, which saw Yoshiko beat Arisa to take that particular crown. So, all in all, it was a busy period for Stardom and hopefully those shows turn up someday so we can fill in the gaps. Now, though, it’s time to ramble about Stardom’s penultimate show of 2011, enjoy!
It’s been a while since I put together a Wrestler Mixtape and having enjoyed the brilliant Hamuko Hoshi vs Tsukushi Haruka IW19 title match, I was in the mood for some more Skoosh. So, here are three random matches plucked from YouTube and some rambling about the twenty-three-year-old veteran to go along with them. Enjoy!
It’s time for a slight tangent in our run through Stardom’s history. Before the next show on Stardom World, they sent a team to Sendai Girl’s Flash Tournament. Featuring entrants from JWP, WAVE, Stardom, Ice Ribbon, Sendai Girls, Reina, Diana and a freelance team, it was the Assemble of its day, making it a fitting show to cover at the moment. Plus it gives us a chance to have a wee peek at what was going on in different companies.
Sadly, due to Stardom not having their entire back catalogue up on World, we’ve had to leap forward a couple of months in our trawl through their history. There were five shows in the period we’ve missed, with a few interesting results scattered throughout them. However, the biggest thing to happen was the debut of someone called Io Shirai? Can’t say I know much about her, but I guess we’ll see how she gets on.
On their fifth anniversary, SEAdLINNNG made the exciting decision to air the show live on YouTube, one that I like to imagine was inspired by Nanae’s recent ChocoTalk where she was stunned to discover people all over the world were tuning in. Whether that’s the case or not, any chance to watch SEAd live on an easily accessible platform is a good thing. Now, let’s see how they did.