Review: Stardom – 2017.7.30

Starlight Kid vs. Hanan vs. Ruaka
This was a good opener. It amazes me that 3 kids can have a match that is technically superior and better put together than some WWE womens matches. Hanan has a background in Judo and uses it well as she demonstrates some great takedowns.  Starlight Kid impresses as usual with her standing moonsaults (though the second one was slightly misjudged). Ruaka wasn’t involved too much in the match but is progressing nicely in Stardom and is still only 12. My only complaint is the finish where Starlight Kid won after reversing an attempted pin by Hanan. 2.5/5

Hiromi Mimura vs. Shiki Shibusawa
This was only Shiki Shibusawa’s third match. She is looking pretty good to say she is so green with only one large error occurring when she misjudged a body slam and both wrestlers fell backwards. Her drop kick looks good though and I’m looking forward to seeing her improve. The match was a typical Stardom rookie match with simple strikes and holds and lots of dropkicks. Though I didn’t really like the finish where it was Shiki hitting the bigger moves but Hiromi rolled her up for a simple pin. 1.5/5

Team Jungle (Natsuko Tora & Kaori Yoneyama) vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kris Wolf)
The match begins with Kimura posing before encouraging Tora & Yoneyama to oblige. When they do Oedo Tai predictably attack them. Oedo Tai quickly isolate Tora with various holds and a leg drop to the groin by Wolf. Kimura is tagged in and she and Tora exchange some good forearms before Kimura lands some big kicks to the head. Tora manages to get some seperation with a shoulder tackle and tags in Yoneyama who is as smooth as ever with some nice sentons and strikes.

Kimura manages to tag in Wolf and she and Yoneyama have a great high-speed exchange of strikes, kicks and attempted pins. Tora is tagged in and her and Yoneyama attempt a double team suplex but Wolf escapes and hits them both with a springboard crossbody. A slightly misjudged double team from Wolf and Kimura followed. Soon they attempted another double team but Tora countered and hit them both with a nice double spear. She hit Wolf with another spear and Yoneyama hit her with a senton from the middle rope. Team Jungle then attempted a double team where Yoneyama helped Tora flip from the top rope (see gif) but it missed and Wolf pinned Tora for the win. A good, fast-paced match. 3/5

Yoko Bito, Konami & Mari Apache vs. Shanna, Gabby Ortiz & Xia Brookside
The lineup for this match was a little strange with two of Stardom’s best and the legendary Mari Apache against Shanna and two women very early in their wrestling career. Apache and Shanna started things off, Shanna hitting a hurricanrana and Apache hitting a nice tilt ‘o whirl back breaker. Bito & Brookside then tagged in. Bito got a few strikes in before tagging Apache back in.  Brookside seemed to botch a hurricanrana of her own before she was ragdolled by Apache who set her up for the suplex before Shanna came in for the save. Brookside tagged in Ortiz. There was a botched attempt at a Mexican Surfboard but Apache quickly transitioned into other holds. Konami was next in to work on Ortiz whose ring awareness was slightly slow in a couple of spots.

Shanna was tagged in and delivered a wicked forearm to Konami which looked great. Brookside and Bito were soon tagged back in, Brookside looked a little lost but Shanna quickly got back in and had some great kick exchanges with Bito. Apache was tagged in before Shanna could make a tag herself and quickly delivered a great torture rack. Bito hit Shanna with a B Driver but Brookside saved her during Apache’s submission attempt. Everyone had a melee in the ring for a while before Shanna and Brookside threw Konami and Bito to the outside and then jumped from the top rope to join them. Ortiz kicked out of a spinning heel kick and axe kick from Apache then reversed an attempted Michinoku Driver into a pin attempt but Apache kicked out. Apache finally hits the Michinoku driver for the win. The match flowed well enough but the inexperience of Brookside & Ortiz was quite apparent throughout. 2/5

Oedo Tai (Kagetsu & Viper) vs. Queen’s Quest (HZK & AZM) vs. Jungle Kyona & Mayu Iwatani
This was a great main event. The rest of Oedo Tai helped Viper & Kagetsu throw everyone outside at the start and then they took turns throwing each other into the seats and Kris Wolf hit HZK with an umbrella. Once things had calmed Viper was left in the ring with AZM.  It’s great to see AZM be in bigger matches. When she was trapped in the corner with Viper ready for the cannonball all the other match participants ran into the ring but Viper managed to throw them all into the same corner then deliver the cannonball to all four of them. After Oedo Tai further weakened AZM, Viper body slammed her into the mat but did not want to do the big splash on her. Everyone ran into the ring and AZM and HZK delivered simultaneous dropkicks to Mayu and Jungle Kyona. HZK & AZM then delivered a double dropkick to Viper.

They tried to capitalize but Kyona broke things up. The next section of the match was some great stiff shots between HZK & Kyona and HZK delivered a codebreaker. This is one of the best feuds in Stardom and what they showed here makes me even more excited for their future matches. Oedo Tai cleared the ring and then it was Mayu & Kagetsu’s turn to grow their feud. There was some incredible sequences in this and there is no doubt that their title match on the 13th August has the chance to be a match of the year contender. Kyona hit a big lariat when she got back in the ring on Kagetsu then worked Mayu helped her jump over her head into a missile dropkick. Kyona sat on the top rope and Mayu climbed onto her shoulders before hitting a slightly clumsy frog splash to Kagetsu before Kyona hit her own. AZM then cleared the ring with a couple of tilt-a-whirl armdrags (?) before applying a great octopus lock on Viper who managed to break free but AZM rolled her up. Kagetsu came in for the save before miscommunication between her and Viper led to them hitting each other. HZK & AZM retook control. Everone came in the ring for the finale. There were some big kicks between Kagetsu, HZK & Mayu. Viper cleared the ring before Kagetsu finished the match with a beautiful 450 splash to HZK for the pin. 4/5

After the match Io Shirai returned and announced she is back in Stardom. Io cleared the ring and asked Viper to join Queens’s Quest, she accepted. A really fun main event that progressed the story and individual feuds.