Review: Stardom – 2018.04.30 – Cinderella Tournament

Mari Apache, Starlight Kid, Hanan, Nao Yamaguchi & Natsumi vs. Natsuko Tora, Shiki Shibusawa, AZM, Ruaka & Leo Onozaki
Firstly it’s very disappointing that the likes of Natsuko Tora are not in the Cinderella Tournament itself. Natsuko has been an incredibly reliable performer over the last year and has been improving steadily, she deserved better than this. This match was essentially just 40 seconds for each person to get them on the show. It wasn’t bad but nobody really got any chance to shine. Starlight Kid pinned Leo Onozaki with a spinning frog splash for the win. 2/5

Konami vs. Momo Watanabe (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
To say they had less than four minutes, this was very good. The first half was a great kicking exchange before a couple of submissions by Konami and finally Momo taking control and hitting the top rope somato for the win. These two worked really well together. Momo advances to the quarter-finals. 3.25/5

Saki Kashima vs. Candy Floss (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
A fairly decent match. Candy dominated almost all of it with various dropkicks and armbars. Saki didn’t really hit much other than a suplex and My Emblem (her name for her Killswitch/Unprettier) which gave her the win. 2.5/5

Bea Priestley vs. Session Moth Martina (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
Another great showing by Martina. Korakuen Hall seemed to love her comedy spots. Bea played her part well too as the serious wrestler who hates comedy. There was some genuinely good back-and-forth action before Bea Priestley pinned Session Moth Martina after a curb stomp. 3.25/5

Natsu Sumire vs. Brandi Rhodes (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
Brandi is not a great wrestler but this was a fun match. Oedo Tai had managed to convince Brandi to represent Oedo Tai and Kagetsu & Nao were in her corner. Sumire’s reactions to this were great. There was not that much to the actual match. Brandi hit a slingblade before reversing a pin attempt by Sumire into her own pin for the win. 2.5/5

Hazuki vs. Hana Kimura (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
Easily the best match so far and Hana’s best Stardom performance for quite a while. It was intense right from the start as Hazuki attacked Hana during her entrance. It was a great back-and-forth match with some good apron spots, including a tease of the powerbomb of the apron that Hazuki did to Hana during the elimination tag a couple of months ago. Hazuki  got the win by getting Hana over the top rope. After the match the two shook hands and embraced. The only thing I would have liked would for this to be a lot longer than the five minutes it was given. 3.75/5

Tam Nakano vs. Mayu Iwatani (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
Another very good match and Tam did very well to almost match Mayu. There were a lot of great kicks throughout and great emotion and selling from both. Tam worked Mayu’s previously injured elbow which looked brutal. Mayu got the pin with a bridged dragon suplex. 3.75/5

Io Shirai vs. Chardonnay (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
I was again very impressed by Chardonnay who seems to work really well with Io. This was smoothly worked all the way through. Io eventually submitted Chardonnay with a Texas Cloverleaf. 3.5/5

Jungle Kyona vs. Kagetsu (Cinderella Tournament First Round)
Kagetsu showed her awesome range in this match as she debuted her alter-ego, Kageko. It was a really fun match with Kagetsu initially in character as a weak “princess” character before eventually removing the dress and becoming the normal Kagetsu. Jungle Kyona was great throughout too, it must have been hard to keep a straight-face. Jungle Kyona eventually powerbombed Kagetsu off the apron to win. 3.75/5

Hazuki vs. Bea Priestley (Cinderella Tournament Second Round)
This was very quick at just over three minutes, but high quality. Oedo Tai interfered pretty quickly to help Hazuki and she almost got the pin when she landed Bombs Away. Bea took control with some sweet kicks and finished the job with a curb stomp to get the pin. 3.5/5

Mayu Iwatani vs. Saki Kashima (Cinderella Tournament Second Round)
A very athletic match and more punishment for Mayu’s elbow. Saki’s finisher “My Emblem” was teased a number of times but Mayu escaped. Mayu hit a great German suplex in the middle of the match and eventually got the pin with a bridged dragon suplex. Saki looked very good in this. 3.75/5

Brandi Rhodes vs. Io Shirai (Cinderella Tournament Second Round)
Brandi was a little more exposed in this match without the interference of Oedo Tai. She hit some chops, an awkaward looking dropkick, the Cross Rhodes and a slingblade but not much else. She didn’t do anything too bad but the gulf in class was obvious. Io dominated and hit a moonsault to get the pin. 2.5/5

Momo Watanabe vs. Jungle Kyona (Cinderella Tournament Second Round)
A brilliant, stiff match straight from the start. Huge forearms, kicks and power moves throughout. This was the best i’ve seen Kyona look for a while (to be fair she has had very few big singles matches). The spots on the apron after they had both gone over the top rope were great. Momo finally hit the B-Driver on the apron before kicking Jungle Kyona off for the win. 4/5

Mayu Iwatani vs. Io Shirai (Cinderella Tournament Semi-Final)
Everytime these two have had a singles match together it has been special and this was no different. With the 10-minute time limit it wasn’t quite as epic as some of their past battles but it was every bit as engaging and intense. It was fought at a frenetic pace with incredible stiffness and passion. Everything was chained together so smoothly and the near falls and over the top rope scares were perfect. Io almost won but her moonsault missed and Mayu almost capitalised with a dragon suplex but the bell rang to end the match and signal a time-limit draw. 4.25/5

With the first semi-final resulting in a draw, the second semi-final became the final.

Bea Priestley vs. Momo Watanabe (Cinderella Tournament Final)
A very good match but a little abrupt. As expected this was super stiff from both women. There were tons of kicks and stamps. There is no doubt that Momo has really arrived at the top of the Stardom card now. Bea was very impressive too and is quickly establishing herself as one of the best gaijin in Stardom. After some great back-and-forth Momo Watanabe pinned Bea Preistley after a Half Nelson Suplex and became the 2018 Cinderella Tournament winner. 4/5

As the tournament winner Momo was able to be “granted one wish”. She challenged Io for the White Belt once again.