Goddesses of Stardom Tag League Night 3 (Morning Show)
October 20, 2018
Osaka World Hall
Osaka, Japan

The first of two shows from October 20 gives us an Artist of Stardom defense, a Queens Quest challenge match and Oedo Tai doing battle in the tag league.

Shiki Shibusawa Def. Ruaka

This was fine. The fact that between them there are only 2-3 years in-ring experience combined should tip you off to the kind of match we got. Shibusawa picked up the win as she is placed above the younger Ruaka in the pecking order. **

Queens Quest Special Tag Match: Chardonnay & Konami Def. Bea Priestley & AZM

With all four being members of the same faction this was fought in the spirit of competition. The finish makes sense within this context as AZM tapped immediately when put in an armbar because she doesn’t want to injure herself in a non-tournament match. Konami and Bea were the real sparks to the match and it heated up when they were in the ring. **1/2

Blue Goddess: Mary Apache & Hana Kimura (2) Def. Hanan & Leo Onozaki (0)

This was another character heavy match from Kimura who continues to be a cold, calculating b*tch.

Hanan and Leo showed really good fighting spirit and never gave up despite the never-ending beating from Apache and Kimura. In the end, the result was never in doubt which made this long squash hard to get into. *

Blue Goddess: Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita (4) Def. Starlight Kid & Natsumi (0)

This is everything that the last match wasn’t. Despite the clear difference in experience Natsumi and Kid fought hard and even had the momentum for a long period of time near the end of the match. Starlight Kid, in particular, brought the fight to the Wonder Of Stardom champion Momo. In the end, the champion scored the fall over Kid after a good match ***

Red Goddess: Session Moth Martina & Natsu Sumire (4) Def. Kagetsu & Hazuki (4)

This is one of those your mileage may vary type of matches. To me Kagetsu and Natsu selling clearly fake hits are hilarious, to others, it’s the worst thing they’ve ever seen Kagetsu involved in. This did get serious eventually and the action after that was good but I enjoyed the early comedy more. ***

Artist of Stardom: (C) STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Saki Kashima) Def. J.A.N (Jungle Kyona, Natsuko Tora & Kaori Yoneyama)

These two factions recently traded the Artist and Goddesses titles so these competitors are no strangers to one another. STARS and J.A.N have had this mini-feud brewing which added some intensity to this match. The bulk of the action was everything you’ve come to expect from the Artist titles. A few slower periods which still has some good intensity but a lot of the bodies flying everywhere style of match. Down the stretch, the familiarity came into play as some signature trio spots were interrupted as both teams went for the win. In the end, STARS retained and got one over on J.A.N to make the first defense of these belts. Easily the strongest match on the card and possibly the best match of the day. ****