STARDOM
STARDOM 5 STAR GRAND PRIX OPENING ROUND DAY 2
August 1, 2021
YOKOHAMA BUDOKAN
YOKOHAMA, KANAGAWA, JAPAN

Watch: Pia

Day 1 of the GP kicked things off in fine fashion with Momo Watanabe and Mayu Iwatani delivering an incredible effort to start things off with a bang.  Day 2 is slightly less loaded than day 1 but still features major matches like Giulia vs Mayu Iwatani and Utami Hayashishita vs Saya Kamitani.

BLUE STARS
UNAGI SAYAKA (4) DEF. AZM (0)

Unagi Sayaka surprisingly moves to 2-0 with this win, her uncharacteristically strong start to the GP has been met by increased output in the ring so here’s hoping she can keep things going and have a marquee tournament that fans can look on fondly as part of her inevitable rise up the card.  AZM starts her tournament with a surprising loss but she will recover and pick up points later on with her high speed trickery. **3/4

RED STARS
STARLIGHT KID (2) DEF. SAKI KASHIMA (0)

This was an enjoyable heel vs heel match with both women pulling out some underhanded tactics on the other throughout the match. Starlight Kid notably debuted a new finish known as the Black Tiger Divine Punishment or Wrath Of The Black Tiger, which is a tombstone piledriver variation. ***

RED STARS
NATSUPOI (2) DEF. MOMO WATANABE (2)

High Speed champion Natsupoi gets an expected flash win over Momo Watanabe to get her off the 0 point mark.  Poi winning such a match isn’t a massive deal as her high speed prowess makes her a danger to everyone in the tournament which makes her the perfect foil for someone like Watanabe who may end up winning the block.  Watanabe and Natsupoi are two of my favorites in Stardom and they delivered on my expectations here with Watanabe picking apart Poi with her strikes and Natsupoi coming back with her exceptional agility. ***3/4

BLUE STARS
TAM NAKANO (2) DEF. KONAMI

Konami attacked Nakano before the bell and that set the tone for this one.  I’m used to seeing wrestlers pace themselves in the 5STAR Grand Prix and Nakano getting her arm “injured” in this match should allow her to base her matches around the limb.  Nakano overcoming Konami kind of hurts Konami’s gimmick given she is supposedly an ice-cold submission sniper who can pick people apart, having an injured body part as an advantage and failing to win reflects poorly on Konami to me. ***

BLUE STARS
UTAMI HAYASHISHITA (2) DEF. SAYA KAMITANI (0)

Saya Kamitani has had a killer 2021 and has been elevated constantly since her debut in 2019 but back-to-back losses in the GP to Syuri and then Hayashishita places her firmly below the top tier of Stardom talent as far as booking goes.  That’s not a bad thing by any means and having her once again fail to beat Hayashishita, this is their third meeting with Hayashishita winning all three, this can go a number of ways in the future and Kamitani’s eventual win over Hayashishita can be used when the time is right to elevate Kamitani into a true top star. The match itself was pretty good as the tag team partners have good chemistry in the ring but compared to their World of Stardom Championship match earlier this year it was ultimately lacking in the drama that makes Hayashishita’s matches so good. ***1/2

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BLUE STARS
SYURI (4) DEF. MAIKA (2)

Syuri gets her tournament off to a strong start with this win and co-leads her block after day 2.  Maika getting a massive upset win over Hayashishita on day 1 kind of resigned her to a defeat here.  As much as Stardom likes Maika she wasn’t going to beat both Hayashishita and Syuri on back-to-back shows.  I seem to be in the minority of people that didn’t like this match too much, it felt like an attempt at doing a typical “epic” that never came to life until Syuri kicked Maika in the face and dumped her on her neck for the finish. ***

RED STARS
MAYU IWATANI (2) DEF. GIULIA (2)

During her entrance, Giulia made a big deal of debuting new gear, which has a similar energy to her pre-bald gear signifying the return of the Giulia of old.  While she ended up losing the match Giulia still got her big moment during her entrance and the match was good enough that it doesn’t hurt Giulia at all in defeat.

Both women had amazing performances and really put their bodies on the line in this one.  Iwatani took some ridiculous bumps to the apron and the outside of the ring and still proceeded to have an exchange of shoot headbutts later in the match.  Iwatani visibly flipped the switch halfway through the match and proceeded to destroy Giulia in any way she could which eventually earned her the win, it seemed like Giulia was on the way to victory until Iwatani dug deep.  Following this the win-loss record between Giulia and Iwatani sits at 1-1-1 which keeps them on an even level. ****1/4

FINAL THOUGHTS

Day 2 didn’t reach the heights of Day 1 for me but it was still a very enjoyable event that continued Stardom’s momentum.  There were a number of important happenings on the show with Nakano’s tournament arc getting established being chief among them.  Giulia and Iwatani had one of the best matches of the tournament so far in a match that everyone should watch but if you have time then don’t miss Natsupoin vs Watanabe