STARDOM
Triangle Derby I Championship Battle
March 4, 2023
Yoyogi National Stadium
Tokyo, Japan

Watch: PPV (check STARDOM English Twitter)

Maika, Mai Sakurai & Thekla vs. Mina Shirakawa, Mariah May & Waka Tsukiyama

A trios match to kick off the card for STARDOM. One of the only two matches on the main card with zero stakes. Waka Tsukiyama now has a month left to get a win or she’s out of the Cosmic Angels. I’m sure she’ll try here, but the odds of Donna del Mondo losing are low. Prediction: Maika, Mai Sakurai & Thekla

STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Koguma, Hanan, Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo) vs. Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe, Saki Kashima, Ruaka & Fukigen Death)

STARS vs. Oedo Tai — aka a tale as old as time. This match can go either way but little stakes to be had and the fact Oedo Tai has the number of STARS more often than not, we’ll guess a Saki Kashima Revival will earn her the win and give her some momentum for the High-Speed Championship challenge that she has on the way. Prediction: Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe, Saki Kashima, Ruaka & Fukigen Death

Triangle Derby Semifinals
7Upp (Nanae Takahashi, Yuu & Yuna Mizumori) vs. Prominence (Suzu Suzuki, Risa Sera & Kurumi Hiiragi)

The first Triangle Derby has been an up-and-down journey to this point with the matches rarely meeting the level many expect out of STARDOM but as fans had the opportunity to cheer, it only seemed to get better and better which should lead to the semifinals being great professional wrestling. The first semifinal matchup features all outsiders of STARDOM as the original invaders, Prominence, take on 7Upp who are fresh off the Goddess Tag League victory at the end of 2022. The Artist of Stardom Champions are right where they should be as among the best trios in STARDOM, but this challenge will be a difficult one for them.

It feels unlikely the champs make the finals as that would give us a potential preview of the title match if either God’s Eye or Cosmic Angels were to beat them, so for that purpose we will go with 7Upp on this one. Prediction: Nanae Takahashi, Yuu & Yuna Mizumori

Triangle Derby Semifinals
God’s Eye (Syuri, MIRAI & Ami Sourei) vs. Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano, Natsupoi & SAKI)

The winner is in this match right here. Will God’s Eye finally rise to the top of the trios division and win the Artist of Stardom Championship after winning the Triangle Derby? Or will the Cosmic Angels get themselves back on track and into a title picture once again with a win? Tam Nakano, Natsupoi, and SAKI have shown good chemistry throughout and could be seen as favorites with the potential of a 7Upp rematch lurking in the finals. That said, the inevitable rise for Syuri, MIRAI, and Ami Sourei is coming. They’ve exemplified dominance since coming together nearly a year ago and as a celebration of one year together, winning this tournament and being the champions feels like the perfect way to celebrate. Prediction: Syuri, MIRAI & Ami Sourei

Triangle Derby Finals

There’s confidence that the winner of this tournament will come from the God’s Eye vs. Cosmic Angels match. The opportunity for Tam Nakano and Natsupoi to potentially get their win back over 7Upp after dropping the Goddess of Stardom Championship to them at Stardom Dream Queendom makes almost too much sense. Here’s to hoping for a great final with this possibly main eventing the show. Prediction: Winner of God’s Eye vs. Cosmic Angels

Himeka vs. Chihiro Hashimoto

As part of Himeka’s retirement tour, one of the matches that she asked for is against “Big Hash” herself, Chihiro Hashimoto. A major singles match between two of the best powerhouses in Joshi is never something to complain about, so this should be excellent. Himeka has had success thus far on her retirement road as Donna del Mondo defeated Prominence in a Hardcore Match. That being said, having success against Hashimoto sounds like a tall task seeing that the Sendai Girls ace is seemingly unstoppable on her road to facing Syuri at All Star Grand Queendom in April.

As much as I’d like to say “The Jumbo Princess” has a shot, “Big Hash” isn’t going down. Prediction: Chihiro Hashimoto

High-Speed Championship
AZM (c) vs. Starlight Kid

The Rematch.™

Maybe no match can send STARDOM into top gear for 2023 more than the highly-anticipated rematch between AZM and Starlight Kid with the High-Speed Championship on the line. This match has a lot more meaning to it than just being a title match. AZM and Starlight Kid are generational rivals — that much we know. But what makes this so great is that the match they had a year ago was the one that also kicked STARDOM into top gear for 2022 at the end of February. After having to be canceled at the start of January, this match has only gained more excitement and anticipation as fans have had to wait.

It was AZM who wanted this match though, which makes the stakes higher. After defeating Hikari Shimizu to successfully defend the championship at Stardom Dream Queendom, AZM made the challenge quickly. After holding the title now for over a year, AZM wants to break the defense record by beating her lifetime rival for V10. Add in the fact that AZM is also preparing herself to take on Mercedes Moné for the IWGP Women’s Championship, and this match has an interesting caveat. Could the biggest match of her career force AZM to lose focus and drop the belt back to Starlight Kid or will it drive her to be better and head in as a champion? That’s the big question and one that will be answered Saturday. High-speed greatness is coming our way. Prediction: AZM

Wonder of Stardom Championship
Saya Kamitani (c) vs. Hazuki

This is the one. Saya Kamitani has already broken the defense record for the Wonder of Stardom Championship after defeating Momo Watanabe at Cinderella Journey 2023 so from here on out, anyone could walk out as the new Wonder of Stardom Champion. The excitement here is that Hazuki has been ready to be Wonder of Stardom Champion since before her retirement in 2019. And her finally challenging for the championship is what should have all STARDOM fans jumping for joy. She’s been more determined than ever to end the reign of Kamitani as we’ve seen with her teasing of Kamitani on social media and essentially wrecking her in all their preview matches.

There are levels to this match that go beyond a champion and a challenger. But Hazuki’s moment is coming soon enough and if this was the time for it to happen, no one would be complaining. With Mina Shirakawa having to get her title match somewhere in the future, there’s doubt as to whether or not it will be Hazuki getting the title win here (and the Cinderella Tournament beginning soon). No matter what happens, this could be a match-of-the-year contender at the very least. Prediction: Saya Kamitani

World of Stardom Championship
Giulia (c) vs. Maya Yukihi

The battle between former Ice Ribbon members has arrived and it will feature the World of Stardom Championship on the line. Giulia has had a problem with Maya Yukihi since the moment she stepped into STARDOM. She showed that she wasn’t happy with Yukihi’s arrival at the Triangle Derby I press conference and she went as far as being the one to challenge Yukihi to the title match rather than the other way around. After taking some time to make the decision, the Rebel X Enemy member revealed that she’d accept the match because of her disdain for STARDOM, Giulia, and Rossy Ogawa. The best way to get at all three is to take the World of Stardom Championship.

Giulia will now have challenged two of her former Ice Ribbon roster members as the champion, following up on how truly insane her reign can be without tipping into the STARDOM side of things. Frankly, Giulia has never gotten the better of Yukihi which makes this challenge incredibly interesting. When Yukihi was ICExInfinity Champion, Giulia made the challenge but came up short. Now the roles have flipped and Giulia is a different competitor for sure, but Yukihi still has all the ability she had then (and maybe even better). The Donna del Mondo leader should have this still, but it’ll be competitive to the final bell.

These two are going to go to war. And it’s going to be tremendous. Get ready. Prediction: Giulia

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