STARDOM
CINDERELLA TOURNAMENT 2023 OPENING ROUND
MARCH 26, 2023
YOKOHAMA BUDOKAN
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
The Cinderella Tournament is one of the most unique tournaments in all of pro wrestling but in recent years the opening round has failed to really deliver on the full excitement the tournament offers. With 18, yes 18(!), matches on today’s show I’m sure some will have me wanting the tournament abolished while others will remind me of the magic the Cinderella can hold.
For any who are new to STARDOM and the Cinderella, the rules of this tournament are as follows. Each match has a time limit (10 minutes for earlier rounds) and if the match ends in a draw both competitors are eliminated, wrestlers can also win by pinfall, submission, or over-the-top-rope elimination, which is usually a great way to pull off an upset or two in the early rounds.
WAKA TSUKIYAMA DEF. LADY C
Short opening match that really served to showcase the levelled up Waka. Now that she’s got her first win under her belt it will be interesting to see where she ultimately settles on the card and how much her popularity holds over. **1/2
SAYA IIDA DEF. MIYU AMASAKI
On a show with 18 matches, I’m not sure this one needed much time. Both are stuck to the lower end of the card and don’t really have anything interesting going on right now so there wasn’t much to this beyond some solid wrestling. **
AMI SOREI DEF. YUNA MIZUMORI
This was pretty good when they were doing hoss stuff with Ami eventually getting the nod and out-powering Yuna to throw her over the top rope for the win. **3/4
STARLIGHT KID VS HARUKA UMESAKI – DOUBLE ELIMINATION
This is definitely more along the lines of what I like to see. There was a lot of crisp wrestling with some urgency to get the win unlike the other matches. They didn’t slow down and tease a bunch of over the top rope eliminations before the finish either the double elimination felt like a natural progression to the match they were having. ***1/2
XENA DEF. HINA
Australian Xena made her debut as a surprise X and seems to have aligned with Club Venus already. I’ve never seen Xena but she was pretty solid here, a lot of her offense is impactful and it never looked like she or Hina were out of synch. With some inexperienced wrestlers they can be a second behind the Japanese talents but Xena looked at home here. ***
MARIAH MAY DEF. RINA
This match really benefited from being part of an actual feud. Rina, who is a teenager still, has been mocking May for not speaking Japanese for weeks now and May got a chance to live out a lot of people’s dream by beating up the annoying teenager here. The storyline definitely added a bit of animosity that was missing from the other matches and made it more enjoyable. ***1/4
SAKI KASHIMA DEF. MOMO KOHGO
The High Speed wrestlers always excel in the Cinderella environment and this was no different. The match was paced quite well and had the added benefit of Kohgo being a believable name for an upset, she even had new gear for the match. Kashima managing to use her veteran poise to get the win certainly made this one of the more engaging matches of the first round so far. ***
MIRAI DEF. HANAN
I’ve learned never to doubt MIRAI or Hanan and they had a good match here. Despite neither really being High Speed style wrestlers they were able to make pretty good use of their time. It may have been better if they’d leaned on the judo vs judo matchup a bit more but the little bits we got were enough. ***1/4
THEKLA DEF. KOGUMA
When they stayed away from the attempts at comedy this was really good. Thekla and Koguma are two of the best high-speed wrestlers in Stardom and this was a teaser of what they can do. ***1/2
NATSUKO TORA DEF. RUAKA
Really enjoyable brawl here from the tag partners. The attempt to out-cheat each other filling the time between the hoss stuff was a good way to fill time, Ruaka has seriously levelled ups since the BMI2000 vs 7Upp match at Korakuen recently and this was a big showcase of how far she’s come. ***1/2
SYURI DEF. TOMOKA INABA
This was GREAT. They just kicked the heck out of each other for pretty much the entire match. This was a full showcase of what Inaba brings to the table for any who are unfamiliar while Syuri showed us that she’s the best at what she does regardless of match length. ***3/4
AZM VS HAZUKI – DOUBLE ELIMINATION
This kind of match fully showcases the potential of the Cinderella tournament and its ruleset. They worked a high pace against the time limit, had some really tense over the top rope teases, and had a finish you won’t see from any other Stardom match. Best match of the show so far and a pretty fair result since AZM has other stuff to do and shouldn’t be progressing in the tournament. ****
MAI SAKURAI DEF. GIULIA
This show has really ramped up with the last few matches this was another really good outing. They spent a good minute or two just slapping the crap out of one another and the finish was absolutely genius. Mai gets to say she outsmarted Giulia to get the win and even got promo time afterwards which makes me think she’ll go far in the tournament. ***3/4
NATSUPOI VS MINA SHIRAKAWA – DOUBLE ELIMINATION
I had this one pinned down as a draw from the moment the bracket was announced and I’m pleased to see that was correct. With how the match was wrestled I expect Natsupoi to be the first challenger for Mina Shirakawa after she beats Saya Kamitani. Their exchanges in this definitely felt like the precursor to a white belt feud. The finish took this down a bit as they spent too long in a figure four on the apron but the actual work was good. ***1/2
MAYU IWATANI VS SAYA KAMITANI- DOUBLE ELIMINATION
Once again Mayu and Saya give us a brief glimpse of what they could do together. They did it in the 5STAR GP and they did it again here. I have to assume they’ll have a big-time match someday which is why they have yet to go all out in a tournament setting. This was enjoyable until the abrupt finish but I understand why it was done. ***1/2
MOMO WATANABE DEF. MAIKA
Well with that, the tournament favourite is out. I fully expected Maika to get the win so she could challenge Giulia on one of the big shows in May but instead she’s out of here in round 1. For the third time in two months this tournament has been blown wide open and it is really anybody’s game at this stage. ***1/2
UTAMI HAYASHISHITA VS NANAE TAKAHASHI – TIME LIMIT DRAW
Stardom has something on their hands here. I’m not sure why but every time Nanae and Utami square off you can see sparks fly. This was another good tease of what an eventual big match could be with one of Utami’s signature tropes, the abrupt TLD, rearing its head. ***1/2
TAM NAKANO DEF. HIMEKA
I am a vehement defender of the CInderella tournament and its unique ruleset even in the face of a growing sentiment to get rid of the time limits and OTR eliminations. Matches like this go a long way to reminding me why the Cinderella is perfect as it is. In no other tournament would you get a match as fun as this, they just went at it with big moves, stiff strikes, and some dangerous bumps right from the get-go. Sometimes you just can’t beat two wrestlers going in there and producing some dumb violence in under 10 minutes. ****1/4
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a real tale of two halves. The undercard showed brief glimpses of promise but was mostly forgettable, the second half of the show was everything great about the Cinderella. We got shocking results, fun sprints, a variety of styles showcased, and a tournament blown wide open with pretty much every favourite now eliminated. If I had to recommend anything it would be Tam/Himeka, AZM/Hazuki, Syuri/Inaba and Giulia/Mai but you can’t go wrong with any match after Thekla vs Koguma.
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