AZM: A Decade of the High-Speed Bomb Girl

AZM was born to be a pro wrestler.

And for almost half her life, she has been a pro wrestler. That’s impressive because at just 21 years old, she is celebrating her 10th anniversary as a pro wrestler today. We’ve experienced a decade of the “High-Speed Bomb Girl,” and it’s clear she was put on earth to be a professional wrestler. And a special one at that.

Today, we celebrate ten years of AZM—one of the best high-speed wrestlers of all time—and how she’s only just scratched the surface of her potential.

AZM: A Decade of the High-Speed Bomb Girl

First off—It’s Azumi, not A-Z-M. And she is ready to make that name a household name for years to come.

“You may not be able to say ‘Azumi’ now,” AZM told Mercedes Moné at the Sakura Genesis press conference. “But tomorrow I’m gonna get it out of you so thoroughly that you will say ‘Azumi, Azumi, Azumi’ even if you don’t like it.”

AZM is a remarkable wrestler. And she has been for a number of years now. Whether you’ve just started watching her now or not.

October 6, 2013 AZM made her pro wrestling debut! pic.twitter.com/GwFzx9yTDY
— STARDOM Global (@we_are_stardom) October 1, 2023

While she may only be 21 years old, AZM has been a sight to see inside the squared circle. Her abilities in the ring are unmatched by anyone in wrestling, let alone Joshi. If you’re trying to get someone into Joshi, I recommend showing them one of AZM’s best matches. They’re going to see the best of Joshi mixed with high-speed wrestling, lucha, and anything else that she can possibly think up to add to her arsenal. She transcends what Joshi is to the public eye. Leave you saying, “Wow.” It’s a unique level of creativity that only she can pull off.

It’s the reason she goes viral (and angers the old folks). The moments that she’s able to create are special, but if you think all she has are moments, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Look at her match with Starlight Kid from Cinderella Journey in 2022. A match that is seen as the best of her career but also one of the best in the history of high-speed pro wrestling. What they accomplished in the match was seamless chemistry, bringing together the high-speed style and adding the elements of wrestling that make the best matches rise above the rest. You could feel the tension in the match, the desperation to win, and see the story being told between these two world-class athletes. Starlight Kid was riding the hottest run of her career, but it was AZM that rose above on that night to steal the show. They had long been rivals by this point but from here, they were deemed eternal foes—and for good reason.

They made it a match and night to remember in STARDOM’s history.

Check it out here on Stardom World.

https://twitter.com/PuroresuFlow/status/1592210972537933824?s=20

But even then, it’s not all high-speed when it comes to AZM. She will always use her speed to her advantage—it’s what makes her who she is. However, you can look through the years, especially the last few, where AZM puts together these matches against some of the biggest names in STARDOM that will leave you saying “she can be world champion.”

One of my favorite non-High Speed matches of AZM’s career is the first match where she challenged Syuri for the SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship.

Go back to February 13, 2021. The match was right before the huge All Star Dream Cinderella show and right in the middle of the pandemic. The SWA Title wasn’t switching hands, but AZM made you believe that she could pull off the upset of all upsets at 19 years old against the same woman who’d go on to have one of the most important years STARDOM has ever seen.

She had the babyface spirit that you can’t teach. The spirit that can bring you to glory down the line. AZM and Syuri feel like a style clash on paper—especially back then. A high-speed specialist against the MMA-based Syuri. It’s why this match was so important. AZM showed she was much more than high-speed. She was the future. And she continues to show that she is the future of STARDOM time and time again.

The creativity that AZM possesses continues to be seen in every single match she has. She knows how to play the underdog but she also knows how to play the veteran 10 years in against the likes of a Momo Kohgo or Miyu Amasaki. She raises them up. Makes them shine to the best of her ability.

Oh, and if you need to see her tag team work to know how great she is in duos, see what she accomplished alongside Momo Watanabe as MOMOAZ or even the recent work in 02Line. It’s a very different role for her as she plays the junior, young star in MOMOAZ while she takes the lead in the other. The range she has at 21, again, is incredible.

A lot of people were doing that favorite tag teams thing and the first team that popped to my mind was MOMOAZ.
One of the best teams in the world when they were running. Hope somehow, someway we get to see them like this again. Never got that title run.
A favorite.#STARDOM pic.twitter.com/UGlGH41nGK
— Scott E. Wrestling (@ScottEWrestling) July 25, 2023

There are tons of matches you could go through to see her greatness. High-speed, main event style, crazy spots, etc. So to make it easier, here’s a list from the past few years:

AZM vs. Mei Hoshizuki (12/20/20)
AZM vs. Syuri (8/7/21)
AZM & Momo Watanabe vs. Hazuki & Koguma (11/14/21)
AZM vs. Mei Suruga (4/29/22)
- Writer’s Note: This is a favorite of mine. Two of the most creative wrestlers in the world today putting together a high-speed battle. It doesn’t get better!
AZM vs. Starlight Kid (3/4/23)
AZM vs. Hazuki vs. Mercedes Moné (4/8/23)
Queen’s Quest vs. Oedo Tai in a Steel Cage Match (6/25/23)

But if you don’t want to listen to me, listen to people who know what they’re talking about.

Following AZM’s signature match with Starlight Kid, Will Ospreay—who has long been a supporter of AZM—gave them the ultimate praise. The same Ospreay who many have named the best in the world.

“I finally got round to watch AZM vs SLK. If you think you’re the shit. Watch these two and remember that they are like 19. The level they operated on was so high, it Was breathtaking. Every wrestler should watch these 2 & stardom in general. Just a pure masterpiece,” Ospreay tweeted in response to watching the match.

Mercedes Moné wanted to face AZM. Don’t forget that.

That Moné quote is from the build to AZM’s challenge for the IWGP Women’s Championship. Not just anyone has taken on Moné since she exited WWE, but AZM was one of the first women named out of her mouth in her backstage comments following her NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom earlier this year. In the match against Moné and Hazuki at Sakura Genesis, AZM shined as you’d expect her to. Anytime you hear people say “Wow, Moné kept up with AZM,” it speaks to the latter rather than the former in that case. Not just anyone can outshine or outmaneuver Moné — she’s is an all-time great.

It speaks to the ability of the “High-Speed Bomb Girl.” Even with STARDOM’s growth, they’re still a promotion that many overall fans don’t know much about other than it was the home of Io Shirai and Kairi Sane before they went to WWE and one of the places Moné has graced since leaving. But due to what she’s doing in her matches, AZM is making people pay attention to her. And she’s going to keep doing so. Go out of your way to watch her matches. At 10 years into her career, she’s reached levels of limitless potential.

I asked Dylan Murray (@XXIchiban), co-host of the Stardom Quest podcast, to share his thoughts on the greatness of AZM. If anyone could say it best, it was him.

In 2020, I wrote an article entitled “AZM: Kid Genius” to express my admiration for the then-17-year-old STARDOM competitor as she sought her first reign as High-Speed Champion. I strongly believed then that AZM was the most exceptional young talent in the world of pro wrestling. Ever since that article was published, AZM has continued to prove me right every single time she enters a wrestling ring.

AZM’s greatness is hard to put into words (and trust me, I’ve tried). To start, I suppose you can look at her accolades to help tell the story: While she couldn’t become the youngest High-Speed Champion in history as she initially intended to be, becoming the winningest champion of all time likely filled that void. Her five entries into the annual 5STAR Grand Prix have earned her five consecutive special awards, something that nobody else in tournament history has accomplished. Her several Artists of Stardom title reigns, her 2021 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League victory, and her two Year-End Teqnique Awards also fill her trophy case, but I don’t think gaining all those accolades fully paints the picture of who AZM is.

AZM’s abilities within the ring stand out amongst both the STARDOM roster and the wrestling world as a whole. With a style that shines regardless of whether it’s done in front of 50 fans or 5,000, QQ’s longest-tenured member impresses with her dynamic style and character work. There’s a very good reason why widely-respected wrestlers, from Mercedes Mone to Kenoh, pick AZM out of the crowd and tout her as one of the best STARDOM has to offer. To loosely quote the NOAH star, an AZM match is one worth watching every single time. She is a master of her craft, and something tells me we ain’t seen nothing yet.

It is important to remember that behind AZM’s excellence is ten years of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication to the art of professional wrestling. So, as she enters into her eleventh year as a performer, I think I speak for everyone when I say…

Compliments to the Chef — I look forward to seeing what you cook up next.

Ospreay, Moné, Kenoh, and the list goes on. But take it from a long-time fan of hers. Dylan knows AZM better than anyone. If there’s anything you take from this article, it’s the words he wrote.

AZM: Just Getting Started

To close out what is really just an article about the greatness of AZM, we have to remember this is still only the beginning for her.

She has a record High-Speed Championship reign to her name. Two reigns overall. She’s managed to win the Artist of Stardom Championship three times. But that’s minimal compared to where she can go.

Nothing is out of her range. World of Stardom, Wonder of Stardom, leading her own faction. There are a handful of wrestlers ahead of her in the STARDOM ecosystem, but she’s ready. She’s ready to lead STARDOM. Ready to be at the top of STARDOM.

She’s ready to take that next step. On the biggest stage of her career opposing Mercedes Moné, she didn’t sink—she swam at 20 years old in a packed Ryogoku Sumo Hall. It’s a matter of when, not if when it comes to the uberly talented “High-Speed Bomb Girl.”

Lastly, I’ll say this—watching AZM wrestle for the first time is an experience. She’ll do something you’ve never seen in a ring. Compete at a speed that is nearly unmatchable. Bring a form of scintillating offense that’d make you double-take to know if the video was going at 2x speed. And if you’ve read this and haven’t seen an AZM match, go out of your way to see one right now. She’s a true one-of-a-kind talent. One who can and will bring STARDOM to the new heights they continue to reach year in and year out. A generational talent that is only scratching the surface.

Following AZM’s 10th Anniversary match, Mayu Iwatani may have put it perfectly on how special of a talent AZM is.