WORLD WONDER RING STARDOM
5STAR GRAND PRIX FINAL
AUGUST 31, 2024
MUSASHINO SPORTS PLAZA
TOKYO, JAPAN
Watch: Stardom World (delayed VOD)/PPV
The GP finals are full of intrigue, as Natsuko Tora and Tam Nakano will clash for the world title, which should have major implications on who walks away with the 5STAR GP trophy. As of now, any one of Maika, Saya Kamitani, or Mayu Iwatani can win, but that could narrow down based on the result of the red belt match. This one’s sure to be memorable, so let’s get into it.
FWC (HAZUKI & KOGUMA) DEF. COSMIC ANGELS (AYA SAKURA & SAYAKA KURARA)
Great way to open the show. FWC are so full of energy and their versatility means they can deliver with any et of opponents, putting them against the fiery, hard working duo of Sakura and Kurara was a recipe for success. FWC were able to dominate and showcase their superiority while Sakura and Kurara put their all into fighting back and trying to claw their way to a win. FWC of course got the win but now without letting their rookie fows shine. ***1/4
5STAR GRAND PRIX SEMI-FINAL
MAIKA DEF. MAYU IWATANI
Our first decisive decision of the night as Maika remains undefeated in this tournament by beating the imperious Mayu Iwatani. Both women have looked fairly bulletproof for the entire tournament and I had a feeling that either one could win this one so I was on the edge of my seat for most of the match. It was a great match in-ring which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the names involved. Big win for Maika as she advances to the final, likely to take on her rival Saya Kamitani. ****
5STAR GRAND PRIX SEMI-FINAL
SAYA KAMITANI DEF. HANAN
STARDOM may have missed the mark with Saya’s first few GP matches but the back end of her tournament has been planned to perfection. Putting her in there with natural babyfaces and strong workers like Starlight Kid and Hanan has allowed the Phenex Queen to get back on the wagon in-ring while giving her a natural opposite to play off. Iwatani losing pretty much killed any shot that Hanan had of qualifying for the final but this was still a well done match.
Hanan’s year has seen her win the Cinderella and make the semi-finals of the 5STAR, these are the kind of little victories that add up as she slowly makes her way up the card. That also made her a credible opponent for Kamitani to beat. ***3/4
ANNA JAY DEF. MOMO KOHGO
Solid match, again Jay got to lead the match and play into her natural heel tendencies which is something STARDOM has let her do more as her run has gone on. Kohgo is reliably solid and knows how to work that American style so she was a natural fit for Jay. The Queen Slayer got the win for Jay who ended up looking fairly credible, I could see her popping back up for a title match on a PPV or maybe challenging on an American show. **3/4
XENA DEF. SAYA IIDA
As the cool kids say, this was REAL GRAPS!! There’s something so primal and exciting about watching these two powerful women throw chops at one another with neither one backing down. Iida especially brings the energy and passion to every exchange and Xena is only too happy to meet her on that level. Awesome stuff.
Xena challenging for the High Speed title after was a surprising move. I do like how open that title feels now as Rossy confined it to a small division. Now it feels like anyone is free to challenge themselves by going for the belt and testing their worth. Xena can definitely adjust to that kind of pacing and seeing her work in her power wrestling and chops will be fun. ***1/2
NEO GENESIS (AZM, STARLIGHT KID, SUZU SUZUKI, MIYU AMASAKI & MEI SEIRA) DEF. GOD’S EYE (SAKI KASHIMA, SYURI, RANNA YAGAMI, LADY C) & RISA SERA
Solid tag outing. There’s enough talented wrestlers that this was enjoyable despite the lack of stakes or story. Neo Genesis is still the hot new thing and Kid is one of their current favourites so she got the win to keep things ticking for herself and the group. ***
COSMIC ANGELS (YUNA MIZUMORI, SAORI ANOU & NATSUPOI) DEF. H.A.T.E (RUAKA, KONAMI & THEKLA)
Another fine tag match that belongs on house shows and not slapped into the middle of the GP finals. Yuna Mizumori got the upset win over Ruaka to pay off their little angle but otherwise there’s nothing to take away from this one. **3/4
FUTURE OF STARDOM
RINA (C) DEF. HINA
I never thought a Future title match would have such a big fight feel but as the twins made their entrances I found myself really interested in this one. The story is pretty simple, Rina tied Hanan’s defense record with this title and Hina wanted to stop Rina from surpassing their older sister. Add in the history between the two with Rina turning heel and excelling while Hina was forced out of QQ and has been torn between her studies and wrestling and you had a very natural heel vs babyface clash.
The wrestling was good, you can tell these two have an innate chemistry, not just because they’re twins but because they’ve trained together and wrestled together for years now. It’s a lesser version of the Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens dynamic where they could probably sleepwalk their way to a passable match with blindfolds on at this point.
The result was honestly a surprise, Rina got the win and surpassed Hanan’s record. I’m not sure where this reign is going from here but this year has been a big one for Rina and tells me that Bushiroad has massive plans for her. Not only is she breaking records with the Future belt but she’s a double champion, a rare accolade for someone that young.
Hina winning here would’ve made all the sense in the world but the post-match promos and interactions interested me, they can definitely use this in the long run to build to an even bigger Hina win over her twin as she finally gets on her sister’s level after striving for greatness and committing to wrestling. ***1/2
WORLD OF STARDOM CHAMPIONSHIP
TAM NAKANO DEF. NATSUKO TORA (C) – NEW CHAMPION
I’m still not sure if this match was good or bad and I may never really figure that out. They did a lot of good stuff, the brawling to start, the way both were laying in their hits, the sheer brutality of the bumps Tora was taking on those Tam suplexes, they both physically tore into one another.
That physicality was broken up by a confusing and often boring match layout. Tam Nakano has spent the last month or so selling her injured knee, losing every single GP match and crying while promising to beat Tora. So we arrive at this match and Nakano works over Tora’s knee….ok yeah. The big bad heel selling her knee for a portion of the match was so boring and the crowd clearly didn’t know how to respond, it was an odd decision to me because Tam ultimately won with normal moves, she didn’t even NEED to work over Tora’s knee.
The rest of the match wasn’t all that bad but I was almost falling asleep at Nakano working over Tora’s knee. The crowd also wasn’t vocal enough for how heavy-handed this story was, Tora’s heel work was really good, as was Nakano’s babyface fire but they couldn’t get the crowd engaged enough to take things to the next level.
That was until the controversial part (I assume). H.A.T.E dragged the referee out of the ring and proceeded to cheat against Nakano, laying her out prone for Tora to win, this finally got the crowd to boo and later chant loudly in favour of Nakano. The end of the match saw Cosmic Angels come to Nakano’s aid as Saori Anou, Yunamon, and Natsupoi played the equalisers to get rid of the minions and leave the competitors 1 v 1. Some might say that Nakano kicking out of everything towards the end was “super Cena” esque but ultimately that’s just pro wrestling, that’s how babyfaces work!
I really liked seeing CA level the playing field and H.A.T.E’s cheating coming back to bite them, when Nakano won it was a very cathartic moment for her and the fans as she overcame the torment of the past month and dethroned the dishonourable champion. I can’t really say any of this blindsided me I mean they spent a literal month beating Tam Nakano from pillar to post while subtlety hammering her knee injury to death.
All this to say, the idols overcame the heels, which is good, but the match almost made me sleep, which is bad, but I guess they took enough nutty bumps for me to give this a decent rating. ***1/2
5STAR GRAND PRIX FINAL
MAIKA DEF. SAYA KAMITANI
Ok NOW…now I’m kind of confused. Nakano’s title win didn’t blindside me, but I thought it was going to serve as a launching point for heel Saya. Kamitani entered this as the firm favourite in my eyes, ready to supplant Tora and take over the role as the number one of H.A.T.E to take the belt back from Nakano. Instead, Maika won.
And I don’t really have a problem with Maika winning. She’s been one of the key parts of STARDOM steadying the ship after the Marigold split and her new look/theme/vibe is definitely worthy of an undefeated GP run. She comes away from this as undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the company.
Where I am confused and have a problem is, H.A.T.E basically got thrashed tonight. In the span of about 6 weeks, they went from the top of the world to getting their retribution on three fronts with Ruaka, Tora, and Kamitani all getting beat by those they’ve wronged.
It’s not that Kamitani can’t rebound from this defeat, in fact, her post-match promo kind of salvaged it with her promising to drag Maika to hell regardless, but I do wonder how they can recapture the magic they had with H.A.T.E right after the title win when they felt like a genuine threat to anyone and everyone (they once again barely got booed during the show).
Also, it’s quite funny that we took that detour just to come back to a Tam Nakano vs Maika world title match which felt like it was bound to happen either way. Strong main event anyway, the crowd was kind of bad but that’s not their fault, it was a long show and the Tora vs Nakano match likely left them a bit drained. ***1/2
FINAL THOUGHTS
I can’t help but be intrigued by current STARDOM. Every time I feel like I’ve got a grasp on where they’re going they take a sharp left and turn everything on its head. Nakano vs Maika isn’t the GP winner vs World Champion match I was expecting coming out of the tournament, but it’s also happening in 2 WEEKS(!!) so there are four months still to go before Sumo Hall and Nakano’s biggest challenger. Who the hell knows what’s going to happen between now and then? This was a newsworthy, interesting show where the wrestling was pretty consistent throughout. Definitely a step down from the previous GP final format where they had all of the block action and the tournament final in one show but I can get used to this new format.
