STARDOM returns to the US for WrestleMania Weekend for the second year in a row, this time for two shows:
- STARDOM: American Dream 2025 in Sin City at the Silverton Casino Lodge on 4/17 in conjunction with American micro-indie Spark Joshi Puroresu
STARDOM: American Dream 2025 in Sin City
12:00 PM PT
The Veil Pavilion
Las Vegas, Nevada
- STARDOM: American Dream 2025 in The Neon City at MEET Las Vegas on 4/18 in conjunction with the WCP/DPW/Prestige collective.
STARDOM: American Dream 2025 in The Neon City
12:00 PM PT
MEET Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
As of press time, neither show has any matches announced, likely due to a combination of factors: waiting until domestic shows wrapped up on 4/13, an apparent sickness bug that hit the roster during their shows on 4/11, 4/12 and 4/13 which resulted in multiple wrestlers missing shows and perhaps anxiety about who may even make it into the country given the state of affairs at the US Border, even for people with legitimate visas.
Last year’s shows featured a mix of STARDOM and AEW talent, plus some US indie workers, and logic suggests that we should expect something similar this year, but perhaps without the AEW wrestlers.
An additional complicating factor this year is that with Mania weekend happening two weeks later than usual, these shows are happening ten days out from what will be STARDOM’s biggest show this year: All Star Grand Queendom, which features a packed card of big matches including maybe the biggest match in STARDOM history, the World of STARDOM/Career vs Career match between Tam Nakano and Saya Kamitani – neither of whom are booked here, likely to avoid a disastrous injury.
Tickets remain available for the show on 4/17 but appear to be sold out for 4/18 – possibly the only show all weekend that has sold out, another feather in the cap for Taro Okada’s regime – even with probably the highest ticket prices anywhere in Vegas this week outside the WWE shows. Both shows are available to purchase as PPVs on TrillerTV, individually for $20 each or as a bundled pair for $25. STARDOM wrestlers will be available for meet and greets at Wrestlecon on Saturday and Sunday, but again, with high prices ($50 per wrestler).
The US shows appear to be a combination of a fun vacation for the wrestlers (who all seemed to attend Wrestlemania last year) and an opportunity for the company and wrestlers to soak their US fans for as much money as possible, which, based on last year and this year’s shows, appears to be a successful gambit.
Given the lack of announced matches a more detailed preview of the show is near-impossible, but given how large All Star Grand Queendom looms on the horizon, my guess is we will see some preview tags for that show, combined with some more send off matches for Mina Shirakawa who has completed her bookings in Japan and wraps up her STARDOM career with these two shows.
Here are the wrestlers that STARODM has announced for these shows:
- Hanan
- Saya Iida
- Hazuki
- Maika
- Mina Shirakawa
- HANAKO
- Syuri
- Starlight Kid
- AZM
- Suzu Suzuki
- Natsuko Tora
- Momo Watanabe
- Konami
- Thekla
And here are the matches announced so far for All Star Grand Queendom that feature wrestlers on these US shows:
- Wonder of STARDOM title: Starlight Kid (c) vs. AZM
- IWGP Women’s title: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Syuri
- Goddesses of STARDOM title: Wing*Gori (Hanan & Saya Lida) (c) vs. Fukuoka Double Crazy (Hazuki and Koguma)
- Sendai Girls World title: Chihiro Hashimoto (c) vs. Maika
- Suzu Suzuki vs. Mei Seira
And here are some things I would think may be on these shows:
- Expect to see AZM and Starlight Kid will be on opposite sides of a tag match to preview their White Belt match, but they may also team against their recently departed unit mate Suzu Suzuki (they also will team together on the DGUSA Rebirth show vs Tora and Konami) perhaps with AZM picking up the win if such a match?
- To see unit mates Hazuki and Hanan on opposite sides of a tag match as their personal issues became extremely heated during the build to their tag title match, with press conference promos seeing 3 of the 4 participants in the match in tears as they aired out their grievances.
- Expect to see unit mates Maika, Mina and Hanako team together for the last time as a capper to the singles match Mina and Maika had earlier this month and both being part of Mina’s departure gauntlet match last weekend.
- Given the lack of other members from her unit, expect to see Syuri team with local wrestlers against some combination of HATE members, most likely Konami, who has been a constant rival in the last year. Expect to see her win any match she is booked in over the weekend, ahead of the IWGP title match with Iwatani.
- I (sadly) expect one of these shows to be headlined by Maika vs Thekla in a singles match, given Maika offered to stand in for company president Taro Okada who Thekla challenged to a match some weeks back. (Pray to all the gods that they don’t decide to actually have Okada involved in any way.) And given there is nothing currently on the books for All Star Grand Queendom for Thekla and her tag partner Momo Watanabe, likely something here will lead to a match on that show.
Overall, I would expect these shows to be house show quality, which as far as STARDOM goes is mostly a compliment, as the majority of their house shows are fun shows that are easy to watch featuring logically booked and well wrestled matches but do not compare to typical STARDOM PPV events which remain the among the best value wrestling PPVs out there, given the depth of the roster and the quality of their work. The unknown variable here is the quality of the outsider talent that ends up getting booked.
Without most of the roster, with unknown local talent filling in the gaps and no announced matches (yet), make no mistake – these shows are for the STARDOM faithful who will be in attendance and who are primarily coming for the atmosphere and vibes of a STARDOM show without the 12+ hour flight.
Your mileage may vary on the value of these PPV shows but I’m delighted to have tickets to attend both (in the third row, because I’m no Rockefeller), I expect fun and breezy shows with the wrestlers enjoying the high energy of an American crowd and a crowd happy to see at least some of the wrestlers near the top of the roster and some high quality wrestling across the shows.
You can also catch STARDOM wrestlers on other shows across WrestleMania Weekend: (the aforementioned) Dragongate USA Rebirth show on 4/16, the Spark Joshi Lady Luck show, GCW’s Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport show, the Marvelous Wrestling show (all on 4/17), New Texas’s Texas Hold ‘Em and GCW’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break (both 4/18) and I would bet in the GCW Clusterfuck forever show on 4/19.
