WORLD WONDER RING STARDOM
STARDOM THE CONVERSION 2026
JUNE 20, 2026
YOYOGI 2ND GYMNASIUM
TOKYO, JAPAN
Watch: PPV
The Conversion is a pretty notorious show on the STARDOM calendar; every year, it guarantees some sort of story shakeup, either one that is paid off down the line or a surprise on the night that rocks the foundations. With a returning Momo Watanabe, a world title defense, and a number of babyfaces still without a home, there’s sure to be some kind of movement on the faces vs HATE side of things; we just don’t know what.
AYA SAKURA DEF. ANNE KANAYA
The All-Cosmic clash opened the PPV with a great babyface performance from Anne Kanaya, she made Aya Sakura (who herself is a midcarder) look like a killer and wrestled with some urgency to try and steal a win. Aya was solid in her role as the established wrestler testing her new stablemate in the ways we’ve come to expect from the Cosmic Angels. ***
GOD’S EYE (RANNA YAGAMI & KIYOKA KOTATSU) DEF. MAIKA & KOGUMA & MI VIDA LOCA (ITSUKI AOKI & AKIRA KUROGANE)
Pretty nothing tag that went from comedy into a decent closing stretch. Ranna pinned Akira and postured with the Future of Stardom title afterward, so I guess that’s our next future match, it just happens to be the one I’ve most been looking forward to as well. **3/4
ARTIST OF STARDOM CHAMPIONSHIP
DREAM TRINE (AMI SOREI, HINA & LADY C) (C) DEF. ITOH RESPECT GUNDAM (MAKI ITOH, RIAN & KIKYO FURUSAWA)
Pretty fun artist match and the best we’ve seen from Itoh since her move to STARDOM. The Gundam has been great for all three members; they complement each other in the ring, and the association with Itoh has gotten both Rian and Furusawa over with the crowd. Hina took the lead in setting this match up by disregarding Itoh and her cohorts so she got to put Rian away for the win and prove she was right to doubt them. ***1/2
COSMIC ANGELS (SAORI ANOU & NATSUPOI), FUWA-CHAN & HAZUKI DEF. HATE (NATSUKO TORA, AZUSA INABA, RUAKA & FUKIGEN DEATH)
This was a well-worked tag match with nothing of note to dig into, as the majority of the babyface crew are headed abroad for tours over the next month or so. Even Fuwa didn’t have the Kamitani stuff to pay off since Utami has replaced her as the main rival there. Natsupoi won to set up her challenge later in the show, so this served some purpose at least. ***1/4
XENA DEF. HANAKO
A good showcase of Xena’s great array of offensive moves, they didn’t reinvent the wheel but Xena got to have one last showcase with a former stablemate. She announced her impending departure after the match so I am slightly surprised she won here but she might be setting up a bigger defeat in her Korakuen sendoff. AAA is calling and the WWE/AAA audience is in for a surprise when they see Xena. ***1/4
MOMO WATANABE RETURN MATCH
UTAMI HAYASHISHITA, AZM, MIYU AMASAKI & STARLIGHT KID DEF. HATE (MOMO WATANABE, SAYA KAMITANI, BEA PRIESTLEY & KONAMI)
Say goodbye to Tam Nakano lore, we are in the age of QUEEN’S QUEST LORE babyyyyyy. Momo Watanabe’s return was the perfect place to bring back the last remnants of QQ as Utami teamed with AZM and Miyu to take on their former stablemates. The finish came when Watanabe accidentally hit Kamitani with her bat and caused Utami to get the win. Since her comeback was announced, I’ve been certain that Momo Watanabe would be central to whatever happens between the former AphoriditE members, a tug of war for her allegiance might be underway as Kamitani was not at all happy at being cost the match.
The match itself was really good, this is as close to the best HATE unit as you can get and they were put opposite wrestlers that they are very familiar with, Utami and AZM seamlessly got back into the swing of things with the former QQ members and Amasaki was particularly impressive throughout. For a tag match on a PPV I can’t ask for much more than some interesting storylines to follow and strong wrestling. ***3/4
IWGP WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
SYURI (C) DEF. RINA YAMASHITA
A real throwback match that felt like something out of the COVID-era shows. They had a stiff, back-and-forth match that built up akin to some of Syuri’s world title matches. Anytime these two have been in tags, they’ve shown the kind of co-operability to have a great match, and I’m glad they finally got to run it 1 v 1 on a big show.
Rina Yamashita is someone I’ve been a fan of going back eight years now, an excellent talent who I hope keeps getting opportunities, she never fails to deliver. ****
WONDER OF STARDOM CHAMPIONSHIP
HANAN (C) DEF. SAYA IIDA
Saya Iida’s desire to take insane bumps is what really sold me on this one. The match itself was well done, but failed to really present anything interesting. As expected, when this was set up, the crowd was really into Saya Iida, especially once the match ended. A solid defense for Hanan to get her to V2. ***1/2
WORLD OF STARDOM CHAMPIONSHIP
SUZU SUZUKI DEF. SAYAKA KURARA (C) – NEW CHAMPION
A huge shock to end the Conversion as the Kamitani slayer, Sayaka Kurara, loses on just her second defense to Suzu Suzuki. The latest Taro Okada swing for the fences is in motion as the world title picture shifted on a dime here. Suzuki is a heelish presence, so her winning the title opens more avenues for the Utami/Saya stuff to spill into the world title picture. As an example, GP winner Utami vs Kurara was an interesting sell, but GP winner Utami vs heel Suzuki is an easy match to make.
I don’t mind Kurara losing the title at this venture at all, the unpredictablity baked into the top two belts under Okada is admittedly a strength, everyone else in Joshi seems to only let their big belts change hands at set events, having someone toss a belt to someone new just two months after your biggest show of the year is great, it gives every defence of every title a sense of intrigue and opens the door to people like Suzuki getting a run instead of a small handful of names monopolising a world title at any one time. As for Kurara, the win over Kamitani was her moment, she defeated the biggest star in Joshi and got revenge for a beloved figure in Tam Nakano, nothing anyone does from here on out can take that star making night away from her.
The match itself was excellent. I’m admittedly sad to see Kurara lose because she’s a very fun and creative wrestler who has had two of my favorite world title matches of the year, but Suzuki is infinitely talented in her own right and will no doubt do this title justice. ****1/2
FINAL THOUGHTS
STARDOM has hit a bit of a flow state since Yokohama Arena, just about everything is going exactly how they’d want. Maki Itoh’s crew is elevating two younger roster members, Dream Trine’s artist run is producing greatness and helping all three establish themselves, rookies are finding their homes with all of them now in factions, Utami/Saya/Momo is a fascinating story with historical ties that they can run for months to lead to a payoff, and now Suzu Suzuki is world champion in a decision that the crowd responded to very well. Even the stuff I dislike on these shows tends to be good, which is just an insane flex of the company’s depth of talent right now.
There are times where a company can seemingly do no wrong on a show-to-show basis, and STARDOM is currently in one of those runs of form, with the final of the 5STAR Grand Prix in Sumo Hall for the first time ever, they’re as hot as they need to be to get a great number for an ambitious venture.
