Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 9.4

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Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 9.4

Post by cero2k » Sep 7th, '21, 20:13

STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, Day 9
September 4th, 2021
Belle Salle Shiodome, Tokyo, Japan

Waka Tsukiyama Introduction - Tsukiyama, who I've seen in ChocoPro and WAVE, came out to the ring. She has left Actress Girl'Z and is joining STARDOM. Sayaka came out and said she was the gatekeeper and if Tsukiyama wanted to join them, she needed to wrestle Sayaka, and even offered her a shot at the Future of STARDOM belt. Sayaka told her she's not joining Cosmic Angels, so don't even think about it. I think she's joining Cosmic Angels.

Fukigen Death vs. Hanan - 4.5/10
Ok match, really short and half of it was comedy, but it was perfectly ok. Death won with an O'Connor roll.

Natsupoi vs. Unagi Sayaka - 6.5/10
I look at the rest of the card and I can understand booking singles matches with non-tournament participants, but why would you book two tournament participants in a normal singles match. I swear Rossy has rigged the whole thing and is forcing Sayaka to constantly wrestle and defend her title so she's weaker in the actual tournament.

This was really fun. It's as close as I've seen STARDOM book a YTR match. They totally wrestled in the match, but the did a lot of comedy in between spots, to the point that the referee, who wasn't selling anything, threaten them to go home if they were not going to take the match seriously. The finish was the most Yano thing, when Natsupoi tried to tie up Sayaka against the ring announcer, only for Sayaka to grab and tie up Natsupoi with leg scissors so that if she was losing by count out, so was Natsupoi, and so they did.

Mayu Iwatani vs. Rina - 5.5/10
Ok match, Rina attacked Iwatani from behind when Iwatani distracted herself mocking Rina, so Rina was able to start the match with some offense. Iwatani eventually came back and got the win as expected, but at least Rina got to look good.

Giulia vs. Mai Sakurai - 4.5/10
Much like Momo vs Sakurai, this felt really gatekeepy, with Giulia beating the hell out of Sakurai and pushing her to bring it. It was one of those Giulia matches were she's either legit being stiff, or is really good as making you believe she's being stiff with the new kids.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Himeka [0] vs. Mina Shirakawa [4] - 6.5/10
Ok match, there were some points in the match that I was liking the size difference and how it was playing into the match, and a minute later, I would start thinking that these two don't have the best chemistry together. At the end the match did turn out well and the right person won when Himeka hit a powerbomb and got her first two points.

Post-match - Himeka stole Shirakawa's belt of the trios championships just because (well, Shirakawa was kinda teasing her with it during their entrances), but I think Himeka, Natsupoi, and Maika chasing those titles would be a good idea coming out of the tournament.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Takumi Iroha [2] vs. Konami [4] - 7/10
This started with the obvious Oedo Tai interference, but once they got passed that and Konami got serious, this was really good. In all of STARDOM, Konami may be one of the closest to Iroha's style, and so we got a good exchange of kicks before they started to chase the finish. Konami mostly looked for a submission on the arms, while Iroha kept trying for the Running Three, only for Konami to reverse it into a roll up and get the win.
I could watch these two go at it again with a longer time limit.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Syuri [4] vs. Utami Hayashishita [4] - 8.5/10
As expected, they went the time limit draw. These matches are 20 minutes tops, so there was little chance that we were going to see a decisive winner here. One way they'll get their no time limit match, but until then, I think we're going to keep getting draws. This unfortunately was the biggest drawback of this match, it was going to lack the drama and anticipation that the previous match had, even watching live, we know we had to sit through the whole thing to a result we already expected.

This seemed to be trying to pick up where they had left off, but after a couple of minutes of strike exchange, they slowed down and took it down a bit, got on the mat and started chain wrestling. It would be a couple of minutes later that they would start wrestling on the floor teasing the count out draw that intensity started to really pick up again.

Once back in the ring, Syuri started going for the arm with submissions, while Hayashishita started spamming every slam she could manage with her injured arm. As the match closed in on the final minute, they were mostly going back and forth between submissions and slams and strikes, pretty much picking the pace that they had originally started with and riding it until the last second. So overall a really good match, but it definitely felt like watching the middle part of what should had been a bigger epic.

Post-match - After some stare downs, Syuri left and Hayashishita closed the show saying that she will win the tournament and nominate Syuri.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, but for a show with one of the most anticipated matches, I can't say that it was that memorable. Good things did happen though, the Natsupoi vs Sayaka match, for as wacky as it was, it's a match that I'd totally go back and rewatch.

Red Block
Giulia - 2-0-2 -- 4
Natsupoi - 2-1-2 -- 5
Himeka - 1-0-2 -- 2
Mayu Iwatani - 3-0-1 -- 6
Koguma - 1-0-2 -- 2
Momo Watanabe - 1-0-1 -- 2
Fukigen Death - 1-0-3 -- 2
Starlight Kid - 3-2-1 -- 7
Saki Kashima - 1-0-2 -- 2
Mina Shirakawa - 2-0-2 -- 4

Blue Block
Utami Hayashishita - 2-1-1 -- 5
Saya Kamitani - 2-0-2 -- 4
AZM - 1-0-2 -- 2
Syuri - 2-1-1 -- 5
Maika - 3-1-3 -- 7
Tam Nakano - 3-0-2 -- 6
Unagi Sayaka - 2-1-2 -- 5
Ruaka - 0-0-3 -- 0
Konami - 3-0-2 -- 6
Takumi Iroha - 1-0-1 -- 2
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