Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 9.20

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Cero Reviews STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, 9.20

Post by cero2k » Sep 22nd, '21, 11:23

STARDOM 5★STAR Grand Prix 2021, Day 15
September 20, 2021
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Hanan vs. Himeka - 5/10
Hanan caught Himeka with some leg offense early on, but Himeka quickly recovered and beat up Hanan for the win via Powerbomb.

Waka Tsukiyama vs. Lady C - 5/10
After almost a year since her debut, Lady C has finally taken her first win with the promotion, it obviously comes against a newer member of the roster, but it still means that she is no longer the rookie that eats all the pins, she can start to rank up wins and develop further, and before we know it, she'll be challenging for the Future of Stardom title and what not.

There wasn't much to the match, but we did get to see Tsukiyama lock in her motorcycle submission in two different positions, and while that feels like something that would had been a great thing for a bigger match of her, it's also not that bad for us to get accustomed that she can do more than one move. Lady C won with a Giant Backbreaker, which she pushed down afterwards for a submission.

Post-match - C cut a short promo about winning her first match, about having the shortest career in Stardom, but how she will keep growing and she hopes the fans will follow her.

Saya Kamitani vs. Mai Sakurai - 5/10
Ok match, Sakurai got way more offense than some of her previous matches, but I guess Kamitani does tend to sell a lot for everyone. Kamitani won with a Star Crusher.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Fukigen Death [6] vs. Koguma [7] - 5.5/10
Weirdly enough, I was really looking forward to this match, and I was hoping they would get at least 8-10 minutes to work. They're both high speed wrestlers with similar builds, and when it comes to carrying less experienced wrestlers, not many as good as Death in Stardom.

I should have known that the chances of them getting serious were small, especially with Koguma really leaning in on the cutesy stuff early in her matches.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
AZM [4] vs. Konami [10] - 8/10
This was great, just not as long as I would want. It went about 6 minutes, but it was all high speed that it felt complete. I liked that Konami took AZM seriously from the get to and quickly went for the attack, took out her arm by ramming her to every guardrail available, and then back to the ring. Back in the ring AZM also went for the arm for a big and then they went into the strike exchange, the submission counters, and into the roll up exchange where AZM got the win.

At this point, this is more of a spoiler for Konami than a big win for AZM.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Syuri [9] vs. Ruaka [0] - 4.5/10
This was meh, it felt more like an opening enhancement match than some of the openers today. Ruaka tried to go strong style with Syuri of all people and instead got her ass kicked and took her out with a Buzzsaw Kick for the win.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Momo Watanabe [12] vs. Starlight Kid [9] - 8/10
Such a great match. Coming in to the match, I figured that SLK had to get the win to slow down Momo and to build SLK vs Iwatani, but I was really curious to see how they would do it, if SLK didn't run over Himeka, she wasn't going to run over Momo who has been protected so much during the tournament.

The match was mostly back and forth, and it took everything from SLK to bring it to Momo, who has been on an onslaught throughout the tournament, and even with all that, Momo kept pushing SLK more and more into a corner, even coming close to landing her first attempt at a Peach Sunrise, forcing SLK to rely on Oedo Tai cheating to give her the opening for a Momoracci roll for the win.

Post-match - Kashima took the mic and set up a Future title challenge between Death and Starlight Kid. Kid mentioned that she has Iwatani coming up, so it'll be on a later date, that I really really hope is not Osaka-Jo Hall. Kashima

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Blue Block Match
Takumi Iroha [9] vs. Utami Hayashishita [7] - 8.5/10
Iroha defeated the White champion, and went to a time limit draw with the Red champion, Marvelous couldn't ask for a better showcase of one of their biggest stars. At this point, Iroha should be getting a title shot against either at one point before the year ends, even Osaka-Jo against Tam.

The match was just back and forth great action, but not much to say beyond that. Iroha is incredibly solid, and somewhat similar to Syuri, so she ended up having good chemistry with Hayashishita.

5STAR Grand Prix 2021 Red Block Match
Mayu Iwatani [9] vs. Saki Kashima [2] - 7/10
I just love that out of all the top level wrestlers in this promotion, the one that just happens to have Iwatani's number and cheat code, is Saki Kashima. Be it a singles match or a multi-person match, she tends to get pins over Iwatani, probably more than anyone else has in a long time.

The match was a short, but perfect execution, and in a way, it's also a great build up to SLK vs Iwatani. In this match, we saw Mayu not only take on Kashima, but take on all the interference from Oedo Tai outside the ring. Inside the ring, we saw a really strong Mayu dominate, but she made the same mistake of trying to allow herself get into a roll-up exchange with Kashima, who has the Kishikaisei, which she has used time and time again to get pins over Iwatani.

Mayu vs SLK is gonna be huge, SLK NEEDS that win, but Iwatani overcoming Oedo Tai eventually must come too.

Post-match - Kashima instead of cutting a winner's promo, said that SLK and Konami are on their way to the finals and hopefully it comes down to them.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, we had a couple of great matches, but Lady C getting her first win was really the most newsworthy thing.

Red Block
Giulia - 3-0-6 -- 6
Natsupoi - 4-1-3 -- 9
Himeka - 4-0-3 -- 8
Mayu Iwatani - 4-1-3 -- 9
Koguma - 3-1-4 -- 7
Momo Watanabe - 6-0-3 -- 12
Fukigen Death - 4-0-4 -- 8
Starlight Kid - 5-2-2 -- 11
Saki Kashima - 2-0-5 -- 4
Mina Shirakawa - 2-0-5 -- 4

Blue Block
Utami Hayashishita - 3-2-2 -- 8
Saya Kamitani - 5-1-2 -- 11
AZM - 3-0-5 -- 6
Syuri - 5-1-2 -- 11
Maika - 3-1-4 -- 7
Tam Nakano - 4-0-4 -- 8
Unagi Sayaka - 3-1-4 -- 7
Ruaka - 0-0-7 -- 0
Konami - 5-0-3 -- 10
Takumi Iroha - 4-2-2 -- 11
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