Cero Reviews STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2022, 4.3

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Cero Reviews STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2022, 4.3

Post by cero2k » Apr 8th, '22, 21:52

STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2022, Day 1
March 3rd, 2022
Tachikawa Stage Garden, Tokyo, Japan

Opening Ceremony - They introduced everyone by having them appear on the stage all at once doing poses, they looked like an action figure collection I'd pay for. The field is so big this year that when they started doing announcements, half of the roster stood on the stage, some on the ramp, and the champions alone in the ring. Kinda awesome that Giulia, Hayashishita, or Tam only made it to ramp, while Hanan and AZM were taking center stage. Japanese promotions never fail to make tournaments feel like a huge deal. Shirakawa wasn't

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Hina vs. Unagi Sayaka - 5.5/10
This was Hina's return match after her hiatus. Match was ok, well wrestled, but somewhat slow. Hina got a lot of offense in, almost like a showcase, but at the end Sayaka came back and got the win with Dagasoregai! Really excited to see how Hina does going forward.

Sayaka awaits the winner of SLK vs Natsupoi.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Saki Kashima vs. Waka Tsukiyama - 3.5/10
It wasn't bad, but there wasn't much to the match, almost like a reverse squash with Tsukiyama running a bit wild to start the match, and the Kashima dodged one move, put her in the Kishikaisei and pinned her.

Kashima takes on the winner of Iwatani versus Kohgo, so I guess we're getting the yearly Kashima versus Iwatani tourny match.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Hanan vs. Maika - 6.5/10
Good match, Hanan looked really good getting some offense a couple of really strong near falls, one of which was an over-the-top-rope elimination tease. Maika eventually recovered, worked over the arm pain from Hanan's work, and pinned her after a Michinoku Driver II.

Maika advances to take on the White Belt Champion Kamitani, later today, only second round match of the show. As usual, as great STARDOM books their tournaments, there's always that one or two decision that seems really unfair for a couple of wrestlers. Maika is literally facing two champions, one of which is the White belt champ, in the same show.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Mina Shirakawa vs. MIRAI - 6/10
We got evil Shirakawa here for some reason, and it helped showcase MIRAI as an underdog babyface who had to adapt to Shirakawa's erratic style, make a comeback, and then get the win with an over-the-top-rope elimination

MIRAI awaits the winner of Hayashishita vs Tam Nakano.

Post-match - Shirakawa acted weird all the way to the back, she even dodged Sayaka's help.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Kohgo - 6.5/10
Iwatani did a great job at giving credence to Kohgo's ability and making her look as good as she could, but also not overselling for her so that it looks like Iwatani is just selling for her. She took the perfect amount of offense and specific offense at that, only to came back and win with a Dragon suplex.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Natsupoi vs. Starlight Kid - 7/10
This was a hard hitting sprint, they went hard on each other with some big moves, exchanged strikes, dropped each other on their heads, but after getting a good start, Poi failed to land the Fairial Gift, SLK turned the match around. They ended up brawling on the apron with some great teases until Poi reversed a slam by hooking up her legs around SLK, and when SLK slammed her, she got pulled rana-like, on to the floor. Great short little match.

Poi advances and goes after Sayaka next.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Tam Nakano vs. Utami Hayashishita - 7.5/10
It feels weird seeing a match of this level in this part of the show. Not surprising at all, they ended up going to a time limit draw

Match was fun, it started with some friendly teasing, Hayashishita tried to get in Nakano's head by mocking her 'kawaii' mannerisms, but that ended up unleashing a somewhat brutal match with both woman slamming each other left and right until the clock ran out. Worth nothing that the Cinderella tournament have 10 minute time limits, if you can't finish your opponent by then, you're not qualified to advance.

Champions aside, the two strongest contenders are both out in the first round. MIRAI gets a free pass in the second round and will await whoever comes out on top from Iwatani versus Kashima.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 Second Round Match
Maika vs. Saya Kamitani - 7/10
Fun match, most of it took place on the apron. After some elimination teases, the match spilled to the apron and that's where they ended up wrestling. At one point Maika straight up suplexed Kamitani on the apron. Match eventually ended when Maika tried to powerbomb Kamitani to the floor, but the latter grabbed the ropes and after some struggle, they both fell to the floor. The finish didn't look great, Maika didn't want to jump while standing and have Kamitani on her shoulders (and I totally agree), so she dropped and sat on the apron before jumping to the floor, and that made it seem considerably weak, it also made it seem like Maika touched the floor first, but since Kamitani also went out along with Maika, it counted as a draw.

Both women are out, so the winner of Natsupoi versus Sayaka will have a free pass in the quarter finals.

Post-match - Annoyed of the draw, Maika said that if she can't win the tournament, she's going to beat Kamitani for the title, so she challenged her for the May 5th show in Fukuoka. Kamitani accepted.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Mai Sakurai vs. Lady C - 6/10
Good match for what it was. This would had normally been the dark match or opener of a show, but given the tournament stakes and the position in the card, they laid out a match with a story and purpose. Half of the match saw both women exchange big boots until C got the upper hand, but as she went to follow through, Sakurai rolled her up and got the pin.

Post-match - C attacked Sakurai and they got into a small pull-apart.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Rina vs. Saya Iida - 6.5/10
Coming in, I was expecting IIda to win, and so I came in kinda biased that Rina would lose, but I ended up liking the match a lot more. The wrestling was back and forth and Rina had some good near falls, especially when Iida bumped her to the floor, but Iida had gone under the third rope. Iida ended up winning with a Iidabashi pin.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Fukigen Death vs. Koguma - 4/10
Short match, and not that good. They did a lot of comedy, but Koguma's cutesy comedy is really not my thing, so I couldn't get invested. Koguma won with a roll up after trading roll ups.

Koguma awaits the winner of Thekla versus Giulia.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Ruaka vs. Himeka - 6/10
They had a hoss fight and it was only good because Himeka is great. Ruaka just doesn't put speed or weight into her moves, so they just end up looking weak. Story of the match was that they were somewhat equal, Himeka slowly gaining the upper hand until Oedo Tai tripped Himeka and allowed Ruaka to get a bunch of offense, getting a couple of near falls here and there before Himeka recovered, blocked Ruaka's plancha, powerbombed her, and pinned her after a lariat.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Hazuki vs. Miyu Amasaki - 6.5/10
Amasaki being the biggest underdog, tried to get the jump on Hazuki, but she didn't do much damage and Hazuki turned things around quickly. Amasaki did managed to get some offense in later in, but nothing that look to serious until Hazuki almost fell to the floor over the top rope. Amasaki also tried to work on Hazuki's leg and even got a facebuster for a near fall, but like we talked about Iwatani's selling, Hazuki never stopped looking in control and eventually got the win via submission with the Venus de Milo.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Giulia vs. Thekla - 8/10
They had the same ten minutes as everyone else, but they did a really good job at telling a full story with Giulia targeting the arm, and Thekla going for a neck submission. With the exception of a couple transitions and some striking, they mostly kept the match on the mat. Last minute saw Thekla get tons of offense, almost ending Giulia, but the latter came back with a huge backdrop, they kept trading slams and drivers until it came down to Giulia reversing a roll up to one of her own and getting the win with seconds left in the match. Thekla looked fantastic.

Giulia vs Koguma for round two.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Momo Watanabe vs. AZM - 7.5/10
This was a great sprint. It wasn't crazy violent, but they did hit each other with everything, it was almost like watching Sonic vs Knuckles, with AZM running circles around Momo, getting every counter possible, but it only took one misstep and Momo took control of the match, hit the Peach Driver, only to toss AZM to the floor instead of trying to pin her. While AZM was in the floor, a small brawl broke out between QQ's and Oedo Tai, who had attacked AZM. While the referee tried to break it up, we all saw Momo load her kickpad with a steel wrench, so we now had a ticking bomb, we knew that as soon Momo kicked AZM once, she was done for, so at that point the match became a second sprint with AZM dodging one half of the offense, countering the other, and trying to get AZM Sushi locked in, which after a failed attempt, she managed it and pinned Momo to advance.

It'll be AZM vs Hazuki in the next round.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round Match
Syuri vs. Ami Sourei - 7.5/10
Syuri originally had a first round by, and she would go after the winner of Himeka vs Ruaka, but since Sourei recently joined STARDOM as part of Syuri's God's Eye stable, she became Syuri's tournament first round challenge.

Match was good, but mostly because Syuri gave Sourei so much. Sourei is less than two years into the business, so she still needs a lot of carrying, but with only ten minutes with someone like Syuri, she looked really good. Sourei is a bit of powerhouse in STARDOM, so most of the match was that Syuri was clearly in control, but every time Sourei caught her to dropped her, it was tremendous power and it cut Syuri's offense on the spot, forcing her to recover and come back. Sourei got a couple of near falls here and there, but Syuri quickly recovered and tapped out Sourei with a vicious looking modified Juji Gatame.

Post-match - Syuri congratulated Sourei in her STARDOM debut and told her they'll both shine in their new unit God's Eye, after being chosen by the God of Fighting. They set no limits, but aim to break them.

MIRAI walked down to the ring. She told Syuri and Sourei had been amazing and wanted to join God's Eye. MIRAI took off her Donna del Mondo hoodie and was accepted by Syuri after confirming that MIRAI is ready to break all limits. All three women closed the show then.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Be it short or long matches, the idea of having watched 16 matches in one single show is kinda overwhelming, because in addition, you're also sitting through 32 entrances. I liked the show overall, I liked the match-ups we had, many of them I wish had double the time they got, but it is what it is. If STARDOM wants to play around with this large of a field, I really hope they start to consider a multi-day first round.
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