by JCH
See what I did there. Absolute literacy genius....
Stardom 5 Star Grand Prix Preview from a Stardom rookie.
I took up Stardom in January because I’d heard good things about it and Jamie Hayter was going there. I took a while figuring out who everyone was and what was going on. With no commentary it wasn’t the easiest, but I enjoyed it. I haven’t been able to keep up with all the tag matches on the undercard, but I have watched the majority of the Title matches and I have a rookies idea of who is who going into the Stardom Grand Prix, which from what I can tell is like the equivalent of a G1. I made it through 5 days of G1 before a crazy July of multiple weddings and Stag Do’s got in the way. I plan on making it through the whole 5 Star Grand Prix and will take you my loyal 3 readers along for the ride, beginning here with my guide to the participants of the Stardom Grand Prix.
Red Block
Mayu Iwatani - The heartbeat of Stardom. Arguably the best seller in the world today. She’s missed some time with injury and every time I see her wrestle I can’t tell if she is in intense pain or just that good a seller. Recently came to Eve and had a banger with Kagetsu at Wrestle Queendom 2. I haven’t actually seen much of her in singles outside of that and her match at MSG with Kelly Klein, also my first dive into Stardom was a match between Mayu and Io Shirai from a while back. Really excited to see her work singles for a couple of months and I expect her to be in the running for the tournament win. Sometimes wrestles in a hoodie.
Momo Watanabe - The Ace of Stardom, The leader of Queens Quest, Momo lost her white belt a couple of months back to Arisa Hoshiki, but I saw her have some excellent defences against the likes of Tam Nakano and Jungle Kyona. Momo is an outstanding professional wrestler. She has this arrogance to her, and her kicks look like they bloody hurt. I’m expecting big things from Momo in this tournament.
Hana Kimura - Hana Kimura is the leader of Tokyo Cyber Squad, the newest faction in Stardom. Judging by my twitter feed the most popular faction in Stardom. I don’t quite get it. I think Hana Kimura is fine, but she doesn’t rank up there with my favourites. I look forward to seeing her singles matches in the tournament and see if I can get that connection to her as a performer.
Hazuki - Member of Oedo Tai, Hazuki is one of my Stardom faves. Singles wise she seems to mainly be involved in sprints. They are quick and like all of Stardom - hard hitting. Had a recent banger with Arisa Hoshiki that featured one of the all-time great kick outs, up there with Riddle vs Cobb 2017. She has a ‘sulky teenager’ attitude that she has nailed down.
Tam Nakano - Tam Nakano was in, what I think was my favourite match this year, definitely my favourite match this year where I wasn’t at the show. She had a really strong outing with Momo Watanabe right at the beginning of my Stardom watching, however it was her story and match with Arisa Hoshiki that I thought was outstanding. I had to do some background research for the origin of this story as it was before my time, but from watching Tam and Arisa are both in Mayu’s STARS faction. Arisa likes Tam, Tam hates Arisa. This, from my watching (and research) I believe to be because - Mayu took Tam into STARS after she was forced to leave Oedo Tai due to a match stipulation, Arisa (Mayu’s former tag partner) returned to Stardom after about 6 years away and was welcomed back into the fold by Mayu. Then they would often be involved in promos and tags, where Arisa would get shunned by Tam. Some of it subtle, some in your face. This went on for about 6 months until they met in an absolute banger, filled with emotion, which I will heavily recommend. I clapped in my living room on my own watching it. Like many others I have enjoyed the singles stuff I have seen from Tam. Wondering now if the fact they save the singles matches for these women is a reason why they always impress. It feels special and not oversaturated. She also really likes pandas.
Saki Kashima - Another one of Mayu’s crew in STARS. Seems to be lower down the hierarchy.
Natsu Sumire - Where to start, my favourite thing when I first watched STARDOM was Natsu. I’m sure in the first show I watched she was just eating some soup or something in an Oedo Tai Promo. This woman is hilarious. Love when she lip-syncs to her opponent’s music. Specifically,
Kashima. Always makes me laugh, once got to see her do subtitled commentary on a match during a show. Can’t wait to see her in numerous singles matches.
AZM - replacing Kacey Owens in the tournament. Gutted for EvE roster member Kasey who has been stitched up by a lost FedEx package. AZM is young and pretty good. Has wrestled Hazuki a lot for the High-Speed Title. I’m more of a Hazuki fan.
Avary - I’ve never seen Avary, from Australia. But WSBF’s Australian correspondent Mat Carlson has and before she got announced for the 5Star Grand Prix, he told us he was expecting her to be one of the next Aussies to start blowing up the UK scene. Talked up big time by Carlson am expecting this Aussie to deliver.
Blue Block
Kagetsu - Leader of Oedo Tai. Half her gang are in this block, Come to think of it almost half the block is Oedo Tai. 4 of them. Should lead to some interesting matchups for their charismatic leader. Was great on her visit to EvE earlier this year. Really enjoy Kagetsu’s character and promo work.
Konami - Loves a triangle lancer this one, another one of the Tokyo Cyber Squad. I’m picking her to go to the final against Momo.
Arisa Hoshiki - My favourite performer in Stardom, could be my favourite performer in the world. I love knees to the face. Arisa Hoshiki has the best knee to the face in wrestling. She also has an array of outstanding kicks to the head. Another of my favourite moves. I’ve already waxed lyrical about her match with Tam Nakano, but she is on an absolute tear right now. I don’t see many people talking about her white belt run, but she is just turning out banger after banger. The Momo title switch match was good, but since then Tam, Hazuki and the most recent match with Jungle Kyona have been awesome. She also has an awesome hat which I can’t work out how to order and has led me to try and learn Japanese. I tried asking her about it when she was over in EvE, but the language barrier combined with a bring your own beer show did not lead to a successful discussion and almost ended up with me giving her my hat. I digress. She has such a likeability about her as a performer. Kris Wolf used to make me feel happy just by the way she would come to the ring. Arisa has a similar quality an abidance of energy that makes me want to cheer for her. Super excited to see a number of Arisa matches and a number of knees to the face.
Andras Miyagi - Another Oedo Tai member. Likes head banging and doesn’t really talk,
Utami Hayashishita - I nicknamed her the Best Belt machine when she had 4 belts. Now down to two. Think she has a Judo background and has been wrestling for like a year. She is proper good and owner of an absolute banger of a theme tune.
Jungle Kyona - The 3rd TCS member in the Grand Prix and one I totally see the hype behind. From twitter I think that the Stardom fans like her more than they think management do. Every single match I’ve seen Jungle have has been great. Kagetsu, Momo and Arisa off the top of my head were all bangers. Jungle also evokes emotion as a performer, she has strength and power, and will no doubt be a stand out in the Grand Prix.
Natsuko Tora - Jungle’s former stablemate in J.A.N, now in Oedo Tai. Seems to have been sort of lost in the shuffle a bit since her move. Looking forward to the Jungle match which should have some emotion in it.
Bea Priestly - The current Red belt champion. Owner of the second-best knee to the face in Stardom, and one of the World’s best. Has some really nice moves and once her matches are on, I get into them, just I haven’t been rushing to see her title defences like I do Arisa’s. Probably unfair to compare the two, but as the two top champions in the country it sort of comes naturally. Looking forward to seeing her and Arisa go one-on-one.
Jamie Hayter - the 4th Oedo Tai member in the block and one of my favourite wrestlers in the world. Have seen a lot of Jamie in EvE and she has something about her. Really good in ring, but her little mannerisms and humour is what sets her apart for me. Really looking forward to seeing her mix it up in singles action in Stardom as she always delivers in EvE
Prediction - Momo Watanabe beats Konami in the final.
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