STARDOM THE CONVERSION 2026, the promotion’s monthly blowout event held today, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a PPV on Stardom World. It will be un-paywalled for monthly paid subscribers in mid-July. You can also watch the first 5 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. (That’s the pre-show and the first 3 PPV matches)
The announced paid attendance was 2844, a full house/near sellout.
Pre-show:
Match 1: Yuna Mizumori beat Matoi Hamabe.
Match 2: Mei Seira beat Ema Maishima.
PPV:
Match 1: Aya Sakura beat Anne Kanaya.
Match 2: Ranna Yagami & Kiyoka Kokatsu beat Itsuki Aoki & Akira Kurogame and Maika & Koguma in a 3-way when Yagami pinned Kurogame.
Match 3: Artist Of Stardom Champions Ami Sohrei, Hina & Kady C beat Maki Itoh, Kikyo Furusawa & Rian to retain the titles. Hina pinned Rian after Mad Splash. V2 for the champs.
At this point, President Taro Okada was speaking when his worst nightmare resurfaced…THEKLA! Thekla, now in All Elite Wrestling, returned for the first time since being fired in April for repeatedly assaulting Okada and staff. But isn’t that what a vicious heel is supposed to do? She beat down Okada until Starlight Kid made the save. This made their rumored AEW Women’s Championship match at the Forbidden Door PPV on 6/28 official. This came just after CMLL President Salvador Luterroth appeared and the promotions extended their partnership, with Maika hinting at future excursions to Mexico. (Also, if you believe her on social media, Thekla now says she is banned in Japan after being ejected from the venue)
Match 4: Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Hazuki & Fuwa-chan beat Natsuko Tora, Ruaka, Azusa Inaba & Fukigen. Natsupoi pinned Fukigen after Fairy Magic.
Match 5: Xena beat HANAKO.
Match 6: Momo Watanabe Return Match: AZM, Miyu Amasaki, Starlight Kid & Utami Hayashishita beat Momo Watanabe, Saya Kamitani, Konami & Bea Priestley. Haysshishita pinned Kamitani after Crusade. I have a feeling we’re headed towards a major Hayashishita-Kamitani match in the future now that the former has returned and there’s been bad blood since Kamitani disbanded Queen’s Quest (it was pretty much just her at the time) and turned heel to join H.A.T.E. But there also was trouble brewing in the heel faction as an inadvertent Watanabe bat shot led to Kamitani taking the loss. Accidental or not, you better not take such a shot at our PHENEX QUEEN and expect to not face retribution.
Match 7: IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri beat Rina Yamashita to retain the title. V4 for Syuri. Next up: Natsupoi. That match will happen on 7/18 at Ota City General Gym (Ebara Wave Arena Ota).
Match 8: Wonder Of Stardom Champion Hanan beat Saya Iida to retain the title. V2 for Hanan. After the match, Hamabe came out and officially joined Stars, then issued the challenge…for Yagami’s Future Of Stardom Championship.
Main Event: Suzu Suzuki beat World Of Stardom ChampionSayaka Kurara to win the title. Suzuki becomes the 22nd World Of Stardom Champion. Oh **** yes. Redemption. And it even ruined Kurara’s 26th birthday. No hint as to who is next but it appears Bozilla, who has been out since early last year due to injury, did return today to second Suzuki. Hopefully that’s a good sign regarding her potentially returning soon. Actually, Suzuki probably won’t defend the title until after the 5STAR GP which is coming up.
The next event is Friday at Tajimi City Industrial Culture Center in Gifu. There will be no live broadcast. On demand TBA.
In other news. most of the field for this year’s 5STAR GP has also been announced. The annual singles tournament, which is a round-robin format, will again be massive as it’s divided into 4 blocks of 8 for 32 total participants. Here are the blocks & participants:
Red A: Sayaka Kurara, Tomoka Inaba, AZM, Itsuki Aoki, Maika, Natsuko Tora, Rina, TBA
Red B: Saya Iida, Lady C, Mei Seira, Rina Yamashita, Maki Itoh, Konami, Azusa Inaba, Utami Hayashishita
Blue A: Aya Sakura, HANAKO, Hina, Miyu Amasaki, Suzu Suzuki, Rian, Ruaka, Bea Priestley
Blue B: Hanan, Natsupoi, Maki Itoh, Starlight Kid, Koguma, Momo Watanabe, Saya Kamitani, TBA
Matches to determine the two TBAs will be announced later. But about the only notable names not in the tournament so far, at first glance at least, are Ranna Yagami, Hazuki and arguably the biggest one-Syuri.
All preliminary matches are 15 minute time limit, 2 points for win, 1 point for draw, 0 points for loss. The top 3 in each block will advance to the elimination rounds, the tiebreaker if needed is head-to-head result. The winner of each block will go directly to the Quarterfinals while the second place wrestler faces the 3rd place wrestler from the other color block for the other spot (Block A 2nd place vs. Block B 3rd place and Block B 2nd place vs. Block A 3rd place).
All prelim matches were announced as well. The tournament begins on 7/18 at Ota City General Gym and ends with the Semifinals & Finals on 8/23 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Expect 7/18 & 8/23 to be PPVs with the rest on Stardom World.
UPDATE: After her natch, Xena announced she was leaving Stardom. It sounds like she wants to compete elsewhere or in other promotions. Her last match will be on 7/8 at Korakuen Hall.