News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
To make up for the technical issues at the end of yesterday’s PPV stream (the entire main event and the end of the match before it were cut out), Stardom has uploaded the entire STARDOM DREAM QUEENDOM event from yesterday FOR FREE to YouTube. But for a VERY LIMITED TIME-you only have until Monday to watch, then it will only be available on Stardom World.
Watch the full event below (running time is 4 hours. Video courtesy of Stardom Official YouTube Channel):
Stardom wrapped up their 2023 with their final blowout event of the year, Stardom Dream Queendom 2023.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on PPV via Pia (Japan). The last 2 matches have been uploaded to YouTube because the PPV feed was lost early and the end of the semifinal match and the entire main event were not shown due to network issues. The event will be available on Stardom World at a later date (probably in about a week).
The paid attendance has not yet been announced. There were some famous fans in attendance via posts on the socials including New Japan’s Yuji Nagata, who took his son to the event. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 3063)
Match 1: Miyu Amasaki, Yuzuki & Azusa Inaba beat Sayaka Kurara, Ranna Yagami & HANAKO. Yuzuki pinned Kurara.
Match 2: Saki Kashima & Ami Sohrei beat Lady C & Hina, Yuna Mizumori & SAKI and Thekla & Mai Sakurai in a 4-way when Sohrei pinned Mizumori.
Match 3: Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Saya Iida & Hanan beat Starkight Kid, Rina, Ruaka & Fukigen. Iwatani pinned Fukigen after a moonsault press.
Match 4: Nanae Takahashi, Yuu & AZM beat Mina Shirakawa, Mei Seira & Syuri. Takahashi pinned Shirakawa after Nanae Rocker.
Match 5: Goddesses Of Stardom Champions Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani beat Natsuko Tora & Momo Watanabe to retain the titles. Hayashishita pinned Tora after a torture rack bomb. V1 for the champs.
Match 6: STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia beat Meghan Bayne by submission to retain the title. V7 for Giulia. Next up: Trish Adora. That match may happen on 1/13 at the next New Japan US event in San Jose, CA.
Match 7: Saori Anou beat Wonder Of Stardom Champion MIRAI to win the title. Anou becomes the 20th Wonder Of Stardom Champion.
Main Event: Maika beat Suzu Suzuki to win the vacant World Of Stardom Championship. Maika becomes the 17th World Of Stardom Champion.
The next event is Wednesday at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama. It will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
UPDATE 2: After the PPV issues today it has been announced that all buyers will get a full refund after the new year begins and the entire event will be streamed free on YouTube for a limited time.
The Japanese newspaper/website Tokyo Sports announced the winners of their annual Year-End Awards, which are a very big deal in Japanese pro wrestling. The promotions have begun congratulating their winners, for convenience here is a full list of the major winners courtesy of Samurai! TV and New Japan World personality:commentator Miki Motoi:
The award winners:
MVP-Tetsuya Naito (New Japan)
Match Of The Year-The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NOAH, 1/1)
Tag Team-Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (New Japan)
Outstanding Performance: Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan)
Fighting Spirit-Kenoh (NOAH)
Technique-Yuma Aoyagi (All-Japan)
Rookie Of The Year-Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan)
Women’s MVP-Tam Nakano (Stardom)
Stardom continued their constant stretch of near-daily recent events today with a major event in Tokyo.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date. (Update: A later date will be tomorrow)
The announced paid attendance was 1117.
Match 1: Ginan (?) beat Yuzuki. Yuzuki is a new wrestler who just debuted a couple weeks ago in NEW BLOOD, the promotion’s developmental series.
Taro Okada, incoming President of owner Bushiroad Corporation, made an appearance. He takes over Friday. Bushiroad is also the current owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Match 2: It’s Fukigen (Kaori Yoneyama) beat Hina. This was to have been a 3-way with HANAKO, but she was removed due to Yuna Mizumori being out (injured) and being the replacement.
Match 3: Saori Anou beat HANAKO & Miyu Amasaki in a 3-way by pinning HANAKO. This was to have been Anou & Mizumori vs. Amasaki & Lady C but was changed due to Mizumori & C being injured.
Match 4: Starlight Kid, Ruaka & Natsuko Tora beat Koguma, Hanan & Saya Iida. Tora pinned Iida after Death Valley Bomb.
Match 5: World Of Stardom Title Challenger Tournament: Momo Watanabe beat Mina Shirakawa.
Match 6: World Of Stardom Title Challenger Tournament: Maika beat Ami Sohrei.
Match 7: Thekla vs. Scandinavian Hurricane went to a double countout.
Match 8: MIRAI & Syuri beat Mai Sakurai & Giulia. MIRAI pinned Sakurai after a lariat.
Match 9: Saya Kamitani, AZM & Utami Hayashishita vs. Megan Bayne, Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki went to a 15 minute time limit draw.
Main Event: World Of Stardom Title Challenger Tournament Finals: Maika beat Momo Watanabe to win the tournament. As a result, Maika will face the winner of Saturday’s Suzu Suzuki vs. Hazuki match which is for a contract for a future title shot, currently held by Suzuki, on 12/29 at Ryogoku Kokugikan to determine the new champion.
The next event is STARDOM NAGOYA BIG WINTER 2023 Saturday at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. 3 title matches ate scheduled including a New Japan STRONG Women’s Championship match. It will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
And the injury pileup sadly continues…this time it’s Stardom with another casualty as they announced, during a full week of events last week including at Bushiroad Expo Asia in Singapore, Lady C was injured. Neck. Out at least 2 weeks including all events from today through 12/10 (8 total events). A tag match she was in today was changed to a 3-way, other changes pending.
More as it becomes available.
This is not entirely a done deal yet and, based on later fact-checking done weekly by the site that shares them is probably 55-60% accurate right now, but there are RUMORS another top Stardom name could be WWE-bound. This time it’s top foreigner Giulia. Here’s what is being said: Giulia is verbally committed to Stardom for next year. But talks are to the point that WWE has made an offer. What it may come down to is money and which brand-if it’s NXT (their developmental brand), owner Bushiroad Corporation and sibling company New Japan Pro Wrestling can probably match the offer and keep her. But if it’s main level (Raw or Smackdown), and money is more important, Goulia is probably following KAIRI (back in the latter’s case) to The E. Giulia is said to be a “priority acquisition” for WWE and her multi-racial background (she is mixed Japanese & Italian and was born in England) could help then worldwide. Again, just RUMORS for now but bears watching.
More as it becomes available.
It’s another pileup of injuries across the Japanese scene today, some with major effecrs:
DDT-Sanshiro Takagi suffered an undisclosed injury yesterday and is now off Thursday. He was to have been in a 6-man tag. Illusion is the replacement.
Dragon Gate-KAI reaggravated an arm injury over the weekend. Out indefinitely but at least the rest of the November tour.
Stardom-Both Tam Nakano & Natsupoi, who are already out indefinitely, will be out a long time. Because of this, both the World Of Stardom Championship held by Nakano and the Goddesses Of Stardom Championship they held are now VACANT.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: For the Goddesses Of Stardom Championship, determination match between Meghan Bahn & Maika and TBA is set for 12/2/2023 to crown new champions.
UPDATE 2 (11/21): For the World Of Stardom Championship, determination tournament to crown a new champion is set for 11/28. First will be Maika vs. Ami Seira then Mina Shirakawa vs. Momo Watanabe with the winners meeting for the title. The winner will first defend against either Suzu Suzuki (who holds a challenge contract) or Hazuki (if she beats Suzuki on 11/28 for the contract). Utami Hayashishita and Saya Kamitani will also return from injuries on 11/28.
Stardom ran their final Osaka big show of the year, STARDOM GOLD RUSH 2023, yesterday, loaded with major title matches and more.
Yesterday’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand as a PPV via Pia for 4000 yen (around $27 US) until Tuesday morning (purchase by 1 AM PT/4 AM ET Tuesday). It should be available on Stardom World at a later date.
The announced paid attendance was 1033. If the venue was configured for full capacity (5000 for sumo, maybe a little less for wrestling), that’s barely 20% full. Probably was smaller capacity, but on paper that still seems rather bad.
There were multiple late changes to the cards due to Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima being off the event (injured).
Match 1: It’s Fukigen (Kaori Yoneyama) won a 7 woman battle royal, last eliminating Miyu Amasaki.
Match 2: Moneyball Tournament: Hanan, Hazuki & Saya Iida beat HANAKO, Ami Sohrei & Konami. Hanan pinned HANAKO after 17.
Match 3: Moneyball Tournament: Mai Sakurai, Thekla & Giulia beat Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora & Ruaka. Sakurai pinned Ruaka with Mai Bread Roll.
Match 4: High Speed Champion Mei Seira beat Momoka Hanazono to retain the title. V1 for Seira.
Match 5; AZM beat Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki in a 3-way by pinning Kid.
Match 6: In a UWF Rules MMA Fight, Syuri beat Scandinavian Hurricane by TKO.
Match 7: Wonder Of Stardom Champion MIRAI vs. Saori Anou went to a 30 minute time limit draw. As a result, MIRAI retains the title. V3 for MIRAI.
Main Event: Moneyball Tournament Finals: Artist Of Stardom Champions Mai Sakurai, Thekla & Giulia beat Hazuki, Hanan & Saya Iida by retrieving the right chest hanging above the ring with the key to unlock the chest to retain the titles. Thekla made the winning retrieval. V3 for the champs. Afterwards, Thekla challenged Seira for the High Speed Championship. That match will likely happen on 12/2 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya.
The next event is Thursday at Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall in Nagoya. It should be available on Stardom World at a later date.
It seems no Japanese promotion has gotten the worst of a recent major injury wave the last couple months than Stardom. That continues today with 2 more casualties-Mayu Iwatani & Waka Tsukiyama. Iwatani-dislocated finger. Out long enough to be off Sunday’s PPV. Tsukiyama-hernia. Out indefinitely but long enough to be “taking time off”. Possible the former happened last weekend at Lonestar Shootout.
More as it becomes available.
Stardom continued the Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League this weekend with 2 events, although the latter event today was more of a Halloween-themed comedy event.
Yesterday’s event was held at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka and can be watched on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
The announced paid attendance was 362.
In addition to absences mentioned below, Giulia missed these events due to being in the US for a New Japan event yesterday.
Match 1: Thekla beat Miyu Amasaki. This was to have been a Goddesses Tag League match but Ami Sohrei & Lady C were off the event due to illness so AZM & Mei Seira got a free win instead. Then it was changed to a 3-way between Thekla/Amasaki/Sohrei but no Sohrei.
Match 2: AZM beat Ruaua. This was a last-minute match due to the above match and absences.
Match 3: Hanan & Mayu Iwatani beat HANAKO & MIRAI. Hanan pinned HANAKO after an Iwatani Sling Blade.
Match 4: Goddesses Tag League Red Block: Saki Kashima & Syuri beat Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa. Syuri beat Tsukiyama with Ground Suzaku.
Match 5: Momo Watanabe & Natsuko Tora beat Mai Sakurai & Maika. Watanabe pinned Sakurai.
Main Event: Meghan Bahn, Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki beat Koguma, Hazuki & Saya Iida. Seira beat Iida.
Today’s event was dubbed “Halloween Dark Night 2023-House Of Horrors”, was held at Tachikawa Stage Garden and will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
The announced paid attendance was 1116.
Match 1: Goddesses Tag League Red Block: Kurumi Hiragi & Risa Sera beat Saki Kashima & Syuri. Sera pinned Kashima with Rasa Scissors.
Match 2: Super Strong Stardom Machine won a 10 person zombie rumble battle royal, last eliminating Zombie C.
Match 3: In a Zombie Lumberjack Match, ZAP & Dump Matsumoto beat Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa. Matsumoto pinned Tsukiyama.
Match 4: In a Falls Count Anywhere Match, Suzu Suzuki beat Thekla, Mei Seira & Momo Watanabe in a 4-way by pinning Thekla.
Match 5: In a Halloween Battle with Murder Weapons, Saori Anou beat Mai Sakurai, Hazuki & Natsuko Tora in a 4-way by pinning Sakurai.
Match 6: MIRAI vs. Halloween Mask went to a no contest. Oedo Corps interference. Mask was revealed to be Ruaka.
Main Event: In an Exploding Coffin Match, where the winner was who put someone in the coffin and closed the lid-and then it exploded, Crow A & B aka Yuu & Meghan Bahn beat Mayu Iwatani & Crow C aka Maika in a 4-way by placing Iwatani and Stardom Executive Producer Rossy Ogawa in the coffin.
The next event is Friday at Wahlfahrt Toyama 3F Multipurpose Hall in Toyama. It will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
