Tag: stardom

Stardom is in the USA today as part of “The Collective”, a series of over a dozen independent events taking place over WrestleMania weekend beginning today through Sunday, for “Stardom American Dream 2024 in the Keystone State”, a special event held before some participation in other independent events. It’s a lean card on paper thanks in part to the recent talent exodus with just 5 matches, but 2 are title matches. First up is a 3-way for the High Speed Championship with Mei Seira defending the title against Ram Kaichow and Saki Kashima, while in the likely main event, World Of Stardom Champion Maika defends the title against Meghan Bayne, making her first Stardom appearance since returning from a long excursion to the promotion in Japan last year. There’s plenty of notable outsider participation as well including All Elite Wrestling star Willow Nightingale, TNA Wrestling star Xia Brookside and NEW STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer from the CMLL promotion in Mexico among others. Former foreign wrestler Mariah May, who left Stardom last last year for AEW, also makes a return appearance.

Today’s event will be held at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA and can be watched LIVE on TrillerTV/FITE worldwide in English as a PPV for $24.99. You get the live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays with purchase. There is no Pia Stream PPV option. The event may be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date. With only 5 matches and the 2 title matches this is going to be a short event unless anything is added last-minute, and seems overpriced for an event that probably won’t go more than 2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Stephanie Vaquer, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid vs. AZM, Saya Kamitani & Camron Branae
Syuri & Konami vs. Willow Nightingale & SAKI
Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Momo Kohgo vs. Mina Shirakawa, Mariah May & Xia Brookside
High Speed Champion Mei Seira vs. Ram Kaichow & Saki Kashima in a 3-way for the title
World Of Stardom Champion Maika vs. Meghan Bayne for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at Noon PT/3 PM ET.

Mandatory FBI Warning, then to the intro screen right on time and right to the opening video as…
We are LIVE from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. Your hosts are Veda Scott & Tom Lawlor. It sounds like we have the usual New Japan US ring announcer today. There are some minor audio issues at the start, namely I can’t seem to hear Lawlor on commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced sometime after the event. It’s a legit advance sellout so it depends on the setup, but max capacity for the venue would mean 1300, (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 976, so that means the setup reduced the capacity by about 25%).

Match 1: High Speed Champion Mei Seira vs. Ram Kaichow & Saki Kashima in a 3-way for the title. Usually these matches have a 15 minute time limit but we’ll see here.
Result: Saki Kashima beat High Speed Champion Mei Seira & Ram Kaichow in a 3-way by pinning Seira to win the title. Kashima becomes the 25th High Speed Champion. Mostly a comedy match. Kaichow thought she won after using a powder attack following a ref bump but it allows Kahsima to roll up Seira for 3 instead. Rather short match although that’s slightly the point of these matches.

Match 2: Stephanie Vaquer, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid vs. AZM, Saya Kamitani & Camron Branae
Result: Stephanie Vaquer, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid beat AZM, Saya Kamitani & Camron Branae. Vaquer pinned Branae after Death Valley Driver. Afterwards, Vaquer headbutted Watanabe as things got heated between them. They face off on 4/12 in New Japan for the STRONG Women’s Championship.

Match 3: Syuri & Konami vs. Willow Nightingale (All Elite Wrestling) & SAKI
Result: Willow Nightingale & SAKI beat Syuri & Konami. Nightingale pinned Konami after Babe With The Powerbomb.

Match 4: Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Momo Kohgo vs. Mina Shirakawa, Mariah May (All Elite Wrestling) & Xia Brookside (TNA Wrestling). The latter team out first, Shirakawa with microphone to introduce her teammates instead of the regular announcer. May did the honors for Shirakawa.
Result: Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Momo Kohgo beat Mina Shirakawa, Mariah May & Xia Brookside. Nakano pinned Brookside with Twilight Dream. This was definitely the fanservice match for all the male fans. Post-match, as Club Venus posed in the ring for fans…Toni Storm!?! The AEW Women’s Champion came out, minus black & white old-school filter and Luther. Storm rose up the ranks in Stardom before going to WWE. Storm with microphone. Hard to hear what she was saying on the stream though (had to turn the volume up to deafening). She said she was here to put Stardom over and thank them for the opportunities the promotion gave her. She then put May over and gave her a flower bouquet as the crowd chanted for Shirakawa. This caused Storm to go a little more in-character as she reminded them The Forbidden Door is always open. Shirakawa accepted as she & Storm stared down, Storm shoving the AEW Women’s Championship belt in Shirakawa’s face as May broke it up.
That was a really fun surprise, moreso with Storm in her AEW persona (annoying and I’m not a fan of it but she continues to make it work very well). Let’s see if anything comes out of it, perhaps sometime in June…

Main Event: World Of Stardom Champion Maika vs. Meghan Bayne for the title. Usually these matches have a 30 minute time limit (In-match note: They seemed to have FINALLY fixed Lawlor’s microphone/headset, now I can clearly hear him for the first time all event)
Result: World Of Stardom Champion Maika beat Meghan Bayne to retain the title. V3 for Maika.
Bayne had it won at one point but it was a 2.99999999999. Very physical match. The former partners hugged it out afterwards. As it seemed to start winding down, Momo Watanabe came out. With microphone. Challenge issued in Japanese. As Watanabe went to leave, she suddenly came back with a baseball bat shot but Bayne stepped in front of Maika and Watanabe hit the brakes, then walked off. Maika with microphone. Challenge accepted. That match apparently will happen on 4/27 in Yokohama. Maika then spoke in English to lead a “We Are Stardom” chant to send the crowd home happy.

My complaints about this event are all on the technical/production side as for 98% of the event I couldn’t hear Lawlor on commentary, and often the venue/production audio drowned out commentary and the microphone in ring was hard to hear. Could barely hear the announcer too. The matches were solid but with only 5 matches and the event running only about 100 minutes, it did not justify the $25 price tag. $15 would have been better, maybe $20 tops, but $25 was too much for too little. Hopefully it hits Stardom World soon, wait until it does to watch. I did enjoy the event but I felt I paid too much and got too little. The matches were all good to great though, all are worth watching.

End Show.

Some of them will be sticking around for other events as part of The Collective as well as meet-and-greets at WrestleCon before returning to Japan next week.

The next event is 4/12 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which will be the final Stardom event for Giulia & Utami Hayashishita. Broadcast plans TBA but I would not be surprised if they make it a PPV via Pia Stream.

Stardom wrapped up March today with the farewell event for most of the wrestlers that are now part of the mass exodus from the promotion. Most are probably headed to what will be Rossy Ogawa’s new pending promotion but some could also be headed to WWE or elsewhere.

Today’s event was held at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata and can be watched on demand on PPV via Pia Stream. It should be available on demand on Stardom World Thursday.

The announced paid attendance was 471, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Mei Seira beat Yuzuki.

Match 2: Saya Iida & Hanan beat Rian & Maika. Hanan pinned Rian after Dandelion.

Match 3: Yuna Mizumori & Natsupoi beat Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara. Natsupoi pinned Sayaka after Fairy Real Gift.

Match 4; Momo Kohgo, Koguma, Hazuki & Mayu Iwatani beat HANAKO, Gina, Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa. Iwatani pinned Gina after a moonsault press.

Match 5: Tam Nakano beat Mai Sakurai.

Match 6: In a God’s Eye Special Match Series, MIRAI vs. all of them went as follows:
MIRAI beat Ranna Yagami.
MIRAI vs. Ami Sohrei went to a 5 minute time limit draw.
Saki Kashima beat MIRAI in 15 seconds. Which led to…
Saki Kashima beat MIRAI again.
Saya Iida beat MIRAI.
MIRAI vs. Syuri went to a 5 minute time limit draw.
MIRAI went 1-2-2 not counting the quick Kashima win.

Match 7: Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki went to a 15 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Extra Time: Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki went to a 5 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid, Rina, Ruaka & Natsuko Tora beat Miyu Amasaki, Lady C, AZM, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita. Watanabe pinned Hayashishita after Peach Sunrise.

All but a couple of the wrestlers moving on are now done with Stardom, but Giulia and Hayashishita have 2 dates left and will finish up on 4/12.

The next event is Stardom American Dream In The Keystone State 2024 Thursday at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. The event will be a live PPV available only on TrillerTV (fka FITE) worldwide in English only for $24.99. It will not be available on Pia Stream. It is a legit advance sellout. The live broadcast will begin at Noon PT/3 PM ET. I plan to purchase the PPV and do live results but will not be able to confirm my plans until the night before (I usually telework for my job on Thursdays so I need to wait until Wednesday to make sure there are not any last-minute changes).

Stardom ran the first half of their last March doubleheader today, the penultimate event before the big talent exodus begins.

Today’s event was held at Sendai Pit in Sendai and can be watched on demand as a PPV via Pia Stream. It should be available on demand on Stardom World Wednesday.

The announced paid attendance was 493, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Rian Debut Match: Starlight Kid beat Rian.

Match 2: In a match where the winner got to join Cosmic Angels, Aya Sakura vs. Sayaka Kurara went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Neither gets in for now.

Match 3: Ruaka & Rina beat Saki Kashima & Ranna Yagami and Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO in a 3-way when Ruaka pinned Yagami.

Match 4: Yuna Mizumori beat Lady C & Mai Sakurai in a 3-way by pinning C.

Match 5: In a series of 1 minute matches against all members of STARS, Yuzuki went 0-1-5, going to a draw against Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Koguma, Hanan and Momo Kohgo but losing to Saya Iida in 58 seconds.

Match 6: Saori Anou & Natsupoi beat AZM & Miyu Amasaki, Giulia & Tam Nakano and Natsuko Tora & Momo Watanabe in a 4-way when Anou pinned Amasaki. Afterwards, Hanan came out and challenged Anou for the Wonder Of Stardom Championship on 4/27.

Match 7: Maika, Mina Shirakawa & Gina beat Artist Of Stardom Champions Syuri, MIRAI & Amo Sohrei to win the titles. Maika, Shirakawa & Gina become the 32nd Artist Of Stardom Champions. Gina pinned MIRAI after Thunderstruck.

Main Event: Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira beat Goddesses Of Stardom Champions Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani to win the titles. Suzuki & Seira become the 31st Goddesses Of Stardom Champions. Suzuki pinned Hayashishita with a German suplex hold.

The next event is in progress at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata. It is a live PPV on Pia Stream.

Stardom announced the latest card for their US event Thursday in Philadelphia, PA, which is as follows (slightly lean right now with just 5 matches):

High Speed Champion Mei Seira vs. Ram Kaichow & Saki Kashima in a 3-way for the title
AZM, Saya Kamitani & Camron Branae vs. Stephanie Vaquer, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe
Syuri & Konami vs. Willow Nightingale & SAKI
Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Momo Kohgo vs. Mona Hsorakawa, Mariah May & Xis Brookside
World Of Stardom Champion Maika vs. Megan Bayne for the title

Thursday’s event will be live on PPV via TrillerTV/FITE for $24.99 in English only and is scheduled to begin at 3 PM ET/Noon PT. It will not be available on Pia Stream in Japan and there will be no Japanese commentary option. As I normally telework for my IRL job on Thursdays I plan to buy the PPV and, if I do, there will be live results posted.

Stardom ran the second half of a weekend house show doubleheader today, serving as the second of two events that were used to test live streaming on their Stardom World streaming service.

Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto and can be watched on demand on Stardom World. It may also be available on YouTube as it was also live streamed there.

The announced paid attendance was 511, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Yuna Mizumori beat Aya Sakura.

Match 2: Starlight Kid & Rina beat Yuzuki & Mayu Iwatani. Rina pinned Yuzuki after Pink Devil.

Match 3: Momo Watanabe, Ruaka & Natsuko Tora beat Lady C, Saya Kamitani & AZM. Watanabe pinned Kamitani after Peach Sunrise.

Match 4: Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki beat Gina & Mina Shirakawa and Koguma & Hazuki in a 3-way when Suzuki pinned Gina.

Match 5: Mai Sakurai, Natsupoi, MIWRAI, Syuri, Maika & Giulia beat Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara, Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima, Tam Nakano & Ami Sohrei. Natsupoi pinned Kurara.

Match 6: Utami Hayashishita beat Miyu Amasaki.

Main Event: New Blood Tag Team Champions Hanan & Saya Iida beat HANAKO & Waka Tsukiyama to retain the titles. Iida pinned HANAKO after Giant Killer. V3 for the champs.

The next event is Saturday (Friday night US time) at Sendai Pit in Sendai. Broadcast plans TBA.

In the wake of the rumored talent exodus from Stardom, the promotion made another intriguing announcement today: On Tuesday at 3 PM JST (2 AM ET/Monday at 11 PM PT) a press conference will be held to announce the inauguration of the Japan Pro Wrestling Federation, possibly aka United Japan Pro Wrestling per logos displayed on Stardom’s website. In attendance will be New Japan Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi, New Japan President/CEO Hiroshi Tanahashi, CyberFight President Sanshiro Takagi (DDT) and CyberFight Vice President Naomichi Marufuji (Pro Wrestling NOAH). In addition to a possible ABEMA live broadcast, the presser will also be streamed live on the Stardom YouTube channel.

This has me thinking it could be a new strategic alliance/working partnership much like when Mitsuharu Misawa started the Global Pro Wrestling Alliance after forming Pro Wrestling NOAH. If this involves CyberFight & Bushiroad Corporation, it could also include Stardom and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, which on paper is a win-win. But perhaps noticeably absent from said alliance, for now, could be All-Japan Pro Wrestling. No mention of this on their website.

More as it becomes available. The announcement can be viewed below (in Japanese) at Stardom’s website:
https://wwr-stardom.com/news/20240322-2/

To the dismay of many Stardom fans, the rumored wrestler exodus at the end of the month, when many contracts are up, is now official. Stardom has confirmed these wrestlers will be leaving the promotion when their contracts expire on 3/31: Utami Hayashishita, Giulia, Mai Sakurai, MIRAI and Yuzuki. Hayashishita & Giulia will finish up with Stardom on 4/12, the rest are done after 3/31. Yuzuki is a rookie who just debuted in November, Giulia’s departure was expected, the rest all have been competing for at least 4-5 years. This will have title implications because Hayashishita half of the current Goddesses Of Stardom Champions, so unless a title match happens on 4/12 or perhaps in the USA on 4/4 the titles will have to be vacated.

At this time it’s not known if anyone else is leaving, what is certain is that Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano appear to be staying put (Iwatani’s contract is not up for a while, Nakano says she’s not leaving), also probably staying is Maika. The question now is if the departing wrestlers follow Rossy Ogawa to his reported new promotion, but Giulia is rumored to be headed to WWE later this year.

More as it becomes available.

Stardom wrapped up the 2024 Cinderella Tournament today with the tour-ender in Nagoya.

Today’s event was held at Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on PPV via Pia Stream for 4400 Japanese yen (around $30 US) until Saturday morning. It should be available on demand on Stardom World after that. It is Japanese commentary with Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & special guest MIRAI (but not for the whole event).

The announced paid attendance was 994, a full house/near sellout. The Event Hall has a normal full capacity of 1800 so they probably had a max setup of maybe 1200.

Match 1: Mayu Iwatani beat Yuzuki.

Match 2; Gina, HANAKO, Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa beat Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima, MIRAI & Syuri. Shirakawa pinned Yagami after Venus Tower.

Cinderella Tournament Semifinals:
Match 3: Hanan beat Ruaka.
Match 4: Ami Sohrei beat AZM.

Match 5: Mei Seira, Suzu Suzuki & Mai Sakurai beat Miyu Amasaki, Lady C & Saya Kamitani. and Saya Iida, Koguma & Hazuki in a 3-way when Seira pinned Kamitani.

Match 6: Tam Nakano vs. Giulia went to a 15 minute time limit draw.

Match 7: Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid, Fukigen, Rina & Natsuko Tora beat Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara, Aya Sakura, Yuna Mizumori & Natsupoi. Rina pinned Sakura after a diving double knee drop.

Match 8: Cinderella Tournament Finals: Hanan beat Ami Sohrei to win the tournament. Hanan wins a trophy and a Cinderella dress for winning. If she gets a title shot, Hanan made it clear she wants the Wonder Of Stardom Championship.

Main Event: World Of Stardom Champion Maika beat Utami Hayashishita to retain the title. V2 for Maika. With only 19 seconds left to spare before it would have been a 30 minute time limit draw. Next up: If what Maika said post-match holds true, Meghan Bayne. That match will happen on 4/4 in Philadelphia, PA if so. It also has been announced that 4/4 will be a PPV only on TrillerTV (fka FITE) in English only for $24.99. No Pia PPV or Japanese option. Start time will be 3 PM ET/Noon PT. Note that the event is on a Thursday so keep that in mind for watching live (you do get unlimited on demand replays with purchase on Triller).

The next event is Saturday (Friday night US time) at Nara Convention Center in Nara. It will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.

Stardom continued the Cinderella Tournament 2024 this weekend with the rest of Round 2 yesterday and the Quarterifnals today.

Yesterday’s event was held at Atelier Himeji in Hyogo and can be watched on demand on Stardom World.

The announced paid attendance was 398.

Match 1; Hanan & Saya Iida beat Ranna Yagami & Mei Seira. Iida pinned Yagami.

Match 2: Cinderella Tournament Round 2: AZM beat Sayaka Kurara.

Match 3: Cinderella Tournament Round 2: Miyu Amasaki beat Mai Sakurai.

Match 4; Saki Kashima, Ami Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri beat Saori Anou, Aya Sakura, Yuna Mizumori & Natsupoi. Syuri pinned Sakura.

Match 5; Cinderella Tournament Round 2: Gina beat Waka Tsukiyama.

Match 6: Cinderella Tournament Round 2: Ruaka beat Hazuki by over the top rope.

Match 7: HANAKO, Mina Shirakawa & Maika beat Lady C, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita. Maika pinned C after Michinoku Driver 2.

Main Event: Suzu Suzuki, Tam Nakano & Mei Seira beat Yuzuki, Koguma & Mayu Iwatani and Natsuko Tora, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe in a 3-way when Nakano pinned Yuzuki.

Today’s event was held at Shiga Prefectural Cultural Industry Exchange Center in Shiga and can be watched on demand on Stardom World.

The announced paid attendance was 344.

Match 1; Suzu Suzuki beat Mai Sakurai, Mirai & Lady C in a 4-way by pinning Sakurai.

Match 2: HANAKO & Waka Tsukiyama beat Yuzuki & Saya Iida. Tsukiyama pinned Yuzuki with an Osui suplex hold.

Match 3: Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima & Syuri beat Aya Sakura, Yuna Mizumori & Tam Nakano. Kashima pinned Sakura.

Match 4: Cinderella Tournament Quarterfinals: Ruaka beat Gina.

Match 5: Cinderella Tournament Quarterfinals: AZM beat Miyu Amasaki.

Match 6: Hazuki, Koguma & Mayu Iwatani beat Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara & Natsupoi. Hazuki pinned Kurara after a diving senton.

Match 7: Cinderella Tournament Quarterfinals: Ami Sohrei beat Mei Seira by over the top rope.

Match 8: Cinderella Tournament Quarterfinals: Hanan beat Starlight Kid.

Main Event: Mina Shirakawa & Maika beat Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita & Natsuko Tora & Momo Watanabe in a 3-way when Maika pinned Hayashishita.

As a result of today, the Semifinals of the tournament will be Ami SOhrei vs. AZM & Hanan vs. Ruaka.

The Semifinals and Finals are Wednesday at Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall in Nagoya. It will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date unless a last-minute decision is made to have it live on PPV.

UPDATE: Wednesday will be a PPV. 4400 Japanese yen (around $30) on Pia Stream worldwide. It should be available on Stardom World Saturday afternoon.

That or the relentless Japan injury/illness bug strikes again in Stardom. Curious in timing and circumstances because this time it’s Giulia. The ever-vague poor health/physical condition. Out this weekend. For tomorrow, she was to have been in a 3-way 6-woman tag match. Mei Seira is the replacement. For Sunday, TBA. This is all amidst rumors she is leaving Stardom at the end of the month.

More as it becomes available.