Stardom has a draft every year, where the leaders of the various groups determine who will join them in their stables. However, this year will have one less stable as the main event on this show is a 5-way match where the person who loses gets their stable disbanded. This is essentially the last show of their season so to speak as Stardom will look a lot different after this.
Hina vs Rina
Twins collide! Hina said Rina is her partner, but she hasn't fought her in 6 months and didn't want to lose to her. Rina said she wants to even the series up at 2 wins and 2 losses a piece, as she is currently 1-2 against her twin.
Rina got the win here in a few minutes with a backslide then a flip over the top of Hina. This was better than a lot of the stuff you are going to see adult women do despite being simple rookie wrestling. They just did some technical wrestling here and got in a strike exchange before heading to the finish. The crowd gave them some love and I surprisingly enjoyed this. Rina took a not fun looking STO and I think she hit her head on the canvas.
Tam Nakano vs Rebel Kel vs Hanan
Kel is nervous on the mic. She said if Tam and Hanan start to go at it, she's just going to let them and watch. Hanan wants to win and get picked in the draft and looks thrilled to be there. Tam is nervous about the draft and is dreading it like a kid going to the principal's office.
Tam got the win here with a rollup where she laid back on Hana and pinned her. This wasn't that great. Kel is just too big and too tall for the other girls in the match as she has more than a head over them. Tam was probably the best person in the match using her smaller statue to try and roll up Kel. A whole lot of bad kicks to the stomach here and it looked like a diva's match. Kel hit a nice dropkick though.
Oedo Tai - Hazuki, Andras Miyagi and Natsu Sumire vs Jungle Assault Nation - Natsuko Tora, Leo Onozaki and Saya Iida
Leo said she was born to beat you and Iida said she's small, but her heart is big. Saya said she wants to get back OT since they beat her before. Tora said she wants to show herself. OT legit had nothing to say in a super low effort promo. OT(Oedo Tai) is coming off of losing their dance to Queen's Quest the previous night in a masks vs dance match. OT without the dance just isn't right. Andras patted down the ref and messed up his hair during the weapons check.
OT got the win here when Sumire hit a northern lights suplex/fallaway slam combo into a bridge for the win. I enjoyed this. Sumire always teases coming off the top when getting into the ring just to jump down, so Tora speared her when she did. Hazuki's stuff looked crisp and perfect like always and she really hit some great strikes. Miyagi laid into the younger girls as well and really plastered Iida with a good one. She also hit a good yakuza kick here. This was mostly just an extended squash, but Iida got a ton in here and did a good job as the underdog face. She has to start laying in though on those forearms. The crowd really seemed to like her as well. Andras also flipped off a fan who wanted a high five as she left.
STARS - Arisa Hoshiki, Starlight Kid and Saki Kashima vs Queen's Quest - Konami, AZM and Bea Priestley
Kid and Kashima fought the night before with Kashima getting the win in a friendly match. AZM and Konami are coming off taking OT's dance in the 2/3 falls match. Konami said they have the perfect power balance, AZM mocked kid for always saying she will win and never doing so. Kid was nervous about the draft but said she was really going to beat AZM. She said she wasn't sure if her partners would be the same after tonight. STARS messed up their hand pose and redid it.
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| The finish |
5-Way Match - Loser's faction is disbanded, Winner gets 1st pick in draft - Kagetsu(Oedo Tai) vs Hana Kimura(International Army) vs Jungle Kyona(Jungle Assault Nation) vs Momo Watanabe(Queen's Quest) vs Mayu Iwatani(STARS)
Going into this, the consensus was that it was probably Jungle who was going to lose since they were the weakest of the factions(minus Hana's, whose faction wasn't really formed yet). Since Hana's wasn't formed, we wrote her losing off. QQ and OT are too essential to Stardom to lose. We figured STARS could lose as well without big issues. Enough talk, let's find out!
Hana said "VIVA REVOLUTION" and winked. Kagetsu said she wants AZM with the first pick. Jungle said she can't afford to let JAN die and said she wants to keep her members.
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| The finish |
While not the traditional match, this was a lot of fun. Mayu's win was a total surprise and as always they kept it moving without much downtime. The final segment between Jungle and Hana was dramatic and a lot of fun and Hana's stomp to finish her off was brutal.
2019 Stardom Draft:
First round picks:
- Mayu picked Kid first. Kid was happy to be first pick and said she'd follow Mayu forever.
- Momo picked AZM while Kagetsu threw a fit over it. AZM was also picked first two years in a row. She said her and Kid would create Stardom's future. Kagetsu picked Hazuki first.
- Kagetsu said "I couldn't do anything". Hazuki was NOT happy about that remark. Kagetsu then changed her tune.
- Hana yelled for Jungle saying she picks her. Kyona said she created JAN with her hands and lost JAN with her hands. She said she loves JAN but likes Hana's way of life.
Second round picks:
- Mayu picked Arisa
- Momo picked Utami, who said she was out of action but wants to protect her team with Momo.
- Kagetsu picked Andras. Andras had nothing to say, as usual.
- Hana called Konami "plain jane" and a "bit player", stealing her from QQ. Konami said her Triangle Lancer has a 100% winrate.
Third round picks:
- The crowd chanted for Natsu to be picked. Mayu picked Tam. Tam was upset, saying if she's not first, Mayu doesn't mean it. Tam then cried and Mayu told her to stop.
- Momo picked Bea, she said QQ #1.
- Kagetsu picked Na...Natsuko Tora! Over Natsu Sumire. Tora said she hoped she got chosen by OT and hugged all the members.
- Hana said she's not here, but she wants Mary Apache, who she called her Mexican mom
Fourth round picks:
- Mayu asked if Kagetsu didn't want Natsu? Kagetsu talked to Mayu and she picked Saki Kashima. Saki said Mayu has been cold towards her and gave her anxiety.
- Momo picked Viper, who wasn't there.
- Kagetsu picked Jamie Hayter, who wasn't there.
- Hana picked Natsumi Apache, Mary's daughter, who wasn't there
Fifth round picks:
- Mayu picked Hanan, who said she will someday lead STARS.
- Momo picked Chardonnay, who wasn't there.
- Kagetsu picked Martina, after one of Oedo said they feel bad for Natsu. Natsu was throwing a fit on the ramp.
- Hana picked Rebel Kel.
Sixth round picks:
- Mayu picked Xia Brookside, who wasn't there.
- Momo picked Leo. Leo said she didn't have a home, so she's happy to be picked.
- Kagetsu picked Natsu. They said Oedo didn't want to make any more picks. Natsu asked Kagetsu if she was stupid? She complained she almost got picked by STARS and said she was so happy to get picked.
- Hana picked Bobbi, who wasn't there.
Seventh round picks:
- Mayu picked Saya Iida, saying she is very STARS lile. Iida was crying and said she'd try hard. Mayu then said no more picks
- Momo picked Hina. Hina was sad her Rina and Hanan were broken apart as she wanted to be with them. Hina cried as Hana's crew and OT booed her. Momo said no more picks.
- Hana left it up to chance and picked Ruaka. Hana then picked Rina as well, saying she is like her. Rina said she loved her. Hana also said she wanted Kaori Yoneyama and said she was done.
Kagetsu said they all should say their unit aspirations. Momo said it will be fun to fight her former partner Konami and said QQ wants to win all the belts. Kagetsu said their team didn't change much and said they were happy JAN was spread out. She promised a new Tora and talked trash on JAN. Hana said "diamonds can only be polished with diamonds". She said she would polish all of gems into diamonds. Tam was upset still. Mayu said she wants them to fight fairly. They all did the Stardom phrase to close the show.
Overall thoughts: A pretty fun show. Nothing was truly that bad with almost all of it being good. The draft was a lot of fun. They built to it well(even at the expense of some other storylines) and they really made it feel important.
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