Stardom 3/26/2022 - Stardom World Climax Day 1

Stardom 3/26/2022 - Stardom World Climax Day 1

You know how it is with Stardom. I don't like a lot of the girls on top and I don't like the poaching they did. Beyond that, it's just too hard for me to keep up since they have multiple shows a week.

I skipped two matches here, but neither were big ones. As usual, the crowd can't cheer which brings down everything.

Future of Stardom Title - Hanan (c) vs Rina

They trade forearms to start and Hanan does a nice hip throw. Rina face kicks her then gets rolled up into a leg bar. Rina's leg gets wrapped in the ropes and Hanan dropkicks it, then northern lights suplexes her for 2. Hanan goes for a twisting crossbody off the 2nd rope, but gets kicked. Rina hits a big slap. Hanan then dropkicks her and then puts Rina in the stretch muffler.

Rina gets a meteora in then top rope double knee drops her for 2. Hanan STO's her then hits a nice fallaway slam clutch for 2. Rina then puts her on her back and drops her gori style for 2. Hanan hits a pumping knee then a fameasser for 2. Hanan backdrops her and holds on then does it again for the win.

I liked this. They went maybe 10 minutes tops here. It wasn't perfect as should have done the top rope knee drop better and the meteora wasn't done well, but I liked the general flow and idea of it. The two younger girls didn't look bad at all here. 

Prominence (Risa Sera and Suzu Suzuki) vs Donna del Mondo (Maika and Thekla)

DDM rushes them before the bell and maika gets her head banged off a table. Thekla then gets her head banged off a post and Suzu nails her hard with a forearm. Risa puts Maika in a reverse rocking chair and drops her.

Maika's head hangs off the apron and Suzu runs and dropkicks it then footslaps her. Thekla fights off a 2v1 and double spears her opponents. She monkey flips Suzu but Suzu catches herself and spears her. Thekla spinning headscissors Risa and Thekla running facekicks her.

Risa does an unusual swinging drop over the back on Maika then meteora's her in the corner but Maika comes back with a suplex. Risa hits a nice death valley driver..only for a 1 count. Risa and Maika trade forearms the Maika lariats her. Risa then schwein's Maika and both tag out. Thekla and Suzu trade forearms and both girls bridge to evade lariats. Thekla indian deathlocks Suzu then Maika suplexes Suzu with a Thekla superkicks. Maika and Thekla then double sliding D Suzu.

Thekla gets stuck on the 2nd rope and Suzu does a sliding german to her. Suzu gets on Risa's back and they all drop down knees on Thekla from the top. Suzu slaps around Thekla then enzugiri's her. Suzu does a wild and nasty looking sit out full nelson bomb from the top then deadlift german's Thekla for the win.

I liked this one. It was fast paced and Prominence had some edge here to them. The top rope full nelson bomb was pretty wild and I liked the Prominence double knee drop from the top. Thekla's a real weird one and I just don't think she is that good though.

Goddesses of Stardom Title - Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe and Starlight Kid) vs STARS (Hazuki and Koguma)

2 years ago, Momo might have main evented this show. Now? She's nowhere close to that level and probably won't be ever again due to new people in charge.

Hazuki basement dropkicks Momo early and facewashes her. Koguma then stomps on Momo's back while holding the top rope. Everyone goes outside then Momo slams Hazuki on the floor then Koguma gets slammed on top of her. Momo hits a hard chest kick on Koguma. OT does a double hip toss on Hazuki, but she springs off the ropes and double armdrags them. She then topes both of them.

Hazuki springboard dropkicks Kid for 2 then Kid comes back with a top rope splash off the top. Kid and Hazuki trade forearms and Hazuki wns that battle. Kazuki then takes a kick and 619 combo while laying over the middle rope. Hazuki codebreakers Kid then pumping kicks her.

Koguma gets in and flurry forearms Momo then gets dropkicked her. Momo then does a uranage on her 2. Koguma top rope cutters Momo then top rope dropkicks her for 2. Momo hits a nasty release dragon suplex then takes a nasty german back. Koguma and Hazuk hit some sideways drop + neckbreaker combo on Momo. Kid does a top rope rotation splash on Koguma then Momo hits a peach sunrise on Koguma for 2. Koguma reverses a double team for a pin attempt on Momo then gets a high kick for 2.

Oedo Tai gets on the apron and Momo chairs Hazuki then hits a clutch tombstone on Koguma for 2. Kid then dropkciks a chair in Koguma's face then Koguma takes a double team pendulum drop and a last falconry type of of move for the win.

This went on way too long and they kicked out of too much. Shave 1/3rd of this off and this would have been better.

KAIRI and Mayu Iwatani vs Cosmic Angles (Tam Nakano and Unagi Sayaka)

I wasn't a fan of this one. There's two ways to do matches where someone returns and their opponent either gets beat up until they make the hot tag in and win it or they win quickly. They had a match that started off really slow with Kairi getting in early and just did a normal match. At least Kairi got the win though.

Wonder of Stardom Title - Saya Kamitani vs Utami Hayashishita

Saya gets her back worked over. Utami gets hung over the apron and Saya hits kicks. Saya springboards up and Utami kind of back body drops her. Saya then hits a tope con hilo. They traded forearms and Saya eventually hit a standing spanish fly. Saya was lariated on the apron and kind of landed on her head in slow motion. Saya then hurricanrana'd her off the apron. Utami then hit a samurai driver on her and top rope dropkicked her. Utami then hit a stiff german for 2.

Saya came back with a stiff poisonrana then northern lights suplexed her for 2. Utami went for a splash mountain but Saya reversed it with a hurricanrana then Utami flipped her with a lariat. Saya hit a stiff spinning heel kick then a fisherman's driver for 2. Saya then got the win with the phoenix splash.

It went close to 30 minutes. It didn't really drag. Utami spent the early part working the back then it lost most of its logic from there. Saya definitely did work as an underdog here. I thought the pacing was okay and they didn't overdo it too much, but I still wouldn't call it particularly special.

Saya did a promo on her after and said she turned the tables on her and got the big win. She said she is fighting Tam tomorrow then Tam came out. she touched her belt and grabbed her by the hair. Saya said she is Stardom and they sized each other up. Tam's voice was shot here and she was hoarse.

World of Stardom Title - Syuri vs Giulia

Ami Miura is with Syuri and is yet another Stardom poach.

Syuri accidentally kicks the post only then has her head banged off it. They trade forearms. They go outside and Giulia abdominal stretches her on the floor then jumps off the ref's back for a dropkick. Giulia then piledrivers her through a table. Giulia top rope dropkicked for 2. Giulia charged into Syuri and got hit with plexiglass then double underhook suplexed her on the floor.

Giulia goes up top and leg drops her while she stands. Syuri release germans her then Giulia does it back. Giulia then capture suplexes her. Syuri hit a pumping knee then a gorilla press gutbuster for 2. Syuri hit some headkicks from the apron then Giulia hit a top rope butterfly suplex. Syuri then lawn darted her into the buckle then Giulia hit a release back drop that looked dangerous.

Syuri then hit a sitout slam for 2 at 20 minutes and Giulia came back with a stiff emerald flowsion. They slap each other and Syuri drops her with a hard chest kick. Giulia then hit a wrist clutch release back drop and v-trigger'd her for 2. Giulia then sitout slammed her for 2.

Giulia hit a northern lights bomb for 2 but Syuri hit the ropes. syuri came back with high kicks and an emerald flowsion for 2. Syuri buzzsaw kicked her for 2 then hit an electric chair driver for the win at around 26 minutes.

This wasn't too good. They just did too much and there wasn't much of a story built early on. Too many kickouts and just not smart work.

Syuri said she is leaving Donna del Mundo after and forming her own group.

Overall thoughts: The presentation was good and it felt like a big show, but most of the matches went too long and they did too much in them.