Stardom 7/9/2022 Stardom MidSummer Champions ~Kings Of MidSummer~

Stardom 7/9/2022 Stardom MidSummer Champions ~Kings Of MidSummer~

I saw 5 of the 8 matches:

Future of Stardom Title - Hanan (c) vs Waka Tsukiyama

Waka side headlocks her early and dropkicks her back. Waka crossbodies her and Hanan side throws her. They trade chest forearms and both hit forearm flurries. Waka jumps on her back for a sleeper and Hanan ropebreaks. Waka kind of flatliners her while sitting on the 2nd rope then top rope dropkicks her.

Waka hits her with a straightjacket buster then does some weird twisting straightjacket buster off the top for 2. Waka hits a neat suplex but Hana gets her foot on the ropes on the pin attempt. Hanan STO's her then iconoslams her. Hanan then hits a beautiful fallaway slam and hits a fameasser for 2. Waka pulls her down for a pin attempt then takes another fameasser for a close Hanan 2. Hanan then does a wrist-clutch fisherman's backdrop and wins it.

It started off as nothing interesting, but I bought into Waka fighting out of the various pin attempts and almost stealing the win as the underdog.

High Speed Title - AZM (c) vs Momo Kohgo

Momo rushes her at the bell and they run around quickly. Momo slips up on the ropes and they keep evading each other. They try to dropkick each other at the same time, then they kip up together and Momo gets dropkicked. AZM runs up the ropes with Momo's arm and dropkicks her. AZM kicks her hard in the arm and forearms her down.

AZM kicks Momo in the back. AZM jumps up on the 2nd rope and Momo 619's her leg then headscissors her out. AZM armdrags Momo then Momo 619's her under the bottom rope as she stands outside. Momo then does a turning splash from the top onto AZM outside. Momo springboard dropkicks AZM then they trade forearms. AZM kicks Momo between the ropes then hurricanrana spikes her head into the mat.

Momo superkicks her and they trade pin attempts. AZM buzzsaw kicks her then suplexes her for 2. AZM hits a nice top rope double footstomp for 2. AZM slaps her and Momo rolls her up for 2. Momo does a 619 through the ropes and ddt's her. Momo throws her off on her headscissors attempt and superkicks her. Momo then hits a crucifix driver for 2. Momo fires up then AZM rolls her up. Momo then reverses a roll-up for a close 2. AZM puts her in a nast looking double armhold and wins it.

I wasn't a fan of this. It just went on too long and Momo was sloppy.

AZM then gets double stomped off the top after.

Ten Man Tag Team Elimination Match - Donna del Mondo (Giulia, Himeka, Maika, Mai Sakurai & Natsupoi) vs. Cosmic Angels (Mina Shirakawa, Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka), Hikari Shimizu & SAKI

The Angels got a nice entrance with their dance. Tam and Poi go at it. Tam slaps her then they slap each other at the same time. Saki and Giulia get in. Giulia takes some kicks then stf's Unagi. Unagi then gets dropkicks while in it. Unagi hits a double bulldog on her opponents then Tam reverses a double suplex into a double ddt. Himeka and Mina trade forearms then Himeka hits a big lariat.

Himeka tries to powerbomb Tam over the top then Mai kicks both off the apron to eliminate them. Saki pops-up Hikari over top of her into a footstomp on Mai. Mai 2nd rope elbows Hikari. Poi takes some weird double swinging slam from Unagi and Mina then gets double axekicked by Hikari and Tam. Hikari spin kicks Mai and eliminates her.

Maika and Unagi trade facekicks then Unagi codebreakers her. Unagi legdrops her then Maika powerslams her. Maika then michinoku drivers Unagi and pins her. Maika then does the same to Hikari and eliminates her. Giulia takes a spin kick then a death valley driver for 2.

Tam does a high german on Poi and Saki facekicks Giulia. Saki takes a double backdrop from the 2nd rope. Giulia and Saki trade forearms on their knees. They get up and continue to trade then Giulia nails her with one. They fight on the apron and Saki falls and is eliminated. Poi superkicks Tam then Tam double ddt's Poi/Giulia. Poi and Giulia are on the apron, then Tam joins them. Tam takes a 1v2. Poi almost superkicks Giulia, then does it anyway. Tam then superkicks Giulia into a Poi german and Poi/Giulia are eliminated. Tam wins it for her team.

The girls all talk after and it seems like Poi joined the Cosmic Angels.

Not sure if I understand Poi turning on Giulia, but I don't follow the promotion regularly. It was also kind of weird of Tam not to just shove both off when she could have to win the match. These matches are generally okay, but they come down to how much time they get. This had under 20 minutes. Maybe with another 20 it would have been an epic, but it was decent to good.  

Wonder Of Stardom Title Match - Saya Kamitani (c) vs. Starlight Kid

Kid gets thrown onto the ramp early then dropkicked onto it. Saya beats her up on the ramp. Kid then headscissors her on the ramp. Saya gets whipped into the ropes from the ramp and does a cartwheel and flip, but Kid knee kicks her.  Kid continues to work on the knee then bangs the leg off the apron. Kid then leglocks her around the bottom rope. Kid then figure fours her and Saya swings at her while in it.

Kid kicks her around then hits forearms. Kid slaps her around then Saya hits a barrage of forearms. Kid leg lariats her then Saya dropkicks her in mid-air. Saya then springboard crossbodies her outside and northern lights suplexes her on the floor. Saya then top rope dropkicks her for 2.

Saya gets pulled down on the apron then kid does a weird dragon screw on her. Kid then germans her on the apron and asai moonsaults her from the 2nd rope to the floor. They go back in and roll each other. Kid slides under her and takes a double stomp for it. Kid flying forearms her then knee dropkicks her. Kid then hits a 180 turnaround frogsplash for 2 from the top. Saya hits a bakcdrop with a great bridge.

Saya goes up top and is armdragged off. Kid then top rope moonsaults her but Saya gets her knees up and yells in pain as Kid had been working on her knees. Kid dragon screws her and stretch mufflers her and Saya ropebreaks. Kid top rope moonsaults her for 2 and hits a beautiful tiger suplex for 2. Saya ki krusher's Kid for 2 then Kid meteora's her in the back of the neck. Kid top rope spanish flies her but Saya no sells it for some reason. Saya then leg lariats her and Kid tries to pin her off a hurricanrana for 2. Saya rolls her into a blue thunder driver for 2 then Saya does a top rope pheonix splash for the win.

I wasn't a big fan of this. It was athletically impressive, but they didn't sell much at all, they did too much and the "work the leg" logic really wasn't done that well. It just felt like a typical indy classic by the end of it.

World Of Stardom Title Match - Syuri (c) vs Momo Watanabe

They trade kicks to start. They trade forearms and Syuri hits hard knees to the gut in the corner. Momo then hits kicks to her chest. Saki trips Syuri outside then Oedo Tai takes cheap shots on her. Momo does a camel clutch variation on Syuri and stomps her after Syuri pulls her hair. Momo foot slaps her then kicks her.

Momo dropkicks her in the corner then gives her hair chest kicks in the corner as she is seated. Momo puts her in tree of woe and slaps her around, then face kicks her as she hangs there. Syuri underhook suplexes her then does a figure four variation. Syuri knees her against the ropes. Syuri then 2nd rope legdrops her as her head hangs off the apron. Syuri runs on the apron and ends up sentoning herself on the floor. Momo bangs Syuri's head off a table then throws the ref over the table. Momo then piledrivers her on the table.

Momo then hits a peach sunrise on her for 2. Momo uranage's Syuri then meteora's her in the back and front. Momo top rope meteora's her for 2. Syuri german suplexes Momo then Momo suplexes her back. Syuri high kicks Momo then hits some kicks ot the chest. Syuri fireman's carry gutbusters her.

Momo hits a tombstone variation on her and then kicks her in the face. Momo hits some half-nelson + wrist clutch germans for 2. Syuri high kicks Momo then hits an emerald flowsion for 2. Syuri hits a kick to the face for 2 then brock lock's her for the win.

There was some good stuff here. Momo's aggression was good and they were both real stiff with each other. I didn't like Momo getting away with the cheating and ref throwing though and they started kicking out of too much by the end of it.

Overall thoughts: The elimination tag was good and the main had some good points to it. Every big Stardom show gets hyped as some classic, and rarely do I ever think they are. They can do the moves and they can kick out of them, but the girls really aren't great storytellers and the action just usually isn't that smart. It felt like a nice big PPV, and their production is good, but I didn't think the in-ring stuff matched it.