STARDOM 8/6/2023 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Day 5

STARDOM 8/6/2023 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Day 5

They have some really nice large banners out for this one.

Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe & Rina) vs. Donna del Mondo (Giulia & Thekla)

 

G = Giulia

Rina kicks Thekla and they fight over wristlocks. Rina headscissors her and they stand off. Rina pulls her by the hair and brings her down then has her head banged off the buckle. Thekla hits stomps then Rina is shotgun dropkicked into a headscissors over the top rope. Thekla dropkicks Rina then takes a dropkick after being pulled out.

Momo corner dropkicks Thekla for 2. G and Momo trade forearms then Momo hits kicks on her. G does a nice fallway slam/suplex then Momo meteora's her. Rina kicks G in the back of the head through the ropes then double knees her in the corner for 2. G guillotine back rolls her then Rina suplexes her. G ddt's Rina then G takes a Momo uranage. Rina top rope double knees G for 2.

G dropkicks Rina then falcon arrows her for 2. Rina backslides her then flips forward on the pin attempt for 2. Thekla does an octopus stretch on Momo outside and G does a rings of saturn on Rina on the inside to win it.

It was your basic opener. They didn't do any big moves or anything and it was short at 7:10 with a fast pace. Not a lot of highlights on this one.

Queen's Quest (Hina, Lady C & Miyu Amasaki) vs. STARS (Koguma, Mayu Iwatani & Saya Iida)

 Kog = Koguma

Saya shoulders Hina over then Hina is rolled into a butt drop, a splash but avoids triple dropkicks. Her team then hits triple stereo dropkicks. Saya takes a double flapjack then double basement dropkicks. Hina slams Saya for 2 then camel clutches her. Miyu does an awful basement dropkick while Saya is in it that doesn't hit.

C giant swings Saya then flying cross double chops her. Mayu kicks C in the back then flips off the ropes to hit a double armdrag. Mayu dropkicks C and Hina against the ropes then Kog stands on and stomps C's back. Hina hiptosses Kog then Kog takes a double team STO. C hits double chops on Saya and Kog then bangs thier heads off the mat at the same time.

Miyu does her handspring cartwheel back elbow on Kog then Miyu double ddt's Saya and Kog for 2. Kog cutters Miyu then is thrown off the top by Hina. Kog takes a triple basement dropkick. Kog goes up top and dropkicks Miyu then Miyu is thrown into a orner dropkick on Miyu. Kog top rope splashes Miyu and wins it.

It was an okay trios match. Nothing particularly special or wrong with it. Everyone hit their stuff and we got some double and triple teams at a good pace.

Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori vs. Mariah May & Megan Bayne

Meg = Megan Bayne, Natsupoi = Poi

Poi tries to test of strength Meg but Meg is too tall. She tramps on her foot then Meg throws her by the waist. Poi crossbodies her and is slammed down. Poi bridges out of a pin attempt and kind of falls to a shoulder. Poi is shouldered over more times and tags out.

Yuna gets in and bounces off of Meg on a shoulder attempt. Yuna hits chest clubs and takes one back. Meg pulls her opponents into each other then does a combo fallway slam + samoan drop. Meg corner spears Yuna then May foot chokes Yuna.

May rope handstand hurricanrana's Yuna in the corner then Meg hits knees to Yuna's gut. Meg delay suplexes Yuna then yuna dropkicks Meg. Poi dropkicks Meg and hits a forearm flurry. Poi spin kicks her in the gut and Meg blocks her offense. They mess up a spot where Meg bangs her head off May then Meg powerslams Poi.

May top rope dropkicks Poi for 2 then May chop flurries Poi on the ropes. May slingblades Poi for 2. May forearms Poi then Poi superkicks and germans her. May no sells it then backdrops her. Yuna hits a stiff lariat on Meg that she takes  then hits more. Meg lariats Yuna then Meg has her arms pulled across her by both opponents on the ropes. Yuna hits a nice lariat on May then Meg catches Poi's crossbody and throws her on Yuna.

Meg swinging side slams Yuna for 2. Poi superkicks Meg into a Yuna backslide for 2. Yuna takes a stiff powerbomb by Meg at the same time as May sit out pedigrees Poi. Meg F-5's Yuna and wins it.

This was a decent tag match. Meg was super protected here and it was really more of a squash than a match as Poi and Yuna didn't really get to do anything to Meg.

 Maika, Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki vs. God's Eye (Ami Sourei, MIRAI & Saki Kashima)

Mirai and Maika trade wristlocks and they eventually do a stand off. Suzu gets in and dropkicks Maika then all 6 girls fight in the ring. Maika's team gets hit off the ropes then Mirai and Ami chop Mei together. Saki bulldogs Mei then maika suplexes Mirai.

Mirai sliding faltliners Maika then Ami splashes Maika. They shoulder battle and Maika knocks her over. Suzu knees Ami in the back of the head then Suzu sliding germans Ami. Ami does a neat swinging death valley driver on Suzu, crabs her then puts her in reverse tree of woe. Ami splashes her a she hangs.

Ami suplexes Suzu but Suzu no sells it and superkicks her. Ami lariats her, Suzu no sells it then germans her. Both then go down. Mei accidentally dropkicks her own partner when Saki moves. They do a nice roll-up reversal spot and Mei corner lariats Saki. Maika and Suzu hit running corner moves then Mei messes up some rolling move on Saki.

Ami finaly rolls Mei and Saki hits a top rope double stomp on Mei for 2. Saki sit out pedigrees Mei. Mei rolls up Saki after Saki is kicked over the middle rope and gets the win.

It was another fast paced trios match. They didn't have enough time for everyone here. Saki and Mei's sections were super fast though Mei had her usual botch like she usually does.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - Mina Shirakawa vs HANAN

Hanan dropkicks her in the back before the bell rings and hits running euros. Mina hits a big forearm as she runs at her then Hanan dropkicks her in the back and backdrops her. Hanan jumps on her back on the midd rope then does an octopus on the mat.

Mina starts holding her neck and drops down after being irish whipped into the ropes in pain. Hanan stomps on her then Mina misses a dropkick as she comes off the 2nd rope. Hanan rolls her up then Mina dropkicks her in the knee. Mina works over her knee then drops her on the knee.

Mina kicks to the knee then Hanan fallaway slams her. Hanan side throws her then northern lights suplexes her for 2. Hanan running fameassers her for 2. Mina hits a nice spinning forearm and dropkicks her in the knee. Hanan ddt's her then Hanan hits a nice fallaway slam with a bridge. Hanan backdrops her for 2.

They try various pinning combinations then Hanan back elbows her. Mina dragon screws her then figure fours her. Mina then wins via figure four.

The neck sell thing from Mina was weird. She was selling it like death then it went away soon after. She did an okay job working the knee and winning with the figure four, but this wasn't exactly the best type of match for these two.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - AZM vs Saori Anou

 

AZM stomps her foot and armlocks her. Anou cartwheels out of a wristlock. Anou facekicks her then takes a sliding kick. Anou bridges out of the pin and they stand off. AZM camel clutches her and messes her hair up. AZM back kicks her then fujiwara's her arm hard. Anou ropebreaks.

Anou chest kicks her and facekicks her through the ropes. AZM armdrags her off the 2nd rope then double stomps her off the top. AZM grabs her leg and germans her then Anou release germans her. They try pin attempts and AZM hits a la mistica drop. AZM buzzsaw kicks her for 2 then Anou step up enzugiri's her.

Anou blocks her backwards bridge and hits a beautiful german.  Anou germans her again for 2 and AZM high kicks her then canadian destroyers her. AZM then rolls her up and wins it.

The canadian destroyer actually being the finish was a nice thing to see in 2023. Like the other matches so far, it was a fast paced match and the finishing section was good. Anou's german was great.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Red Stars - Syuri vs Natsuko Tora

Tora shoulders her over to start then Syuri armdrags her. Syrui double knees her through the ropes then Tora chairs Syuri in the leg when she runs at her on the apron. Syuri is thrown into the chairs. Tora chokes her with an umbrella. Tora shoulders and sentons her.

Syuri headscissors her then bulldogs her off the wheelbarrow.  Tora blocks a kick and they trade forearms. Syuri hits chest kicks and drops her then Syuri germans her. Tora cradle shocks her then hits a big lariat. Tora corner cannonballs her then 2nd rope splashes her for 2.

Syrui hits a backcracker then hits kicks to the back. Syuri fujiwara armbars her then grabs her leg with it. Syuri bridging ddt's her then takes a sit out powerbomb and a death valley driver. Tora misses a swanton then takes a codebreaker. Tora lariats her and is high kicked in the face.

Syuri hits a stiff sunset bomb. Tora pushes the ref out and mists her then 2nd rope cradle shocks her. Tora hits a top rope swanton and wins it.

I didn't like the ref getting pushed. The 2nd rope cradle shock kickout wasn't good  and I thought the could have respected Tora's size a little more. They matched up better than I had expected but they could have had a smarter match logic wise.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Red Stars - Hazuki vs Tam Nakano

Haz = Hazuki

Haz hits a shotgun dropkick at close range and Tam hits a cutter after limboing out of a shot. She then cartwheel double knees her on the back. Tam axe kicks her in the back for 2 then they trade forearms. Tam hits a bunch of forearms in a row then is half-nelson slammed and senton'd. Haz facewash kicks her on the ropes then crossfaces her.

Haz 2nd rope dropkicks her then tornado ddt's her for 2. They go up top and Tam hits forearms then kicks her down to the floor. Tam top rope crossbodies her then hits a nice german inside. Haz pump kicks her, takes a spinning high kick then suplexes her.

Haz pump kicks her twice and ddt's her over the 2nd rope. Haz  ties her up on the mat and Tam ropebreaks. Haz slams her then 2nd rope sentons her. Haz then top rope sentons her for 2. Tam hits a nice tiger suplex at a little past 10 minutes then drops her on her chest.

Haz tries some pin attempts and gets a 2 count then Tam running knees her. Tam running knees her to the back and side of the head then hits a falcon arrow on Haz's head. Tam then picks up the win.

It was a good match. The two really matched up well and hit a bunch of crisp and stiff moves. This was pretty much the best case scenario for this match-up and it may have been the best match of the tournament so far.

Overall thoughts: The main  was the best match of the tournament and Anou/AZM matches was good . The undercard matches were also fine and it was a good show