STARDOM 9/30/2023 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Day 22

STARDOM 9/30/2023 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Day 22 

This is the final day of the 5*Star Grand Prix

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - Hanan vs. Mariah May

This is May's last match in Japan. They shake hands. May rolls and flips out of a wristlock. Hanan slides under her in the corner and May blows a kiss. Hanan then dropkicks her and blows a kiss. Hanan 2nd rope twisting crossbodies her, fameassers her on the ropes and running euros her for 2. May trips her and dropkicks her in the back.

May dropkicks her while she's in the ropes. May goes for the sunset bomb but is double stomped, then Hanan dives on her.  Hanan hits a fameasser for 2 then hits chops on her. May hits a sling blade then hits machine gun chops. May handstand hurricanrana's her off the ropes and high kicks her from the apron. May top rope dropkicks her then Hanan hip throws her.

May no sells it and backdrops her on her head, but Hanan no sells it and hits May with her own backdrop. They trade chest forearms and May sitout pedigrees her for 2. May hits a TKO for 2. May facekicks her then rolls her. Hanan gets out of it and pins her with la magistral.

It was okay. It was nice to see Hanan do a little more than the usual opening match stuff here. I didn't like the no selling of backdrops. It could have been better in general.

May gives a goodbye speech after and everyone including Waka and Hanan cry.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - AZM vs Momo Watanabe

AZM has a book with her. Momo knocks it away and throws her out to start this. AZM is sent into the chairs and Momo pokes her iwth an umbrella. Momo slams her and chest kicks her. AZM misses a dropkick and is kicked. AZM puts her in la mistica then Momo goes for a high kik and it may have been sold without even landing. AZM runs up the buckles and takes a high kick on her way down.

Momo kicks her from the apron then AZM goes under the bottom rope outside and hurricanrana's her. AZM PK's her from the apron. They trade forearms outside then AZM is pushed into the chairs. AZM high kicks her then springboard dropkicks her inside. Momo hits a package tombstone on her and AZM basicially no sells it and rolls her up. AZM hits another la mistica and rolls it into a pinfall attempt.

AZM buzzsaw kicks her then takes a high kick. Momo kicks her while she's on all fours then half nelson suplexes her for 2. Momo hits a half-nelson wristclutch suplex and wins it.

I really didn't like this at all. The early part of the match was spent outside, they did some no selling and it just was never that good at any point in time.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - Saori Anou vs. Mina Shirakawa

They grab each other by the hair to start. Mina dropkicks her in the knee then does a basement dropkick. Anou bridges out of the pin and axe kicks her back. Anou does the figure four with the bridge on her then just figure fours her. Mina hits leg kicks then dropkicks her in the leg.

Mina bangs Anou's leg off the mat then Mina sweeping kicks her in the leg. Mina drops her on both knees then dropkicks her off the buckles on her knees. Anou fisherman suplexes her off the buckles then does another one. Anou straightjacket chokes her then does a leg, head and arm hold on her.

They booth each other in the knee then Anou stomps her knee. Mina trips her then figure fours her. Mina stomps on her knee more then bridging ddt's her off the ropes. Mina implant ddt's her then Anou germans her. Anou gets a 2 off a pin then Mina urakens her. Mina spinning flapjacks her, goes for the figure four then Anou cradles her to win it.

It made sense but it went long and wasn't the most entertaining match. They each worked each other's leg the whole time and were close to hitting the time limit.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Blue Stars - MIRAI vs Maika

They shoulder battle to start then have a few more shoulder battle exchanges. They then eventually knock each other over. Mika criss-crosses her and is shouldered over. Mirai slams her and hits a corner lariat. Mirai top rope dropkicks her then forearm flurries her over. Maika powerslams her then suplexes her. Maika grounded sleepers her then Mirai rolls her up for 2. Mirai short flatliners her.

Mirai back rolls into a headscissors and half-nelson suplexes her off of it for 2. Maika 2nd rope superplexes her for 2. Maika straight jacket sto's her for 2. They trade lariats and lariat each other at the same time. Mirai lariats her over twice then hits a cradle shock for 2. Maika michinoku drivers her and wins it.

It was the fun heavyweight match you would expect with these two with lots of lariats, shoulder blocks and power moves. These two usually match-up well together and this was no different.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Red Stars - Syuri vs. Ami Sourei

Ami runs at her to start then corner splashes her. Ami hits machine gun chops then shoulders her over. Ami puts a high crab on and Syuri ropebreaks. Syuri snapmares her and kicks her in the back. Syuri ducks a lariat and they do a stare down.

Syuri shotgun dropkicks her then underhook suplexes her. Ami cutters her then Syuri kicks her in the back. Ami hits a nice suplex on her and splashes her in the corner. They trade chest forearms then trade regular forearms. Syuri fujiwara armbars her then Syuri running knees her for 2.

Syuri bridging ddt's her for 2. Ami nearly hits a rainmaker then hits short arm lariats. Ami then hits her spinning samoan drop for 2. Ami splashes her on the ropes and takes a release german. Ami then blue thunder bombs her for 2. Syuri codebreakers her then Ami does her rolling lariat. They roll each other up for 2 then Syuri high kicks her for 2. Syuri fujiwara armbars her then goes for a roll-up but Ami reverses it to win.

I like this one. They kept it moving and Syuri got the best out of Ami here. Syuri didn't get a ton in though and was more along for the ride.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Red Stars - Hazuki vs. Natsuko Tora

 

Haz = Hazuki

Haz kicks her then armdrags her. Haz misses a corner charge and rolls her up. Tora then shoulders her over. Tora does her facewash kicks but is dropkicked during it. Tora's head is banged off the apron then she is thrown into the chairs outside. Haz bangs Tora's head off the apron then facewash kicks her inside.

Haz 2nd rope dropkicks her then crossfaces her. Haz forearms her then then Tora hits a stiff lariat. Tora corner lariats her then hits a corner cannonballs. Tora 2nd rope splashes her for 2. Tora flies at her and takes a pump kick in the air then Tora hits Haz with a box when she tries to rope her.

Tora sliding lariats her for 2. Tora death valley drivers her for 2. They go up top and Haz superplexes her. Tora bounces her on a 2nd rope cradle shock for 2. Tora misses a top rope swanton then Haz puts her in la magistral for 2. Haz hits forearms to the head then pump kicks her on the ropes. Haz topes her outside then top rope sentons her for 2. Tora hits an attitude adjustment then swantons her off the top. Haz puts her in la magistral and wins it.

This was a very fast paced match and one of the more entertaining Tora matches I've seen. Tora easily matched speed with her and there were no real dull moments in this one, which is a lot different than usual. The selling wasn't the best here but I liked it more than Tora's usual work.

Tora dropkicks Haz after then I think spits water at Saki or someone else outside.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Red Stars - Natsupoi vs. Tam Nakano

 

They each miss spin kicks and cartwheel out of kicks. They cartwheel and miss dropkicks at the same time before doing a stand off. Tam snapmares her, Poi holds on and snapmares her. Tam bridges out of a lariat then Poi double stomps her as she bridges.

Poi misses a dropkick through the ropes then Tam basement dropkicks her. Tam dives off the top, missing her but hitting various seconds. Poi then tries it too and nails seconds instead. Tam slams her on the floor mats then Tam hanging sleepers her from the ropes. Tam top rope crossbodies her on the outside then Poi germans her on the floor.

They trade forearms on their knees at 5 minutes in. They then stand up and trade forearms. Tam flurries her then Poi superkicks her. Tam spinning high kicks her then Poi release germans her. Tam germans her in return. They then kind of dropkick each other at the same time and collide.

Poi dropkicks her in the back of the head and spinning neckbreakers her into a bridge for 2. Poi misses a 180 splash off the top. Tam spinning forearms her then straightjacket germans her. Tam buzzsaw kicks her then flying knees her in the front and back. Poi hits la magistral for 2.  Tam hits some weak high kicks and Poi legsweeps her from the mat.

They blow some suplex spot and Poi spin kicks her in the gut. Poi tiger suplexes her for 2. Poi does a sweeping kicks to the head on the mat and wins it with a straightjacket suplex.

It started off good but they got too cute with some of the counters and moves and got sloppy by the end of it.

5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Final Match - Suzu Suzuki vs. Maika

Suzu headflips out of a wristlock and puts her own on. Maika back drops her over the top then lariats her off the apron. Maika is thrown into the chairs outside then Suz is thrown into them too. They grab each other by the hair.

They trade forearms inside and Suzu drops her with one. Suzu does a sliding german as Maika sits on the 2nd rope. Suzu top rope dropkicks her then does a head, arm and leg hold on her.  Suzu misses a drive by kick then cutters her over the top rope. Maika powerslams her then suplexes her.

Maika shoulder her over then Suzu release germans her. They forearm each other at the same time and both go down. Suzu half-nelson suplexes her. Maika top rope suplexes her and holds on for two more suplexes. Maika lariats her then Suzu does a standing spanish fly. Maika powerbombs her then does her enka twisting slam for 2.

Maika spinning lariats her then Suzu poisonrana's her for 2. Suzu kicks her in the head several times and Maika cradles her for 2. Suzu flying knees her in the back of the head and Maika lariats her for 2. Suzu hits a tequila shot for 2. Suzu germans her and flips over into a 2nd german for 2. Suzu does a top rope cancun tornado and wins.

They tried here and Suzu did some moves she doesn't usually do. I thought they did an okay job with it but Maika had already worked earlier in the night and because of that, this was shorter than you'd want the big final to be at under 15 minutes. It wasn't great or a classic, but I think it was satisfactory enough. The selling was not the best here and there wasn't much of a story.

Overall thoughts: It was a good show overall but not a great one. I wouldn't say any of the matches were super memorable but Tora and Ami showed up, May's send off was nice and the main was decent.