Stardom 1/23/2011 Birth of a Nova

Stardom 1/23/2011 Birth of a Nova

This is Stardom's debut show. 

Natsuki Taiyo & Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Iris & Nanae Takahashi 

They all shake hands. Yuz swings kicks at Iris and Iris complains. Yuz hits leg kicks and Iris knees her in the leg. Iris side headlock takeovers her but Yuz immediately goes for the headscissors. Iris headflips out and basement dropkicks her. Yuz sweeps her and goes for an armbar.

Iris ties up her legs and grabs her face. Nanae and Iris double team Yuz. Yuz hits more chest kicks and armdrags her. Iris sweeps her and they stand off. Natsuki gets in and does a double knuckle lock with Iris. She flips over her back and hammerlocks her. Natsuki monkey flips her then Iris casadora rolls her.

Natsuki runs the ropes and Iris armdrags her. Iris springboard diving armdrags her and pumps her fist. Nanae gets in. Natsuki wristlocks her and triangle chokes her. Nanae reverses it then Natsuki steps over her and reverses it. They reverse the hold more on each other. 

They trade forearms for chest forearms and get fiery. Nanae headbutts her down and legdrops her. Nanae dropkicks her. Natsuki runs up the buckles and flips on her for 2. Yuz comes in and hits kicks on Nanae. Nanae elbow drops her then Yuz hits kicks while she's down. Yuz hits up kicks on her then armdrags her. Yuz basement dropkicks her. 

Nanae takes kicks and a double dropkick from both opponents in the corner. Nanae takes a double chest kick for 2. Nanae slaps and kicks Yuz then shoulders her over. Nanae rams her upside down into the corner then Yuz takes attacks while she hangs there. Nanae crossfaces her and Natsuki breaks it up. Yuzuki's arms are pulled down over the top rope. She is then double dropkicked on the ropes.

Iris comes in and rolls Yuz into a grounded octopus but breaks it. Yuz hits kicks on Iris. Natsuki comes in and dropkicks Iris off the buckles. Natsuki leg kicks Iris then is lariated. Iris springboard elbow drops her for 2. Iris spinebusters Natsuki. Iris top rope hurricanrana's Natsuki for 2. Iris comes off the 2nd rope and runs into a spin kick to the gut.

Iris hurricanrana's her then dropkicks her out. Iris springboard twisting crossbodies her for 2. Nanae comes in and hits corner lriats on Natsuki. Nanae backdrops her. Nanae slaps her around. Natsuki slaps her back several times. Natsuki sitout powerbombs her for 2. Nanae 2nd rope superplexes Natsuki for 2.

Nanae goes up top and is armdragged down by Natsuki. Natsuki 2nd rope double stomps her for 2. Nanae blocks Natsuki's code red and b-drivers her for 2. Natsuki flips out of a suplex then momo latch's her for 2. Nanae gamengiri's her. Yuz comes in and hits more kicks on Nanae. Nanae lariats her from behind. Nanae is bent over on top and Yuz headkicks her down. 

Nanae double suplexes her opponents. Natsuki walks up the buckles and crossbodies Nanae. Nanae takes a double kick from her opponents with Natsuki drilling her in the throat for 2. Yuz fisherman suplexes Nanae. Yuz htis more kicks on Nanae. Nanae blocks her axe kick and hits a stunner from the suplex position for 2.

Natsuki germans Nanae then Yuz spinning high kicks Nanae. Yuz pumping axe kicks Nanae in the face for 2. Yuz kicks Nanae while she's down. Nanae lariats her from behind then Iris lariats Yuz. Nanae top rope splashes Yuz for 2. Natsuki top rope dropkicks Nanae from behind. Nanae takes a sitout powerbomb + axe kick combo and Yuz la magistral's her for 2.

Nanae gamengiri's Yuz. Iris then topes Natsuki. Nanae and Yuz slap each other. Nanae backdrops Yuz and pins her.

Thoughts: It was a good bout and way above most of the work you are going to see in 2025. Nanae just took a total beating here. Nanae's opponents absolutely kicked the crap out of her several times and she came back with a lot of hard slaps and fire. Yuzuki looked great in her 2nd match here. Like Bito later in the show, she doesn't do much but throw kicks but the kicks look good, she looks good and she shows spirit. She really had one of the better debuts I have seen. Natsuki did some nice flying here. Iris was definitely trained by some luchadore's but she didn't do bad at all as a lucha rudo, though she's more subdued and clearly not super athletic. This went a little long but it was a real battle.

Mika Nagano vs. Eri Susa

This is Eria Susa's debut, though she had an exhibition a few months earlier with Yoko Bito. Mika takes her down and goes for the armbar. Mika headflips out of a wristlock and armdrags her into an armlock. Mika slams her. Eri hits chest forearms and casadora rolls her into an ankle lock. Mika reverses it and Eri rope breaks.

Mika guillotines her. Eri hits mounted shots and is slapped. Eri hits running dropkicks for 1. Eri is on top but Mika rolls her into an armbar. Mika goes for the takedown but just pushes her into the corner. Mika double underhook drops her on her chest. Eri ddt's her then pendulum ddt's her for 2. 

Mika does a fireman's carry takedown. She tries it again and Eri rolls with it. Mike then rolling armbars her and wins.

Thoughts: It was a shorter one here. Mika had at least 2 matches in this while it was Eri's debut. Eri didn't botch anything but her dropkicks needed work. It as acceptable for a debut. Eri's definitely going to be a babyface.

Haruka vs. Passion Nakki

Haruka is like 9 and did kid's kickboxing. PN is Natsuki Taiyo under a mask. 

Haruka hits leg kicks. PN wristlocks her. Haruka reverses it and hits icks to the body. PN hammerlocks her. PN side headlocks her and takes her over. Haruka hits a bunch of punches to the body and PN shoves her down.

Haruka holds onto the ropes to avoid a crab. PN then tickles her. PN tries to crab her but Haruka easily gets out due to being so small. PN giant swings her. PN drops her with shots but Haruka fights back. Haruka hits leg kicks and kicks her in the gut. 

Haruka snapmares her for 2. Haruka hits more kicks to the body and pulls PN down into a 619. Haruka armdrags her off the casadora. PN catches her crossbody and Haruka rolls her up off of it for 2. Haruka hits kicks to the body and back then boots PN in the face. The bell then rings as this goes to a 3 minute draw.

Thoughts: Uh what do you say about this really? There's no world where it's believeable that Haruka could hurt or beat Nakki and it was basically play wrestling. Haruka moved well here due to being so young and small. I was surprised to see her take the giant swing and get whipped around so hard with it. 

Mayu Iwatani vs Arisa Hoshiki

Both girls are debuting here. Mayu wristlocks her. Arisa does it back to her then Mayu reverses it. Mayu armdrags her. Mayu walks up the buckles and armdrags her then dropkicks her. Arisa rolls her up and guillotines her. Arisa full nelson's her and snapmares her.

Mayu goes up and over and rolls her up. They trade chest forearms. Arisa dropkicks her. Arisa hits knees to the chest and and drags her down from her shoulders for 2. Mayu pulls her down by the hair and stomps her. Mayu flying lariats her three times for 2. 

Mayu armbars her. Arisa hits kicks to the body. They trade slaps. Mayu hip throws her into an armbar. Mayu does a grounded kimura. Arisa single leg crabs her. Aria hits more kicks then Mayu does a twisting sunset flip for 2. They each hit chest forearms. Arisa drops her with a high kick. Arisa hits a hard brazilian kick and wins.

Thoughts: It was an okay debut for both girls. Arisa's kicks looked good and she stiffed her pretty good on the finish. There were no botches here and they kept this moving until the finish. Both girls need to work on their slaps a bit though. Both girls moved well in this and had good energy.

Yoko Bito vs. Yoshiko

Both girls are debuting here, though Bito had a 3 minute exhibition with Eri Susa a few months back. Yosh slaps her hand away on the handshake. They lock up. Yosh grabs her by the hair and is slapped. Yosh hair throws her then Bito throws her back. Bito hits kicks while she's down. Bito hits more kicks and Yosh takes her down with a choke. Yosh hits mounted chest forearms. 

Bito hits chest kicks and Yosh shoulders her over several times. Yosh tries to pin her with a foot on the chest. Bito dropkicks her. Bito flying knees her in the corner then suplexes her for 2. They trde chest shots. Yosh codebreakers her for 2. 

Yosh sleepers her. Yosh gillotine chokes her. Bito ropebreaks. Bito htis a hard knee and drops her with a head kick. Bito chest kicks her down for 2. Yosh headbutts her. Yosh grabs her by the throat and chokes her down. Yosh 2nd rope sentons her for 2. 

Bito high kicks her. Bito dropkicks her off the buckles for 2. Yosh cradles her for 2. Yosh backslides her for 2. Bito just runs her over then spinning high kicks her for the win.

Thoughts: I liked the match and thought it was good. Bito was pretty much only doing kicks and knees here but most of them looked good and definitely connected. Yoshiko was happy to play the heel here and came off well as a surly girl. I was very impressed by Bito and she'd definitely be my pick to be one of the top stars going forward.

Overall thoughts: It was a good debut from Stardom. The rookies all looked serviceable with Yuzuki, Bito and Yoshiko being the standouts. Yuzuki had a full on main event style match in her 2nd match while Bito and Yoshiko were in the main and also did good. There's no real way to come out of this with anything but positive feelings because it's clear Stardom found themselves some winners. The opener is really good and worth a watch on its own if nothing else. This had a lot of fiery and hard hitting action and I'd give this a 7 out of 10 rating. This was an easy watch and a lot of fun.