SHOW REPORT: Stardom in CHIBA 2024 July. (Sunday, 21st July 2024)

July 21, 2024 Rob Goodwin News, Show Reports 0
Photo Courtesy: World Wonder Ring Stardom

Notes

  • Ami Sohrei will be absent from all cards as she begins the process of recovering from ACL and meniscus tears in her knee.
  • Sayaka Kurura will be absent from this weekend’s card as she undergoes treatment for injury.
  • HANAKO and Suzu Suzuki will also be missing from this weekend’s cards.

Quick Results

  • 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Winggori (Saya Iida & Hanan) & Ranna Yagami def. Oedo Tai (Rina & Ruaka) & Azusa Inaba w/ Iidabashi (10:11)
  • Singles Match: Yuna Mizumori def. Rian w/ Musha-Gaeshi (8:30)
  • Four-Way Match: Mei Seira def. Saya Kamitani, Natsupoi & Fukigen Death w/ Shooting Star (6:28)
  • 8-Woman Tag Team Match: STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Koguma & Momo Kohgo) def. God’s Eye (Saki Kashima & Tomoka Inaba) & Hina & Lady C w/ Diving Senton (14:00)
  • Three-Way 9-Woman Tag Team Match: EXV (Mina Shirakawa, Xena & Waka Tsukiyama) def. Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano, Saori Anou & Aya Sakura) & Starlight Kid, AZM & Miyu Amasaki w/ Thunder Roll (10:51)
  • 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Maika & God’s Eye (Syuri & Konami) def. Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Thekla) w/ Triangle Lancer (13:37)

Match #1 – Winggori (Saya Iida & Hanan) & Ranna Yagami def. Oedo Tai (Rina & Ruaka) & Azusa Inaba w/ Iidabashi (10:11)

A multi-faceted title picture in this opening match. Azusa Inaba and Rina are the next challengers to Winggori’s New Blood Tag Team Championships, with that match due to take place on Tuesday’s live Korakuen Hall show. Rina however, being the Future of Stardom Champion, must have one eye on her upcoming title defence against Ranna Yagami that is scheduled for the 27th July in Sapporo; a match that could potentially see the champion become the record-holder for most-successful title defences with the Future belt.

And it was Yagami who demanded to face Rina first in this match, exploding out of the traps with a host of Dropkicks and kicks to the chest and back before eventually being worn down by a Oedo Tai shenanigans, and good teamwork from Rina and Inaba in particular. However, as good a chemistry as they may have, Winggori seem to have it in spades, and repeatedly swung the match back in their favour by utilising clever double teams. Iida took great pleasure in lighting up Rina with her patented chops while Hanan opted to focus her energy on Ruaka – someone with whom she has a rivalry dating back years.

Despite all this though, it did look like Oedo Tai would sneak the win with Rina getting Saya into position for the Pink Devil. However, once again Winggori worked together – Iida wriggling free before Hanan obliterated her with a Corkscrew European Uppercut – which allowed Saya to get the surprise pinfall with the Iidabashi.

Post-match, a whole host of title-laden confrontations ensued, with poor Ruaka being the only outlier as strong words were exchanged and belts were held up in preparation for respective upcoming title matches.

Match #2 – Yuna Mizumori def. Rian w/ Musha-Gaeshi (8:30)

In Maibara, Hazuki commented on Rian not knowing what type of wrestler she wants to be – perhaps not impressed with her performance in their own singles encounter. Here, the rookie faced a strong-yet-unorthodox foe in the form of Cosmic Angels’ Yuna Mizumori.

Though spending much of this 8-minute encounter on the receiving end of a dominant display from Mizumori, one thing people cannot question is Rian’s determination. Such was the tenacity of the youngster here that when she finally hit a Bodyslam on Yuna, it prompted a huge round of applause from the crowd in Chiba. However, she couldn’t quite string a meaningful stretch of offence together, despite hitting her Swinging Hurricanrana and Fisherman’s Suplex, and she proved her inexperience in trying to hit a third Crossbody when one had already been caught by Mizumori when trying it prior, ultimately resulting in a Single-Legged Gutbuster that would spell the beginning of the end for the spirited rookie.

A few chance roll-ups almost stole Rian the victory, but after muscling her around the ring for the vast majority of the match, Yuna launched herself off the turnbuckle pads with the Musha-Gaeshi for a victory that gives her some momentum heading into the 5Star Play-In Tournament and her 1st round match with Ruaka.

Match #3 – Mei Seira def. Saya Kamitani, Natsupoi & Fukigen Death w/ Shooting Star (6:28)

A veritable who’s who of High-Speed champions in this match, with all four participants having held the belt at least once in their careers. Kamitani, the current holder, also defends her belt against Mei Seira, who some might say lost the belt prematurely in Philadelphia back in April, in Sapporo on the 28th July, with the champion having held the advantage in almost all of their prelude matches thus far.

Death, herself a three-time High Speed Champion under different guises, took the match in her typically unorthodox manner, choosing to lead the crowd in chants of ‘Death’ before being taken out by the other competitors rather than actually starting the match. Couple this with stubbing out her imaginary cigarette in the face of her three opponents, before using Saya Kamitani, who had Natsupoi locked in the Muta Lock, as a stool so she could read the paper, and you could be forgiven for thinking this nothing more than an inconsequential comedy match. However, the exchanges between Saya and Mei more than made up for this, with Seira showing a renewed sense of aggression in her strikes and of focus in her offence.

It could be the complacency setting in for Saya who, as previously mentioned, has certainly had the challenger’s number in recent shows, but as she reversed Mei’s Shooting Star, a manner of victory for the champion in a prior tag match, she was caught unawares by Seira rolling through her roll through and trapping her for the three count.

A mid-card four-way match this might be, but some much needed momentum moving forward for the challenger as she seeks to become a two-time champion in Sapporo.

Match #4 – STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Koguma & Momo Kohgo) def. God’s Eye (Saki Kashima & Tomoka Inaba) & Hina & Lady C w/ Diving Senton (14:00)

Just a week on from pushing Red Belt champion Maika to the absolute limit during JTO’s 5th Anniversary Show on the 15th July in her ultimately unsccessful bid to become World of Stardom Champion, Tomoka Inaba returned to a Stardom ring to team with God’s Eye teammate Saki Kashima, and the as-of-yet-unaffiliated Hina and Lady C.

It was Saki Kashima who opened proceedings however, though she probably wished she hadn’t, enduring a hellacious amount of punishment from all four members of STARS; Mayu Iwatani and Hazuki in particular. Between Facewash Kicks from Hazuki and a stinging set of kicks to the spine from Mayu, it must have been a blessing once Saki was finally able to make the tag to Tomoka Inaba. This prompted a scintillating exchange between Inaba and Iwatani, acting as a tantalising taster to their own much-anticipated 5Star Grand Prix match on the final night of block action; their first-ever singles encounter.

We then got another prelude between 5Star Grand Prix hopefuls Lady C and Momo Kohgo, who would face off in singles action on Tuesday in Korakuen Hall as part of the 5Star Grand Prix Play In Tournament. With Momo only having competed in one tournament (2022) and Lady C yet to make her tournament bow, the two went at it in order to impress. Though Lady C arguably garnered the advantage, especially in the striking department, it wasn’t long before STARS wrestled it back, isolating Hina with some seamless team offence.

The youngster fought valiantly, hitting Hazuki with a Pumphandle Uruange, but ultimately fell victim of FWC’s tag team signature Assisted Cutter before The Wildheart picked up the victory with an enormous Diving Senton.

Match #5 – EXV (Mina Shirakawa, Xena & Waka Tsukiyama) def. Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano, Saori Anou & Aya Sakura) & Starlight Kid, AZM & Miyu Amasaki w/ Thunder Roll (10:51)

There is something rather reassuring about seeing Saori Anou with the Wonder of Stardom Championship around her waist once again. Her confidence and unmistakable aura are back with a vengeance, something that is no doubt helped by also being the new Sendai Girls World Champion.

This was your typically chaotic multi-woman under-card match, with everyone getting flashes of offence in and making the most of the time they had. Waka used this in order to hit as many Hip Attacks as humanly possible, Xena to attempt to chop her way through both Tam and AZM, whilst Starlight Kid chose to instead to have an intriguing face-to-face with Saori Anou reminiscent of their White Belt match from back in February; a match I’m sure nobody would mind seeing again! The momentum veered wildly from one team to the next, culminating in an interesting spot that saw all but two members of the match in a circle looking to punch the person to their right simultaneously. As everyone fell to the ground, we were left with Mina in the middle, on her knees doing her signature pose, much to the delight of the crowd.

As we veered towards the end of the match, it seemed a near-certainty that it would be Cosmic Angels getting the victory. Yet somehow, whilst staring into the eyes of defeat, Xena somehow managed to negotiate Tam into the Thunder Roll after blocking an attempted Implant DDT, gaining herself a victory that left Nakano in open-mouthed shock and despair.

Post-match, a furious Tam screamed at EXV to come back to the ring. This they did, though Xena admitted she couldn’t understand what Tam was saying, she could understand the general tone, assuming that Cosmic Angels wanted another shot at EXV, something she was all too glad to acquiesce to. Mina then took to the microphone and said that it was about time that EXV defended the Artist of Stardom Championships, a sentiment shared by the crowd in Chiba, before agreeing that the Cosmic Angels team of Tam, Saori Anou and Natsupoi are the next challengers. Though not completely official yet, the date of the 4th August – in Hamamatsu – has been pencilled in for this potential title defence – EXV’s third total defence after taking the belts from God’s Eye back in March.

Match #6 – Maika & God’s Eye (Syuri & Konami) def. Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Thekla) w/ Triangle Lancer (13:37)

Having served her suspension for recklessly attacking an innocent reporter backstage back at the start of July, Thekla was back in the ring and seemingly had two goals in mind; win the match and manipulate Konami.

After using the chair to win the Goddesses of Stardom Championships from FWC, Thekla repeatedly baited Konami into using a weapon again, looking to prove to her that she had never really shed her Oedo Tai darkness when she joined God’s Eye. When the moment came however, and Thekla was there for the taking with Konami standing over her with the Oedo Tai crate, she threw the weapon away at the desperate plea of Syuri, proving that she didn’t need to cheat to win.

Speaking of Syuri, it would be remiss of me not to mention the fleeting-yet-violent kick exchange between two of the hardest strikers in the entire promotion in her and Momo Watanabe. There seemed to be a little extra spice to their already thunderous kicks here as both seemed intent on proving themselves the hardest striker.

Of course, outside of the drama surrounding the Goddesses of Stardom Championships, we also had a prelude of our upcoming World of Stardom Championship match between Maika and Natsuko Tora on 28th July. Now that the match was official – with Maika having beaten Tomoka Inaba on Monday – the two spend a huge amount of this match brawling in the crowd, throwing each other into and hitting each other with everything that wasn’t nailed to the TKP Garden City floor. When they did get into the ring, the brief action we got was predictably hard-hitting, with both women unmoved following a series of huge Lariats and completely no-selling the other’s offence.

It would be Konami who got the win here. After throwing away the crate, her and Syuri were able to overpower Thekla, with Konami first wiping her out with a Buzzsaw Kick before subsequently submitting the Idol Killer with a Triangle Lancer.

Post-match, after congratulating God’s Eye on their victory, Maika wished them the best on their upcoming title defence, demanding that they retain as her and Saya Kamitani had an eye on the belts moving forward.

You can check out the Stardom roster win/loss records for 2024 right here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/103h_Y27csTgcS-CcBwswaj-D7hVazTC_Wn0SPn0BZBM/edit

You can check out a comprehensive run down of the Stardom Championship Histories here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Dk6T0ukSXm6R8eOTQU96i4rsfoy34wnz0-rKP5mwmQ/edit

Upcoming Shows

  • Tuesday 23rd July – Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2024 Jul. 2, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
  • Saturday 27th July – Stardom Sapporo Wonder Rendezvous, Hokkaido Chateau Kingdom, Sapporo (PPV)
  • Sunday 28th July – Stardom Sapporo World Rendezvous, Hokkaido Chateau Kingdom, Sapporo (PPV)
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About Rob Goodwin 268 Articles
Hailing from Stoke-on-Trent, Rob fell back in love with the Wrestling Business in 2016 after a decade-long break. Rob is the host of the PodMania Wrestling Podcast, the StardomCast and reviews retro PPVs - with an odd fascination with 1995 WWF/WCW!
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