Stardom New Year Stars 2018
Event Date: January 5, 2018 (18:30 JST)
matches published individually on Stardom World
City: Nakamura, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Venue: Nakamura Sports Center
Attendance: 255
Series: New Year Stars 2018
Commentary: none
Ring Announcer: Fuka
Match 1
Shiki Shibusawa & Kaori Yoneyama vs Konami & Hiromi Mimura
(referee: Barb Sasaki)
Result: Hiromi Mimura pins Shiki Shibusawa with La Magistral
Time: 6:25
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. It seemed like Shibusawa and Yoneyama were going to do well, but Konami and Mimura were the stronger team here. Mimura had a lot of the focus in this match, beating up on Shibusawa throughout a good portion of the bout. This was a fine opener for the night.
Match 2
Xia Brookside (IPW:UK Women’s Champ) & Kay Lee Ray vs Nicole Savoy (Shimmer Champ) & Mari Apache (High Speed Champ)
(referee: Barb Sasaki)
Result: Nicole Savoy forces Xia Brookside to submit to a Rings of Saturn
Time: 10:22
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Brookside and Ray had a of of confidence, but Savoy and Apache had superior size and strength. Savoy and Apache worked well together and punished their opponents with suplexes and numerous submission holds. Brookside and Ray had moments where they put up a good fight, but overall the match felt like it was only a matter of time for them.
Match 3
Sumire Natsu w/ Tam Nakano vs AZM vs Io Shirai (Artist of Stardom & Wonder of Stardom Champ)
(referee: Barb Sasaki)
Result: Sumire Natsu pins AZM after a fisherman DDT
Time: 11:38
Match Thoughts
Good match. Kris Wolf was “tired” so she wasn’t able to compete in what would have been a tag match, so Natsu had to face two members of Queen’s Quest alone. It was mostly fought with AZM and Io Shirai double-teaming Natsu, but after a while AZM decided she wanted to try to win. AZM and Shirai fought a little, but neither really seemed like they wanted to win by pinning or submitting the other. AZM looked good in this match, as did Shirai and Natsu. This was entertaining mostly because of the situation and how they handled it.
Match 4
Miranda & Rachael Ellering vs Natsuko Tora & Jungle Kyona
(referee: Daichi Murayama)
Result: Rachael Ellering pins Natsuko Tora after a fallaway powerbomb
Time: 10:22
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. Ellering and Miranda dominated large portions of this match, with Jungle Kyona managing to help her team mount some offense here and there. Towards the end of the match it felt like it dragged a little. When I expected it to pick up the pace it kind of stalled a little. The finish was fine, but it seemed underwhelming. Still, not a bad match, and definitely a good one for Ellering.
Match 5
Goddess of Stardom Title Match
Momo Watanabe & HZK (Artist of Stardom Champ) w/ AZM, Io Shirai vs Hana Kimura & Kagetsu (Goddess of Stardom Champs) w/ Tam Nakano, Sumire Natsu
(referee: Daichi Murayama; title match official: Rossy Ogawa)
Result: Kagetsu pins HZK after an Oedo Coaster (450 Splash); Oedo Tai retains the titles
Time: 16:20
Match Thoughts
Great match. It started off with Watanabe getting destroyed by the combined efforts of Oedo Tai. Oedo Tai cheated as much (and as blatantly) as they possibly could, using all four of their members to beat up Watanabe and HZK. Eventually AZM and Io Shirai helped even the odds, though they didn’t directly interfere in the match by attacking Kimura and Kagetsu.
The second half of the match was a lot more evenly fought. HZK had a great sequence late in the match where she dominated Kagetsu with some devastating looking moves. The teamwork of Oedo Tai was the star of this match though. They looked fantastic from start to finish. It wasn’t necessarily a fair match, but it was certainly entertaining.
Show Impressions
I didn’t expect this show to be so good. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. Some matches were obviously better than others, but the top matches were very good. Even the lower matches were better than usual. The Tag Title match was great, and it got me even more excited about seeing Queen’s Quest and Oedo Tai battle with their full teams later this month.
Match of the Night
Goddess of Stardom Title Match
At times chaotic, but always with the calculating teamwork of Oedo Tai as the driving force, this was a great match.
Official Results (Japanese): http://wwr-stardom.com/?result=2018%E5%B9%B41%E6%9C%885%E6%97%A5%E3%80%80new-year-stars2018