RED BLOCK
–Momo Watanabe v Avary – I know right now I sound like Shawn Puff, our resident female wrestler fashion “expert” and what not, but someone really needs to brighten Momo up in the pre-match promos. Hers are awfully unflattering. In the ring, from her entrance to the final bell, Watanabe is pro wrestling goddess, STARDOM’s answer to Okada. She needs to present herself that way in the locker room too. As far as this match with Avary, it wasn’t much. 4-minutes and sorta sloppy with a few bright spots. They could have opened the show so much better. – 2.25/5
–Hana Kimura v Natsu Sumire – Hot damn Hana is a savage. Not only did she shit all over Natsu in the pre-match promo, but she basically shit all over her in the match too. Kimura pressed all the heat on Natsu, pummeling her with stiff strikes, boots and submissions. She even spit on her post-match for good measure. Ouch. Maybe the typically silly Sumire is about to ditch the act and come back in this tournament full of furious anger. We’ll see. – 2.5/5
–Mayu Iwatani v AZM – This one had a great story from the jump, with the frustrated 2018 5 Star GP winner suffering another loss to Saki and nearly suffering the “Razor Ramon vs 1-2-3 Kid” (or is it 1-6 Year Old Kid) in the following night. Iwatani and AZM shared a bazillion near-falls, mostly via cradles and roll-ups, to which Mayu needed to get the victory. It worked a lot better than it sounds. – 3.25-3.5/5
–Tam Nakano v Hazuki – Here comes that 50/50 Gedo tournament booking! Ha, well, hard to fault STARDOM for wanting to keep everyone in the GP relevant early on. Despite Hazuki’s great upset win over Watanabe on Day One, the Oedi Tai assassin takes the hit from Nakano here. At least Tam is bubbly cute, full of sprite and easy to root for. With her roundhouse and Tiger Suplex victory, this wound up fun. – 3-3.25/5
BLUE BLOCK
–Jamie Hayter v Andras Miyagi – Can you call a woman’s match a “hoss match”? Oops–I guess I just did. You get the picture. While we’re not talking a battle of Kongs here, both ladies — IRL friends, mind you — bring more power and a more brutish wrestling style than the majority of STARDOM’s other athletes. They spent the majority of the match brawling on the ground before Jamie hit a Falcon Arrow Neckbreaker and that was that. – 2/5
–Kagetsu v Natsuko Tora – Naito v Takagi this was not. Instead it was akin to Taichi v Kanemaru. Both Oedi Tai members spent the majority of the match in the crowd, which at least provided something different with some wild weapon antics (umbrella strikes, a sash hanging, etc.) despite the two being crewmates. Senpai was out to teach Tora a lesson here. – 2.5-2.75/5
–Bea Priestley v Konami – Bea doesn’t take after her boyfriend at all. Don’t know why, but she’s boring AF to watch. While solid and at times very good, even a big match with Konami couldn’t reach that next level. There’s no doubt Bea has the presence and all the goods that make someone champ (see Tessa Blanchard), but exciting pro wrestling isn’t one of them. That said, Konami took 75% of the match and immediately flew into Priestley with a wild knee-bar before cracking the champ with signature kicks. Despite Konami’s best efforts, Bea eventually caught the comeback with a pair of well-timed Bea-Triggers and bridging suplexes, garnering the Red Belt champion a big win via Queen’s Landing. Really good despite Bea not being the most fun performer in the GP. Maybe this is the start of it. – 3.5/5
–Utami Hayashishita v Arisa Hoshiki – Does anyone have better kicks in pro wrestling than Hoshiki? NO. Holy crap, her karate makes Tajiri look like a white belt. Arisa caught eventual winner Utami with a pair of ruthless Brazillian crane kicks, one coming off the ropes and one absolute magnificent kick from the top. The crowd was hot for this main event, with the rook Hayshishita taking the win via Torture Rack Bomb. This is the future! – 3.5-3.75/5
Overall = 2.75-3/5 Bibles (Red = 2.75/5, Blue = 3/5)
@TravMoody
Not a solid an event as Day One, but this still had nothing too bad or too horrible. Some good stories were being told to set up future tournament conflicts and the 5SGP‘s second day closed it out in strong albeit unspectacular fashion. The match-ups will only get more interesting from here!
-Travis Moody