1/19 STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS results: Oedo Tai vs. Oedo Tai in the main event, Utami Hayashishita vs. Hanan for the Future Of Stardom title

STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS
JANUARY 19, 2019
TOKYO, JAPAN AT SHIN-KIBA 1ST RING
AIRED ON STARDOM WORLD
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Our first match was a three-way tag. The twins Hina & Rina believed they could win if they used their brains. Ruaka said she’s not used to three-way matches but jungle jungle! Kashima made fun of them wrestling three kids and an old lady (Yoneyama). Gracia said she and Kashima were united in their love of the color pink.

(1) STARS (Artist Of Stardom Champion Saki Kashima & Alex Gracia) vs. JAN (Kaori Yoneyama & Ruaka) vs. STARS (Hina & Rina)

Rina kept convincing Kashima to team up against Ruaka before immediately trying to roll-up Kashima for the win. In the end things broke down and Kashima made Rina tap to a kimura.

WINNERS: Kashima & Gracia in 6:24.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Fun one with a bunch of comedy moments and the champion picking up a win over the young rookies who never win.)

Iida, who debuted at the last show and joined JAN, was teaming with them for the first time. She has her own catchphrase already like the rest of JAN and she’s being called “the little giant.” Kyona and Tora will be challenging for the Goddess Of Stardom tag titles soon so this is a warm-up for them. Watanabe said she wants to pin one of them to gain momentum going into that match.

(2) QUEEN’S QUEST (Wonder Of Stardom Champion & Goddess Of Stardom Champion Momo Watanabe, AZM, & Konami) vs. JAN (Jungle Kyona, Natsuko Tora, & Saya Iida)

Iida took a lot of punishment and in the end fell to a top rope double knees from AZM.

WINNERS: Queen’s Quest in 11:55.

-Utami Hayashishita joined Watanabe in the ring with their tag titles. Watanabe said JAN lost because they let a rookie fight their battles for them. Hayashishita’s picked up most of the recent victories for their tag but Watanabe’s going to pick up the next one and she doesn’t care who she pins. Tora said she and Kyona are no rookies and called QQ vain.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Iida did a lot of selling but also hit some very nice dropkicks. With just two matches under her belt she’s already looking more impressive than some of the other kids in the promotion. I want to see a singles match between her and AZM now.)

Kimura and her blonde British friends cut a giggly promo about how their opponents were going to die. Kid said Iwatani, Tam, and Kashima will be defending their trios titles soon (against Kimura’s team?). Producer P was absent. Nakano said he went into hiding after the 8th Anniversary Show and she’s not where he is. If you’ve seen him, please let her know.

(3) STARS (Artist Of Stardom Champion Mayu Iwatani, Artist Of Stardom Champion Tam Nakano, & Starlight Kid) vs. HANA KIMURA, SADIE GIBBS, & BOBBI TYLER

Kimura’s team were soundly booed by the fans, which is somewhat unusual. Gibbs hit her backflip splash over the top rope onto everyone at ringside and followed with a top rope frog-splash on Kid for the win.

WINNERS: Gibbs, Kimura, & Tyler in 10:54.

(Pageot’s Perspective: A good one but just a lot of action and no real story. As per usual the youngest person in the match took the pin. Since “graduating” from the rookie division Kid hasn’t had much success but she’s hanging in there with some of the top names in the promotion so she’ll find her footing again in time.)

-Hanan said this was her second time challenging for the Future Of Stardom title and she was “definitely” going to win it this time. Hayashishita said this is her first defense of the title. Hanan is one of the judo sisters but she’s also a judoka and she’ll prove her superiority.

(4) UTAMI HAYASHISHITA vs. HANAN – FUTURE OF STARDOM CHAMPIONSHIP

Hanan got a couple near-falls off of roll-ups but Hayashishita choked her out with a rear naked choke and then put her in the torture rack until she tapped.

WINNER: Utami Hayashishita in 6:25 to retain the Future Of Stardom title.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Hayashishita already feels like she’s outgrown the Future Of Stardom title and the rookie designation even though this was only her first defense. She comes across as fully-formed as anyone else in the division. We just saw her beat Viper clean so how am I supposed to believe that Hanan or Iida or Ruaka have a chance against her?)

-Our main event was a preview for the Kagetsu-Hazuki match happening for the red belt at the next show. Hazuki said she wanted to pin Kagetsu here to prove how much she’s grown. Sumire had Stardom owner Rossy Ogawa’s new autobiography and plugged it. Hayter had tissue stuck in her nose and claimed to be sick. Kagetsu said it looked like she’d have to carry her team. All four women entered together along with their manager Nao Yamaguchi. They did their traditional dance before going to the opposing corners. Yamaguchi took Kagetsu’s corner.

(5) OEDO TAI (World Of Stardom Champion Kagetsu & Jamie Hayter) vs. OEDO TAI (High Speed Champion Hazuki & Natsu Sumire)

Kagestu and Hazuki started and went back and forth. Sumire and Hayter tagged in. Sumire pretended to play nice since they’re all stable mates but looked for a cheap shot. Hayter saw it coming and the two teams brawled to ringside. Kagetsu dragged Hazuki into the crowd and choked her with a chair. Kagetsu and Hayter worked over Sumire for a long stretch with the help of Yamaguchi. Eventually Sumire had enough and grabbed Ogawa’s book, bashing both her opponents with it. Tag to Hazuki. Hazuki and Kagetsu went at each other with some hard offense. Hayter took out Kagetsu with a big boot by accident and Hazuki and Sumire dumped her with an assisted codebreaker. Kagetsu hit a firefighter’s carry into a falcon arrow and went up top for her 450. Hazuki moved, though, and rolled her up to gain a pinfall over the champion.

WINNERS: Hazuki & Sumire in 15:49.

-Hazuki asked Kagestu if she was having second thoughts about offering her a title match. Kagetsu claimed that she lost on purpose but Hazuki called her out on it. Kagetsu had a request for the crowd. During their main event match at the next show, don’t take any pictures. Watch the match with your eyes and enjoy professional wrestling.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Very fun match with the villainous stablemates trying to go to their usual bag of tricks but having opponents who knew exactly what they were planning to do before they could do it. It’s quite rare for any champion to lose in Stardom, let alone the World Of Stardom Champion, so Hazuki’s pinfall here was pretty surprising. Is Kagetsu playing with fire, though, by voluntarily putting Oedo Tai in situations where they fight each other?)

Find Harley on Twitter @talkinghonor and listen to he and Emily Fear talk all things Ring Of Honor every Wednesday on the PWTorch Dailycast “Talking Honor.”