2/11 STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS results: Double header featuring Stars vs. Donna Del Mondo, the High Speed Grand Prix continues

STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS
FEBRUARY 11, 2020 – AFTERNOON SHOW
OSAKA, JAPAN AT OSAKA WORLD PAVILION
AIRED ON STARDOM WORLD
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hirsch said she’s already beaten Starlight Kid and AZM and now she’ll beat Death. Easy. “Leyla war Death” was Death’s official statement.

(1) LEYLA HIRSCH vs. DEATH YAMA-SAN – HIGH SPEED GRAND PRIX

Death with a cradle roll in no short order.

WINNER: Death Yama-san in 1:49.

(Pageot’s Perspective: With a five-person tournament, two people going to the finals, and five matches still remaining it continues to be anyone’s game.)

High Speed tournament rankings:
Leyla Hirsch – 4
Death Yama-san – 4
AZM – 2
Starlight Kid – 0
Zoey Skye – 0

-Skye said the whole reason she returned to Stardom was for the High Speed title. Kid said she’s lost both of her two matches so far so she needed to win here and the next one to make it to the finals.

(2) STARLIGHT KID vs. ZOEY SKYE – HIGH SPEED GRAND PRIX

Kid with another roll-up for the win.

WINNER: Starlight Kid in 4:24.

(Pageot’s Perspective: As expected. Kid is getting the babyface story of fighting from underneath to make it to the finals. She’ll have to beat AZM in her last match to make that happen. The tournament began one month ago to the day yet this was only Skye’s first match. As such, she can afford to take the loss with three more matches remaining.)

High Speed tournament rankings:
Leyla Hirsch – 4
Death Yama-san – 4
AZM – 2
Starlight Kid – 2
Zoey Skye – 0

-Sumire said she’s played enough of AZM’s games. She knew she’d complain about her and Kyona’s ages because that’s all she does. Sumire was willing to even set aside her differences with Kyona because AZM’s so annoying. AZM said she’d beat Kyona. Kyona said AZM’s been training but she was afraid of what the youngster might say to her.

(3) JUNGLE KYONA vs. AZM vs. NATSU SUMIRE

Sumire and Kyona worked together at points with Sumire even offering to let Kyona use her whip on AZM. Kyona declined. In the end AZM caught Sumire with the AZM Sushi.

WINNER: AZM in 6:09.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Three matches and three roll-up finishes. That’s the high speed division for you. A surprising result in that AZM is still usually the loser in matches against her seniors but Sumire is Teflon.)

-Kamitani handled the whole promo herself so Hoshino cut her off at the end to hit her catchphrase. Kimura was eating a cup of noodles in a sweatshirt and complaining how cold it was.

(4) TOKYO CYBER SQUAD (Hana Kimura & Konami) vs. SAYA KAMITANI & ITSUKI HOSHINO

Konami pinned Hoshino with a northern lights suplex.

WINNERS: Tokyo Cyber Squad in 9:31.

(Pageot’s Perspective: At least it wasn’t a roll-up. Per the on-screen graphics Hoshino and Kamitani are both still free agents and not official members of Stars.)

-Hayashishita said DDM took their trios titles. How would they get revenge? Syuri called out Watanabe while Maika of course continued to have her sights set on her rival, Hayashishita.

(5) ARTIST OF STARDOM CHAMPIONS DONNA DEL MONDO (Giulia, Syuri, & Maika) vs. QUEEN’S QUEST (Future Of Stardom Champion Utami Hayashishita, Momo Watanabe, & Leo Onozaki) – NON-TITLE MATCH

Onozaki tapped to a sharpshooter from Syuri.

WINNERS: Donna Del Mondo in 12:58.

(Pageot’s Perspective: How long will Giulia and DDM remain undefeated in Stardom? Riho debuted almost seven months ago and she’s still undefeated. Maika’s lost to Hayashishita in singles action and is enough of a rookie that she could be pinned by someone like Watanabe or Hoshiki in one of these trios tags and not have it hurt her or DDM’s credibility but we’ve yet to see that.)

-Kashima was glad she could finally fight Iwatani but wasn’t happy that it wasn’t a singles match. Tora said Stars are trash but there was one in particular she wanted to squash. We’d see. “The Little Gorilla” Saya Iida said they would win with gorilla power. Everyone pounded their chests.

Oedo Tai had a new entrance theme, a sort of trip-hoppy remix of “Oedo Ranbu.” Tora also had a new captain’s hat and Kahima a new ring jacket.

(6) STARS (World Of Stardom Champion Mayu Iwatani, Wonder Of Stardom Champion Arisa Hoshiki, Tam Nakano, & Saya Iida) vs. OEDO TAI (Natsuko Tora, Saki Kashima, & Goddess Of Stardom Champions Bea Priestley & SWA World Champion Jamie Hayter)

Tora’s target was revealed to be Hoshiki. It was Iida she would pin to win the match, however, following a top rope leg drop.

WINNERS: Oedo Tai in 15:51.

-Oedo Tai continued to put the boots to Iwatani. She fought back and clawed at Kashima but the numbers put her down while the rest of Stars were held at bay at ringside. Kashima demanded to know when she was getting her singles match. She didn’t even care whether or not the red belt was on the line. Hoshiki tried to make the save but Tora put her down with a Samoan drop. Tora put her foot on the back of her neck and told her to defend the white belt against her.

(Pageot’s Perspective: This is about the most heelish Oedo Tai has been in a long time and I really like it. It stands out, it feels like a totally new era, and it makes Tora and Kashima look credible and like badasses. The belt not being on the line for Iwatani-Kashima means Kashima could even win and gain more credibility. And Tora winning the white belt is not unthinkable at this point though, like Konami throughout 2019, I just feel like she’ll be the perpetual runner-up instead.)

 

STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS
FEBRUARY 11, 2020 – EVENING SHOW
OSAKA, JAPAN AT OSAKA WORLD PAVILION
AIRED ON STARDOM WORLD

Hayter was in disbelief that the champ champ was fighting Leo Onozaki again, like anyone actually thought the rookie might win. Onozaki said she’d try, though.

(1) SWA WORLD & GODDESS OF STARDOM CHAMPION JAMIE HAYTER vs. LEO ONOZAKI

Ushigoroshi.

WINNER: Jamie Hayter in 4:21.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Well, Jamie, you won’t have to wrestle Leo anymore. It was announced on social media that Onozaki will be retiring on the February 16 show due to accumulating a number of minor injuries over the years.)

-Hoshino said Konami is scary but she’d try her best. Konami vowed Priestley would see the final lancer this time. Priestley wasn’t worried since she already beat Konami for the tag titles.

(2) GODDESS OF STARDOM CHAMPION BEA PRIESTLEY vs. KONAMI vs. ITSUKI HOSHINO

V-trigger to Hoshino for the win.

WINNER: Bea Priestley in 8:10.

-Skye said if there’s one thing she’s not afraid of, it’s death. (I mean she’s a part of Rosemary’s stable Paradise Lost so… true.)

(3) DEATH YAMA-SAN vs. ZOEY SKYE – HIGH SPEED GRAND PRIX

Skye with a lungblower out of nowhere.

WINNER: Zoey Skye in 2:43.

(Pageot’s Perspective: The high speed division is kind of a mess. We’ve seen Death take so much more offense than that and power through so it takes a big suspension of disbelief to buy that one move was enough here. There are only three matches left in the tournament now: Skye vs. AZM, Skye vs. Hirsch, and AZM vs. Kid. Even if Kid wins that match she is unable to make it to the finals as both Hirsch and Death already defeated her in their previous matches. As such, she has been eliminated from contention.)

High Speed tournament rankings:
Leyla Hirsch – 4
Death Yama-san – 4
AZM – 2
Zoey Skye – 2
Starlight Kid – 2

-Tora said their opponents here are useless. Kashima didn’t care because Iwatani wasn’t in the match. Sumire insisted that she didn’t care about them the most. Kid was looking forward to fighting heel Kashima for the first time. Nakano and Kid put over Iida’s gorilla power.

(4) STARS (Tam Nakano, Starlight Kid, & Saya Iida) vs. OEDO TAI (Natsuko Tora, Saki Kashima, & Natsu Sumire)

Kashima with My Emblem to Iida.

WINNERS: Oedo Tai in 10:47.

-Kimura and Kyona did their entire promo in hand gestures. Hirsch had no clue what was going on. AZM said they were the former trios champs whereas their opponents couldn’t even win a #1 contender’s match so it was obvious who was going to win here.

(5) QUEEN’S QUEST (Future Of Stardom Champion Utami Hayashishita, Momo Watanabe & AZM) vs. TOKYO CYBER SQUAD (Hana Kimura, Jungle Kyona, & Leyla Hirsch)

Hayashishita with a torture rack into a bridging German suplex on Hirsch for the pin.

WINNERS: Queen’s Quest in 10:57.

-Giulia was interested in fighting Hoshiki. Syuri was interested in fighting Stars for the first time. Maika was not interested in Kamitani. She only had eyes for the champions. Hoshiki saw this match as an opportunity to get a better sense of the future of Stardom. Iwatani wanted to step her game up a bit.

(6) ARTIST OF STARDOM CHAMPIONS DONNA DEL MONDO (Giulia, Syuri, & Maika) vs. STARS (World Of Stardom Champion Mayu Iwatani, Wonder Of Stardom Champion Arisa Hoshiki, & Saya Kamitani) – NON-TITLE MATCH

Kamitani fell to a tombstone from Giulia.

WINNERS: Donna Del Mondo in 17:09.

-Giulia said Oedo Tai will be challenging them for the trios titles soon. Oedo Tai showed up and picked up the belts. Tora commented on how light they are but said they’d probably have to be considering how scrawny Giulia and her crew are. Tora and Giulia set the defense date for the February 22 show.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Unfortunately for Tora that show has since been canceled along with four others amidst concerns over the coronavirus. Our next dates are February 15, 16, and March 8. No new date has been set for the Artist title match yet.

Regular Stardom viewers know these double-header shows are the closest thing the promotion has to house shows. Lots of multi-person tags with the most obvious person taking the pin and not much in the way of furthering stories. That’s fine, though. The small shows make the big shows feel that much bigger. I still don’t really know who Syuri or Maika are. Hopefully they get some singles matches soon so that we can establish their move sets and personalities.)