Stardom All Star Grand Queendom 2023 Preview!

Howdy!

I’ll just put it out there on front street; this weekend, arguably the most anticipated women’s wrestling event in literally years is happening. And I want to celebrate it, talk about it, and convince you to watch it. If I get even one of y’all to do that, I’m going to consider this a success.

So click the read more button and come on in. I don’t care if you know nothing about Stardom, or joshi, or whatever; we’re gonna get there and by the time we’re done, you’ll be setting an alarm to watch this thing.

Let’s preview some wrestling, shall we?

So, Grand Queendom. The goal of this show seems to be “what if we just took the most talented women we can find and put on a really good fucking wrestling show?” It’s a crazy concept that may, in fact, work out. So we’ll break down this card and I’ll give you as much knowledge as I can drop on you. And if I make mistakes along the way, remember that I’m sort of still new to Stardom on a certain level and I’m wandering a bit in the dark myself. I suspect that some of our more seasoned Stardom watchers will give the context I fail to provide in the comments, so listen to them. We’ve got a good community here with a lot of smart folks.

The show will have English commentary! Led by Chris Charlton, something that I’ve wanted for Stardom for awhile is going to happen on this show. While I do respect that folks like listening to the Japanese commentary and that’s all good, it’s nice for people to be able to understand things as they happen and this is something that Stardom SORELY needs. I’m all for this one.

Dates/Times: The show will air in North America at 2 AM EST on Sunday, April 23rd, 11 PM PST on Saturday, April 22nd, and at 7 AM over in the UK on Sunday, April 23rd. It is a PPV, your Stardom World sub will not cover this one; but if you want to wait, the time for PPVs to get onto World is normally relatively quickly, a week or so at most.

As for the wrestling itself…..

Up first, we’ve got the Yokohama Rumble, which…..it’s a Rumble. Only announced competitor is Momoe Nakanishi, who retired 18 years ago. There’s not much beyond that.

On to the card proper!

Hazuki/Fuwa-chan vs Queen’s Quest (Utami Hayashishita/Miyu Amasaki)

The Players: Fuwa-Chan is our Bad Bunny, our Logan Paul. She’s a celebrity in Japan as a YouTuber who has worked in Stardom before, earning millions of views and some nice reviews for her work as an amateur. I haven’t seen her work before, so I can’t vouch for her. But her tag partner, Hazuki, I can vouch for. She’s really good, and is coming off a 3-way IWGP title match with Mercedes Mone and AZM at the last New Japan show, Sakura Genesis. They’re facing off against Queen’s Quest here, and it’s Utami with her rookie, so to speak, in Amasaki. Utami, as I know I’ve said before, is my current favorite women’s wrestler in the world. She’s been taking some time off the main events after multiple wars with Syuri over 2021-2022, but she’s still Utami.

The Result: With Fuwa-Chan still seeking her first win as a Stardom talent, I suspect she’ll continue searching as Queen’s Quest gets the W.

Club Venus (Jessie/Mariah May/Xena) & Thekla vs Oedo Tai (Ruaka/Momo Watanabe/Natsuko Tora/Saki Kashima)

The Players: Club Venus is officially Stardom’s newest faction. Formerly a subfaction of Cosmic Angels, the split was made official at the Cinderella Tournament Finals. Jessie is former NXT talent Jessie Kamea, while Mariah May is from the UK and Xena is one of Venus’ newer members. I’ve kind of taken a liking to May, who has some chops. Thekla is on loan from Donna Del Mondo for this one and is quite awesome in her own right; she HATES having to team with these women, trust me. Her inclusion completes an all-foreign player team, something unique for Stardom to say the least. Oedo Tai is the heel team here as usual – expect shenanigans out the proverbial yin-yang from the bad girls.

The Result: Why stop Venus now? They’re continuing to get new members although Xia Brookside appears to be on the way out to a certain extent. Regardless, I think Venus gets the duke here; this feels like a way for the new faction to get some cred by beating the established heel group.

AZM/Mei Suruga vs Starlight Kid/Mei Seira

The Players: AZM is the current High-Speed champion and is coming off the aforementioned 3-way match with Hazuki and Mone at Sakura Genesis. She’s awesome. She’s working with Mei Suruga, who you may have seen in Pro Wrestling EVE before, or, if you’re new to these folks, she’s had a cup of coffee in AEW as one of Emi Sakura’s consorts, so to speak. Starlight Kid, the Joker to AZM’s Batman, recruited Mei Seira to do battle on her side here. Mei is coming off an extended break, not having been in a ring since 2021; but she’s only 20 years old and is quite decent.

The Result: There’s a decent enough story here to think about. Kid is done with the High-Speed division, as AZM pretty much put that to bed with the last match the two had. Starlight was the one who laid down this challenge, but it may have been a backdoor move on her part because Seira’s style would likely work very well in the High-Speed division, so this feels like a way to introduce AZM’s next challenger and possibly next champion, as AZM has probably done all she can do with the belt at this point. With that in mind, I think that Kid and Mei take this one to set up Mei challenging AZM for the strap.

Himeka vs Maika – Himeka’s retirement match

The Players: MaiHime explodes! Well, in an emotional way. These two women are friends and partners, and Himeka is about to call it a day, but wanted her last Stardom match to be against her tag team partner. The two came up a bit short against champs 7Upp in their last shot, and Himeka will be almost done after this one.

The Result: A lot of tears, I would guess. This one actually matters in a lot of ways as these two have been a premier tag team in Stardom for the last few years and this is the moment they’ll say goodbye. This is one of those matches where the winner likely doesn’t matter and the journey is more important. Even if you don’t know the story, all you need is that these two are good friends who decided that they needed one more tilt with each other before one walked off into the sunset. A simple and effective story no matter how many times it’s told. Maika wins, but that’s secondary.

7Upp (Yuu/Nanae Takahashi) (C) vs The New Eras (Mirai/Ami Sourei) – Goddesses of Stardom Tag Team title match

The Players: The champs are part of the Neo Stardom Army and have been the big bully heels of the tag division for months on end now. They’ve turned back every challenger along the way. Yuu is the current Pro Wrestling EVE International champion as the women of the Army are freelancers that compete elsewhere along with Stardom. The New Eras participated in the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League this past year and consist of Mirai, the current 2-time Cinderella tournament winner, and Ami Sourei, the current Future of Stardom champion, both of them from the faction God’s Eye.

The Result: I’m not sure. It seems like an appropriate time to bring the 7Upp reign to a close, but with Mirai still having a Cinderella wish to cash in and Ami being the Future champ, I’m having a hard time believing they’ll pick up the tag straps as well. They could, don’t get me wrong, but I think there’s a more than decent chance that the heels retain to defend another day.

Prominence (Suzu Suzuki/Risa Sera/Hiragi Kurumi) (C) vs REstart (Kairi/Natsupoi/Saori Anou) – Artists of Stardom 6-Woman Tag Team title match

The Players: Oh, baby. Okay, so Prominence is made up of ultra-violent freelancers who have been all over Stardom for the last several months. One of the main pulls to Prominence is the hardcore style they wrestle – while that’s not normally your humble author’s thing, they’re certainly good at it. Suzu Suzuki, in particular, is one of the best young wrestlers in the world right now and is carving out a hell of a career in Japan. But their opponents may be up to the battle here. You’ve got Kairi, who most will know from NXT/WWE as Kairi Sane, you’ve got Natsupoi (AKA the one from Cosmic Angels that everyone seems to like), and you’ve got Saori Anou, veteran freelancer in Japan who has worked every company from Ice Ribbon to DDT Pro to now finally debuting in Stardom.

The Result: There’s likely only one other match I’m looking forward to as much as this (and it’s the next one, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves). This has the potential to be AWESOME, as we’ll finally get Suzuki and Kairi in the ring against each other for the first time. It will also be the debut of Anou, who has been bouncing around the Indy scene in Japan for years before now. It’s also a hard match to call in my mind, because Prominence is still freelancing, but they’re also normally treated like big deals and protected. Suzu had a title match against Giulia fairly recently and I suspect she’s the most on Stardom’s radar to sign, so the question is will they keep the titles where they are to keep her happy? Kairi almost never loses and she was the challenger here, so I wonder if she would lose, especially considering that it’s also Anou’s debut match? I can see many outcomes here, so I’ll go with what I want and say that the champs retain. There’s no need to stop the Prominence train just yet.

Syuri vs Chihiro Hashimoto – BITCH GRUDGE MATCH FROM HELL (I made that match title up, but I’m right. That’s what this is)

The Players: Syuri, the former red belt champion, is not new to Stardom or Joshi fans. She is arguably the best in-ring worker in the company, a phenomenal seller with nasty strikes and a beaut of a ground wrestling game. Her opponent is a bigger, nastier worker who has come to Stardom from Sendai Girls and been undefeated since arriving, but isn’t all power – Hashimoto’s mat game can’t be underestimated, as she’s just good on the mat as most in the company if not better.

The Result: I’ve been waiting for this one for awhile. So, the basic point here is that Hashimoto came to Stardom after being challenged by Syuri, and Syuri has wanted a piece of her for MONTHS now, but Hashimoto kept putting her off while continuing to destroy each member of God’s Eye, Syuri’s faction. And she would push it off for another month, and another, until finally agreeing to fight Syuri at the biggest Stardom show of all time, which is this one. Syuri, of course, wants revenge for her fallen bretheren, but there’s a bit underneath there as it was Syuri who laid down the challenge for Hashimoto to come to Stardom in the first place, so there’s a very real case to be made that she brought all this destruction upon herself to a certain extent. And now she has to contain this monster, and I’m not sure she will. This is likely going to be an excellent match, it’s the one I’m looking forward to the most, as I expect both women will seek to tell an actual narrative in that ring. On the one hand, if Hashimoto is sticking around, I can see her completing the triumph over God’s Eye and going for titles next (she would be great for Giulia, frankly), but on the other hand, Syuri winning to get her back on track makes more sense to me. So I’ll go with the former champ, but still, it’s no lock.

Mercedes Mone (C) vs Mayu Iwatani – IWGP Women’s Title match

The Players: Mercedes Mone is Sasha Banks. I don’t think I need to go much further there. She took the title from Kairi a few months back and has defended it on a few New Japan shows both in the US and abroad. Her opponent is perhaps Stardom’s ultimate Ace, the Tanahashi of the company. Mayu has been in Stardom since 2011, where she was one of the initial rookies, and now she’s the Stardom icon, a woman who has won every title Stardom has to offer.

The Result: This result hinges hard on whether or not Mone is sticking in Japan or not. There have been conflicting reports on that one; if she is staying, I suspect that she will retain. But what I do expect is likely an excellent match. While Mone is not on the level of the best joshi, the fact is that she will likely put forth a hell of an effort, especially on this stage. They’ve dipped heavily into the playbook of Sasha/Bayley for this one, in that Mayu is playing a total whitemeat babyface while Mone has been the bullying, mocking, asshole heel the entire time. There’s no shades of grey in this feud, there’s a good guy and a bad guy and it’s clear who’s who. With that in mind, I’m going to go with Iwatani. One of the little bits here is that during the initial IWGP title tournament, Iwatani made the finals, and gave up the SWA title to concentrate on her IWGP Finals match against Kairi…..and she lost. So there’s not just a mean girl/nice girl storyline going here, there’s an actual redemption story for Iwatani. As such, I smell a title change.

Saya Kamitani (C) vs Mina Shirakawa – Wonder of Stardom Title match

The Players: Saya Kamitani is in the midst of a record-setting run with the Wonder title. She’s broken the record for defenses and is firmly in the upper tier in Stardom as a result. She is a high-flyer who occasionally has some issues with selling and pacing, to be honest. Mina Shirakawa is the leader of Club Venus, Stardom’s newest faction mentioned earlier. She has a hell of an amount of charisma and is coming back from a major injury for this match, which we’ll discuss below.

The Result: And that major injury came at the hands of Saya, due to a botched Phoenix Splash that broke Mina’s….uh, face. Saya landed with her knees right onto Mina’s jaw, breaking it and putting Shirakawa out for months. Mina is back now, her jaw is fixed, and she’s got a new faction and is ready for revenge. This shouldn’t be in doubt, as I expect Mina to end the long Saya reign here. My concern for the match quality is only that they try to put too much into it – this feels like a moment where the booker could overstuff the match with movez and drama where they don’t need it. The drama here, the story, is that Mina is back after what could have been a career threatening injury and is going to win the title from the woman who no one could beat. That’s the drama, not whether or not Saya hits top rope moves (although I suspect there will be at least one Phoenix attempt in the match). So, while I have high hopes for this match, this could be the easiest top match to screw up if they overthink it. I hope that they don’t.

Giulia (C) vs Tam Nakano – World of Stardom Title match

The Players: Giulia! Sorry, I just always kind of seem to put an exclamation point when I say her name. Giulia is the current champ here, a top level talent who exudes being a champion. If you want an example of someone who carries herself like a superstar, she is the one. Her opponent, Tam Nakano, definitely brings out some….ahem, STRONG feelings with certain folks. While I’m not really either a fan or hate of Tam, she is over with the Stardom fans and normally gets strong reactions to her matches. She’s the leader of Cosmic Angels, and wrestles a very emotional style in the ring, sometimes really selling the moment by screaming her lungs out.

The Result: So, this one is definitely personal. Giulia and Tam have a long, LONG history with each other, going back years and matches that have been memorable. Just in 2021, for example, Tam defeated Giulia for the Wonder of Stardom title, shaving Giulia’s head in the process as a match stip. Giulia bloodied Tam at the presser for this event, leaving her in a heap on the stage; in short, these women REALLY don’t like each other to an absurd degree. With all that in mind…..I would think Giulia retains. One fly in the ointment is that there has been a lot going on with Cosmic Angels these days, and I wonder if they are doing all this confusion to have Tam win and sow the seeds for feuds down the road for Nakano on top. But at the end of the day, Giulia feels like the right woman to have on top of the company at this point and it seems wrong to me to take the title off her. That’s just my POV, but I think she likely retains.

The Summary: This show is stacked from top to bottom, with even some of the undercard tags holding some value. You’ll likely see one of the best shows of the year if you choose to watch it, honestly; the talent here is just magnificent and they’re taking a big swing here to put forth their best efforts on their strongest card in a long time. I think that it will be the talk of the wrestling world in many ways once it’s done, so I really felt like there was some value to doing this and trying to bring folks along for the ride.

When I first came to watch wrestling in Japan, be it NJPW or NOAH or Stardom, I admit that I was really intimidated, frankly. It’s that feeling of being told how good something is and then if you don’t ‘get it’, the thoughts can be that you’re stupid, or that you don’t understand what quality is, that kind of thing. But that went away partially due to this place, to guys like Ioan Morris or Jabroniville or Talbot, to people who really wanted to share their passions enough to take the time to bring you into it, to really help understand that at the core of it all, this is just wrestling. It’s that thing you love that brought you to the BoD in the first place, and so it goes here. If you’ve come this far, maybe you’re intrigued enough to go a little farther – and if any of what I wrote here helped or if you want to know more, say something. I’ll reply, or Phred or maskedcabana or someone else might. There are ton of folks here at the BoD that know this company and we’re dying to have you along for the ride. Toss out a comment and join in, let us welcome you.

We want you here, and it’s going to be a hell of a trip.

I will be back with a review later on, and barring something going wrong, I should see you all for the show live.

As always, thanks for reading this thing I wrote,

Rick Poehling
jedimacewindu@yahoo.com for email
@MrSoze on Twitter