Stardom - Shining Stars 2017 (6/17/2017)

2. Hana Kimura vs. Rebel vs. Tora Natsuko

**

3. Shanna & Gabby Slays vs. Mayu Iwatani & Konami

**

4. Artist of Stardom Championship: Queen's Quest (Io Shirai, HZK & AZM) (c) vs. Team Jungle (Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona & Kaori Yoneyama)

***

Stardom - Shining Stars 2017 - Kairi Hojo's Last Match - (6/4/2017)

2. Rebel vs. Hana Kimura

**

3. Mayu Iwatani & Hetzza vs. Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora

***

4. Artist of Stardom Championship: Konami, Kairi Hojo, Hiromi Mimura vs Queen’s Quest (AZM, HZK & Io Shirai)

***3/4

5. Gauntlet Match: Kairi Hojo vs. Hanan, Ruaka, AZM, Tora Natsuko, Konami, Jungle Kyona, Mayu Iwatani, Io Shirai, HZK & Hiromi Mimura

***

Stardom - Gold May 2017 (5/20/2017)

3. Hana Kimura vs. Mayu Iwatani vs. Rebel

*

4. SWA World Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Jessicka Havok

**

6. Kairi Hojo & Io Shirai vs. Konami & HZK 

**1/2

Stardom - Gold May 2017 (5/21/2017)

1. Hetzza vs. Kaori Yoneyama

**

2. AZM vs. Jessicka Havok

*

3. HZK vs. Toni Storm

**1/4

4. Io Shirai vs. Rebel

**1/2

5. Artist of Stardom Championship: Hiromi Mimura, Kairi Hojo & Konami (c) vs. Jungle Kyona, Mayu Iwatani & Natsuko Tora

***3/4

Stardom - Gold May 2017 (5/14/2017)

3. Hana Kimura vs. HZK vs. Rebel

**

4. Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyona (c) vs. The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard)

**3/4

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo (c) vs. Mayu Iwatani

**3/4

6. World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Toni Storm

This was excellent; an intense high drama main event. Io puts a beating on the challenger in the first act, with a dropkick while Toni's neck is trapped in a chair, followed by stomps, and a double knee smash into the ring post. This is the most vulnerable Toni Storm has ever looked in Stardom. Storm has Io down for the count after she hits her deadly piledriver, the culmination of neck-work, but her pride won't allow her to win that way. Io sells the damage amazingly, lunging around on the mat with a stiff upper body as she fights to make the comeback; easily the best selling I have ever seen from her. Great match!

****

Stardom - Grows Up Stars 2017 (5/7/2017)

3. Hana Kimura vs. Hetzza vs. Rebel

**

4. The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard) vs. Natsuko Tora & Toni Storm

***

5. Threedom Final Tag: Threedom (Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo & Mayu Iwatani) vs. Hiromi Mimura, HZK & Jungle Kyona

***1/4

Stardom - Golden Week Stars 2017 (5/3/2017)

1. Hanan vs. Konami

I like the way Hanan takes Konami's kicks.

**

2. Hetzza & Hiromi Mimura vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kris Wolf) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM & HZK)

HZK and Hana were just going back and forth in a great segment, and I really dug the Boston crab struggle between them. Hiromi tries to get involved and catches a double bicycle kick, and they're back at it. There's also a fun exchange of roll-ups towards the end, and HZK hitting her Bombs Away.

***1/4

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora vs. Rebel & The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard)

Hiroyo vs. Havok! Lady Destroyer vs. Death Machine! Godzilla vs. Gigan!

***

4. Kairi Hojo vs. Toni Storm

Hojo says she knows Storm's weakness in the pre-match promo. Storm is the unbreakable Kiwi of Steel, but every final boss has their weak spot, and so, Hojo goes to work on Storm's butt. There's rapid-fire chops, a running dropkick, an octopus hold with spanking; this is a stellar ass-targeting workover. Storm makes the comeback, hitting her spike piledriver, but her injured butt prevents her from making the cover and the match ends in a timeout draw.

***3/4

5. Black Tiger, Dragon Heat & Mayu Iwatani vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Io Shirai

The Stardom girls were having fun, Dragon Heat acted like an asshole, the Wagner Family did in their thing; fun vibes all around!

***

Stardom - Cinderella Tournament 2017 (4/30/2017)

1. Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: HZK vs. Jungle Kyona

This match had a good urgency, selling, and HEAT! HZK impressed with the new moves she unveiled and how she applied them.

***3/4

3. Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: Kris Wolf vs. Tessa Blanchard

***

4. Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: Kagetsu vs. Konami

***

8. Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: Hana Kimura vs. Io Shirai

No sexy pose from Io Shirai. What a shame. The atmosphere of this match feels different from the previous matches, the crowd is hot with anticipation. Hana-chan gains a ton of momentum behind her dropkicks and boots, and Io bumped good as usual. The dragon screws from Io were sold as viciously as they looked, and she starts to devastate the limb. The close-calls were intense and the crowd was going bonkers at possibility of Hana eliminating Io.

****

10. Cinderella Tournament 2017 Quarter Final: HZK vs. Kairi Hojo

I'm not into Hojo's performance in this tournament. There's great heat from HZK during this clash; she's become one of my absolute favorites to watch.

***

13. Cinderella Tournament 2017 Final: Mayu Iwatani vs. Toni Storm

This didn't quite reach the hype levels of some of the previous matches with the crowd, and I probably wouldn't have liked this as much as I did if Toni was facing anyone else. Mayu was built to take these moves. her selling was superb, limbs flailing like spaghetti, and her facial expressions are great too. Storm was an absolute superwoman here and adsorbed everything that was thrown at her.

***3/4

Stardom - Shining Stars In Kagawa (4/23/2017)

2. Kagetsu vs. Natsuko Tora

**1/4

3. Hiromi Mimura & Kairi Hojo vs. Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai)

***

4. SWA World Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. La Rosa Negra

**1/2

5. Hetzza & The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard) vs. Jungle Kyona, Konami & Mayu Iwatani

***

Stardom - Kairi Hojo’s Homecoming (4/22/2017)

1. Hetzza vs. Kris Wolf vs. Natsuko Tora

BAD

2. Hiromi Mimura & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Oedo Tai (Kagetsu & La Rosa Negra)

***3/4

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyona vs. The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard)

***

4. Konami, Mayu Iwatani & Toni Storm vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, HZK & Io Shirai)

****

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo (c) vs. Hana Kimura

***

Santana Garrett vs. Kairi Hojo (Stardom, 5/15/2016)

Stardom - Gold May 2016 (5/15/2016)

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Santana Garrett (c) vs. Kairi Hojo

Santana Garrett is a wrestler who I consider to be one of the most offensively overrated, but I thought she did good here. She was laying in her moves, and Hojo was selling and bumping well. The callback to the finish in their first title match was a nice touch.

***

Stardom - Grow Up Stars 2017 (3/26/2017)

3. Mayu Iwatani vs. Tora Natsuko

Dickish Mayu is so much fun to watch squash rookies.

***1/2

4. Queen's Quest (Io Shirai, HZK & AZM) vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona & Hiromi Mimura

The desire for an Io-Hiroyo singles intensifies.

***1/2

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo (c) vs. Konami

This was such an amazing sequel to their match at WILD HERO 2. Konami picks apart Hojo's limbs with kicks and submission holds. Hojo was in shambles by the end, she sold everything wonderfully, and her comebacks were hard-fought. It's so nice to see that signing with WWE hasn't stopped her from taking crazy bumps like the neck-drop she takes on the German suplex.

****1/2

Stardom - The Highest 2017 (3/20/2017)

1. Ruaka & Arisu Nanase vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Tora Natsuko

Natsuko's use of the Goto Shiki was cool.

**

3. High Speed Championship: Kris Wolf (c) vs. Hiromi Mimura

This had its moments with counters and dramatic near-falls and the crowd was into it, believe it or not. Wolf is constantly showing growth while Hiromi unfortunately hasn't made much progress.

**1/4

4. Mayu Iwatani vs. Hana Kimura

Hana showcases her amazing ability to control the crowd. They are entranced. I enjoyed the character work here even though it was pretty standard match from an in-ring perspective. The crowd participation makes it feel special.

***1/2

5. SWA World Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Jungle Kyona

This was a surprisingly good match. Some strong building towards the finish.

***1/4

6. World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Kairi Hojo

Great main event that played off of their previous matches via callbacks and counters. One of my favorite moments in the match is when Io's answer to Hojo's rapid-fire chops in the corner is simply walking out of the corner, that familiarity showed their growth as performers.

****1/4

Stardom - Champions Around the World in Nagoya (3/5/2017)

1. Arisu Nanase vs. AZM

Solid minis opener.

**1/2

5. World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Kagetsu

This actually felt more like a High Speed match than it did a Red Belt match, if that makes sense. Really enjoyable action and some Dragon Gate-style heel tactics from Kagetsu. A good semi-main.

***1/2

6. Goddesses of Stardom Championship: BY Ho (Kairi Hojo & Yoko Bito) (c) vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyona

Kyona's the hometown hero so she got a lot of shine. I thought her offense looked soft until the third act where she started laying in her stuff against Hojo, who was egging her on. Hiroyo assisting Kyona with the finishing powerbomb was a great moment. Solid stuff.

***1/4

Stardom - Io Shirai 10th Anniversary Show ～ＩＯＩＯ～ (3/9/2017)

2. HZK vs. Kagetsu vs. Kris Wolf

This was proper high speed; an improvement over the similar Nagoya trio. This turns into a de facto handicap match with HZK looking strong fending for herself.

***

3. Midnight Angel & Minoru Suzuki vs Black Midnight Devil & KAI

This was a fun mesh of wacky gimmicks.

***

4. Toni Storm vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

There were some bombs thrown at the end, including a nice German suplex from Storm, but overall I didn't get much from this.

**1/4

5. Kairi Hojo, Yoko Bito & Konami vs. Hiromi Mimura, Aoi Kizuki & Jungle Kyona

Fun trios. The draw here is obviously Aoi Kizuki making her Stardom debut. She looked good and fit in well with the rest of the girls.

***

6. Io Shirai & Meiko Satomura vs. Mayu Iwatani & Chihiro Hashimoto

My God, this was an excellent main event. Chihiro was looking very strong against Io, Mayu gets mauled by gruesome kicks and suplexes. The energy, the sequences and the drama here are absolutely grand.

****3/4

Stardom - Grows Up Stars 2017 (3/4/2017)

1. AZM vs. Hiromi Mimura vs. Natsuko Tora

I usually skip Stardom openers, but I didn't this time.

*1/2

2. Arisu Nanase vs. Konami

Arisu ambushes Konami before the bell and quickly realizes her mistake when Konami out-grapples her. Cool opening. Nanase's greeness showed in some of the transitions, but this was otherwise a cozy squash.

**1/4

3. Christi Jaynes & Zoe Lucas vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyona

This was more or less a showcase for the Hiroyo & Kyona tag team. Dug Kyona's use of sumo palm strikes.

**1/2

5. Oedo Tai (Kagetsu & Kris Wolf) vs. Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai)

This was a very fun match. Oedo Tai were bamboozling Io through and through and keeping HZK out of the action with cheap shots. Oedo Tai put on a really cunning and cohesive tag performance, and vulnerable Io is always great.

****

Stardom - 5th Anniversary: Stardom vs. The World II (2/21/2016)

6. High Speed Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Evie

This was a masturbatory indie-riffic move and counter fest, but that doesn't make it any less fun to watch. Mayu's lankiness made Evie's back work especially violent, she nearly breaks Mayu with those back breakers. Lovely high speed.

***1/2

7. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Santana Garrett (c) vs. Kairi Hojo

Credit where credit is due, Santana was on point here. Not often you see her do a suicide dive where she doesn't almost succeed in taking her life. There's some really good struggle here and Santana losing her boot was cute.

***3/4

8. World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Viper

This match was good. Joshi puroresu take on 'the irresistible force vs. the immovable object'. I like how Viper bumps like Adrian Adonis. Obviously can't forget the spot where Io lifts the 220-pound Viper with a German suplex, nice. 

***1/2

Stardom - Stardom of Champions 2017 (2/23/2017)

2. Konami vs. Yoko Bito

I was thrilled when this match was announced, somewhat disappointed that it was featured in the low card, but I got what I wanted out of it. These two traded savage kicks like you'd want them to and the height difference made for an interesting dynamic.

***

3. SWA World Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo

lol

4. High Speed Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Kagetsu vs. Kris Wolf

This was tons of fun and fast and furious action, they string the multi-person spots together really well.

***

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo (c) vs. Jungle Kyona

Kyona brings a gravitas that made this match feel special. She's a pro at letting her emotions bleed out. She works over Hojo's mid-section to set up for her gutwrench moves and takes some hard smacks in the process. This was an emotional bout right down to the finish; fine drama and hard hits.

****1/2

6. World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Shayna Baszler

There's a confusing moment where Shayna finally captures Io in her sleeper - the very hold that put Io to sleep prior to this match - and the ref makes her break it rather than calling for the bell. He ended up costing her the title! It threw the narrative, that being Io avoiding this deadly sleeper, out completely... the hell were they thinking? That said, Bazler knocking Io silly was enjoyable.

***

Stardom - Premium Star Wars in Nagoya (6/5/2016)

4. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Jungle Kyona

Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall is an immersive venue. This was great; huge hip attacks, open-handed slaps and heavy grappling between burly young lions.

***3/4

5. High Speed Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Kagetsu

The action was fast, the kicks were swift and precise, and all of the counters they did were really fluid. Mayu gives Kagetsu a taste of her own medicine with a traffic sign to the head. It was a satisfying end to this chapter of their feud.

***1/2

6. Io Shirai & Kairi Hojo vs. Meiko Satomura & Mika Iwata

Iwata's hair goes wild as the match progresses, it's great. Hojo's never-ending quest to prove herself to Satomura turned up the heat in Nagoya. The finishing run was explosive, what a way to cap off the show.

****1/2

Stardom - Kyoto Stars (2/4/2017)

4. Io Shirai vs. Konami

Great intense little encounter. Konami was relentless, like a red-headed wolverine, and Io was scrambling and relying on craft.

****

5. SWA World Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Viper

This was solid.

**3/4

6. BY Ho (Kairi Hojo & Yoko Bito) vs. Queen's Quest (HZK & X)

 X was revealed to be Io Shirai. Shocker of the year. There's some great double teams and counters, and was on an aggressive HZK streak, channeling senpai Yoshiko. There's also continuity with BY Ho working Io's leg that was damaged earlier in her bout with Konami.

***3/4