Stardom - Stardom X Stardom 2018 (8/16/2018)

3. Jungle Kyona vs. Utami Hayashishita

Great performance from Utami in her debut, she has a great look and she oozes confidence, and looked like a killer when she started unleashing her Judo throws. Once again, Kyona was amazing at putting across her emotions.

***3/4

4. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Momo Watanabe (c) vs. Saki Kashima

This started off interesting with Momo kicking the hell out of Saki and Saki firing back by targeting the leg, but then it devolved into a rather formulaic back and forth. The lack of heat didn't help either. The pacing seemed off, too.

bad

5. World of Stardom Championship: Kagetsu (c) vs. Mayu Iwatani

There were great moments here, such as Kagetsu countering with a Kimura lock out of nowhere, but this goes beyond overkill with the dramatic finisher kickouts. There's a good atmosphere to this match and the crowd was into it, and they were laying into each other, but that final act brought it down.

***1/2

Stardom - Bright Summer Stardom (8/5/2018)

1. AZM vs. Hanan

AZM has been on a nice run of singles lately, this was another good one. This was rather intense with AZM heeling it up and Hanan showing edge in response.

***3/4

4. STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima, & Stephanie Vaquer) vs. Oedo Tai (Hazuki, Kagetsu & Sumire Natsu)

Vaquer hasn't done anything to impress me during her tour, but this was quite a splendid farewell match for her with a nice preview for the upcoming Kagetsu/Mayu match. Hazuki potatoed Vaquer with a nasty boot to the side of the head, yeesh.

***1/2

5. Artist of Stardom Championship: JAN (Jungle Kyona, Kaori Yoneyama & Natsuko Tora) (c) vs. STARS (Shiki Shibusawa, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano)

Stardom has been having an awesome year in trios and multi-man tags and I am happy to see the trios belt being given shine again. This was very good, it was filled with exciting sequences and double teams. Tora and Shiki were the focus and they both worked hard. 

***3/4

Stardom (7/29/2018)

4. AZM vs. Mayu Iwatani

Mayu was acting like a jerk and AZM was giving her more of a fight than she anticipated. They matched up well during the opening high-speed sequence despite the exp. gap. AZM targets the arm, culminating with an awesome La Mistica. Mayu hits savage kicks throughout.

***1/2

5. Kagetsu vs. Starlight Kid

Solid back and forth with some cool moments built for Starlight Kid. Kagetsu spiked herself into the mat for one of Kid's DDTs which looked brutal. Kind of wish Kagetsu had changed up her offense a little instead of doing the usual standard routine, still a fine main event regardless.

***1/4

El Barbaro Cavernario vs. King Phoenix (CMLL, 6/29/2018)

CMLL - Super Viernes (6/29/2018)

El Barbaro Cavernario vs. King Phoenix 

It's been a while since I've watched lucha libre, I read good things about this match and Fenix and Cavenario are two of my favorites so I decided to give it a spin. I think what I liked most about this match was how smoothly it was worked, the high spot transitions are seamless. Even with some of the intricate set-ups for Fenix's flashier offense, they hardly miss a beat.

****1/2

STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, Konami & Momo Watanabe) (Stardom, 8/4/2018)

Stardom - Bright Summer Stardom (8/4/2018)

STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, Konami & Momo Watanabe)

This was a really good high-action trios match, the pairings were enjoyable and there were cool multi-man sequences. One of the highlights was Starlight Kid's impressive bridging suplex that had a nice bridge.

***3/4

Miyu Yamashita & Hikari vs. Yuu & Yuna Manase (Tokyo Joshi Pro, 8/12/2018)

Tokyo Joshi Pro -  Go Ahead, Hot Guys in Itabashi! (8/12/2018)

Miyu Yamashita & Hikari vs. Yuu & Yuna Manase

The escalation of violence between Miyu and Yuu was great - they start off with careful mat grappling but as the match progresses they're out for each other's blood. Hikari performed well, earning some sweet moments with her cobra twist. Yuna wrestled in her wolf shirt and worked heelish during her workover session, which was far interesting than what she normally does.

***3/4

Stardom - Stardom X Stardom 2018 In Osaka (7/22/2018)

1. AZM vs. Leo Onozaki

Liked this a lot. They worked at a brisk pacing, there was nice heeling from AZM with those stomps and head kicks, and Leo gave a strong effort against the veteran in what was easily her best bout thus far.

***1/2

2. Elimination: STARS (Tam Nakano, Shiki Shibusawa, Starlight Kid & Hanan) vs. JAN (Jungle Kyona, Kaori Yoneyama, Natsuko Tora & Ruaka)

Fun multi-man with a variety of neat and cute spots. Starlight Kid was put over strongly, taking out two members of JAN as the sole survivor of STARS.

***1/2

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

Viper's looking so great lately with her offense, much of what I enjoyed of this was her clobbering and squashing Kagetsu around the ring. The Cobra clutch that she transitions into a number of power moves was used to great effect here. Viper worked as a subtle heel, Kagetsu showed fire as the crowd rallied behind her while still retaining those cool heel elements.

****