I’m really excited to get access to this show even though I had no idea it was going to air. I did watch the first two games on the STARDOM YouTube channel before switching to the streaming service for the remaining games.
Notably, I intend to examine the 6/18 show before the Grand Prix begins because it has some ramifications for the competition.
Waka Tsukiyama and Yuna Mizumori versus Hina and Miyu Amasaki
Technically, this is a pre-show match. Given Yuna’s recent affiliation with Cosmic Angels and Waka’s decision to leave them for Club Venus, it’s intriguing to watch Waka and Yuna work together in this situation. The narrative here seems to be that while Waka and Yuna had the advantage on their own due to their individual experience, the Queen’s Quest duo performed marginally better as a team. Before Waka won with her finish time of 5:38, there wasn’t much else to say about this and nothing particularly noteworthy. It was good and tasteless.
I was intrigued by this one because of Hazuki’s greatness and my admiration for the Suzuki/Seira duo in general. Suzu seems to be in the midst of a significant development. Her side isolated Sakura in the early stages of this fight, but that didn’t last long, and soon Iida entered the arena to lay in strikes. When Hazuki received the tag, the action picked up, and it was entertaining to see her battle Seira. HANAKO and Aya were left with the choice in the end, giving them a chance to truly stand out.
Both women came close to winning, but HANAKO ultimately prevailed by employing the JP Coaster, which was reportedly taken up by Himeka. This was a cute little opener with plenty of action that ran for 11:31.
Hanan, Koguma, Mayu Iwatani, and Momo Kohgo vs. AZM, Lady C, Saya Kamitani, and Utami Hayashishita
While some of this Stars team lost in an Artist of Stardom Title match, Queen’s Quest recently won a significant cage match to keep their team intact. The fact that Mayu, Utami, Saya, and AZM were involved gave this tag more impact than you might have expected for this time in the deck. It’s usually a good idea to bring those four.
I found the interactions between Mayu and Saya to be interesting, and they can serve as a preview of the upcoming Grand Prix. Saya displayed impressive attacking skills throughout, including a stunning spinning kick on Momo, giving the impression that she was trying to separate out from the crowd. She used the Star Crusher to defeat Momo in just 9:21, finishing up a solid tag match.