SB Nation

FanPost

Stardom All Star Grand Queendom Rundown: Getting You Up To Speed For Stardom's Biggest Show

By on Apr 21, 2023, 2:05pm EDT +

We Are Stardom's Twitter

Stardom All Star Grand Queendom is set for Sunday, April 23rd. It will be one of if not the biggest shows Stardom has ever put on. It is also one of the very rare times Stardom will have English commentary. So if you aren’t watching yet, Grand Queendom is the perfect place to start. If you're interested in watching Grand Queendom I will run down the card and help get you up to speed with everything leading into it.

First off, "how do I watch?" Well...

Also after about a week all PPVs go on Stardom World. So if you don’t buy the PPV stream linked in that tweet for whatever reason, Stardom World is only 920 yen which is about $7 USD per month and it is very much worth it.

Now onto the matches.

Yokohama Rumble Match

The rumble match is nothing too noteworthy. It’s just a way to get more of the roster on the show. This will introduce you to many of the lower card members of the roster and will be a guaranteed fun time. The only name announced is Momoe Nakanishi who is a retired legend and not a Stardom regular.

Hazuki and Fuwa-chan vs Utami Hayashishita and Miyu Amasaki

Fuwa-chan is a big influencer in Japan. She has had a couple of matches in Stardom but is far from a full timer. This is essentially just a low stakes celebrity match. Hazuki and Utami will certainly put on a good showing as expected from two of the best in the world. From what I’ve heard Fuwa-chan is not bad in the ring either. Miyu Amasaki is a rookie who started last year. She shows a lot of promise for the future but right now she eats a lot of pins.

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

Mariah, Xena, and Jessie are members of Club Venus, the sexy but strong faction recently started by Mina Shirakawa. Thekla is the embodiment of underground punk. The Toxic Spider is NOT happy about having to team with the pretty girls as seen here:

and here:

We’re also guaranteed to see plenty of antics from the heel Oedo Tai. Can Thekla endure the torture of Club Venus? Or maybe she’ll embrace the glamor for one night only. Whatever happens this will no doubt be an entertaining time.

Starlight Kid and Mei Seira vs Mei Suruga and AZM

This all started when SLK invaded ChocoPro’s chocolate square, Mei Suruga’s home promotion. This set up a tag match with their partners revealed later. Suruga chose SLK’s eternal foe AZM (pronounced Azumi.) Kid brought in Mei Seira who has had three matches in Stardom. The first two were in 2020 they were a six women tag beating AZM’s team, then an unsuccessful challenge for AZM’s high speed title. Her third was just a battle royal in 2021. This match promises some spectacular fast-paced action from four high speed standouts.

Himeka vs Maika

This one will be a serious tear jerker. Himeka has been wrestling for five years and has chosen to retire while she is still happy and healthy. This is her official retirement match against her tag partner, Maika. She does have a match on the 28th when Stardom does a crossover show with Wave at the request of Himeka, which they could only get to happen after Dream Queendom. Maika and Himeka are so close that they’ve even made jokes about them being married. They’re both very hard hitting powerhouses so expect a brutal hoss fight overflowing with emotions as we say goodbye to the Jumbo Princess.

Goddess of Stardom Tag Title Match: 7Upp (Nanae Takahashi and Yuu)(c) vs New Eras (Mirai and Ami Sourei)

Not much of a build here but it will certainly be a good match. Mirai just won her second Cinderella tournament, the only other person to have achieved that is Mayu Iwatani (who also did it back to back like Mirai.) Ami Sourei is the current Future of Stardom champion. It’s no secret that Stardom’s booker Rossy Ogawa is a big fan of Mirai and Ami. However, I don’t think they’ll be winning the titles here. Nanae and Yuu are both freelancers, so they could drop the titles at any time. However, Ami is already a champion which wouldn’t be the first time someone holds two belts but it doesn’t happen often. The big issue is that Mirai just won a tournament where the winner gets one wish. She said she will make her wish after this match, meaning they’re already looking past this.

Artist of Stardom Trios Title Match: Prominence (Suzu Suzuki, Risa Sera, and Hiragi Kurumi)(c) vs REstart (KAIRI, Natsupoi, and Saori Anou)

Saori is an independent star in the joshi scene who has just joined Stardom; this will be her debut match. KAIRI is of course a massive name who has been very protected since her return. Prominence are freelance so it’s very possible we could see a title change here. But Prominence also had a lot of momentum in Stardom but haven’t been present as much recently. I also think Stardom really wants to sign Suzu full time so they likely want to keep her happy. The match itself will be a fantastic mesh of Prominence’s hardcore deathmatch style and REstart’s flashy mystical inspired style.

Syuri vs Chihiro Hashimoto

This will be a technical master class. Syuri is a former pro kickboxer and UFC fighter. Chihiro is a standout freelancer who reminds me a lot of Jeff Cobb, that is, she’s built like a fridge and throws people around for breakfast. Syuri challenged Big Hash to a match a while ago but her faction mate Mirai stepped up to face Chihiro first. Mirai promptly got her ass handed to her and then thrown on her head. Then Himeka faced Chihiro on her retirement road in another great hoss fight. In this match I would expect to see Syuri focus on strikes while Hashimoto favors throws and power moves but also out of nowhere submissions will come from both competitors.

Wonder of Stardom Title Match: Saya Kamitani(c) vs Mina Shirakawa

Back at the start of November Mina faced Saya for this title and ended up with a loss, a broken jaw, and a couple fewer teeth. But before going to the hospital Mina went backstage and cut a star making impassioned promo about how her dreams are always so close yet so far. I highly recommend giving it a watch even if you don’t know Japanese.

Since her return Mina has started her own faction, Club Venus. She also idolizes her friend and Mentor in Stardom, Tam Nakano, who in 2021 had an iconic Wonder title run and split from Stars to form Cosmic Angels. Now, Mina has established herself as a star and has all the momentum in the world right now. The likelihood of a title change here is added to by the fact that Saya Kamitani is already the longest reigning white belt champion and holds the defense record for it. There is very little left for her to do with the title and this is a great opportunity for her to drop it and move her personal story forward.

IWGP Women’s World Championship Match: Mercedes Mone(c) vs Mayu Iwatani

Mercedes is the hottest name in women’s wrestling today. She has come into NJPW and Stardom in full self-centered heel. She stole the spotlight from a historic match between Tam and KAIRI, then got a free title shot. After winning she continued disrespecting the rich joshi culture. She mispronounces names and claims herself as the CEO, princess, and queen of Japan. At the press conference for this match the amount of times Mercedes literally said "me me me me me" made it far from subtle.

Mayu however is the opposite. Iwatani is known as the Icon for a reason, if any one person is to represent modern joshi and Stardom, it is her. She’s been wrestling since day one of Stardom and has been with them the whole way through. She is the only grand slam champion in Stardom history and is synonymous with the brand. Ahead of NJPW X Stardom Historic X-Over, the Icon gave up her SWA championship to chase the IWGP and ended up with a heartbreaking loss to KAIRI. At the press conference Mayu didn’t play games, she didn’t partake in any antics like Mercedes did, all Mayu was focused on was the belt, the IWGP Women’s World Championship, a title that would not be right without her name in the lineage.

There is no question in my mind that Iwatani should be the one to dethrone the arrogant, disrespectful outsider in Mercedes. However, Mone is still a huge name and only has one defense under her belt. NJPW has a habit of title reigns that last a little bit too long and I think Mercedes will be no exception. I think we will see an all time classic here that leaves Mercedes on top and Mayu beaten down only to rise again later to set the world right.

World of Stardom Championship Match: Giulia(c) vs Tam Nakano

To summarize here, these just REALLY don’t like each other. To expand upon that, Tam and Giulia are perfect opposites; they have the kind of chemistry that once face to face they just want to kill each other. As the two pillars of current Stardom, Tam vs Giulia has been an insanely intense blood feud basically since Giulia first stepped foot in Stardom. They have taken titles, tournament wins, faction members, hair, and their fair share of blood from each other. More recently Tam has said that no matter how hard she works and how much heart she puts into wrestling it’s always Giulia that becomes the name in everyone’s mouth.

Now that Giulia is the World of Stardom champion Tam has snapped. Viciously attacking Giulia at every opportunity and Giulia reciprocates. Tam even got a pair of scissors and cut some of Giulia’s hair echoing back to their hair vs hair match in 2021, but of course even with a chunk of hair missing Gulia looks great. This drives Tam to partially drop her "Top Kawaii" persona revealing the emotional, hyperdramatic psycho lying underneath. Hearing Tam’s crazed voice is bone chilling compared to the normal cuteness that defines her.

Every encounter on the road to this match the two competitors couldn’t stay away from each other devolving immediately out of a wrestling match into fights. Even at the press conference Giulia headbutted Tam so bad blood was streaming down her face.

You can see the massive lump left on her forehead here.

This match promises to be another classic from these two rivals. It will also be very very brutal and I cannot wait to see them leave everything in the World Wonder Ring.

There you have it, my rundown of all the scheduled matches for Stardom’s biggest show to date. This is going to be an incredible show loaded top to bottom with great matches and I hope you are just as excited as I am to watch it.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.

Recent FanPosts

Loading comments...

Trending Discussions