Maika, Konami, Suzu Suzuki and Ami Sohrei Advance as Block Winners in STARDOM 5★STAR GP

By: Noah Leatherland

The round robin section of the STARDOM 5★STAR GP was completed in Act City Hamamatsu, with the leaderboard finalised. Now, Maika, Konami, Suzu Suzuki and Ami Sohrei are the confirmed block winners, with their next round matches to be decided by playoffs.

In Red Stars A, Maika advances as the block leader. In the final round robin leg, Maika secured her place at the top with a win over Akira Kurogane, the Michinoku Driver leading her to victory. With that result, AZM was confirmed a place in the playoffs, but still had a final match with Rina in the main event. Rina needed a win to join the next round, and did exactly that. The package piledriver put AZM down for the count, giving Rina the two points she needed to overtake Itsuki Aoki and Natsuko Tora, and clinch third place.

Maika:

We won on the final day of the league! I suppose that means I’ll finish top of the table. It really is great to be number one. Next up is Korakuen. I don’t know who’ll be coming up, but I’ll be ready just in case. Look forward to Korakuen—no, wait, Ryogoku too!

Rina:

For me, beating AZM is a huge deal, and I’ve realised more than anything that she’s not an opponent I can just easily get past. I don’t think for a moment that I’ve beaten her yet. I lost twice to her last year, and I’ve only managed one win against her this year. I’ll be back in the 5★STAR final, and I want to put on an even better performance than I did today. I’m the one—this Pink Devil—who’s going to win the title and become the youngest ever champion at 19. You’ll see.

AZM:

I’d already secured our place in the knockout stages, but that didn’t mean there was any reason to lose to Rina, nor was there any reason not to win. I went into the match fully intent on beating Rina, but we lost today. I’ll start delivering results again from here, and I’ll be back to take down Rina. Don’t forget about AZM.

In Red Stars B, Konami advances in first place on ten points. In this last match, she came up against Maki Itoh, both of them starting the day on eight points and in danger of missing out on qualification. Konami caught Itoh in her sleeper hold, getting the submission win. With Rina Yamashita and Saya Iida finishing their campaigns on nine points, they advance to the playoffs, with Itoh eliminated entirely.

Konami:

I’ve secured top spot in Block B of the Red Stars. I wonder who’ll make it through. It doesn’t matter who it is—I’m going to crush them. And this year is definitely going to be my year. I haven’t had enough of a fight yet.

In Blue Stars A, the World of Stardom Champion Suzu Suzuki moves on as the block leader. She finished her campaign with a win over AEW’s Julia Hart. Finishing on eight points, Hart was in the running to advance, but her chances were wiped out in the following match. HANAKO and Ruaka wrestled to a time limit draw. HANAKO moves into the playoffs with nine points, and Ruaka gets third place over Hart thanks to having a tiebreaker win over her.

Suzuki:

Now that I’ve secured first place, I’m going to go all the way and win the 5★STAR tournament! I wonder if there are any feisty competitors out there? I’m not yet sure if there are any Stardom wrestlers who have their sights set on the red belt, so I’ll just look forward to finding out.

HANAKO:

I wanted to win and move on. I’m absolutely furious that it ended in a draw. Even though we’ve qualified in second place in the group, I’ve never felt such humiliation before. I’ll definitely make it through the tournament and win the whole thing. Just you wait and see!

Ruaka:

It’s been confirmed that I’m going to the tournament! Hooray! I’ve no idea what my score is, though. But they just announced it over the mic a moment ago—I’m in third place! It’s my birthday, after all. I thought, ‘That makes sense.’ It’s so hot! I’m absolutely exhausted. Bye for now. Thank you, I’m so happy!

Then, in Blue Stars B, a late surge from Ami Sohrei sees her finish as block leader. After pulling off an upset win over Saya Kamitani on August 15th, Sohrei pinned Starlight Kid off the Raiden Shiku. As such, Sohrei finishes her block on ten points. Her win over Kid also eliminated Kamitani. To start the night, the Wonder of Stardom Champion Hanan also managed to defeat Kamitani by catching her with a roll-up. Hanan ended her block run on nine points along with Starlight Kid, with Kamitani missing out on eight.

Sohrei:

Blue Stars B Block – Top of the table! I beat Starlight Kid again today, I beat Saya Kamitani yesterday, and I’ve even beaten the current White Champion, Hanan. I’m in tremendous form right now! I want to carry this momentum into the main event at Ryogoku and secure the 5★STAR victory! No, I will win it!

Hanan:

We’ve made it through to the knockout stages! We beat Kamitani! There’s still a long way to go. Now that we’ve made it through to the knockout stages, we’re going all the way to the final, and I’m going to win both the spring and summer tournaments!

Kid:

To be honest, I’m not entirely satisfied with qualifying in third place. But on the 18th—my birthday—I’m going in with the determination to play two matches. It means I’ve got another chance to stand on that glorious top spot, doesn’t it? All I’ve got to do is win and move up, right? Kamitani. You said you’d take us to the top again, didn’t you! You weren’t just slacking off because you had the ceremonial first throw today, were you? Just watch me win the championship. I’m going to pull off a comeback victory from third place—mark my words.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

From here on out, the STARDOM 5★STAR GP will be single elimination. The next stage of the tournament will see those who finished in second and third place compete in playoff matches. The victors will go on to face the block winners. These playoff matches will be:

• Match 1: Saya Iida vs. AZM
• Match 2: Rina vs. Rina Yamashita
• Match 3: Hanan vs. Ruaka
• Match 4: HANAKO vs. Starlight Kid

Then, the following round will be made up of the following:

• Maika vs. Match 1 Winner
• Konami vs. Match 2 Winner
• Suzu Suzuki vs. Match 3 Winner
• Ami Sohrei vs. Match 4 Winner

Here are the full results for STARDOM 5★STAR GP in Hamamatsu, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Blue Stars B: Hanan [9] def. Saya Kamitani [8] (9:56)
• Red Stars A: Maika [11] def. Akira Kurogane [1] (7:00)
• Blue Stars A: Suzu Suzuki [13] def. Julia Hart [8] (5:06)
• Blue Stars A: HANAKO [9] vs. Ruaka [8] – Time Limit Draw (15:00)
• Red Stars B: Utami Hayashishita [7] def. Mei Seira [7] (11:16)
• Blue Stars B: Ami Sohrei [10] def. Starlight Kid [9] (11:36)
• Red Stars B: Konami [10] def. Maki Itoh [8] (13:24)
• Red Stars A: Rina [9] def. AZM [9] (14:07)

The final standings of the STARDOM 5★STAR GP are as follows:

Red Stars A:

• Maika [11]
• Rina [9]
• AZM [9]
• Itsuki Aoki [8]
• Natsuko Tora [8]
• Tomoka Inaba [6]
• Sayaka Kurara [4]
• Akira Kurogane [1]

Red Stars B:

• Konami [10]
• Rina Yamashita [9]
• Saya Iida [9]
• Maki Itoh [8]
• Mei Seira [7]
• Utami Hayashishita [7]
• Azusa Inaba [4]
• Lady C [2]

Blue Stars A:

• Suzu Suzuki [13]
• HANAKO [9]
• Ruaka [8]
• Julia Hart [8]
• Hina [6]
• Aya Sakura [6]
• Miyu Amasaki [4]
• Rian [2]

Blue Stars B:

• Ami Sohrei [10]
• Hanan [9]
• Starlight Kid [9]
• Momo Watanabe [8]
• Saya Kamitani [8]
• Koguma [6]
• Yuna Mizumori [6]
• Kikyo Furusawa [0]