Konami Successfully Defends Wonder of Stardom Title at STARDOM in Korakuen Hall

By Noah Leatherland

STARDOM were back in Korakuen Hall to round off an eventful February in the promotion. At the top of the card, Konami defended the Wonder of Stardom title against Hina, and managed to secure a successful 4th defence.

Konami and Hina had been going back and forth over the past couple of weeks, facing each other in preview tag matches, with each one promising to vanquish the other. It built to a head in Korakuen Hall. Konami focused her attack on Hina’s arm, a tactic that proved effective as Hina eventually tapped out to the Final Lancer. Konami continued the punishment after the bell, opting to humiliate her fallen foe. Konami sprayed Hina’s face with black paint, and then took a print of it to keep as a trophy.

In her post-match comments, Konami laughed at the idea of H.A.T.E. being toppled:

Who’s next? I’m always available. Well, perhaps they got scared. No matter how much the babies band together to try and take down H.A.T.E., this is the reality. Will this year be another year of H.A.T.E. reigning supreme? Well, probably. I have no intention of letting anyone change the landscape of STARDOM.

Despite the defeat, Hina still has the while belt in her sights, as well as the Cinderella tournament:

My first shot at the title. The wall was high. It wasn’t about H.A.T.E. or anything; Konami was just incredibly strong. Losing today means I can’t challenge again straight away, but I intend to use my Cinderella rights and go for the title again as soon as possible. Right now, though, I’m just absolutely devastated.

HANAKO also had a title defence on the card, coming up against Akira Kurogane for the Future of Stardom title. The towering HANAKO bested the challenger, keeping hold of the belt for now as her time as an eligible rookie is set to expire soon. In her post-match comments, HANAKO appealed to Sareee to put her on the card for Sareee-ISM on March 22nd.

Sareee was in action with Takumi Iroha, competing as Spark Rush. In their first match as a team in STARDOM, they defeated Hazuki and Fuwa-chan. Judging by Hazuki’s post-match comments, Spark Rush may have some more STARDOM appearances in their future:

Spark Rush. You’ve been saying you’re the strongest, but STARDOM’s got the strongest tag team too, right? FWC. Koguma’s out injured, but when she’s back, let’s have FWC vs Spark Rush.

Though a match with FWC is brewing, Sareee has her sights on the rookie:

We’re the strongest, right? Any tag team that thinks they can beat us, it doesn’t matter. Even the young ones. If they want to challenge us, why not? Actually, Fuwa-chan and I have a connection, but it doesn’t matter. Even today, after the match, she came at me, but if she’s got the guts to do it, I’ll take her on anytime.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

Here are the full results for STARDOM in Korakuen Hall, February 28th, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Natsuko Tora, Ruaka, Rina & Azusa Inaba def. Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Yuna Mizumori, Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara (10:49)
• Maki Itoh & Kikyo Furusawa def. Maika & Xena and Tomoka Inaba & Kiyoka Kotatsu (8:13)
• Saki Kashima, Rina Yamashita & Itsuki Aoki def. Waka Tsukiyama, Rian & Anne Kanaya (6:53)
• India Sioux, Kira & Tabata def. Ami Sohrei, Lady C & Ranna Yagami (10:36)
• Sareee & Takumi Iroha def. Hazuki & Fuwa-chan (12:21)
• Hanan, Saya Iida, Momo Kohgo & Yuria Hime def. Starlight Kid, AZM, Mei Seira & Miyu Amasaki (8:50)
• Future of Stardom Title: HANAKO (c) def. Akira Kurogane (14:51)
• Wonder of Stardom Title: Konami (c) def. Hina (18:38)