TJPW Texas Stampede Kicks Off with the Debut of The IInspiration and Sakura Hattori

By Noah Leatherland

TJPW Texas Stampede kicked off in the Palmer Events Center in Austin, drawing close to 2,000 fans. With GRAND PRINCESS on the horizon, the first event of the Texas tour saw the TJPW debuts of The IInspiration and the reborn Sakura Hattori.

Sakura Hattori is the new persona of the former Kaya Toribami. She announced earlier this month, with March 15th being her last match under the Kaya Toribami name. Emerging from behind the curtain for the first time as Sakura Hattori, she took the fight straight to Shino Suzuki. With a ninja-inspired aesthetic, Hattori delivered brutal attacks on her opponent, finishing Suzuki off with a choke hold.

The first leg of TJPW Texas Stampede also saw the debut of the next challengers to the Princess Tag Team Championships, Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee, The IInspiration. They faced one half of the tag team champions, Wakana Uehara, who teamed with Shoko Nakajima. With her usual partner, Yuki Kamifuku, elsewhere on the card, Uehara fell to the Australian duo. With TJPW GRAND PRINCESS just days away, Uehara reflected on her first experience against McKay and Lee:

They were absolutely brilliant, but now that I’ve had a proper taste of them today, I’m going to go all out in the big match, tear them to shreds and win!

(Quote translated via DeepL)

Meanwhile, Kamifuku was competing in the main event, teaming with Yuki Arai against Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi. Having traded momentum in the lead up to their Princess of Princess Championship match at TJPW GRAND PRINCESS, Watanabe struck another critical blow on her opponent. Watanabe finished the match by planting Arai with a Tear Drop and scoring a pinfall on her challenger.

TJPW GRAND PRINCESS takes place on March 29th, with three more events scheduled for the TJPW Texas Stampede tour in the meantime.

Here are the full results of TJPW Texas Stampede Day 1, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Suzume def. Uta Takami (6:12)
• Sakura Hattori def. Shino Suzuki (8:54)
• Raku & Pom Harajuku def. Hyper Misao & Mifu Ashida (10:25)
• Miyu Yamashita & Arisu Endo def. Mizuki & Yuki Aino (13:53)
• Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee def. Shoko Nakajima & Wakana Uehara (10:15)
• Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi def. Yuki Kamifuku & Yuki Arai (15:08)