The Summer of Natsupoi

By: Ben Harris

An exciting summer in STARDOM is set to culminate with the finals of this year’s 5★STAR GP on September 30^th, live on PPV. One competitor who’s captured the hearts of fans during the tournament is Natsupoi. She’s had an eventful summer full of championships, victories and big matches. Poi and her fans have gone as far as to recognise this period as being ‘The Summer of Poi’. Let’s reflect back on these past few months of Natsupoi’s career.

Throughout June, drama ran wild amongst Cosmic Angels. The storied history between Natsupoi and Saori Anou experienced another chapter. Following the shock loss of REstart’s Artist of Stardom Championship, Saori discovered she had to fight Natsupoi to prove that she’s better. Poi, reluctantly, wanted to do the same. She feared losing to Saori, however. It’s a scenario that just couldn’t happen. Their growing animosity led to a brutal Indian Strap match at MidSummer Champions. Saori picked up the victory, realising one of Poi’s biggest fears. It was also another defeat in a big singles match for the former High-Speed Champion. While she and Saori reconciled afterwards, Poi’s disappointment was clear. She would decide to spend the rest of summer determined to improve and become ‘The Strongest’. To kick this journey off, she chose to take a trip elsewhere.

The beginning of the 5★STAR GP was approaching. Natsupoi, however, decided to visit Sendai Girls in July to wrestle Chihiro Hashimoto. Perhaps not one of her brightest choices ever. The odds were certainly against Poi, but she delivered an amazing underdog performance against someone who many consider to be the strongest wrestler in Joshi wrestling. She never gave up no matter how many devastating moves she took from Hashimoto. Poi even displayed her own strength by hitting a German Suplex. On another day, she may have pulled off a huge upset. Unfortunately, though, the trend of Poi losing big matches continued but it was an encouraging showing by her. Some may have seen this match as also being good preparation for the 5★STAR.

Natsupoi faces Chihiro Hashimoto in Sendai Girls on July 16th. c/o Masahiro Kubota

Natsupoi was placed into a very tough block for this year’s tournament. Mayu Iwatani, Syuri and her own meltear teammate Tam Nakano are just some of the names included. Given the fantastic performances that Poi has had this year, some fans considered her a dark horse going into the opening show. Her only problem has just been turning those performances into wins. Doing that against the competitors in Red Stars was definitely not going to be easy. Natsupoi did start off on the right foot by defeating long-time rival Starlight Kid. Those two always provide exciting matches and this was no different. A few days later, Poi pulled off a more shocking main event win against Suzu Suzuki. Suzuki had been considered by many to be a favourite to win Red Stars, making this a rare big match victory for Poi. This is arguably when ‘The Summer of Poi’ began to shine over the skies of STARDOM.

In Kyoto, Syuri awaited. Surely, this was when the fairytale story of Natsupoi would come to a quick end. This incredible match played out similarly to Poi’s encounter with ‘Big Hash’ as Syuri dominated. Poi, as expected, made comeback after comeback. This time, however, her ‘never say die’ attitude and the increasing crowd support was enough to prevent her from losing. Syuri could not get the job done as they fought to a time limit draw. After three matches, Poi had sprinted to the top of Red Stars. This was now the moment where people thought “She couldn’t, could she?” A few days later, this changed to “Oh my god, she really could do it”. Natsupoi travelled to Okayama and won in the main event again. She took down ‘Stardom’s Icon’ Mayu Iwatani who had been hoping to overtake Poi in the block with a win. Suddenly, Poi had hit her stride in big matches. Her undefeated streak was continuing and it seemed difficult to see anyone stopping, in her words, the “Natsupoi Revolution”.

Natsupoi’s new habit of winning major matches would continue at the Stardom X Stardom PPV after she and Saori defeated Rose Gold for the Goddess belts. Saori was going through a bad spell in the Five Star, but Poi was able to rally them both to victory. Yet another chapter had been opened for the Cosmic Angels duo. Natsupoi was on the hottest streak in STARDOM, and returned to the Five Star at the end of August looking to burn even brighter. A dark cloud emerged, however, and was threatening to extinguish Poi’s momentum. Enter Natsuko Tora. She had also gained plenty of points in the tournament. She even defeated Tam Nakano just a day prior to her meeting with Natsupoi. Once again, Poi was on the main event stage. Once again, Poi faced an uphill battle against a more dominant competitor. She fought with all she had, withstanding an early flurry of power from Tora. She even combated the Oedo-Tai’s leader’s mist with whiskey. In the end, though, Poi’s opponent knew how to overcome her defiance. The power disadvantage was just too much, like the match with Hashimoto. Natsupoi’s undefeated streak had been snapped. Tora went top of Red Stars. As the summer months reached their end, the ‘Summer of Poi’ seemed in danger of suffering the same fate.

Natsupoi tries to combat Natsuko Tora’s patented mist. c/o Stardom

Momentum was quickly regained for Natsupoi in the form of a successful Goddess title defense, as well as a win in Sendai Girls against Yurika Oka. September was here but Poi refused to let her journey come to a halt. After a few weeks away from the Five Star, she made her return when she battled Hazuki in Fukuoka. What was expected to be a return to form ended up being a disaster. Poi lost, rather emphatically, to the ‘Wildheart’. Her hopes of reaching the finals were suddenly beginning to crumble. Syuri and Suzu were continuing to pick up points while Tora’s tally of 12 points looked to be a daunting one to beat. Poi’s next match against Ami Sohrei two days later was a must-win. On that day of September 18^th, however, ‘The Summer of Poi’ ceased to exist. Natsupoi’s chances of winning Red Stars and reaching the final were crushed as she lost to Sohrei. A run of three defeats in a row prsented a drastic drop-off in momentum.

All that’s left now for Natsupoi in the 5★STAR GP is to potentially end Tam Nakano’s hopes on the final day. What an emotion-filled story that would be. Despite the ‘Natsupoi Revolution’ not quite becoming true, her performances have been spectacular throughout this tournament. Poi was determined to prove that she is ‘The Strongest’ and she showed that she’s not far off from being just that. The past few months have fuelled some fans’ thoughts that Natsupoi could end up being in contention for their wrestler of the year. It seems like, in reality, we’re experiencing ‘The Year of Poi’.