Quite a few things occurred in Stardom after their big show has happened, which I wrote a preview for if you haven’t checked it out yet. Anyway, I do want to talk about a few of the things that did transpire but I’m saving one of them for the Puroresu Press this week and just talk about the two big title matches that have occurred on this show. I’m talking about Arisa Hoshiki defending her Wonder of Stardom Championship against Kagetsu and Bea Priestley defending her World of Stardom Championship against the winner of the 5Star Grand Prix, Hana Kimura. Two solid matches but somebody had to lose, and it looked like I got only one of my predictions right with one of them shocking me. These included Bea Priestley and Arisa Hoshiki in their respective championship matches.
Pre-Main Event
First, I’m going to talk about the pre-main event with the bout between Arisa and Kagetsu, which was a great match to watch and much better than their match at the Grand Prix on September, 22nd. Arisa was able to defeat our glorious emperor to retain her title in her title for the sixth time. This match took place due to the two of them fighting in a draw with the time limit expired and wanted to settle it again but this time, it was for the white belt which has gained a lot of credibility over the past couple of years, sometimes over the company’s main title.
Since there wasn’t a fifteen-minute time limit to stop them this time around, the two would fight for nearly nineteen-minutes. Arisa would even debut a new move into her arsenal called the Shining Star Cutter, which is Will Ospreay’s Oscutter and he even taught it to her due to the bet she made with Bea Priestley. The deal was that if Arisa was able to defeat Bea during their match in the 5 Star Grand Prix, she would be able to use a move of her choosing from Will’s arsenal and it looks like she chose the Oscutter. After the match, Oedo Tai’s, Jamie Hayter would come out to the ring and make herself the next challenger for Arisa’s championship due to defeating her in the Grand Prix. There is no official date for this match but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for it.
Priestley retains
Now, it’s time to talk about the main event between Bea Priestley and Hana Kimura since it was an important match for both of them and the direction they do want to choose with the company. After a nearly twenty-two minute bout, Bea would hit the Queen’s Landing on Hana to retain the title for the fourth time. To me, this one was shocking to see since I actually expected Bea to lose and gain a bit more credibility for the 5 Star Grand Prix due to Toni winning the belt by accident two years ago when Mayu got injured during the match, and Mayu winning last year but not using his opportunity to fight the champion.
I thought this would’ve been the right time to have the winner win the belt properly and have it with Hana, who has been a lot more marketable lately. However, this does look like, that Stardom has full confidence in Bea as the top gaijin of the company and want to move forward with her as the champion. So far, I have been enjoying her matches more than when Toni was the champion, so she is growing on me as the World of Stardom Champion and was a solid match on top of that. What’s next for Hana now? Well, she had a proper taste of the main event picture and had a better match with her than she did with Kagetsu for the title last year, so I hope it motivates her to fight for the top again and I have no doubt she’ll be the champion one day.
Mayu Iwatani issues a challenge
After the match, Mayu Iwatani would come out the challenge Bea for the red belt next and she has momentum now since she pinned Momo Watanabe during their tag match earlier in the show and it looks like she finally wants to use her opportunity to go for the red belt once again. We don’t have an exact date yet but we do know it’ll be the next time they’re at Korakuen Hall next month, so it’s something to be excited for. It’s been 771 days since the last time she held the belt that she never really lost due to being injured, but this could be a chance for her to win back something she’s worked years to get but never lost.
With Bea winning over Hana, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her retain over Mayu to try and elevate the belt more since it does need it. Part of me does want to see Mayu win the belt to have her get a proper run this time around but I also do believe her time in the big title picture is also over at the same time. Either way, can’t go wrong with either outcome. It was quite the night for Bea Priestley and Arisa Hoshiki.
