World Wonder Ring Stardom Roster Snapshot

So, it’s about that time, isn’t it? I haven’t watched Stardom in a while after some frustration with their booking and the backstage power struggles that leaked in front of the camera, but the Five Star is basically always a good time and I’m excited to hop back in and share a bit of my opinions about it with you. I know Rick Poehling will also be getting some reviews up, but hey, it’s a fun time so why not have a few people tossing their hat in the ring. Now what is the Five Star? Well it’s short for the Five Star Grand Prix, Stardom’s round robin tournament where the winner gets a title shot and it’s a big deal and a sign the company is really behind you (sometimes), it’s the time where talent have the chance to showcase their talent and really break out to that next level, so let’s get down to it.

The Style:

Stardom is an interesting promotion because there absolutely is a heavyweight/junior divide (though they call the junior division High Speed) but it’s much more gradual. You do have bruising heavyweights (though nobody is THAT big) and a wide variety of styles, you have shoot style work from ex-fighters, power move spam, roll-up mastery, cartoon heeling, and all sorts of stuff, but because most of the talent are the same size you get very different grades. A wrestler can be a High Speed talent working quick rollup sequences and also be very credible as a main-event tag wrestler. The big thing is that most wrestlers have like…2-3 finishes they work through, and the tippy-top wrestlers have super-mega death finishes they break out for the biggest matches. Additionally (though I am stepping back in after the company has changed) the style of various stables is very important from a looks department and also from an in-ring department. And stables are important to talk about as that roster construction dominates Stardom. There are a number of stables, and each generally has their own look, wrestling style as an overall theme, moral identity and stated motivation, though there is diversity between members. We’ll get to them.

The Titles:

World of Stardom Championship: The Red Belt, the top banana, the chief dog, this is the big one…though historically it has had some periods where it was not always the most prestigious title (generally when certain Gaijin have been champs). Recently though this is the big guy and the one everybody wants to win.

Wonder of Stardom Championship: The White Belt, the second banana! Definitely modeled on the intercontinental championship, this belt has been at times the ‘workers’ belt with less pressure to carry the big emotional beats of the company. It’s been held by some real who’s who of wrestling and also some…people who are not that. Still a very credible title even though it’s much easier to just walk out there and be like “I want a title shot” and get it.

Goddesses of Stardom Championship: The tag titles of Stardom (well some of them), these are the classic two-person team titles and are generally pretty prestigious and respected and have a lot of former and future world champs as its members.

Artist of Stardom Championships: The other tag-titles! Well these are for a trio of teams. Much more passed around than other titles, the record for successful defenses is a measly seven. The additional numbers of the teams has world champions and future aces defending the titles with folks that are thoroughly midcard as their future potential. Though a fun fact about these belts is that they are not unique in color, as we have an orange, pink, and teal strap for these belts.

High Speed Championship: So here’s where we get tricky, as well, a LOT of Stardom’s wrestling is “high speed” but the High Speed Championship in particular is supposed to be a juniors title where wrestlers do a go-go-go style without it being specifically limited to weight limits. The matches have a particular flow and cadence to them that wrestlers work even if they do different stuff in different matches. It is a bit artificial but it gives the cards depth and flavor.

IWGP Women’s Championship: This belt is tricky as a political minefield, but it was designed as a place for New Japan to offer women’s matches on their cards with their own women’s title free from Stardom’s booking. What it’s ended up as is another singles title without a clear identity that leads to the champion needing to be semi-protected as champ. Weird belt.

Strong Women’s Championship: The Lavender Belt! This is another weird title as it was supposed to be part of the semi-active (?!) New Japan Strong sub-promotion, with it mostly being based in the US and being defended by more indie wrestlers. It uh, didn’t work out that with the defining champion being Giulia of all people who rocked the belt during her ill-fated final year in Stardom. Of course now it’s on the waist of Mercedes Mone and is being seen by more wrestling fans than any other Stardom title.

Future of Stardom Championship: One of my favorite belts in wrestling, the only people who can compete for the title are wrestlers under the age of 20 or those who have less than 2 (well 3 now) years of experience. Just a really fun idea for a title and overall used well for rookies that the promotion wants to showcase without having to worry too much about protecting them against veterans.

New Blood Tag Team Championship: Part of Stardom’s New Blood shows which include a lot of young wrestlers from other promotions, these tag-titles are meant to be defended by young talent that work those shows and don’t need to be protected against ‘real’ stars at all. They also have a hideous design by that’s just my opinion.

The Stables:

Stars: The oldest current stable in Stardom, Stars is the dippy babyface stable, their leader is Stardom original Mayu Iwatani, they favor pastel colors and lots of sparkles. They’re pure-hearted though some members have their rough edges.

Cosmic Angels: A splinter-stable from Stars, Cosmic Angels have more idols in their history and had an emphasis of proving that idols can be real wrestlers but that’s changed as their roster has developed since then. They are about big emotions and the draaaaaaama. They favor more celestial colors, purples, pinks, whites, and silvers.

God’s Eye: A splinter-stable from the now defunct Donna Del Mondo, God’s Eye is built around Syuri Kondo (mostly known as just Syuri) the shoot-fighting morally upright guardian of truth, justice, and the Stardom way. They’re dorky and all into integrity, training hard, and giving their all. They have clear references to mythology in their gear and have very bold color choices for their gear, bright greens, blues, reds, or blues.

Empress Nexus Venus: A double splinter-stable as it involves ex-DDM member Maika forming a team with ex-Club Venus (which was a splinter-stable of Cosmic Angels) leader Mina Shirakawa. They uh, don’t really have much of an identity or cohesive thing, but their shared outcast/leftover/White Army vibes have given them some character and personality.

Neo Genesis: A very new stable, Neo Genesis is still establishing an identity for themselves but they are most clearly defined by being a stable of almost exclusively juniors/High Speed champions. They’re all small, young, fast, and a bit irreverent. Their color profile is a lot of blue and pink and they have a sort of trapper keeper bubble lettering to their logo that gives them a very youthful vibe as a group. They’ll probably establish their identity over this tournament…hopefully. They are technically leaderless so far, but Starlight Kid seems to be slotted into that role.

H.A.T.E.: Technically this is the oldest stable in Stardom but also the newest. The former Oedo Tai rebranded themselves as H.A.T.E. under the control of Natsuko Tora. They are brutal heels that stand out in a promotion mostly filled with goofs and fluffy babyfaces, they beat people up, cheat, torment, insult, and torture their opposition and will boot you for showing honor and respect to your opponents. They like black and purple as their colors with plenty of leather (well, pleather) in their designs.

The Roster:

Natsuko Tora: Squat and brutal, Tora clashes with the vibe of Stardom as a promotion of idols and models who do flips as they wrestle. Tora only flips when she’s delivering crushing senton bombs, modeling herself after Dump Matsumoto, Tora’s weapon of choice is a taped up metal pipe. She’s the current World of Stardom Champion despite never being portrayed more than a monster of the week. We’ll see how her push goes, and I fear she might just be Lady EVIL but we’ll see how it works in the new and improved H.A.T.E. She isn’t in the Five Star this year as she qualified, but then won the belt and decided to sit it out.

Natsupoi: The Fairy of the Ring! The bleached blonde, very small, very glittery Natsupoi is a core member of Cosmic Angels and the current Wodner of Stardom champion. She’s won a lot of belts in the company despite usually being a supporting player. She’s tiny but has a high-paced, tricky wrestling style based on leveraging opponents from different angles and also sometimes just biting them. Weirdly her winning a title makes me think she won’t do tremendously well in the tournament.

Momo Watanabe: The Black Peach, Momo Watanabe was a former standout of the hardened and strict Queen’s Quest stable she is now the enforcer of H.A.T.E. She possesses the energy and vibe of a former teacher’s pet who now smokes cigarettes underneath the bleachers, she’s still super young despite being a 10+ year veteran, she’s a kick-machine who has a number of big suplexes and drivers and might also just brain you with a wrench if it gets down to it. One half of the current Goddesses of Stardom Champions, she is also a former Wonder of Stardom Champion and is always semi-credible as a singles.

Thekla: The Idol Killer, the other half of the Goddesses of Stardom, Thekla is a very tiny Austrian lady who has evolved from her earlier Toxic Spider gimmick into a sort of cyberpunk assassin deal, cigar smoking, she’s bleach-blonde, permed, and clad in sunglasses. An innovative junior she uses her background in ballet and punk rock to take a very particular in-ring style. I wouldn’t expect her to go that far in the tournament but she’ll have some key upsets.

Saori Anou: Untamable, Saori was a long-time freelancer who finally signed with Stardom and rapidly rose up the cad. Aloof and cold, this Cosmic Angels member has had a very heated friendship/rivalry with Natsupoi, trading wins and titles. Could do very well in the tournament but will probably get bogged down. She still holds the Artist of Stardom titles with Poi and Tam.

Tam Nakano: The leader of Cosmic Angels, Tam has been the core of Stardom’s storytelling for the last 5 years, going from Oedo Tai to Stars to her own stable into her long feud with Giulia into her injuries and teasing retirement, she is the easy favorite for the Five Star as she’s never won it before.

Mei Seira: Tiny even by metrics of Stardom, she is hyper agile and possess a skillset of jaw-dropping speed, reversals, evasions, and counters that would make Lio Rush scratch his head, she can also sell, unlike him. A member of Neo Genesis and the current High Speed Champion. She’ll probably get swamped in her block.

Mayu Iwatani: The Icon of Stardom, the last member of Threedom (her, Kairi, and Io) she’s the battered veteran lion of the company, leading the goofy Stars stable, Mayu is past her prime after a decade plus of hard bumps, she can still give you a show as their Tanahashi, also they have a movie out about her so maybe she’ll do quite well. She’s the IWGP Women’s Champion for all that means.

Rina: The Pink Devil, part of a sisterhood of Stardom talent, each in their own stables, Rina is a tricky cheater of a talent as befits H.A.T.E., though as she’s increasing in height (yes she’s that young) she’s changing up her presentation a bit. The Future of Stardom champion and one half of the New Blood Champions, she is very well protected.

Azusa Inaba: The other half of the New Blood Champions, Azusa is graduate of Taka Michionku’s JTO system.

Ami Sohrei: The Bodyguard! Ami is a tall power wrestler, currently out with ACL surgery (apparently she needed it for YEARS) Ami isn’t in the Five Star but she might show up for moral support for her God’s Eye stablemates.

AZM: Currently in Neo Genesis, AZM was a foul-mouthed punk kid in Queen’s Quest, a bit older and more mature, AZM is still a speed devil, giving us a number of fast-paced, high-flying spins, flips, reversals and charges as she single mindedly assaults her opponents arm. It’s yet to be seen what her role in Neo Genesis will be but we’ll see over the course of the tournament.

Fukigen Death: Canonically she’s an evil alien clown who shows up to mime smoking cigarettes and cheat relentlessly. High speed wrestler for H.A.T.E. with one heck of a wrestling pedigree.

HANAKO: A very tall and robust wrestler for ExV she serves as an enforcer for them but she is VERY green.

Hanan: Rina’s sister, Hanan is a hyper athletic very tall (5’6”!) prodigy she has a lion theme and is going to be making her second Five Star appearance this year for Stars. I don’t think she’ll win but she’ll do decently well.

Hazuki: Wildheart, Hazuki has been around, and is very much a vet even though she’s only 26. She has stiff kicks, stiff brainbusters, and as she’s the real-life trainer for Stardom, a kayfabe gimmick of being a hard-edged taskmaster for the rookies. Though she’s also in Stars, funnily enough. Very credible tag wrestler as well in her FWC team and should make a run in the Five Star.

Hina: The sister of Rina and Hanan who isn’t doing quite as well, she’s still around (though she misses shows when her grades aren’t good enough) and is now in God’s Eye. She has a judo deal as a worker and we’ll see if she clicks as more than a part-timer for them.

Koguma: The Bear! The trickster goof teammate of Hazuki in FWC, Koguma is highly emotional and also is willing to cheat and irritate her opponents into lowering their guard. She absolutely loves chanting for bears and is overall a total goof. She’s a tricky goof that is going to ruin at least one wrestler’s day.

Konami: So Konami has some history here, she was once positioned as the successor to her trainer, Asuka, and was well-protected as a future star with her deadly Triangle Lancer submission hold. Unfortunately illnesses caused her to retire, but she seems to be back, she also has betrayed a ton of stables, most recently God’s Eye, and is now in H.A.T.E. She could punch in her return to full-time wrestling with a tournament win, but it’s more likely she just wins a block.

Lady C: The tall former teacher, Lady C does Giant Baba techniques and is a popular undercarder, sadly not in the tournament this year, but next year, for sure. She reps God’s Eye.

Maika: The Crimson Empress! She is the titular Empress in ExV and the former World of Stardom Champion before Tora stole the belt from her. Trained by TAKA, she’s a powerful wrestler with a judo background and something to prove as she’s been betrayed by Saya Kamitani and screwed over by the machinations of H.A.T.E.

Mina Shirakawa: The Venus! She is…the Venus part of ExV and you probably know her from her forays into AEW. A charismatic former dancer/model, Mina is probably not long for the company as she’s not even in the tournament this year, so uh, expect her back on Dynamite, well okay Collision soon.

Miyu Amasaki: Despite being around for a while, Miyu doesn’t have much notable accomplishments to her name other than a team with AZM and a bunch of photobooks sold. However, she’s now in a new stable, Neo Genesis, and is making her Five Star debut, time to put up or shut up, though she’ll assuredly get ragdolled severely by bigger names.

Momo Kohgo: Komomo! A late starter to wrestling and not one that is presented as a future star, she’s nonetheless a solid contributor to the High Speed division for Stars. Not in the tournament however.

Rian: A rookie so new she doesn’t even have a stable yet and not in the tournament. Total unknown to me.

Ranna Yagami: Probably the biggest success of her generation of rookies, Ranna is still very new but she’s affiliated with God’s Eye and has a pretty concrete style with technical stuff and shoot boxing. Probably going to eat a lot of pins in the tournament however.

Ruaka: One of the larger wrestlers in Stardom, Ruaka is a bruising cheater in the mold of her mentor, Natsuko Tora, she’s even Tora’s replacement for the Five Star though I wouldn’t expect her to win nearly as many matches, I would bet she gets DQ’d at least once.

Saki Kashima: The Zombie! Saki is an interesting character, one of the original Stardom rookies way back in the day, she’s been a tag specialist for a long time, usually with Mayu in Stars. She eventually betrayed Mayu and joined Oedo Tai where she wrecked havoc for a while, okay she was a goof who got her butt kicked a lot, eventually they threw her out of the stable and she wormed her way into God’s Eye. She’s a coward, she’s lazy, she doesn’t try very hard, she’s not very fast, or strong, or big, but she has an almost unbeatable pinning combo that’s allowed her to beat talent much ‘bigger’ than her. I.e. she’s going to do some Yano business and we should expect at least one massive upset.

Sakura Aya: Karate GIrl! A rookie in the same class as HANAKO and Ranna, injuries limited her development. She actually accidentally became a wrestler as originally she just auditioned to be in Mayu’s movie but she wound up wrestling instead. Still got a ways to go though but she is developing as Cosmic Angel’s rookie pairing.

Saya Iida: Big Saya! The short tan, muscle-bound Saya cuts a strange sight in Stardom, but she’s stuck around for a while, she’s never had much success as a singles, so maybe this tournament will let her break out…or she’s just there to eat pins for Stars.

Saya Kamitani: Well this requires some backstory. Saya was a standout (same generation of rookie along with Iida, she was known as Tall Saya) the former dancer, Kamitani is tall, athletic (she does a 450) and is the most decorated White Belt champion in history. After Utami left the company, she looked primed to carry Queen’s Quest into the future, but they lost a feud with Oedo Tai, disbanded the stable, and then later on Saya JOINED Oedo Tai when they rebranded as H.A.T.E. What role she has in a stable frankly full of main-event talent (Tora, Konami, Momo, Thekla) will be interesting to see, and given that she was probably supposed to win last year’s tournament…her presence and push in this one will be very notable.

Sayaka Kurara: The other rookie of Cosmic Angels along with Sakura, Sayaka is smaller and has a rabbit motif to her gear. She’s developing as a scrappy underdog but no, she isn’t in the tournament.

Starlight Kid: The Merch God! Okay that’s not her nickname but that’s what she is. SLK or Kiddo or whatever you want to call her is finally being positioned as a main-event star. She’s kind of in charge of the new Neo Genesis stable, she’s out of Oedo Tai and back to being a babyface, so we have a big tournament, a new booking team that seems less worried about capping wrestlers at certain spots on the card due to their size, so maybe the exciting, masked, high-flying Starlight Kid can finally break into the main-event scene like he eternal rival Natsupoi has.

Suzu Suzuki: Crazy Girl. Suzu is another member of Neo Genesis and the most established singles wrestler in it, as she won last year’s Five Star. She’s a hybrid wrestler, being capable of going hardcore and taking to the skies as needed. How will she do? Probably very well but I doubt we get a repeat winner.

Syuri: The leader of God’s Eye, Syuri is a former MMA talent with incredible experience (she wrestled Asuka pre-WWE!) and a good amount of credibility. Former Red Belt champion, Syuri has been a babyface workhorse for them for a long time, she’s a flexible and diverse wrestler who can do a bit of everything and mix it up with almost anybody. I doubt she wins the Five Star but she’ll do well, and we’ll see how her desire for vengeance against Konami who betrayed her to cost them the Goddesses of Stardom titles changes how she acts.

Tomoka Inaba: While technically not a signed Stardom roster member as she is part of the JTO organization, Tomoka is a member of God’s Eye and has teamed with Syuri multiple times. She works a karate gimmick and has good energy as a serious babyface. Also the sister of Azusa. I wouldn’t expect her to do all that well in the tournament but she’ll get some wins.

Waka Tsukiyama: Survivor of the longest losing streak in Stardom history, Waka is a lovable loser who functions as the mascot for ExV. Not very athletic, she’s a former model/singer who tries really hard and regularly works spots where people kick her butt repeatedly as she attempts posterior based offense. Not in the tournament but I have incredible affection for Waka as just a human teddy bear of a wrestler.

Xena: A Touch of Thunder! The Australian Xena is a member of the ExV stable through the Venus side, as she was one of the gaijin brought in by Mina when she was in Club Venus. Xena is a power wrestler who dresses exactly like you think a wrestler named Xena would wrestle. She’s competed for the Red Belt before but I doubt she goes that deep in the tournament.

Yuna Mizumori: The enforcer of Cosmic Angels, Yuna’s big deal is that she dresses like a pineapple and is tropically themed. Yeah that’s all I got. Definitely going to eat a lot of pins in the tournament.

Guest Stars:

Anna Jay: You know who she is. AEW’s contribution to the Five Star, Anna is going to prove what she can do in a tournament setting, obviously not going to win but they won’t beat her like a drum either.

Manami: Coming in from Sendai Girls, Manami is a high-flying youngster and that’s about all I know of her.

Risa Sera: The leader of Prominence, a splinter stable/promotion that runs their own shows, Risa is a deathmatch queen with significant history in Stardom and with former member Suzu Suzuki. Expect a decent push for her as she destroys people with a cane.

The Five Star Grand Prix:

So the Five Star has an unique format this time, there are still blocks, but now there are four of them, each with seven members.

Blue Stars A: Saori Anou, Syuri, Starlight Kid, Xena, Koguma, Anna Jay, Miyu Amasaki.

Blue Stars B: Suzu Suzuki, Saya Kamitani, Hanan, Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima, Thekla, Risa Sera.

Red Stars A: Maika, Hazuki, Ruaka, Konami, Manami, Natsupoi, Yuna Mizumori.

Red Stars B: Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano, Momo Watanabe, AZM, Mei Seira, Saya Iida, Tomoka Inaba.

The winner of Blue A will face the winner of Red B, and Red A will face Blue B, and then that winner will face in the finals for the title shot.