On March 3rd, 2021, Stardom becomes the first Joshi promotion to run the Nippon Budokan in 24 years as they present All Star Dream Cinderella — which is doubling as a celebration of Stardom’s 10th anniversary. A number of names from throughout Stardom and Joshi history are scheduled to appear on the show as well as some huge matches involving Stardom’s current roster members. Let’s jump right into the card for All Star Dream Cinderella.
Prologue Match 1 High Speed Championship: AZM (c) vs Natsupoi
The prologue matches will be streamed live on YouTube for fans to watch. The opening contest sees AZM make defense number 5 of her High Speed Championship as she takes on Donna Del Mondo’s Natsupoi. Upon her re-debut for Stardom Natsupoi made it clear that she wanted the High Speed title, after a foray into the tag division she now has her sights set on winning the championship she wanted from day 1.
Prologue Match 2 Goddess Of Stardom Championships: Donna Del Mondo (Maika & Himeka) (c) vs Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima)
Maika and Himeka make their first defense of their newly won titles against the Oedo Tai duo of Saki Kashima and Natsuko Tora. Maika and Himeka won the titles from a different Oedo Tai pairing, arguably the stronger pairing of Konami and Bea Priestley, so they will be confident in defeating Kashima and Tora here. With Oedo Tai you can never be sure as they can pull a win from anywhere be it through Kashima’s revival finish or their cheating ways.
All Star Rumble
This royal rumble style match will represent the past, present, and future of not only Stardom but of Joshi wrestling as a whole with a number of Joshi legends slated to compete in this match. With 22 confirmed participants it remains to be seen if there will be any surprise additions to the match. Here’s the list of confirmed competitors:
- Bea Priestley
- Mina Shirakawa
- Unagi Sayaka
- Starlight Kid
- Saya Iida
- Gokigen Death
- Lady C
- Chigusa Nagayo
- Kyoko Inoue
- Mima Shimoda
- Hiroyo Matsumoto
- Emi Sakura
- Rin Kadokura
- Mei Hoshizuki
- Yuzuki Aikawa
- Yoko Bito
- Miho Wakizawa
- Hiromi Mimura
- Yuna Manase
- Haruka Kato
- Koguma
- Momoe Nakanishi
Momo Watanabe vs Nanae Takahashi
On any other show, this match would be the main event by a clear mile as Takahashi wrestles her first match in a Stardom ring in almost six years as she takes on Stardom’s true heart, Momo Watanabe. A little-known fact is that before the split, Takahashi’s final match was actually against Watanabe, who was just an inexperienced teenager at the time. Takahashi won easily and has since gone on to achieve success with SEAdLINNNG where she was the first SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Champion. Takahashi was also the first-ever World Of Stardom Champion and was the last ever WWWA Champion.
Since their last meeting, Momo Watanabe has become a much different competitor, in 2018-2019 she had a record-breaking run as Wonder Of Stardom champion after she dethroned Io Shirai to claim the title. Watanabe is seen as one of Stardom’s best in-ring performers and at just 20 years old will no doubt be a world champion someday.
Six years after their last match these two will collide again in a match that won’t be short of animosity as the two tore one another apart in a tag team match on a recently SEAdLINNG show. With no tag partners involved this time it will be a straight fight between the two.
SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship: Syuri (c) vs Konami
Two of the best technicians in all of Joshi will collide on the big stage at All Star Dream Cinderella. Syuri has competed in the UFC so is no stranger to a shoot-style match. While Konami doesn’t have an MMA record, she was trained by Megumi Fuji (26-3 MMA record) in her younger years before being trained by Asuka (one of Joshi’s top shoot style fighters of the last two decades) and Minoru Tanaka of Battlearts fame. Based on the promos and build to this match it will definitely make the most of the shoot fighting influences of both women.
Another layer to this is that the two women have a pre-existing relationship. When Konami first debuted she was being helped a lot by Asuka but not long after her debut Asuka left for WWE leaving Konami alone. Syuri, who was a key member of Reina where Konami had signed to, helped Konami out and never abandoned her as Asuka did. Even when Konami wanted to leave Reina and forge her own path, Syuri helped guide her. With this match, Konami wants to surpass the woman who helped her all those years ago.
10th Anniversary Match: Mayu Iwatani vs Yoshiko
This match is filled with history. Both Iwatani and Yoshiko were OG Stardom roster members and competed on their very first show all the way back in January 2010. Yoshiko was seen as the competitor with more upside and she got pushed long before Iwatani did, as Iwatani took time adjusting to wrestling following many years of barely being able to leave her room.
By 2014, Yoshiko was the World Of Stardom Champion and was primed to be at the helm of the company for many years to come, comparatively Iwatani was the Wonder Of Stardom champion. Iwatani was always one step behind in their eyes. In 2015, everything changed following the infamous fight between Yoshiko and Act Yasukawa that led to Yoshiko retiring and Nanae Takahashi fully splitting from Stardom.
This split changed everything as Stardom was now down three of their top talents as Yoshiko, Takahashi left while Yasukawa retired after a brief comeback. This is the era where the Threedom (Iwatani, Io Shirai & Kairi Hojo) began to dominate Stardom. It’s interesting to think that Iwatani may have never received the push she did had Yoshiko and Takahashi never left. As we know, she did in fact receive the push she deserved and she has since gone on to become the Icon of Stardom and one of the best and most recognizable wrestlers in all of Joshi.
Yoshiko on the other hand briefly retired. She came back in 2016 and immediately blazed a trail in numerous companies as she became a top star in SEAdLINNG. She has had much success in that time winning championships in OZ Academy as well as being the current SEAdLINNG Beyond The Sea Champion. Yoshiko has established herself as one of the biggest names and best talents in Joshi outside of Stardom, which made a rematch between her and Iwatani a much sought-after dream match.
Now, on the big stage at the Nippon Budokan, this dream match takes place as the Icon of Stardom Mayu Iwatani meets Yoshiko in a match mired with the history between two of Joshi’s best.
World Of Stardom Championship: Utami Hayashishita (c) vs Saya Kamitani
Former Goddess Of Stardom champions collide in Saya Kamitani’s first world championship match. Utami Hayashishita debuted in 2018 and immediately took Stardom by storm, finishing as the runner-up of the 5STAR Grand Prix just a month after her debut. In her rookie year, she held five different championships and won the rookie of the year gauntlet in 2018. She was a super rookie that was earmarked for success early on, in 2020 she fulfilled her potential as she won the 5STAR Grand Prix and defeated Mayu Iwatani to become the World Of Stardom Champion just two years after her debut.
Saya Kamitani debuted in 2019, almost a year to the day after Hayashishita’s debut. She too got off to a hot start as she almost immediately began beating wrestlers with more seniority than her, she won the rookie of Stardom 2019 tournament beating Saya Iida in the final. Within 12 months of her debut, she was a champion as she and Hayashishita won the Goddess Of Stardom championships, a couple of months later Saya Kamitani debuted the Phoenix Splash maneuver at Stardom’s Yokohama Cinderella event. This is notable as Kamitani may very well be the first-ever Joshi wrestler to perform the Phoenix Splash.
The parallels between Hayashishita and Kamitani are there for all to see. They were instantly destined for success and had quick rises through the ranks. Now they meet in an unlikely World Of Stardom title match at Nippon Budokan. While Hayashishita is more experienced and therefore more established as a performer we have seen Kamitani debut a slew of new moves in the lead up to All Star Cinderella, one of which may just see her pull off the upset and win the world title.
Hair vs Hair Wonder Of Stardom Championship – Giulia (c) vs Tam Nakano
In the main event of All Star Dream Cinderella, the months-long rivalry between Giulia and Tam Nakano will come to a head as both women put their hair on the line for the Wonder Of Stardom Championship.
Giulia debuted in Stardom in late 2019 after spending her career in Ice Ribbon. She immediately hit the ground running, drawing with 2019 GP winner Hana Kimura at Year End Climax and being chosen to wrestle for Stardom at the Tokyo Dome. Thinks went from strength to strength as she won the Cinderella Tournament 2020 and made it known she wanted to face Wonder Of Stardom champion Arisa Hoshiki.
We never got that match unfortunately as Hoshiki was forced to retire due to injuries. While Hoshiki’s retirement hit fans hard it hit Nakano even harder. Nakano didn’t really like Hoshiki joining STARS and taking attention away from her and she wasn’t shy about her feelings, but as time went on she warmed up to Hoshiki with the two even forming the tag team DREAM SHINE. Nakano’s dislike of Hoshiki was still there but now it was much more playful. Despite them being a team Nakano’s goal was simple, she wanted to be the one to defeat Hoshiki and take the Wonder Of Stardom Championship from her, and with Hoshiki’s retirement, her goal will never be fulfilled.
Flash forward to Stardom’s return following COVID-19 and Nakano and Giulia are placed on the warpath. Giulia still wants the Wonder Of Stardom championship, but Nakano doesn’t want Giulia to take Hoshiki’s title. Both Giulia and Nakano had lost their biggest rivals (Hana Kimura and Arisa Hoshiki respectively) they found a new rival in one another and it wasn’t long before the hatred between the two blew over during a photoshoot.
They first met in the finals of a tournament to crown the new Wonder Of Stardom championship. Giulia defeated Nakano, once again dooming her to failure. But Nakano got a measure of revenge as she beat Giulia in their GP Block match. They had a third match at Yokohama Cinderella which was once again won by Giulia.
Their paths split here as Giulia went on to continue defending her title while Nakano began the process of putting together her own faction the Cosmic Angels, this involved an emotional breakaway from STARS and Mayu Iwatani. Getting her own faction is just what Nakano needed though as she has been forced to step up her game and lead her new cohorts.
These two women’s roads re-converged at the Tokyo Dome when Giulia and Syuri defeated the odd pairing of Iwatani and Nakano. Not long after that match Giulia took it upon herself to relentlessly punish Nakano’s stablemate Unagi Sayaka in a tag team match, Giulia mercilessly beat up Sayaka before choking her out and proclaiming her a failure. In an interview, Giulia went on to say that she believed Sayaka wasn’t good enough for Stardom. Nakano hasn’t taken this aggression lying down as she instantly stood up for Unagi threatening to break Giulia’s neck and even asking her for a deathmatch. Giulia once again choked Sayaka out in a singles match between the two which is where the tension between her and Nakano once again blew over, Nakano wanted a Wonder Of Stardom title match and she would do anything to get it. That’s when Giulia proposed the stipulation, Nakano puts her hair on the line, and she would get a title match.
Nakano was quick to accept the offer, now feeling more confident than ever that she can defeat Giulia and take her championship. With her hair on the line, her stablemate’s pride, and her promise to Arisa Hoshiki still on her mind, this is Nakano’s moment to win the big one and defeat Giulia, shave her bald, and knock her down a peg by taking her title.
This show can be watched live on PPV via the PIA service
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