This weekend promises to be a historic one for Stardom as they take part in the Historic X-Over event, crown the first-ever IWGP Women’s Champion, and head to Osaka EDION Arena for the massive Stardom Gold Rush card on November 19.
Stardom Gold Rush promises to be a major show for Stardom as Utami Hayashishita and Syuri go at it one more time and KAIRI finally gets her shot at Saya Kamitani’s Wonder of Stardom Championship. Let’s preview the show!
Stardom Gold Rush Full Card
Next Saturday in Osaka, Stardom returns to PPV with Gold Rush 2022! World of Stardom, Wonder of Stardom & High Speed title matches! Plus the Moneyball Tournament, with the finals being a TLC match with the Moneyball hanging above the ring!
Orders begin on Friday! pic.twitter.com/HdQN6dKr5a— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) November 13, 2022
- Pre-Show: Lady C & Miyu Amasaki vs Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo vs Natsuko Tora & Ruaka
- Blue Goddess Block: MaiHime (Himeka & Maika) vs 7Upp (Nanae Takahashi & Yuu)
- Red Goddess Block: Black Desire (Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe) vs I Love Tokyo Sports (Fukigen Death & Saki Kashima)
- Moneyball Competition First Round: Donna Del Mondo (Giulia, Thekla & Mai Sakurai) vs Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano, Natsupoi & Waka Tsukiyama)
- Moneyball Competition First Round: STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Koguma & Hazuki) vs God’s Eye (MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Tomoka Inaba)
- High Speed Championship: AZM (c) vs Momokoa Hanazono (2.5D Pro Wrestling)
- Wonder of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani (c) vs KAIRI
- World of Stardom Championship: Syuri (c) vs Utami Hayashishita
- Moneyball Competition Final – TLC Match: (Winner of DDM vs Cosmic Angels) vs (Winner of STARS vs God’s Eye)
AZM vs Momoka Hanazono
This is a match that we are really looking forward to. Momoka Hanazono is primarily known as a quirky wrestler who tends to lean towards comedic wrestling. For those who look a little deeper into her catalogue, they’ll see that she’s a very talented and versatile wrestle who can run rings around someone or go toe-to-toe in a striking exchange.
Putting that kind of energy and talent opposite the always creative AZM is sure to lead to one of the most interesting Stardom matches of the year.
KAIRI vs Saya Kamitani
This match was supposed to take place at Stardom X Stardom back in August but KAIRI testing positive for COVID delayed the match. Now after a few more months of Kamitani knocking back all comers she faces her biggest opponent to date.
The storyline has been interesting. KAIRI constantly talks about how the pressure of being a champion is getting to Kamitani, about how Kamitani isn’t ready for it and the title is crying out to return to KAIRI. For her part, Kamitani has been stern in her resolve that she is a deserved champion, but are cracks beginning to show?
We expect KAIRI to walk away from this one with the title in hand, especially as she is likely losing to Mayu Iwatani at Historic X-Over.
Utami Hayashishita vs Syuri
To many, this is one of the defining rivalries of the modern era of Stardom. Ever since their 5.5-star match every meeting between Hayashishita and Syuri has carried some added weight. This match was set up by Hayshishita defeating Syuri in the 5STAR Grand Prix.
We expect this to end in a time-limit draw. Syuri isn’t losing the title before Stardom Dream Queendom but Hayashishita also has some strong momentum right now. It’s likely that both women will have big matches at Sumo Hall so a draw will keep them both going strong.
Moneyball Tournament
Yep. We’ve got a TLC match for some money on Stardom Gold Rush, hence the gold rush name. It’s likely that we’ll see STARS vs DDM in the final as Cosmic Angels won’t win yet, because of Waka, while God’s Eye would be completely out of place in a TLC match. The STARS crew can provide all the memorable high spots needed in a TLC match and DDM’s trio can make use of plunder quite well.
Hopefully the STARS trio wins the money because Koguma will no doubt use it for some absurd hijinx.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. If you want to see more from Stardom, you can check out their subscription service Stardom World for all your wonderous Joshi needs.
