After a relatively quiet January, STARDOM is back on PPV with a loaded card on February 4 inside Osaka Edion Arena #1. STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight will hold seven unique matchups, including a league battle as a part of the ongoing Triangle Derby I, a special #1 contenders gauntlet, the return of STARDOM legend Konami, and three major championship matches to round out the card. Plus, Chihiro Hashimoto will compete in her first STARDOM match since 2017 in a first-time singles confrontation against the “Ash-Covered Cinderella” MIRAI. Without further ado, let’s dive into what to expect from the STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight event in Osaka!
STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight Full Card
Former friends, former roommates, former sisters! Giulia makes her first World of Stardom title defense against Suzu Suzuki, live on PPV at Supreme Fight 2023!
3:00PM JST🇯🇵
1:00AM EST🇺🇸
10:00 PM PST🇺🇸 (Friday night!)
6:00 AM GMT🇬🇧Order here!▼▼▼https://t.co/T8uWP7aTjW pic.twitter.com/fs8unAGdSJ
— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) February 2, 2023
Triangle Derby I League Match: Unique Glare (Haruka Umesaki, Starlight Kid & Ruaka) vs. Classmates (Hazuki, Saya Iida & Koguma)
Konami, Syuri, Ami Sourei vs. AZM, Lady C & Utami Hayashishita
Special Singles Match: MIRAI vs. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls)
Naniwa Roulette Match: Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Kohgo vs. Tam Nakano vs. Natsupoi vs. Mina Shirakawa vs. Waka Tsukiyama vs. Mariah May vs. Mai Sakurai vs. Thekla vs. Natsuko Tora vs. Saki Kashima vs. Miyu Amasaki vs. Yuna Mizumori vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. X
Goddesses of Stardom Championship Match: Yuu & Nanae Takahashi (c) vs. Maika & Himeka
Wonder of Stardom Championship Match: Saya Kamitani (c) vs. Momo Watanabe
World of Stardom Championship Match: Giulia (c) vs. Suzu Suzuki (Prominence)
Greetings From Sendai, Japan
Just over a year after STARDOM began collaborating with other groups, Chihiro Hashimoto will represent the Sendai Girls promotion at STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight on February 4th. After being called out by Syuri at Dream Queendom in December, the Sendai Girls ace made her first appearance inside a STARDOM ring in six years, confronting the God’s Eye leader. What she was met with instead was MIRAI challenging her to a match inside Osaka Edion Arena #1.
Now, it cannot be understated just how strong of a competitor Hashimoto is presented as within Sendai Girls. Beyond her tag team dominance alongside Yuu as Team 200KG, Hashimoto has only lost two singles matches in the past two years, and it’s hard to see her losing another one to anybody less than the former World of Stardom Champion. So, despite her determination, MIRAI will undoubtedly be facing insurmountable odds against Sendai’s best.
…What is a Naniwa Roulette Match?
Created within the unpredictable mind of Mayu Iwatani, the Naniwa Roulette Match was first teased at the January 8th Nagoya show when Mayu invited Syuri, Utami Hayashishita, and Maika to participate. None of the invited parties wanted to take part, but Mayu has since found 14 competitors to make this fever dream of a match possible. According to its description, the 15 wrestlers will compete in a rapid single-elimination tournament with randomly drawn opponents. Each match will have a five-minute time limit, and if a match goes to a draw both participants are eliminated. The winning wrestler will get a shot at a championship of their choosing at a future date.
If this sounds strangely familiar, it’s probably because it bares a striking resemblance to the Cinderella Tournament, which is set to take place in just a matter of weeks. Will this Cinderella tournament redux conclude with someone like Mina Shirakawa finding her way back into the Wonder of Stardom Championship picture, or will it be the mystery opponent who overcomes the competition, throwing yet another curveball at the STARDOM roster?
Maihime Goes For the Gold
Despite having minimal success as a duo, Maika and Himeka of Donna Del Mondo have been perhaps the most permanent fixtures in STARDOM’s tag team division since late 2020. After coming up short in their first Godesses Tag League last fall, they watched as 7Upp won both the tournament and subsequently the tag titles heading into the new year. Now, Maihime stands as the #1 Contenders for the Goddesses of Stardom Championships and will look to overcome Yuu and Nanae Takahashi in their first defense of the title.
While it’s always hard to bet against a championship team in their first defense, history tells us that short reigns with the tag belts are far from uncommon in STARDOM. With that being said, the sheer dominance that 7Upp has displayed since arriving last summer is hard to deny. Yuu and Nanae Takahashi have built a reputation as being near-unbeatable, so it may take everything Maika and Himeka have to overcome the champions at STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight.
Saya Meets the White Belt’s Reluctant Gatekeeper
This week, Saya Kamitani became the second woman in history to hold the Wonder of Stardom Championship for over 400 days, and Saya plans to make history once more on February 4th. Currently sitting at 13 successful defenses of the White Belt, Kamitani will be fighting to break the single-reign defense record at STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight on Saturday. To do that, however, Saya will have to defeat the current record-holder, Momo Watanabe, in singles action.
Watanabe’s legendary run with the championship in 2018/2019 came when she was just 18 years old, and after losing the belt to Arisa Hoshiki, the former Queens Quest leader made it clear that she had no desire to become a two-time champion. However, since losing the White Belt in 2019, Momo’s pursuit of the Red Belt has been widely unsuccessful. Oedo Tai’s “Black Peach” has challenged the last four champions and lost each time, making her dreams of holding STARDOM’s top prize seem more and more unlikely as time goes on. So, with Kamitani laying down the challenge to the record holder, Watanabe reluctantly accepted with the sole ambition of crushing the dreams of her former stablemate.
Giulia and the Violent Prodigy
In the main event of STARDOM 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight, Giulia will defend the World of Stardom Championship for the first time against Suzu Suzuki of Prominence. This will be the second singles match in a STARDOM ring between the former friends but is set to be a very different match to their 15-minute time limit draw at the end of last year’s 5STAR Grand Prix. While their match last October was one of Giulia surviving Suzu’s hatred-driven offense to advance to the 5STAR Final, the match on February 4th will be one of Suzu attempting to overcome Giulia and her presence as the new face of STARDOM.
Somehow, Suzu’s lack of hatred for Giulia heading into their upcoming championship match makes her feel even more dangerous. At the press conference in anticipation of this match, both Giulia and Suzu remembered back to when they would talk about facing off in the main event of a major wrestling show as trainees. On Saturday, Giulia and Suzu will fulfill that prophecy, and it’s hard to imagine a reality where they don’t give it their all when they do. And while this feels like a clear victory for the defending champion, the question of how close Suzu is to surpassing Giulia could very well be answered on February 4th.
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.
