Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Recommended Posts

If they space the debuts apart enough they might. Kairi Sane is front and center with anything the WWE has done so far with the MYC. If Asuka moves up to the main roster in the fall they can move Sane over to NXT then probably introduce Io a few months later. The three of them act/work differently enough that you would think that the WWE would trust fans to be able to tell the three of them apart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 432
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

If they space the debuts apart enough they might. Kairi Sane is front and center with anything the WWE has done so far with the MYC. If Asuka moves up to the main roster in the fall they can move Sane over to NXT then probably introduce Io a few months later. The three of them act/work differently enough that you would think that the WWE would trust fans to be able to tell the three of them apart.

 

Full confidence in the fans to handle both or all 3 of them. Don't have quite the same confidence in the company to see things that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More curious than anything. I'm shocked at how front and center Kairi Sane has been for the MYC. I wasn't expecting that. I don't think Asuka will do any better than Nakamura on the main roster, probably worse. I do think that Io's style will translate well to WWE. She's had a couple of really good short matches so far this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard secondhand that Meltzer is reporting that Io Shirai was medically cleared to return to wrestling, but WWE rescinded their contract offer. This is presumably because of their aversion to signing wrestlers with neck and concussion issues. Hence her return to Stardom for the 5-star Grand Prix.

 

Selfishly, I'm happy that she'll be around to enjoy in Stardom. But it's lousy for her. While she'll have great matches in Japan, she's really accomplished everything imaginable in Stardom. There's nothing else to do with her there. To me, she deserves a shot at wrestling for a larger audience in WWE (even though I have zero confidence in their ability to use her properly). I'm curious to see whether the WWE makes a new offer next year if her health is good (which must be difficult given her incredibly physical style). I'm not giving up on my impossible dream of Io and Kairi main eventing a WWE PPV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Selfishly, I'm happy that she'll be around to enjoy in Stardom. But it's lousy for her. While she'll have great matches in Japan, she's really accomplished everything imaginable in Stardom. There's nothing else to do with her there. To me, she deserves a shot at wrestling for a larger audience in WWE (even though I have zero confidence in their ability to use her properly). I'm curious to see whether the WWE makes a new offer next year if her health is good (which must be difficult given her incredibly physical style). I'm not giving up on my impossible dream of Io and Kairi main eventing a WWE PPV.

 

Exactly. She's absolutely one of my favorite wrestlers and I'm thrilled to see her in a position that likely takes full advantage of her work. But it has to be a setback for her. Here's hoping she is in fact and stays healthy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The lineup for Stardom's 5*GP:

 

Red Stars Block:
Mayu Iwatani
Yoko Bito
Hiromi Mimura
Kagetsu
Hana Kimura
Viper
Xia Brookside
Kris Wolf
Blue Stars Block:
Io Shirai
Jungle Kyona
HZK
Konami
Tora or Nakano*
Toni Storm
Kay Lee Ray
Mandy Leon
* Natsuko Tora and Tam Nakano will have a qualifying match on August 13.
While the Red Block will have good matches, I don't get why you would put the current champ in the same block as four of the women who have had title shots against her in the last two months. Viper vs. each Oedo Tai member should fun, as well as Oedo Tai facing off with each other, but other than that they are just recycling matchups they just did.
Even if you took Io out, the Blue Block looks really fun. You have the younger stars of Stardom (Kyona, HZK, Konami) and two of Stardom's best foreigners (Storm, KLR,) that alone creates a lot of interesting matchups. Putting Io in mix makes it even better. The only negative is that it makes it very unlikely that either Kyona or HZK get the push that both need to help establish them higher up the card.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The lineup for Stardom's 5*GP:

 

I signed up for Stardom World like a week ago and have already watched every Kourakaen Hall main event, plus everything else that looked cool from 2017. I am loving this promotion, great characters and variety and awesome matches with logical booking. Subtitled promos and no announcing are other huge pluses.

 

Very pumped to follow this tournament along. Lots of fun potential matches, and it will be neat that the entire heel stable is all in one block. Going to be wild. Lots of different ways to go with booking, but I'm hoping for a Mayu vs Toni Storm finals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So, Io Shirai lost to ROH's Mandy Leon via submission.

 

Some people are upset but it sets up a major storyline for the tournament and establishes some unpredictability early on in the tournament. For the long term, Jungle Kyona losing to Toni Storm was a worse decision.

 

I hope Kris Wolf gets a WWE tryout for putting over Robbie Brookside's daughter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't wait to catch up on Stardom when I get back from vacation and the 5*GP as it gets posted. Very much agree that Storm over Jungle is more egregious booking than Shirai dropping a fall here. The latter won't mean much and she can put over anyone at any time. Hopefully she was able to carry Mandy to something solid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

According to Stardom's twitter, Mayu Iwatani suffered an arm injury (Google translate had dislocation) just two minutes into her World of Stardom title match with Toni Storm. Storm was awarded the title but said that she wanted a rematch with Iwatani. Mayu lost the Wonder of Stardom title the day before to Yoko Bito.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In kayfabe and IRL, a brutal week for Iwatani. Getting screwed out of a berth in the 5-star finals by Kagetsu, losing both titles and getting hurt. Poor Mayu! I was really enjoying her run on top, although I figured she was going to lose the Red Belt to Toni anyway because thats where the booking seemed to be leading.

 

Im not high on Bito, but given where they want to position her, it made sense for her to get a run with the White Belt. I dont really like Storm much (I know Im a huge outlier in that regard), but I assumed that they wanted to get the Red Belt on her eventually to set up another match with Io where Shirai would finally go over. Im guessing that match will happen in December or January.

 

Its tricky putting the Red Belt on a foreigner who cant stay around full time. It means they either have to get it off Toni before she leaves Japan or put up with having an absentee champion until Storms next tour. I dont think it will happen, but Id love to see Mayu get back on top once shes healed. I think theres still lots more they can do with her as champ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

October is typically Stardom's slowest month in terms of the number of shows they run. They will also have their tag league going in the fall so that will probably fill up the schedule for a bit. The big Korakuen Hall shows lineups will be interesting, since the worst drawing ones usually have only a couple of title matches.

 

In positive news, Chihiro Hashimoto actually retained the Sendai Girls title beating Meiko Satomura. They also drew over two thousand for the show, which has been a nice run of drawing good crowds to their big shows the past few years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I fully recommend the Chihiro Hashimoto/Meiko Satomura rematch. It might be the joshi MOTY. I loved it so much cause Chihiro isn't green like last year. Thought they built a great story with Chihiro solidifying herself as the ace of Sendai. Better to me than how Reigns and Cena told that story. I freaked out when Chihiro kicked out of the Scorpion Rising/DVD combo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Just finished watching Rina Yamashita vs. Misaki Ohata from WAVE's 10/9 show. This match isn't just the best match joshi match from this year, or the last few years, it's one of the best in post-peak AJW ('97 pre-exodus) era. I know WAVE Network is a terrible value for a wrestling streaming service but it's a real shame that people are missing out on the great year that Yamashita, Ohata, and Ryo Mizunami are having. All three should be in the discussion with Hiroyo Matsumoto for being joshi wrestler of the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if Kandori has a death wish or not, but she's scheduled to fight Gabi Garcia tomorrow at RIZIN, but Gabi missed weight by 26 lbs and the weight limit was 205 lbs... Kandori stormed off the stage and was irate.

 

Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Nobuhiko Takada said they were going to see what they could do about the fight, so I'm guessing they'll probably reach a different weight for NYE possibly.

 

Gabi's a horrible striker, but she's way bigger than Kandori a legit BJJ black belt who can destroy Kandori easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...