Stardom Review And Analysis: January 14 at Korakuen Hall

World of Stardom Title: Kagetsu (c) vs Jungle Kyona

In her pre-match comments, Kagetsu promised to fight a clean fight against Kyona with Stardom’s biggest prize on the line. It remains to be seen whether or not those words would hold true.

Kagetsu started things off by stepping to the center of the ring and offering her hand to Kyona before getting into the action. A rightfully reluctant Kyona met Kagetsu and tentatively reached her hand out, the two sharing a simple and clean handshake to get the match started.

The two leaders of their factions locked up with nobody gaining any clear control. They tussled into the corner where Kagetsu had the opportunity to cheap shot Kyona as the collar and elbow tie up was broken, but she instead raised her hands and backed away from the ropes. So far, so good for Clean Kagetsu!

Things would quickly devolve into a slugfest before Kyona was sent to the arena floor. She blocked an attempted suicide dive by Kagetsu, before laying her out with a plancha of her own, before taking control in the ring with a series of submission holds and strikes.

Kagetsu’s dirty streak would come out though, as she clearly became fed up with Kyona running the match. With the referee distracted by Oedo Tai members at ringside, the champion buried a couple of brass knuckle-assisted punches to the midsection of her challenger. From here, Kagetsu worked over the right arm of Kyona eliciting screams of pain that filled Korakuen Hall.

In an absolutely ridiculous moment, Kagetsu dragged Kyona into the stands of Korakuen all the while working over her damaged arm. Hanging over one of the entrance tunnels, Kagetsu locked on a hanging cross arm breaker in her attempt to rip Kyona’s arm from her body.

Kyona never fully recovered from the damage done to her arm. While she did come back to batter Kagetsu with impressive powerbombs and a sickening Ganso Bomb, it wasn’t enough to put the champion away. As Kyona went for her patented spinning powerbomb, Kagetsu sprayed her in the eyes with mist causing the challenger to stumble around the ring disoriented.

With Kyona struggling to see, Kagetsu drove her into the mat with the Ebisu Drop before connecting with her Oedo Coaster 450 Splash. This wasn’t enough for Kagetsu, though – with Kyona clearly out of it, she lifted her up onto her shoulders once more for a Death Valley Driver for the victory.

After the match, Kagetsu ridiculed Kyona for believing that she would ever wrestle a clean match (side note: I also felt ridiculed for falling for her tricks) before beckoning Hazuki into the ring. Kagetsu laid out her own challenge for the World of Stardom Title against her stablemate and current High Speed Champion, which Hazuki gladly accepted for January 29 in Osaka.

Thoughts: I just want more for Jungle Kyona. She was one of my first favorites when I began watching Stardom and it seems as though she, and JAN, get lost in the shuffle behind Oedo Tai, Queen’s Quest, and STARS.

This was an all-star performance from both Kagetsu and Kyona, but a win here for Kyona would have propelled her and the rest of Jungle Assault Nation to new levels. I don’t know where she goes from here, but hopefully, there is another opportunity for gold in the future for Jungle Kyona.

Up Next

The next show to hit Stardom World will be January 19’s offering from Shinkiba 1st Ring in featuring Utami Hayashishita defending the Future of Stardom Title against Hanan and a special Oedo Tai tag team match pitting Kagetsu and Jamie Hayter against Hazuki and Natsu Sumire.

Hazuki will challenge Kagetsu for the World of Stardom Title on January 27 in Osaka while, keeping in line with champions naming their own challengers, Momo Watanabe and Utami Hayashishita will defend the Goddesses of Stardom Titles against Jungle Kyona and Natsuko Tora.