Wrestling: STARDOM Results And Analysis For February 3 in Shizuoka

With big things on the horizon for future Goddess of Stardom challengers Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki on February 17, STARS are looking to prove their dominance against Queen’s Quest in a six-woman main event!

Ruaka vs Alex Gracia

Looking to bounce back from a loss in a Future of Stardom Title Match against Utami in Kyoto, Alex Gracia needed to look dominant against JAN’s Ruaka. Unfortunately, nobody really looked good here at all. Through a mercifully short wrestling match, Ruaka stumbled through trying to control Gracia’s body with submissions on the mat but it never seemed as though the two ever got on the same page.

Gracia did come away with the victory after a seated plancha from the top rope, but it was simply the punctuation on a messy sentence.

Thoughts: It seems as though both Ruaka and Gracia have a ways to go before they can stand on their own in singles matches. In tag and multi-woman matches in Stardom, their weaknesses can be masked while they continue to learn and develop but putting the two of them together was a bad combination.

Natsu Sumire vs Konami vs Iida Saya

In pre-match promos, Natsu promised to give special attention to Iida’s chin while Konami and Iida were determined to avoid Natsu’s tricks and games in order to come away with the victory.

Once in the ring, Natsu grabbed the mic and tried cutting deals with each of her opponents. While there were no English subtitles, it was pretty easy to gather what was going on with context clues.

Natsu first tried convincing Konami to partner up to take on the rookie, then turned to Iida as a makeshift partner after being turned down by Konami. Iida turned Natsu down as well leading to both Konami and Iida double-teaming Natsu early on.

As things go in three-way matches, the alliance didn’t last long as Natsu and Konami soon turned their attention to Iida punishing the newcomer with a combination camel clutch and kick to the chest. As Konami had Iida locked in a camel clutch of her own, Natsu switched things up and kicked Konami in an attempt to reconcile with Iida.

Natsu and Iida worked together until Iida went for the pin, at which point all bets were off as Natsu broke things up and sought the victory for herself. After disposing of Konami outside of the ring, Natsu slapped a bridging suplex on Iida for the pinfall.

After the match, Natsu got in the face of Jungle Kyona and Iida before being scared into the corner by the leader of JAN. Natsu cowered in fear as Kyona stared her down, then turned to mock and flip off Jungle Assault Nation as they exited.

Thoughts: A quick and fun match giving Iida a chance to grow against two wildly different wrestlers. Natsu is an utter joy every time she’s in the ring as she brings something unique from any other name on the Stardom roster. While I’m a Konami diehard through and through and her Triangle Lancer has a winning percentage of 1000%, she didn’t get to lock the hold in leading to what felt like a bit of a surprise victory for Natsu.