⭐STARDOM ALL STAR GRAND QUEENDOM 2025 PREVIEW

Old gold World Wonder Ring Stardom logo with moving sparkles

This is a part of my blog series covering the events in STARDOM (Japanese women's pro-wrestling organization)

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CONTENTS

ALL STAR GRAND QUEENDOM 2025

PPV INFO

The show will be held at Yokohama Arena (Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan) and will be available as a live PPV. Pre-show will start at 2PM JST/1AM EST and the main show will begin at 3PM JST/2AM EST. You can view the PPV as many times as you want until May 4 which is the expiry period. By that time, the replay of the PPV (both ENG/JP commentary) will eventually be released on STARDOM World.

PPV Links:
Price = 4620 JP yen (around $32 USD)

Also for those who didn't know, the Korakuen Hall show before ASGQ was streamed in its entirety on YouTube for free. You can see the preview matches for the big championship fights for tonight here.

MATCH CARD

V# = refers to their current defense number of the title reign (eg. V2 = 2nd title defense match)

THE LAST DANCE

The final showdown between World Of Stardom champion Saya Kamitani and Tam Nakano will main event ALL STAR GRAND QUEENDOM this year. Whoever loses, will have to retire. No ceremonies. No retirement road. Disappear in an instant.
How did we even get here?

At the end of last year, Saya Kamitani dethroned Tam Nakano in a heelish fashion to become the new World Of Stardom champion. It was just the start of Saya's plan to take away everything from Tam as a form of revenge that was rooted from their previous singles encounter. In the first round of the 5STAR GP 2023, Saya injured herself after attempting a crossbody from a very high place which granted Tam Nakano the win.

Since then, Saya has transformed into a completely different person. They have experienced the departure of long time partner Utami Hayashishita (who transferred to MARIGOLD) and the collapse of Queen's Quest. In a state where there was little hope, the only way out of the suffering was the dark side.

As the person who paved the way for Saya to enter STARDOM, Tam tried hard to bring back the good in her, but she then realized that it was no use. For months, Kamitani has been making advances into stealing Sayaka Kurara away to turn them into her servant. If you didn't know, Kurara admired Kamitani so much, she ended up facing her in her debut match. Ultimately, Kurara found her home in COSMIC ANGELS and became the protégé for Tam Nakano, rejecting Kamitani. One thing to also note is that Kurara recently won the Cinderella Tournament and opted out of saying her wish straight away. We still don't know what she will use it for.

For Tam, all she can do to protect STARDOM was to eradicate the infectious disease that is Saya Kamitani. Unfortunately, her eagerness to do so has completely backfired.

When Tam lost the "loser leaves STARDOM" match on March 3, her only choice was to put her own career on the line as her last chance to regain what was hers. In a shocking display, the champion also did the same. The thing that has completely brought them here is not just the red belt, but the paths they've chosen to progress into a new era.

At the final press conference, Tam reiterated that as the person who brought Kamitani brought into this industry, she's the only person that can erase her and bring STARDOM into the future. Kamitani also repeated her sentiments about how she hates seeing that horrible face while also acknowledging gratitude for bringing her in to world wonder ring. As a thank you gift, Kamitani brought a bouquet of black flowers to congratulate the imminent retirement of Tam. Tam retaliated by smashing Kamitani repeatedly with them. Saying the Phenex Queen's ending catchphrase, "Eien ni sayōnara/永遠にさようなら" (goodbye forever) before exiting the stage.

This will be the first match of its kind in STARDOM. Last time a match like this happened in Japanese women's pro-wrestling was back in 1979 in a WWWA World title bout between Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda of the very popular Beauty Pair. The predecessors to the Crush Gals (Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo).

There is no coming back from here.

ETERNAL FOES CLASH FOR LEADERSHIP

Long time rivals now faction mates once again meet one-on-one. Not only will the Wonder Of Stardom title be defended, but the leadership role of NEO GENESIS as well. This will also be AZM's first time challenging for the white belt.

The sense of being rivals did not change a bit now that they're in the same unit. As AZM watched Starlight Kid beat Natsupoi for the title, she knew inside that belt could be hers instead and turn it into a bigger deal. In the last 5 matches they've had, SLK has won none of them with the previous match in ALL TOGETHER Sapporo last year resulted in a time limit draw. SLK is here to redeem herself from the losing streak during their high speed era.

Who will be the new leader of NEO GENESIS??

IWGP V10

In her 10th defense of the IWGP Women's title, Mayu will be going against Syuri for the 2nd time. Mayu defeated Syuri last year in January to secure her V3. At this point, Mayu has become the longest IWGP champion ever with 730+ days. Completely surpassing Kazuchika Okada's 720 day reign as IWGP Heavyweight champion. Reaching 10 successful defenses is an important milestone, but she needs to conquer another great wall.

Since that lost to Mayu, Syuri hasn't been in contention for any of the singles titles within STARDOM. It took over a year till she had some sort of opportunity. Last month, Syuri faced off against Sareee for the sake of determining the next challenger for IWGP Women's title in a hot contest between the strongest. However, there was no winner.

Later that same week, Syuri picked up the win on Mayu Iwatani, securing herself a title shot for Yokohama Arena.

At the press conference, Syuri revealed her dedication to training hard for this important bout by showing the swelling on her left leg and promised that she will be in her best condition by then. But Mayu wasn't really convinced at all by how dangerous Syuri would be.

Will Mayu reach the milestone and continue her historic reign as IWGP Women's champion?
or
Will Syuri finally get her revenge?

WING GORI X FWC

wing★gori (Hanan & Saya Iida) will be going against FWC (Hazuki & Koguma) for their 3rd defense of the tag belts. As of now, FWC have already won the Goddesses Of Stardom titles 3 times which is more than any tag team. This will be a big test for wing★gori as they've lost previously to FWC last June in a failed attempt to capture the belts (AFAIK they've never won against them).

Since finally winning the tag titles at the end of last year, Iida & Hanan had been planning to bring change into STARS in order to for the faction to evolve after years of no changes, it has all been the same. However, this didn't come without any sort of backlash from Hazuki who seems to be their main target. They deem her as being too harsh to the point that it even caused Hazuki to lose her status as a trainer in the dojo. After having dinner with a couple of trainees, Hanan & Iida asked which faction they would choose to join, none of them said STARS. Hazuki feels like they're trying to drive her out of STARS due to being the only one criticized. In the middle of all this, Koguma is trying to unit both parties. At the end of the day, everyone in the group just wants STARS to succeed.

They may understand themselves a little better tonight.

MONSTER VS EMPRESS

For a while now, Maika has been wanting a singles match against SENDAI GIRLS' Chihiro Hashimoto ever since Hai High Mate and Team 200kg have been in conflict. This will be the first ever singles between these two power fighters.

Same goes with Mika Iwata who she faced in a failed attempt to capture the SENDAI GIRLS tag team titles.

On April 3, Maika took the opportunity to challenge Hashimoto in her home turf. Hashimoto is quite annoyed by Maika's cockiness and hearing the belief that STARDOM being the biggest women's pro-wrestling promotion in Japan means that it's more interesting than SENDAI GIRLS. Hash is here to stand her ground and disprove that. This will be Hashimoto's 1st defense of her 6th reign as SENDAI GIRLS World champion after beating Meiko Satomura whose retirement is happening on the 29th.

The war of words in the press conference then turned into a fight.

Can Maika overcome SENDAI GIRLS' strongest soldier and continue to invade SENJO?
or
Will there be a possible invasion from SENJO afterwards?

MI VIDA LOCA

Suzu Suzuki is now the leader of a new faction with freelancer Rina Yamashita, Shawn Capture's Itsuki Aoki, and STARDOM rookie Akira Kurogane to form, "Mi Vida Loca". A group that characterizes itself as purely crazy with the goal of making STARDOM an interesting place.

This all began in a random conversation between Suzu and Mei Seira during their casual Instagram livestream. Suzu wanted to honestly discuss the current feelings within Crazy Star (their tag team) in front of live viewers. Discussions involved their recent failures including the recent loss to wing★gori for the Goddess tag belts and Suzu's defeat against Saya Kamitani for the world title. It then erupted into an argument that eventually caused Suzu to end the stream.

It didn't take long for the tension to happen in the ring too. Miscommunications and friendly fire between the two occurred way more often. Out of frustration, Suzu started going backstage alone with not much to say, leaving her other faction mates worried.

Things completely went out of control on March 29 when Mei accidentally hit Suzu with a dropkick. Suzu instantly threw Mei out of the ring and started brawling. AZM had to cool them down and make them reconcile. After all, they had to tag against H.A.T.E. once again. Suzu started playing along that there's nothing wrong, everything is "ok".

The next day may have been fine and dandy for Crazy Star as Suzu got the clean win on H.A.T.E., it wasn't for long.

Finally on April 2 in Korakuen Hall, Suzu made it clear that her partnership with Mei and time in NEO GENESIS was finished. After experiencing another miscommunication from Mei, Natsuko Tora gave her a chair to hit Mei Seira and gladly accepted. She helped Tora clear out the ring before going for a handshake. Tora gladly tried to accept it, but was met instead with a grab into a german suplex from Suzu. Suzu then continued to beat the hell out of Mei before everyone came into the ring to stop the match.

"You don't make friends in wrestling. "Thanks to everything until now, bud", she said to Mei before leaving as a lone wolf. Mei cried and screamed in anger that she will never forgive her for this. Now they will have fight one-on-one for the first time in a no DQ match.

Suzu Suzuki has been sick and tired of being part of the "gyaru club" that is NEO GENESIS. She felt like they had to conform to a certain standard that was the opposite of her crazy style. Her opinions on other factions like COSMIC ANGELS and H.A.T.E. don't go farther than them being dull. So she has brought to the table a new faction with people she has crossed paths with over the years that could bring in the hype and shift the wrestling world.

FUTURE V2

Hina in her 2nd defense will be against one of her current faction mates in God's Eye, Ranna Yagami. Last time they faced off in a singles match, it resulted in a time limit draw. It happened back in May before Hina had to leave Queen's Quest and eventually joining God's Eye.

Compared to her class, Ranna felt like she has fallen behind. With Aya Sakura as SENDAI GIRLS Junior champ, HANAKO with a New Blood tag belt, and Sayaka Kurara just recently won the Cinderella Tournament, Ranna thinks that his match is necessary for her to win. As for Hina, she is gonna try bringing the best out of Ranna and to aim for a long defense road that could break her sister Rina's record of 12 successful defenses.

THEKLA VS PRESIDENT

The saga between the troublesome Thekla and STARDOM president Taro Okada has reached another chapter. For almost a year since her return, Thekla had been causing quite a ruckus, leading to her getting multiple "fines" and "suspensions". When she beat Mina Shirakawa on March 15, with her promised shot on having a match with anyone in STARDOM, Thekla nominated Taro Okada.

That match could've happened Las Vegas, but Maika decided to step in and eventually defeated her. Though, this didn't guarantee that her defeat meant that her business with OkaTaro fell apart.

She may have lost to Maika, but this didn't stop her from assaulting Okada once again. Because during the 2nd show in Las Vegas, he was assaulted by Thekla once again with the help from Clark Connors of Bullet Club War Dogs.

Now that they have returned to Japan, Thekla attempted to take another shot at Okada, but was interrupted by Sayaka Kurara. In order for Thekla to get her hands on Taro Okada in the ring, she now has to defeat Kurara in a singles match. But if Kurara wins, Thekla has to join COSMIC ANGELS.

Wild.

MINA TRANSFERS TO AEW

Mina Shirakawa has officially signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and has finished all her dates with STARDOM since April 18. On March 26, STARDOM President Taro Okada and Mina Shirakawa had a press conference announcing her departure and transfer to America. She thanked the people who she got to work with including staff and the fans that supported her throughout her career so far, hoping that they continue to cheer as she enters the next stage in chasing her dreams.

Mina first joined STARDOM back in 2020 as part of the founding trio of COSMIC ANGELS with Tam Nakano and Unagi Sayaka (initially a sub-group in STARS before becoming an independent unit). This CA trio then became Artist Of Stardom champions, holding it for 291 days (currently the longest reign). Mina has also won the Future Of Stardom title while still part of CA.

The establishment of Mina's Club Venus faction came at the tail end of 2022 when she returned from injury. Months later, Mina Shirakawa at last won the Wonder Of Stardom championship, dethroning Saya Kamitani off her record-breaking reign.

Mina has also won the Goddesses Of Stardom titles with Mariah May as Rose Gold.

As Club Venus gradually collapsed due to foreign talent coming back home, so the dissolution of Donna Del Mondo came as well. Due to this, Mina and Maika created Empress Nexus Venus. Mina, Maika, and a returning Xena (formerly in Club Venus as well) managed to win the Artist Of Stardom titles before losing it to COSMIC ANGELS before the 5STAR season. With her absence from the 5STAR Grand Prix, she really became more focused competing overseas.

Last year, Mina first appeared on ROH in March, then made her AEW debut the month after. Since then, she has been involved in the top feuds within AEW's women's division with Mariah May and Toni Storm and has challenged twice for the AEW Women's World Title proving herself as a stand-out. Gaining herself more attention outside Japan has granted her opportunities including winning RevPro's Undisputed British Women's Title last August from Dani Luna before losing it to Mercedes Mone earlier this year.

Mina had her last matches in Japan on the 2nd in Korakuen Hall against her fellow ExV co-leader Maika and had a special farewell gauntlet match on the 6th against ExV and additional people in the roster. She also reunited with Tam and Unagi as the original COSMIC ANGELS trio for one last time.