WhiteTail Wrestling

Stardom ended the year 2017 with a memorable, emotional, nostalgic, fun show from Korakuen Hall climaxing with the retirement ceremony for Stardom Original Yoko Bito.

The undercard was fine but nothing special. We had the kids in the opener followed by AZM and Momo Watanabe teaming up against Gaijin’s Rachael Ellering and Scarlett. Hiromi Mimura & Konami defeated the Oedo Tai team of Natsu Sumire & Kris Wolf and Starlight takes on Mary Apache in her first ever title challenge a defeat against Mexican veteran Mary Apache in a High Speed Title match. It was going to be the final three matches that made this show.

The late Hana Kimura teamed up with Kagetsu as Oedo Tai defended the Tag Titles against Team Jungle (Junglen Kyona & Natsuko Tora). They did a brilliant job of playing off the dissent between Hana and the rest of Oedo Tai making it look like Team Jungle would have the advantage and as a result there would be a title change but in the end Hana got the pin and after a couple of tense moments Oedo Tai were one big happy family again. This was really nostalgic for me seeing old Oedo Tai again doing their dance and seeing their great personalities on display they were such a fun group and you couldn’t help cheer them on even though they were supposed to be heels but in this case the most fun and lovable heels. ***1/2

Io Shirai defends her White Belt against fellow Queens Quest member HZK. Io in the absolute prime of her career which was later wasted by so many years doing nothing in WWE before finally getting the push she was well and truly deserving of. Io had just won the Women’s Wrestler of the Year in Tokyo Sports for the third year in a row and she showed why here. Io was flawless everything she did was done perfectly and in a way that may have slightly hurt the match because even HZK performed well there was a significant gap in class here this would come into focus after the match when Io cut a promo saying that HZK and the rest of Queen’s Quest needed to step up their game in 2018 for the future of Stardom with Io obviously knowing that her remaining time in the promotion would be short.***1/2

Io was challenged for the White Belt by Rachael Ellering but the highlight of the after match was Oedo Tai blessing us with their presence yet again in a great segment to set up the Queen’s Quest vs Oedo Tai feud.

The main event would see the retiring Yoko Bito team up with Takumi Iroha from Marvelous against Red Belt champ Toni Storm and Joshi veteran Meiko Satomura. This was a great **** match which was exactly what it needed to be. Lots of heavy kicks and strikes early in the style of both Bito and Satomura they weren’t holding back. Great finish as well with Yoko doing the job in her farewell match with Storm hitting a series of Storm Zero piledrivers before finally ending the match and Yoko Bito’s career. Storm was great here as well showing why she was so well rated going into her run in WWE which would once again see a talented wrestler stuck clowning around in NXT for years before they humiliated her on national TV leading to Toni making the jump to AEW which has finally allowed her to get back to her best.

Finally the Yoko Bito retirement ceremony which was fun, funny, nostalgic and emotional. The wrestlers came out in their factions to say goodbye and bring gifts with Oedo Tai once again stealing the show giving Yoko an Oedo Tai mask and asking her to join them in the Oedo Tai dance which was just so fun. There were some special guests including Yuzuki Aikawa the original ace of Stardom and Joshi legend Chigusa Nagayo was also there joining her Marvelous protege Takumi Iroha to thank Yoko for her contributions to the business and finally Yoko’s tag team partner Kairi Hojo made an appearance. Hojo had earlier signed with WWE so her appearance would have been a surprise.

Overall this was an excellent show. It didn’t have anything to make it a show of the year or an all timer but it was so much fun to go back to earlier Stardom before Bushi Road purchased the company and took it to the next level. A great show that should be viewed by any nostalgic Stardom fan as well as for new fans of the promotion who never got to experience this era of Stardom.