Match Ratings

  1. Wonder of STARDOM Title: Saya(c) vs Starlight Kid ****
  2. World of STARDOM Title: Syuri(c) vs Momo ****1/2
  3. World of STARDOM Title: Syuri(c) vs Tam ****1/4
  4. 5STAR Grand Prix Finals: Tam vs Giulia ****1/2
  5. Artist of STARDOM Titles: Oedo Tai(c) vs Queen's Quest ***3/4
  6. Wonder of STARDOM Title: Saya(c) vs Mina ***1/2
  7. World of STARDOM Title: Syuri(c) vs Maika ****
  8. Moneyball Tournament Semi: Donna del Mondo vs Cosmic Angels ***
  9. Moneyball Tournament Semi: God's Eye vs STARS NR
  10. Moneyball Tournament Finals, TLC: Donna del Mondo vs STARS ***1/2

Digest

Note that I watched #147 for THIS edition of the Digest.

Up first, we have two from episode 138.

1. We start with a Wonder defense that saw Saya defeat Starlight Kid. The challenger continued to be a roaring fire and served as a more than adequate opponent for the champ, at times making me actually think we might have a title change in the works. It doesn't matter because Saya is awesome and has grown a lot during her reign. Fantastic stuff!

2. Momo and Syuri topped the last one and showed the world once again that they're both top shelf talents. I loved the heel work and storytelling and the action and drama mixed perfectly to make for a must-see, MOTYC level main event battle. Fuck yes!

3. Another Syuri defense? Why the fuck not!? This one saw the red champ against Tam, the latter of which even went for a tron dive. I had very high expectations and they were met here as both put in for a fantastic title match that was well worth the time. A spark that turned into a full blaze.

Syuri is so fucking good!

We move to episode 150 next, which I watched in full. I would've loved to have had more time for this year's 5STAR Grand Prix, which had coverage run for a few episodes, but time sucks and I have little of it so here we are.

4. A banger for sure and a match surely deserving of being the finals for this year's 5STAR. Giulia and Tam are excellent workers and they put on a damn show here, people. As a result, they made the tournament seem important and elevated themselves once more. In this span of time, no one in the world was better. Check this one out! 

5. The episode continued, this time giving us a clipped down, time-limit draw for the Artist straps as Momo, Starlight, and Saki would retain against Utami, Saya, and AZM. It was a great clash that sold the idea of equality in the division nicely, ensuring that all looked like winners regardless of the result. A car crash worth consideration.

This episode was honestly one of my favorite episodes of the year and a true treat. Considering I tend to rant and rave about this series, that's saying something.

Episode 150, Overall Rating: 90/100%

Moving along, we jump ahead to episode 154 which featured two matches, one for the white belt and one for the red.

6. This might be Mina's best match that I've seen so far and admittedly Saya is a big reason for that. She sold her ass off, though Shirakawa did work hard here to her credit. This overdelivered and was a borderline great title match overall (with admittedly a botched finish from the champ, surprisingly).

A few clips followed before we moved on to the installment's main event.

7. Syuri and Maika are two of my favorites of the roster for those that are keeping track. No one is keeping track. The champ was excellent once again and the challenger continues to show that she'd make a pretty good champ soon. Give her the Wonder strap in 2023 and watch her reign, I'd say. Anyway, we had some big spots, a good pacing, and nice near falls. It's hard to not like this one, for sure, and in fact it was just another fantastic World of STARDOM Championship match from KG.

This episode rocked my tits off. We had two big title matches and both delivered decently. Check this one out!

Episode 154, Overall Rating: 80/100%

I'm gonna close with some content from this week's episode.

8. A quick-paced trios semi-final match starts the pulls from this installment. Good, but not much meat here. DdM took the W.

9. This was even shorter. So much so that I gave it a NR. STARS took the W in this one.

10. Both of those were really just here to set up this one, a Moneyball TLC match and the last contest of the set. So, what's a Moneyball TLC match? They hang a clear, plastic ball above the ring that's filled with money and crowns that look like they're from a dollar store. Obviously. Everything from tiny stepladders to super tall ladders fill the ring. Everyone goes crazy. There's also a way to make the ball go up higher because...this is STARDOM. At one point, the ball was broken and exploded all over the ring. They ended up trying to get the top half of the ball down while taking bumps on coins. Basically, it was insanity but the girls worked hard as ever to make it fun and it was entertaining as a result.

A mess. But a fun one.

We are STARDOM!! is a gem of a show and this collection was a good showcase of what makes STARDOM.......STARDOM. So, if you're in the mood for some top shelf joshi, there's plenty of that to enjoy here. Click around to whatever sounds good to you but try not to skip it all.

Thanks, as always, for reading.