Hailey Hatred vs Yuhi [***]
Odd fact, Hailey Hatred is in the midst of a 3100+ day TLW Womens Title reign. I doubt it is a major title as it was defended once in 2012. Hailey towers over the tiny Yuhi which gives a great dynamic to this match. It is a lot of fun watching Hailey deliver huge power moves only to have Yuhi kick out. Double H gives a WTH OMG WTF look after a Yuhi escape which was awesome. This match made a good impression on me but is not without its flaws. The biggest is that at times the flow Yuhi needs for her moveset just isn't there. There is no doubt Yuhi could be one of the next big stars of Joshi but despite her natural ability she is still rough around the edges. Hailey destroys Yuhi with a powerbomb for the pin.
Miho Wakizawa, Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yui Yokoo vs Act Yasukawa, Natsuki Taiyo & Saki Kashima - Artist of Stardom Title Semi-Final [*3/4]
There was a lot of action here but the whole thing is hard to follow with the clipping not helping either. The team of Act/Natsuki/Saki win after an awesome suplex by Saki Kashima (I think).
Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani & Natsumi Showzuki vs Kellie Skater, Portia Perez & Tomoka Nakagawa - Artist of Stardom Title Semi-Final [**]
This flowed a little better than the first semifinal, but was disjointed in places. The SHIMMER girls did not show anything out of the norm, Nakagawa gets the pin after a Lariat.
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Yoshiko [**3/4]
These two ladies hate each other stemming from an indecent in 2011. Only about half of the match is shown of this stiff 15 minute draw. We get a lot of forearm shots, shoulderblocks and clotheslines. A pretty intense midcard match.
Yuzuki Aikawa© vs Kairi Hojo - Wonder of Stardom Title [**1/2]
I think my expectations for wrestling matches may be way too high. After the opening video package I was hoping for an epic encounter but we get nothing of the sort. It is a good match but it REALLY dies toward the end with Aikawa taking over and retaining the white belt with a couple of kicks to the head. This match would have been a lot better had they kept the pace they started with as they were really laying in some shots at the beginning.
Act Yasukawa, Natsuki Taiyo & Saki Kashima vs Kellie Skater, Portia Perez & Tomoka Nakagawa - Artist of Stardom Title [**1/4]
Stardom features some incredibly short matches where the wrestlers try to throw any and everything in within the time frame given. With only 9 minutes we get a flurry of spots and it feels like the old scramble matches from ROH. The team of Yasukawa, Taiyo and Kashima get the win to become the first Artist of Stardom champions after a rollup that came out of nowhere. The Stardom wiki says the three belts are each a different color but we do not get to see them here.
Nanae Takahashi© vs Kyoko Kimura - World of Stardom Title [***1/2]
This was by far the best match on the card. Kimura looks like a badass redneck girl who takes off her shirt to fight. She brought her A game injuring Takahashi's arm in the first 30 seconds and it was on. Takahashi sold the arm deep into the match like a champ. These two even exchanged some stiff hands free headbutts. This match was well built, well paced, and well executed. Takahashi retained her title after what I think was the Nana Rocker, but it was a side suplex from the body slam position with Kimura's arm chicken winged behind her. Great little match, well worth checking out.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: The main event is really really good and just a couple of steps from being really special. The Haley Hatred/Yuhi and World of Stardom matches are worth a look otherwise the event is just for the hardcores.
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