 Female wrestler of the year: Giulia
Tag team of the year: REStart (Natsupoi and Saori Anou) Unit of the year: Queens Quest Breakthrough wrestler of the year: AZM Most improved wrestler of the year: Yuna Mizumori Match of the year: Giulia vs Megan Bayne (Dream Queendom 2023) Best PPV event of the year: Dream Queendom 2023 Best angle (story) of the year: Maika’s rise to the Red belt
0 Comments
 I have never, nor shall I ever be a fan of comedy wrestling, or comedy wrestlers. Having been part of the business as a wrestler, manager, interviewer, commentator, and booking committee for more than ten independent organizations, I “understand” comedy in wrestling, I just don’t like it. When I watch professional wrestling, I still want to believe. For me, comedy wrestlers take that away, they are a big slap in the face that what you are watching is silly, and fake. I say all that so I can now praise a reformed comedy wrestler. Yuna Mizumori used to wrestle dressed as a pineapple. Yes, you read that right, Yuna’s presentation was “look at me, I am a wrestling pineapple!” I never wrote about, or discussed, Yuna Mizumori, because she wrestled for organizations I never watched. I never begrudged her existence, so long as I didn’t have to be subject to it. Then one day she showed up in Stardom’s “New Blood” shows. From Wikipedia, Stardom’s New Blood shows have been held since 2022 and slowly became a developmental sub-brand of the promotion, which mainly focus on matches where rookie wrestlers, usually with three or less years of in-ring experience, evolve. So even then, I wasn’t upset with Yuna’s participation, but she was technically working for Stardom, my favorite promotion.  As I continued to watch Stardom, I began to see subtle and then grander changes in Yuna Mizumori. She began expressing a desire to join Cosmic Angels. This is where things got very interesting. Tam Nakano, the leader of Cosmic Angels demanded that Yuna lose weight, and get in better wrestling shape. Yuna began having to face Cosmic Angel members to prove her worth, having excellent matches with Natsupoi, and eventually even Nakano, The World of Stardom champion, herself! Yuna also had very solid matches with wrestlers like Saya Iida, and Hazuki. Eventually, after meeting her goal weight, and working a stiff match with Nakano, Yuna was accepted into Cosmic Angels. My favorite Yuna match of 2023 was against Momo Watanabe in the 5Star Grand Prix, she really won me over there, it was then that I could say with pride that I am a fan of Yuna Mizumori. Yuna not only has a great look, and solid wrestling ability, but her charisma and enthusiasm is second to no one in the world of wrestling. She always seems legitimately happy to be wrestling, and loves the fans. Now she no longer has to overcome the gimmick of being a wrestling pineapple, but instead, is gaining the reputation of a friendly, and fun, bad ass, that can fight toe to toe with the best of them that Stardom has to offer, and that is saying a lot! Yuna Mizumori has gone from being a silly sideshow, to being a main event caliber professional wrestler!
 World Wonder Ring Stardom is the best wrestling in the world. It’s not just because the wrestling is so good, but because nearly every member of the roster is hard to root against. Don’t get me wrong, every Stardom fan has their favorites, but there are few roster members that are legitimately hated. Sure, Odeo Tai are heels, and that’s very clear to any and everyone who watches Stardom, but all Stardom fans know that every member of Odeo Tai are legitimately great wrestlers. Yes, even that damn clown, as under the makeup is Joshi legend Kaori Yoneyama.
I will watch just about any wrestling when I can. I check out RAW, Smackdown, Dynamite, and Collision fairly regularly. I have watched some Impact (TNA) and used to regularly watch MLW. That said, too often, in other companies such as these, and others, there will be wrestlers I legit cannot stand. I am not talking about heels, or “heat,” but wrestlers who make me fast forward, or even change the channel. More often than wrestlers I can’t stand are angles (stories) that are flat out embarrassing or total cringe in presentation. Stardom doesn’t suffer from these things. A wrestling fan that gets into Stardom doesn’t have to skip matches, nor do they have to watch stupid angles like marriages, someone’s mom coming to the ring, or wrestlers fighting over who is someone’s bff! When you watch Stardom you get to see the best wrestlers in the world fight it out in the ring, occasionally using some playful banter or a comedic touch to add to what’s being done on screen, or preparing to be done. While there are a few toxic, unhappy, Stardom fans, you really have to search to find them. Most of the time those type of fans are not accepted by the majority, and have to find their own little nook of the internet to do their bitching and complaining. The majority of Stardom fans can dislike a booking decision, yet still love the shows, and not allow their disagreement with a decision made by the company to cause them to no longer enjoy the company and their shows. It’s refreshing, and nice to be a part of such a wrestling fandom. Stardom doesn’t seem to grab headlines as much as every other company, except for their frequent “must see” matches, and when someone like Mercedes Money is signed by Stardom’s parent company, Bushi Road. I feel this is because there is little drama in Stardom. I also feel this is because, as stated earlier, the vast majority of fans are happy with their company, and don’t have to complain on social media the way that most fans do about every other company. So if you want to be happy watching wrestling, and are sick of all the negativity and drama, consider giving World Wonder Ring Stardom a chance. You might be surprised how good it feels to love wrestling again, instead of loving to hate it.  Sometimes I get frustrated that Stardom fans don’t post much about the company, the matches, etc. on social media. There are plenty of fans, plenty of pictures, and some discussion, mostly on Twitter and Reddit, but there’s nowhere near as much of any that as there is for WWE, AEW, Impact, etc. However, as I started to examine this, I discovered a few things. More than half of social media posts about other companies are complaints, frustrations, and flat out hatred. WWE, Impact, AEW, and other company’s fans are for the most part, seldom, if ever, happy. The positive posts from those fans are typically about certain wrestlers that they love because they are getting pushed, and or winning titles. Fans of these other promotions can be happy, but typically the majority are calling for change, griping about wins and losses, and armchair booking. Sure, sometimes those things can be fun. Occasionally debate and disagreement can be enjoyable, but that’s pretty rare.
What I’ve discovered about most Stardom fans, and yes, there are exceptions, they are almost always happy. You see, in Stardom, the vast majority of the wrestlers are seen as “worthy” even if they aren’t everyone’s favorites. For example, I am very frustrated that my two favorites, Hazuki and AZM (pronounced Azumi) aren’t holding any major titles, and I don’t see much chance of that changing anytime real soon. The reason I don’t bitch and moan all the time on social media is that I acknowledge and accept that those they are losing too are amazing, hard workers, and incredible wrestlers. I believe the biggest gripes Stardom fans have is usually regarding booking decisions made by Stardom executive producer, Rossy Ogawa. Fans believe that Rossy has his favorites and those favorites will be pushed over more deserving talent. Again though, I believe even most of those fans accept that just about every woman on the Stardom roster are worthy of a push, worthy title holders, worthy representatives of the company. One major “booking” issue many have, especially American fans, is that new comers will often get huge pushes and title reigns while long term roster members do not. I honestly have no answer for that, as I don’t understand it myself. Every issue and complaint is always answered by the greatness of the wrestlers in Stardom, even if they aren’t YOUR favorite. It’s a phenomenon like I have never seen in professional wrestling, especially modern day professional wrestling. So I say to you that if you want to be a happy professional wrestling fan, a content professional wrestling, if you want to find joy, fun, and excitement in professional wrestling again, I would strongly suggest that you follow World Wonder Ring Stardom. Stardom’s video service is less than seven dollars per month! There’s no better deal in all of pro wrestling! Some good places to help you understand and keep up with everything Stardom are my social media sites, and a few others. Here are the links. Stardom Samurai YouTube Stardom Samurai Facebook The Stardomcast Stardom Reddit Page Stardom Official YouTube Stardom English Twitter Stardom Main Twitter |
Archives
December 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed
