Japan News

Stardom’s Yokohama Cinderella: Two Debuts, Kairi Sane Backstage

By Liam Wyatt. Published 4th October 2020.
Natsu Poi at Yokohama Cinderella

Wonder Ring Stardom’s pay per view extravaganza, Yokohama Cinderella, featured several noteworthy events including the debuts of two recent Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling departees.

Mina Shirakawa, who wrestled her final match for TJPW in September, debuted in the evening’s second contest defeating Hanan.

Later in the evening, NatsuPoi was revealed as the second surprise addition to the roster, defeating DEATH Yama-San and joining the dominant Donna del Mundo stable. She is expected to challenge for the promotion’s High Speed Championship in the near future.

NatsuPoi’s new stablemate Syuri, who failed in her bid to unseat World of Stardom champion Mayu Iwatani in the evening’s main event, confirmed that she too had officially signed with the company, having previously been operating on a freelance basis.

Elsewhere at Yokohama Cinderella, ex-AEW star Bea Priestley captured the vacant SWA championship in a match against Momo Watanabe. The title, which had previously been held by Priestley’s tag team partner Jamie Hayter, can only be defended against competitors of a differing nationality to the champion.

And in a match where the losing stable would be forced to disband, Jungle Kyona and Konami of Tokyo Cyber Squad lost out to Oedo Tai’s Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima when Konami turned on her partner.

The betrayal brings an end to TCS, the faction previously led by the late, great Hana Kimura.

In the main event, company ace Mayu Iwatani defeated Syuri to retain her World of Stardom title before being challenged by Takumi Iroha of the Marvelous promotion. This is noteworthy not least as Iroha holds a victory over Iwatani from earlier in the year but also because of the ongoing working relationship between the two Joshi federations.

Finally, Stardom co-founder Rossy Ogawa confirmed via Twitter that Kairi Hojo (formerly Kairi Sane in WWE) had been in attendance.