Giulia & MIRAI vs. Maika & Syuri

[10.0] "Went back to watch this first time as it was first ever match up between Syuri and Mirai. Their exchange was amazing. The part where Syuri kicked Mirai down and asked more from her only for Mirai to damn near knock her out with barrage of elbow strikes and Syuri smiling after it, just so special in hindsight."

[5.0] "Wow, this was as boring as expected. Not a complete disaster as I liked Syuri's part in the second half and there was a flash in the end, but overall it was not easy to watch. I still don't understand what the problem is with Giulia pinning Maika."

[7.0] "This went way too long for my liking. The final Syuri/Mirai exchange was quite good and intense and drama filled, but the rest didn't do much for me cuz it really felt like they were just trying to fill time. Like, it wasn't a bad match by any means, hence the 7 rating, but it also felt like it was at half speed for too long. A weird bout."

[5.0] "Syuri's selling and overall performance in this match was superb, she carries herself incredibly well as the champion, but this match didn't sell me on MIRAI vs. Syuri at all. Of course Giulia tried to steal the spotlight from time to time (which I guess is the reason why this match was a 30-minute draw), but it wasn't necessary, this match was just way too long."

[3.0] "I understand the idea of keeping a bunch of Giulia and Syuri in a draw was this cool positioning and a good build-up for the match, when they still have to identify a 100% winner. But, another thing is when there is a wrestler in the match, positioning herself as a beginner, and thus we are being prepared for the championship match, which she almost asked for. I can still understand if we have a standard 20-minute draw, but this, for some reason, was increased to 30 minutes in order to still leave the audience without a result! I love draws, I love the feeling when I understand that the performers really lacked the standard framework, and they lead to something more, or just different. But with this composition, it's a lost cause. The match itself seemed boring to me, I don't really like Mirai in the ring, despite one convincing sequence with Syuri, and the others didn't play a role. It feels like a Shiozaki comeback match, just as useless and wrong (*1/2)."

[4.0] "I'm afraid that Syuri and Mirai will make an epic match again instead of coming up with something more interesting and new. This match was just a lead-up, but Mirai is already strong, and nobody could pin Maika for the safe win. So it was just another time limit draw, but 30 minutes instead of 20. I don't know why and for what. Boring action, uninteresting story, weak competitors like Maika and Mirai, Giulia and Syuri didn't save the match. One of the most pointless time limit draws I've seen in Stardom."

[6.0] "Boy, at-times, I thought Maika was moving at half-speed. Perhaps she's still injured, but in-general I don't think her offensive pro-wrestling has looked good for much of the last couple of months. A fully matured match in-which, not that this is bad per-se, the audience had to wait two-thirds of the way through to get the Main Event performers in-the-ring & squaring-off. M's bruising left-arm strikes clubbed-hard into S's scalp & the resulting off-balanced Syuri into her 'Miramare' was a really good, realistic looking spot. Although the first fifteen really didn't amount to much, and I don't think Mirai has much personal chemistry w/ the DDM faction she just joined, the focus & increasing tension of whether either would be able to defeat the other, made for a good match. 3 1/4 rounded-down"

[8.0] "Damn, this match fucking ruled! They really put MIRAI as a very strong and real competitor against Syuri, with Maika having to interfere in the match a lot of times. Obviously the best part in this match was the interactions between MIRAI and Syuri, all the aggressiveness was excellent and hyped me a lot for their match on 29/01. Real good shit right here, pal. ****1/4"

[8.0] "A great match just a whisker away from a 9. Everyone got to look good with the focus being of course on MIRAI and Syuri ahead of their Red Belt match. I loved their interactions. Syuri is always super intense and she got MIRAI to show her ultra agressive side. Really liked that and really looking forward to their match. 4 stars."

[8.0] "This match was supposed to be a trios match but due to Himeka's absence, Thekla was moved to another match and this became a tag match. As a result, I felt that it suffered down the stretch. Don't get me wrong, it was mostly really good, as one would expect from a match involving Syuri and Giulia, and where the other to participants are at least good. However, since this was booked to go 30 minutes, it got long in the tooth after a while before the final stretch. If Thekla and Himeka were in it too, then at least you'd have more matchups within the match, it would be able to stay fresher longer, etc. Instead, it was great for 15 minutes, pretty good for the next few minutes, and then it became clear that we were getting a draw. Even though I liked Syuri and Mirai's final sequences, the match had already been going for 20+ minutes beforehand and I was ready for it to be over. The stuff that happened in the final 10 minutes was mostly good, but it was clear that nobody was getting finished, so none of the pin or submission attempts had the drama to them that one would like. If this match had a shorter time limit, I think it would've benefited everyone. Speaking of long matches, Mirai's last five matches have averaged over 20 minutes in duration, which is alarming. I understand wanting her to get in the groove in Stardom as soon as possible, but having her in tons of long matches before giving her title match, which she did nothing to earn, is a bit much in my opinion. I'm still giving the match an 8, because it was really good for the most part and deserves better than a 7. If they had a shorter time limit, or if Stardom had the balls to have someone in this match take a pin so soon before a PPV, this could've gone up to a 9 and have been a more memorable match than it wound up being."

[8.0] "This was a great main event, even though it dragged somewhat between the 10 and 20 minute marks. Syuri's striking, as always, was awesome, and MIRAI continues to show that she is ready for the quick push to the main event. While these two were the primary focus of the match, Giulia pulled off some creative offense (her float-over armbar needs some work though), and Maika showed off plenty of her power-based moves. ****"