Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Syuri

[8.0] "On such an acclaimed show, I think this just beats Mina/Saya for my favorite match on the card. Interestingly, when this bout was halfway through I was thinking to myself that this thing was destined to fizzle out, that'd they gone too big much too fast. But no, Big Hash took over, and Syuri leaned into that MMA background to settle this one into the stipulation, and launch this into something notable. I only wish Big Hash had gotten up from the kick that ended it so this could've gone a bit longer. 4.25 Stars."

[8.0] "Some of the no selling wasn't for me but at times this match transcended good and was plain old awesome. Some great wrestling."

[9.0] "Stiff as hell. They decided to destroy each other, and they did so in great fashion. Of course a knockout/submission only match between these two would produce a match like this, but it went even harder then I expected, which is A LOT. Chihiro was one of my favourite joshis who did not do Stardom, and I am so happy she has started to do more Stardom, she is an amazing wrestler, both fun and dangerous, a hard line to walk, but she does it. In this match she is much more close to the dangerous side, and it works perfectly, it is my favourite match on the show, which I did not quite expect, though I was not too surprised. (****3/4)"

[10.0] "Professional wrestling delivered in its purest expression between two of the best joshi wrestlers as of today. Stiff action, fantastic display of technical wrestling, and an incredible amount of increasing energy as the fight went on. While no title was on the line, it felt like these two were competing for the place at the top of Joshi wrestling. Chihiro Hashimoto looked great in defeat, almost getting up before the ten count and Syuri demonstrates once again why she is one of the best ever."

[9.0] "The strongest showdown in women's professional wrestling delivered an excellent match. It was exactly the kind of athletic contest you would expect from a former UFC fighter and an Olympics-caliber amateur. The quick and precise movements of the two resembled ultra instinct. The determination to assert dominance and unwavering competitiveness was evident throughout. ****1/4"

[5.0] "This is supposed to be knockout or submission only.... and 3 minutes in there's a fucking rope break! Hard hitting with some good back and forth, a bit too much no-selling for me. But mostly just frustrated by the repeated disregarding of the stipulation set for the match."

[7.0] "Hard hitting and a lot of fun but never quite hitting the highs expected of it. Hashimoto vs MIRAI is still the standard for her matches"

[8.0] "Amazing match and my favourite of the night. Loved the brawling sequences between the two. Purely hard hitting and brutal stuff.. something you rarely see in women's matches. The ending sequence was great. Syuri once again proved why she's one of the best."

[9.0] "A tremendous, hard hitting, stiff as hell fight between two of the toughest and best women's wrestlers in the world right now. These women beat the absolute hell out of each other. An absolute must see match."

[7.0] "To no one's surprise, Syuri is phenomenal when she isn't bound by the formulaic rules all her matches followed during her World Of Stardom title run. Being in the ring with Hashimoto clearly helped. There wasn't much of an overarching story here but these two battered each other. I wasn't a fan of the casual no sell spot over Hashimoto's suplex but it didn't really take away much. At no point did this feel like a traditional wrestling contest. It was a fight with these two only trying to knock each other out or win via submission, which seems obvious given the stipulation but is the kind of thing too many matches overlook. The only time I was slightly taken out of the fight was when they battled outside and Syuri did a tornado DDT. It was out of place with the rest of the match."

[8.0] "They wrestled to the stipulation and made the match different from you would expect. They went after destroying each other. Must see."

[9.0] "This match was stiff. It was bringing everything you got. Syuri matched up well with Chihiro. I know they have battled before elsewhere but this was awesome. Chihiro is special. She's the perfect monster in any promotion. I hope they go again."

[7.0] "To my complete non-surprise this is enjoyable but it's ultimately Syuri and Hashimoto taking turns no-selling each other, making a slight mockery of those that actually do sell, all whilst also employing spots that we'd already seen a bunch of times earlier in the card (we'd already had even shoot headbutts by this point). The sad thing is that the two of them are incredibly good wrestlers, we see obvious flashes of what could so easily be a fantastic match here, so think what they'd produce if they employed even slightly smart psychology. Wasn't a fan of the ending either; we need to stop this 'lets all be friends after our anger-filled matches so people still buy our merch' crap. Go and watch the friendly girls if you want that guff. A missed opportunity and further evidence that Stardom needs some sort of 'overlooker' who actually knows how to create a card from top to bottom."

[6.0] "Me pareció un buen Match, una historia básica pero entendible pues junto con el post match se aclara qué es parte del proceso de una historia que quieren extender a largo plazo. Además de la brutalidad y en algunos casos innovación de varios spots, lo cual aumenta el significado entre estas en 2 para poder luchar entre ellas otra vez, además de la estipulación Knockout o Sumisión (Sin pinfalls). Lo único que diría que no me gustó de la lucha fue el exceso del No Selling de forma continua. Un punto que relativamente había iniciado bien pero que se sobreuso rápidamente errando el buen timing en algunos casos."

[8.0] "I did not expect to enjoy this one so much. Chihiro Hashimoto is an absolute unit and this was pretty awesome!"

[10.0] "I am a huge fan of both of these women, like both are probably be in my top 10 women wrestling in the world right now, so I knew this one was likely to totally slap. The knockout/submission only stipulation only promised that the match would be even better. And by god did it live up to my expectations! This is one of the most viscerally hard hitting matches I have seen in wrestling this side of peak 90s joshi, these two just went out there to obliterate each other. Chihiro played the perfect tank and the Tajiri-trained Syuri had to figure out how to defeat someone who seemed damn near unstoppable, mostly with bone rattling strikes. My only complaint is not one but two dicey looking headbutt spots, the last thing we need is another Shibata situation, but this match was so damn cool I can't even really dock the match much for that. It lands in my top 10 for the year so far, a truly tremendous fight and my #1 Stardom match of the year so far."

[10.0] "This was so brutal I loved it! Match of the night till this point. Chihiro is a beast but Syuri managed to get through her with amazing technical skills. They had me at the edge of my seat. Incredible match. ****3/4"

[10.0] "This match was amazing, got me on the edge of my seat on how brutal these two were with each other throughout the match, fantastic stuff, no wonder Syuri is my favorite. First time watching a Chihiro Hashimoto match and she was just as amazing as she looks in the ring, excellent."

[10.0] "This is exactly the kind of thing STARDOM needs more of. This is the Syuri I want - the 13-1 kickboxer / UFC alumni that kills bitches dead. Chihiro Hashimoto was the perfect person to pull that out of her. Loved the rules because they straight-up told you "no, we won't be doing a bunch of kickouts". Top 3 women's MOTY for me so far, maybe #1."

[9.0] "so beast. hashimoto is just by far my favorite joshi wrestler, and syuri is incredible. all out war. ****1/2"

[5.0] "Everything landed hard & heavy, but nothing stuck, so they basically went back & forth with zero drama until the finish **1/2"

[7.0] "This was fun but I was hoping for something better than this. It doesn't actually put over how hard your hits are if you do them almost the entire match without any real consequence until the end. ***1/2"

[9.0] "Gosh, it was so unexpectedly good. Often in wrestling, matches where one wrestler is far superior to another are more interesting because of dominence and overcoming, so I expected this match to be slightly worse than Chihiro vs Mirai. But equality really played into the hands this time. It was a very smart match between two different styles, and you saw how hard it is for opponents to recover from every successful move."

[9.0] "Great physical match between Syuri and Hashimoto right here which was the expected hard-hitting affair who absolutely did not disappoint, I obviously knew it would be qualitative with them because everything is awesome with Syuri and let's also note the high quality of Hashimoto's matches in STARDOM lately, she's so damn good. Both are and both stole the show, they beat the crap out of each other and loved doing that. Really liked the brutality of this match, which I'll even call a fight, and it was clearly living up to the expectations, I also liked the ending keeping Hashimoto strong."

[9.0] "2023 - Two hard bastards trying to out hard bastard each other and it's bloody excellent. Rematch please. ****1/2"

[10.0] "Lacked the emotional element of some of the other top matches on the card but who cares? Still a 10 because I audibly yelled a couple of times at how brutal the two were being with each other. The spear from Hashimoto on the outside was honestly my highlight. Something about that move when hit right is so satisfying."

[8.0] "First time saw Chihiro Hashimoto and I think she is my new favourite wrestler. Good brawling match with a lot of explosive powerful moves."

[9.0] "Syuri and Hashimoto beat each other to a pulp in this hard hitting, very rough match. This was pretty straightforward, and these two know exactly what they're doing. Stiff punches, stiff kicks, headbutts, suplexes, all of which were awesome. This was great. 9/10"

[9.0] "This reminded me of the Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai matches from the 1990s: an interpromotional match, not much of a story going in, and a brutal bombfest. ****1/2"

[7.0] "This was solid. It was missing what most of the other matches had and that was investment and build and story. Work wise was good but on a show like this, this was what held it back."

[10.0] "Nasty. Magnificent. Hard hitting. These 2 aces and stars, big time Joshi women of the past decade, come together to just kill one another. Chihiro's German's looked crazier this match, Syuri's headbutts thumped and so did her kicks, and... phew. If I wasn't straight edge, I'd need a smoke after I watched this one. ****1/2"

[10.0] "A Stiff, brutal, technical and somewhat emotional affair between two women who really know their stuff when it comes to this kind of wrestling. Not much more to say other than a third straight match of the year contender right here."

[8.0] "Good match. Both Syuri and Hashimoto are awesome, as always. Not a fan of shoot headbutts, especially not to the back of the head (even though it was a mild one) and the ending was a bit flat for me."

[10.0] "Two hard-hitting BEASTS put on an incredible match. Syuri's kicks and Hash's suplexes everything was just great. / 9.5/10 / SOTM(Spot of the Match): Hashimoto hits a spear on the outside (Only the SOTM because I have a bias for anyone who uses the spear because of who my favorite wrestler is)"

[9.0] "Another phenomenal match that escalated perfectly in pace, violence and drama. Big Hash is an absolute beast and it's nice to see her in a big stage like this. The last few minutes were fantastic. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Another really great encounter. It was totally different from the previous match as both Syuri and Hashimoto were vicious and didn't hold back with their wrestling moves or strikes. I wasn't a fan of the stipulation as it made the finish look a bit weak in comparison to what they did in the match."

[10.0] "Just a crazy battle they had. Very different than every match on the card as they just kept beating each other for 16 minutes with great suplexes, kicks, and submissions. 2nd best match on the card."

[10.0] "Pretty much flawless, both in isolation and as part of the show as a whole. You've got these big, emotional matches at the top of the card. What's needed to mix things up? Two badasses just laying into each other in particularly brutal fashion. Stiff, powerful wrestling that anyone can appreciate."

[10.0] "Oh yeah, that rocked. A long-awaited matchup that has history, was a pure hoss match and it lived up to my expectations. It was really stiff, full of power moves and kicked ass from beginning to end. They didn't hold back at all and put on a really violent show. Headbutt aside, I loved this match. It transcended Stardom and was epic. The fact that there will be a rematch in Sendai is awesome. I hope they make it available to watch."

[10.0] "Pure ass beating. This was 16 minutes of two of the best strikers in wrestling levelling each other, a wrestling savant and a skilled MMA fighter, and they kept going until Syuri hit Hashimoto so hard that she couldn't make the 10 count, and even then she almost did. Loved it, my surprise match of the show."