[7.0] "As STARDOM has to do every year, we got another feud ender match between Oedo Tai and Queen's Quest, but this time it was for real the last time ever because they decided to end their second oldest unit running (and then decided to end OedoTai too), this is one of those matches that no matter how they are, just make me really mad (specially knowing what happened after this match), Thank god 90% of the wrestlers here are good to great because they have chemestry even when we have seen these two units face each other plenty of times, AZM was the MVP of the match, and the finish made Saya look stupid as hell, and what would've happen if Tora didn't kick out after they "tricked" Saya, as I said, this is one of those good matches that work thanks to the talent because the booking of the match sucked (probably the last time I was this angry about a good match was MJF vs Jay White)"
[7.0] "I've never felt more conflicted about a match in my life. This match made me feel more deeply and passionately than damn near anything else this year, watching live I was screaming and shouting for QQ and went on the absolute emotional rollercoaster as it went down. And the action was great, especially AZM going on an absolute tear after the odds were stacked agaisnt QQ! Hina getting to pin Rina after what happened the night before was a cathartic moment too! And the initial Momo turn had me pumping my fists in the air with joy! If Momo would've turned, then Saya pinned Tora, I would've easily given this a 10. Full 5*. No hesitation. Exactly like the match last year. But... but... the swerve. The Vince Russo ass "I attacked my partner with a bat and trusted her to kick out" bullshit swerve. God... that was horrendous. Trying to understand it in any kind of kayfabe way fails any logic, it was purely to trick the audience. Which... fine? I guess? But I hated it, it lacked any logic and felt completely cheap (I get that it was a callback to the cage match, and they also called back to Momo turning on AZM, but both made no sense when they were paired together - and there is absolutely no narrative you can tell that justifies both happening in the same match outside of a VERY sudden change of heart from Momo both ways). It was like Okada was trying to have his cake and eat it too; you just can't do that without the match and story completely falling apart without so much as a hint of critical thinking... it just didn't make sense! That really irks me, because I really enjoyed the stakes and story coming in to this. It was perfectly set up for QQ to overcome the overconfident villains. Telling the "Saya wasn't ready to be leader" story is fine, but if that was the specific story Okada wanted to tell, they built it wrong going in imo; it should've been prideful babyface Saya risking the faction willingly, not being tricked by some subclause in a contract. It all makes Saya look weak and stupid (and I hate it even more given the stupid "fan" incident that happened this week... I hope Saya is ok), and that's compounded by her confounding decision to leave instantly after this match with the flag. QQ losing in this fashion, and maybe with Saya blindly putting faith in Momo and failing instantly (without the BULLSHIT of the bat shot) is more than a good story to tell. But the way this all went down... it just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. I like a lot of the narrative sprouts that have come out of this, and I like that Stardom feels different and has direction now... but this set of booking decisions and character choices was NOT the way to get here imo. Maybe the semantics shouldn't be as important to me as they are, but given how much investment I have in these stories and characters... I feel upset about how this all went down. Now that this has undoubtedly become my longest ramble on this website... let me sum it up like this: this had awesome action; there was a tense and intense story coming in that really drew from history beautifully; the narrative possibilities that have sprouted for this are genuinely intriguing and the most I've been engaged in Stardom for a while; the drama and tension were absolutely at 1000% all the way through; and the emotional rollercoaster this took me on was unlike anything I've been on this year... but this had the WORST swerve I've ever seen from a product I was invested in, and that has lost some trust from me towards the booker and company... and yet I'm more invested than ever? A score doesn't even seem appropriate to get across what I feel... 7?"
[9.0] "A match made for me in many ways - the simple but engaging story of Survivor Series matches, combined with the workrate of Stardom - I really enjoyed this. The complications at the finish were a bit convoluted and unnecessary but it doesn't take away much from a fascinating match."
[9.0] "Somewhere from Rina's part I couldn't stop enjoying this match. I can't remember such a rollercoaster of emotions in the Stardom where fans screamed several times during the match, not taking into account the title changes, to which the fans always react very loudly. Momo's double betrayal is just the crazy ending this feud deserves. And Momo has been the catalyst here from the very beginning - since 2017. Who, if not she, should have become the main character here? The rest of the parts like AZM-Momo and Hina-Rina were also amazing with new and driving spots. I really don't see any objective reason to consider this match worse than the cage match last year, other than people just like seeing Aphrodite win more. But this time OT needed this boost. Now they have been revived, I guess."
[8.0] "I really loved the shit out of this match.The eliminations seemed logical. The booking was excellent. Very well laid out and didn't go too overboard in it's presentation. Everyone looked very good imo. Lady C had one of her best showings in recent memory imo. Except for Hina. She still has no moveset. That's a lot of people in a match and it didn't devolve into House of Torture annoying shit until the end of the match. I really appreciate being double swerved for the finish on this. I'm super alone on this I'm sure, but Queen's Quest has never been my favorite Stardom faction and I'm glad to see it go. It's relevance died to me when Io left it to Momo and then Rossy pivoted it to Utami because he thought she was more marketable. I don't want to see the hands of the booker and even if I thought the turn was well booked, I don't like to know I'm being fed something I don't want because someone else wants it for petty reasons. Rest in Piss QQ. You've always been a holding house for great talent and without Rossy here, they don't book like that anymore. Also, why is Tam crying on commentary the whole match? This doesn't have anything to do with her! Why is she so emotionally invested?"
[7.0] "Momo double swerve was incredibly based since it parallels the storytelling of the cage match and really put a literal bag over the wound that is the disbanding of QQ. The match is rather unremarkable because there were like 5 people that's relevant to the match here, Azumi went crazy but QQ is just too weak to win this one. yeah Saya maybe you deserved it lol, you are the reason that Momo turned to Oedo Tai, you decided not to turn when you got the chance. What do you get? Utami abandons you and you gets the entire blame of ruining QQ, poetic justice in my book lmao, good luck rebuilding a faction thats not gonna be out-shadowed by AZM SLK 02Line"
[8.0] "It's hard not to compare it to last years Steel Cage match, which was superior in action and storytelling. Plus it had the benefit of a good story going into it. This match really felt like it came out of nowhere story wise, almost felt unwarranted and as if booking just didn't have an idea for either faction. Well luckily the wrestlers are still great, and they did the best they could here. Match was really good, a couple of early eliminations which have to happen. But neither really had time to do much. Hina was great in this though, really showed out and looked great, pinning her sister so she could challenge for the Future Title soon. AZM was honestly the star of the match though, which shouldn't surprise anyone. She's one of the best in Stardom, if not the world. Her run in this was fantastic, Saya and Natsuko being the last 2 made sense, and then the Momo turn. (Which became a double turn) was Saya's undoing, she put too much trust in her and didn't see it coming. In a call back to Momo's original turn on QQ, she hits Saya with a chair and QQ lose. You know I wouldn't have minded Momo back in QQ, but they got me with this! Could've been done better and it's a bit crap thinking about it. The post match was emotional, sad to see QQ split up like this. But it came with hope in the end and some promise for the future."
[7.0] "This was a great and well booked match with some great storytelling and stakes. Obviously Amasaki & Lady C got eliminated fastly, they are the weakest of the group with Hina but this latter gave something to her team with her pinning her twin sister Rina with a Gedo Clutch before getting eliminated. Queen's Quest got a disadvantage but AZM was really on fire and determined to save Queen's Quest, she eliminated Thekla, Ruaka and her former leader Momo Watanabe by sacrificing herself. Natsuko Tora and Saya Kamitani had some good exchanges until Momo Watanabe turning on Natsuko Tora, I genuinely believed that she would give the win to Queen's Quest but it was in fact a machiavellian plan and turned on Saya Kamitani with a chair shot on the head to destroy Queen's Quest for once and for all, it's rare that Oedo Tai are booked as a smart group but they didn't look dumb here, I hope they will continue to be booked as believable threats. Queen's Quest will be missed but the following will be interesting for sure - ***3/4"
[6.0] "There's a lot to get to with this match. Everybody in QQ came out with full on boo-boo jobber face, which gave away who was winning. And given the stipulation, you just knew there were going to be shenanigans in the end so for me there wasn't much tension throughout the match. That said, a lot of the wrestling was very good and they told a nice story. The weaker members of QQ, Lady C and Miyu, were eliminated fairly early on and that was the right way to go. Hina got a surprise win over Rina before she was taken out due to OT cheating. AZM made a great comeback, beating both Ruaka and Thekla to make things even again. AZM and Momo had by far the best exchange of the match, which shouldn't be a surprise. I really liked that they eliminated each other to allow the final showdown between faction leaders Saya and Natsuko to play out. That is until the anticipated shenanigans started. Momo runs in with a bat, she teases hitting Saya, but it's a swerve and she hits Natsuko instead! Natsuko manages to kick out, Momo continues to help Saya beat her up some more. Then with a chair in the ring, Momo picks it up, teases hitting Natsuko, but it's a DOUBLE SWERVE BRO and she hits Saya instead! Natsuko shortly after pins Saya. Oedo Tai finally gets a big win over Queen's Quest, which has to lose all of its members aside from Saya. You could argue that the right team won, they're obviously telling a story with Saya being at her lowest then building her up to get revenge. The Vince Russo double swerve was beyond stupid. OT totally planned for everything to play out exactly like it did, that's what you're expected to believe. If you think about this for more than a second, you see the flaws. It's laughable. It's phony. A borderline great match dragged down by a horrible finish. 6/10"
[8.0] "Great match right here, the best of the show so far and I don't know if any of them will do better because the girls really set the bar high here. In addition to the extremely high stakes and the prestige of both clans, the in-ring work & the story were just excellent. Everything was well booked, well executed and I particularly liked Thekla's performance. The final between Kamitani & Tora was great, and I loved Momo's fake face turn. RIP Queen's Quest, thanks for everything."
[8.0] "An incredibly exciting and dramatic match, rich in drama and twists and turns, but ultimately driven by fast paced and compelling action. This match was probably a 9 in terms of storytelling, but there were ebbs and flows to the action, with the quality being tremendous when AZM, Momo and Thekla worked together, but there were sloppier moments when others were paired. Nevertheless this is an absolute must see match for a Stardom fan and regular viewer, but if your watching purely to see a great match and aren't overly familiar with the dynamics, 8/10 feels right to me."
[8.0] "Still trying to process it all but I still enjoyed it a lot. Hina being the third strongest in QQ was a surprise. Momo's double turn could have been done better but I would lie if I said that it didn't shock me. Damn was this emotional."
[9.0] "A cathartic match that got better as it went on. Faction war matches are an Oedo Tai specialty in recent years, and this was a very good one as well. The first half of the match was fine with predictable eliminations. Then things really heated up, culminating in Momo pulling all sorts of strings and making a fool out of Saya. It was a fitting and emotional match worthy of the stipulation, with a result that leaves a lot of possibilities in the air. RIP to what was once a loaded, formidable faction. Here's to the future of the same faction, whatever new additions it may have and however different it may look from hereon out."
0x
10x
37x
18x
7x
0x
0x
0x
0x
0x
0x