Stardom 5★STAR Grand Prix 2017 Preview and Predictions

Kevin | 08/13/2017 | General Columns | No Comments

The Stardom 5★STAR Grand Prix starts next week, and after today’s show in Stardom the Blocks are finally set. Here is everything we know about the tournament so far, plus I’ll throw in some predictions at the end based on years of extensive Joshi research.

The 5★STAR GP is a round-robin tournament, similar to the G1 Climax in New Japan. Every wrestler has a match against all the other wrestlers in their Block (spread out over several weeks), with the winner of each Block meeting in the Finals. Traditionally the scoring is done in traditional fashion as well: two points for a win, one point each for a draw, with each match having a 15 minute time limit. You can click on the wrestler’s name below to go to their profile here on Joshi City if you need more information on the individual wrestlers. Here are the Blocks this year:

Red Block:

Blue Block:

Stardom has also released on which dates each match will happen, so you can plan your Stardom viewing accordingly:

August 19th

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Viper
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Hana Kimura
Red Block: Kagetsu vs. Hiromi Mimura
Red Block: Kris Wolf vs. Xia Brookside
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. Mandy Leon
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Toni Storm
Blue Block: HZK vs. Tam Nakano
Blue Block: Konami vs. Kay Lee Ray

August 20th

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Hana Kimura
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Kagetsu
Red Block: Hiromi Mimura vs. Kris Wolf
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Mandy Leon
Blue Block: Kay Lee Ray vs. TTam Nakano
Blue Block: HZK vs. Konami

August 26th

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Yoko Bito
Red Block: Kagetsu vs. Xia Brookside
Red Block: Hiromi Mimura vs. Hana Kimura
Red Block: Viper vs. Kris Wolf
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. Jungle Kyona
Blue Block: HZK vs. Toni Storm

August 27th

Red Block: Kagetsu vs. Viper
Red Block: Hana Kimura vs. Xia Brookside
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Hiromi Mimura
Blue Block: HZK vs. Kay Lee Ray
Blue Block: Konami vs. Toni Storm

September 2nd

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Hiromi Mimura
Red Block: Viper vs. Xia Brookside
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. Kay Lee Ray
Blue Block: Toni Storm vs. Mandy Leon
Blue Block: Konami vs. Tam Nakano

September 3rd

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Kris Wolf
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Xia Brookside
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. Konami
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Kay Lee Ray
Blue Block: Toni Storm vs. Tam Nakano
Blue Block: HZK vs. Mandy Leon

September 10th

Red Block: Kagetsu vs. Hana Kimura
Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Xia Brookside
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Kris Wolf
Red Block: Hiromi Mimura vs. Viper
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs.. Tam Nakano
Blue Block: Kay Lee Ray vs. Mandy Leon
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. HZK

September 16th

Red Block: Kagetsu vs. Kris Wolf
Red Block: Hana Kimura vs. Viper
Blue Block: Mandy Leon vs. Tam Nakano
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Konami

September 18th

Red Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu
Red Block: Yoko Bito vs. Viper
Red Block: Hana Kimura vs. Kris Wolf
Red Block: Hiromi Mimura vs. Xia Brookside
Blue Block: Io Shirai vs. HZK
Blue Block: Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray
Blue Block: Konami vs. Mandy Leon
Blue Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Tam Nakano
5★STAR GP Finals

Predictions

Tournaments like these are always hard to predict, which is part of the fun of watching. But here are my general predictions for the tournament:

Mayu Iwatani wins the Red Block. Stardom isn’t known for being subtle, if they want to push someone as an Ace they don’t generally lose very often. Also, the Red Block in general is pretty weak this year. Hana, Kris, Hiromi, and Xia have no chance of winning, and since Yoko Bito won last year I don’t think they’d put her in the finals two straight years. Kagetsu just had a title shot against Mayu on August 13th and lost, which hurts her chances of winning the tournament. Viper I’d have as my #2 pick, but she also recently had a title shot and just won the Trios Championship. They do like to have gaijin in the finals so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Viper did win the Red Block, but Mayu is still my pick.
Io Shirai wins the Blue Block and the Tournament. Remember I mentioned that Stardom isn’t subtle? One of their greatest booking tendencies is putting over their best wrestlers as strong as possible, so now that Io is back, I suspect she will win the tournament to go straight after Mayu again for the belt. This is a harder block though to predict, as both Toni Storm and Jungle Kyona I could see arguments for winning as well. I just don’t see Stardom passing up having Io in the Finals of their biggest fall show, I suspect she will pick up right where she left off.
Oedo Tai comes out strong. Last year, only one Oedo Tai wrestler was in the tournament, and Kris Wolf only got one point. This year they have three wrestlers, with Kagetsu, Hana Kimura, and Kris Wolf. I don’t see any of them winning the tournament, but I do expect them to get at least 12 points between them and to score an upset or two in order to put over the faction as one to be reckoned with. If the opposite happens and they are just fodder, it would pretty much be the end of the faction as a serious threat, which I don’t think Stardom wants to happen. It is odd they put them all in one Block so I have no idea what they have in mind, they may work together to try to dethrone Mayu which could lead to a tournament-long storyline to keep things interesting.
Kay Lee Ray and Toni Storm will be the MVPs. Last year, KLR and Toni Storm were in some of the best matches of the tournament, and I expect the same to happen again this year. Kay Lee Ray is one of my favorite gaijin that Stardom uses, but since she only comes in a couple times a year, her matches always feel fresh. Toni Storm is starting to get appreciated globally as one of the best female wrestlers in the world for a good reason, she’s fantastic. I don’t think either will reach the Finals, but I suspect when the tournaments ends any “Best Matches” list will have their names mentioned many times.

The tournament starts next weekend with a full slate of matches, with the Finals taking place on September 18th, so we have a long journey coming ahead. Joshi City will be there every step along the way, so keep checking back for reviews of each show as they are added to Stardom World!