Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this article called « Val takes the book ». What lies behind this rather specific naming is a will. A will to go back towards writing pieces which are fun.
To accomplish that, I decided to do what you could call a fantasy booking article. One thing I can promise is that it’ll try to be as much of an intelligent piece as I can make it out to be.
This is Val, and today I invite you to join me in a world where I lay out a story’s guideline, diving into why it is worth making it happen all the way to what the fallout would be.
You can all now put on your seat belts, and enjoy the ride !
As the title of this article indicates, I will tackle a feud which some of you may know I firmly believe should happen in Stardom. Tam Nakano, the current Wonder of Stardom champion, and Oedo Tai’s own Submission Sniper Konami, over Stardom’s white belt. While such a match is something I already touched on in a previous piece on my own site, let’s try to go deeper, shall we ?
Let’s start off by putting a brief pieces of context in place. On July 10th, Tam and Konami fought and went to a 15 minutes time limit draw. While these draws tend to be a rather common occurrence in Stardom (Konami herself went the distance with World of Stardom champion Utami Hayashishita on June 26th) while not necessarily being used to further stories, here we will use this match as a stepping stone. The stepping stone towards the second match between the two, scheduled to happen on August 1st. The second day of Stardom’s top round robin tournament : The 5Star Grand Prix. With the tournament’s winner usually challenging for the red belt, currently held by Utami Hayashishita, we can focus on building towards the next big Wonder title defence. On August 1st, after a tougher than expected victory obtained over fellow Cosmic Angels member Unagi Sayaka, Tam faces Oedo Tai’s Submission Sniper. Konami is still hunting her first victory over the current Wonder of Stardom champion (the record being 3-1-0 in Tam’s favour, thus being undefeated), and it translates into this match. After losing three times on previous Grand Prix editions (2017, 2018 and 2020), a focused and willing to go the extra mile Konami finally manages to grab this first victory, making Tam tap out to the Triangle Lancer after obliterating her opponent’s arms in torturous fashion. This is not only just two points gained in the 5Star GP, this is one of Konami’s most important victories since joining Stardom. She couldn’t defeat Tam while in Queen’s Quest, she couldn’t do it while in Tokyo Cyber Squad either. The move to Oedo Tai has finally allowed her, after two unsuccessful title challenges, to beat a champion and set herself up as the next white belt challenger for the fourth time in her Stardom career.
As both women finish their Grand Prix campaign, both ending in the upper half of the Blue Stars block, Konami confronts Tam, reminding her of their August 1st encounter. She officially declares her intensions of challenging for Tam’s title, which the latter can only accept at this stage. When does the match happen ? I would gladly tell you exactly, but I cannot due to Stardom’s schedule being far from complete following the Grand Prix season. Therefore, let’s assume that whenever the next big Stardom show following the Grand Prix happens, is where this Wonder of Stardom title match takes place.
I now suggest we move on to discuss the match itself. Over the last year, since Giulia became Wonder of Stardom champion, only two title matches went over 25 minutes. Giulia’s first match with Tam to claim the title, and the draw with Syuri. I suggest we keep this general dynamic going, as this Tam vs Konami match doesn’t need to go very long. Both wrestlers probably are at their best when the match doesn’t demand to go the distance, so keeping it around 20 minutes seems like a good way to optimize both womens’ strength, while keeping the « big match vibe » Stardom would probably want to install. Of course, Konami enters looking very confident, accompanied by all of Oedo Tai. She managed to make Tam tap once, she surely can do it again as she did everything in her power to weaken her opponent. As for Tam, she makes her entrance like her usual self, with the difference that her right arm is rather heavily taped up. Not only was this arm which Konami damaged during their GP match, but the likes of Syuri and Maika also took advantage of Konami’s work during their respective matches against Tam in the tournament. Lastly, Konami kept attacking the arm during the preview matches leading to this title match. Needless to say, the champion enters wounded, but far from willing to go down without a fight.
At first, I wanted to « narrate » this match bit by bit, only to realize this would have been quite unnecessary. So, let’s go straight to the point. This match has two goals. One, putting Konami over as a collected yet maniacal wrestler, fully ready to do whatever it takes to accomplish her goals. Two, showcasing Tam’s resilliency through taking a kind of punishment she never suffered during her reign, only to end up being overwhelmed by Konami’s plan. Such a match needs to be almost all Konami in terms of offence, constantly going to the arm to gain and keep the upper hand. An interference from the other Oedo Tai members isn’t excluded, but it should only serve the dismantling of Tam’s arm. Speaking of the champion, being on the receiving hand for the most part means having to shine through selling, emotions and a fiery, desperate attempt to turn the odds in her favour. An attempt which ultimatelt does not work, as Tam ends up being unable to either hit her big moves such as the Tiger Suplex or the Twilight Dream suplex, or is rendered unable to pin Konami when she finally does. Konami’s win finally comes when the ultimate variant of her finisher, the Final Lancer, is locked in, forcing the referee to stop the match as Tam simply cannot continue.
Now you may wonder : Why Konami instead of Mayu Iwatani ? Great question. Ultimately, the goal with the white belt is for it to fall back as the coveted prize within the STARS vs Oedo Tai feud. There are various ways to make that happen. Mayu could beat Tam and then lose to Konami. Tam’s reign could go longer than possibly expected before dropping the title to Konami, giving enough time for a defence against Mayu.
However, with the 5STAR Grand Prix in sight, and both Tam and Konami being in the same block, it would be quite the missed opportunity to not take the road I just layed out. No matter how realistic it may be, considering Stardom’s booking tendencies.
Now then, let’s get around discussing the match’s fallout. As previously stated, this match has for goal to redirect the white belt as the prize both Oedo Tai and STARS end up fighting for. That means Mayu Iwatani does end up getting a title match against Konami, preferrably at a big show like Year End Climax, or the Anniversary show in January. Konami cannot afford to lose this : Ideally, and assuming she can go by next Spring, a returning Jungle Kyona would be the one to finally swing the tides in STARS’ favour. Prior to that, the goal is to keep establishing Konami as a dominant champion. To do that, she has to beat Mayu, but she also needs to accumulate a bunch of defences. Retaining against Syuri would be the other markee victory of her reign. Then, you can consider Maika who eliminated Konami from the Cinderella tournament earlier this year. AZM, who’d be a great opponent for almost any champion in Stardom. And so on and so forth, all the way until next year’s Cinderella where tournament winner Jungle Kyona gets to have her revenge, against her former TCS Tag Team partner.
Val Talks Wrestling 