Stardom American Dream 2026 (4.17.26) review 

 

April 17, 2026 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #23 

 

Pearl Theatre, Las Vegas. Hosts are Jordan Castle & Veda Scott. I’ve seen zero Stardom since the whole Marigold split, and I am somewhat concerned about it. The match order, which is pre-recorded, gets shuffled. I can only assume someone was late getting from another venue. Or maybe even got lost, who knows?  

 

Aya Sakura & Natsupoi vs. Brittnie Brooks & SAKI 

Brooks is making her Stardom debut. She feels like she’s close to a big breakthrough so a run in Stardom would help her along massively. She has some misunderstandings with her Japanese opponents. Some full on “I had no idea that was about to happen” moments. She’s subbing in for Maki Itoh here, who failed to get a visa. SAKI has to drag Brooks into one spot. Sakura has a nice time kicking people in the head here. SAKI ducks one of them and if she didn’t, it would have hit her in the head, which is how wrestling should be. **¼  

 

HANAKO, Maika & Mina Shirakawa vs. Rina Yamashita, Suzu Suzuki & Hazuki 

Mina is back here, having not worked for Stardom since switching to AEW. Yamashita had a strong weekend.  

I like the contrast HANAKO has with Hazuki. The big boot feels very big. They keep the tags quick here, and the different pairings make the match fly by. Maika does splendid work with late kickouts. The one on Suzuki after Tequila Shot is immense. Mina doesn’t take this seriously. There’s dancing and silly triple team spots. Maika ends up putting Suzuki away. This was very solid and jolly good fun. **¾  

 

Rina vs. Athena 

The first time I saw Rina wrestle she was about 12-13 years old. Which is why, at 19, she’s a seasoned veteran. As both women hold titles, this is for pride and athletic competition rather than a belt.  

This starts out insanely good with great intensity. Athena clocks Rina with a big forearm and she just smiles afterwards. Then a dropkick lands square in Rina’s face. Rina, happy to play that game, returns the stiffness. She gets the kick receipt and then the forearm receipt. This is 100% going in the match guide. It fucking rules. Everything feels so tasty and impactful.  

Just as I think the match is losing steam, Athena kicks Rina in the face again and hits a SICK TOPE. They go into the big bombs and Rina goes the Kudo Driver, which should surely do it. Athena escapes though and gets the tap out with the Eclipse (is that what it’s called?) ***¾. Very close to four stars here. Some great heavy hitting action from two very good wrestlers. 

 

I have that at #6 on my best matches of the weekend. Stardom have the bare-faced cheek to run an intermission here. Obviously, I skip it. When I skip ahead it’s into a Thekla segment where she beats down a guy in suit. “You dumb bitch”.  

 

NJPW Strong Women’s Championship 

Alex Windsor (c) vs. Saya Iida 

Windsor won the belt at EVE’s Wrestle Queendom show in March. They do forearm duels in here, and they are clearly nowhere near the strikes from the last match. Also, the armdrags and low dropkicks here are just poorly executed. I don’t want to come off as overly critical because I know Windsor has been through him shit, and I’m glad she got a second chance to chase her dreams. That’s not what wrestling is all about though. You eventually have to deliver in the ring. Either with your personality or with your skill.  

They don’t tell a good story with the size difference either. Windsor is much bigger, but both of them wrestle like they’re the same size. It does pick up as they escalate, but the same issues remain prevalent. Like the Blue Thunder, Iida just falls in the middle of it. Iida manages some violence with a lariat to the face, but Alex almost immediately finishes with Made in Japan just moments later. Iida doing good work with the vacant dead-eyed stare. **½. This ended up being pretty good, but there were a lot of issues throughout.  

 

Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron & Kris Statlander vs. AZM, Mei Seira & Starlight Kid 

This is a fun match up. The power and size of the gaijin team against the speed and teamwork of the Japanese girls. As with the previous match, they do struggle a little bit with the size differences. There are also issues with a bunch of stuff happening, and the rhyme and reason for it isn’t there. Especially with people not touching others because that’s not the plan of the match. There are logic holes. AZM murders Kris Stat with a Canadian Destroyer and then pins Cameron. This was decent action. Good work from most of the competitors. AZM the high speed stand out. *** 

 

The 411: 

Stardom appears to be alive and well despite losing most of their top names. AZM and Rina have slotted into top spots. The conveyer belt continues to produce talent. Rina vs. Athena was really good here. One of the best matches of the weekend. The rest of the card was, at worst, decent. I’m not 100% sure, but I think this card had the best worst match. So, the baseline was better here than on any other show. That is taking my taste into account, but the standard was good here.  

 

 

Show Ranking:   

Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 8.0  

WWE Wrestlemania N2 7.8  

NJPW Death Vegas 7.5  

CMLL 7.1  

Stardom 7.0 

TJPW 6.5  

Wrestlecon Supershow 6.3   

HOG Culture Clash 6.1 

MLP Multiverse 5.9  

Dragon Gate USA: Gate of Sin City 5.8   

Progress 5.6   

Bloodsport 5.5  

Spring Break 5.2  

Gringo Loco’s WRLD on Lucha 5.0  

Clusterfuck 4.6  

Ladies Night Out 16 4.5   

Hybrid x PWU Midnight Xpress 4.1   

MDK Fight Club 4.0   

Wrestlemania N1 3.8  

CCW High Rollers 3.4   

Podermania~! 3.1  

FSW ID Showcase 2.8  

Juggalos 2.2   

  

Best Matches:   

Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL) ****½  

Tremont & Gage vs. Takeda & Yamashita vs. Desperado & Kasai (NJPW Death Vegas) ****¼   

Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (Wrestlemania N2) ****¼  

Brick Savage vs. Mad Dog Connelly (Effys Big Gay Brunch) **** 

Bandido vs. Amazing Red (HOG Culture Clash) **** 

Athena vs. Rina (Stardom) ***¾  

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Fuminori Abe (NJPW Death Vegas) ***¾   

Mark Davis vs. Masato Tanaka (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***¾   

Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe vs. Mizuki (TJPW) ***½  

Man Like Dereiss vs. Michael Oku (Progress) ***½   

Tim Thatcher vs. Charlie Dempsey (Bloodsport) ***½  

Gisele Shaw vs. Persephone vs. Killer Kelly vs. Shotzi Blackheart (MLP) ***¼  

Gunther vs. Seth Rollins (Wrestlemania N1) ***¼  

Persephone vs. Tessa Blanchard (CMLL) ***¼  

Manders vs. Thomas Shire (Hybrid/PWU) ***¼   

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Effy (Effys Big Gay Brunch) ***¼  

IC ladder match (Wrestlemania N2) ***¼  

Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre (Wrestlemania N1) *** 

Bandido vs. Galeno del Mal (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***  

Hechicero vs. Jonathan Gresham (MLP) *** 

Perry & Stunt vs. Stackhouse & Orso (Spring Break) *** 

Charles Mason vs. Michael Oku (HOG Culture Clash) *** 

Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Capitan Suicida & Flip Gordon (CMLL) *** 

Ben K & Hyo vs. Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr vs. Jordan Oliver & Alec Price (DGUSA) ***  

Fuminori Abe vs. Erick Stevens (Bloodsport) *** 

Thunder Rosa vs. Julissa Mexa (WRLD on Lucha) *** 

Dark Sheik vs. Nyla Rose (Effys Big Gay Brunch) *** 

10 person tag (Effys Big Gay Brunch) ***  

Willow, Cameron & Statlander vs. AZM, Mei Seira & Starlight Kid (Stardom) *** 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Atlantis Jr (CMLL) *** 

 

Sandman vs. Invisible Man (Spring Break) 

  

Matches watched: 172 

Number of coffees drunk; 13 

Number of Geoguessr seeds played as a welcoming distraction: 14 

Number of motivational/tactical Irn Bru’s drunk: 8