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Fightful Joshi Journal (8/31/22): Giulia Finds Her Stride, One Year Of Hazuki, Regina Di WAVE Title Defended In AEW

Wrestling
Scott Edwards Aug 31, 2022 1:00PM

The Fightful Joshi Journal returns after a two-week hiatus to discuss the 5STAR Grand Prix as the tournament hits the halfway point, specifically Giulia finding her stride in the tournament, one year of Hazuki being back in professional wrestling and STARDOM, and Hikaru Shida defending Pro Wrestling WAVE's Regina Di WAVE Championship in AEW.

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It's happening. After going 0-2 during the 5STAR Grand Prix opening weekend, Giulia has finally found her stride as the favorite to win the tournament. While she is now sitting at four-straight wins and an overall 4-2 record, it was this past weekend where we saw the Donna del Mondo leader reach the heights she was once at when she held the Wonder of Stardom Championship. Maybe it's due to rivalries driving her to be the absolute best version of herself or maybe it's because her transition into the "Dangerous Queen" of STARDOM is nearly complete (shoutout Akira Hokuto).

This weekend saw the viciousness and ruthlessness of Giulia return as she faced Starlight Kid in one of the best tournament matches thus far. Before the opening bell even rang, Giulia was ripping the mask of Starlight Kid. A clear callback to their match for the Wonder of Stardom Championship in February 2021, these two have a distinct hatred for each other that ultimately brings the best out of both competitors. Giulia's win over Starlight Kid was the first win that made you sat back and say "yeah, this is the Giulia who can be World of Stardom Champion." It's taken a long time to get there. Losing the Wonder of Stardom Championship led to a year and a half of Giulia trying to find herself again. And injury derailed her from making the 5STAR hers a year ago but the cracks and change of Donna del Mondo have been what has taken the biggest toll. Anger can drive anyone. It's just a matter of how you contain it.

That first weekend for Giulia wasn't like her. Losing to Hazuki was not a fluke by any means seeing Hazuki went on to win six more matches in a row before finally dropping a match but losing the next day to MIRAI was the sign of "oh, there's something up." The weight of leading Donna del Mondo after Syuri, MIRAI, and most recently Natsupoi left has had to be heavy. All of this is to bring us to Sunday, where she would finally get her hands on Natsupoi and... it was everything you'd hope for.

Not only was Giulia sending a message to Natsupoi but she was sending one to Tam Nakano as well. Every STARDOM fan had this match circled on their calendar the moment Natsupoi left Donna del Mondo for Cosmic Angels. Giulia doesn't mess around when it comes to people turning their back on her. See her match against Syuri at Stardom World Climax to get a clue. The mindset to get a victory and two more points in the 5STAR Grand Prix is always there but there was a little extra pop on her offense from start to finish. Nakano getting into the ring to confront Giulia afterward makes a 5STAR Grand Prix finale between the two rivals a must. As Nakano said in her interview with Fightful, she knows what Giulia has done for her career and acknowledges they will fight forever. It'd almost be too perfect for Giulia to get that first major singles win since losing the Wonder of Stardom Championship against Nakano.

Giulia finding her stride is bad news for the rest of the field. This can still be hers to win. She sits at eight points with half of her tournament left to go.

Now let's take a second to look back. It was on Aug. 29, 2021, that Hazuki shocked the world and return to STARDOM. The show was broadcasted live on YouTube, hailing from the Belle Salle Shiodome. Since that moment, she's done nothing but show the world that the decision to return was the best decision for her, STARDOM, and wrestling as a whole. As of this writing, Hazuki leads the entire 5STAR Grand Prix in points with 14 but that doesn't do justice when it comes to explaining her impact on STARDOM.

Hazuki's return match would be against Koguma at the 10th Anniversary Grand Final Osaka Dream Cinderella show. She got the win and soon after was out to challenge Utami Hayashishita for the World of Stardom Championship. That was the match where we saw the greatness of Hazuki shine through once again, as she convinced the world that it may finally be her time to stand at the top of STARDOM as champion. In the losing effort, there were not only signs that Hazuki was back but signs that she was home for all the right reasons.

When Hazuki walked back through the door, the "Wild Heart" of STARDOM would join STARS and create one of the best teams in professional wrestling alongside Koguma, FWC. FWC went on to win the Goddess Tag League tournament and eventually beat the dominant team of Syuri and Giulia for the Goddess of Stardom Championship. With those belts, FWC had two excellent runs that made the tag titles as important as any tag titles in all of wrestling. Their matches with Black Desire (Momo Watanabe and Starlight Kid) highlighted FWC's resilience. Hazuki went 0-2 at Stardom World Climax, losing twice to Momo Watanabe including dropping the titles. At Fukuoka Goddess Festival, the world saw Hazuki at her absolute best. Despite an onslaught by Momo Watanabe, Hazuki would manage to survive and win for FWC, giving them their second reign which recently ended at the hands of Tam Nakano and Natsupoi.

Hazuki's importance to STARDOM has been highlighted all year but now that importance has turned into greatness. If you're watching the 5STAR Grand Prix, you've witnessed something special. Hazuki's run through the first half saw her go undefeated with an incredible 7-0 record while being the tournament's MVP in terms of performance and the matches she's been delivering. Her opening night main event win over Giulia was her best match since returning to STARDOM as the hatred and anger they've shared since Hazuki originally retired poured over into the match. They established what was to come in the tournament but even more so what these two are capable of against each other. There's zero doubt they're destined to be rivals and will fight over gold -- whether it's the World or Wonder -- until their careers are over.

When Hazuki won that match, it felt as if the year of building back to her former self was complete. This past Sunday she finally suffered her first loss of the tournament to Wonder of Stardom Champion Saya Kamitani, but there's no doubt that come Oct. 1, she will be in the conversation to win the tournament as she looks for redemption against her rival Momo Watanabe. Oh, and that match against Kamitani is one of her best since coming back. It's as though she knew to tell everyone "I'm back" as loud as possible with days to go before the anniversary.

It's been a great first year back for Hazuki and it's only the beginning of her rise to the top of STARDOM once and for all.

Here are the updated standings for the STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix.

RED STARS BLOCK

10 - AZM
10 - Himeka
8 - Utami Hayashishita
8 - Maika
8 - Koguma
6 - Syuri
6 - Risa Sera
6 - Mai Sakurai
6 - Tam Nakano
4 - SAKI
4 - Saki Kashima
2 - Unagi Sayaka
0 - Momo Kohgo

BLUE STARS BLOCK

14 - Hazuki
8 - Ami Sourei
8 - Saya Kamitani
8 - MIRAI
8 - Mayu Iwatani
8 - Giulia
6 - Momo Watanabe
6 - Natsupoi
4 - Mina Shirakawa
4 - Starlight Kid
2 - Saya Iida
0 - Suzu Suzuki
0 - Hanan

On Monday, AEW Dark: Elevation featured a Regina Di WAVE Championship match in the main event as Hikaru Shida defended the title against Emi Sakura. The excitement here should come for both Joshi fans and AEW fans alike as not only did these two women deliver one of the best women's singles matches of the year in AEW, but they put eyes on the championship and hopefully Pro Wrestling WAVE in the process. If you listened along in the match, Excalibur explained that Sakura trained Shida, making this match that much more special.

The match didn't get the allotted time that you'd hope for in a title match but it didn't matter. They maximized their minutes and battled it out, having what will be one of the best Dark: Elevation matches to date. With Shida holding that championship and not set to return to WAVE until November, there's a real opportunity to have her continue putting a spotlight on the title and herself. Of course, she will head to All Out this Sunday night with a chance to walk out as the Interim AEW Women's World Champion but no matter what happens there, she is going to do a lot of great things with the Regina Di WAVE Championship if we base it off this match. A great effort by both of them to make it feel special.

Matches Worth Checking Out (8/31/22)

8/27/22

  • STARDOM
    • Giulia vs. Starlight Kid
    • Utami Hayashishita vs. Himeka

8/28/22

  • STARDOM
    • Saya Kamitani vs. Hazuki
    • Natsupoi vs. Giulia
  • TJPW
    • Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Shoko Nakajima vs. Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki

Other notable Joshi results from the weekend:

TJPW Go Girl 3

  • Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo) def. Haruna Neko & Pom Harajuku
  • Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu def. Juria Nagano & Moka Miyamoto
  • Hyper Misao def. Raku
  • Maki Itoh def. Yuki Aino
  • Saki Akai def. Hikari Noa
  • Yuki Kamifuku def. Yuki Arai
  • Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Shoko Nakajima def. Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki

Check out our latest Joshi interviews with Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, and Tam Nakano.

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