This is part of the “Stardom’s Favorite Daughter—Icon or Illusion?” watch series, which you can find here.

As my battle to find footage and my lack of intrigue in the sophomore year Stardom demands such, it’s already time to dip into the Thunder Rock material. It’s their team—or the shadow Io casts, if you prefer—which supposedly provides a catalyst for Mayu’s eventual rise to the main event, and along the way, they apparently put together some quality wrestling too. Though, with no shortage of shame, I’ll admit they are one of my greatest blind spots when it comes to the short history of Stardom, despite their team being part of the intrigue for this project in the first place.

Obviously, this is not a good example of the love this team gets. At least I hope so. Because this is a sloppy version of something that already wasn’t well put together, nor does there seem to be any sort of animosity between the two teams, despite this being labeled a “unti battle” on the Stardom World video. Hell, if I hadn’t known any better, these four all seem pretty comfy with each other, one might even think they’re friends, or at least in the same unit. Maybe that’s why this feels like it escalates the absolutely nothing, and it certainly doesn’t help that all the offense that’s stringed together is messy—and with two young wrestlers, there’s no wherewithal to try to save those mistakes either. And not to evoke the layman’s criticism of joshi either, but good lord, there’s a bit too much screeching from the four ladies and others at ringside, none of which sounds supportive or passionate, just pointless noise.

As for Mayu, it’s a tough showing. Io carries the most of the work for the team, and in a match daring to be so high paced, Iwatani essentially drowns. Once again, there’s a single isolated moment that stands out to me, as stapled in the middle this, in the most unsuspecting moment, is Saki Kashima bashing Mayu’s head into the mat full force. It lasts all of five seconds, completely caught me off guards, but it ends being the only sign of disdain showed by anyone all match, so little plus in the selling category of Mayu I guess. Otherwise, yeah, she looks like a lost puppy in this one. No impressive offense, no notable efforts getting worked over, and a empty husk of emotion.

Rating: Bad