Io Shirai is the new ace of STARDOM

Io Shirai

STARDOM had their big Sumo Hall show today with an announced attendance of 5,500. Yeah, right. I'm sure they filled the joint but we'll never know how many actually paid. The show ended with the retirement of bikini model Yuzuki Aikawa. But I won't spend much time mourning the departure of someone who was the product of a cold blooded business deal. If she really loved the wrestling business, she could have told her modelling agency to take a hike. But she is showing where her bread is really buttered and it ain't the joshi business. It's time to forget about her and name a new and more worthy ace for STARDOM. The bottom line on this show is it was a very bad day for the Monster heel stable. They came into this show holding the World of STARDOM championship and the Goddess of STARDOM tag team championships. And they lost both titles. German monster heel Alpha Female won the World of STARDOM belt from Nanae Takahashi last month. Instead of giving Takahashi a rematch, STARDOM gave the match to Io Shirai. Subsequently, Takahashi suffered a broken orbital bone and probably couldn't have done the match anyway. She was on the show in a six girl match. Obviously someone as large as Alpha Female looks unbeatable compared to Io but stranger things have happened. Io needed to use her quickness and athleticism because she can't handle Alpha Female's power. The turning point in the match was when Alpha Female attempted a lariat outside the ring and slammed into the ring post. This seemed to take a lot out of Alpha Female. And though she almost won with a Canadian backbreaker, Io escaped and used kicks to chop Alpha Female down and win in 12 minutes. Afterwards, Takahashi gave her blessing and congratulated her. Io Shirai has been in the joshi business for six years and this is her first title. Her wrestling has improved a lot over the last year and she is very charismatic. She will be 23 next week so I think she could be an excellent ace. In other title matches, Kairi Hojo and Natsumi Showzuki won the Goddess of STARDOM Tag Team Championships over Kyoko Kimura and Hailey Hatred. So I'm not sure about Monster's future but they had a bad day and were very pissed. Natsuki*Taiyo successfully defended the High Speed Championship over Yuhi. And we have a new Wonder of STARDOM champ. This was the title that Yuzuki Aikawa held. Sarah "Dark Angel" Stock won over Act Yasukawa. So congratulations to the Canadian. Io Shirai has been Sarah's tag team partner so a title match with those two could be really good.