Dream Star Fighting Marigold New Years Golden Garden Night 1 (January 11th, 2025)

Dream Star Fighting Marigold is one of the newest promotions out there with a whole lot of promise and talent.

The drama with this promotion starting is intense and very in depth, but to give a brief breakdown: a man named Rossy Ogawa started an all women's promotion called World Wonder Ring Stardom in 2011. He then tried to secure a deal with WWE, also acting as a sort of middle man for them to sign people like Kairi Sane and Io Shirai. He was forced out of his promotion and took a lot of the talent with him to form Marigold, which was founded early 2024 and had their first show in May of that year.

They are a promotion that while I may not keep up with as much as I would like, is still an incredible showcase of many talented women. Their main event scene is STACKED with the likes of Utami Hayashishita, Mai Sakurai, and Natsumi Showsuzki while having a great addition of young and rising talent like Kouki Amarei and Humming Bird.

Anyways, I am actually excited to see how this show goes and holds up with their other ones in the past. So let's get to it!

Match 1: Singles Match

Humming Bird vs Ryoko Sakimura

Humming Bird is somebody who has only been wrestling for about 2 years while Ryoko has just recently started training. Ryoko is so new that it's hard to find anything about her online.

Having a opening match between 2 rookies is a great thing that I love about Japanese promotions. Whatever the program is, they let the wrestlers go out in front of crowds to learn and find their characters which is awesome stuff to do and especially great years later when you can see how far they have come. And that really was what this match was.

Was it basic and formulaic? Absolutely. But that doesn't make it bad by any means.

This is two women learning and showing quite a good amount of technical ability and heart in what really can be described as an exhibition match.

Both women looked very good in the match, and the crowd was going along with what they were being sold.

Crowds in Japan are much different than others around the world. They are respectful and much more quiet than your average American or ESPECIALLY European crowds. They applaud for kick outs and even rope breaks. They will clap along to whatever any of the talent tells them to. Any sort of moment showing strength or fighting spirit gets cheered. And they will boo wildly if they must, but are much more reserved than average fans.

The match does not go very long. Ryoko had some good moments early on, especially with a great sequence of near falls and trading pins back and forth. Humming Bird is able to get the advantage and dominate till the end, locking in a very nasty looking submission hold that Ryoko has no chance of escaping, having to quit after barely more than 7 minutes.

Result: Humming Bird made Ryoko submit

Star Rating: 2/5 Stars

Match 2: Singles Match

Flying Penguin vs Minami Yuuki

Flying Penguin comes out to the ring singing her theme song dressed in some admittedly pretty cool gear and a great (if not very unique) mask. The crowd played along and really seemed to support her while she showed a lot of babyface charm and personality.

Then Minami Yuuki comes out showing a whole lot of the same energy. Positive and bubbly, but not much else.

This is another rookie vs rookie match. Penguin has been wrestling for 2 years while Minami has wrestled barely more than 1 so far.

It is still exciting to see what the future of Marigold and really Joshi wrestling in general will look like. Something that I really love to see and wish more promotions did.

This was a very basic match once again with two babyfaces trading moves back and forth. A long chin lock to make the crowd try and get behind Minami.

The crowd was especially quiet for this match, even compared to the first one.

They would cheer if Minami hit an impressive Dropkick or a woman was able to escape a submission hold, but not really much more than that.

This match did have unique moves and moments. Penguin had a very interesting looking stretch applied for a bit, her hands pushing on the head and neck rather than pulling. That was really the highlight for me, as this match didn't really do a whole lot else aside from the idea of giving the women reps inside a ring with a crowd.

Penguin locked in a weak and very loose looking Sharpshooter, with Minami able to get to the ropes. We get a few slams and throws from Minami, but this match has really been nothin more than submission holds and basic slams.

Of course that's not the worst thing ever, but it did make this match feel extra slow and boring to me at least.

We had a really awkward and bad looking collision in the middle of the ring leading to a near fall, followed by a decent looking Back Suplex from Minami. Both women (whether it be selling or genuinely gassed I don't know) finally got the crowd behind them for their first strike exchage of the entire match. Hitting with decent enough looking forearms. Sure I'm happy that they didn't actually pummel each other, but there wasn't all that much impact or force behind them.

We got some more trading back and forth until Penguin hit her finishing move, a diving splash.

It did look good and impactful, so that's a plus.

It wasn't necessarily a bad match. They hit their moves well without any sort of mistakes or issues or anything like that. I may be overly critical and I apologize, but it's just me being a dumb fan who wants realism and violence.

Result: Flying Penguin pinned Minami Yuuki

Star Rating: 2/5 Stars

Match 3: Tag Team Match

CHIAKI & Nagisa Nozaki vs Nao Ishikawa & Rea Seto

As annoying as I found CHIAKI and Nozaki in the DREAM STAR Grand Prix due to their matches often ending in cheating and just repeating over and over again, I will admit that I think they're a great team and one of the best acts in all of Marigold. I love their presentation and they are good wrestlers. Just their characters that do exactly what they need to do that gets me a little bit.

As for their opponents, I don't have that much experience seeing their work. So this is going to see how I feel about them an their skill.

Nao and Rea try to go for a handshake to show respect early on, but they get denied.

Nagisa and CHIAKI immediately start to cheat and double team their opponents with the crowd cheering along with them, which is one of those things that just happens with Japanese crowds.

They continue to taunt and trash talk to cheers while beating down on the poor girl before we finally get one on one action with Nagisa and Seto.

Seto and Ishikawa had a good moment to shown some chemistry together, hitting some tandem offense and locking in duel submission holds while taunting together. They worked well together, and I'm unsure how often they have acted as a team.

The heel team gets back on top and beats down on Ishikawa while doing more cheating and dirty tactics to get the advantage and keep it.

The fact that the crowd has been louder for CHIAKI and Nozaki more than anybody else tonight is wild to see from very obvious heels. Crazy stuff to see.

Everyone in this match does really well. The moves all look good, the story is solid, and the crowd is very vocal. It continues to be very well wrestled and went on for a while longer than I was expecting. Which is honestly crazy because it was just about 20 seconds longer than the opening match, but felt a good amount longer. Wether that was the pacing or what, this match felt like a slog to get through.

CHIAKI was the star of the match, looking pretty good whenever she was in the ring. She has the most charisma and a great grasp of her character, playing to the crowd and camera perfectly well. She gets the win with a pretty impressive Northern Lights Suplex in what felt like a pretty abrupt finish to me, but I was happy that they didn't need to use their chair like they often do to win.

Result: CHIAKI pinned Rea Sato

Star Rating: 2.25/5 Stars

Match 4: Tag Team Match

Mai Sakurai & MIRAI vs Naho Yamada & Natsumi Showzuki

This match is filled with all sorts of talent that I have seen before and love their work. Mai Sakurai and Natsumi Showzuki are two women who I could see being top stars. Meanwhile MIRAI and Naho Yamada are incredible and could be great future stars in the coming years. A match full of great talent that I just hope can keep improving and rising through the ranks.

This match started off faster than any of the ones before this, the crowd getting behind it pretty well. There were good exchanges of reversals and dodges with no real moves being hit early on. Natsumi and MIRAI just continued to dodge and avoid, showing great skill and awareness that was exciting to see. It really felt like they were wanting to get the crowd loud.

Natsumi began to beat down on MIRAI, tagging in Naho to work her over for a bit, but MIRAI was able to quickly fight back and take both women out at once. Really everyone was wrestling with a big amount of vigor and and energy that had the crowd constantly applauding and cheering. MIRAI continued to get beat down until she finally tagged in the current Marigold United National Champion Mai Sakurai.

Sakurai and Natsumi battled it out for a bit, which I feel like would be a great title match. They traded some pretty vicious kicks and slams, the crowd continuing to go nuts.

There was a really clunky and weird moment where Natsumi tries to climb the corner while Mai runs towards her, but then Mai just stopped. They were very visibly and obviously trying to communicate, which made Mai carefully and slowly walk forward into a weak looking kick and dive.

Naho came in and tried to save the match with more energy and drama, which the crowd did get into.

The action just became incredibly fast and moves going back and forth like crazy. Chaos in a fun way that wasn't overly hard to follow, but difficult to go in detail about. By the end, all four women were getting constantly in the ring and hitting moves. Naho and Mai were the legal women in the ring, putting on a great stretch full of drama and action that made both women look great. Mai and MIRAI hit a tag team move, followed by a STIFF looking STO of some kind from Mai to Naho, getting the victory.

Result: Mai Sakurai pinned Naho Yamada

Star Rating: 3/5 Stars

Match 5: 3v3 Tag Team Match

Bozilla, Megaton & Tank vs Misa Matsui, Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki

Bozilla has been a long time member of the Marigold roster, acting as the large heel monster to destroy people and look like a strong badass. Tank is relatively new, very recently coming in and winning the Marigold Twin Star Tag Titles with Bozilla, acting as the monstrous forces for the smaller women to try and battle. Meanwhile Megaton is somebody that I know nothing about, as she has been wrestling for only 2 years despite being in her early 40s.

But they are across the ring from the top star of Marigold, the current World Champion Utami Hayashishita. One of the freaking best women wrestlers on the planet. But she is teaming with Misa Matsui, who has had a recent string of incredible performances in Marigold, and Victoria Yuzuki who has only been wrestling for a year but has shown all sorts of incredible talent and skill. The super rookie of Marigold and been showing off her skill in a bunch of great matches in a very short period of time. Heck, Yuzuki is already the current Superfly Champion, which is a belt for the smaller and faster wrestlers on the roster.

We start off with two of the champions in Tank and Utami. Utami is much smaller and weaker, making her larger opponent look good by letting herself get slammed down and thrown around. Tank absorbs a bunch of moves before finally being taken down to the mat, letting the faces get a bit of a run.

Megaton gets tagged in and has a very unique look, even if her style seemed to be focused a bit more on comedy. She seems like a wrestler that would do well in somewhere like DDT Pro Wrestling, which is a heavily comedic promotion.

Bozilla comes in and continues to be one of my favorite women in all of Marigold. Looking like an absolute star due to her size and presence. Very clearly having an udnerstanding of her character and what works to make the crowd boo her and cheer her opponents.

We get some time to see Utami and Bozilla fight it out one on one, which I feel like might be their future world title program or feud. What would be sure to be at least a good if not great match, and really something that would help Marigold showcase their roster and willingness to create new stars.

We then see Bozilla and Tank show off some great chemistry before we get Tank working over Utami with some great strikes back and forth.

The match continued on very back and forth for a while, with every single person beig made to look like an absolute star in the process.

It ends with Tank getting the victory, looking like a brand new dominant powerhouse that hopefully has big plans for her in Marigold.

Result: Tank pinned Misa Matsui

Star Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

After the match, Megaton cut a quick promo to hype up Tank and Bozilla before Utami steals the microphone from her. Utami then offers Tank a shot at her Marigold World Championship, the future program for Tank to look great being set in what is sure to be an exciting direction for the next month or however long they decide to run with it.

Main Event: Tag Team Match

Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka vs Chika Goto & Miku Aono

I am surprised that this match was put on last and not the 3v3 tag, but this is still sure to be a good showing from all involved.

Everyone in this match has had great runs both before and inside of Marigold, with Miku Aono being the first ever Marigold National Champion and Takahashi being a legend who has won countless titles since she debuted in 1996.

Meanwhile Seri Yamaoka literally made her in-ring debut on January 3rd OF THIS YEAR!

The fact that she is already being pushed strongly to the main event scene alongside former champions and living legends is wild to me. I have not seen her debut or her skill just yet, so I am hoping to be completely impressed and wowed by her.

I will be honest and say that I wasn't overly impressed by this. All of the women looked good, even Seri had some great moments to shine and show her skill. But this match felt like it should've been earlier and not the main event. It was just a basic tag match with not really a whole lot of drama or story from what I could gather.

Like I really struggled to get overly invested. It was a great showcase for Seri to show her power as well as making Nanae look like a big deal and legend to fear, but this match went on and on and on. Over 20 minutes of working each other over with the crowd invested and loud, but seemingly more for the people involved and not so much the action. If this is the first part of Marigold pushing Seri to the moon, than cool. I wouldn't do that but that's just me and my preference. They clearly see something in her and want to make her a star, and I respect that.

Result: Nanae Takahashi pinned somebody

Star Rating: 2.25/5 Stars

Overall, this show was pretty lackluster. They showcased a bunch of the younger and newer talents to audiences, which is great to see and shows that they clearly are prepared for a bright future ahead, but the overall match quality just wasn't all there.

The best match by far was the 3v3 tag, while everything else underdelivered. Really wouldn't recommend this, even if it is a build up to their next big PPV event.

Overall Rating: 4/10