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I made a video earlier in my channels career, covering who I think is the top 10 Over all wrestlers in Stardom. I figured enough has changed, and enough time has passed for an update. I did everything the same as last time with a couple changes.
What do I mean by Overall wrestler, well it means taking different elements that make up a wrestler and holding each one to the same value as the other. I split it into 5 categories. Wrestling Ability, Presence, Charisma, Bumping and Selling, and Storytelling. Each of these being split into multiple categories as well.
Wrestling ability is made up of Power, Technical, Speed, Flashiness, Striking, and smoothness. Each one is equal to the other, so a wrestler who has a 10 in power has the same level of talent as someone who is a 10 in smoothness and so forth.
Presence is the only one that is not made up of multiple parts, as presence itself can’t really be explained or rationalized. It is a feeling you get when you see them.
Charisma is made up of Promo, Appearance, Body Language, and Facial Expressions. Most of these are simple and self explanatory. One thing I want to make clear though is that for appearance, while attractiveness does play a part, a wrestler does not have to be attractive to get a 10.
Bumping and Selling is made up of three categories. Bumping Intensity, Bumping Complexity, and Selling Authenticity. The intensity of a bump and the complexity changes the power and devastation of moves, while their ability to sell, is also important.
Finally, Storytelling is made up of In Ring, Plotlines, and Rivalry Intensity. This is the other side of charisma. Where charisma is the tool, Storytelling is the application. How they show a story in ring, or how interesting their plots or rivalries are. Are they able to make a rivalry seem intense or attractive to the viewers.
Each of the 5 categories are equal in the final score. I used the score of each category, and found what that would be out of 10, and that is the overall score of that wrestler. I did this in a way that would limit my personal bias as much as possible, but the completely eliminate bias is impossible. I went and scored each wrestler category by category, that way I could not know who was in the lead, or who was beating who until the very end. I can say I was honestly surprised with some of the placements this year.
10 - Saya Kamitani - 6.15
Number 10 is Saya Kamitani which is a bit surprising as she is far from being a great wrestler right now. As you can see from her overall, is that while she isn’t necessarily great at any one thing besides Presence, she is very steadily average. Sometimes the person who wins first half the time, isn’t as good as the person who wins second every time.
Her lowest score is her wrestling ability at 4.83. As you can see here, she gets a 4 in every category besides flashiness and technical. Technical being her worst category in wrestling ability. This makes sense, as its clear Kamitani is trying to be a woah wrestler. A wrestler who is trying to blow peoples minds with incredible stunts, evident from her doing a running shooting star press, and Phoenix Splash so early in her career. This results in her getting a 10 in flashiness, as very few Joshi, regardless of experience, does the things that she does. None even come close to her in Stardom, so her flashiness stands out even more.
The one thing that really hurt her here, other than just not being all that solid in the ring, is her consistency. She is very all over the place, and could hit a move perfectly as often as she misses.
Her Charisma score is a bit above average at 6.25. I don’t think it is a shocking statement to say that Kamitani is a very charismatic wrestlers. So why the lower score if she is such a charismatic wrestler? It’s because her Promo and facial expressions are very all over the place. She can put on a great promo and look intense one moment, and the next scream a promo that results in cringeworthy silence.
The only thing keeping her from dominating is consistency, which is just something that will come with time and experience. One part of Charisma she has already killing it at, is her appearance. For one, she is very pretty, and then add on her awesome outfit and stature, she gets a solid 9 in appearance.
From almost day one, I said that Kamitani is going to be a superstar one day. One of the reasons was that she has the presence of a star already even if her skills don’t match. She clearly learned stage presence during her days as an Idol, because she commands the spotlight, even when just standing still. It’s truly awesome that at such an early point in her career, she can command your attention like that.
Kamitani has a lot to progress to be considered a great wrestler, but as an overall wrestler, I believe she is doing just fine. I truly believe that one day she will be at the top of the Joshi game, and breaking boundaries even more then she is now.
09 - AZM - 6.98
Number 9 is AZM, and this was one of the biggest shockers to me. AZM was number 3 in the last list, so I’m not so sure what happened this time. I don’t know if I just rated her lower this time, or if there is just much more competition this time and she doesn’t hold up as much anymore. I think she is still one of the best on the roster, but I guess there are things about her keeping her from being at the top right now.
Going into her Overall, she is at 6.98 which is is about .8 difference from Kamitani. Most of the differences between each spot is usually less than .5 so her being about .8 higher than the previous spot shows the jump of skill. As you can see her weak points are charisma and Storytelling. AZM has always been more focused on her wrestling than the showmanship part of it. I believe one of the reasons for the drop was when I did the previous video, the feud with Sumire, and her storyline with Kagetsu was fresh still. AZM really hasn’t had any kind of time on the mic recently and she has been in the back burner, even though she is a champion so she hasn’t shown much in terms of charismatic skills.
She is holding a 7.5 in wrestling ability, which is second in the entire promotion. I don’t think I need to try to convince anybody of AZM’s talent when it comes to being in the ring. She is insane, not even just for her age, just in general. She is one of the few wrestlers who got more than one 10 in wrestling ability. She maxed out Speed and Flashiness. Especially lately, she has been upping the complexity of her move set, which in turn has slowed her down a bit, but even then, she is still fast enough to achieve a 10.
Her weakest element is power, which should be of no surprise, being so small and specializing on a high speed style.
Let’s take a look at why her charisma score was not as high as it could be at a 6.75. As you can see here, she is doing just fine with appearance and promo. The problem arises in Facial expressions and Body language. AZM can be kind of an emotionless robot at times, which is odd because she used to be the most charismatic Queen’s Quest member, and now she is one of the least. While this seems to be a detriment to her score here, I don’t believe it is a problem as a wrestler. She puts on a performance that no other can, and not being extremely expressive in the face or body expressions doesn’t change that.
Her bumping and selling has always been superb, but I believe she has actually fallen a bit since the last video. She is currently at a 7.67, which in the grand scheme of things, is amazing, but for AZM it’s a bit of a downgrade. That is because of one thing, and one thing only. She has cooled down a bit on her bumping complexity. She is still better than average, but she has no done nearly as much dangerous bumps as she used to. She is still as intense as always with a 10, but she is at a 6 when it comes to the complexity of her bumps. This is actually a really good thing, as the less complex the bumps are, the less likely of injury.
AZM is a star and a veteran in the business in her own right. She could not get better at all from now on, and still be better then most wrestlers will ever get in their career. It will be curious to see if she has hit her ceiling yet, or if she could somehow get even more amazing.
08 - Starlight Kid - 7.02
Number 8 is Starlight Kid, and I have got to say, it hurts my soul a bit to see her higher on the list than AZM. I believe the reason is that Starlight now has finally been pushed up to play with the big kids, forcing her to really progress at a faster rate. Something AZM has been doing for years now. Starlight Kid is .04 points higher than AZM, so in the grand scheme of things, they are equal.
Looking at her overall, she is doing very well, with her lowest scores in the wrestling ability and storytelling category. With her highest score being in charisma which should be of no surprise to anyone. I believe what really helped her is her recent feud with Tam Nakano. In my last list, I didn’t give her a very good presence score, and she has really shown in this feud that she can demand your attention and she is getting very good at it.
Looking at her wrestling ability, you can see she is very average in many categories like technical, power, striking, and speed. What she really flourishes at though is Smoothness and flashiness. She is one of the few high flyer types in Stardom, and over the last year she has increased tremendously in smoothness. She used to be very sloppy when doing some things like her tiger feint kick. Now she Is like butter in the ring. With the addition of her top rope moonsault, she has really increased her flashiness as well. A lot of her moves have a certain flair to them that is not very common in Stardom.
Charisma is Kid’s best category. And here you can see why. She is above average in every single category, and getting perfect 10’s in both body language and appearance. She has been a master of those for awhile now, but I feel like her promo skills have gotten much much better.
In her bumping and selling, the main score here is the bump complexity. She is one of the best bumpers in the promotion. She is also a very unique bumper, applying a method that no one else utilizes. She uses rag doll when bumping, and it adds a certain flair to it that not only looks amazing, but also is so unique that you see the bump and think only Starlight could do that.
I think watching Starlight progress over the year wasn’t a thing most people noticed. At least for me, it seemed like she just came out of no where recently, and I think a lot of that has to do with the STARS vs Cosmic Angels feud that we are currently right in the middle of. This story has really shown things that were previously untrue about her, and one of the biggest things is that she can be serious, and she can be intimidating.
07 - Jungle Kyona - 7.10
Number 7 is Jungle Kyona with the overall score of 7.10. I was a bit worried that her time away would make me rate her lower then she really is. Luckily that doesn’t seem to be the case. Jungle is by far one of the most solid wrestlers in the promotion. It’s no wonder she is constantly used for big matches. She is the ultimate enhancement talent, and while that is tragic, it’s also a testament to her skill. You can see here that her lowest scores are wrestling ability and bumping and selling. That might sound like it’s a bad thing, but that’s because she specializes in power wrestling, which is is unfortunately one of the styles that doesn’t overlap with the other categories in the wrestling ability section. She is also a very safe and weak bumper, which is not a problem. She isn’t bad at it, she just isn’t great at it, which in turn is much safer for her.
Let’s take a look at her wrestling ability, which is a score of 5.33. The first look at this chart makes Jungle look like a crappy wrestler, but that could not be farther from the truth. As you can see, most of them are around average except speed, which is pretty much the opposite of power wrestlers. She gets a 10 in power, because it’s relative to her size. She is only 5’1” which back in the day made her average size, but she was pulling off strength feats that were crazy.
Now a days, she is very small compared to the current roster, but she still makes you feel like she isn’t falling behind. Ever since her shoulder injury, she had actually fallen a bit in the power category, but even then I believe she still gets a 10.
Her charisma is something that should not be ignored, getting a score of 8.5. The fifth highest score in the promotion. She has a great look and her facial expressions are always on point. The two elements I really want to focus on here though are the two 10s. In promo and body language. I knew she was something special in those categories from the moment Momo Watanabe betrayed her back in 2016. She is able to make you feel her pain, and well Jungle is in a lot of pain… pretty much always. Being a perpetual underdog is tough, and through her 3 betrayals she has experienced throughout her career, you feel every bit of hurt.
You can see here that her storytelling is pretty much perfection, only losing out on a perfect score by getting a 9 in Rivalry Intensity. Usually her feuds are great, and they really have an impact, but the fact that a lot of them seem to falter off and keeps her from getting a 10.
I believe one of the craziest things to think about, is that with all the newcomer fans to Stardom, that some might not even know who Jungle is. With her being out with multiple injuries that required surgery. I can not stress enough how important she has been, and is to the company. When Momo was carrying the promotion after Io’s departure to the WWE. Jungle was in the background doing just as much lifting, without any of the credit. So if there is anything you newcomers take from this video, is that please respect Jungle Kyona, because if you thought Momo was a foreign fan favorite, you haven’t seem the love Jungle can muster from us.
06 - Saya Iida - 7.17
Number 6 is Saya Iida, with an overall score of 7.17. Is Saya Iida, a better wrestler than the others that came before her on this list. No, but this isn’t a top 10 best wrestlers list. It’s an overall list, and Saya is absolutely solid in pretty much every aspect. What really helped her here is the surprising elements she portrays that doesn’t fit with her style. As you can see she has the same score as Jungle Kyona in wrestling ability. She is above or around average in every category with her excelling in presence and bumping and selling.
Her wrestling ability is sitting at a 5.33 with most being average or well below. She is sitting at a low of 2 for flashiness, which is very interesting. She is so awesome because she doesn’t focus on flash, but skill. What’s really helping her is that she has a 7 in striking, but surprisingly a 10 in power. Even though she isn’t a power wrestler, the strength feats she pulls off would put any power wrestler to shame. She is small, but she is easily one of the most powerful people on the roster. So giving her a 10 was the easiest decision for her.
Saya also excels in presence quite a bit. She had the deck stacked against her with her natural size being so small. So she worked hard and built her muscle until she looks like an absolute monster. I always call her mighty mouse, since she is so strong but so small. When she stands in the ring, you get a feeling of an underdog who could actually succeed. Someone who is on their journey to the top instead of someone who is always failing to get to the top.
One of her biggest ups would be her bumping and selling. Almost no one in the entire promotion can compare to her when it comes to this. She got a perfect score of 10. Her bumps are intense and the complexity of them is amazing. She also sells really really well, making you believe she is getting the snot beat out of her. Sometimes she can go a little over board like taking back bumps off of kick outs, but there is almost never a moment in her matches where her bumping doesn’t make it so much better.
Saya Iida is someone I can promise you that you need to keep an eye on in the future. She is one of those people who seem to be an over achiever. Someone who is expected to work a certain amount, and actually does double at the very minimum. There are two Sayas in Stardom, and both are going to be STARS, but if I had to choose one of the two that will be the better wrestler, I would choose Saya Iida.
05 - Momo Watanabe - 7.30
Number 5 is Momo Watanabe with an overall score of 7.3. As you might know by now, Momo is my favorite wrestler. When I did this list before, I was overly critical with her, and the way I calculated the overall score was a bit different, essentially making presence barely nothing. This time with me not being overly critical on her and presence actually holding weight this time, she did much better.
One thing I want to point out is that her lowest score is 5.83 in wrestling ability, but that is actually a really great score. Her true lowest score is bumping and selling at 6.33. She is not an intense or overly complex bumper. She isn’t bad, but she isn’t anything special in that category.
In wrestling ability, Momo is doing incredibly well. Being slightly above average in smoothness, technical and power. Where she really excels is in striking. She got a perfect 10, as she is one of the hardest hitting strikers in the promotion. As a striker, their style doesn’t really overlap well with the other subcategories just like power wrestlers. She has shown proficiency in other categories, but she is really falling short in speed and flashiness, which is understandable.
Momo to a lot of newer fans, is just someone who puts on great matches but hasn't done anything important. To us older fans, we know what kind of champion she is. Her presence is something that’s hard to look away from. When Kairi and Io left for the WWE, people were worried about Stardom. Momo seemed to have taken the place of Io as the new ace and people wondered if she could pull it off. She stood in that ring as the White Belt champion and she owned that company. There were times when her white belt would main event over the red belt, and you knew she was the emperor of Stardom.
Momo’s charisma is something that's up for discussion amongst fans. I’ve seen people say she has none, and some saying she is over flowing. I ended up giving her a 7 even. The two sub categories she really excelled in was appearance and promo. Just ignoring that she is absolutely beautiful, she has such a great look. She looks strong while also holding an awesome sense of style.
Momos promo style is very subdued. Unlike a lot of the roster, her promos are either very subtle and reserved or want to rip your head off. It helps really well with progressing whatever story she is in. She can be cocky and confident, almost whispering to her opponent. Then screaming like an banshee when she feels cheated. She is able to put on a great promo, no matter the situation.
Momo Watanabe is my favorite wrestler. She is the first and only wrestler to stay in my number 1 spot. She has been on a downfall over the last 2 years in Stardom, but she is every bit an amazing wrestler as she was back then. I still have a little bit of hope that they haven't abandoned her, because it would be a huge shame for someone this talented to be passed up.
04 - Giulia - 7.30
` Number 4 is Giulia with an overall score of 7.68. This will probably be one of the most controversial placements on this list. There is a group who refuses to give her any props and there is a group that thinks she can do no wrong. So either way her placement is going to start a discussion. Giulia is a widely talented wrestler, who’s main attraction is her charisma, storytelling, and presence. As you can see her wrestling ability is a bit lower than the rest of the top ten. She is actually 17th when it comes to wrestling ability, and the main reason for that is consistency.
Her wrestling score is 4.67 and that’s because the only thing she really excels at is the power element of her offense. Everything else is below average. Like I mentioned, she is highly inconsistent. She is by far, excluding the youngins and rookies, the most inconsistent in the ring. She can be putting on MOTY contenders one minute and mess up a simple snap mare the next. Her main problem I’ve noticed is timing. She seems to be on a different beat than the rest of the roster, which is a pretty serious problem.
I feel like she has gotten better since her arrival in Stardom, but maybe not as better as she should be by now, which makes me think this might be a career long issue. If she was more consistent, she would definitely be higher.
Her charisma is sitting at a 9.75 and her presence is 9. She looks and act like an absolute star. The thing that really sets her apart is that she is the biggest dork in the whole promotion. I have never seen someone so socially unaware as she is. She has this natural awkwardness that just could not be copied by someone else. That makes her unique. She draws your eyes and ears, and you just can’t stop paying attention to her whether because it’s her beauty, her body language, or just waiting to hear what crazy stuff she is going to say next. She has your attention and it’s not going anywhere.
Giulia is one of the best pick ups Stardom has gotten over the last year. Someone who’s ceiling is almost inconceivable. I believe in the near future, she could be considered one of the main faces of the Joshi world. I wouldn’t really put it past her to make a serious name for herself in this wrestling world, and change the game a bit. That is, if her caretakers in DDM can keep her from getting lost in her own head.
03 - Syuri - 7.70
Number 3 is Syuri with an overall score of 7.70. Syuri was not a member of stardom when I did the last video, but I can tell you that if she was, she would be around this spot last time too. Syuri is one of the best wrestlers in the world right now. Completely solid and above average in almost every aspect of being a wrestler. There is only one spot where she isn’t amazing at and that’s bumping and selling. She is a soft and safe bumper, but having been in wrestling for over 10 years I don’t blame her. She is one of the only new members to have joined recently that seems to have no opposition towards her push in Stardom and for good reason. She is one of the only ones in Stardom who had the skills to back up the push.
Her wrestling ability score is a 6.33, which is highly skilled. The only thing keeping her down is her low speed and flashiness. She is a technician and striker to the core. Not needing anything fancy to catch the crowd. She uses a striking offensive style with dismantling her opponents with submissions.
She can be a bit unsmooth sometimes, but that grittiness really helps her style, as she has this feeling of a warrior, and war is not pretty. It’s rough and unsavory. Her one claim to fame here is her technical ability.
Being an exceptional technician, she is able to run circles around any one in stardom. I decided to not give her a 10 in striking but a 9 instead because while her strikes are amazing, a lot of the times they feel pulled back and soft. That could be for a number of reasons, but I feel like it’s probably because she is afraid of actually hurting someone, since she has a legit background in MMA.
Her charisma score is a 9.5, because she can always make you believe it. Whatever she is saying, what ever emotion she is portraying, it’s believed. There is nothing she can’t do when it comes to charisma, but she gets an 8 in promo. I believe the reason she isn’t getting a 10 is because she just doesn’t seem to talk much on the mic, so there isn’t a very good pool to pull from to really say one way or the other.
The thing though is from what I have heard, on the mic she reminds me a lot of Jake the Snake. She doesn’t need to yell to get your attention, but unfortunately that falls more under presence than charisma, and Syuri is outstanding in presence. There isn’t a single person in Stardom who is more intimidating then Syuri is.
Syuri is in my opinion the person who is benefiting the most from the Stardom acquisition. She has always been this talented and awesome, but now she is reaching more people then ever. I believe that without Syuri, DDM’s dominance would have been taken even more badly with foreign fans than it is now. She is the one thing in DDM that adds legitimacy.
02 - Mayu Iwatani - 8.40
Number 2 is Mayu Iwatani with the overall score of 8.4. The fact that Mayu is not number 1 is going to rub some people the wrong way, and I completely understand. Mayu is essentially a wrestling prodigy.
She took some time to get there, but once she really unlocked her ability she seemed to have a greater taking to wrestling than any other star in stardom before or after. As you can see from her overall chart, she is not lacking in a single category. In the last list, she tied number 1 with Kagetsu, and I don’t think her being 2nd here means she has fallen off or gotten any worse from before, but just that others have risen higher then before.
You can see from her wrestling ability score of 8, that she is better at wrestling ability than everyone else. With second place being .5 less than her. It’s rare to see such high scores across the entire board. If someone is strong they are usually not fast, and if they are smooth they usually are not strong and so forth. The fact that she is able to have her lowest score in wrestling ability be a 7 is actually amazing. It’s very rare for someone to be this well rounded. Think the Io Shirai and the Kagetsu’s of the world. Mayu is one of them.
The thing that really hinders Mayu is that her presence, while good, is kind of weak for a person of her talent and standing. She is very meek and while she can be intimidating and feel like a star, it is rare flashes instead of being the default.
The best thing about Mayu, and the thing that made her stand out when she was teaming with Io Shirai and Kairi was her bumping and selling. She is a master of the craft and has a perfect 10. Her bumps are always on point and never disappoint. There is a reason that the jokes involving Mayu are usually about how she hates her own neck. She takes neck bumps on the regular and the things she does is just absolutely insane. It’s no wonder she is the top of the top.
Mayu Iwatani is Stardom’s Icon, and one of the best wrestlers in women’s wrestling period. There are few mountains in women’s wrestling. There aren’t many people who feel like their level of talent is unattainable, but Mayu is one of them. She is the one every wrestler she strive to beat, and strive to be better then. She is the pinnacle. The star. The Icon.
01 - Tam Nakano - 8.50
Number 1 is Tam Nakano with an overall score of 8.5. This is going to cause some complaints to flow, I can tell you that right now. There are people who legitimately think that Tam Nakano is a bad wrestler, and I completely disagree. So much so, that as an overall wrestler she came out on top as number 1.
When people talk about all the best matches, all the best feuds, and all the best moments in Stardom, there is one common factor and that is Tam Nakano. Tam Nakano is consistently the best thing about Stardom, always being the best part of the last two white belt runs, without even holding the belt herself.
Her wrestling ability score is 6.83. Which is very high. Obviously not as high as the truly impressive people in the ring, but that’s because Tam’s best features are not wrestling ability. That doesn’t mean she isn’t good in the ring though, because she is. She is consistently above average in almost all categories, only raising up to a 9 in striking. She isn’t the best striker in the company, but I feel like it’s safe to say she is definitely the flashiest striker in the company. Tam Nakano is also the example that you don’t need to be high speed or high flying to get a decent flashiness score. She is pretty grounded, and while she is fast, she is average. I said before, but sometimes the better person isn’t the one who gets 1st half the time, but the one who get’s 2nd every time.
So where Tam Nakano really shines is the entertainment aspect of wrestling. She is the only person to get two 10s in her overall. In both charisma and story telling. No one is better than Tam Nakano in these two aspects. I can confidently say that. No one works as hard as she does to provide us with rich and intense feuds and stories.
Everything from her feud with Arisa, to her current breaking away from Mayu’s shadow. Everything matters and everything adds to the progress of the story. Her little facial expressions. The words she chose. The way she stands. The pain or anger in her voice. It’s all absolutely perfect and out of all the things on this list, this is the one thing I am 100% certain about. Without Tam Nakano, Arisa and Giulia’s white belts would of started with a whimper instead of a bang. Natsuko became a name worth mentioning because of their feud. I think it’s not unfair to say that the status and importance of the white belt, is partly because of her.
I have been saying it for awhile, but I believe Tam Nakano is the best wrestler in Stardom. Sure there are better in ring wrestlers, and there are better bumpers, but when you take everything into consideration, I believe Tam Nakano is number 1. I believe out of everyone from Stardom before the newcomers came in, the one person who refused to let them seem above her was Tam Nakano. She never stopped giving us the best possible product, and I believe there isn’t anyone else in Stardom that can do that as good as her.
For those of you who have stuck around to the end. I hope you enjoyed, and remember this is all just opinion. I’m pretty happy with how my list turned out, and I don’t think there are too many regrets I have with it. The way I did this, I didn’t know who was going to end up where, so I had a bit of reservations when I was done. After really looking at it though I feel much more confident on where everyone is.
With how different this years list is, compared to the last list, I'm very excited to see how much will change the next time I decide to do this list.
Find the video version of this article here: