JPN
Sayaka Kurei's summer is already coming to an end. The singles league tournament "Sammy presents STARDOM 5★STAR GP 2026" held eight official matches across four blocks on Tuesday, July 28th at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. In Red Stars A, former World Champion Sayaka Kurei suffered her fourth loss to Itsuki Aoki, eliminating her chances of advancing from the group on her own merit
Kurei started the season with two consecutive wins, but then suffered three straight losses, leaving them with their backs against the wall. Their opponent is Aoki, who has won all three of their opening matches
Before the bell even rang, Kurei launched a dropkick, followed by an elbow strike. She then attempted a pinfall on the unsettled Aoki, going for the win in one swift move
However, an enraged Aoki grabbed him by the hair and threw him, launching a fierce attack. He tried to win with elbows, dropkicks, flying elbows, and a body-scissors sleeper hold, but none of them were decisive
After being sent flying by a powerful elbow, he was hit with a spear-like double knee, a falling body press, and an STO, his face contorted in agony. He mustered his last bit of strength to unleash a Violet Shooting and a Heart-Pounding Falcon Arrow, but it wasn't enough to finish the job
After a lariat from the counter, he suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of his opponent's woolen scissors
After the match, Kurei hung her head and said, "It's bad. 5★STAR is 2 wins and 4 losses. There's only one match left, so I thought I absolutely couldn't lose today. It was my first time having a singles match against Itsuki Aoki, and she has an incredibly loud voice. I've never seen anyone's voice that loud before, seriously. It's a little frustrating. I feel like it was quite a while ago when I won the red belt and defended it, because I've been losing so much lately."
Nevertheless, she vowed, "There's still one more match left. My last match is against Tora Natsuko. I've fought her so many times since my debut, and I've been beaten badly so many times, but I've also won so many times. So I'm definitely going to win this time. It might be difficult to advance on my own, but I want to seize this miraculous summer."
In addition, in Red Stars A, Natsuko Tora of HATE will face Maika. Exactly two years ago, at the Sapporo event on July 28, 2024, she defeated the then-World Champion Maika to win the title for the first time
As they entered the ring, Tora attacked Maika, and a fierce brawl immediately ensued outside the ring. Back in the ring, Tora continued to hit her with three sentons, putting her in a difficult position
Maika, unable to find her rhythm, unleashed a series of moves including a body-lock sleeper hold, a brainbuster onto a folding chair, three consecutive brainbusters from a superplex, a rolling lariat, and a Michinoku Driver II, but Tora stopped her attacks with a Blue Mist. She then followed up with a Death Valley Bomb and a Swanton Bomb to secure the victory
With two consecutive wins after two consecutive losses, Tora has brought her record back to even, and she boasted, "For someone like me, the 5★STAR Grand Prix is nothing special. Because this tournament is there so that the winner can say, 'Let me challenge for the red belt next,' or 'Let me have a match like this next,' and have it happen, right? I don't need to participate in a tournament like this; if I say, 'I want to fight for the red belt,' I can do it even if they don't want to."
She then added, "So why am I in this tournament? Because I can defeat whoever I want, whenever I want. I'm more concerned with who I defeat than winning this tournament. The other day it was Rina, and today it's Maika. Two years ago today, I beat Maika and created HATE. There's no way I can lose. I'm not going to lose yet. Maika has more to offer. Try and stop my poison mist. Though I doubt you can." With that, she left the backstage area