Modern STARDOM has been defined by its factions, to the point that imagining the company without some of their iconic groups seems unfathomable. Yet when night falls on June 22nd, there may no longer be an Oedo Tai or a Queen’s Quest left standing. For over seven years the two factions have waged war, but now the stage has been set for one last final battle.
It was meant to be a Loser Leaves their Faction match, a stipulation that has been a hallmark of their fights over the years. However, Natsuko Tora decided to mess with the deal, subtlety changing the wording of the contract to state that only the sole surviving member would remain in their faction. With up to four members being kicked from the group at once, it all but signs the death warrant of whichever faction falls short.
This is it. After over seven long years of battle, one of these two empires crumble. It’s been a long and messy war, filled with heartbreak and betrayals on both sides.
Chapter One – Origins and the Kagetsu vs. Shirai Era
The pillars of STARDOM’s history is crafted from these two factions. Oedo Tai were the first, formed at the start of 2015 as Act Yasukawa’s followers joined forces with the Kimura Monster Army led by Kyoko Kimura. The renegade group would undergo many different eras over the years through leadership and personnel changes, but their mission remained largely unchanged: to screw with STARDOM and anyone who didn’t march to the beat of their drum.
Alliances and unofficial groups would pop up here and there during this time, but nobody kept the kind of unity and sisterhood that Oedo Tai held. There is a reason they are the longest running faction in the company to date.
Towards the end of 2016, Io Shirai’s frustration towards Mayu Iwatani would lead to her betraying her Thunder Rock teammate and forming Queen’s Quest. To follow Io you had to have a certain ambition and single-minded focus to achieve success. Mayu hadn’t shown that hunger to become the best, so she sought out those who did.
This early version of Queen’s Quest lent itself more towards the heel side of things but quickly reverted to more of a tweener vision thanks in part to Io Shirai’s popularity with fans. It also made it easier for this second group to begin feuding with Oedo Tai, who by mid-2017 would be about to enter a Golden Era under Kagetsu’s leadership.
It was around this time that the war between these two factions would first start up, with the first strike being landed when Viper (now Piper Niven in WWE) chose to leave Oedo Tai at the behest of Io Shirai to join her in Queen’s Quest. It was a move that proved to be immediately successful, with those two and HZK joining together to win the Artists Titles soon after.
The two factions would battle on and off through the year, but they also needed to shore up their own strength – 2017 had nearly been the end for both factions. Momo Watanabe had been out for most of the year with an ACL injury and Io Shirai had been close to leaving for WWE before health concerns kept her in STARDOM for another year – leaving the group with just HZK and AZM for a while. Meanwhile Oedo Tai survived as just Hana Kimura for a period while Kagetsu was on hiatus and Kris Wolf was dealing with visa issues.
As they approached the end of the year though both factions were looking strong, and Kagetsu was looking to do more than just mess with Io Shirai and Queen’s Quest; she wanted to hurt them. So the Oedo Tai leader devised a match that could do just that. The two factions would meet on January 21st, 2018 in a gauntlet match. Whichever wrestler was the last to be eliminated would be forced to leave their faction forever.
In the end though, the plan backfired, and Oedo Tai’s inexperienced Tam Nakano couldn’t fend off a storming Momo Watanabe and was forced to leave after having found her footing in STARDOM with the group in the previous year.
It was an emotional and crushing blow to the rebellious vagrants who had come to bond with Tam as something of a centerpiece to their oddball family. Like a pack of wolves they would immediately turn on Tam in the weeks that followed, as if she had betrayed them rather than valiantly fought to stay with them.
Their attention may have turned away from the war with Queen’s Quest in the immediate aftermath, but Kagetsu was never one to allow Oedo Tai be on the back foot for too long.
In mid-April STARDOM held the first of two draft events which would allow the (then) three factions to change up their rosters. With no-one eligible to be protected except for the leaders, it was a great opportunity for Kagetsu to strike at the heart of Io Shirai and Queen’s Quest, especially when she won the right to pick first in each round after a match between the three leaders earlier in the night.
The timing of Kagetsu’s selection of Hazuki (then HZK) in the third round felt particularly calculated. It allowed Kagetsu to protect the most important members of her own faction, while also forcing Io to consciously signal to Hazuki – the very first person Io brought into Queen’s Quest – that she was less important to her than AZM and Momo Watanabe. Now Kagetsu had a pissed off and motivated Hazuki on her side in the war.
It was a move that wasn’t without its risk. Hana Kimura wasn’t always the most receptive to new members of the group, least of all to former Queen’s Quest members who she had been fighting tooth and nail against just months prior. However the gamble from Kagetsu would pay off – Hazuki would flourish under the Prime Minister and become her second in command for several key years.
Hazuki’s anger for being hung out to dry would fuel her for several months, but the landscape for both Queen’s Quest and STARDOM was about to dramatically change.
Chapter Two – Changing of the Guards: The Natsuko Tora and Momo Watanabe Era
June 17, 2018 would mark the last time that Io Shirai would wrestle for STARDOM. The Queen’s Quest leader passed on the mantle to Momo Watanabe as she moved on to WWE, and with that move the war with Oedo Tai also changed, shifting it into a bit of a Cold War period.
Much of what had driven the early war was the rivalry between leaders Io Shirai and Kagetsu. With Io Shirai gone, Kagetsu’s attention became more divided. She was busy dealing with a rebellious Hana Kimura after her Mexican excursion, tormenting Mayu Iwatani at every opportunity and generally trying to ensure the next generation in STARDOM was ready to step up after she hung up her boots. Even while Momo Watanabe and Hazuki would go extra hard at one another, for a couple of years the war was reduced mostly to smaller skirmishes and battles over tag team titles.
That’s not to say those smaller skirmishes still didn’t get heated. While Kagetsu might not have been going for the throat, Natsu Sumire was doing everything in her power to torment the Queens. From verbally belittling the literal child AZM, stealing the iconic faction flag or absconding with Konami’s named mask Prince – she was keeping the spark between the two factions alive. However with Hazuki and Kagetsu both planning on retiring, it took away two of the most important generals of the war.
There would be one key defection around this period to keep the war brewing. After nearly two years as a member of Queen’s Quest, Bea Priestley had grown tired of the faction and Momo’s leadership, choosing to jump ship to Oedo Tai via a Kamigoye. Her arrival was one of Kagetsu’s final actions before handing over the reigns to Natsuko Tora, and Bea would devote most of her remaining time in STARDOM to mercilessly tormenting the Queen’s Quest leader even when her faction’s attention was elsewhere.
Under Tora the rivalry with Queen’s Quest would return with a vengeance in time, but the group also became more aggressive towards the entire company. They looked to wreak havoc on all of STARDOM and tear every faction apart. The group would become parasitic in nature, taking talent with one hand while trying to kill groups with the other.
It worked too. Natsuko Tora got the last laugh on Jungle Kyona when she convinced Konami to betray her and help end Tokyo Cyber Squad. In the aftermath, Ruaka and Rina were shuffled into STARS, but both decided soon after to leave and join Oedo Tai. Then as Tora led the group’s focus to Mayu’s team, they managed to force Gokigen Death and the huge scalp of Starlight Kid over to their team in ‘Loser Leaves’ matches.
Oedo Tai were on a warpath through late 2020 and 2021, and Natsuko Tora then turned the faction’s attention to the old enemy: Queen’s Quest. The two factions now looked very different to the ones that had fought years prior. Momo Watanabe, AZM and Natsu Sumire were really the only veterans from the early wars, but it didn’t matter.
What did matter though was a freak injury to the Oedo Tai leader early into her July 4th World of Stardom Championship match with Utami Hayashishita. A torn ACL would put her on the bench for over a year, and so Oedo Tai withdrew to the shadows. Without Natsuko Tora, it was best to work out a new strategy rather than try a head-on assault.
Their new approach, led by Starlight Kid, was far more psychological. They isolated Momo Watanabe, prodding at her insecurities and questioning her place as leader of the group when everyone else seemed more successful. Utami Hayashishista was approaching a year as the World of Stardom Champion. AZM was enjoying a dominant run with the High Speed Title. Saya Kamitani won the Cinderella Tournament. Momo, however, hadn’t won anything since her record breaking White Belt reign ended in early 2019.
In a straight fight this version of Oedo Tai were hopelessly outgunned against an incredibly strong Queen’s Quest. However, Oedo Tai were never interested in a straight fight.
Years of frustration had clearly been building up inside of Momo Watanabe, and at some point Starlight Kid’s words suddenly began to make sense to her. There have been several big defections in the seven years of war, but none were bigger than the moment Momo cracked a steel chair over AZM’s head, betraying the faction she had led for years to join the arch rivals Oedo Tai.
With no leader, Queen’s Quest struggled in the immediate aftermath. Utami lost her Red Belt, and AZM was taken out of action at the start of 2022 after Momo Watanabe knocked her out with a loaded punt. Only Saya Kamitani seemed to keep her nerve during this time, winning the Wonder of Stardom Title at Dream Queendom.
The two factions would keep fighting over the next couple of months, but Queen’s Quest needed to take a step back. They were still without a clear leader to guide them forward. On May 15, 2022 the group competed in a battle royal, and by the end of the match Utami had proven herself the strongest of the group, and was crowned the third leader.
Chapter Three: The Final Countdown
Oedo Tai did not immediately test the strength of the new Queen’s Quest leadership, and so the war entered another cold period. The Queens re-stabilised itself after the shocking betrayal, enjoying lengthy single reigns within its ranks for Saya Kamitani and AZM while Utami Hayashishita turned her focus to training up rookie Miyu Amasaki. Meanwhile Oedo Tai patiently waited for its leader Natsuko Tora, who was still recovering from injury, enjoying some success in the tag and trios division with their new Black Peach teammate.
Tora’s return wouldn’t come until towards the end of 2022, and her first singles match back was against Utami Hayashishita. Despite the history behind their two factions, this was a more personal match for Tora, who wanted to make amends for how their title match had ended. There would be a time for Natsuko Tora to try and do more than just beat Utami – but now wasn’t it.
That time would come in 2023, when Utami’s mental state was more fragile.
Hayashishita had started to find herself in a position not too dissimilar to the one Momo had found herself in with Queen’s Quest: She was the leader, but she was not leading by success. Under her leadership the faction hadn’t seen any major group success despite their on paper strength, veterans like KAIRI had questioned her leadership of younger members like Miyu Amasaki, and she hadn’t made much of an impact individually. Frustration was mounting, and an offhand comment from Saya Kamitani after a loss set her off.
In the past, Oedo Tai had gone after Queen’s Quest with wanton abandon, but under Natsuko Tora they were more calculated and psychological. It was no coincidence that as soon as cracks were beginning to form the gang started to pick at the threads again. It had worked with Momo Watanabe, and the Queens were reminded of this every time the Black Peach stood across from them now.
There was one additional trick up Oedo Tai’s sleeve. The group might have been questioning Utami’s leadership, but they were also trying to tempt Saya Kamitani into making a proactive decision. Rather than psychically assault her ahead of their Loser Leaves Faction Steel Cage Match, Momo was trying to tempt her into striking Utami down like she herself had with AZM.
The baseball bat was offered to Saya. She hesitated but chose not to. The same offer was made to her as she sat atop the cage, with a bloodied Utami on one side and Momo Watanabe on the other. In a split second decision she remained loyal to Queen’s Quest and Utami, knocking Momo away and embracing Utami on top of the cage in one of the most emotional moments in STARDOM’s history. Saki Kashima was forced to leave Oedo Tai, and like Tam in 2018 they suddenly turned on her like wolves.
Queen’s Quest had remained strong in their darkest hour, and as long as AphroditE were together it felt like Oedo Tai could never truly break them. This was confirmed when the duo would win the Goddess of Stardom Tag Titles later that year and definitively beat Natsuko Tora and Momo Watanabe in a match that served as a bit of an epilogue to their midyear battles.
But AphroditE would not remain together in Queen’s Quest forever.
STARDOM would undergo a lot of changes at the start of 2024, but one of the biggest was the departure of Utami Hayashishista. Once more Queen’s Quest was left without a leader, and it had been years since they made a big acquisition to strengthen their ranks.
It meant that without Utami, Queen’s Quest were now not only without a true leadership figure, it was also lacking in top end talent, and both Saya Kamitani and AZM were aware of this. While AZM’s mind turned to recruiting western talent after her appearances in America, Saya was feeling nostalgic.
She wanted to bring Momo Watanabe back. Despite everything that had happened.
AZM was not happy. She had suffered the most from Momo’s betrayal while Saya had arguably been affected the least by it all. While AZM lost over a half decade of friendship as a chair was shattered over her head, Saya was winning titles and even being offered weapons from the Black Peach.
On the other side, Momo remained oddly quiet through much of Saya’s desperate recruitment attempts. She had enjoyed mild success since joining Oedo Tai, but still nothing compared to the kind of success she once had when she was anointed the company’s new Ace after taking over from Io Shirai as the leader of Queen’s Quest back in 2018. Was it possible she was actually considering going back?
Perhaps blind to the hypocrisy of it all, the poaching attempt enraged Natsuko Tora, who called for an end to the warring between the two factions. After seven years it was time for one faction to emerge well and truly victorious. So it was put to STARDOM President Taro Okada to decide on the final stipulation. Does the Final Battle end in one more Loser Leaves Match, or a more definitive Faction Disbands Match?
This sudden call to one final battle seemingly spurred the disjointed visions of Saya Kamitani and AZM to come together once more for the good of the faction. They might not have initially seen eye to eye on Saya’s desire to bring Momo back, but AZM was willing to back her friend and support her. Now was not the time for dissent when the very ideal of Queen’s Quest was at stake.
Yet despite the best intentions of Saya Kamitani (and Taro Okada) Oedo Tai once more got one over on Queen’s Quest. If she had read the contract carefully, she might have spotted the subtle change to the wording of the contract and realised the trap Natsuko Tora had laid for them. What had turned from the final battle between two factions might now be the final battle for Queen’s Quest itself.
– – –
The first time these two historic factions fought was on January 7, 2017 when Io Shirai, Momo Watanabe and HZK won the Artist of Stardom Titles from Kagetsu, Kyoko Kimura, and Viper. On the final show before the climactic battle on June 22, 2024, the sole remaining member of the war Momo Watanabe made it clear that any attempt to recruit her back to Queen’s Quest was a fool’s errand.
To this point, Queen’s Quest has been winning the battles over the past seven years. They won that first match, they struck the first blows by stealing Viper from them and forcing Tam to leave. They remained strong when they tried to sow the seeds to distrust around Utami. However convincing Momo Watanabe to leave remains the single biggest moment of the war, and despite it happening in 2021 that could still decide the war in its final moments of 2024.
RESURA 