Momo Watanabe took home the trophy as STARDOM’s 2025 5STAR Grand Prix closed, but there was glory to be had beyond that win. 

Rising stars put their mark on the tournament. A high-flyer soared. The future of STARDOM was on display in many a ring during the round-robin event.

Who made the biggest impact? Who delivered the best matches? Who will we most remember from this 5STAR?

Read on to see the wrestlers our writers chose to spotlight. 

Rina (nominated by: Scott Edwards)

If you’ve been watching STARDOM over the last few years, then this breakout MVP performance by Rina felt inevitable. But even with it feeling like that, it still feels a bit early for her in her career to have this impressive of a run. In her first 5STAR Grand Prix. at the age of 18 years old, Rina stole the show every single show she was on. She not only showed that she was the future of both STARDOM and joshi wrestling as a whole, but she’s ready to be the present. She was comfortably my MVP in this tournament, which isn’t taking anything away from anyone else—she was just that good. 

Rina’s run of matches, beginning with the Natsupoi match and continuing through to the final night against AZM, is a series of top-tier matches after top-tier matches. Her highly anticipated rematch with Starlight Kid at the Yokohama Budokan show event stole the show, and it’s arguable that Rina’s match with AZM on the final night was the best of the bunch. Also, Rina’s overall performances were only amplified by making it into the finals for the Red Stars block, showcasing that she is going to be one of the faces of STARDOM from this moment forward. This tournament proved that Rina is going to be Wonder of Stardom champion, should be Wonder of Stardom Champion, and there’s no reason to wait past Stardom Dream Queendom later this year. 

An incredible run that is unlike any other, and one that everyone should go out of their way to check out if they haven’t. Rina is a superstar, and this was the official arrival to anyone who may not have been aware beforehand.

Starlight Kid (nominated by: Justin Stein)

While I can admit that my actual MVP for the tournament was Rina, I wanted to instead talk about a wrestler who finished in my top 3 based on ratings, but didn’t even make it into the playoffs. That of course is the “Sky Tiger” and the current reigning Wonder of Stardom champion Starlight Kid! Throughout the tournament, Starlight Kid took it upon herself to have a good match with every single opponent she stepped foot inside the ring with. Sure, her block was the most stacked out of the four, but she still did a great job bringing even Rian to a really good match when the expectations were that she was just going to steam roll the young wrestler. 

For me, Starlight Kid’s average star rating for her matches came out to 3.96, and five out of her seven matches were four stars and above. It’s unfortunate that she wasn’t able to make the playoff round, but considering the fact that she already holds one of the top two titles in the company, I think she’ll be just fine, and it helped set up a few future white belt matches if they choose to take that route. 

Starlight Kid showed in this tournament that she truly is a possible “ace” of the future for this company by putting together so many good performances, and showing that no matter who she faces inside of the ring, she will make the matches both interesting as well as compelling! 

AZM (nominated by: Ryan Dilbert)

The beauty of a tournament like the 5STAR is that it can elevate more than just the winner. It’s a time for stars to shine and boy did AZM beam on that stage.

The High Speed Bomb Girl looked every bit like a main eventer throughout the tourney. She thrived against Rina and Tomoka Inaba in captivating bangers. She thrilled against Saya Kamitani as she battled to make it to the finals and once there, delivered huge against Momo Watanabe. AZM was consistently crisp, exciting, radiating presence the whole time.

Her name appeared three times in my top 10 ranking of this year’s 5STAR matches, more than anyone not named Rina. 

She turned this tournament into a launchpad for herself. AZM comes out of it a clear red belt contender, making it clear that the future where she will be among those younger stars to take over the company is fast approaching.

Tomoka Inaba (nominated by: Fernando Ibarra)

In a tournament as crowded as this one, you’ll need to adapt to a variety of wrestling styles, but Tomoka was ready to kick her way through her block. Starting off by facing three consecutive High Speed wrestlers, she decisively defeated Wonder of Stardom champion Starlight Kid, but she then was beaten by AZM and Natsupoi. The next two matches were against the mischievous Rina and this year’s Cinderella, Sayaka Kurara, losing to the first one and winning over the latter. She was able to get another upset victory against Natsuko Tora before concluding her participation by beating Rian.

Even though she did better than last year, she fell short in making it to the next round once again, but she delivers every time and this experience is just part of what looks to be a successful career.

Sareee (nominated by: Ryan Dilbert)

Okay, I’m going to cheat and nominate two wrestlers. It just doesn’t feel right talking about this year’s 5STAR without acknowledging what Sareee did throughout the tourney.

The outsider had the crowd charged up and boosted her opponents. She was the wrestler who dared to talk shit about STARDOM, giving the roster members a common enemy. That created such a rich layer of drama to the 5STAR festivities.  

Sareee brought out the best we’ve seen from Konami in a long time. Her bout against Hina was an underrated banger. And twice, she delivered thrillers against Momo Watanabe, two bouts that were key narratives of the whole tournament. 

Rina deserves a massive stack of flowers for what she did this summer, but it would be unwise not to also celebrate Sareee’s 5STAR run, too.