On April 26th, one of STARDOM’s greatest warriors will lay down her sword. Saki Kashima is set to retire, presumably out of mercy for the rest of the roster.
The Queen of the Kishikaisei. The Low-Speed Icon. The 5STAR Siren. She will walk away from STARDOM with an undeniable legacy.
Those with lack of vision might call her a midcard comedy act but the numbers say otherwise. The stats bear out a story of supremacy.
First off, Kashima has been an absolute bully to STARDOM’s supposed GOAT, Mayu Iwatani. She has beaten Iwatani four times with a 4-1 record against her in tournament matches. Who else can claim that? Io Shirai only defeated Iwatani three times in a STARDOM ring and is 0-1-2 in tournament matches against Ms. I Am Brain, This is Chicken herself.
Okay, how about her record against STARDOM’s new top dog? Well, Kashima currently boasts a 2-1 record against Saya Kamitani. And has Kamitani offered Saki a red belt title match? No, of course not.
She knows she’s one kishikaisei away from being embarrassed under the bright lights.
Let’s look then how Kashima has fared against other former World of STARDOM champs. She’s undefeated against Utami Hayashishita. She outlasted Tam Nakano in a 5STAR Grand Prix battle, and the Top Kawaii of the Cosmos never had the guts to face her again. Saki earned two tourney wins against Syuri and bested Giulia back in 2021, likely one of the reasons the former Donna Del Mundo leader fled to WWE.
Kashima’s powers have been most apparent during the 5STAR Grand Prix. No one is safe once she’s placed in your block.
At STARDOM’s premier tournament, Kashima has defeated Iwatani, Kamitani, Maika, Momo Watanabe, AZM, Kairi Hojo, Hazuki, Hana Kimura, Giulia, Risa Sera, Tam Nakano, Syuri, Hanan, and Thekla. We’re talking white belt champs, 5STAR winners, and faction leaders all falling victim to Kashima. That’s some real apex predator stuff right there.
But not only has Saki notched victories against the who’s who of STARDOM, she’s done it in record time. AZM only lasted 44 seconds against her. Kashima beat Saori Anou in seven seconds, Hana Kimura in 8, Aya Sakura in 26, and Hanan in 20. It only took a measly 17 seconds for her to put Mayu down for the count. Saki is basically the joshi Amanda Nunes if you think about it.
How about what she did between 2014 and 2017? Kashima was undefeated for four straight years. UNDEFEATED! Not Io Shirai, not Meiko Satomura, not Roman freaking Reigns had a single win over her in that span.
Before you go rush to the comments and say that Kashima was only pulling a Bruno Sammartino because she took a hiatus from wrestling, count how many people challenged her at any point during her “break.” Not a single one. They were ducking her, folks. Toni Storm didn’t want that smoke!
And while this wasn’t a victory in an actual ring, her absolute beatdown of Fuwa-Chan on Twitter has to be mentioned. With just one image, she landed a knockout blow to the up-and-comer:
Imagine what Saki would do to her if she actually laid hands on her.
Take a look at Kashima’s trophy mantle, too. There’s a good amount of gold on there. Kashima won the Goddess of STARDOM Championship with Mayu Iwatani and twice held the High Speed Championship.
Beyond being high speed champ, though, she altered the style associated with that belt. Any yahoo can speed around the ring as fast as they can. It takes a true master of body control to slow the action to a crawl as she did.
STARDOM was too afraid to make a low-speed division, however. It wouldn’t be good business to have Saki just run that thing for years at a time. Parity sells more tickets.
Back in 2013, she, Act Yasukawa, and Natsuki Taiyo became the inaugural Artist of STARDOM champs. That was one of five reigns Saki had with that strap. And one of those was with Bea Priestley on her team for god’s sake. That should count for double.
Kashima was so damn good that everyone wanted her in their faction. She was in Oedo Tai, STARS, and God’s Eye. Has Syuri been a part of all three? Nope. Mayu? Negative.
That’s because everyone wanted Kashima, and rightly so.
Okay, let’s next go with an admittedly unconventional stat to further back up Kashima’s GOAT status: number of videos created about you by YouTuber Meerkat Ultra. She inspired over a dozen of these videos, compelling Mr. Ultra to paste her face all over his page. That speaks to her greatness like few things can.
Charlotte Flair has been the subject of exactly zero Meerkat videos. Same goes for The Fabulous Moolah and Beth Phoenix. How embarrassing. Kashima, on the hand, is more than a wrestler; she’s a muse.
Lastly, the most powerful evidence of Saki’s greatness may be the fact that she was never operating at full power. We are only seeing a subdued version of her potential.
Kashima actively avoids training. She will use distractions of any kind to get out of putting the work in. Next thing you know, trainees are cleaning the ring or she’s offering to pay for dinner. Anything to delay/dodge toiling on the mat.
That puts a new perspective on all her championships and victories. Her opponents are training hard and practicing regularly while she’s actively avoiding preparation, yet she’s still winning. Imagine if she was training hard; she’d murder everyone!
Perhaps this tendency to sidestep in-ring training comes out of a sense of sympathy. She knows what’s she’s capable of at half strength. Full-strength Kashima just wouldn’t be fair.
Come the end of April, she won’t have to worry about holding back anymore. An era is coming to an end thanks to her retirement.
That’s hard news for us fans to stomach, but you can bet all the STARDOM wrestlers are rejoicing. They will no longer have to fear the kishikaisei. The 5STAR is about to become a lot less treacherous. Every one of Saki Kashima’s rivals will be able to sleep easier at night.
RESURA 