Wonder of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai © vs. HZK

 

This is the third match between these two this year, and I thought it was the best of the three. This was an intense back and forth with amazing bumps and counters. Io has been doing a great job of keeping herself fresh lately, she has been finding new approaches to her matches and I thought she was interesting here. HZK's growth was on full display. ***1/2

This was the best match that these two have had all year. HZK had a strong performance showing a lot of pluck standing up to Io. I really liked how the match didn't rely on the typical 'vet gets over confident' transition and allowed HZK to find more competitive ways to get back on offense. Io's performance was a bit muted but that seemed intentional as to not outshine HZK. A solid, interesting match. ***3/4