Any essential recommendations from 2018 so far that I can check out in the library?
I made a match guide
here but it's mostly the best of 2017. If keeping up to date with story stuff you'll want to watch the
elimination match along with the
draftwhich ultimately led to this
tag match to get an idea of what the current factions are. You should
watch this for the start of the most notable singles feud of the year, then the
Cinderella tournament was real strong this year for a one night KotR style event; plus it sets up one of the title matches I'm going to list list. In regards to the belts the important bouts have been been
Future of Stardom (a rookie title that's for people with less than 2 years experience or who are under 18),
Artists of Stardom (trios belt),
Goddess of Stardom (tag belts),
Wonder of Stardom (Intercontinental title) , and the
World of Stardom (World championship)
Prior to the draft the most important story element was probably Tam's arc which began with the
gauntlet match I listed in my other post and then ended with this
deathmatch. As for random good matches most of the post-draft faction matches this year have been really strong,
this is probably the stand-out plus a lot of Oedo Tai's tag belt defences have been great.
Also a quick description of the factions pre-draft:
Queens Quest: A group of strong-style tweeners led by the ace of the company Io. The faction was largely created by people turning on their tag partners, most notably Io turning on Mayu when they were known as Thunder Rock and they are very much a tough love styled group who want to better each other no matter the cost even if it means holding nothing back when they go against each other. They have little respect for anyone else in the company. HZK's No.2, likes messing with opponents using weird lollipop tactics, the closest to Io in ability and had already unsuccessfully challenged for her belt. Momo's a no-nonsense wrest ler renown for her stiff dropkicks and strikes. AZM's the rookie of the group, likes to call people turds or grandmas, and is probably the purest heel in the company. Viper's the auntie that comes in occasionally to crush people who are a threat to her girls.
Oedo Tai: The closest thing to a heel faction, though they do it in an entertain way that appeals to the crowd. They're led by Kagetsu who's probably the most charismatic performer in the company and who's able to utilise a moveset that starts with deadlifting powerhouse and ends in high-flying. As a faction of villains who's mantra is to win with the least effort possible (The "We'll do our best! O!" at the end of their promos is completely sarcastic) they're also the longest surviving faction in Stardom and probably have the closest bonds as friends as they see each other as the problem children that traditionally would be ignored by joshi promoters. Hana joins Kagetsu as the faction's number 2, she's daughter of Kyoko (one of the factions two original leaders) and is pretty much the the archetypal femme fatale with some of her mom's more violent tenancies. Sumire's the companies one cowardly heel, she's probably got the most intense schedule of any joshi (she works for just about every company as a freelancer) and has no level she won't stoop to. Finally at the start of the year Kris is with the faction as the veteran member/pet wolf and Tam's their loyal manager/second after they went out of their way to recruit her when she debuted in 2017.
STARS: The face faction of Stardom made up of everyone else. Their leader is Mayu, Mayu's arguably the best worker in the world but she's also an idiot who shouldn't be a faction leader. The most notable members are Tam after her Oedo Tai break up; a Kung Fu specialist who's loyal to a fault and is equal parts cute and crazy. Saki, returning after a long hiatus who's even more nervous and awkward than Mayu but she's already finding her feet in the ring. Starlight Kid, a rookie dork who's the Future Champ for no conceivable reason and Serene loves her because he's crazy (Okay, she's a 16 year old with a ridiculous amount of natural talent). Then there's ostensibly a faction within the faction known as Team Jungle who are made up of Jungle Kayona (Stardom's power fighter who's pure of heart and very loud), Natsuko Tora (New to the game but already very good at the basics, she's the ying to Kyona's positive yang in that she doesn't take any shit, also a goth in her off time), and Kaori Yoneyama (most of the time she plays Stardom's trickster thief where her level of heelness depends on if the crowd chants her name or not in rookie matches, but she can fookin' go when the time calls for it, also
here she is taking a One Winged Angel) Team Jungle also features Hiroyo Matsumoto who's on a level with Meiko and Io but she's a part time player who hasn't showed up in a in-ring-capacity this year.
Hope that helps a little!