The , was the seventh annual

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

promoted by

World Wonder Ring Stardom , is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded in September 2010 by former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) co-producer Ross ...

which took place beginning with April 10 and culminating on June 12 in the

Ota City General Gymnasium Ota City General Gymnasium is an arena in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and exte ...

. The tournament expanded out of the normal single night format to instead be determined over two separate dates with a limited attendance due in part to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

at the time. The tournament winner is awarded a wish that has prompted opportunities for the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

of their choice. Night 2 was postponed due to the Japanese government announcing a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

for Tokyo lasting from April 25 until May 11. The rest of the tournament was rescheduled to May 14 and June 12, with the second-round and quarter-finals matches taking place on May 14. The semi-finals and finals were initially going to take place on May 29, but the extension of the

postponed the third night of the event to June 12.

Storylines

The show featured

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. On the second night of the tournament, former High Speed Champion Koguma made her in-ring return, saving

Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold, where she is the current Marigold Super Fly Champion in her first reign. She is best known for her tenure with World Wonder Ring Sta ...

from an attack performed by Oedo Tai after she fell short to Himeka in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Koguma was later revealed to have joined STARS. On the third night of the tournament which took place on June 12 due to delays caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries. Government of Japan, The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a ...

, STARS and Oedo Tai culminated their feud in a ten-woman All-Out War elimination tag team match won by

Natsuko Tora is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of H.A T.E. Tora is a former two-time Artist of Stardom Champion, a one-time Goddesses of Stardom Champion and a one-time World of Sta ...

who lastly eliminated

Starlight Kid is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom where she is the leader of Neo Genesis. Kid is the current Wonder of Stardom Champion in her first reign, as well as the current Artist of Stardom Champion in her ...

, therefore forcing her to join Oedo Tai. The show saw

Saya Kamitani is a Japanese professional wrestler and former Japanese idol, idol. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the current World of Stardom Champion in her first reign and a member of H.A.T.E. (professional wrestling), H.A.T.E. In ...

defeating Himeka in the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

of the tournament and finally Maika in the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

to become the Cinderella Tournament winner of 2021. Kamitani issued a challenge to

Tam Nakano , better known by her ring name is a Japanese singer, former idol, dancer, and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she was the leader of the Cosmic Angels stable. Nakano began her ca ...

for the

Wonder of Stardom Championship The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title, which in Stardom's championship hierarchy is situated as t ...

as her granted wish for winning the tournament. The main event of the evening portraited the collision between

Utami Hayashishita is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold where she is the current Marigold World Champion. She is best known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the former leader of Queen's Quest. ...

and

Syuri , better known simply as , is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of God's Eye as well as the current IWGP Women's Champion in ...

for the

World of Stardom Championship The is a women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championship, world championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title, which is situated at the top of Sta ...

. The two of them went into a thirty-minute time-limit draw and

requested a restart of the match which Hayashishita accepted. The second match ended in a double count-out as both of the competitors were unable to continue. After retaining the title, Hayashishita saw

coming to challenge her for the '' red belt'' holding

's mask in her hand. The first match between

and Hayashishita received a 5.5 stars rating from

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...

, making it the highest-rated match in the history of

women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestling federations called Professional wrestling promotion, promotions. Some prom ...

till its date.

Participants

The tournament featured twenty wrestlers, being the greatest Cinderella Tournament till date. Despite

Bea Priestley Beatrice St. Claire Terry (née Priestley, born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealander professional wrestler. She is a freelancer, performing for various promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). She previously performed in WWE und ...

announcing her departure from

at Stardom Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021 from April 4, she was still listed as a participant. Ruaka and Hanan, previously listed as reserves, were announced on 7 April 2021, as replacements for the departing

and the injured

Saya Iida is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is one half of the current Goddesses of Stardom Champions alongside Hanan and a member of Stars. Iida is also a former one-time New Blood Tag Team ...

Participants list

''*Noted underneath are the champions who held their titles at the time of the tournament.'' {, class="wikitable sortable" align="left center" style="width:32%;" , - !width:7%;", Wrestler !width:7%;", Unit !width:25%;", Notes , - , AZM ,

Queen's Quest was a professional wrestling stable which mainly performed in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom and the Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese independent scene between 2016 and 2024. History Formation ...

, , - , Gokigen Death ,

Oedo Tai (Stylized OEDotai, also known as "Oedo Corps" in Japanese) was a villainous professional wrestling stable mainly performing in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom and the Japanese independent scene between 20 ...

, , - , Giulia ,

Donna Del Mondo was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. Founded by Giulia, the stable finally consisted of Mai Sakurai, Maika and Thekla. It was often known by Giulia's catchphrase ''arrivederci'' ("goodbye" in Italia ...

, Goddesses of Stardom Champion , - ,

Himeka Catherine St. Onge (born July 20, 1981), better known by her stage name (stylized as HIMEKA), is a French Canadian descent anime song singer no longer active in Japan. While fluent in English and her native French, she is moderately proficient i ...

, , - , Hanan ,

Stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

, , - ,

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

, , - , Maika ,

, , - ,

Mina Shirakawa is a Japanese professional wrestler and Television personalities in Japan, ''tarento''. , she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She also makes appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH). Shirakawa first gained ...

Cosmic Angels is a professional wrestling stable, currently performing in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. The stable primarily consists of the assumed defacto leader(s), Natsupoi and Saori Anou, along with Yuna Mizumori ...

Artist of Stardom Champion The is a professional wrestling six-woman tag team championship owned by World Wonder Ring Stardom. The title was first announced during Stardom's year-end event on December 24, 2012, and two days later its name was revealed as the "Artist of S ...

, - ,

Momo Watanabe (born March 22, 2000) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is a member of H.A.T.E. Since Watanabe made her Stardom debut on November 16, 2014, she became a three-time Artist of Stardom Cha ...

, , - ,

Natsupoi , better known by her ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler and singer. She is currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom where she is the assumed defacto leader of Cosmic Angels, along with Saori Anou. Natsupoi is a former two-time ...

, High Speed Champion , - , Ruaka ,

, , - , Saki Kashima ,

, , -style="background: gold" ,

, Winner , - ,

, , - ,

, Goddesses of Stardom Champion

SWA World Champion The was a women's professional wrestling championship promoted by the Japanese World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. Though the Japanese name of the title translated to "SWA World Championship", the title was also referred internationally to as t ...

, - ,

Wonder of Stardom Champion The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title, which in Stardom's championship hierarchy is situated as t ...

, - ,

Unagi Sayaka is a Japanese professional wrestler working as a freelancer. She is best known for her time with World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is a former Artist of Stardom and Future of Stardom Champion. In the Japanese independent scene, she worked f ...

, - ,

World of Stardom Champion The is a women's professional wrestling world championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. The title, which is situated at the top of Stardom's championship hierarchy, was introduced on June 26, 2011, and the inaugural champion ...

Future of Stardom Championship Tournament

Due to

relinquishing the

Future of Stardom Championship The is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. The title was introduced on February 18, 2018, and the inaugural champion was crowned on March 28, when Starlight Kid defeated Shiki Shibusawa ...

due to

injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...

, a seven-woman tournament to crown a new champion was announced to kick off on the second night of the event. The finals took place on July 4 at

Yokohama Dream Cinderella 2021 in Summer , was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom. It took place on July 4, 2021 in Yokohama, Japan, at the Yokohama Budokan with a limited attendance due in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time. The preshow ...

Results

The match schedule of the first night was announced on April 7 after a press conference.

Notes

References

External links

Page Stardom World
{{Professional wrestling in Japan 2021 in professional wrestling Women's professional wrestling shows World Wonder Ring Stardom shows World Wonder Ring Stardom Women's professional wrestling tournaments Professional wrestling shows in Tokyo