All Japan Pro Wrestling Champion Carnival April 21st 2024

Welcome back for more Champion Carnival action, in beautiful Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall #4 to a pretty good house.

Ayato Yoshida, Chicharito Shoki, MUSASHI & Ryo Inoue vs. Daiju Wakamatsu, Hikaru Sato, Lord Crewe & Seigo Tachibana

Background: So some of these guys are new to me so either they’re freelancing or perhaps AJPW is taking advantage of a local promotion and giving their guys a spot on their card. Ayato Yoshida is taller than a traditional junior, is in good shape, and has a nicely permed floppy undercut, he’s wearing black trunks with a pattern on them. Shoki is notably shorter and has a blonde fringe at the end of his shaggy hair and is wearing boxing shorts. Ryo we know and is wearing his spiderweb shorts this time. MUSASHI is in his one outfit. Daiju is new for me and has buzzed sides on his hair and blonde on top, he’s wearing disturbingly flesh-toned shorts in what I would describe as a fashion disaster. Hikaru Sato is an AJPW regular, he has long blue tights and a pale, flabby build, he wears a blue gi top to the ring and has a mask and an undercut. Seigo is in his red suit and Lord Crewe is in what looks like tights with a Bengals pattern on them.

The Match: Everybody gets little sequences to put over their stuff, with lots of shine given to the outside guys. People do some triple teams and MUSASHI hits a nice tope on everybody. Lord Crewe eventually gets to work and he’s just so much bigger than everybody else it’s hilarious. Crewe gets the Catatonic on Shoki and it’s over.

**
About as “just a match” as you can have but the guy in the Carnival beat the wimpiest looking dude on the other team.

B Block Match: Hartley Jackson vs. Jun Saito

Background: First time match I believe. Anyway they’re two big beefy dudes and they’re gonna run into each other, let’s get it.

The Match: Lockup that Hartley easily wins and some bongos on Jun’s chest get Saito coming back with a headlock. Hartley plays babyface and fires up the crowd before a shoulderblock challenge, won by Jun. They roll outside and Jun uses a fans towel to choke Hartley. Back inside and Jun tries a bodyslam but Hartley is JUST TOO FAT and he gets his own bodyslam instead. Hartley works over Jun for a bit, but Saito comes back with a running boot but Jun’s spear gets stuffed leading to some Hartley offense until a second spear from Jun knocks the Australian down. Chokeslam attempt is shrugged off by Jackson and Jun throws some strikes to soften him up but a Jackson lariat and a DVD get a 2.8. Jun finally gets Hartley up for an awesome semi-delayed Jackhammer and then Jun finally gets the Psycho Break for 3 (and Hartley kicks out at 3.1).

**½

Hartley being too big/strong/bukly for Jun most of the match until the very end and Saito having to take over with strikes was a nice story, but Hartley’s selling was kinda so-so and his heat segment was dull.

A Block Match: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. Cyrus

Background: Kuroshio is a goof who irks people with his goofy antics and extended entrance, Cyrus is a big angry monster who hates fun and joy. Kuroshio has Seigo out with him for his entrance and an aquamarine jacket and trunks combo. Cyrus has the singlet and a t-shirt over it.

The Match: Kuroshio tries to sneak attack Cyrus from beneath the ring but gets instantly caught and slammed on the apron, Cyrus powerbombs him into the ring post and then whomps on him with the ring bell as this is a slaughter to start. Kuroshio gets thrown into the chairs as they brawl through the crowd. Cyrus chokes Kuroshio with a chair and tosses refs around. Cyrus brings Kuroshio inside and the bell finally rings. Cyrus misses the big splash and Kuroshio fires back for a while, but Cyrus catches a springboard and gets a powerslam. Cyrus goes up and Kuroshio cuts him off and gets a rana…that Cyrus doesn’t wanna take so we get Cyrus dropping down, attempting a powerbomb that THEN Kuroshio counters and a running enzuigiri for the upset.

**¾ Ooof, that final botch really is a fly in the ointment as I was very much jiving with the arrogant monster getting greedy and paying for it, but that last misstep was rough to watch.

A Block Match: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shotaro Ashino

Background: It’s Davey Boy Smith Jr. in his tights and vest combo with all the Union Jacks on it. Shotaro has the black trunks. No beef or history between the two that I can think of but Shotaro is a face and DBSJ is a bit of a heel.

The Match: Lockup into some technical stuff as they do standing switches and drop toeholds and hammerlocks to a standstill. Davey offers a handshake, and Shotaro takes it like an idiot as Davey kicks him down. Shotaro comes back but Davey tosses him outside and does some work before resuming the stomping inside and then wear down holds from Davey. Shotaro comes back with the gutwrench squat suplex and then the ankle lock with grapevine but Davey counters it into the Sharpshooter. Ropebreak and Ashino comes back with some suplexes before Davey gets a DDT. Another ankle lock from Shotaro that Davey finally counters, short-arm lariat and a powerbomb and Davey Boy gets the win.

**½ Just kind of a match, Davey kind of worked heel but not really and Ashino isn’t a great underdog babyface, still, crisp stuff, some nice counters and they worked hard.

B Block Match: Hideki Suzuki vs. Rei Saito

Background: So, Rei Saito’s team beat Suzuki for the tag titles earlier and I assume they’re gonna be salty about it. Rei has the shiny pants and a shirt and Hideki has the purple trunks. Additionally Rei had to vacate his titles (that Suzuki then won) because of a shoulder injury and Hideki likes attacking limbs.

The Match: Rei backs Hideki into the ropes, Hideki gets a jumping kick but Rei takes over from there, tossing Suzuki outside where Rei puts him up against the ringpost and goes for a shoulderblock that Hideki dodges. Rei gets taken inside and Suzuki gets to work on the arm. We get an armbar, some slow stomps and weak knees. Rei does the one-armed comeback and…one piledriver for the pin?!

*

So I am not a Hideki fan, but like…what even was this match? Rei getting the shoulder reinjured and worked over is fine, but having a short comeback into one piledriver for the pin is just bizarre to me, it doesn’t help that Hideki seemed totally checked out as well.

Kaz Hayashi, Masayuki Kono & Suwama vs. Dan Tamura, Hokuto Omori & Ren Ayabe

Background: Yes the Kaz who was in WCW back then. He’s the next challenger for the Junior belt, he’s got dyed blonde fronts to his floppy hair and blue trunks. Masayuki Kono used to be KONO in the now defunct Voodoo Murders, he’s a tall blonde guy in basic gear. Suwama is Suwama. Tamura is in black trunks, Hokuto is doing his red/blue gear with the body double and the horse mask, and Ren is in his magician outfit and just towering above everybody else.

The Match: Some basic stuff until Kaz uses his veteran cunning to get the drop on Tamura. Ayabe tags in and in comes Kono who is ALMOST as tall as him. Ren pretty easily dominates, Tamura tries to continue the beating but Kono gets the drop on him and Suwama comes in to disrespect his stablemate. Dan keeps firing up but continues to get whooped on with cagey vet stuff. Suwama gets his backdrop suplex but Tamura gets a samoan drop and tags in Ayabe who takes Suwama down and tries to lock in the full-nelson before a Suwama DDT lets Kaz tag in who takes Ayabe apart with speed before a Ren dropkick lets Tamura come back as I’ve realized that Omori not only hasn’t tagged into this match, he also hasn’t revealed which one is which. Anyway, Dan’s power stuff is repeatedly countered by Kaz, the vets triple team Tamura but miscommunication between them lets Dan make a tag and blue!Hokuto come in, punch everybody in the balls (including his own teammates) and the vets knock him around and pin him after a Suwama lariat.

**

Kind of a weird match as Hokuto is really focused on getting over his unreliable nut-punching heel trickster gimmick. Not sure he needs to eat all these pins however. Still, the match had some solid vet vs. rookie stuff even if nobody was really busting their buns.

Post match Hokuto talks some trash to Ren who comes in and gives him the spinning gourdbuster.

A Block Match: Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Aoyagi

Background: Oh boy, there’s a lot here. Kento and Yuma have been long-term tag-team partners and wrestled tons of times in the past, Kento has some insane record against him, but recently Yuma finally beat Kento (for the first time EVER) in a title defense so he does technically hold the most recent win. As wrestlers they’re also in pretty easy contrast too. Kento is in red and he’s all energy and boisterousness, loud, charismatic and a giant ham, he has a relatively small moveset and doesn’t vary up what he does (though he does vary up how he does and why he does it quite a bit). Yuma is dressed in blue and is the Insidious Fighter, cool, intellectual, versatile, with a deep repertoire of maneuvers who mixes things up depending on who his opponent is.

The Match: We get the lockup and Kento backs Yuma to the ropes and they do a very intense staredown with Miyahara’s head in Aoyagi’s chest and Yuma’s leg up in almost a guard. Yuma wins the next lockup, ties Kento’s arms in the ropes and teases a strike but backs off. We get some technical stuff as they go to the ground and we get another staredown after the stalemate. Yuma backs Kento up into the ropes and after a very reluctant clean break he tags Kento with an uppercut and goes to work. Miyahara counters and they start brawling on the outside. Kento gains control with headbutts but Yuma gets a springboard (off the ring barricade) guillotine leg drop to Kento to take back control. This is pretty similar to the last match they had that Yuma did win so far, so Aoyagi keeping with a winning strategy makes sense. Yuma chokes Kento with a Kento cheer towel and tosses the towel back to the fan afterwards. Back inside and Yuma works Kento’s neck over and does Kento’s ear cup taunt to work the crowd. Yuma continues to whoop that butt and gets a gorgeous, Orndorff-style piledriver on Kento in the midst of it. Kento finally comes back with the two low dropkicks but can’t get a brainbuster so Yuma bulldogs him into the ring barricade and Aoyagi does more ear cup taunts to rile the crowd up as they work the countout. Kento rolls back and a Yuma backdrop sets up a stinger splash from Aoyagi, but Kento fires back with a Blackout…and Yuma is out. Kento keeps trying to pick him up but Aoyagi is deadweight. After teasing a few counts with the ref, Kento has enough and picks him up…only for Yuma to reveal he’s been playing possum and gets a 2.99 on a small package and the same for a Reverse Rolling Cradle, two other near falls follow with Yuma hitting a Rock Bottom and then a Rockstar Buster (his basic finish, an underhook Fisherman’s Buster). Now Kento is deadweight and Yuma is frustrated and starts pulling him up before Kento gets a snap German and two Blackout knees into the Shutdown German Suplex for the pin.

****½

MOTT so far and top-tier storytelling. Yuma stuck to his last game plan and then used his possum routine and Kento adapted by switching up his usual tactics and reversed the ruse on Yuma. Really top-tier stuff.

B Block Match: Ryuki Honda vs. Yuma Anzai

Background: So, just like the prior match, Ryuki and Yuma are tag-team partners and babyfaces. Yuma is our clean-cut, handsome, amateur star turned Super Rookie, clearly presented as the next Ace of All Japan. Ryuki is a pudgy, punk-looking brawler with dyed blonde streaks in his buzzed hair and a spiked leather vest and has a very aggro, heelish, semi-cheating style and is much less credible as a singles wrestler though he has had some bit upset wins, his nickname of “You can’t survive without fighting” I think plays up his appeal, he’s hardscrabble and blue-collar. They are, or at least play, very good friends and seem to get along fabulously as an odd-couple despite it all.

The Match: Lockup won by Ryuki and a reluctant clean break, technical standoff into another lockup won by Yuma who throws a forearm out of the break! The wind up outside where Ryuki tears apart Yuma with brawling and the 5-count choke on the ring barricade, Anzai comes back with a springboard forearm (off the barricade) but Honda catches and suplexes him. Anzai gets rolled back inside and brutalized further, but he comes back with a low bridge and a jumping knee off the apron to gain control. Some hard whips into the barricade and some 5-count chokes of his own have Yuma in a good position as Ryuki slowly rolls back into the ring. Yuma gets a chinlock and works that until Ryuki reverses a suplex. Honda’s spinebuster sets up a camel clutch as both continue to trade sequences. A few reversals go awry until they end up on the ring apron, Honda showboats and a Yuma dragon suplex has Ryuki in trouble. Ryuki is almost counted out but he stumbles back inside and they trade forearms once again, Yuma gains the advantage, goes up for a missile dropkik but is cutoff by a Ryuki superplex…that Anzai jolts up from to deliver a Jumbo knee before dropping back down. Both struggle to their feet and we get another slugfest. Ryuki gets a German and then a spear to ramp things up before loading up the lariat. Yuma blocks the first lariat, but Ryuki comes back with a second that is countered with an insane backflip dodge to set up Anzai’s double-arm suplex and then a jumping knee to the back of Ryuki’s head. Yuma goes for another knee but Honda finally gets the lariat. Ryuki attempts the Final Vent but Yuma counters with a German. Another German from Yuma sets up another jumping knee and then another suplex as Ryuki is on fumes. Yuma goes for his Electric Chair Bomb but Ryuki slips out, Yuma goes for the knee and Ryuki stuffs it, Honda lariat! Second Honda lariat for 2.99! Final Vent and Ryuki finishes off Anzai.

***¾

So it’s interesting to see the contrast between this and the match before because Kento and Aoyagi are a lot more polished but the idea of these two tag-team pairings and their contrasting personalities turning into explosive matchups is definitely mirrored. But Ryuki and Yuma are rookies and Kento and other Yuma are vets. There was maybe a bit too much padding in the middle in contrast with what the prior match had and the “gain control, dominate for a bit, lose control” sequences were too mechanical, but both guys have tons of potential and elan.

Well, that’s it, after a rough start two very good matches close us off, and we’re getting into the real nitty gritty of the tournament See you next time.