All Japan Pro Wrestling Champion Carnival April 28th 2024

Welcome back for more All Japan Champion Carnival action, it’s fantastic!

MUSASHI & Seigo Tachibana vs. Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue

Background: We mostly know these guys and this is just background for the continued Seigo/Tamura beef. Or y’know, something crazy will happen (it will not).

The Match: We get the test of strength and such from Dan and Seigo and Tachibana actually controls it a bit. MUSASHI and Ryo come in for their speedy business with Ryo winning until MUSASHI gets a pretty slick reversal into an arm-trap cloverleaf. Seigo and MUSASHI tee-off on Ryo for a while until he comes back with a jumping kick and a double-arm suplex. Tamura comes in and him and Seigo trade offense, using rapid tags with MUSASHI to take over until a Dan pounce lets Ryo come in for a while, MUSASHI takes him out with a somersault dive and it’s back to Seigo and Dan…and Seigo gets a few running 12-6 elbows to the back of Tamura’s head for the pin.

**½

So I do appreciate that after a long time of Seigo being a total loser they’re setting up that he actually can beat people and his strikes are a real problem for Tamura. Really energetic stuff here with both sides working hard.

A Block Match: Yuma Aoyagi vs. Cyrus

Background: Cyrus is a monster who has had his fair share of losses recently and Yuma needs to win to have a chance to win the block. We’re getting tricky guy vs. big monster guy though and that’s always fun.

The Match: Well Yuma doesn’t start with trickness and instead just blasts away at Cyrus to start the match and gets a sleeper for a while but when he rebounds he gets laid out by a Cyrus lariat and bails. Cyrus is just too fat to trip as well as we’re getting the comedy spots flying. Cyrus destroys Yuma outside of the ring, throwing him over the barricade and overall mauling our brave boy in blue. Cyrus intimidates the ref as well as this is basically a slaughter. Yuma gets a minor reprieve when Cyrus headbutts the ring post but an apron powerbomb gets the American back in control as they roll back inside. Yuma gets a schoolboy for a near fall but Cyrus gets a delayed brainbuster and a big fat splash. Yuma low bridges Cyrus to the outside and they fight on the apron before Cyrus gets a guillotine leg drop (?!) and tosses Aoyagi to the mats. A missed Cyrus rolling senton into the barricade gives Yuma a breather and the ref starts counting. Yuma taunts Cyrus and rolls inside, but when the big man goes after him he eats a boot and can’t get in. Yuma wins by countout.

***

You know I was gonna like this. Aoyagi is not as thrilling a seller as Kento is, but him trying a million different things to go at Cyrus and Cyrus just being too big and mean was fun stuff. And I love a countout finish when done right.

B Block Match: Lord Crewe vs. Rei Saito

Background: Two mean bearded strikers. Crewe has the hipster glasses and Rei has the leather jacket. Rei is bigger in every dimension but Crewe ain’t small.

The Match: We get the big lockup won by Rei into a dirty break and them both yelling COME ON like a side-scrolling beat ‘em up. Shoulderblock war is won by Rei but Crewe low bridges him and gets a cannonball off the apron but Rei runs him into the barricade and then tosses him back inside where he works him over with size. Rope assisted stomp, elbow drop, body slam, the works. Crewe fires back with his exaggerated strikes and gets a Samoan Drop to pop the crowd. Chop battle is won by Rei who work Lord over in the corner. Crewe counters a corner charge with a float-over into a German suplex but he misses when he goes up and gets lariated by the ex-sumo guy. Crewe gets two tornado kicks for a weak kickout from Rei and a third one finishes him off.

**½

Was not expecting to see a size vs. speed match but they played it pretty well. Crewe has some decent offense and he bumped well for what he needed to. Rei is also super fun to watch even if he isn’t the most agile or athletic performer.

Hikaru Sato, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Ryuki Honda vs. Jun Saito, Ren Ayabe & Rising HAYATO

Background: Well this is a doozy of a team. Basically no real history between any of these guys that are teaming but there are some rivalries between them.

The Match: We get Sato and HAYATO doing their junior stuff until everybody gets dragged outside and we get a big brawl on the entrance ramp. Kuroshio demands to climb onto Ryuki’s shoulders, and HAYATO climbs on Ren’s shoulders and we get a chickenfight. HAYATO manages to steal Kuroshio’s jacket and he covers himself in shame as his team is distraught by their loss. HAYATO walks a heartbroken Kuroshio back to the ring as the other wrestlers brawl on the outside. Kuroshio offers no resistance when HAYATO tags in Ren to boot the smaller man in the face. Jun works over Kuroshio next and even HAYATO gets into the fun and chokes him with the jacket, HAYATO whips him with the jacket but Kuroshio catches it and does a comeback. In come Ren and Ryuki and we get the rope choke, both counter each others moves a few times until Ren’s dropkick brings in Jun to beat on Honda. Ryuki reverses a suplex and his team triple teams Saito until Jun reverses a kimura attempt by Hikaru into a slam and then a Jackhammer. It’s breaking down in Nagoya as everybody comes in and HAYATO takes everybody out with a springboard dive, big boot and Psycho Break has Jun winning.

**¼

Just a match but the bit with Kuroshio’s jacket cracked me up.

A Block Match: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Hokuto Omori

Background: DBSJ is a straightforward jerk. Hokuto is a sneaky jerk.

The Match: We get Hokuto in red and with the horse mask coming out and DBSJ stares him down while another man climbs the ropes behind Davey and hits him with a missile dropkick and that’s the real Omori. Both Hokuto’s throw Davey in a room and hold the door shut to win by count out, but DBSJ just walks out another door and kicks Omori’s butt very, very slowly. We get some stomps, we get some 80s WWF punches, we get some more stomps, we get a chinlock. Hokuto fires back a bit but some Davey suplexes sets up a headscissors. Davey’s powerbomb is countered and Omori finally gets something going with his speed.Hokuto’s RKO is countered and we get a lengthy Boston crab sequence. A few flash rollups by Omori sets up a low-blow schoolboy for a very close nearfall. Davey gets some more power stuff and the powerbomb wins for him.

*¾

The heat segment was just so slow and lifeless that the competence of the match couldn’t make up for it. I do like that Omori keeps losing cause he can’t stop himself from cheating.

B Block Match: Hartley Jackson vs. Yuma Anzai

Background: Hartley is a big scary monter, Yuma is a heroic face. Never faced each other before but I think we know how this will go.

The Match: And Hartley immediately lariats Yuma down and gets a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron and they tease the count. Yuma jumps in the ring only for Jackson to immediately throw him out again and beats on him with the usual, whipping him into the barricade and such. Inside again and Hartley controls with chops and Yuma fires up but more chops from Hartley knock Yuma down, Camel Clutch time and Hartley jaws with the crowd some more. Yuma slips out of a fireman’s carry but can’t get the German, he finally gets a belly-to-belly but Jackson kicks out at one. Double-arm suplex from Yuma gets two and he tries to lock in his kneeling chinlock but Hartley scoops him and lands on him. Another suplex lets Yuma lock in the chinlock and he gets the tap.

**

Man I just…don’t like Hartley very much at all but it was a fine paint-by-numbers match. Yuma still has a long way to go to keep the crowd engaged while selling.

A Block Match: Kento Miyahara vs. Shotaro Ashino

Background: Both guys are tied at 6 points for the lead in the block so a win is very important here. They haven’t had much interaction in the past, but Shotaro is a serious wrestler and Kento of course is a hammy performer.

The Match: Both guys circle for a bit before a lockup that is won by Kento and a reluctant break into a staredown. They grapple a bit and Kento tries to speed things up by shooting Shotaro off the ropes but Ashino almost gets an ankle pick and Miyahara bails. So, Shotaro wants to slow things down, Kento wants to speed things up. Shotaro ties up Kento but he gets a rope break…and Ashino with a dirty shot! Kento takes it outside and does his repeated headbutts and hotdogs to the crowd whil Shotaro does a Flair flop?!? Wow, was not expecting that. Kento rolls Shotaro in the ring and jaws with the ref…but Ashino was playing possum and gets a dragonscrew with Kento’s leg in the ropes! Low dropkick and Shotaro does the Kento bicep pose to ramp up the heeling. Shotaro goes to school and wraps up Kento’s leg in the barricade, bounces it off the post, and ties it up with the ropes, ear cup taunt from Ashino as he gets the Brock Lock and Kento is hollering in pain. Shotaro throws Kento around more and stays on the knee, Ashino gets some uppercuts but Miyahara starts the comeback with the roll into the two dropkicks with him hobbling between them. Miyahara takes a breather and tries to stretch out his knee, but when he goes for a brainbuster Shotaro floats over and gets the ankle lock. Kento rolls but Ashino rolls with it to keep the hold on. Kento finally kicks his way free but he’s an one-legged man. They duke it out on the apron but Ashino can’t get the German suplex, Kento finally lands the apron piledriver and they tease a countout for Shotaro. Miyahara goes for the Blackout knee but Shotaro grabs the leg and reapplies the ankle lock. Kento gets a small package and a Blackout Knee to begin his comeback but they trade German suplexes and Miyahara can’t stand. Slugfest is won by Shotaro who drops hammer fists but a Blackout knee almost lets Kento hit the Shutdown German, but a Shotaro lariat puts Kento down again. Shotaro sets something up but a trio of Blackout knees lets Kento finally hit the Shutdown German.

****

Really great stuff with Shotaro going full heel and working the leg over, would have liked to have seen a bit more leg stuff in the finale of the match to push this into the tippy-top, but this was a great match.

Post-match Kento reminds us he’s got 8 points and he needs the ropes to stand as he poses for the crowd.

B Block Match: Suwama vs. Hideki Suzuki

Background: So Suwama and Hideki were tag-team partners who hate each other, but now they kinda like each other. We’ll see how the rivalry continues. Beyond that they’re both grapplers with Suwama being more of a big-man brawler and Hideki having the better submission game.

The Match: They do some standing grappling to start with Hideki backing Suwama into the corner and giving a clean break. More grappling and they go to the mat this time and it ends with Suwama in a mount and we get a slightly chippier break. More standing stuff and you can hear that both guys are breathing heavily. Suzuki gains wrist control and gets a few submission attempts on Suwama before the big guy gets a rope break and they’re still circling each other. Suwama gets a juji-gatame and Hideki gets the rope break. More standing grappling and Suwama throws a forearm, after a moment of contemplation Hideki throws one back and they both start teeing off on each other. Suwama gets the belly-to-belly and then locks in the choke sleeper. Rope break and Suwama starts with the chops until a Dragon Suplex sets up a Cobra Twist for a while. Suwma hiptosses out and starts the Suplex Prefecture routine. Hideki gets a backdrop driver and tees off on Suwama and gets another jumping kick, two in one match! 12-6 elbows sets up a manji-gatame for Hideki and after a while we get Dan Tamura (Evolution stablemate) throwing in the towel.

***¾

Well the best Hideki singles match I’ve seen. Suwama trying to wrestle clean and being outmatched by the better technician was a great story and they worked it well. It was slow and shoot-y but it played to both of their strengths.

Post-match they all shake hands and Evolution do the “we all are still cool” pose and then Hideki cuts a promo.

Alright, now onto the standings.

A Block:

Kento Miyahara 8
Davey Boy Smith Jr. 6
Shotaro Ashino 6
Yuma Aoyagi 6
Kuroshiro TOKYO Japan 4
Cyrus 2
Hokuto Omori 2
Ren Ayabe 2

B Block:

Jun Saito 8
Yuma Anzai 8
Hideki Suzuki 6
Lord Crewe 4
Rei Saito 4
Suwama 4
Ryuki Honda 2
Hartley Jackson 0

So I think some folks have been mathematically eliminated (and yes this is obviously behind so don’t spoil stuff) but we’ve got at least some sense of who is a contender.

See you on the other side.