ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2019 NIGHT 3
APRIL 7, 2019
NAGOYA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HALL
NAGOYA, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

BLOCK A: ZEUS (2) DEF. GIANNI VALLETTA (0)

This was mercifully short. Zeus squashed Valletta in less than five minutes and Valletta didn’t do anything annoying. Zeus looking dominant as hell always rules. *3/4

BLOCK B: DAICHI HASHIMOTO (4) DEF. JAKE LEE (0)

This started well with Hashimoto working over Lee’s right leg, and Lee sold it well and for most of the first half of this match. Of course, Hashimoto blows this by applying an STF using Lee’s left leg. There was also a lot of grunting and yelling from Lee while he sold during the match. Maybe he’s been watching Will Ospreay tapes.

Anyway, this looked like it could’ve built to something but never get past second gear. Ending isn’t very dramatic with Hashimoto escaping from a backdrop attempt, hitting a knee strike to Lee followed up by a Shining Wizard for the win in ten and a half minutes.

Lee was not bad in this match. He saved it from being actively bad. What brought it down was Hashimoto going through the motions. He hasn’t been very good so far in this tournament. Also surprising to see Lee start 0-2. Either his expected push has been dialed back or he’s gonna have a come from behind run the rest of the tournament. **1/4

BLOCK A: SHUJI ISHIKAWA (3) DRAW RYOUJI SAI (1)

This was pretty boring. You could tell they were going broadway pretty early on this match given that Ishikawa was using way more holes and mat work early on in the match than usual.

There was a Draping DDT from the apron to the floor from Ishikawa that was the only cool spot in this match.

This was worked very very slowly and they barely turned up the speed in the last couple of minutes. Just skip this thing, and I saw that as someone that has watched every All Japan show so far this year from beginning to end and have never been this bored all year. *1/2

BLOCK B: YOSHITATSU (2) DEF. JOE DOERING (0)

This match had an energetic start, Yoshitatsu, in particular, brought some fire. But as this match went on Doering started putting in less and less effort.

Not sure if he’s mad he’s done two jobs to open this tournament, one to a wrestler is often (unfairly these days) the butt of jokes.

Yoshitatsu keeps up the effort throughout this match while Joe Doering just drops a lot of elbow drops in lieu of trying to do much else. A bunch of rest holds and slow beats down from Doering as well.

Here we are in 2019 with Yoshitatsu managing to put in an effort to keep a match from falling apart. The Bullet Club Hunter gets the win with the Codebreaker. Doering doesn’t put in a dramatic bump for the finishing move or sell it for long after the match ends. Disappointing to see such a performance from Doering. **1/4

FINAL THOUGHTS

Night 3 was the worst night of the All Japan Champion Carnival 2019 so far. Poor performances from some wrestlers you wouldn’t have guessed giving this tournament’s lineup.