ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2021 NIGHT 3
APRIL 11, 2021
BANDAIJIMA MULTIPURPOSE PLAZA
NIIGATA, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

NON-TOURNAMENT MATCHES

• Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Francesco Akira def. Izanagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO (8:43)
• Ryuki Honda 7 Match Trial Series 4th
  Koji Iwamoto defeats Ryuki Honda (7:55)
• Total Eclipse (TAJIRI, Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama) def. Yoshitatsu, Takao Omori & Black Menso ~ re (7:50)

CHAMPION CARNIVAL
JAKE LEE [4] DEF. KOJI DOI [2] (8:10)

Total Eclipse explodes! Doi laid down for Lee but when Lee went for the pin, Doi cradled him. Lee did not seem overly upset by that, however. This was a pretty basic match after that. Doi was in control for a while, then Lee took control for a stretch of his own. After some back-and-forth, Lee got the upper hand with some knee strikes and hit the D4C for the win. This was fine but neither Doi nor Lee were very expressive here, neither were playing the heels apart from the cradle attempt from Doi at the beginning. They also shook hands and embraced after the match which is very off-brand for a faction like Total Eclipse. You could call this one mildly disappointing. **3/4

CHAMPION CARNIVAL
SHUJI ISHIKAWA [4] DEF. YUMA AOYAGI [2] (11:13)

They spent some time on the outside early on and Ishikawa did a Double Footstomp off the apron which was cool. Ishikawa worked over Aoyagi’s back early on but that led to nothing.. Aoyagi wrestling at a high speed really contrasted here with how slow Ishikawa is moving these days. It was not a bad match but wasn’t anything to write home about. Aoyagi looked great here though. Aoyagi tried some cradle pins to get the win but Ishikawa countered with one of his own to get the three count. I did enjoy Aoyagi’s offensive flurry at the end. ***

CHAMPION CARNIVAL
SHOTARO ASHINO [2] DEF. KENTO MIYAHARA [2] (12:11)

This started hot, with Ashino going for some grappling while Miyahara fought back with kicks. They then fought outside for a while with Miyahara doing his usual outside the ring brawling. When they got back in the ring, things picked up again. Miyahara hit a Piledriver on the apron which is the second time he’s done that in the Champion Carnival already. Ashino took a lot of offense from Miyahara but managed to survive. He no-sold a Blackout Knee and then after a struggle, applied the Ankle Lock and grapevined it and Miyahara tapped. This was pretty damn good but I felt like the condensed format of this prevented it from being truly great. The brawling outside and Ashino crawling back into the ring after the apron Piledriver eats up a lot of time in a match this length. This was, however, Ashino’s biggest win in All Japan to date. ***1/2

CHAMPION CARNIVAL
ZEUS [6] DEF. SUWAMA [2] (19:52)

Zeus worked over SUWAMA’s left arm to start. They went to the outside early on, and this was the third match in a row where that happened which certainly strained my patience. Back in the ring, and SUWAMA worked over Zeus for a while. When Zeus regained momentum, he slapped on an Arm Lock despite not doing any working over of the arm since the beginning of the match. SUWAMA to his credit, sold it like it was really hurting him. The action ramped up after that with lots of Lariats and near falls, though I felt the Face Lock submission sequence towards the end slowed the match down until the closing stretch. SUWAMA unleashed an offensive flurry but Zeus powered through it, hit a Lariat and the Jackhammer for the win. Good match, the best of the show, but I would say that it was slow to start, and was uneven at times and that prevented it from being something really awesome. ***3/4

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was solid enough, with the final two matches really saving the show. I would say it is the weakest show of the Champion Carnival so far, but was still better than most nights of last year’s tournament. Ashino getting a big win, and the story of Zeus dominating the first few shows of the tournament are good stories at least.

After three nights, here are your Champion Carnival standings:

1. Zeus [6]
2. Jake Lee [4]
-. Shuji Ishikawa [4]
4. Suwama [2]
-. Kohei Sato [2]
-. Kento Miyahara [2]
-. Shinjiro Otani [2]
-. Koji Doi [2]
-. Yuma Aoyagi [2]
-. Shotaro Ashino [2]