ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2022 NIGHT 3
APRIL 11, 2022
KORAKUEN HALL
TOKYO, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

NON-TOURNAMENT MATCHES

  • Takao Omori & Ryuji Hijikata def. Izanagi & Ryo Inoue (7:35)
  • Evolution (Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura) def. Black Menso~re & Hiroshi Yamato (9:27)
  • Total Eclipse (TAJIRI, Ryuki Honda, Hokuto Omori & Koji Doi) def. Nextream (Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) (8:44)

CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2022 B BLOCK
YOSHITATSU [2] DEF. KUMA ARASHI [2] (9:43)

This could have been the worst match in the tournament. It turned out to be a perfectly acceptable match. Arashi used his power and Yoshitatsu tried to use strikes and ground his opponent. Arashi looked to have this won, but Yoshitatsu rolled out of the way of a top rope Senton and pinned Arashi with a Jackknife Hold. This was exactly what it needed to be but the trend of flash pins in the tournament continues. ***

CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2022 A BLOCK
T-HAWK [4] DEF.SHOTARO ASHINO [2] (12:05)

These two are no strangers to each other, having been major players in the StrongHearts invasion of Wrestle-1. They got off to a hot start with some great chain wrestling. T-Hawk then took control with some chops and even added in some closed-fist punches, signaling his dislike of Ashino. Ashino fought back with suplexes of course, and then went after T-Hawk’s left leg. T-Hawk delivered a chop to an Ashino seated on the top rope, and the Master of Suplex sold it tremendously, rolling all the way to the ground at ringside and holding his chest in pain. The last few minutes had some great back-and-forth action where they just laid into each other. Ashino throwing around a smaller wrestler for a change, really makes his suplexes look better. Ashino went for the T-Bone Suplex and on impact, T-Hawk turned it into a cradle for the win. It looked better than the finish of T-Hawk’s match against Ryuki Honda, but I hate this thing where T-Hawk basically takes the finisher but still manages to turn it into a flash pin. This is really beginning to bother me in this tournament. However, this match still rocked until the finish. ***¾

CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2022 B BLOCK
SUWAMA [3] DEF. TAKUYA NOMURA [4] (11:09)

There was something in the way that Suwama grappled in the opening minutes that seemed to suggest to me that he didn’t initially take Nomura very seriously. He probably thinks Nomura is 16 years old and can’t grow any facial hair. But as seemingly everyone but Suwama knows, Nomura has moxie, and Suwama began to take him more seriously as the match went on. Nomura took a surprising amount of this match, and suplexed Suwama with little difficulty. I also loved the build from grappling to striking and then other big moves. Suwama land a huge fucking slap on Nomura and when Nomura tried to make a comeback Suwama leveled with with a Lariat that they teased as a possible KO. Nomura got back up and Suwama leveled him with another Lariat for the three count. This ruled. A true fight. My match of the tournament so far. ****

CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2022 A BLOCK
JAKE LEE [2] DEF. SHUJI ISHIKAWA [2] (22:43)

Lee is beginning to get back into the groove of things after returning from injury because I think he was showing a lot more heel personality here, daring Ishikawa to mount him, then out grappling the Big Dog. Lee used a Hurricanrana in this, which got the crowd into him. Along with the Moonsault he’s also recently added to his arsenal, it makes me wonder if he’s trying to set up for a face turn. Lee was mostly in control for the first half of this, but Ishikawa got a few big moves in. I thought the match slowed down a bit when Ishikawa finally took control for an extended period. Lee decided to start to go after Ishikawa’s left arm in the second half of the match, which was an interesting time to start to do that. Ishikawa would make a short comeback and went for the Giant Swing but Lee blocked it. Lee landed some kicks and knees, a Backdrop and finally the D4C for the win. While I thought this was uneven at times, especially in the first half, I thought Lee put on one of his strongest individual performances in a long time and he got me really into this. In fact, after watching this, there may still be some hope for him as a top guy. ***¾

FINAL THOUGHTS

For my money, this was the best night of the Champion Carnival so far. All of the matches delivered, and one surprisingly so. The top two matches were great and certainly made up for some spotty booking in the Ashino vs. T-Hawk match. I have now entered a new phase of hype for this tournament.