I’ve been slowly getting back into All Japan ever since catching one of their Korakuen Hall shows live in October and being blown away. For Japanese wrestling purists (these fucking nerds), there’s something very appealing about their no non-sense presentation and back-to-basics house style. It scratches an itch that NJPW hasn’t been able to fully scratch in a long time due to their obsession with USA expansion and Gedo’s increasingly Americanised booking.
Masanobu Fuchi does closed-fist comedy on the undercard. Ultimo Dragon and Yutaka Yoshie show up sometimes. Heavyweights wrestle like heavyweights and tag team matches feel important. There’s something very comforting about all of this for long term fans that might be a little bit burnt out on Bullet Club run-ins and supershows with ROH.
All Japan also have the most charismatic non-NJPW male wrestler in Japan as their Ace, some promising young guys looking ready to step up to the plate and a great relationship with BJW, which gives them access to some of the best heavyweights around. Keeping all of this in mind, the Champ Carnival seemed like the right time to dig a little deeper into this fun, slightly-neglected corner of Japanese wrestling.
Daichi Hashimoto vs. Takashi Yoshida – Champion Carnival (Block B)
Using Daichi’s family name as a reason to criticize him feels like a low blow at this point, but just hear me out. Being the son of Shin’ya Hashimoto and wrestling with such a lack of intensity should be a criminal offense. There’s no way around it. On the flip side, the artist formerly known as Cyber Kong dares to use THROAT THRUSTS as his main form of offense, something I have not seen in many years outside of Fire Pro Wrestling, and thus he gets nothing but respect from me. Not the best way to kickstart the tournament, despite Yoshida throat thrusting his way into my heart. **1/2
KENTA KOBASHI comes out to bless us with his fighting spirit, so I believe this is the real start of the Champion Carnival. LET’S DO IT!
Naoya Nomura vs. Jake Lee – Champion Carnival (Block B)
Now we’re talking. Two guys that could benefit massively from a good showing in this tournament proving their worth as potential heirs to Miyahara’s throne by having a bunch of great, feisty wrestling together. I never cared much for Jake Lee before this match and he finally got me here. His subtle character work as the gentlemanly ass kicker was on point and his mix of neck-targeting offense and brutal knee strikes seemed more vicious than ever. Not to mention that beautiful INAZUMA LEG LARIAT that would’ve made Kengo Kimura proud.
Meanwhile, little Nomura followed his banger of a match with Kento with another consummate babyface performance, effortlessly getting all of Korakuen behind him with vibrant facial expressions and some legit breath taking forearm onslaughts. The introduction of the new Nomura Lock was PITCH PERFECT. The hold’s barely more complicated than a Cobra twist yet Jake sold this thing like it was the most painful thing on Earth and Nomura just wrenched it in like a motherfucker. Enjoyed this one a whole lot. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Atsushi Aoki – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Very much a Template Kento Miyahara singles match, but it turns out that a Template Kento match was exactly what was needed to light a fire under the often-uninspired Aoki. The blazing tope suicida, the wacky guardrail Superplex, the constant AOKI chants – this shit was fun. With quite a few years of Acing now behind his belt, Kento has mastered the art of defaulting to heel position whenever facing a lower-ranked underdog opponent. A good skill to have.
I kinda wish he didn’t have to unload his entire arsenal to dispatch a junior heavyweight, but the crowd was right there for Aoki’s kickouts so what can ya’ do. Even the constant Kento/Wada bickering, which can get super grating, made sense here and added a lot to the story. Miyahara was dripping cocky heel charisma all over the place and Aoki brought the fight. ***1/2
Suwama vs. Joe Doering – Champion Carnival (Block B)
Exactly the kind of bullshit-free, simple but effective wrestling you would expect from these two. Doering’s an unkillable gaijin son of a bitch. We know this because he calls the ref a motherfucker and his clubbing forearms make a louder smack than most people’s superkicks.
Suwama’s a gritty veteran enforcer that doubles as a bleached Tenryu-era throwback. We know this because he manages to suplex Joe on a few occasions and his entrance theme has one of the best guitar licks in wrestling right now. At some point, Joe no sold a German suplex and made one of the all-time greatest faces in the history of the Pure-O-Resew. Couldn’t have asked for anything better than a choke sleeper finish for a slug fest between these two burly, beer-gutted bastards. ***1/2
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi – Champion Carnival (Block A)
These two behemoths have been pushing the boundaries of Beefy Japanese Wrestling throughout the Violence Giants/Strong BJ tag feud, so my expectations were pretty high for this one. Well folks, these nerdy French Canadian expectations of mine were obliterated by every resounding chop and Kaiju monster-esque lariat collision. Not only was this match a perfect example of super heavyweight wrestling done right, but it also avoided all of the usual pitfalls of a Big Shuji match and never fell into near-fall overkill.
Not one dull moment in sight. Even the limb work subplot of the match, which can often come off as filler in big Japanese wrestling matches, had me hooked line and sinker. What’s not to love about a super-sized son of a gun relentlessly double stomping the living hell out of another gargantuan human being. Ishikawa went after those juicy ribs like a god damn shark and they even managed to make it pay off late into the match via Ishikawa’s Giant knees and the Golem splash reversal.
I could spend the whole review praising Ishikawa for working way smarter than usual, but it’d be a huge insult to Okabayashi’s ridiculously contagious fighting spirit energy and incredible facial expressions, which were pretty much the heart and soul of this match. It is literally impossible not to cheer for Yuji Okabayashi. The man gets pro-wrestling at its most primary level and manages to make you deeply invested in every chop, lariat and shoulderblock.
The Dragon suplex struggles, the freaking TENZAN TOMBSTONE DRIVER on the apron, that incredible spot where Ishikawa had Okabayashi in a body scissors and just slapped him in the head like an asshole – everything about this match was so good that the Powerbomb reversal slip-up near the end had exactly zero negative impact on my enjoyment. Go watch some current All Japan Pro-Wrestling. Go watch this damn match. ****1/2
