Kento Miyahara vs. Koji Doi – Champion Carnival
Replacing all of Kento’s early match tropes with fun ramp fighting spots was some real galaxy-brained thinking. Miyarara spent most of the match on the defense, letting Doi structure the action around his neck-focused offense. And it was good! The Rings of Saturn payoff was especially satisfying.
Kento selling and fighting from underneath made Doi look like a big deal. Dug the finish too – Kento having to gradually Blackout his way back into the driver’s seat. Two rock-solid performances – perfect for this spot on the card. ***1/4
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shinjiro Otani – Champion Carnival
Hard fought and hard-hitting. You know a match will be good when you can feel pure contempt radiating from wrestlers during their entrances. Big Shuj laid into Otani like he owed him money, forcing the old man into an underdog role that he pulled off with panache.
As grumpy as he can be, Otani still knows how to make you root for him. He also knows how to make his offense matter – shoutout to the still-gorgeous missile dropkick and hellacious kesagiri lariat thing. They milked a bunch of juicy near-falls out of the ending stretch and turned the finish into a pleasant surprise. Zero complaints. ***1/2
Zeus vs. Kohei Sato – Champion Carnival
Exactly what you’d want from a wrestling match between Olympian deity Zeus and Yakuza enforcer Kohei Sato. As in, they beat the shit out of each other. I absolutely adored the opening bit where the Z-Man decided to put a stop to Sato’s pesky soccer kicks by just SHOOT HEADLOCKING HIM to death. No more of your kicky bullshit, puny human.
The escalation in the last few minutes was just wild: chops and lariats soon gave way to full-force forearms and shoot headbutts. People died. Even with a bland single camera setup, this was the kind no-nonsense ass beating content that keeps you dialed in all the way. ***1/2
Jake Lee vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Champion Carnival
Two guys on the cusp of greatness stepping up in a big main event spot and delivering the goods. Yuma mocking Heel Jake Lee’s new vampiric fight stance and paying dearly by getting the ever-loving shit kicked out of him was just plain great character-based wrestling.
Every complaint I had about Jake in his main event with Suwama was fixed here. He replaced the aimless stomping filler with laser-focused ribs destruction, adding purpose to the early sections of the match and serious drama to all of his nasty knee strikes. Ruthless cut-offs all over the place.
On top of the crystal-clear babyface/heel dynamic, these two have the kind of generational spark that only wrestlers who came up together can pull off. The hatred is palpable, yet they know exactly how to highlight each other’s strengths. An extremely encouraging peak into All Japan’s future. ****
