Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Doi – Champion Carnival
If you’re going to do a countout finish, this was one of the better ways to do it. Establish your guys as hot-headed ruffians who’d risk tournament glory in favor of a good old fashioned bar brawl. Then have them self-destruct in a blaze of forearms and machismo.
The rest of the match mixed the baseline Otani tropes and Doi’s usual effort to satisfying results. They beat the snot out of each other and made every scrap of offense count (that Otani legsweep never fails to pop me). Doi embracing Otani’s ‘’lean into the strikes’’ strategy was good foreshadowing for the chest-puffing finale. ***1/4
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shotaro Ashino – Champion Carnival
Love the chemistry between these two and loved the story they told in 7 minutes. Ashino had a sound gameplan going in (ankle lock all the time), but he couldn’t keep himself from getting into dick-measuring contests with the Giant and got himself wrecked. This was his downfall when he went up against the strike-oriented Kohei Sato on the previous show, so I enjoyed both the continuity and Ashino’s eventual realization that going blow for blow with these hard-hitters is a bad idea. Gotta keep those ankles firmly locked. ***1/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Kohei Sato – Champion Carnival
Here’s a match that might’ve not looked like much to the UNTRAINED EYE (just kidding, wrestling analysis is all bullshit), but brought great satisfaction to someone who watches a lot of AJPW (me). When’s the last time Kento targeted a leg? They actually built towards that knee dropkick sequence of his and then had Kohei dodge the follow-up dropkick, which I thought was complete genius. Every tweak in this man’s rigid singles match formula should be celebrated.
Sato still came across as a killer and brought an appropriate amount of violence to the table. Both guys scrambling for that fateful German suplex during the last few minutes was choice, as was the collision between Kento’s Blackouts and Sato’s full force forearms/knees. Good times! ***1/2
Suwama vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Champion Carnival
These two wrestled in my current All Japan MOTY back in January and for that they have my eternal gratitude. This might’ve been a hair under that in terms of drama, but it still provided the high-quality Big Wama ass whipping content that YOU need.
Suwama went after the back for the early sections of the match, immediately throwing Yuma in the underdog babyface role that he excels at. To no one’s surprise, this layout brought on another inspiring performance from Mama Aoyagi’s Baby Boy. Just the right mix of selling, bumping and carefully-timed comebacks.
The sheer amount of nasty bomb-throwing during the ending stretch rivaled their January banger. Piles and piles of decapitating Backdrops and lariats. I’d like to take a moment to thank Yuma Aoyagi’s Neck on behalf of all head-drop enthusiasts out there. Terrific match between two guys who are on a serious roll right now. ****
