Zeus, Izanagi & UTAMARO vs. Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Francesco Akira
After a fun detour in non-state of emergency Yokohama, we are back in an empty Korakuen Hall because COVID doesn’t care about your tournament finals. Life is grim but this short and sweet opening match was fairly painless. People wrestled in efficient fashion and Izanagi rolled up someone because that’s what he does. Also, Daniel Tamura will have to work on that Powerbomb if he wants to be the one true Son of Suwama. **1/4
Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu Black Menso-re & Ryuki Honda vs. Kuma Arashi, TAJIRI, Yusuke Kodama & Hokuto Omori
If you’ve been skipping the Champ Carnival undercards, then you’ve missed out on this entire blood feud between Total Eclipse and Omori’s Midcard Squadron. First of all: how dare you? You won’t get a better look inside the tortured mind of TAJIRI and his various 80’s wrestling booking influences. Props to Kuma for adapting his guitar playing to Hokuto’s theme. A true musician. **
Shotaro Ashino vs. Koji Doi – Champion Carnival
A newcomer watching this could never tell that these guys were just part of a bitter betrayal angle. Very respectful armdrag exchanges. Maybe the more violent version of the match was scrapped because of the no-crowd setting? I have no idea. Anyway, they didn’t have the bar fight I had envisioned, but they had a solid Baseline Ashino match. Burly European uppercuts were thrown, lariats were avoided and an acceptable amount of fun was had. The post-match angle with Honda and Kuma was fucking great and went a long way in rehabilitating the puzzling lack of hatred. ***
Koji Iwamoto, Rising HAYATO & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman
Could not have asked for a better AJPW introduction for T-Hawk and Linda! High-speed Strong Hearts 6-man burner where everyone looked like a million bucks. CIMA is so much better when he’s flanked by his boys. There’s a real cohesion to their team work – like classic Southern tag heels but with spectacular 2021 tag offense. T-Hawk is the most underused guy in all of Japanese wrestling and he adds credibility and excitement to any match he’s in. He’d be good enough to mix it up with the All Japan heavyweights, but at this point I’ll take anything. As long as he gets screen time. Strong Hearts gushing aside, Team Zen Nihon really stepped up here too. I’d book an entire All Asia tag program around the Nextream juniors and Strong Hearts. Just hook it to my veins. ***1/2
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kohei Sato – Champion Carnival
Very pleasant clash between Aoyagi’s impeccable babyfacing and Kohei’s brutal striking. Quite enjoyed the progression of the layout, as Yuma’s early trolling on the floor soon gave way to him getting the dogshit kicked out of him. Only Kohei Sato could make basic forearm shots to the back sound so utterly devastating. You don’t want to play around this man. I can’t believe they gave Aoyagi the upset here, but they did it in a convincing way (Japanese legroll clutch~!) and I guess this confirms the office’s commitment to the kid. Hell of a tournament run from Yuma. ***1/4
Suwama vs. Shuji Ishikawa – Champion Carnival
SWAMP FIGHT. Probably the ugliest match of the whole tournament and I mean this in the best possible way. Two lumpy monsters just awkwardly crashing into each other until one of them could no longer get up. Everything about this felt rough around the edges – from Big Shuj immediately getting a bloody nose to the lack of clear-cut structure. The messiness ended up enhancing the vibe and by the time the Wamster got dunked with 3 consecutive Fire Thunders, I was 100% dialed in.
So many memorable visuals. The monstrous camel clutch on the bleeding Ishikawa. Big Wama speaking in tongues while selling the DDT on the floor. A masterclass in fleshing out your heavyweight slug-fest with emoting and character moments. Plus, the bombs-heavy ending stretch felt worthy of a Triple Crown match. Hell, it smoked their actual Triple Crown match from last year. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee – Champion Carnival Finals
It’s nothing less than a tragedy that this match happened in front of no one. After a static 2020, All Japan have finally been making big moves this year. Total Eclipse, Strong Hearts involvement, GAORA TV title rehabilitation, Yuma Aoyagi push. The rise of Heel Jake Lee throughout this tournament felt like the most important piece of the company’s revitalization process and this match was the ultimate money shot. Crowd or no crowd, the Dark Gentleman has arrived.
In many ways, the excellent Jake/Yuma match from day 5 was a rehearsal for this final. The evil stomach destruction trope that was introduced in that match was pushed to new heights here and anchored the action perfectly. Boatloads of vicious offense from Jake Lee 3.0 including stomach forearm cut-offs that would make Kotaro Suzuki proud. It sure didn’t hurt that Kento sold all of it like death, coughing and near-vomiting at times.
No one does tournament finals like Miyahara, and predictably enough: this was his best performance since last year’s CC finals with Zeus. Total package Ace performance from Twitter’s most controversial figure – a whirlwind of fighting spirit, explosive comebacks and long-term selling. The occasion clearly wasn’t lost on Kento and he seemed determined to finally, truly make Jake Lee happen. They’ve had a ton of great matches before but this felt like the most important.
The sheer amount of drama they were able to ramp up in an empty arena setting was miraculous. Sure, the ring-side seconds and random staffers dispersed through Korakuen helped, but it mostly came down to peak-level performances from Kento and Jake. The Shutdown kickout, rope-biting spot and no-bullshit decisive Brainbuster win all coalesced perfectly into a grand pro-wrestling finish. One of the year’s best. ****1/2
