Shotaro Ashino vs. Ryuki Honda – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Appropriately suplex-heavy sequel to the Last Man Standing match from Champions Night III. Honda’s current form feels like the result of two distinct training sessions. A first session where Kento taught him the very subtle art of trolling a referee and a second one where Ashino sat him down and made him watch Benoit/Angle from Rumble ’03 on repeat. It’s all very much a work in progress, but the kid is in good hands. ***1/4
Jake Lee vs. Shigehiro Irie – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Tons of fun. Irie was a great opponent for Jake – his fast-paced intensity balancing out some of the Dark Gentleman’s pacing issues. The teddybear bruiser has some of the best comebacks in wrestling right now. He literally just throws himself at people. Big wrecking ball energy.
Even the weirder character moments here had the benefit of being straight up hilarious. Jake slowly going ‘’Huh?’’ at Irie denying his sky-pointing antics was absolute peak comedy. Plus, for all his faults, Lee has some great fucking cut-offs. The nonchalant head kick counter to Irie’s tope attempt was wild, as was the GIANT KNEE denial of the Lunging Headbutt Thing. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara vs. Takuya Nomura – Champion Carnival (Block B)
There’s no denying that losing Naoya Nomura was a major blow to All Japan. The kid had Future Triple Crown Champion written all over him and was already being positioned as one of Kento’s top-tier rivals. Judging by this match, AJPW might have an easy solution to their Nomura problem. Just put Takuya in whatever plans they had for Naoya and watch the magic unfold.
For a first time match up, the chemistry shown here was completely insane. Takuya effortlessly stepped into the Big Match Kento formula, freshening things up with his signature viciousness and a sweet Arm Work Subplot ™. They worked like two guys who had been wrestling each other for ages. Counters for counters, personality everywhere and a constant sense of one upmanship. All the good shit.
It’s also worth noting that Kento’s the first guy in this tournament who didn’t try to shoot murder Nomura or spend half the match literally spanking him. Dude seemed happy to just have a great match with him. Read into that however you want, but I’m hoping it means we get more All Japan Takuya in the very near future. ****
