Hikaru Sato © vs. Black Menso-re – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
All Japan loves to throw a show-stealing junior banger in the middle of Carnival. They did it in 2020 with that terrific Iwamoto/Hidaka match, repeated the same trick in 2021 with Hikaru/CIMA and did it again in 2022 with THIS. Originally meant to be a Hiroshi Yamato title challenge, Menso-re stepped up to replace the COVID-close-contacted singer and got himself into the scrap of a lifetime.
No antics whatsoever from your favorite reptilian prankster – the masked man straight up bringing the fight to Beast Mode Hikaru. They skipped all the submission work that usually comes with Sato title matches and just beat the shit out of each other. Absurd levels of violence that would’ve inspired reams of Hairy Wrestling Fan poetry a few years ago.
This is essentially what I love modern AJPW. They have all these undercard weirdos that will knock it out of the park whenever they get the tap on the shoulder. I mean, Menso-re randomly busted out the Low Ki-style tree of woe foot stomp at some point and it looked like pure death. This man rules and so did this match. ****
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Ryuki Honda – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Even with the extremely-high levels of Wada Dementia on display, this was the best Honda match of the tournament by far. Big Shuj’s powerhouse style played to young Honda’s strengths and serious amounts of beef were eaten. Again, this shit is not complicated. Honda’s best matches (this, the Last Man Standing match and the match with Kento) quickly got the aimless heel stomping out of the way and went straight to the bomb-throwing. The slap exchange was amazing – the kind of dumb bravado I’d love to see Honda lean into. ***1/2
Shotaro Ashino vs. Shigehiro Irie – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Killer match between these two short kings. They cranked the stiffness to 11 and divided their layout in three distinct sections that will each have experts proclaim ‘’This is wrestling’’. First, Ashino working the leg like a relentless little shit. This man loves working your leg as much as he loves Metallica. Second, Slug Festival 2022 in Korakuen Hall. These two play hard and hit even harder.
Third, a final stretch with some of the wildest counters of the entire tournament. Ashino’s mid-air German suplex counter to the flying headbutt was jaw dropping (audible gasp in Korakuen), as was Irie somehow turning Ashino’s running uppercut into a sleeper. Loved all of this. ***3/4
Jake Lee vs. T-Hawk – Champion Carnival (Block A)
As this was the block decider and T-Money’s first ever AJPW singles main event, the boys did their best to crank up the drama. It was mostly very good. T-Hawk went full babyface to counterbalance Jake’s Giggly Darth Vader schtick – big-time emoting and big-time crowd play.
It might’ve bordered on Too Much near the end – when he tried to plug the Big Brother angle from his match with Irie (who was at ring-side here), but I appreciate the attempt at tournament continuity.
Jake did good too, cramming all of his weirdo heel mannerisms and nasty cut-offs into an effective main event performance. While this was all very enjoyable, I do think the match would’ve benefitted from extra time, as Lee never really felt in any serious danger. ***1/2
