All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/16/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 10

All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/16/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 10

Day 9 is here - https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/all-japan-pro-wrestling-4152019.html

Gianni Valletta vs Yuji Okabayashi

Gianni taunts Yuji with his chain when he enters. the fans have caught onto Gianni's yells. They do a shoulderblock battle with Yuji winning. They get into it outside with some striking battles near the fans. They get back in with Gianni taking control by wrapping his legs around Yuj. Yuj gets out and strikes with GV and then slams him and lariats him in the corner. He adds a suplex on for a 2 count at 5 minutes. Yuji torture racks him but GV gets out then bites and headbutts him. They trade in the corners and GV hits a good jumping yakuza then a cannonball for another 2 count. GV headbutts Yuj but Yuj comes back with a big lariat and gets another 2 count. Yuj goes up top and gets caught with a BIG superplex that he doesn't sell. GV bites him and the ref jumps into stop it. However, Yuj kicks GV and the ref goes down with him GV then hits a lowblow and bashes Yuj over the head with a chain for the upset win. Not great but this was one of GV's better outings this tournament. I really didn't like Yuj no-selling the superplex though.

Yuma Aoyagi vs Atsushi Aoki

I could see this being good. Aoki does a nice flip out of an armlock. Yuma does a couple of Japanese armdrags and sends out Aoki with a dropkick. Yuma tries a dive but Aoki moves so he runs the apron and flying knees him. They have a strike exchange when they get back in, then Aoki sends him back out and works the arm. A fan takes atleast 3 pictures of Yuma's backside with their ipad. Aoki continues to work the arm inside for a while. Yuma makes a comeback with some basic offense and does a crossbody off the top for a 2. They both get near the top rope and Aoki jumps off the top on Yuma's arm with both knees(see gif). Aoki stays on the arm but his own armbar gets turned over and almost gets him pinned. Yuma then hits a seated choke into the seated choke + kimura combo. Yuma backdrops Aoki and he kicks out then grabs a kimura. Gets him nowhere though and Yuma nails a big knee after. Aoki takes double german suplexes and then gets a rollup on the 3rd one for the win. Yay, they gave Aoki a win finally! This wasn't bad.

Joe Doering vs Takashi Yoshida

I don't have much hope for this one. Joe wants a test of strength early saying "come on, let's see what you got". Joe wins it. Yoshida tries shoulderblocks on Joe but gets absolutely nowhere then falls down. Yoshida challenges him to give it a try and then he nails him with the throat chop. Joe keeps going though and sends him down. Joe whips Yoshida into all 4 sets of rails and boston crabs him. Joe bullies Yoshida around a little and takes over for a bit. Yoshida gets control back and sends Joe down with a lariat from the turnbuckles. He does his throat chops and gets an impressive vertical suplex on him. Yoshida hits his diving elbow but Joe grabs the ropes. Joe takes front and back lariats but still won't be pinned as he kicks out at 2. Joe hits a big lariat but only gets a 2 and then hits a nasty crossbody that the ref screws up the count for, but gets Joe the win on the second try. This was a lot better than I expected and there wasn't anything really wrong with this. It was a lot faster than Joe's other matches.

Daichi Hashimoto vs Suwama

Daichi hits some kicks early and sends Suwama out. Hash tries a suplex but Suwama won't go up and then he suplexes him. Suwama then takes control for the next 5+ minutes, hitting a high boston crab and his usual good double chops. Suwama asks for the ref to count him out to 10 after a double chop. Suwama then sends him back down with a lariat. Suwama puts him down with another forearm and asks the ref to count. More hard double chops from Suwama, a lariat and a belly to belly. Hash gets some shots in and a slam on Suwama. Suwama hits a capture suplex and sends him down. Another belly to belly on Hash. Hash keeps trying to fight back but can't really rock Suwama. Hash hits a falcon arrow and sends Suwama down. Suwama combos with some chops but eats a Hash knee. Hash tries to mount a comeback with some fire but gets backdropped down again. Suwama hits a good lariat but only for a 2. Hash gets backdropped again but again for a 2. Suwama tries another backdrop but Hash gets out of it at 20:00. Is there a rule that all Suwama matches must go 20 or something? Another lariat for Hash. Suwama hits a hard german back on Hash and then does it again. Hash gets up and takes a dropkick and a smacking lariat. Suwama tries again but Hash hits an enzugiri and a DDT. Hash ducks a lariat but takes another hard one and a hard backdrop for the loss. Like most Suwama matches, it went too long and the pace never picks up. I also felt Hash really got jobbed out here when he should have been taken more seriously.

Overall thoughts: Pretty average. Nothing outright bad, but nothing really great either.