All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/21/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 13

All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/21/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 13

Day 12 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/all-japan-pro-wrestling-4202019.html

Some shots from the arena:

Joel Redman vs Yoshitatsu

I feel like I've seen a thousand Yoshida matches, yet only a few Redman matches. Yoshi gets hip tossed early. Redman kips up and turns over Yoshi with his leg for a quick pinning attempt. Redman goes around him and Yoshi rolls up into a ball inviting him to try a lady of the lake. Yoshi grabs his hand and flips him down. Redman wraps his leg around his arm and rolls him into a pin for 2. Joel goes to the corner and jumps over top him then hadstands in the other corner. Redman scoots under Yoshi's head scissors. Joel lifts Yoshi while bent over like he would be doing a back bodydrop and puts him into the Gory Special before going to the ropes. Yosh catches him going down from the corner and armdrags him into a pin attempt. Yoshi holds his leg after a failed tornado DDT and Joel goes to work on it. Joel hits a side indian death lock and then stands with it, and goes to work further on Yoshi's knee. Yoshi backs him up into the corner and hits a tornado DDT. They trade some shots and Yoshi goes for a kick, which Redman catches. He puts him in a single leg boston crab and Yoshi hits the ropes. Redman stands on the 2nd rope and brings Yoshi in with a suplex then eats Yoshi's STO, but turns it into a pin. Yoshi lifts up Red and Red tombstones him for 2. Red goes off the top, misses but catches himself and Yoshi then hits his STO > Koji Clutch for the win. I was excited when they were gonna work the knee, but Yoshi mostly forgot about it in the last few minutes and the finish really wasn't related much to the match. Joel was good as usual though otherwise.

Daichi Hashimoto vs Joe Doering

They lock up and Joe overpowers Hash. Hash kicks him down to size Hash charges at him and goes down though. Joe puts him in the abdominal stretch. Joe spends the majority of this hitting him with nothing special forearms. Hash gets a comeback with some dropkicks and a shining wizard. Hash backdrops Joe out of a powerbomb and then gets pinned by his crossbody in the usual slow and boring Doering match.

Yuji Okabayashi vs Zeus

They charge at each other to start and start striking. Zeus flies off the ropes and hits a clothesline. Then Yuji clotheslines him over the top. They go outside and Yuji gets thrown into the post then suplexed on the mat outside. Zeus takes off the pad between the turnbuckle and the post and chokes Yuji over it. The whole set up to that was pretty business exposing. Zeus slaps a headlock/sleeper on as we get back in. Yuji gets a big spear in. Yuji then cranks the chin of Zeus until he hits the ropes. They start chopping each other hard and they butt heads. Zeus hits some machine gun chops and Yuji returns the favor, Kobashi style. Zeus goes for another round as does Yuji. Zeus grabs Yuji in the bearhug position and throws him overhead. Zeus gorilla presses Yuji. Yuji hits a powerslam and then racks Zeus. Yuji and Zeus trade suplexes in a string of suplexes and then Yuji gets superplexed. They trade lariats and Yuji goes down for 2 after a running lariat. Zeus chokeslams him down but still only a 2. Zeus ducks a lariat, but gets one from behind then a bigger one from the front. They trade some more shots and Yuji hits 2 big lariats. Yuji powerbombs him hard but still can't get the win. Yuji does a top rope splash and wins it. Real fun power match with these two that the crowd loved the whole way through. Nothing but stiff shots, power bombs and big chops.

Jake Lee vs Suwama

I don't have high hopes for this. Neither is that interesting nor has much personality. Suwama also only knows one speed, and it ain't fast. They trade basic stuff to start. Jake armbar's Suwama early off a missed lariat and just like in every match so far in the tournament, they go outside the ring. Suwama headlock/chokes Lee and refuses to let go. Since AJPW might as well have no rules at this point, he isn't DQ'd for it. Suwama takes over for a bit, double chopping Lee and putting a boston crab on him. Suwama belly to belly's Jake for 2. Jake gets another one along with more chops. Jake hits a gutwrench. They trade forearms and then Suwama starts double chopping. Lee takes some headbutts and then a german. Lee recovers though without selling to hit a big knee on Suwama. Lee then hits another big running knee. Suwana goes low and eats another knee from Lee. Three more running knees from Lee, but it's only worth a 2. Suwama gets back up and hits a dangerously high backdrop. He then hits his running dropkick and powers up for a lariat, a german and a spinning lariat for 2. Suwama catches his leg and drills him with a big powerbomb. Suwama takes a few quick running kicks from Lee, but Lee can't finish it. Jake's arms get captured and he gets toss in a suplex then eats another big lariat for 2. Suwama hits another high backdrop and is pinned with a 2nd backdrop. This was pretty much your standard Suwama match. Long, slower pace until the end then a good ending. That describes it here. Jake showed some fire here atleast but he really needed some offense besides the knees. I can't give it high marks though because the first half really wasn't very interesting.

Overall thoughts: Probably a thumbs up for this. Yuji vs Zeus was fun, Lee/Suwama had a good ending and Redman got some different stuff out of Yoshi.