All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/23/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 14

All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/23/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 14

Ryouji Sai vs Yuji Okabayashi

Oka lifts Sai up from the ground early in a deadlift, puts him on the top rope then suplexes him. Oka then puts him in a boston crab for a bit. Sai trips him in a shoulder choke. I really didn't watch this to see them work submissions. Oka steamrolls him with 2 lariats for 2. Sai teases a top rope backdrop the floor, and the announcer tries to sell it, but we know it won't happen, and it didn't. Sai hits a superplex, misses a top rope footstomp then takes lariats front and back, before taking a brainbuster. Oka goes for the splash up top and eats double knees. Sai then hits a gorilla press into double knees for 2. Sai hits a running knee into the corner and wins it. Very low effort match from both guys. Both guys clearly took the night off here and this was super disappointing.

Dylan James vs Shuji Ishikawa

The finish

They lock up and work the headlock early. They do a shoulderblock battle which DJ wins. They do some slow and boring fighting on the stage area and around the crowd. Shuj then stretches both arms from behind. I never thought I could be this not interested in this match, when I thought it could be one of the best of the tournament. Shuj hits a middle rope dropkick then his usual double stomp from the middle rope, which truly never looks that great. Shuj and DJ suplex each other and neither one of them sell it, then they both go down after a DJ lariat. They exchange some strikes, but they aren't that great. DJ then takes a dragon suplex and a knee but gets out at 2, then a fire thunder for 2. They do a meeting of the lariats, and then they exchange some chest headbutts. DJ hits a lariat for 2, then wins with a good chokeslam at a littl past 15. Another disappointing, low energy effort by both guys, when they could have had a MOTYC. If you are only going to give half effort, you should only charge half price and warn everyone ahead of time so they don't waste their money. I'm sure DJ was tired out the night before and I'm sure both guys are tired in general, but you gotta give the fans their money's worth.

Gianni Valletta vs Atsushi Aoki

BFF's!

GV extends the hand and shakes with Aoki to start. Gianni then gives this hilarious smirk. He then bites Aoki and slams him. GV then stretches Aoki's mouth open. GV uses the chair on Aoki on the outside then threatens the ref with it. Aoki fights back with chest slaps, but gets eye raked. GV's yells get over with the crowd who yells "OHHHHHH" back at him. GV cannonballs Aoki in the corner. GV and Aoki play games with the ref and the ref takes the worst bump ever, then GV low blows Aoki and chokes him with the chain. Aoki gets no air on a dropkick that sends GV's chain flying, then they do this awful finish where GV is choking Aoki with the chain from the camel clutch position, thne Aoki rolls back and pins him. This was bad. Really bad.

Daichi Hashimoto vs Yoshitatsu

They exchange some shoulders to start out. Yoshi puts Hash in the single leg crab. Nothing much comes of it as you'd expect and Yoshi facewashes Hash. Yoshi stretches out both arms from behind Hash's back. Hash comes back and hits a DDT. Hash then hits some kicks and sends Yoshi down. They fight over a suplex with Yoshi winning it. Yoshi hits some bad Yazkua kicks, with one totally missing. Hash then falls during a Yoshi tornado ddt. Yoshi hits kicks and a perfect plex for 2. Hash hits some kicks, then counters Yoshi's STO > Koji Clutch combo. He hits a falcon arrow for 2. He then hits front and back shining wizards for the win. This wasn't anything special and I didn't really expect it to be when both guys are pretty much just average workers. But because the rest of the show was so low effort or bad, this was maybe the best thing on the show.

Overall thoughts: A bad night for the CC. Everyone gave half effort and no one really cared that much.