All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/25/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 16

All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/25/2019 - Champion Carnival 2019 Day 16

Ryouji Sai vs Yuma Aoyagi

Yuma rushes Sai at the start and dropkicks him. They do the usual lame fighting outside. Sai dumps Yuma on some chairs. Sai throws a chair at Yuma's head when he is near the railing and Yuma moves. Sai gets some good kicks in and puts Yuma in a camel clutch like move. Sai hits some hard kicks on Yuma and Yuma comes back with a flying forearm. Yuma jumps on him and wraps his body around him for a choke, but Sai turns it into a suplex. Yuma sees a kick coming and covers up, so Sai starts kicking him from behind instead. More hard kicks from Sai. Sai does a high top rope superplex that he sells more than Yuma. Yuma then hits a bunch of cradles and then instantly taps out Sai with a seated choke + kimura. Sai was fine here but Yuma really needed a bit more fire and the finish just kind of felt random.

Atsushi Aoki vs Dylan James

The finish

They do a cool staredown to start. We pretty much know where this one is going. Aoki gets put down early and of course they go outside early with DJ chopping Aoki and throwing him into the post. AJPW oughta just ban the wrestlers from getting in for the first 3 minutes each match with how often they go out early. Aoki tries some shots on DJ but he goes nowhere. DJ gets him a in a backbreaker position, then squats with him and lifts him up and slams him for the side slam. DJ throws him in, and Aoki rolls out the other side, then goes under the ring. Aoki comes out from behind, tries to get a roll up but only gets 2. He gets more multiple more nearfalls before being chopped down. DJ drops an elbow for 2 and takes a delayed vertical suplex. DJ flicks the crowd off as they chant for Aoki, then he hits a lariat on him for 2. DJ goes for a chokeslam, but Aoki cradles him and wins it. They say a win is a win, but they buried Aoki here and because of it also hurt DJ in the process when he was just easily manhandling him. This was a waste of both guys.

Shuji Ishikawa vs Zeus
Shuji has had one good match all tournament IIRC, while Zeus has been doing his best night in and night out. I'm expecting Shuji to deliver here.

Zeus lifts Shuji for a slam early. Then sends him over the top. This is AJPW, you know they are going outside in the first few minutes! And they do! Z does a cool lariat over the railing. Z then suplexes him on the mat outside. Zeus drapes him over the chain between the post and the turnbuckle, after he took off the padding. Zeus works a headlock on Shuji. Zeus takes a John Woo then a middle rope double footstomp. Zeus then hit a flying clothesline and throws Shuj overhead. They exchange some strikes and Zeus lifts Shuji from outside to inside with a suplex. They do a suplex and then they stay connected and do another one. Shuj hits a kneeling tombstone on Zeus on the apron, but the camera's had the wrong angle and missed a lot of it. The finally start exchanging some strikes and then Zeus takes a dragon and a big knee for 2. Zeus then takes a splash mountain for 2. Does this all affect Zeus? Not really as he gets up and chokeslams Shuji. They do an akward sunset flip powerbomb that was super coordinated, then Zeus brings him down with a lariat. Shuji then hits a fire thunder. They exchange strikes and Zeus hammers down Shuj demolition style(see gif). Doesn't go much of anywhere as Shuji is back up soon and knees down Zeus. Shuji then won with a backdrop(see gif). I didn't like this match. I could feel from the start it wasn't going to be what I thought it could be. I'm also really starting to sour on Shuji after this tournament, as I feel he is a bit lazy. There were too many selling issues in this one for me, and none of the moves felt like they mattered. I really wanted this to be a slugfest between to bad dudes, and it just wasn't there.

Kento Miyahara vs Yuji Okabayashi

The finish

Staredown and clean break to start. They go outside early(of course they do), then Oka chops the post when Kento ducks. Oka gets thrown into the rails then comes back and Kento flips himself over the other rail. Kento takes a chop and Oka brings him back in. Oka puts the dragon sleeper on him then clubs him down. Oka clubs on him while he has him in the sleeper. Kento gets put in the boston crab for a bit. Oka throws him overhead. Oka racks him outside then walks around with him. Kento just randomly comes back after getting destroyed for 10 minutes, selling nothing and downing Oka with a suplex and a knee. He even no sells a suplex. He then hits a german and a knee for 2. Oka then hits a slam and hulks up. Okda hits a big lariat and by the time I've finished typing this, he hits a big german on Oka. Who needs selling anyway? Oka hits another big lariat for 2 after a back lariat. Oka then catches his leg and powerbombs him. Oka hits another lariat and Kento really does a heck of a flip off of it. Oka goes for a splash from the top and Kento blocks it with hit knee then holds the knee. He then hits him with the knee, which Oka no sells, then he does it again. Oka then powers out of it again and gets hit with a 3rd knee, that he actually sells for more than 2 seconds. Kento then wins with a straightjacket german in an awful match. No-selling galore here.

Overall thoughts: Another disappointing night of CC action. Oka/Kento was just brainless wrestling and Shuji/Zeus was disappointing.