All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/4/2022 Champion Carnival 2022 Day 9

All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/4/2022 Champion Carnival 2022 Day 9

Ryuki Honda vs Yoshitatsu

Ryuki attacks Yoshi when he isn't looking and throws him out.They trade ofrearms on the floor and Yoshi is thrown into the rails. Honda clubs him outside and hits strikes. They trade forearms inside and Honda eye rakes him. Honda suplexes Yoshi then spears him for 2. Yoshi escapes his powerbomb attempt then enzugiri's and backcrackers him. Yoshi facewash kicks him in the corner and kicks and slaps him there. Yoshi then perfect plexes him for 2. Yoshi hits a tornado ddt for 2. Yoshi flatliners him and goes for the koji clutch but Honda reverses it and pins him.

This was short and there wasn't much to it. At least Honda got the win here, but I think he's better than the character he is being given. 

Hikaru Sato vs Rising HAYATO

They stand off for a while and do nothing early. They trade chest slaps and Rising hurricanrana's him. He then dropkicks him off the apron. Rising springboard twisting dropkicks him then bulldogs him. Sato works the arm then rising rolls and flips out of it into a dropkick. Rising misses a corner charge and is kicked in the head then death valley drivered for 2. Sato then armbars him but Rising ropebreaks.

Sato running kicks Rising while he is next to the ropes then Rising springboard dropkicks him. Rising hits a falcon arrow for 2. Sato hits a step up enzugiri then takes a leg lariat. Rising then flying dropkicks him and superkicks him for 2. Rising hits a top rope swanton but Sato crufixes him on the mat. Sato pulls on his neck on top of it and taps him out.

Rising looked good here at times but this wasn't anything special.

STRONGHEARTS (Issei Onitsuka, Shigehiro Irie & T-Hawk) vs NEXTREAM (Atsuki Aoyagi & Kento Miyahara) & Takuya Nomura

T and Kento go at it to start. Kento facekicks him and gets chopped then ducks a T chop. Kento looks like he wants to tag in Nomura then Nomura slaps. Issei hits a big forearm flurry on Nomura then Nomura back kicks him. Issei hits chest slaps then is slapped down. Issei then drops him with a chest slap and flurry chest slaps Kento in the corner. Issei pumps up with T and Irie then they hit running corner moves on Nomura. Nomura blocks Issei's move then Issei dropkicks him. Issei knocks Kento off the apron then is pulled out and headbutted. Kento facekicks him on the floor and throws him int othe rails. He beats him up through the gate and hits him off the post.

Issei hits chest slaps on Nomura and is back kicked again. Atsuki gets in and back elbows then standing moonsaults Issei for 2. Issei chest slaps Kento then takes a bunch of facekicks for it and is back elbowed. Kento hits another stiff facekicks on him in the corner and tags out.

Isseu and Atsuki trade forearms then Atsuki slams him. Nomura forearm flurries Issei in the corner then whips him and gets speared. Atsuki gets piledriven onto Nomura by Irie then Nomura suplexes Irie. Nomura slaps Kento to tag him then Kento hits dropkicks on Irie. T punches Kento and takes a pump kick from him. Atsuki cartwheels and backflips out of an irish whip then is dropkicked by T. Atsuki springboard enzugiri's T and Atsuki misses a moonsault on him. Atsuki springboards and takes T's knee. He is then cannonballed against the ropes and takes a reverse sitout slam. Issei dives on Kento and Nomura outside then Atsuk is flipped inside. T hits a nice sitout powerslam on Atsuki and wins it.

This was fun. Issei was very energetic throughout this and they kept the pace up real fast.

Ren Ayabe & Twin Towers (Kohei Sato & Shuji Ishikawa) vs Evolution (Dan Tamura & Suwama) & Shotaro Ashino

We got a pretty good group of guys here. Shuji slaps away Suwama's handshake and Ashino really looks like a midget compared to everyone else. Ashino waist locks Sato but nothing happens. Dan and Ren get in. Dan puts on a nice side headlock then they shoulder battle. Ren facekicks him then Dan takes knees in the corner from Sato and Suwama. Shuji stomps Dan then Suwama gets in and starts kicking him. Suwama is thrown into the rails by Shuji outside.

Ren running back elbows Dan then ddt's him. Dan hits some forearms on Ren and is dropkicked. Sato snapmares Dan then kicks him in the back and single leg crabs him. Suwama throws Shuji into the rails outside. Dan tries hard to gutwrench Sato the finally is able to do so. Suwama gets in and flying shoulders Sato. Suwama fights off Ren and Sato 1v2 then lariats them down.

Suwama sleepers Sato but is thrown over the shoulder. Shuji then gets in and running clotheslines him. Shuji 2nd rope stomps Suwama for 2 then Suwama blocks a piledriver attempt. Ashino gets in and hits euro's on Shuji then running euros him for 2. Ashino hits a release german on Shuji then Shuji takes running corner attacks. Dan top rope shoulders Shuji and samoan drops Sato. Ashino top rope dropkicks Sato then Suwama accidentally lariats Ashino. Shuji hits a fire thunder on Ashino and wins it.

This wasn't much except for the issues being pushed between Suwama and Shuji. The ref seemed to have botched the count at the end. It was also just too short.

Champion Carnival 2022 Final Match - Yuma Aoyagi vs Jake Lee

They do some chain wrestling and Jake armdrags him. Jake cravates him. Yuma misses a dropkick, avoids a kick then dropkicks Jake out. Yuma headlocks him and walks him around the ring, then whips him into the rails. Yuma drops an elbow on him then is facekicked off the buckles to the floor. Jake runs the apron and PK's him

Jake hits a big slam then headscissors him. Jake slaps him with his feet and Yuma fights back with elbows. Jake then step up enzugiri's him and PK's him. Jake then puts him in armbar and then pulls back both of his arms. Lee hits a knee then takes a dragon screw. Yuma running forearms him then top rope crossbodies him for 2. Yuma then puts him in his grounded guillotine with a hammerlock until Jake ropebreaks. Jake facekicks him on the apron then Yuma dragon screws him off the apron. Yuma then rams his shoulder into the rails. Jake gets in and is flying kicked and slammed. Yuma then top rope elbows him for 2. Jake then superplexes him.

Jake running facekicks him in the corner and hurricanrana's him. Jake hits a 2nd rope moonsault on him for 2. They trade forearms. They both release german each other and no sell it then Yuma twisting brainbusters him. They trade forearms then Jake strike combos him and curbstomps him. Yuma is out for a while and Jake just watches instead of trying to pin him.

Yuma rolls him up out of a brainbuster attempt and puts his guillotine + hammerlock submission on. Jake is in it for a while then Yuma reverses his backdrop attempt with a crossbody. Yuma rolls him up then runs into a knee. Jake then gutwrench powerbombs him for 2. Jake straightjacket backdrops him and pulls him up on the pin attempt. Jake hits a flurry of knees to the face then running knees him for 2. Jake misses a running knee to the back of the head. Yuma germans him and he no sells it then Yuma hits a string of german suplexes him for 2.

They trade high kicks and Yuma spinning high kicks him. Yuma then fisherman busters him for 2. Yuma hits a twisting fishermans buster and wins it.

I wasn't a big fan of this. Jake isn't one of my favs and there was a lot of laying around without much purpose to it. It went too long as well at around 30 minutes. This would have been a lot better if Suwama or Shuji had been up against Yuma instead.

Overall thoughts: This was a one match show and I didn't find the one match, which was the main event that interesting. I did like the Stronghearts tag though.

And with that, that's the 2022 Champion Carnival! Irie and Nomura were without question the best wrestlers in the tournament, but it wasn't a real great tournament. Honda was misused as a jobber and it just didn't have a lot of matches to get excited about compared to other years.