All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/4/2023 Champion Carnival 2023 Day 9

All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/4/2023 Champion Carnival 2023 Day 9

Day 8 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/04/all-japan-pro-wrestling-4302023.html

Here are the current standings for the Champions Carnival:

 

Here's what I saw:

Shotaro Ashino & Yuji Nagata vs. Hokuto Omori & Minoru Suzuki

Ashino and Omori start us off but don't do anything then Ashino and Suzuki trade forearms. Ashino drags him down and back elbows him. Suzuki triangles him over the ropes then Ashino is sent into the rails. We get some weak brawling outside. Suzuki toys with Ashino then takes an uppercut and a euro.

Nagata gets in and hits kicks and slaps on Suzuki then is forearmed. Nagata exploders him. They trade facekicks then Suzuki drops him with a forearm. Omori sto's Nagata into an anaconda vice. Nagata goes to tag in Ashino and gets slapped then they fight with each other. The heels hit both then Ashino takes forearms 2v1. Omori cutters Ashino and Nagata barely breaks it up.

Omori is ankle locked by Ashino then Ashino germans Suzuki. Ashino hits a hard lariat on Omori. Ashino ankle locks Omori and wins it.

This wasn't good at all. Nagata and Suzuki looked real old and slow and the finish was very lame. It was low energy, low effort and just sad at times.

Champion Carnival - Yoshitatsu vs Yuma Aoyagi

Yoshi flips and upkicks out of an armlock. Yuma dropkicks him then goes for his facewash kick. Yoshi then facewash kicks him and neckbreakers him. Yoshi pulls both of his arms back then russian legsweeps him for 2. Yuma running forearms him then top rope crossbodies him for 2. Yoshi tornado ddt's him then hits kicks. Yoshi fisherman suplexes him for 2 then does a flatliner into a koji clutch.

They trade forearms then release german each other, not selling either one. Yoshi suplexes him for 2 and goes for a monkey flip. Yuma blocks it and pins him to win.

This didn't look good on paper and wasn't. I don't know what it is, but Yoshi just can't pick up the pace or have good matches anymore. His fire is totally gone and it's just sad.

Taiyo Kea did a promo saying he is coming back in June.

Champion Carnival - Jun Saito vs Ryuki Honda

Honda rushes Jun with forearms. He shoulders him over and chokes him over the middle rope. Jun throws him out then chokeslams him on the apron. Jun cobra clutches him then Honda hits a bad spinebuster. Honda powers him over with a suplex then is spinebustered. Jun lariats him for 2 then Honda lariats him in the back of the neck. Honda hits a german then a stiff lariat. Jun chokeslams him then Honda fireman's carries him for 2. Jun running boots him then lariats him for 2. Jun chokeslams him and wins it.

It was okay but it wasn't real long and they didn't get to go all out here. The two matched up well.

Champion Carnival - Cyrus vs Satoshi Kojima

I don't know why, but I believe Koji will be able to get one out of Cyrus. Just something about this matchup seems like it will work.

Cyrus pushes him over to start. Koji tries some chest slaps but is just shouldered over. Koji is thrown into the rails then powerbombed onto the apron. Cyrus hits some back elbows and a small splash. Cyrus misses a splash then takes machine gun chops from Koji. Koji hits a top rope elbow drop for 2 then spinning forearms him. Koji then hits a ddt at 5 minutes.

Koji hits his cutter for 2 and Cyrus superkicks him. Cyrus hits a corner splash then cannonballs him. Cyrus then hits a vader bomb for 2. Koji hits a lariat then Cyrus hits a great samoan drop. Cyrus misses a vader bomb then Koji hits lariats to the back of the neck. Koji goes for another lariat from behind, Cyrus ducks it then gets a normal lariat and Koji wins.

I liked this one. Koji was fun as usual and the finish was creative. I think Koji did a good job of making it seem like Cyrus would win and was a threat before he pulled out the surprise win.

Champion Carnival - Kento Miyahara vs T-Hawk

The finish

T dropkicks the knee, hits a chop and shoulders him over. T hits more chops and they trade forearms. They go out and Kento is popped up into the apron then suplexed on the floor. T chops him outside then hiptosses him. T then rolls him into an STF variation and takes a piledriver on the apron. Kento headbutts him outside.

Kento hits a pumping knee in the corner then suplexes T. Kento sits up top and is chopped to the floor. They trade forearms and T goes down. T runs into a facekick then suplexes Kento. Kento is popped up into a knee and takes shots then slow germans T. T no sells it like usual and reverse sitout slams him. They get sloppy after and Kento does a weird clothesline on him. Kento runs into T's knee then T reverse sitout slams him again.

Kento flying knees him then T running knees him for 2. T does a reverse sitout razor's edge and wins it.

I thought the ending was kind of sudden and if you were looking for some kind of epic, this really wasn't it. It was far from either guys best efforts and if they can't give you a big one on a show like this, when can they?

Junior Tag Battle Of Glory 2023 Final Match - Black Generation International (Kaito Ishida & Kotaro Suzuki) vs. Zennichi Shin Jidai (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO)

Kotaro and Atsuki start us off. Atsuki dropkicks him. Kaito and Rising go at it and Kaito works the arm. Rising headflips out of it then headscissors him down. Rising sits down and poses him then Kaito kicks him in the face for it, then sits on him and taunts him. Kaito takes a hiptoss then Rising jumps off of Atsuki's back with a dropkick on him.

Kaito takes a double back elbow for 2 then is standing moonsaukted by Atsuki for 2. Rising is thrown into the ropes where Kotaro knees him. Kotaro then throws him into the rails and post. Kotaro headlocks Rising then hits a stiff reverse curb stomp.

Kaito kicks Rising in the back for 2 then Rising running back elbows him. Atsuki gets the hot tag in and beats up on his oppoents. He 2nd rope armdrags then dropkicks Kaito. Kaito bangs his head off the buckles and rolls him up. Atsuki superkicks him then does a handspring back enzugiri. Kaito then kicks him in mid-air.

Kotaro gets in and hiptosses and armdrags Atsuki. Kotaro side headlocks him and Atsuki keeps trying to backdrop him out of it. Kotaro walks on his back and kicks him with the back of his foot.  Rising hits chest slaps. Kotaro hangs over the middle rope and Rising slingshot ddt's him on the apron. Atsuki 2nd rope moonsaults Kaito outside then Rising does a wild and stupid top rope swanton onto Kotaro on the floor. Kotaro is 2v1'd then Rising asai moonsaults him for 2. Rising cradle tombstones Kotaro for 2 then top rope asai moonsaults him.

Rising and Kaito dropkick each other then Kaito takes a kick into a crucifix driver. Rising enzugiri's him then Kaito puts the ref in his way and high kicks him. Rising is tombstoned onto his partner then Kaito brainbusters him for 2. Kaito then does a half-tiger suplex with a wrist clutch on Rising and wins it.

I wasn't a fan of this. With junior wrestling, I want to see fast paced action and flying and we didn't get much of that until the last third of this. Kotaro was super interested in putting headlocks here at odd times and just brought this down. It was pretty slow until later on.

Overall thoughts: It was just wasn't a great night at the CC. They tried some in the main but it wasn't a classic and while I did like Kojima/Cyrus, it got off set by the Nagata/Suzuki tag which was just sad.