All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/12/2025 Champion Carnival 2025 Day 2

All Japan Pro Wrestling 4/12/2025 Champion Carnival 2025 Day 2

Rising HAYATO & Taishin Nagao vs. Dan Tamura & MUSASHI

Nagao and Mu trade wristlocks. Nagao takes a side headlock takeover and is put in a headscissors. Nagao flying headscissors him. Rising dropkicks Mu off the apron.

Nagao double axe handles Mu then Mu slams him. Rising is sent into the rails outside. Mu elbow drops Nagao. Nagao hits chest forearms on Dan. Dan slams Nagao for 2. Dan crabs Nagao and Nagao ropebreaks.

Nagao 2nd rope dropkicks Dan. Rising jumps off of Dan's back into a dropkick on Mu. Rising then running back elbows Dan. Rising dropkicks and bulldogs Dan for 2. Dan samoan drops Rising. 

Mu dropkicks Rising in the knee, double stomps his back then basement dropkicks him. Rising dropkicks Mu against the ropes. Nagao comes in and hits forearms on Mu. Nagao misses a dropkick then hits one.

Mu takes corner attacks then Nagao springboard dropkicks him for 2. Nagao northern lights suplexes him and hits forearms. Mu superkicks him then suplexes him for 2. Mu crabs him. Mu then does a sharpshooter variation while tying up the arm and submits him.

Thoughts: It went for an opener and wasn't anything too special. We didn't see much of Dan here and Nagao surprisingly got a lot of offense in on Mu here. 

Champion Carnival 2025 Block B Match - Mike D Vecchio vs. Madoka Kikuta

They lock up and Mike shoves him away. Mike back elbows him then headlocks him. MK goes for a hammerlock then Mike back body drops him. Mike topes him outside.

Mike goes to springboard and is hit. MK hip attacks him off the apron. MK hits chops outside then Mike chops back. MK headscissors him in the ring. Mike hits shots then MK forearms him. Mike running facekicks him.

Mike hits a suplex then slams him. They trade chops for forearms. MK suplexes him. Mike hits shots to the gut and takes lariats. Mike hits a pumping knee then takes a hip attack. MK is pulled over the top then Mike suicide dives him. Mike springboard elbows MK. He then double jump os cutters him to win.

Thoughts: It didn't really get as good as you would hope. I thought it ended too soon and Kikuta didn't get a ton off offense in. What we got was alright but not much more.

Champion Carnival 2025 Block A Match - Kuma Arashi vs. Xyon

Kuma clean breaks him off the lock up. X side headlocks him. They shoulder battle. Kuma shoulders him over. X lariats him then hits mounted shots. X does headbutt drops and double stomps Kuma.

Kuma crossbodies him. Kuma sentons him. Kuma htis a corner lariat then 2nd rope sentons him. Kuma racks him but X headlocks hin while in the hold. Kuma straightjacket chokes him. X reverses it then hits shots. Kuma lariats him.

X death valley drivers him then hits a flying shoulder. X does a nasty powerbomb on Kuma's neck and pins him.

Thoughts: Oh Xyon. I was about to put him over for having one of his more watchable matches then he nearly kills Kuma with a powerbomb. Aside from the finish I thought they mostly got the idea of this right and what we got was fine.

Champion Carnival 2025 Block B Match - Aigle Blanc vs. Yuma Anzai

Yuma wristlocks him. AB gets in and side headlocks him. Yuma hits an armdrag. AB headsicssors him then uses the ropes to headlock takeover him. They then stand off.

Yuma side headlocks him. AB flips over him while he's down then upkicks him. AB is pulled down from the 2nd rope outside. AB springboard crossbodies him off the rails outside. AB then 2nd rope moonsaults him outside.

AB does a headscissors drop. They each hit corner attacks and Yuma belly to belly suplexes him for 2. AB hits forearms then is dropkicked. AB springboard flying knees him for 2.

They trade shots and AB pumping knees him. Yuma flying knees him. AB dragon suplexes him. Yuma no sells it and dragon suplexes him back. AB hurricanrana's him over the 2nd rope. AB then coast to coast dropkicks him for 2. AB misses a top rope 450 then Yuma flying knees him for 2.

AB victory rolls him for 2. AB flying facekicks him. AB goes to springboard but is caught with a gimlet and pinned.

Thoughts: There was a lot of no selling in this which I didn't like. AB is rather agile and can flying but that's sadly about all he can do. If he can learn how to sell and put things together, I think he'd make it further. I was 50/50 on this as I liked that it was athletic but didn't like all the no selling. 

Davey Boy Smith Jr., Hokuto Omori, Ryo Inoue & Takashi Yoshida vs. Atsuki Aoyagi, Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Ryuki Honda

Rei pinned Ryo with a chokeslam here. Ryo took a nice bump for a Rei spinning chop here. Ryo hit kicks on Rei but due to Rei being so much bigger, it was hard to buy them as really being that painful. Yoshida hit throat chops on both Saito's at once only to take a double shoulder. Ryo also tagged Jun in the ear here off a buzzsaw kick. I thought it was longer than it needed to be and didn't that much effort was really put into this one.

Champion Carnival 2025 Block A Match - Hideki Suzuki vs. Shotaro Ashino

HS hits a euro then Sho bangs HS' leg off the apron and post. Sho stomps the knee then forearms it. Sho stretch mufflers him. HS bootsh im out of the corner then hanging headscissors him over the top rope. HS hits a finlay roll then Sho throws him overhead. Sho hits a running euro then hits karelin's lift.

Sho hits a german then is hit with one. Sho ankle locks him then germans him. Sho ankle locks him. HS fights for an armbar and hits a hard upkick to the jaw. HS backdrops him and wins.

Thoughts: It was much quicker than I expected. I liked it though. They fought for everything and they kept it moving with the short amount of time they had.  This went well.

Champion Carnival 2025 Block B Match - Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ren Ayabe

They lock up. Ren teases a punch on the break but just messes with his hair. They shoulder battle then Yuma dropkicks him. Ren no sells it and shoulders him over. They trade forearms outside and Ren drops him. Ren is sent into the post twice then the rails. Yuma jumps off the rails and legdrops his neck over the rail.

Yuma legdrops him for 2. Yuma sits up top and is dropkicked down. Ren sends Yuma into the post. They trade forearms outside then Yuma is sent into the rails. Ren slams Yuma then back body drops him. Ren then crabs him. Yuma rolls him up then hits a dropkick for 2. Yuma hits another dropkick. Yuma dropkicks Ren off the apron then drives him into the rails.

They trade forearms. Ren suplexes Yuma. Ren running facekicks and flying neckbreakers Yuma for 2. Yuma backrolls Ren for 2. Ren half-nelson slams him. Yuma cradles him for 2 then Ren facekicks him. Ren release dragon suplexes him for 2. Yuma escapes a spinning falcon arrow and cradles Ren to win.

Thoughts: They wasted a bunch of time outside in the first half that didn't amount to much. It started picking up near the end, but then it just ended. It was just an average match overall.

Champion Carnival 2025 Block A Match - Kengo Mashimo vs. Kento Miyahara

They trade holds. Kengo side headlock takeovers him, Kento headscissors him and they stand off. Kento facekicks him then Kengo trips him. Kento is sent into the rails. Kengo is dropped throat first on the rails. Kento headbutts him outside multiple times. Kento then poses inside.

Kento hits more headbutts outside and goes into the post when Kengo moves. Kengo pulls Kento's arm around the rail then sends him into the rail arm first. Kengo bangs Kento's arm off of his shoulder. Kengo kicks the arm then russian legsweeps him into a grounded octopus. Kengo armbars him and Kento ropebreaks.

Kento dropkicks him in the knee then the side of the head. Kento pumping knees him in the corner. Kengo back body drops Kento on the apron. Kengo drivess Kento's arm/shoulder into the exposed floor outside.

Kengo knees him in the gut then PK's him twice. Kento tries to fight out of it and takes more chest kicks. they trade forearms. Kento hits forearms. Kento suplexes him. Kento pumping knees him. Kento goes for a lariat and Kengo armbars him.

Kengo hits chest kicks. He kicks Kento in the arm and is lariated. Kengo crucifixes him and pulls back on both arms. Kento flying pumping knees him. Kento hits headbutts. Kengo high kicks and enzugiri's him. Kento hits a flying pumping knee then a pumping knee for 2. Kento straightjacket germans him and gets the win.

Thoughts: Kengo worked the arm almost all match. Kento then mounted a comeback and won. I didn't really buy that Kengo was winning this one. Kento's not the best seller in the world so matches built around him selling are only going to reach certain levels. I just thought it was average and wasn't that big of a fan of it. 

Overall thoughts: Suzuki/Ashino was the best match of the night which surprised me. It was short but they made it look like a real fight and they got the best out of both guys before going home. Both the main and the semi-main were just average. There was some stuff I liked about Ainge/Yuma, but there was also some stuff I didn't like about it. Kuma/Xyon was going okay but then Xyon dropped Kuma on his head on the finish. Mike/Kikuta was decent but didn't quite get as good as I hoped and the opener went too long. The 8-man wasn't much of note. I'd give this one a 5 out of 10 as it was an average night at the CC and there was nothing must see.