All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/3/2026 Champion Carnival 2026 Day 8

All Japan Pro Wrestling 5/3/2026 Champion Carnival 2026 Day 8

Day 7 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2026/05/all-japan-pro-wrestling-522026-champion.html

Note - There's interviews after every match. 

Xyon vs. Shota Kofuji

Xyon shoves Shota down on the lock up. Shota side headlocks him and Xyon throws him. Shota waistlocks him and Xyon spins him on the waistlock. Shota tries shoulderblocks on him then hits a side headlock takeover. 

Xyon is tripped into the buckles. Shota is thrown into the corner. Shota gets on his back with a sleeper. Xyon rams him into the corner. Shota rolls into a dropkick on him. Shota shoulders him in the gut and springboard flying forearms him. Shota hits dropkicks then rolls him up for 2. Shota crucifixes him then Xyon flying lariats him.

Xyon flips him on a backdrop and wins.

Thoughts: Xyon won as expected. Shota got some headlocks in but had no real shot here. It wasn't much of note.

Shota and Xyon do interviews after. Xyon says Shota is strong and has spirit. He says he has high hopes for him and says he will be a star someday. Xyon says this is his ring until then. 

Kento Miyahara, Rei Saito, Daisuke Sekimoto and Ryo Inoue vs. Hokuto Omori, MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Shotaro Ashino

Sek and Ashino start us off. Ashino side headlocks him. Sek headbutts him then shoulders him over. Ashino takes him over then Sek side headlock takeovers him. Ashino puts him in a headscissors and they stand off. Musashi chops Ryo. Ryo spin kicks him in gut and chest kicks him down.

Musashi takes corner attacks. Sek lariats Ryo down on accident. Ryo takes kicks from Seiki and Musashi then a double basement dropkick. Omori eye rakes Ryo then foot chokes him. Omori running forearms him for 2. Ryo flying kicks Omori.

Ken tags in and he facekicks Omori. Ken dropkicks him in the knee and the side of the head. Omori hits a big forearm on Ken then he ddt's him. Omori tries his tower of doom spot on Ken and ends up getting pwoerbombed by his partners. Ryo hits a handspring double cutter. 

Rei double chops Omori. Omori enzugiri's him. Seiki comes in and hits chest kicks on Omori. Seiki scissors kicks Rei. Rei takes a double superkick. Seiki top rope swantons Rei for 2.

Seiki superkicks Rei then Rei crossbodies him for 2. Rei chokeslams Seiki and pins him.

Thoughts: It was the same tag we have seen many times before, just with different wrestlers. It wasn't anything too special and it had a little bit of comedy with Omori getting powerbombed by his partners as usual. Everyone got their segment in and not a lot else. 

Champion Carnival 2026 Block A Match - Kuma Arashi vs. Yuma Anzai

They lock up. Yuma steps forward and he immediately goes down holding his ankle. Kuma stomps the ankle and stands on it. Yuma gets up and hits forearms. Kuma kicks him in the knee then stomps the knee. The ref then stops this.

Thoughts: Yuma was limping at the last show and it looks like he re-aggravated the injury here. I've never seen someone go down to a lock-up before, so he must have seriously been hurting.

Various people check on Yuma after. 

Champion Carnival 2026 Block A Match - Go Shiozaki vs. Kengo Mashimo

They lock up. Ken clean breaks him. Go side headlock takeovers him twice and is put in a headscissors each time. Go armlocks him and Kne wristlocks him. They trade some arm holds. Ken ropebreaks and Go elbows him in the head. Ken facekicks him down then kicks him outside. 

Go chops him there. Ken boots him in the chest. Go sends him into the rail then bangs Ken's foot off the post. Ken's head and knee are banged off the apron. Go dropkicks Ken's knee while it's over the bottom rope. Ken hits chest kicks to the gut. Go gets sent into the rails. 

Ken double axe handles Go's back. Ken boots Go then knee's him in the gut for 2. Ken does a grounded abdominal stretch and pulls on Go's neck. They go head to head and trade chops. Ken russian legsweeps him then does a stretch plum. 

Ken hits knees to Go's taped up ribs. Go flying facekicks him then flying shoulders him. Go running chops Ken then hits a chop flurry in the corner. Ken hits more knees to the gut. Go lariats him and fisherman busters him for 2. 

Go blocks a PK and spinning chops him. Ken step up enzugiri's him. Go lariats him down. Ken knees him in the gut. Go facekicks him out of the corner. Ken samoan drops him. Ken double knee drops him off the 2nd rope. Ken knees him in the gut. Go hits a go flasher for 2.

Ken kicks Go's arm then Go lariats him down. Go botches a 2nd rope twisting suplex on Ken. Go backdrops him for 2. Ken hits knees to the gut. Ken lariats him then Go lariats him back and pins him.

Thoughts: Ken pretty much only works body parts in his matches. Today, he worked Go's ribs/gut the whole time. It made sense and was fine, just not overly exciting. This got 19 minutes some unknown reason.

Hyo Ogawa, Nobuhiko Kimura & Seigo Tachibana vs. Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura & Yuma Aoyagi

Dan and Seigo go at it. Dan side headlocks him then shoulders him over. Seigo kips up. Seigo armdrags him and is swept. Seigo sweeps him again and they stand off. Kimura and AA get in. AA side headlocks him then shoulders him over. Kimura forearms him then flying headscissors him down.

AA suplexes him. Kimura takess a double shoulderblock. Yuma slams him. Dan slams Kimura then AA slams Kimura. They all then hit another round of slams on Kimura for 2. Yuma crabs Kimura and Kimura rope breaks.

Kimura dropkicks Yuma. Hyo gets in and hits flying shoulders on Yuma. He then backdrops him. Hyo falling headbutt drops Yuma. Hyo hits chops on Yuma. Yuma misses a dropkick and Hyo giant swings him. Yuma and Hyo are too dizzy to make it into their corners and try to tag each other. 

Seigo comes in and hits shots on Dan. Seigo atomic drops him then Dan slams him. Dan running shoulders him in the corner then suplexes him for 2. They forearm each other then hit each other on the ropes. Seigo hits a forearm combo then Dan lariats him down. Seigo jack knifes him for 2. Dan death valley drivers him. Seigo hits a b-driver. 

AA and Hyo trade forearms. Hyo headbutts AA in the chest. Kimura suplexes Yuma. Dan double lariats his opponents. Hyo headbutts Dan. Dan hits a big lariat on him. Dan running lariats AA when Seigo moves. Kimura top rope rider kicks Dan. Hyo flying lariats Dan. Seigo olympic slams Dan. Seigo running elbows Dan on the back of the neck and pins him.

Thoughts: There was a decent bit of screwing around here. Yuma wasn't in this much. Kimura had a good showing and was kind of taking Seigo's underdog role. We got a lot of Dan vs Seigo, which is what we have been getting all tour. I'd say it was alright.

Champion Carnival 2026 Block A Match - Oddyssey vs. Talos

They lock up and roll on the ropes. They trade some shots and Talos headchops him. Odd headbutts him. They ram into each other. Tal knees him in the gut then Odd does the same. Tal splashes him on the ropes then Odd does the same. Odd clubs him then hits shots to the gut and chest. Odd corner spears him. 

Odd corner splashes him. Odd hits mounted corner punches. Tal grabs him and rams him into the buckles then shoulders him over. Odd hits some chest shots then lariats him over the top. Odd top rope diving lariats him. They fight outside. Odd is sent into the post. 

Odd uppercuts him then headbutts him. Tal headchops him. Tal running facekicks him. Odd lariats him against the post. Odd tries to splash him against the post but Tal moves and Odd goes into the post. Odd's head is banged off the apron. Tal backdrops Odd on the apron. Odd hits shots to the gut and is headchopped. 

Tal chinlocks him around the ropes. Tal hits corner splashes then side slams him for 2. Tal does the Crush headsqueeze to him. Odd back elbows him then flying shoulders him. Odd running back elbows him in the corner and lariats him. Odd side slams him for 2. Odd splashes him for 2. 

Odd sits on the buckles and gets chopped. Odd is caught on a 2nd rope crossbody attempt and Tal slams him down. Tal chokeslams him and wins.

Thoughts: It was a little longer and slower than I would have liked, but I did like it. It was nice to see Talos face someone who was an actual physical threat to him. You could really see Odd throw his weight at him here. I liked the spot crossbody catch spot at the end and Tal getting lariated over the top was cool.

Talos is interviewed after. He says there's only one real group in this group and it's Titans of Calamity. He says he's about to skin Kuma Arashi tomorrow.

Oddyssey talks.  He says he wanted the win the CC so bad. He says he's sorry to all the fans. He says he faces Go Shiozaki on 5/5. He says he won't let him win but he promises HAVOC will go to the finals.

Champion Carnival 2026 Block B Match - Hideki Suzuki vs. Madoka Kikuta

HS running dropkicks him then euros him outside. They trade boots outside and choke each other. They then start slapping each other and stare down. HS euros him down outside.

HS goes back in and pulled out, then MK goes back in. MK pump kicks him off the apron. MK hits knees to the gut. HS forearms him outside. HS foot slaps him outside and MK chops him. HS forearms him in the gut. HS slaps him around inside then forearms him in the gut, sending him down. HS slaps him more. HS garvin stomps him. 

HS shoulders him over. MK forearms him in the back of the neck. MK chops him down. MK swinging guillotine chokes him. MK stomps him. MK no sells HS' shots. They drop each other at the same time with strikes. MK running hip attacks him.  

They get on all fours and butt heads. HS euros him. HS hits forearms to the gut then punts him in the shoulder and chest. MK running hip attacks him. MK running lariats him. HS backslides him and wins.

Thoughts: It was an odd match. It was a slow speed brawl. They hit a hard shot or two and wait a bit until the other guy hit them back. It like was someone chopping a tree with an axe, staring a it for a minute then doing it again on repeat for 16 minutes straight. I don't know what this was.

They then fight for a while after and show more spirit than they did in the match.

Champion Carnival 2026 Block B Match - Ryuki Honda vs. Ren Ayabe

They lock up. Ren wristlocks him and Honda reverses it. Ren side headlock takeovers him, Honda headscissors him and they get back up. Honda forearms him on the break. Ren shoulders him over. 

They go out. Ren sends him into the rails but Honda no sells it and lariats him. Honda chokes him on the rail and counts along with the ref. Honda bangs Ren's face off then apron. Ren sends Honda into the post and rails.

Ren shoulders him over then foot chokes him. Ren hit back elbows in the corner. Ren stands on his back. Honda running spears him. Honda hits corner lariats for 2 counts. Honda chinlocks him. Ren rams him into the corner to escape then corner facekicks him.

They fight on the buckles. Honda is facekicked off the buckles to the floor. Honda gets back in. He hits forearms and Ren fires back. Honda lariats him from behind and no sells a german. Ren facekicks him and Honda running lariats him.  

They trade forearms. Ren drops him with one for 2. Honda blocks a stretch plum attack. Ren facekicks him then knees him in the gut. Honda suplexes him. Honda running lariats him for 2. They forearm each other at the same time. Honda takes him over into a pin attempt. Ren dropkicks him. 

Ren shotgun dropkicks him for 2. Ren full nelson slams him for 2. Ren then wins with his spinning falcon arrow.

Thoughts: As usual, Ren didn't bring a lot to this. Honda tried but it was just the same spiritless effort from Ren. Honda could have wrestled a door and got about the same result here. It was just average. 

Overall thoughts: It was a weak night at the CC. The first two matches weren't much of note. Yuma seemingly got hurt the other day and went down in pain off a lock-up here, ending the match quick. Kengo/Go made sense and was fine, just not super exciting. The Hyo Ogawa 6-man tag was alright. I liked Oddyssey/Talos as it was a heavyweight match with them throwing some weight around. Suzuki/Kikuta was a slow motion brawl and was unusual. Honda/Ren was average. I'd give this a 4 out of 10 and thought this was below average.