AJPW Champion Carnival A Block Results & Review: Part 3

Welcome to part three of my coverage of the Champion Carnival A Block as we have a stacked show for these next two days as I have three matches each this time, so it should be fun and plenty of content. Before I begin however, we did get word that The Bodyguard did suffer a small injury on his left calf and will have to have some of his matches changed on April 16 and 18 since he was booked then, his opponents don’t get a by, just matches will be moved around. Anyway, let’s…dive right in.

April 14th, 2018

Champion Carnival 2018 Block A Match
The Bodyguard vs. Shingo Takagi

Review: We get Shingo coming back for his second match as he looks to keep his undefeated streak going after defeating the Tripe Crown Champion in his first match. Bodyguard however already has two losses in his name and would need to win here to keep himself in the race for a little bit longer. Before I begin, I do however have some news for Shingo Takagi as according to some reports, it appears as though he will be leaving Dragon Gate to become a Freelancer and where will he end up down the road? I don’t know, but we might see him more in AJPW now it looks like. This was Bodyguard’s best match in the Carnival so far and much better quality compared to his last two matches in the tournament, plus he was working with Shingo who is fantastic and if you’ve never seen him work, do it. You can see times where Bodyguard would move just fine and then really slow, like you can tell he was hurting before this match too. We had a nice Clothesline to the corner spot from Bodyguard until Shingo does the same thing to him and mocking his taunt in the process, that was cool. Shingo would then hit a nasty Death Valley Driver from the ring apron to weaken the monster before hitting his Pumping Bomber Lariat to secure a win over Bodyguard.

Recommended: Solid match, worth a viewing.

Champion Carnival 2018 Block A Match
Naoya Nomura vs. Yuji Hino

Review: So far Yuji Hino has two big wins under his belt by defeating two former Triple Crown Champions and now wants to keep his undefeated streak going as he fights Naoya, who wants to be the one to end his undefeated streak and show that he could be the future of AJPW next to Kento Miyahara, so let’s see if he can pull it off. So far it looks like that Hino’s matches are relatively short here and I don’t think any of them have lasted more than ten minutes yet, but I guess it goes with his power and dominance for when he kicks the crap out of his opponents. Another solid match on this show as Naoya looked strong against Hino here and would like that he had a chance a few times to actually win it here, but Hino was just too strong for him as he hits nasty Lariat’s to him and hit the FUCKING BOMB to keep his undefeated streak going. A valiant effort by Naoya, but he wasn’t enough for him either. Can anyone dethrone Yuji Hino?

Recommended: Fun match, I liked it for what it was.

Champion Carnival 2018 Block A Match
Kento Miyahara vs. Ryoji Sai

Review: After six days into this tournament, we finally get our Asia Heavyweight Champion, Ryoji Sai into the mix as his first match is against current Triple Crown Champion, Kento Miyahara and what a way to have your first match and a win here with either one of these men could lead to a future title match for either championship. The beginning of the match is more than enough to get you hooked just by how everything flows with them here and their story in this match just tells it from beginning to end. Kento would show his heelish personality a little til the elder referee gets involved once again, think it’s just how he is to him at this point it seems. Kento would attempt to deliver a Blackout on the outside, but his knee would hit the turnbuckle post full force and you can feel how painful that was just by watching it. Ryoji would use this to his advantage with him working on Kento’s knee throughout the match and even having a table pressed down on his knee in the process.

Ryoji would start getting more control of the match now still working on Kento’s knee for a while as Kento would grab the referee here and there to have him pulled a little bit closer to the ropes since the ref would attempt to back away to get the wrestlers off them, so kudos for a smart and entertaining little spot there. Around the last few minutes of the match kick up into high gear here as we get plenty of back and forth action and while Ryoji almost had it a few times, wasn’t enough to win as Kento would get his second win with his famous Shutdown German Suplex Hold in an incredible match.

Recommended: Great match, all matches delivered and this was the best one of the three.

April 15th, 2018

Champion Carnival 2018 A Block Match
Joe Doering vs. Ryuji Sai

Review: Ryuji would make his second appearance here as he now takes on former Triple Crown Champion, Joe Doering who has tow losses in his record and only one win, so he would need to win this match to have a slight chance of winning the whole thing here. Oh my non-existing god, it finally happened, Joe would show some force and make some believable strikes here in this match! Keep doing more of those instead of half-assed ones and I wouldn’t have to yell as much (I’ll find something else to yell about.) The match itself was a quick almost six minute match, but they gave us plenty of action in that short amount of time and shows you don’t need to be a half hour or more to automatically have a good match, takes the right story to do it. Ryuji would come close again until Joe hits his Running Body Press and the Revolution Bomb to put him away, making him have two wins and two losses. Ryoji has five matches left and is gonna have to stack up some wins too if he wants to stay afloat.

Recommended: Another short and solid match, watch it.

Champion Carnival 2018 A Block Match
Shingo Takagi vs. Yuji Hino

Review: So these are our two guys that are undefeated in A Block which means that one of them is gonna have to lose here tonight to secure the top spot of this block. I’m gonna be honest here, I think this might be my favorite match in the Carnival so far and I thought Shingo vs. Kento was gonna be hard to beat, but this match was just fantastic and I didn’t even expect it to be this good. Both Shingo and Yuji have great chemistry in the ring as their styles work so well together with nice hard hits, beautiful sequences, and had great spots from beginning to end. Shingo fits so well in AJPW after seeing him doing this tournament and I really do hope he does do more AJPW work with the possibility of him being done with Dragon Gate, it would be a great new environment for him and would be a great addition to the roster and maybe a future Triple Crown Championship with his name on it. Yuji Hino really is growing on me after every match he’s had here and this is definitely his best match in the tournament as well, has the look, power, and could be a dominant force for the company if he sticks around.

The final five minutes of the match was amazing as Shingo would hit both Last Falconry and Pumping Bomber to try and take down Yuji and it somehow still wasn’t enough to take him as he was able to kick out of both moves and I was pretty speechless after that since I thought that would be it for him. Yuji’s power would be too much for Shingo and would hit a bunch of stiff Lariat’s in the match and you could feel each one he delivered to him and after a sixteen minute bout, Hino remains undefeated with the FUCKING BOMB to now be four wins and zero losses. If Hino wins one more match then we will most likely see him claim the finals of A Block as he now has Bodyguard, Ryoji, and Kento left to fight in this tournament and all three would have to defeat him to try and dethrone his position, but can they do it? Great effort by Shingo and I can’t be mad with this loss since it was a great match and he has four more matches to go.

Recommended: Absolutely yes, great match and should be viewed.

Champion Carnival 2018 A Block Match
Kento Miyahara vs. Shuji Ishikawa

Review: I didn’t expect these guys to be fighting this early, but I can’t complain here since they were number three in my Top 25 Matches of last year after their Triple Crown Championship match at the 45th Anniversary Show, so I hope they can keep that match quality up with this one right here. I had two back and forth fantastic matches here as this one was just as good as the previous match here and I’m glad that the tournament is starting to pick up in their quality of matches as the tournament continues on. I can watch Kento and Shuji fighting in the ring anytime because they never disappoint me in their quality of matches and would always give us something different each time they fight. Shuji would hit his Fire Thunder from the ring apron and it looked like a nasty bump there, but Kento was still able to keep going.

The match wouldn’t have a too slow moment as they had the right amount of pacing throughout the match to give the fans something to enjoy while not going too fast either and knowing when to actually slow down to tell the story in the ring. Near the ending of the bout, they would keep going back and forth with each other with their moves and hard hitting action to try and get the pinfall on each other and it would still not be enough for either of them as they both need to win this match. Shuji would hit two of his Fire Thunders and then Kento would still kick out of them to stay alive! Kento would counter him with some vicious Blackout’s to keep knocking him down and it would be enough as he picks up his third win with the Shutdown German Suplex Hold, I think he might be the one at this point to end Yuji’s undefeated streak, calling it now.

Recommended: Fantastic match, so yes you should watch it.

Overall: Both days delivered big time as none of the matches were bad at all and we had two top contenders for the best matches in one night, looking forward to see what happened on the next set of shows that I cover.

Favorite Match: Tie – Shingo Tageki vs. Yuji Hino and Kento Miyahara vs. Shuji Ishikawa

Least Favorite Match: Naoya Nomura vs. Yuji Hino

Score: 8.5/10

Current Standings:
Yuji Hino (4-0) (8 Points)
Kento Miyahara (3-1) (6 Points)
Shingo Tagaki (2-1) (4 Points)
Joe Doering (2-2) (4 Points)
Shuji Ishikawa (1-2) (2 Points)
Naoya Momura (1-2) (2 Points)
Ryoji Sai (0-2) (0 Points)
The Bodyguard (0-3) (0 Points)