Time for another part of the Champion Carnival B Block with Mathew!

Last time we were here, we had the majority of the block tied up except for Naoya Nomura still in first place while Joe Doering is officially dead last.

We’ll now talk about the next three shows with five matches in this one instead of six, meaning I’ll be having more matches to cover in the next part.

Who will be advancing in our next series of matches? Let’s find out as we…dive right in.

Rating System:

• 0 Stars: Dave Meltzer
• 1 Star: Vince Russo
• 2 Stars: Tony Schiavone
• 3 Stars: Eric Bischoff
• 4 Stars: Bruce Prichard
• 5 Stars: Jim Cornette

4/15/2019
Champion Carnival B Block Match
Sam Adonis vs. Takashi Yoshida

Review: Our first match for this show and article is Sam Adonis taking on Takashi Yoshida. Both men are not in a so great position, so neither one of them can fully afford a loss as of right now. If one of them does win though, they’ll be in a position that they really can’t lose their last set of matches going forward. Which one of these two will have that honor.

That moment when Takashi was the better one of a singles match…what is life anymore? Anyway, it’s not a typo when I write this since he did perform a lot better than Sam did in this match and I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular either but was enough for how they work. The first half of the much was rather slow as it was more taunting and trying to overpower the other but it just wasn’t exciting or anything to keep people interested. Later on, they would be fighting outside of the ring when Sam failed to hit Yoshida with a chair and brought Sam back in the ring for Yoshida to hit an elbow drop for a two count. Sam would eventually put Yoshida in a Cattle Mutilation for a Yoshida to have his foot on the rope. Sam would go for the chair again as the referee would grab it as the two would tug until the referee let’s go, having the chair hit Sam when he pulled back as it leads to Yoshida hitting the Kong Lariat to get the victory.

Rating: Tony Schiavone and a half

Champion Carnival B Block Match
Naoya Nomura vs. Yoshitatsu

Review: Our next match is Naoya Nomura taking on Yoshitatsu. Nomura is currently tied with Takashi Yoshida when it comes to the both of them having six points but Nomura is still in a great position that if he can win his next two matches, he’ll be able to knock down most of his competition and still be in first place. Yoshi would need to beat him right here for the other competitors to have a better chance of winning. Will Nomura stay in first place or does Yoshitatsu ruin it?

I’m living in a world where Yoshitatsu has had the best matches on my block, first with Suwama and now against Naoya Nomura. I don’t know what’s going on here or who slipped what into my drink but I need to see this part of Yoshitatsu more often. Nomura did just as well in the match too as the both of them would deliver a great match in the ring with Nomura still shining a lot in these past couples of months, but Yoshitatsu doing as well here is a big surprise for me. Nice technical wrestling, random bursts of energy when they would go at it, and just a nice story for that little cherry on top.

After Yoshi delivered a DDT to Nomura onto the ring apron, they would slowly get back into the ring and it looked like Yoshi had him right where he wanted him as he would attempt to go for the Koji Clutch, but Nomura would hold his ground and hits him with a Spear and rolled him up for a two count. Nomura would attempt to go for another Spear as Yoshi would knee him in the face and the both of them would be down as the crowd cheered for them. When they would get up, they would hit each other with a series of German Suplexes until Nomura would be the one to hit the final German Suplex as the two were down again. Nomura made it to the top rope to attempt the Splash but Yoshi puts his knees up before he could land and not applies the Koji Clutch this time around. Nomura was unable to tap as Yoshi pinned him for a two count. Yoshi was able to get up and attempts to hit the Codebreaker of Jericho as Nomura caught him to push him off as he hits a forearm and then a Brainbuster. Nomura would get to the top rope once again as he hits the Splash for a two count and would pick him up for the Death Valley Driver to secure the pinfall victory and his position on top. Great match and a great showing by both of these men.

Rating: Bruce Prichard

4/16/2019
Champion Carnival B Block Match
Joe Doering vs. Takashi Yoshida

Review: Our first match on this show is Joe Doering taking on Takashi Yoshida. Joe is currently in last place with one win and three losses, so he really needs to start winning from now on or he’ll be eliminated after this one. Takashi only has a couple more opponents left, so he’s in a not so hot zone either and would need to win his last three or his chances will be slim to none. Will Joe get a chance to bounce back or will Takashi get him eliminated?

Takashi would attempt a test of strength on Joe and it seems like a bad idea because Joe is bigger than him and I was proven right when Joe just not only won the test of strength but was unable to be knocked down when Takashi tried to shoulder tackle him. A bit surprising to see Joe pretty much throw Takashi around like a rag doll for about more than half of the match and then again, Joe needs to be more aggressive here if he wants to even stay in the race. Takashi would finally get some offense in after distracting Joe when he begged him to stop, gave him a couple of throat thrusts, even lifted him up for a Brainbuster, and ended it with an Elbow Drop off the top rope for a two count. Takashi would start to knock him down with a couple of Lariats until the giant fell onto his knees and he would go for the Cyber Bomb but Joe flipped him over and hits a Lariat for a two count. Joe went for another one as Takashi ducked and Joe would hit him with a Diving Body Press and would get the pinfall victory to stay in the game a little bit longer!

Rating: Tony Schiavone and three quarters

Champion Carnival B Block Match
Daichi Hashimoto vs. Suwama

Review: Our main event for this show is Suwama taking on Daichi Hashimoto. It’s been a few days since we’ve seen Daichi in any Carnival matches, so it’s good to see him getting another match right here. Both of these men could use a win but Suwama needs it a little bit more since he has three more matches after this one while Daichi has four more. Will Suwama jump to second place or will that belong to Daichi?

Man, Daichi sure is a screamer, huh? He just screams a lot in this match and I hate to see how he is in the bedroom. Joking aside, while the wrestling aspect of the match was solid, the story of the match was told much better here at the end of things as Suwama was able to send Daichi to his limit in this match. Suwama would pretty much control a big majority of the match here while Daichi would try as hard as he can to fight back, but Suwama doesn’t give him a fighting chance to do so here. Daichi does have a lot to prove due to being the son of Shinya Hashimoto, who was the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion until Kazuchika Okada broke that record, but still left a big legacy behind and Daichi wants to do his father proud.

There were a couple of times where you would see a spark of hope in Daichi’s eyes while he took the Lariats, Belly-to-Belly Suplexes, chops, German Suplexes, Daichi would just keep finding a way to still fight whenever he could. Daichi was able to stop Suwama for a short period once he would catch him for a Falcon Arrow as it gives him time to recuperate. Daichi would hit a Shining Wizard into the corner and be able to land a couple of kicks in but Suwama would just meet him with a Lariat to knock him done once again. Suwama would hit the Backdrop and Daichi would kick out of it and while he went for a second one, Daichi would shift himself to land a Crossbody to get him down again. Daichi would hit Suwama in the back of the head with a Shining Wizard and it looks like he’s going to win as he charges in to hit another one, but Suwama hits another Lariat to ruin his momentum once again. Suwama throws him around with a couple of German Suplexes and another Lariat or two, even a Dropkick for good measure before Suwama hits the Backdrop Driver with a bridge as Suwama puts Daichi away. A valiant effort by Daichi here and great underdog type performance to get him over even in defeat.

Rating: Bruce Prichard

4/17/2018
Champion Carnival B Block Match
Jake Lee vs. Takashi Yoshida

Review: Our first and final match for this set of matches is Jake Lee taking on Takashi Yoshida. Takashi has one more match after this one as he only has three wins and three losses, so he would need to win this match right here or he will be mathematically eliminated from the tournament. Jake still has a chance to rack up some points but he would need to win here so he could take out someone and ruin his chances from winning. Will Jake win and eliminate Takashi or does Takashi take it?

There’s the Yoshida we all remember showing his shades of R.E.D here with the heel tactics in this match since he’s gonna want to pull off all the stops he can get if he wants to win here since he cannot afford another loss at all. Takashi would give him a few throat thrusts and rip up some of his wrist tape to choke Jake a little bit here. Jake was able to give Yoshida one of his better matches here compared to the last two he had which were rather lackluster. Both were able to match each other with Jake getting someone bigger to work with.

Yoshida would try to go after his legs for a little bit to hopefully try and get him to tap out later on and Yoshida would mostly just cut him down with his throat thrusts, which he does quite well and then again, he should since he does them more than Kenny Omega does V-Triggers. Takashi would apply the Figure Four on him now as he would try to make him tap out but he would get to the ropes before he could tap. Yoshida would attempt the Cyber Bomb as Jake would flip him over to save himself some time. Yoshida would go for the Kong Lariat as Jake would knee him in the chest and rolls him down to hit the PK as Yoshida kicked out at two. Jake goes for the Backdrop as Takashi fights out of it and gets him off to attempt another Lariat as Jake knees him in the chest twice to knock him down for a two count. Jake would apply the Boston Crab as Takashi would go for the ropes until Jake dragged him in the middle, turning it into a Single Leg Crab as he used his free arm to grab Yoshida’s arm to wrench it back into a weird Bow and Arrow type submission it looks like, I could be wrong as Yoshida would give up to give Jake the victory while Yoshida is eliminated.

Rating: Eric Bischoff and a half

Overall: I was able to get two four-star matches in this one, so I’m happy with that happening. Solid nights for this set as we already have one elimination while the rest are up in the air as of right now until the next series of matches. Looking forward to what happens next.

Favorite Match: Naoya Nomura vs. Yoshitatsu

Least Favorite Match: Sam Adonis vs. Takashi Yoshida

Score: 7.5/10

Current Standings:
Naoya Nomura: (4-2) (8 Points)
Suwama: (3-2) (6 Points)
Jake Lee: (3-2) (6 Points)
Takashi Yoshida: (3-4) (6 Points) (Eliminated)
Yoshitatsu: (2-2) (4 Points)
Daichi Hashimoto: (2-2) (4 Points)
Joel Redman: (2-3) (4 Points)
Sam Adonis: (2-3) (4 Points)
Joe Doering: (2-3) (4 Points)