All Japan - The House Baba built

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With the new forum set up I figured it was time to give a couple of more promotions their own threads. Use this one to discuss All Japan Pro Wrestling. The second oldest promotion in Japan and the house built by Giant Baba. Then burnt down by Misawa, rebuilt by Mutoh but not up to code, then torn down by Mutoh and currently under restoration by Jun Akiyama.

AJPW is my favorite promotion and has been for the past year or so, both from a historical and current perspective. They are fare from their glory days in the 80s and 90s but their product is sneaky good and they have a fantastic set of young guys coming up that the crowd is attached to.

Chatter away.

 

[Stopspot]

Currently the Champion Carnival (AJPW's answer to NJPW's G1) is underway. Two days are down so far with the opener in Korakuen featuring a supposed MOTYC between Miyahara (the GOAT) and Kengo Mashimo in the main event. Followed by a show in Nagano main evented by Takao Omori vs Ryoji Sai.

Here are the standings after day 2:

(graph courtesy of brother MortenVH on twitter.)

 

[Pop Tatari]

I approve of this thread.

 

[Leo C]

I assume all the Carnival matches will be available eventually, yes? I may watch the best of them if I get the time to sometime.

 

[Stopspot]

I assume all the Carnival matches will be available eventually, yes? I may watch the best of them if I get the time to sometime.

Day 1 will air on TV on Gaora, the final show will air live on Samurai TV. All other shows will air on Niconico on 24 hour delay. So yes, the entire carnival makes tape.

Ironically enough the opening day airs after everything else.

 

[Stopspot]

Day 3 and 4 of the Champion's Carnival are in the books. Here are the results for the block matches.

Day 3:
Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW) over Jake Lee
Kengo Mashimo (KDojo) over Bodyguard
Atsushi Aoki over Ryoji Sai (Land's End)
Zeus over Takao Omori
Kento Miyahara over Naoya Nomura
Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW) over Jun Akiyama

Day 4:
Yutaka Yoshie over Atsushi Aoki
Jake Lee over Takao Omori
Ryoji Sai over Hideyoshi Kamitani
Bodyguard over Super Tiger (RJPW)
Sekimoto over Nomura
Akiyama over Miyahara

Here's how the standings look after 4 days of competition. Again courtesy of brother MortenVh on twitter.

The B block is still pretty open, with Sai, Aoki and Zeus on the same amount of points, especially impressive for Aoki who is a junior rather than a heavyweight. Personally I think either Zeus, Sai or Omori pullt out the win in the B block. But it is still a bit too early to tell imo. Which is cool since the B block was obvious when Joe Doering was still in the tournament.

The A block on the other hand is shaping up more interestingly. Kengo has gone on a early run and it will be interesting to see if he gets to the finals, or runs into a roadblock, with Akiyama and Sekimoto being his next two matches it is going to be a rough road for him. Sekimoto is right now only one point behind and faces Bodyguard tomorrow whilst Kengo faces Akiyama.

Kento Miyahara, the reigning Triple Crown champion is in third with three points (drew with Kengo on the opening day, beat Nomura on day 3, lost to Akiyama on day 4). So he's had a rough start. But he has a field of matches coming up which should be doable in the form of Super Tiger, Bodyguard and Sekimoto respectively. The way I see it a likely outcome is Kento and Sekimoto being neck in neck on the final day, and the result of that match determines who moves into the final, if either man wins, they move on. They draw, Kengo or Akiyama moves on.

There are four shows left on this tour with the final being on Sunday and airing live on Samurai TV.

 

[Stopspot]

@Leo C @Nouvelle Vague here you guys have a link to the start of the new era of AJPW. Kento Miyahara vs Zeus for the vacant TC title. Hopefully you two enjoy. I know I did.

Today's Carnival stop has been taken care of. Here are the results from the tournament matches:

Yoshie over Lee
Zeus over Kamitani
Bodyguard over Sekimoto (kind of an upset but at the same time not. Sekimoto is arguably the king of the indies in Japan, but Bodyguard is a world tag team champion in AJPW)
Akiyama over Mashimo
Miyahara over Super Tiger

This leaves the blocks looking like this after 4 days.

A BLOCK
~ Miyahara [2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss = 5 points]
~ Mashimo [2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss = 5 points]
~ Bodyguard [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Sekimoto [2 wins, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Akiyama [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Super Tiger [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
~ Nomura [1 win, 3 losses = 2 points]

B BLOCK
~ Zeus [3 wins, 1 loss = 6 points]
~ Yoshie [2 win, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Aoki [2 wins, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Sai [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Lee [1 win, 3 losses = 2 points]
~ Omori [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
~ Kamitani [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]

Zeus is running away with the B Block still, but with Yoshie, Aoki and Sai hunting him. Miyahara and Mashimo are tied up top in the A block, with Bodyguard, Sekimoto and Akiyama only one point behind each. The A block is very interesting right now with only a couple of shows left. Miyahara vs Sekimoto on the final day will be a deciding factor in who moves on from the A block.

The next show is on Friday. Then Saturday and the final show on Sunday.

 

[Leo C]

Spoiler

@Leo C @Nouvelle Vague here you guys have a link to the start of the new era of AJPW. Kento Miyahara vs Zeus for the vacant TC title. Hopefully you two enjoy. I know I did.

Today's Carnival stop has been taken care of. Here are the results from the tournament matches:

Yoshie over Lee
Zeus over Kamitani
Bodyguard over Sekimoto (kind of an upset but at the same time not. Sekimoto is arguably the king of the indies in Japan, but Bodyguard is a world tag team champion in AJPW)
Akiyama over Mashimo
Miyahara over Super Tiger

This leaves the blocks looking like this after 4 days.

A BLOCK
~ Miyahara [2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss = 5 points]
~ Mashimo [2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss = 5 points]
~ Bodyguard [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Sekimoto [2 wins, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Akiyama [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Super Tiger [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
~ Nomura [1 win, 3 losses = 2 points]

B BLOCK
~ Zeus [3 wins, 1 loss = 6 points]
~ Yoshie [2 win, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Aoki [2 wins, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Sai [2 wins, 2 losses = 4 points]
~ Lee [1 win, 3 losses = 2 points]
~ Omori [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
~ Kamitani [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]

Zeus is running away with the B Block still, but with Yoshie, Aoki and Sai hunting him. Miyahara and Mashimo are tied up top in the A block, with Bodyguard, Sekimoto and Akiyama only one point behind each. The A block is very interesting right now with only a couple of shows left. Miyahara vs Sekimoto on the final day will be a deciding factor in who moves on from the A block.

The next show is on Friday. Then Saturday and the final show on Sunday.

That was pretty good, actually. Very fun basic match, enjoyed Zeus' big man work and Kento selling and stuff... pretty fun match.

 

[Stopspot]

Here's a link to Joe Doering's GoFundMe to help cover his medical costs following brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

 

[Pop Tatari]

@Leo C @Nouvelle Vague here you guys have a link to the start of the new era of AJPW. Kento Miyahara vs Zeus for the vacant TC title. Hopefully you two enjoy. I know I did.

.

I enjoyed this, not over the top finish wise but a well told story of Zeus dominating. not every match has to have insane spots/flashiness to be good.

 

[Roadster]

Watched my first full show. :bully2:

 

[Stopspot]

I enjoyed this, not over the top finish wise but a well told story of Zeus dominating. not every match has to have insane spots/flashiness to be good.

The Zeus/Kento rivalry is still very young. By classic AJPW logic they are going to start to learn how to counter each others moves. Which will result in them evolving their movesets to counter each other. This will of course take time. Kobashi/Misawa were rivals for about 2 decades for example

 

[Roadster]

The Zeus/Kento rivalry is still very young. By classic AJPW logic they are going to start to learn how to counter each others moves. Which will result in them evolving their movesets to counter each other. This will of course take time. Kobashi/Misawa were rivals for about 2 decades for example

That was an awesome match. When did Kento and Zeus start feuding?

 

[Stopspot]

That was an awesome match. When did Kento and Zeus start feuding?

They aren't. They are rivals, not feuding in the sense that we western fans conceive a feud.
Kento and Zeus are the two top young guys in the company (with Nomura, Lee and Aoyagi under them so the future is bright for All Japan on the future stars front). So them facing off is always going to be meaningful. But there's no heat or beef between the two outside of that. No big storyline.

 

[Leo C]

Something else about that match. This may sound silly, but I actually loved Zeus' topé. I've been watching a lot of wrestling recently and some matches do suffer from looking a lot more like a choreography than an actual fight, which wasn't the case here. So many topes are kinda like "welp, just gonna throw this dude out of the ring, do a dive and go right back in"... kinda lame. But not this one; Zeus had beaten the guy a bunch on the outside, was kinda waiting and just figured "know what, I'm gonna jump on this geek!", followed by a topé which wasn't pretty, very rough, but that made it all better for me.