All Japan - The House Baba built

[Prince Bálor]

So, I'm planning on checking out the Carnival shows one of these days. Are all matches from CC on that rutube account?

 

[Stopspot]

So, I'm planning on checking out the Carnival shows one of these days. Are all matches from CC on that rutube account?

All but Day 1. Which airs tomorrow on TV

 

[Prince Bálor]

Sweet.

 

[Stopspot]

More from today's press conference.

Confirmed title matches:
AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW) - May 25
AJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship: Atsushi Aoki (c) vs Kaji Tomato (K-Dojo) - May 7
AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship: Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (c) vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Great Kojika (both BJW) - April 29 (takes place on a BJW show)

Yet confirmed title matches:
Kazuhiro Tamura (HEAT-UP) has layed the challenge for Yohei Nakajima's TV title. A date has not been set tho. HUB (freelance) has also put himself in contention.
Yuji Okabayashi (BJW) is facing World tag champion ZEUS on May 25, and it is assumed this match has World Tag Team Titles implications.

Other news:
Ryoji Sai (Land's End) and Super Tiger (RJPW) have made their intentions clear to keep working in All Japan after the carnival, which means I guess they can be considered freelance regulars going forward. Probably won't be on every show. But they'll be regulars.

AJPW has 7 shows booked for May, starting on May 7 and ending on May 25. Nice amount of shows for a company at AJPW's current size.

 

[Stopspot]

The poster for AJPW's event on 6/20 is absolutely glorious

 

[Stopspot]

The upcoming show from Korakuen Hall on May 25 is getting more and more stacked as time ticks by. Announced today is that Atsushi Aoki will defend the Junior Heavyweight title against MMA fighter/Deatmatch wrestler (that's a legit combo if anything) Masashi Takeda. This will be the first time they face off one on one.

The show will air live on Samurai TV and the card looks as follows:
Masanobu Fuchi, Atsushi Maruyama [FREE] & Koji Iwamoto [Sportiva] vs. SUSHI, Osamu Nishimura [FREE] & Ryuji Hijikata [FREE]
World Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [39th Champion] Atsushi Aoki vs. [Challenger] Masashi Takeda
~ 3rd title defense.
Naoya Nomura & Hikaru Sato [Pancrase MISSION] vs. Shuji Ishikawa [FREE] & Ryoji Sai [FREE]
Jake Lee vs. Kengo Mashimo [K-DOJO]
Axe Bomber vs AJ Rangers: Takao Omori, Isami Kodaka, Yuko Miyamoto & Kazuhiro Tamura vs. AJ Ranger “White”, AJ Ranger “Red”, AJ Ranger “Blue” & AJ Ranger “Green”
Special Single Match: Zeus vs. Yuji Okabayashi
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship Match: [55th Champion] Kento Miyahara vs. [Challenger] Daisuke Sekimoto
~ 2nd title defense.

This is a strong card. The "AJ Rangers vs Axe Bombers" tag match has me hyped since it seems like a fun match up, especially with the AJ Rangers gimmick added on.

[HASHTAG]#SquadGoals[/HASHTAG]. Go Go AJ Rangers

Also announced is that Yohei Nakajima will defend the GAORA TV title against Kazuhiro Tamura on June 9.

 

[Stopspot]

Our free match of the month from All Japan is out.
It's Aoki & Nomura vs Aoyagi & Akiyama from the house show on May 18

@Pop Tatari I know you'd probably like this and @Tsar as well. Especially since it features a former NOAH guy in Aoki

 

[Roadster]

if my memory serves me correct, Akiyama was also in NOAH. Anyways, that was a pretty good match. Not a boring moment, and the crowd slowly but surely got into it. Good stuff, all round.

 

[Stopspot]

if my memory serves me correct, Akiyama was also in NOAH. Anyways, that was a pretty good match. Not a boring moment, and the crowd slowly but surely got into it. Good stuff, all round.

He was. But he made his debut and has spent more time in All Japan in total. So I consider him and All Japan guy mainly. Not to mention he owns and runs the promotion now.
When I meant a NOAH guy, I meant more like Aoki, who was trained in the NOAH system and debuted in it

 

[Stopspot]

Today's show in Korakuen drew 1396 people, biggest attendance in the hall in a while and up almost 100 people from last time they were in the hall (1299). AJPW are slowly working their way back up.

The show itself seems like a hoot of a show with a lot of strong matches, top three being very heavily touted (Aoki vs Takeda for the junior belt, Zeus vs Okabayashi and Kento vs Sekimoto for the triple crown).

Also announced is that Suwama will be making his return on 7/14 in a six man tag featuring Suwama, Aoki & Nomura against Zeus, Ishikawa and Super Tiger. Suwama tore his Achilles Tendon in January and was expected to be back in September but is now able to make an early return.

Also announced is AJPW's new partnership with Idea Pocket.....One of Japan's biggest porn (soft core, aka underwear videos) production companies. Odd combo but porn does not have the same stigma in Japan as in the west. And it is a big company that has worked with wrestling companies before. And it isn't like Japanese wrestling hasn't had a history of connections to odd/less than pristine businesses. NOAH was financed with mafia money for some time, as was All Japan in the Mutoh era.

All in all the show looks like a lot of fun to watch and I am looking forward to watching it when it airs (May 31). As a All Japan homer it makes me happy to see the company rightening itself slowly and steadily

 

[Roadster]

Nomura vs. Aoyagi in a pretty good match. Ending was suckish but the majority of the match was.

 

[Stopspot]

3 matches have been announced for the 6/15 Korakuen show.

Taked/Ishikawa vs Sai/Lee
Strong BJ (Sekimoto & Okabayashi) vs BIG GUNS (Zeus and the Bodyguard) for the World tag titles.
Kento Miyahara defends the Triple Crown vs Kengo Mashimo
Already announced: Akiyama/Aoyagi vs DDT's Takeshita/Endo
Also announced to compete so far but with no matches set are: Omori, nishimura, kaji tomato, hijikata, ulitmo dragon, maruyama, sato, isami, miyamoto, tamura. More to come most likely

Aoki defends the junior belt against hikaru Sato on 6/19

 

[Stopspot]

Finally sat down and watched the 5/25 Korakuen show. A real fun show that flew by. The undercard was a lot of fun and the three top matches really delivered. Zeus vs Okabayashi was a battle of STRONK MEN. Aoki vs Takeda was a great junior bout in the new grappling based style AJPW are aiming for with their juniors. And Kento vs Sekimoto was a great main event with the cocky young champion stepping up against the stronk monster. Sekimoto ruled as the veteran bully Kento had to overcome. And Kento is perfect playing off of guys like him.

Highly recommended you guys watch

 

[Stopspot]

Today's AJPW show in Korakuen drew 1227 fans. Another strong number by All Japan in the hall this year. Especially compared to last year where they struggled to get 800 people to the hall. The show was main evented by Kento Miyahara defending the Triple Crown against Kengo Mashimo.

Newsbits from the show:
Strong BJ (Sekimoto and Okabayashi) defeated the BIG GUNS for the world tag titles.
Aoki and Sato challenged Miyamoto and Kodaka for the Asia tag belts
Nakajima won back the TV title from Tamura (he lost it on 6/9). Takeshi Minamino then laid down the challenge.
Akiyama is the next challenger for the Triple Crown. The match is expected to take place some time in July.

All Japan keeps on producing good content and the cards for the July shows look like a lot of fun. Today's show airs on TV in Japan on June 30

 

[Stopspot]

New video up with information on upcoming shows in July and August