Time for some much belated thoughts on AJPW's Champion Carnival this year:
Night 1
Night 2
Night 3
Night 4
Night 5
Night 6
Night 7
Night 8
Night 9
Night 10
Night 11 Final
All shows are available in the Real Hero Archive.
Best matches:
Night 1 - Jake Lee vs. Kento Miyahara
Night 1 - Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Joe Doering
Night 1 - Shuji Ishikawa vs. SUWAMA
Night 5 - Joe Doering vs. Kento Miyahara
Night 5 - Jake Lee vs. Zeus
Night 5 - Naoya Nomura vs. Shuji Ishikawa
Night 6 - KAI vs. Miyahara
Night 6 - Ryouji Sai vs. Zeus
Night 7 - Daichi Hashimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa
Night 7 - Naoya Nomura vs. Takao Omori
Night 7 - Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Kento Miyahara
Night 8 - KAI vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Night 8 - Zeus vs. Kento Miyahara
Night 11 - A Block Winner vs. B Block Winner Final
Watching every match in the Champion Carnival was probably a mistake on a number of fronts: the stupid airing schedule meant that I had to wait until after the final took place to watch night 8, and some of these lesser matches became a slog to get through, particularly during the abysmal nights 2-4 stretch. That said, there was a lot of good wrestling content during this stretch, mostly from the expected (Miyahara, Sekimoto, Ishikawa). There were some surprises, however; I actually enjoyed a couple of KAI's matches, and Naoya Nomura became a really endearing young lion. I was disappointed that Zeus had such a poor showing in this year's tournament since I had picked him to be a dark horse to win the whole thing.