All Japan Champion Carnival 2026: A look at the key matches in the march to the finals including which ones are worth seeking out to watch

All Japan Pro Wrestling just completed their Champion Carnival tournament. It’s not as prestigious as it was back in the glory days of AJPW, but it’s still one of the highlights of their year.

One of the great things about AJPW is that they are one of the few promotions that don’t do outside interference or heel finishes. They have real winners and losers which makes the results of big matches seem that much more important. Here’s a look at some of the top matches from the tournament.

4/12

Yuma Aoyagi pinned Diasuke Sekimoto. Aoyagi recently returned from a several month suspension following a car accident he caused and it being discovered he had a suspended license. Can you imagine a top star in the U.S being suspended for something like this? Sekimoto’s home promotion is Big Japan Pro Wrestling but he’s worked off and on with AJPW for the last 15 years. Both these guys are great wrestlers and they had a really fun match. Sekimoto did a dive through the ropes and hit his head on the guardrail and came up bloody.

Go Shiozaki pinned Yuma Anzai in the main event with a lariat. Shiozaki is one of the best wrestlers in Japan of the last 20 years. Anzai has only been wrestling 3 1/2 years but is really good and has already had a run as Triple Crown Champion. This was a first ever singles match and it was great with great crowd heat.

4/18

Go Shiozaki pinned Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara with a lariat in a great match. Miyahara is the top star of the promotion and perennial top champion.

4/19

Kento Miyahara went to a 30 minute draw with Yuma Anzai. Another great match. Anzai will likely take Miyahara’s spot as the top guy at some point but these types of stories in Japan take place over a few years.

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4/26

Yuma Aoyagi beat Ren Ayabe. Ayabe on first glance seems like a wanna be Kazuchika Okada. He’s got the same bleached blonde hair style and similar robe and gear. He’s really good though and you can see is being built to be one of the top stars of the company.

5/5

Xyon pinned Yuma Aoyagi. Xyon is the former Xyon Quinn in NXT. He’s been working AJPW for the last year and has improved a lot. He’s a legitimate mid level star and former tag champ in a promotion filled with great wrestlers. This was maybe his biggest singles win to date.

5/17 semi finals and finals

First semi-final saw Go Shiozaki pinned Madoka Kikuta with a lariat. Kikuta is the Open The Dream Gate champion in Dragon Gate. Very hard-hitting match with lots of chops back and forth. Great match

Hideki Suzuki pinned Rei Saito in under a minute. Suzuki was part of the Diamond Mine group in NXT. He was originally trained by Billy Robinson and is a shoot style wrestler. This wasn’t a squash match and it was treated more like Suzuki just “caught” him quickly with a roll up.

Suzuki pinned Shiozaki to win the tournament and earn a Triple Crown Championship match on 6/18. Another really good match that Suzuki won with a double arm suplex and bridging pin. It was a great one night performance from Shiozaki.