AJPW Releases Full Schedule For Champion Carnival 2026 Tournament

By: Lewis Carlan

All Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced that its Champion Carnival 2026 tournament is set to get underway on April 12th at the famed Korakuen Hall. The tournament will conclude on May 17th with the finals set for Ota Ward General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

AJPW has released the full schedule of dates and locations for the prestigious tournament:

• Apr 12 (Sun) 18:30 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo 【Opening Match】
• Apr 18 (Sat) 15:00 Aichi/Nagoya Kinjo Pier Arena
• Apr 19 (Sun) 14:00 Osaka Umeda Sky Building Stellar Hall
• Apr 25 (Sat) 13:00 Saitama Kasukabe Fureai Cube
• Apr 23 (Thursday) 18:30 Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo
• Apr 26 (Sun) 13:00 Niigata, Sanjo City Welfare Hall
• May 2 (Sat) 13:00 Fukushima Minami-Tohoku General Wholesale Center (Koriyama)
• May 3 (Sun) 13:00 Tochigi, Light Cube Utsunomiya
• May 5 (Tue, holiday) 18:30 Korakuen Hall
• Tokyo May 17 (Sun) 14:00 Ota Ward General Gymnasium, Tokyo [Championship Match]

In addition, AJPW announced today that all the participants for Champion Carnival 2026 will be revealed during the intermission of the Feb. 15th event at Korakuen Hall.

The Champion Carnival tournament is entering it’s 53rd year as the inaugural event took place back in 1973. The first tournament was won by the legendary Giant Baba who defeated Mark Lewin in the finals. Giant Baba won the first three Champion Carnival tournaments and went on to win a total of seven which is the most ever by any wrestler.

Other legendary names to have won the esteemed tournament are Abdullah the Butcher, Stan Hansen, Keiji Muto, Jumbo Tsuruta, Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada.

Last year, Rei Saito won the Champion Carnival 2025 tournament by defeating Kento Miyahara in the finals.