Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling
By: Ian McCord
On May 17th, Hideki Suzuki etched his name in the history books after winning All Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Champion Carnival 2026 in front of 3,055 Fans at Ota Ward General Gymnasium.
The final four of this year’s Champion Carnival were Hideki Suzuki, Rei Saito, Go Shiozaki and Dragongate Open The Dream Gate Champion Madoka Kikuta.
The Semi-Final matches kicked off the show in Ota, with Go Shiozaki becoming the first Champion Carnival finalist after having an absolute battle with Madoka Kikuta. Shiozaki would put away Kikuta with a Strong Arm Lariat for the win in (18:13).
Hideki Suzuki and Rei Saito were up next, in a rematch from last year’s Champion Carnival where Saito defeated Suzuki in just under two minutes by knockout. Suzuki did not want a repeat of last year, making quick work of the Champion Carnival 2025 winner. After applying a sleeper hold, Suzuki would do a schoolboy pin for the win in (1:09) to advance to the finals.
In the main event, A Block winner Go Shiozaki faced off against B Block winner Hideki Suzuki in a hard-hitting match that went almost 25 minutes. It was Suzuki who ended the night in the spotlight, after his Double-Arm Suplex was finally able to keep Shiozaki down for the 3 count to win his first Champion Carnival.
After the match, Suzuki would get on the microphone and declare that he has won the world’s greatest tournament and predict that Kento Miyahara will come to the ring to speak with the Champion Carnival winner.
From Hideki Suzuki:
“Thank you so much for coming out today. I may be the one standing here at the end, but Go Shiozaki, Rei Saito, Madoka Kikuta—who all fought in the finals—as well as the fighters who didn’t make it to the semifinals, and those who had to withdraw due to injury, every single one of them gave it their all. I declare here with confidence: ‘I have won this world’s greatest league tournament.’ And now that I’ve won the Champion Carnival, raised the trophy, and am speaking into the mic right here, a man in a sharp suit, holding a cool Triple Crown belt—the greatest man of all, Kento Miyahara—will probably emerge from somewhere nearby. It’s a scene I’ve seen time and time again.”
As predicted, Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara appeared in a nice suit from somewhere nearby to challenge the Suzuki to a match, stating that the time has finally come for the two to face off.
From Kento Miyahara:
“I’m just going to crash the Champion Carnival winner’s stage for a moment. Hideki Suzuki, you and I actually made our debuts as pro wrestlers in 2008. We’ve walked different paths, but it seems the time has finally come for us to face off. It seems the time has come for the battle between 2026 Champion Carnival Champion Hideki Suzuki and Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara. We pro wrestlers express ourselves through combat. The venue is Korakuen Hall, the holy ground of pro wrestling. On June 18, at the holy ground of Korakuen Hall, we’ll settle this with this belt on the line.”
(Quotes courtesy of AJPW with English translations via DeepL)
Hideki Suzuki and Kento Miyahara will battle for the Triple Crown Championship when All Japan Pro-Wrestling returns to Korakuen Hall on June 18th.
Here are the full results of AJPW Champion Carnival 2026 Final on May 17th courtesy of purolove.com:
Date:
May 18, 2026
Category:
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