Jon Moxley’s First Title Defense, Champion Carnival Continues | Weekly Puro Guide

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Not even two weeks after winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Jon Moxley put the title on the line in the main event of this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite against Powerhouse Hobbs of the Don Callis Family. This was decided after a promo on AEW Collision, where Don Callis called in a favor and changed the singles match between Hobbs & Mox to a Championship match.

This was a great spot for Powerhouse Hobbs, who got the biggest singles match of his career against Jon Moxley in Jacksonville, but sadly the match wasn’t what everyone expected it to be, as Hobbs injured his knee badly in the match, which led to both rushing to the finish as Moxley choked out the former TNT Champion to retain his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship successfully.

Post-match, Konosuke Takashite made an appearance and indicated that he wants a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, which is an interesting development. Takeshita is the former Ace of DDT, and seeing him eyeing the top prize of New Japan Pro Wrestling is something no one saw coming. The match will likely occur at Double or Nothing. If the title is on the line, it is all about if Moxley is still champion by then.

During a show at Korakuen Hall, where LIJ and the War Dogs collided in five singles matches, Jake Lee made his shocking NJPW debut by interfering in the match between Tetsuya Naito and Drilla Moloney, attacking the leader of LIJ to cost him the match. In the build-up, David Finlay had teased that an assassin was coming for Naito and while it was expected to be a new foreigner to join the group, it ended up being Jake Lee, who is a former GHC Heavyweight & Triple Crown Champion and one of the biggest stars in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Backstage, he was added to an Elimination Match in Hiroshima.

The two then collided in that match as part of the ongoing LIJ vs. War Dogs rivalry that has been heating up since Sakura Genesis, and after 29 minutes, Naito was able to eliminate Jake Lee by over-the-top rope-rules to get the win for his stable. After the match, a six man tag team match was set up for All Together, where Naito & Lee will clash once again. It’s yet to be seen where the entire Jake Lee & Tetsuya Naito story is heading, but an upcoming singles match between two of the biggest names of their respective companies seems to be likely.

Best Of The Super Juniors 31 Blocks:

A Block:

• El Desperado
• Kosei Fujita
• Kevin Knight
• Blake Christian
• BUSHI
• Clark Connors
• Titan
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• HAYATA
• TJP

B Block:

• KUSHIDA
• Taiji Ishimori
• Hiromu Takahashi
• Drilla Moloney
• DOUKI
• SHO
• Francesco Akira
• Dragon Dia
• Robbie Eagles
• Ninja Mack

All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan’s biggest tournament, Champion Carnival, began this month featuring all of AJPW’s biggest stars and a few new faces. The tournament started on the 18th of April, with the finals being held on May 12th in the Yokohama BUNTAI. After a good first week, this past week saw the next four days of the tournament take place, with a couple of notable highlights and the first eliminations.

The biggest winner of the past four days was the Ace of All Japan, Kento Miyahara, as he was able to win three matches and is now on a five-match winning streak, with his biggest win coming against the winner of last year’s Champion Carnival – Shotaro Ashino. With Kento being at 10 Points, four wrestlers have been eliminated from the A block in Kurushio TOKYO Japan, Cyrus, Hokuto Omori, and Ren Ayabe, who is now on a four-match losing streak.

In the B Block, Jun Saito is on a fantastic run as he won the last four matches after his loss against Yuma Anzai on the first night of the tournament. The Triple Crown Champion himself is standing 4-2 and is a front-runner to win the block after tapping out Suwama last week. The biggest surprise has been Hideki Suzuki, who had been called a favorite to win the entire block but has already suffered three losses, the most recent being against Lord Crewe.

With Jun Saito & Yuma Anzai being at 8 Points, Hartley Jackson and Ryuki Honda are officially eliminated from the tournament. While it’s not surprising that Jackson is already out, Ryuki Honda is a huge surprise as he was set up to have a great tournament, especially after defeating Yuma Anzai, but once again he can’t capitalize on his momentum and loses a lot. He is now 1-4 and can only play a spoiler role in his last two matches.

Official Champion Carnival 2024 Standings:
A BLOCK –
10 – Kento Miyahara (5-1-0)
8 – Davey Boy Smith Jr. (4-1-0)
6 – Shotaro Ashino (3-2-0)
6 – Yuma Aoyagi (3-2-0)
4 – Kurushio TOKYO Japan (2-3-0) (OUT)
4 – Cyrus (2-3-0) (OUT)
2 – Ren Ayabe (1-4-0) (OUT)
2 – Hokuto Omori (1-5-0) (OUT)

B BLOCK –
8 – Jun Saito (4-1-0)
8 – Yuma Anzai (4-2-0)
6 – Lord Crewe (3-2-0)
6 – Rei Saito (3-2-0)
6 – Suwama (3-2-0)
6 – Hideki Suzuki (3-3-0)
2 – Ryuki Honda (1-4-0) (OUT)
0 – Hartley Jackson (0-5-0) (OUT)