Champion's Carnival

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Established in 1973, the Champion's Carnival is All Japan Pro Wrestling's annual heavyweight singles tournament, designed to determine who is the strongest wrestler in the promotion. Since 1991, assuming the reigning AJPW Triple Crown champion doesn't also win the tournament, the eventual winner moves into top contention for a shot at the title.

[edit] Finals

The tournament was not held beginning in 1983 as AJPW was faltering behind New Japan Pro Wrestling, which emphasized junior heavyweight wrestling and its star Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama as a strong draw alongside Antonio Inoki's own quasi-martial arts heavyweight battles. After Genichiro Tenryu left All Japan in 1990, however, the tournament was brought back as a means of providing stronger challenges to the top star remaining, Jumbo Tsuruta. The tour from March to April, however, maintained the "Champion's Carnival" name even without a tournament.

[edit] Statistics

  • Most cups won: Giant Baba, 7
  • Most cups won by a foreigner: (tie) Abdullah the Butcher and Stan Hansen, 2 each
  • Triple Crown champions who never won the cup: Terry Gordy, Steve Williams, Shinya Hashimoto, and (so far) Minoru Suzuki
  • Won both Champion's Carnival and G-1 Climax cups: Keiji Mutoh and Kensuke Sasaki. Sasaki, however, has won neither the Triple Crown nor the Double Cup so far.
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