All the INTERESTING stuff from CC

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi

As usual with these two fellas, they brought the BEEFY stuff & it was very enjoyable from start to finish. Most of the match saw Shuji do the work on top while Yuji busted out some hard hitting, explosive comebacks. Good stuff. ***1/4

Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus

Not bad, but didn't care much for it. Your usual Kento antics, and a formula of two guys smacking the crap out of each other w/ Kento doing some work on top while Zeus busted out comebacks and ultimately the win. *3/4

Kento Miyahara vs. Shuji Ishikawa

This felt like a tournament version of their epic Triple Crown meetings of the past. HOW FITTING. It drags a little by the end, but overall it's good, hard hitting bomb-heavy fun. ***

Naoya Nomura vs. Yoshitatsu

Neither guy offered anything of note in their respective roles - Yoshitatsu with his basic, dull work on top & Nomura with his equally basic & uninteresting comebacks. It wasn't bad though, but low-key disappointing because this actually looked pretty intriguing on paper. **

Dylan James vs. Yuji Okabayashi

30 minutes of pure BEEF. Just two big boys busting out chops, lariats & other big, hard hitting bombs against one another. Really like how it slowed down in the last 10 minutes too - good selling of the fatigue from the past 20 mins. ***

Yuji Okabayashi vs. Zeus

Explosive bombs & slugs being traded all the way through. It's good fun w/ great energy to it + an awesome atmosphere to boot. ***1/4

Dylan James vs. Shuji Ishikawa

About on par w/ Dylan's match vs. Okabayashi. Two heavyweights brutalizing each other with knees, forearms, lariats & bombs. It's the good stuff. ***

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Zeus

An absolutely AWESOME heavyweight collision! Loved how at first Zeus is low-key dominating Shuji, but then Shuji gets back into things w/ his brutal comeback flurries, and as that dynamic goes for a while, it eventually escalates into a full-on bomb warfare. Definitely one of the highlights of this year's Carnival. ***1/2

Kento Miyahara vs. Yuji Okabayashi

I didn't care for Kento at all in this. He wasn't interesting on the offense & I very much dislike his over the top goofy facial expressions. Thank goodness for the awesomeness that is Yuji Okabayashi though - this was HIS show. Loved him just bulldozing Kento throughout. Those cutoffs of Kento's comeback attempts were especially awesome; just when it looked like Kento finally got his big comeback in, BOOM, here's big Yuji with a big powerslam to put that to an end. Awesome stuff. Also loved Yuji not (at first, that is) going down to those flying knees in the finishing stretch. Good match. ***1/4

Naoya Nomura vs. Suwama

This was so goddamn great. Absolutely badass underdog story with Suwama completely dominating for the most part with his awesomely grumpy brutal veteran work. Nomura doesn't go down without a fight though, to say the least, and that sure annoyes ol' Suwama, who shows that brilliantly by slamming the mat angrily after Nomura has the NERVE to suplex him, and then later on when he gets a big nearfall. Those were some little touches that I LOOOOVED big time & added LOTS to the already-totally-great -match. ****

Jake Lee vs. Naoya Nomura

At least 2/3 of the match is high-key dominated by Jake Lee, and understandably so because Nomura is coming off of his war vs. Suwama. Now the sad thing is that Lee's work on top was incredibly meh; literally can't name one thing from him in this match that I would consider interesting, BUT Nomura's comebacks RULED w/ an awesome sense of urgency & desperation to them, and the match told a very strong narrative that I really liked, so I'd say it was a good one overall. ***

Will be reporting back w/ the thoughts on the FINALS very soon!