AJPW Reschedules Champion Carnival for September

– Per Barry Meijer on Instagram, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) announced at a press conference that the Champion Carnival tournament has been rescheduled for September. The tournament was originally set for May but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

AJPW President Takeki Fukuda said at a press conference: “Foreigners who were invited will not be able to enter the tournament for the time being. So, it is expected that it will be held only with Japanese participants. Since they will have to negotiate from here, the schedule will depend on the future situation, so we can not inform you yet. However, we are planning to have a competition that does not disappoint everyone’s expectations, according to the participants announced last time.”

The dates and locations for the tournament are not yet official. As previously reported, the country of Japan recently lifted its state of emergency status. Wrestling promotions will be allowed to begin holding empty arena events starting on June 19. Starting July 10, arenas can be filled up to about 5,000 people. On August 1, arenas can have 50 percent of maximum capacity.

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All Japan Pro Wrestling’s “2020 Champion Carnival”, the 40th annual tournament which was originally scheduled to take place across 18 shows from April 6 through May 5, has officially been rescheduled for September. Previously, Naoya Nomura was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a neck injury. Tajiri was named as his replacement on March 4. On March 25, it was revealed Joel Redman, Lucas Steel and Davey Boy Smith Jr. would not be competing due to travel issues. Two days later, Takao Omori was named the first replacement at a press conference. However, the tournament was then cancelled on April 2. On that day, AJPW president Takeki Fukuda made it clear he would like to hold the tournament later in the year, which has now come to fruition. At a special press conference today, Fukuda said: “Foreigners who were invited will not be able to enter the tournament for the time being. So, it is expected that it will be held only with Japanese participants. Since they will have to negotiate from here, the schedule will depend on the future situation, so we can not inform you yet. However, we are planning to have a competition that does not disappoint everyone’s expectations, according to the participants announced last time” Despite not being officially revealed, it appears recently added members to the roster Shotaro Ashino and Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio will be the final two replacements. #AJPW #2020cc #2020ChampionCarnival #alljapanprowrestling #全日本プロレス #全日本プロレスTV #ajpwtv #samuraitv #KentoMiyahara #Suwama #TripleCrownChampion #TakashiSugiura #ProWrestlingNOAH #noah_ghc #ShigehiroIrie #STRONGHEARTS #BJW #DDTpro #AyatoYoshida #2AW #HideyoshiKamitani #NJPW #newjapanprowrestling #新日本プロレス #IWGP #puroresu #Japan 🗾 #prowrestling  #プロレス

A post shared by Berry Meijer (@dartvader_one) on May 28, 2020 at 7:52am PDT