The Saitama crowd was quieter than a library on a Sunday

So, All Japan Pro Wrestling dragged the Champion Carnival through the Kasukabe Fureai Cube today, stuffing 453 fans into a building that probably feels like a high-school gym. We are at Night 5, folks. The intensity should be cranking up, but the energy hitting the feed looked remarkably similar to a rehearsal session for a localized variety show.

The six-man tag featuring Seiki Yoshioka, Ryo Inoue, and Musashi taking down the group of Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising Hayato, and Shota Kofuji was technically sound. Yoshioka landing that Buzzsaw Kick effectively ended the sequence, but did it set the world on fire? Hardly. It felt like watching a filler episode where the main characters are sidelined for reasons that aren’t explained.

The internet is split on the AJPW booking strategy

If you head over to the forums today, you essentially have two camps clashing in the comments section. The first group is composed of the absolute purists who act like these mid-card tags are high art just because they involve Japanese junior heavyweights. They argue that building guys like Ryo Inoue in these slots is essential for the future of the promotion.

Then you have the skeptical crowd, the ones who actually notice the attendance figures. 453 people in a venue for a tournament with the history of the Champion Carnival is a staggering number of empty seats. You can appreciate the technical wrestling, but if the promotion can’t draw more than a small banquet hall can hold, we have to address the elephant in the room.

Some users are pointing out that the pacing of this year’s tournament has been sluggish. When you look at the recent AJPW results, it feels like they are allergic to building momentum. A tournament needs main-event spikes, not six-man undercard matches that feel like they belong on a Tuesday afternoon dark tapings.

Is technical proficiency enough to save the brand?

Here is where I land: I like technical wrestling as much as the next guy, but All Japan is currently operating like a ghost ship. You cannot keep booking these middle-of-the-road tags and expect fans to tune into AJPW TV with any sense of urgency. The execution of that Buzzsaw Kick was crisp, sure, but nobody is going to pay for a subscription to watch mid-carders trade pins in a sparsely populated venue.

We are just 14 days out from WWE Backlash 2026, and the contrast is absurd. While one company is trying to figure out how to keep their regional traditions alive in front of a few hundred people, the global juggernauts are ramping up the spectacle. AJPW needs a pivot, and fast, because relying on the prestige of the Carnival name won't keep the lights on forever.

The worst part about the whole situation is that the talent involved clearly cares. You can see it in how they sell the impact and how they communicate with the ringside area, but they are playing to a crowd smaller than the total number of people standing in a Starbucks line at noon. It is a wasted effort, and it leaves the promotion feeling colder than a slab of ice in January.

Ultimately, the enthusiasts and the skeptics are both right in their own way. The wrestling is good, no doubt about that. But if the booking remains stuck in this loop of inconsequential tags with minimal stakes, the champion carnival is just a hobby rather than a premier professional wrestling tournament. I love the history, but I despise the stagnation currently holding them back from being relevant to anyone outside of the niche bubble.