The is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

tournament held by

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

(AJPW). The tournament is also known by the nickname and is sometimes abbreviated to CC. Created by AJPW founder

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

, the tournament has been held annually since 1973 and is the longest-running singles tournament in professional wrestling, while also ranking as the most prestigious event in the AJPW calendar. It is considered a successor to the World League, held by

Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance The was the first professional wrestling promotion to be based in Japan. It operated from 1953 to 1973. History JWA under Rikidōzan (1953–1963) Rikidōzan, a former ''rikishi'' (sumo wrestling practitioner) who had debuted as a Western-st ...

(JWA) between 1959 and 1972, predating the

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

(NJPW)

G1 Climax The is a professional wrestling tournament held each August by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. Though it has sometimes been held as a single-elimination tournament, it is usually (and currently) held as a round-robin, with winners ...

tournament by a year. The tournament is held in a round-robin format, where all participating wrestlers face each other once with the winner being awarded two points and the loser none. A draw results in both wrestlers being awarded a point. After all wrestlers have faced each other once, the top two wrestlers advance to the final to determine the tournament winner. Baba himself holds the record for most Champion Carnival wins, having won the tournament seven times. Other notable winners include

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matc ...

Jumbo Tsuruta , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyw ...

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for his work as in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Ne ...

Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside ...

Stan Hansen John Stanley Hansen II (born August 29, 1949) is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Hansen is known for his Glossary of professional wrestling terms#S, stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to his poor eyesigh ...

and

Toshiaki Kawada (born December 8, 1963) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In All Japan, he was a 5 time Triple Crown Heavyweight ...

. Four wrestlers have won both the Champion Carnival and the G1 Climax: Mutoh,

Satoshi Kojima is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but makes appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah. Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrest ...

Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring. Sasaki is the first of four men ever to hold all three of '' puroresus major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heav ...

and

Yuji Nagata is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). A two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, World Heavyweight Champion and a GHC Heavyweight Champion, making him a four-time world champion in major professional ...

, with Kojima the only one to win them alongside

Fire Festival is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Zero1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested in late July/early August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, th ...

and Nagata the only one to win them alongside the

Global League The Global League is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Noah, established in 2010. In 2019, the Global League was rebranded as the N-1 Victory. The Global League adopts a points system, with two points f ...

History

From 1959 to 1972, the

(JWA), run by

Rikidōzan (born Kim Sin-rak; ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan (), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most inf ...

, held a tournament called World League (also known as the "World Big League"), which featured both Japanese and foreign professional wrestlers. Rikidōzan himself dominated the annual tournament early on, however, after his death in 1963, the tournament was won six times by

and once by

Antonio Inoki Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name , a homag ...

. JWA folded shortly after both Baba and Inoki left the promotion to create

(AJPW) and

(NJPW), respectively. Both men took the concept of World League with them to their new promotions, with Baba creating the "Champion Carnival" in 1973 and Inoki creating the World League in 1974, later renaming it

. The first Champion Carnival took place only six months after Baba had founded AJPW. The initial tournament was held in a

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

format and was intended for AJPW's heavyweight wrestlers such as

Hiro Matsuda (July 22, 1937 – November 27, 1999) was a Japanese professional wrestler and trainer best known by his ring name . He trained many professional wrestlers including Hulk Hogan, The Great Muta, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Scott Hall, Lex Lug ...

Samson Kutsuwada was a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He joined Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance in August 1967. He trained under Karl Istaz, and debuted in 1971. After becoming one of the original All Japan Pro Wrestling wrestlers, ...

and Thunder Sugiyama. For the tournament, Baba also recruited several foreign wrestlers, such as

Baron Scicluna Mikel Scicluna (July 29, 1929 – March 20, 2010) was a Maltese professional wrestler who gained his fame during the 1960s and 1970s. He reached the peak of his success in WWWF where he was 2-time tag-team champion, having held the United S ...

, The Destroyer,

King Curtis Iaukea Curtis Piehau Iaukea III (September 15, 1937 – December 4, 2010) was an American professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in vario ...

and

Mark Lewin Mark Lewin (born March 16, 1937) is an American retired professional wrestler. Early life Lewin was born in Buffalo, New York. He had two elder brothers, Donn and Ted, both of whom also became professional wrestlers. He attended Lafayette High ...

. Baba himself won the inaugural tournament, defeating Lewin in the final. A year later, AJPW presented the second Champion Carnival, which most notably introduced former Olympian

, who eventually went on to become one of the promotion's top names. Baba also won the second Champion Carnival, this time defeating

Mr. Wrestling George Burrell Woodin (July 28, 1934 – November 30, 2002) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Mr. Wrestling and Tim Woods. Collegiate wrestling career Woodin received a degree in agricultural engineering fr ...

in the final. Heading into the 1975 Champion Carnival, Baba changed the tournament's format. Now the four wrestlers who advanced to the semifinals in the single-elimination tournament were put into a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

, where the wrestler with the best record would be declared the winner. Baba went on to win the tournament for the third year in a row, defeating

Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski (November 23, 1928 – April 14, 2010) was a Canadian athlete who played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and then became a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion. "Canada's Greatest Athlete", as he b ...

in the final. A year later, the single-elimination portion of the tournament was eliminated and the Champion Carnival was changed to a pure round-robin tournament, a format it holds to this day. The 1976 tournament was the first Champion Carnival not won by Baba. It was instead won by Canadian

, who defeated Baba in the final. Baba went on to win the tournament four more times, winning a total of seven out of the ten first Champion Carnivals. In early 1980s, AJPW loaded the Champion Carnival with some of the top foreign wrestlers in the world, including

Billy Robinson William Alfred Robinson (18 September 1938 – 3 March 2014) was a British professional wrestler and wrestling instructor. Robinson was one of the few wrestlers who was successful in several continents (Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania ...

Bruiser Brody Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, The Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. Over the yea ...

Dick Slater Richard Van Slater (May 19, 1951 – October 18, 2018) better known by his ring name "Dirty" Dick Slater, was an American professional wrestler who wrestled in the 1970s, 1980s, and mid-1990s for various promotions including Mid-Atlantic Champion ...

Jack Brisco Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco (September 21, 1941 – February 1, 2010) was an American amateur wrestling, amateur and Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As an amateur for Oklahoma State, Brisco was two-time All-American and won the Natio ...

Ted DiBiase Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...

and

Terry Funk Terrence Funk (born June 30, 1944) is an American retired professional wrestler, rapper, disc jockey and actor. Funk is known for the longevity of his career – which spanned more than 50 years and included multiple short-lived retirements – a ...

. However, after rival promotion NJPW took over as the number one promotion in Japan with a record-breaking business streak, AJPW decided to put the Champion Carnival on hiatus, not wanting the tournament to be overshadowed by their competitors. The hiatus lasted from 1983 to 1991. Mitsuharu Misawa, 2007

In 1991, AJPW had overtaken NJPW and was again the top promotion in Japan, boasting a roster of top foreign wrestlers mixed with top Japanese wrestlers. The 1991 tournament showcased several younger wrestlers, including

Kenta Kobashi is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Champ ...

and

, who bypassed the promotion's aging veterans and went on to become the promotion's cornerstones for the next decade. However, despite the emergence of the younger wrestlers and the participation of foreign wrestlers such as

Doug Furnas Dwight Douglas Furnas (December 11, 1959 – March 2, 2012) was an American professional wrestler and powerlifter. He was an APF National and World Powerlifting Champion, who set multiple world records in the 275 pound weight class. As a wrestler, ...

The Dynamite Kid Thomas Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler. Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), ...

Johnny Ace John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunsh ...

Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great Dep ...

and

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American actor, author, retired professional wrestler, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE under the company's Legends program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for m ...

, the 1991 tournament was won by an AJPW veteran Jumbo Tsuruta, who defeated Stan Hansen in the final. The 1992 tournament was booked around the storyline of the "young lions" challenging the veterans for AJPW supremacy. Stan Hansen went on to win his first Champion Carnival, defeating Mitsuharu Misawa in the final. Despite losing in the final, the tournament made Misawa a star, someone earmarked to occupy the promotion's top spot. A year later, Hansen again defeated Misawa in the final. The 1993 tournament was also noteworthy for introducing rookie

Jun Akiyama is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-he ...

. In 1994, Toshiaki Kawada became the first of the "young lions" to win the Champion Carnival, defeating "Dr. Death" Steve Williams in the final, a match that has been called "arguably the greatest Carnival tournament match of all time". For the next several years the tournament was dominated by AJPW's younger wrestlers with Kawada repeating his win, Mitsuharu Misawa winning two tournaments and Kenta Kobashi one tournament. The 1997 tournament ended in a rare three-way draw between Kawada, Kobashi and Misawa, resulting in a round-robin playoff between the three, where Kawada emerged victorious. On January 31, 1999, Giant Baba died, leaving the promotion in the hands of Mitsuharu Misawa. The 1999 Champion Carnival was the first one not booked by Baba. As the new booker, Misawa made a controversial decision to leave Stan Hansen out of the tournament, while giving Vader the win in the final over Kenta Kobashi. Problems between Misawa and Giant Baba's widow Motoko Baba led to Misawa exiting AJPW in 2000, taking 26 out of the 28 Japanese AJPW wrestlers with him to form the new

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

promotion. Struggling to cope with the loss of the majority of its roster, AJPW eventually hired NJPW wrestler

to lead the promotion. Mutoh went on to win the Champion Carnival three times (2002, 2004 and 2007), before leaving the promotion in 2013, after which he was replaced by Jun Akiyama. 2013 also saw Akiyama finally win his first Champion Carnival, twenty years after his debut appearance in the tournament. In recent years, several outsiders have won the tournament, with

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice hol ...

winning it in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, NJPW representative

winning it in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasak ...

(BJW) representative

Daisuke Sekimoto (born February 9, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Heavyw ...

winning it in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, freelancer

Shuji Ishikawa is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, World Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2017 Champion Carnival. Ishikawa is also known fo ...

winning it in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, and Pro Wrestling Noah representative

Naomichi Marufuji (born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), R ...

winning it in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. On April 2, 2020, AJPW held a press conference, delaying this year's Champion Carnival, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On May 28, they confirmed that the tournament has been moved to September.

List of winners

1973

The 1973 Champion Carnival is the first edition of the Champion Carnival. It took place from March 17 to April 21, featuring fifteen wrestlers in a single-elimination format.

received a first-round bye, and was the inaugural winner of the tournament. ¹This match originally ended in a no-contest on April 10, so a rematch was scheduled for April 14 to determine the 1st finalist with Mark Lewin winning.
²The finals were contested under best of 3 falls rules, with Baba winning the first fall at 12:49 and Lewin winning the second fall at 16:55. Baba won the third and decisive fall at 19:20, thus becoming the inaugural Champion Carnival winner.

1978

The 1978 Champion Carnival took place from March 4 to April 7, featuring fifteen wrestlers in a round-robin format. The tournament was won by

, who defeated

via countout in the finals. It was Baba's fifth tournament win.

1979

The 1979 Champion Carnival took place from March 3 to April 6, featuring sixteen wrestlers in a round-robin format. The tournament was won by

, who defeated

in the second of two playoff matches after both men tied atop the standings. The first playoff match resulted in a double-countout, and a second match was held. *Playoff matches: :*

vs.

ended in a double-countout (13:14) :*Abdullah the Butcher defeated Jumbo Tsuruta (2:11)

1980

The 1980 Champion Carnival took place from March 28 to May 1, featuring thirteen wrestlers in a round-robin format. The tournament was won by

, who defeated

in the final.

1981

The 1981 Champion Carnival took place from March 27 to April 23, featuring fourteen wrestlers in a round-robin format.

won the tournament for the sixth time.

1982

The 1982 Champion Carnival took place from March 23 to April 18, featuring eighteen wrestlers in a round-robin format.

won the tournament for the seventh time.

1991

The 1991 Champion Carnival took place from March 23 to April 18, featuring fourteen wrestlers participating in a two-block round-robin format. The two wrestlers who finished atop each block met in the final.

, the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, defeated

in the final.

1992

The 1992 Champion Carnival took place from March 20 to April 17, featuring twenty wrestlers participating in a two-block round-robin format. The two wrestlers who finished atop each block met in the final. Stan Hansen, the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, defeated

in the final.

1993

The 1993 Champion Carnival took place from March 25 to April 21, featuring thirteen wrestlers participating in a single-block round-robin format. Stan Hansen repeated as tournament champion, a feat that had only been achieved by

suffered an arm injury in a tag team match on the first event of the tournament, partnered with

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

against

Satoru Asako is a retired Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1991–2000) Asako made his debut in a tag team match with Richard ...

and Masao Inoue (their first match as a team). Akiyama was unable to participate in the tournament as a result.

1994

The 1994 Champion Carnival took place from March 19 to April 16, featuring twelve wrestlers participating in a single-block round-robin format.

won the tournament in his fourth appearance.

1995

The 1995 Champion Carnival took place from March 21 to April 15, featuring eleven wrestlers participating in a single-block round-robin format.

won the tournament. There were originally twelve wrestlers scheduled for the tournament, but that number dropped to eleven on March 22 when Steve Williams was suspended from AJPW for one year after being found in possession of

painkillers An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of Pharmaceutical drug, drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or p ...

at the airport and returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

1996

The 1996 Champion Carnival took place from March 22 to April 20, featuring twelve wrestlers in a single-block round-robin format.

Akira Taue is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is also a former All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and has had fourteen 5 Star Matches as awarded by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. ...

, one-half of the reigning AJPW World Tag Team Champions, won the tournament, after having fallen to

in the 1995 final.

1997

The 1997 Champion Carnival was held from March 22 to April 19, featuring thirteen wrestlers in a single-block round-robin format. Due to a three-way tie for first place between

and

, a one-night round-robin playoff was contested among them with the winner claiming the tournament.

1998

The 1998 Champion Carnival was held from March 21 to April 18, featuring thirteen wrestlers in a single-block round-robin format, with the top two finishers wrestling in the final. The reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion

won the tournament for the second time, also having won in 1995.

1999

The 1999 Champion Carnival was held from March 24 to April 16, featuring ten wrestlers in a single-block round-robin format, with the top two finishers wrestling in the final. Vader, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, won the tournament in his first appearance.

2000

The 2000 Champion Carnival was held from March 24 to April 15, featuring sixteen wrestlers in a single-elimination format.

, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, won the tournament in his 10th consecutive appearance.

2001

The 2001 Champion Carnival was held from March 23 to April 11, featuring ten wrestlers in a single-block round-robin format, with the top two finishers wrestling in the final.

Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his ...

, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, won the tournament in his second appearance, his first since 1982.

2002

The 2002 Champion Carnival was held from March 23 to April 10, re-introduced the dual-block round-robin format used in 1991 and 1992, this time with seven men in each block; the top two scorers in each would advance to a four-man tournament, with Block A's first place finalist facing Block B's runner-up, and vice versa, and the winners wrestling in the final. Despite the

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. History The championship was established after the unification of its then-flagship title the PWF World Heavyweight Championshi ...

being vacant as a result of

injuring his knee after his match against

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...

(thereby forfeiting all his other scheduled matches), All Japan decided not to use the tournament to fill the vacancy, citing the time limit for tournament matches (30 minutes as opposed to 60 in championship bouts). The winner,

, became the first man in history to win both the Champion Carnival and the G1 Climax, as well as the second man (after Vader) to win the Carnival in his first appearance.

2003

The 2003 version of the Champion Carnival took place between March 22 and March 28.

George Hines George Hines (born June 1, 1963) is a retired American professional wrestler, best known by his ringname Jackie Fulton, who competed in regional and independent promotions including the American Wrestling Association, East Coast Championship Wrest ...

and Nobutaka Araya received byes to the quarterfinals, leaving

Yoji Anjo (born March 28, 1967) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Professional wrestling career Universal Wrestling Federation and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1985–1988) A former practitioner of judo, sumo and muay th ...

Gigantes In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Ancient Greek, Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. ...

The Gladiator ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and Big John Tenta to fight in the first round.

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the prom ...

, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, did not participate, citing prior commitments to his

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. I ...

promotion.

2004

The 2004 version of the Champion Carnival took between April 10 and April 20.

2005

The 2005 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 9 and April 20.

, the winner of this edition, was the second man to win both Champion Carnival and

tournaments, the first man being Keiji Mutoh.

2006

The 2006 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 7 and April 20.

2007

The 2007 version of the Champion Carnival took place between March 26 and March 30.

2008

The 2008 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 5 and April 9.

2009

The 2009 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 5 and April 12.

2010

The 2010 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 3 and April 11.

2011

The 2011 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 8 and April 13.

Kenso is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion in the lat ...

suffered an injury and was forced to drop out of the tournament after his first match, forfeiting the rest of his matches.

2012

The 2012 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 21 and May 7.

Yutaka Yoshie , is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer in Japan, performing most notably for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a former World Tag Team Champion. He has previously worked for promotions such as New Japan ...

suffered an injury and was forced to forfeit the rest of his matches. Takumi Soya was injured after his fifth match and was pulled out of the tournament as well, forfeiting his final match.

, the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, did not participate due to commitments with

2013

The 2013 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 18 to April 29.

2014

The 2014 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 13 and April 27. Akebono, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, who was leading his block at the time, was forced to pull out of the tournament on April 22 after being hospitalized with poor health, forfeiting his last two matches (The title was eventually declared vacant on May 30, after the tournament was over.) On April 25,

Go Shiozaki is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion where he is the former GHC Heavyweight Champion in a record breaking fifth reign. He made his debut for the promotion in July 2004 and remained with it unti ...

also withdrew from the tournament due to a broken thumb, and forfeited his final match against

2015

The 2015 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 5 and April 25.

2016

The 2016 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 9 and April 24.

2017

The 2017 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 16 and April 30.

2018

The 2018 version of the Champion Carnival tournament took place between April 7 and April 30.

2019

The 2019 version of the Champion Carnival took place between April 4 and April 29. Eighteen wrestlers competed in this tournament with nine men in each block.

Kengo Mashimo is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW). His style is a combination of submission wrestling and hard, martial arts style strikes. Professional wrestling career Kengo Mashimo debuted in Pue ...

was originally scheduled to compete, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Atsushi Aoki was a Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as a wrestler, president of talent relations and head trainer at their dojo. Aoki began his career in Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, where he went on to become a two ...

took his place.

Kento Miyahara is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is the current six time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. He was trained by Kensuke Sasaki and started his career in his Kensuke Office promotion ...

, reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, won the tournament in his sixth consecutive appearance.

2020

The 2020 Champion Carnival was a ten-man, two-block round-robin tournament that took place from September 12 until October 5, postponed from its original dates of April as a result of the

2021

The 2021 edition of the Champion Carnival took place between April 9 and May 3, 2021. For the first time since 2001, the round-robin tournament was a single table, with ten participants. Shinjiro Otani forfeited his final two matches due to injury.

2022

The 2022 edition of the Champion Carnival took place between April 9 and May 4, 2022. This edition saw the return of the two-block round robin format after its absence in the 2021 edition. There were twelve participants including

Big Japan Pro-Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki ...

Takuya Nomura is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenure with the professional wrestling promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). Professional wrestling career Indep ...

and

Gleat Gleat (stylized as GLEAT) is a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2020 by former Pro Wrestling Noah parent company Lidet Entertainment after the acquisition of Noah and DDT Pro-Wrestling by CyberAgent. Th ...

's T-Hawk competing in this year's tournament as special guests.

2023

The 2023 edition of the Champion Carnival took place between April 8 and May 7, 2023, with sixteen wrestlers participating.

Naoya Nomura Naoya Nomura (born October 26, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is former All Asia Tag Team and World Tag Team Champion. He also has a background in rugby. Early life Nomura started ...

was originally scheduled to compete, but pulled out due to injury.

took his place in the tournament.

References

External links

Official tournament history at All-Japan.co.jp
{{AJPW All Japan Pro Wrestling tournaments

History

List of winners

1973

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

See also

References

External links