Champion Carnival

Champion Carnival
Jake Lee with the Champion Carnival trophy in 2021
PromotionsAll Japan Pro Wrestling
First event1973

The Champion Carnival (チャンピオン・カーニバル, Chanpion Kānibaru) is a professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The tournament is also known by the nickname Haru no Saiten (春の祭典, "Spring Festival") and is sometimes abbreviated to CC.[1][2] Created by AJPW founder Giant Baba, 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.[3] It is considered a successor to the World League, held by Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) between 1959 and 1972, predating the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) G1 Climax tournament by a year.[4]

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.[5]

Baba himself holds the record for most Champion Carnival wins, having won the tournament seven times.[6] Other notable winners include Abdullah the Butcher, Jumbo Tsuruta, Keiji Mutoh, Mitsuharu Misawa, Stan Hansen, Toshiaki Kawada and Kento Miyahara.[6] Four wrestlers have won both the Champion Carnival and the G1 Climax: Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima, Kensuke Sasaki and Yuji Nagata, with Kojima the only one to win them alongside Fire Festival and Nagata the only one to win them alongside the Global League.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJPWHistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2016TS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Molinaro, John F. "Tenryu wins Carnival Championship, All Japan tournament concludes". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Sempervive, Mike (July 19, 2015). "New Japan 2015 G1 Climax: History, Schedule, Predictions, Scouting Reports". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference SlamHistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2004NS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).