Unfortunately, All Japan Pro Wrestling has confirmed the cancellation of their annual Champion Carnival tournament due to the coronavirus. During a press conference days before the tournament, AJPW President Tsuyoki Fukuda revealed the disappointing news.
18 men were set to compete in a round-robin style tournament (like the G1 Climax) from April 6 to May 5. Both events would’ve taken place in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. The tournament has been around since 1973 and notable talents such as Vader (1999), Minoru Suzuki (2009 and 2010), Yuji Nagata (2011), and Naomichi Marufuji (2018) are all previous tournament winners.
This year, talents such as Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Major League Wrestling), Ayato Yoshida (New Japan Pro Wrestling), Lucas Steel (New Generation Wrestling), and Hideyoshi Kamitani (Big Japan Pro Wrestling) were all set to compete in the 2020 competition.
The wrestling business in Japan has been vastly affected by the coronavirus as New Japan Pro Wrestling was forced to cancel their New Japan Cup and Sakura Genesis, and Dragon Gate and Stardom recently tried to run events with a select number of fans; however, they’ve been forced to scrap upcoming shows for the time being as well.