Jake Lee vs. Kento Miyahara

[8.0] "[4.0*] I thought that the last 10 minutes of this match were spectacular, with the last 5 specifically being perfect. However, the first 10 minutes are just so, so boring. The quality is not low, the strikes are good, the kicks are beautiful, but this Jake pacing while on control is just insane, I think he does it on purpose lmao. It remembered me of his NOAH GHC Title Run in all its worst aspects. I will still give it a pretty high rating because the quality was there and the pacing escalated to the ideal at the ending, but without these 10 minutes of pure borefest it would have been even better."

[8.0] "Very familiar in content and pacing, but incredibly well executed nonetheless. The work here is terrific, overcoming some structural woes on sheer quality that when combined with a hot Korakuen crowd, make for an engaging watch. This is very much a match of two halves but not in terms of differing quality and instead, two pieces that while strong, don't necessarily fit together. Even still, the action is strong enough to get swept up in, producing some tremendous near falls late. Very good match, packed with snappy shootouts throughout. ***3/4"

[10.0] "Very fun and exciting match, one of the best of both guys' careers. They kept a high pace for the entire time, crowd was very into it, and I thought both Kento and Jake looked very good throughout."

[7.0] "I was with some other commentators when they said this match felt slow and largely unmemorable. It wasn't bad, it was certainly a well-wrestled and structured match. But this a final of the champion carnival, not just some match between Lee and Kento. The crowd certainly was excited, and they were buzzing like you'd expect them to be for such an important match, but then both guys stick to the formulas they both do even to this day, this is more disappointing than anything. Enjoyed the last fourth of the match though. Not bad by any stretch, but 3.75 Stars."

[5.0] "So there's nothing wrong with this match but also nothing I haven't seen in every other big Kento Miyahara match in the past several years. It just feels like such bog standard puro, paint by the numbers Kento style, I just can't feel very much investment for a match like this."

[8.0] "Jake Lee looks like he teaches high school gym class in a Iowa town with a population 347 people. He also seems really lazy and uncaring about the match, and not in a funny way like Randy Orton lying on the ground asking a fan if the match is over yet. If this is what Jake Lee is normally like I really don't want to see more from him. Kento Miyahara really carried this match. I know it sounds like I hated this match but I didn't, Kento really looked pretty good and I haven't seen enough of him to see how formulaic he really is."

[9.0] "This match was amazing. I watched it first time since 2019 and it still holds up. Kento Miyahara and Jake Lee went to war with eachother. Both if them were great with their offense and selling. Loved Jake's knees and kicks, he did a good job dominating Kento in the earlier part of the match. It was constant switch of momentum between the two as both went all out. Kento's knee strikes were delivered perfectly and the atmosphere was loud for this match. The last 10 minutes were fantastic and intense as they were filled with awesome back and forth action between the two. Loved Jake Lee busting out Akiyama esque knees. In the end it was all about who wanted this win more and Kento was just refusing to quit and busted out sick knee strikes and he was finally able to lock Lee and put him away with his shutdown german suplex. 8.60/10"

[9.0] "It's probably Jake's best career match (all his best matches are against Kento lol). This version of him though is much more compelling and way more fun to watch than the stalling heel persona he has now that just sucks the life out of most matches. Much more fire and better moveset. Kento is still one of the best in the world, but it legit feels like Jake has gone backwards. Fantastic match though. ****1/2 maybe ****3/4"

[8.0] "This was a worthy final of the Champion Carnival and one of Jake and Miyahara's best matches together. Miyahara didn't have the strongest tournament as most of his matches felt formulaic but this one was different. Jake Lee brings something unique to the ring which differentiates him from a lot of other guys. He's stoic and comes across as cold but by the end of the match you want to see him win. He's excellent at hooking you into the match like he did here. He was in control of Miyahara in the early going and they fought outside the ring for a bit. This was nearly 30 minutes but they paced the first half very well so it didn't drag for me by the end. Miyahara was good at making his energetic comebacks and selling for Jake's offense. Despite this match having a different feeling from all of Miyahara's previous matches in the tournament he still gave a formulaic performance. His lack of versatility really hurts a match like this from reaching MOTY territory. But even with Miyahara's lack of creativity this didn't prevent him and Jake from having an exciting finishing stretch. Jake had stiff kicks and some absolutely sick knees and power moves and it was very compelling to see him get closer and closer to beating Miyahara. Miyahara was great at hitting his swift knees out of nowhere and showing desperation while trying to escape Jake's offense or hit a big move. Great match. ****1/4"

[5.0] "I thought about not criticizing this match, but it deserves criticism. There is practically nothing interesting or fascinating in it. In other matters, as in the rest of the matches between them. I had high expectations on first viewing. The match is unreasonably slow. It feels like Suwama and Ishikawa are in the ring. The series of tricks are not interesting, and I didn't really believe in Jake's victory. In many ways, the match was spoiled by the lack of something memorable. They just work out the right minutes. I just got this feeling."

[10.0] "WOW. Just WOW. That match was absolutely a banger. Miyahara and Lee gave us an incredible war here, both wrestlers were exchanging knee strikes and fore arms from hell. The slugfest part outside of the ring was amazing. Everything was perfect here, and damn Jake Lee is so underrated. That guy give us one of the bests pro wrestling matches of 2019. *****"

[8.0] "These guys were bursting with energy here, each showcasing some great striking and suplexes. A near 30-minute long match that never feels slow paced or drawn out. These kinds of matches could really benefit more from Miyahara incorporating more versatility in his offense and moveset, but nevertheless they still work. Jake Lee comes across cold and apathetic from his entrance, but I'll be damned if it didn't care about him after this match ended. Great selling and false finishes for a Champion Carnival Finals match. ****1/4"

[7.0] "I gave this match *** 1/2 stars out of five. I don't know what it is about Kento Miyahara that underwhelms me, I think it's because he always has the same match? (maybe it's just me) I don't know. It just seemed like the same two brawlers kneeing each other with some suplexes sprinkled in between. Just not very versatile, that being said it was good, but not as great as I expected based on the scores."

[10.0] "One of the best matches of 2019 so far. Jake Lee will have his time at the top one day, but damn Kento is one of the greatest wrestlers alive. The knees from kento and the strikes from jake were great. Awesome finish with kento barely getting jake into the shutdown. *****"

[8.0] "They tried to tell a different story this time, with Lee showing great fire and taking the cocky champion by surprise since the first phases of the match. But Miyahara is a resourceful champion and while pretending to succumb for longer time than anticipited, he was able to punish Lee with sick knees and germans. While not the best match in the Carnival, it had great drama and was a worthy final. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Really great match! I think Jake Lee is going to be the Triple Crown Champion someday, he really is a great wrestler and can make an amazing reign! And Miyahara... oh Miyahara... you're one of the best in the world right now! I hope none of them leave AJPW, because they are their future (if not current) big stars alongside Naoya Nomura. ****3/4"

[5.0] "This took me a long time to get into, but by the end, I was digging it. They milked the most drama out of pretty much every exchange & the KNEES that were thrown sure were brutal throughout. As I implied though, I wasn't into it for a long time, so I can't call it good overall, but it certainly wasn't bad either."

[8.0] "This turned into a great match, but they killed Lee with how much Miyahara kicked out of and how he brushed it all off to win very quickly once he got going. It was like beating Lee took no special effort. And I'm beyond tired of Miyahara on top in All Japan. It's past time for trying something different."

[8.0] "Booking aside, in the lead up or result, this was a really good match. Great even. Borderline MOTYC at minimum. Kento Miyahara hasn't had the best of tournament with a rather stale and/or lesser structure to his matches but he switched it up here and it was a breath of fresh air. Mostly down to Jake Lee but credit is due. One of the main reasons for why I love Jake Lee as much as I do is what he brings to the table. He is so different to the rest of the roster in many ways, stylistically mainly. And he showed off his unique offence perfectly whilst beating down Miyahara. The one two combinations to the chest, his simple power kicks and knees. He also sold excellently for Miyahara in the closing stretch so all round great performance by Lee. Kento was good too. Sold Lee's offence all really well and made some good comebacks, often through his constant skwirms to get out of holds and flash moves. Closing stretch didn't grab me as far as the pinfalls go, but it was still good. Maybe their best match together. ****"

[9.0] "An awesome finale to a great tournament even though I had my reservations about B-block bringing it down. I've said it before and I'll say it again that Jake Lee and Kento have excellent chemistry together. Jake's push has been a slow one, but this Carnival was about building that main event experience up, and it certainly paid off with a great performance here. A little long, but the first half didn't feel too slow as it remained crisp and physical until they started throwing all their strikes at each other by the end. It got a little redundant with the strikes, but not enough to downplay my enjoyment. Loved this match like all their matches before, but I still think both guys have an all time classic somewhere in them, ****1/2."

[9.0] "This, in my very humble opinion, was the best match of this tournament, and, the best match of Jake Lee's life. I don't care for Jake Lee. He's too cold and detached. He shows almost no emotion. And he has a big stupid face. He's very dislike able to me. Apparently Korakuen agreed with me as His opponent Kento Miyahara was the overwhelming crowd favorite. That was no surprise though. The match is going and for alot of it it's very good. The last 10 minutes were very great. We even got Jake Lee to finally fire up! I didn't know that was humanly possible! I thought this was amazing. Must see. ****1/2."

[7.0] "A slightly underwhelming CC finals match, but a very good match on its own. I enjoyed the rather slow first half as Lee was immediately placed in control with his stiff kicks and knees, and Miyahara did well hitting his signature moves in the comeback. We got a few interesting spots, including some which took both men to the outside, and then once back in the ring both guys started throwing big bombs. Usually I will love big-bomb trading, and I'm not saying any of this was 'bad', but Miyahara has fallen victim to only ever working his usual formula in big matches, which is basically him hitting 100 knees, constantly hitting the german suplex and teasing the Shutdown German Suplex, and kicking out of all his opponent's finishing moves to the point of absurdity. Lee was much more interesting as he showed a reserved but still obvious determination on his face, and it helped that his strikes continued to be super heavy. Sadly I didn't see anything in the final 10 minutes that was either new or outright physically spectacular, but I still enjoyed both guys generally going 50/50. It was a shame to see Miyahara get the win, since I'm not very keen on him being the top guy for All Japan, but Lee looked very good, and he needed to look as such, given how disappointing he has been for a while. I think this match will get easy 4. 5-5. 0 ratings, just coasting on the fanfare surrounding Miyahara and All Japan as a whole atm, but this really wasn't anything outstanding. Lee vs Suwama and Lee vs Nomura from Night 17 were far superior. I've made a lot of complaints, but I did still really enjoy this match. ***3/4"

[10.0] "A fantastic final and another career-making match from this Carnival. Speaking of which, I really believe they couldn't this tournament better: they had their young up an comer finishing incredibly high in the ideal ranking of the CC and it was the idea call since they are stressing the rise of the generation of AJPW."