Jake Lee's star-making performance came against Miyahara on the opening night of the 2017 Champion Carnival. While I prefer that singles performance for Lee, this firmly established him as a player in the Triple Crown scene. He was firing on all cylinders here, getting in a stunningly large amount of offense against Ishikawa, most of which looked good -- you know, apart from whiffing on his big jumping kick by about a mile. A "Holy Shit!" moment comes early in the match when Lee narrowly escapes a powerbomb on the apron only to get German suplexed on the floor! Referee Wada smacking Lee's face, trying to get him back into the ring was an amazing little moment. Ishikawa works on Lee's neck for a bit, hitting some big elbows and a corner Russian legsweep. But after he fights for a suplex, the match turns into the Jake Lee show as he gets in a nice rush of offense against Ishikawa.
He puts on a sleeper hold and Ishikawa climbs the ropes, falling back to momentarily stun Lee but Jake latches back on with the sleeper. He hits a nasty running knee with Ishikawa draped on the apron and an apron PK. I loved when Lee really turned up the aggression in the final quarter of the match, blasting the champ with some nasty big boots, stomping away at Ishikawa's head and shoulder in the corner and later, delivering those hand-held kicks to the arm reminiscent of Shibata against Okada. He's able to stagger Ishikawa with a big boy elbow, beautifully sold by Shuji, before kneeing him some more. He's able to execute the backdrop but it isn't enough to put the Big Dog away. After a few running knees and a Fire Thunder Driver (kicked out at one by Lee!), Ishikawa tries for the Giant Slam but Lee resists it, forcing Ishikawa to headbutt and elbow him down before finishing him with the Giant Slam. A strong performance from Lee and a solid defense for Ishikawa.
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