Kazuyuki Fujita and Jack Morris stand on top of their respective blocks as both remain undefeated after three nights of the N-1 Victory Tournament.
The first of three consecutive nights saw Pro Wrestling NOAH take the N-1 to Hiroshima in front of 515 fans.
Beyond Fujita and Morris improving their records to 3-0, GHC champion KENTA earned his first win after losses to Kaito Kiyomiya and Manabu Soya.
Harutoki earned two points due to a forfeit as he was scheduled to face the injured OZAWA on Saturday’s show.
RESULTS:
*Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & HAYATA over Dragon Bane, Junta Miyawaki & Alpha Wolf in 10:58
*Harutoki & Daiki Odashima over AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re and Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara in 7:08
*Block B: Harutoki over OZAWA by forfeit
*Block B: Galeno over Daiki Inaba in 11:47 (Recommended)
*Block B: Jack Morris over Naomichi Marufuji in 11:04
*Block A: KENTA over Daga in 13:34 (Recommended)
*Block A: Ulka Sasaki over Masa Kitamiya by DQ in 8:53
*Block A: Kazuyuki Fujita over Manabu Soya in 14:23
Galeno vs. Daiki Inaba – Block B
This turned into a great match as Galeno is very athletic for someone of this size, while Inaba played to the crowd and got them engaged. Inaba used a slingshot spear off the turnbuckle and a brainbuster for a two-count. Off the ropes, Inaba was caught by a Michinoku Driver and finished with a Galeno Special.
A bit of a sleeper match on paper, but I was greatly entertained by both, and Galeno worked really hard.
Jack Morris vs. Naomichi Marufuji – Block B
This was Morris’ weakest match of his three as it didn’t feel like he got to the next gear. There was a big chopping exchange, and Morris landed a Falcon Arrow but missed a Frog Splash. It was the same finishing sequence from all Morris’ wins in the N-1 as he connected with the Good-Looking Knee and won with a Tiger Driver.
It wasn’t a bad match, but it didn’t cross the threshold into anything special, and I had higher expectations of this one.
KENTA vs. Daga – Block A
You could see Daga really had his working boots on, being opposite the GHC champion and having the time to have a strong match.
KENTA’s big offense was the dominant theme of the match, using a Tornado DDT to snap Daga’s neck on the rope and landing a double stomp. Yoshitatsu was in Daga’s corner and yanked the referee while counting.
The end occurred with the brutal slaps from KENTA, and Daga kicked out at one before accidentally running into Yoshitatsu on the apron and being struck by the GTS.
KENTA is having a great tournament match-wise, but this was his first two points, and basically had to win this one.
Ulka Sasaki vs. Masa Kitamiya – Block A
This just wasn’t good and was a pretty comparison of Team 2000X and House of Torture, where the group is just used as a device to get out of a clean finish.
Kitamiya went after a fan in the front row and was held back and struck the seconds. The match was just going along when Tadasuke, who was in Kitamiya’s corner, nailed Sasaki with a chair shot for the automatic DQ.
At least, the referees are not idiots when they see a chair shot and the DQ is called. Kitamiya was upset because Tadasuke cost him the match, but they continued to attack Sasaki afterward.
Totally skippable.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Manabu Soya – Block A
Both were 2-0 coming into this main event, and it was an Ironman match in comparison to Fujita’s previous matches in the tournament.
Fujita used an Inverted Figure Four to attack Soya’s knee, but eventually, he made it to the rope.
Soya fought back and hit a Death Valley Driver, which led to a big lariat battle with neither going down. Fujita would overwhelm Soya as he hit the Beast Bomb and pinned him.
It was an average match and didn’t click as a main event, as KENTA and Daga were a far superior match. Fujita gets another main event slot on Sunday.
Fujita addressed the crowd and left Hiroshima undefeated and with six points.
BLOCK A
- Kazuyuki Fujita – 6
- Masa Kitamiya – 4
- Kaito Kiyomiya – 2
- Daga – 2
- Manabu Soya – 2
- Tetsuya Endo – 2
- KENTA – 2
- Ulka Sasaki – 2
BLOCK B
- Jack Morris – 6
- Naomichi Marufuji – 4
- Galeno – 4
- Ricky Knight Jr. – 2
- Harutoki – 2
- Kenoh – 0
- OZAWA – 0
- Daiki Inaba – 0
The N-1 rolls into Fukuoka on Sunday with the following matches:
*Block A: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
*Block A: Tetsuya Endo vs. Manabu Soya
*Block B: Jack Morris vs. Kenoh
*Block B: Harutoki vs. Ricky Knight Jr.
*Block B: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Daiki Inaba
*Takashi Sugiura & Tadasuke vs. Junta Miyawaki & Black Menso-re
*Galeno, Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf vs. Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Daiki Odashima
