More than half of the B Block in NOAH’s N-1 Victory tournament remain tied for the top spot.
Kenoh, OZAWA, Masa Kitamiya, Titus Alexander and Tetsuya Endo all hold six points each, tying them up for first place in the division following Wednesday’s show from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
The main event saw Kenoh take a win over OZAWA, closing out their back-and-forth epic with a top-rope moonsault for the pinfall win. It’s been a big week for Kenoh, scoring his first singles win over KENTA on Monday and now picking up a victory over OZAWA.
The long-awaited first N-1 win for KENTA this year emerged on Wednesday night, taking down Masa Kitamiya. While late interference from Team 2000X Kitamiya teammate Yoshitatsu made it seem like we were heading toward another KENTA loss, the ex-GHC champ was able to overcome the odds.
Distracting the referee, KENTA hit Kitamiya with a low blow. Then, when he went for a roll-up, KENTA put his legs on the shoulders of a downed Yoshitatsu for leverage, helping him win.
Kouga, the B Block’s main underdog, overcame the odds once again and picked up a pinfall victory over Manabu Soya as part of Wednesday’s show. The 26-year-old, who just returned from an excursion at the start of this tour, caught Soya with a modified GTS of sorts for the pinfall win.
Kouga was riding the momentum of a huge win from Monday, beating defending tournament winner Masa Kitamiya to score his first pinfall of the N-1.
Titus Alexander scored a big win in the opening block match of Wednesday’s card, bridging a German Suplex into a pin attempt on Tetsuya Endo to close out a fast-paced nine-minute showdown.
Along with the N-1 Victory action on Wednesday, the co-main event saw GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Kai Fujimura defend his title for the first time, taking down brother Alejandro.
With the referee distracted by Team 2000X teammates, Fujimura unmasked brother Alejandro. Had the referee seen the dirty tactic, it would’ve likely led to a disqualification finish. With Alejandro caught off guard by his unmasking, he was hit with the champ’s Death Hanger fisherman buster for the pinfall finish.
A post-match angle set up a future title showdown between Fujimura and Dragon Bane, who briefly held the junior belt earlier this year.
NOAH will take tomorrow off, but return on Friday with Night 10 of this year’s tournament. The focus will shift back to the A Block, which is currently led by former GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya.
A Block
- Kaito Kiyomiya (9)
- Yoshiki Inamura (7)
- Alpha Wolf (6)
- Takashi Sugiura (6)
- Shane Haste (6)
- Chen (4)
- Kazuyuki Fujita (2)
- Yuki Iino (0)
B Block
- Kenoh (6)
- OZAWA (6)
- Masa Kitamiya (6)
- Titus Alexander (6)
- Tetsuya Endo (6)
- Kouga (4)
- Manabu Soya (4)
- KENTA (2)
