Pro Wrestling NOAH’s N-1 Victory kicked off on Monday with Kaito Kiyomiya pinning the GHC Heavyweight Champion.
In front of 1,548 fans at Korakuen Hall, the tournament commenced with eight matches and a non-tournament bout, culminating in Hiromi Takahashi winning the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
In the main event, three-time N-1 winner Kaito Kiyomiya pinned GHC champion KENTA after hitting the Skywalk Elbow. Kiyomiya proceeded to hand the belt over to KENTA and told him to shine the belt up for him as he’s coming for it.
KENTA regained the title in July, beating Kenoh, and recently made his first defense against his former partner, Naomichi Marufuji.
The other news involved Marufuji beating OZAWA by count-out. OZAWA executed a top rope Asai moonsault over the barricade and immediately grabbed his left foot after landing. He tried getting to his feet before collapsing, and Marufuji quickly returned to the ring and won the match by count-out with a deflated ending. OZAWA was taken to the back on a stretcher.
NOAH has not commented on the injury, and certainly, some were skeptical if this was just a storyline injury to give OZAWA an obstacle to overcome in the N-1. Obviously, if he misses Thursday’s show, it will give credence that it’s a legitimate injury.
RESULTS:
*Block A: Daga over Tetsuya Endo in 10:26 (Recommended)
*Block B: Jack Morris over Daiki Inaba in 5:34
*Block B: Galeno over Harutoki in 7:40
*Block A: Masa Kitamiya over Manabu Soya in 8:20
*Block B: Ricky Knight Jr. over Kenoh in 11:11 (Recommended)
*Block A: Kazuyuki Fujita over Ulka Sasaki in 4:44
*Block B: Naomichi Marufuji over OZAWA by count-out in 7:33
*GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi over YO-HEY © in 17:47 (Recommended)
*Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya over KENTA in 13:49
Tetsuya Endo vs. Daga – Block A
This was a great opener to kick off the N-1 with Endo doing all of his special moves, including the Endo Special to the floor, a poisonrana, a series of exploders, and a Burning Star Press.
Daga hit a scary-looking Cradle Shock with Endo coming down on his neck. Daga rolled Endo with a Magistral Cradle around the ring. Endo went to flip forward and hook the leg, but was caught inside of Daga’s cradle for the win.
This was a great opening match.
Daiki Inaba vs. Jack Morris – Block B
Morris was recently booted out of Team 2000X and is a babyface, so he was playing to the crowd a lot. He checks just about every box as someone you could see WWE going after.
Inaba held onto the ropes from the second turnbuckle to hit a slingshot spear, but the timing was off. Morris hit a pair of Good Looking knees and won with the Tiger Driver.
It was too short to become anything special, but Morris looked good in the match, and it’s a change of pace as he’s working a babyface style, and the audience seemed behind him.
Galeno vs. Harutoki – Block B
Both are members of All Rebellion.
They emphasized both having Lucha in their background. Galeno is a really big and agile and the audience takes to him for that uniqueness.
Galeno hit a Michinoku Driver and an impressive moonsault off the top to win the match. The audience seemed impressed to watch the moonsault, but it was the only significant highlight of the match.
Manabu Soya vs. Masa Kitamiya – Block A
Kitamiya is NOAH’s version of Tomohiro Ishii, except he’s thirteen years younger. He just defected to join Team 2000X and is wrestling in a singlet now to emphasize his amateur skillset.
Soya worked hard and had his head rammed into the post, and had to deal with interference from Tadasuke in the corner.
Soya popped up from a German suplex, and Kitamiya used a piledriver, a Saito suplex, and a Lariat from Hell, but pulled his opponent up. After working on Soya’s shoulder, he submitted him with the Stranglehold Gamma.
I wouldn’t put it as high as the opener, but above the previous matches.
Kenoh vs. Ricky Knight Jr. – Block B
This is a big tournament for RKJ.
Kenoh used kicks, and Knight responded with chops for a lengthy striking battle. Kenoh connected with a PK, but RKJ came back with a leaping forearm to the back of the neck off the rope, then lifted Kenoh for the Ricky Driver (Rikishi Driver) and looked extremely worried that he might have spiked Kenoh while pinning him.
RKJ didn’t even stay on top for the full three-count, and the referee dove in and checked on Kenoh.
RKJ extended his arm, and the two shook hands.
It felt like there were some jitters on the part of RKJ, and this was a very physical match, as one would expect with Kenoh.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Ulka Sasaki – Block A
A match between former fighters in PRIDE and UFC.
Sasaki kept going for the armbar, moved to a Triangle, and Fujita slammed his way free. Then, Fujita hit the Beast Bomb and pinned Sasaki like nothing. Announcer Stewart Fulton said, “We just witnessed attempted murder”. Well, that’s how Sasaki was booked, for sure.
Naomichi Marufuji vs. OZAWA – Block B
Marufuji took a lot of the match by smashing the barricade gate on OZAWA’s head and hitting a Brainbuster from the floor onto the edge of the apron before the match-ending top rope Asai moonsault. The audience seemed deflated after OZAWA couldn’t get up. It did feel like OZAWA was playing it up by dramatically getting to his feet and collapsing, but it was inconclusive.
KENTA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya – Block A
This was a very good main event, but not the best match on the show. KENTA looked good with his bullying style on display.
KENTA went down after multiple slaps but got to his feet with a smile, no-sold several slaps, and dropped Kiyomiya with his own in the corner.
KENTA hit a Busiaku knee and attempted the GTS, but Kiyomiya countered with a small package. Kiyomiya used a shoulder break, ascended the turnbuckle, and landed the Skywalk Elbow to win.
The ending came abruptly, placing a lot of emphasis on the Skywalk Elbow and securing a statement win for Kiyomiya to start the N-1.
The former champ handed the belt to KENTA, who wiped it on his ring gear with Kiyomiya setting his sights on the title. Regardless of winning the N-1, this should set up a match between the two.
The N-1 continues Thursday with the following matches:
*Block A: KENTA vs. Manabu Soya
*Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masa Kitamiya
*Block A: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Daga
*Block A: Tetsuya Endo vs. Ulka Sasaki
*Block B: OZAWA vs. Daiki Inaba
*Block B: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenoh
*Block B: Jack Morris vs. Ricky Knight Jr.
BLOCK A
- Kaito Kiyomiya – 2
- Kazuyuki Fujita – 2
- Masa Kitamiya – 2
- Daga – 2
- KENTA – 0
- Ulka Sasaki – 0
- Manabu Soya – 0
- Tetsuya Endo – 0
BLOCK B
- Naomichi Marufuji – 2
- Ricky Knight Jr. – 2
- Galeno – 2
- Jack Morris – 2
- Harutoki – 0
- Kenoh – 0
- OZAWA – 0
- Daiki Inaba – 0
