Kazuyuki Fujita lost his first match of the N-1 Victory Tournament after being caught by Tetsuya Endo in the main event of Monday’s card.
The card in Kumamoto drew 538 fans, but this show was hampered by a lack of enthusiasm throughout most of the matches and hurt multiple matches.
The main event featured Endo scoring two points and ending Fujita’s unbeaten streak after entering the match with a 4-0 record. Fujita was well protected in the loss, absorbing Endo’s Burning Side Press and kicking out at one. Endo quickly applied a crucifix for the flash pin, and a stunned Fujita popped up and attacked the referee.
After five shows, Jack Morris leads the A Block with eight points after his latest win against Harutoki. The B Block is still led by Fujita with eight points, as well.
Due to their losses on Monday, Harutoki and Daiki Inaba became the first two eliminated from the N-1.
The round-robin portion continues on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and the final is next Tuesday at Korakuen Hall.
RESULTS:
*Go Shiozaki & Muhammed Yone over AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki in 10:04
*Kai Fujimura & Daiki Odashima over Naomichi Marufuji & Black Menso-re in 5:32
*Block B: Jack Morris over Harutoki in 10:22
*Block B: Galeno over Ricky Knight Jr. in 11:04
*Block A: Masa Kitamiya over Daga in 9:44 (Recommended)
*Block B: Kenoh over Daiki Inaba in 12:58 (Recommended)
*Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya over Ulka Sasaki in 11:30
*Block B: Tetsuya Endo over Kazuyuki Fujita in 7:00
Harutoki vs. Jack Morris – Block A
This was the first example of a cold crowd where the two performers had to work hard for reactions. Harutoki is not a finished product and is missing the spark to take his matches to the next level on any emotional level.
Morris was wobbled by an enzuigiri but fought back and used a Falcon Arrow. Harutoki stopped a Tiger Driver but missed a top rope moonsault. Harutoki side-stepped the Good-Looking Knee and transitioned to a nice O’Connor near-fall, which caught the audience’s attention. He ran into a spine buster from Morris and into a sequence of near-falls before the Good-Looking Knee and Tiger Driver combo as Morris moves to 4-1 with eight points on top of the block.
Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Galeno – Block B
It was a very basic match, and the audience wasn’t too invested. RKJ ran and hit a ‘rana off the turnbuckle, followed by a Firebird Splash for a two-count. Galeno rebounded with a lariat and won with the Galeno Special. This didn’t get out of the first gear.
Masa Kitamiya vs. Daga – Block A
This was a battle of stablemates in Team 2000X, and it was a blessing, as this circumvented the run-ins and ref bumps. In service of the match, Daga assumed the babyface role, and it worked. Daga showed lots of fire and played to the crowd. He hit a series of suplexes to Kitamiya and went for a ‘rana when Kitamiya rolled through and landed a piledriver. It was the prelude to the Stranglehold Gamma and the submission.
After, they hugged and posed together.
They had many factors working against them, from being a pair of heels in front of a tough crowd to begin with, and they overcame to have a very good match. It was easily the surprise pick of the show.
Daiki Inaba vs. Kenoh – Block A
Inaba is from Kumamoto, and the audience was chanting for him, so they already had that advantage. Kenoh was great, and Inaba played well to the audience.
Inaba hit his slingshot spear off the turnbuckle, was caught in the Kenoh Special, but rolled out. He was caught in the toe hold by Kenoh, but broke free and had an exchange of forearms with Kenoh’s kicks.
The closing stretch saw Kenoh hit a Dragon suplex, PK, and reapply the Kenoh Special (Nagata Lock II) for the tap.
Ulka Sasaki vs. Kaito Kiyomiya – Block A
I had high expectations for this, but whether it was due to the lack of reaction or just going through the motions, it didn’t meet them.
Despite NOAH listing Fujita vs. Endo in the main event, the promotional material focused on this match.
Kiyomiya went for the Skywalk Elbow and landed in an armbar, but managed to escape. Kiyomiya took out Sasaki’s knee with a seated dropkick and hit the Shining Wizard. It was a prelude to the Skywalk Elbow, which landed on the second attempt for the win.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Tetsuya Endo – Block A
Fujita worked on the knee with a figure-four and took the first half of the match. Endo fought Fujita onto the stage and hit a snap suplex as his first meaningful piece of offense. Endo connected with a knee strike into the corner, and this led to the Burning Star Press off the top, which Fujita kicked out of instantly before being caught.
It was hardly a stellar match for a main event slot, but it was noteworthy for Fujita’s first loss of the N-1. It hardly positioned Endo as achieving a significant feat, and instead, Fujita was getting caught and played off as a fluke.
BLOCK A
- Kazuyuki Fujita – 8
- Masa Kitamiya – 6
- Tetsuya Endo – 6
- KENTA – 4
- Kaito Kiyomiya – 4
- Daga – 2
- Manabu Soya – 2
- Ulka Sasaki – 2
BLOCK B
- Jack Morris – 8
- Galeno – 8
- Naomichi Marufuji – 6
- Kenoh – 6
- Ricky Knight Jr. – 4
- Harutoki – 2
- Daiki Inaba – 2
- OZAWA – 0 (Out of tournament due to injury)
Tuesday is a day off, and the N-1 heads to Osaka on Wednesday with the following card, including new GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi wrestling:
- Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Tetsuya Endo
- Block A: KENTA vs. Ulka Sasaki
- Block B: Galeno vs. Jack Morris
- Hiromu Takahashi & AMAKUSA vs. Eita & Daiki Odashima
- Block B: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Harutoki
- Block B: Daiki Inaba vs. Ricky Knight Jr.
- Block A: Manabu Soya vs. Daga
- Kenoh & Junta Miyawaki vs. Yuto Kikuchi & Black Menso-re
