(NOAH) EVENT RECAP ~ N-1 VICTORY, NIGHT 1 (Nagoya International Conference Center, Sunday August 18th 2019)

"It was maybe more than ten years ago when I came to Noah last"

Old fans are coming back to Noah.

Noah held the inauguration of the very first "elite" heavyweight league, the "N-1 VICTORY" today. House was not sold out, but it was full, and the crowd was excited.

Some local children gave a karate demonstration in the ring before the event started (Noah usually have a demonstration of some sort going on beforehand, sometimes they let the local children play in the ring, and very often Yoshinari Ogawa holds classes for the roster in technique which everyone, no matter what level, benefits from). They were later joined by Katsuhiko Nakajima, (his background is in Karate, which is part of the reason why he was often at odds with KENTA who did kickboxing).
I'm not exactly sure what he said, but it looks like Nakajima gave some kind of speech.
Speaking of children, after the event a little girl (fourth grade) gave Naomichi Marufuji a handmade card which said that she came to see Noah today for the first time and had a lot of fun.

Mohammed Yone celebrates 25 years in wrestling today.

I am afraid that today was a day of lots of pictures, but not too much saying what was going on, so I have only been able in some cases to give a result, and in others elaborate a little more.

Event will be broadcast on Samurai on Sunday August 25th at 10pm JST.

Opening ceremony
As per tradition, the competitors came out to the ring as their names were announced. Everyone was wearing N-1 t-shirts, and they lined up in their respective blocks.
As far as I know everyone managed to behave themselves, there was no arguments or squaring up, Kenoh swearing and stamping off, or Marufuji winding him up by holding the ropes open for him.

MATCH ONE
The Sugiura Army (KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Kinya Okada) vs Junta Miyawaki & Sonico

Not really too much to say about the opening I am afraid, except it was a good match (and Okada and SAKAMOTO wore the dog t-shirts)

WINNER: KAZMA SAKAMOTO with the Pop-Up-Powerbomb on Sonico (5 minutes, 58 seconds)

Sound problems occurred and the event was delayed a little, fortunately it was sorted out quickly.
Atsushi Kotoge was seen peeping out of the curtain during the downtime.

MATCH TWO
STINGER (Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway) vs RATELS (Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke)

Atsushi Kotoge is noted to have some weight now that he has become a junior again, and he was semi-hyper again today. He seemed to suddenly cheer up when going to the ring.

Kotoge got the win over Tadasuke, while Ridgeway held Harada outside the ring in a headlock.

WINNER: Atsushi Kotoge with the Kill Switch on Tadasuke (10 minutes, 20 seconds)

In his backstage interview, a much happier looking Atsushi Kotoge said that STINGERS goal is to have all the junior belts.

MATCH THREE
The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara) & El Hijo de Doctor Wagner Jnr vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)

Wagner Jnr did not wear a Sugira Army t-shirt (he's doesn't have to as he is not a member), but Hajime Ohara was overheard to be speaking to him in Spanish. Hajime Ohara has always been "Noah's treasure", but for the fans today this raised him even further in many peoples eyes.

The match started with the N-1 participants, Sugiura and Kitamiya, having a fierce fight. Sugiura came to the ring with his "I'm going to fuck your shit up" face on, and he got a serious kicking from Kenoh outside the ring later in the match.

WINNER: El Hijo De Wagner Jnr with the Wagner Slam on Yoshiki Inamura (14 minutes, 32 seconds)

MATCH FOUR
GHC JUNIOR TAG CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki) vs Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with the Tiger Driver on Minoru Tanaka (13 minutes and 39 seconds) 

After the match, Ogawa said that it would be interesting to defend against Chris Ridgeway and Atsushi Kotoge if there are no immediate challengers.

MATCH FIVE
Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi, The Return of The Dark Agents (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue), and Hitoshi Kumano vs Naomichi Marufuji, 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm), YO-HEY & HAYATA

Big fan expectation for Shuhei Taniguchi.

Naomichi Marufuji did the usual bounce into the ring, BUT he ignored Kaito Kiyomiya and headed straight for Taniguchi to square up to. Later, he chopped Masao Inoue. However, he couldn't ignore Kiyomiya forever as he had to face him in the ring, and Kiyomiya sent him flying with a top rope dropkick.
At one point outside the ring, YO-HEY was overheard asking Marufuji if he was okay.

With so many people in the ring, there were naturally brawls breaking out everywhere, and there was one going on outside the ring between Kiyomiya and Marufuji as the bell went.

WINNER: Shuhei Taniguchi with the Wyvern Catch on Mohammed Yone (15 minutes, 58 seconds)

After the match Kiyomiya held up the belt to Marufuji (probably the first time he's even been mildly rude to him), Taniguchi (who was standing just opposite Marufuji) looked up too.
Kiyomiya looked smug!!

In his post match interview, Kiyomiya showed even more how he has changed and grown from a slightly nervous and overly polite boy, to a manifestly nasty and budding trouble making champion with a growing manipulative mean streak, to say that he was enjoying being surrounded by enemies, it stimulated him.
His facial expression was also smug and demonic, showing how much he was enjoying stirring them up, and watching them fight.

Taniguchi's comment was simply that he would win and challenge for the belt.

MATCH SIX
N-1 VICTORY
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masaaki Mochizuki

"Nakajima got up first from the double knockdown and won by KO. I got goosebumps!"

Their last singles match was ten years ago (Nakajima later said that their next would be in ten years time in 2029, Mochizuki said by that time he would be 59!)

This was said to be a good opener for the league.
Naturally in the opening moments, it started with Nakajima kicking Mochizuki in the head, and there was a kick war between them that have been described as "shivers" in the ring.
Nakajima was his usual grinning evilly self.

The match finished with a double kick and they both knocked each other out at the same time, it was Nakajima who managed to get to his feet first.

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima by KO (17 minutes, 22 seconds)

Afterwards, Nakajima did the usual "worship me" pose inside and outside the ring.

MATCH SEVEN
N-1 VICTORY
Go Shiozaki vs Alex Hammerstone

Alex Hammerstone made his debut today in Noah, and came out wearing the National Openweight Championship belt, shades and white ripped jeans. He did not disappoint.

Go Shiozaki is heavily taped around his left shoulder and elbow, which makes me wonder if the problem that has kept him out twice earlier this year is going to flare up again.

I am afraid that I don't have too many details on this match (my Twitter feed and the Noah GHC hashtag went dead for the duration), but the crowd were said to be on fire throughout it.
Hammerstone's punches were commented on it, one fan calling them a "straight punch" with a lot of power behind them.

WINNER: Alex Hammerstone with the Pendulum Nightmare (17 minutes, 10 seconds)

NOAH'S NEXT SHOW: 20th August 2019, Fukuoka 
ATTENDANCE: 618
WITH THANKS TO: Shiyun, Nomu Sandā, iwasborn1, Seikichi, Koji Yoshimura, Mari
PICTURE CREDIT: Noah GHC
GIF CREDIT: Noah GHC