(NOAH) Event recap ~ N-1 VICTORY 2020, NIGHT ONE (Friday September 18th 2020, Nagoya)

Noah kicked off the first night of the N-1 with a big match feel in Nagoya today. The event was streamed over WRESTLE UNIVERSE (which had technical problems for some viewers, although I luckily had no problem except for some slight lag and minor screen freezes) and Samurai TV, where Mohammed Yone was the guest commentator. Some fans travelled outside of Tokyo to see the opening night, and even some Jurina Matsui fans turned up. Noah later made the stream free for all to view. 

The opening ceremony when the wrestlers come to the ring for the official presentation, was drama free; Katsuhiko Nakajima (who came sauntering out) and Go Shiozaki stayed apart, Kenoh prevented himself from yelling at Naomichi Marufuji or Kaito Kiyomiya.

MATCH ONE

Shuhei Taniguchi, Mohammed Yone & Kinya Okada vs The Anti Wrestlers Alliance (Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue) & Masashi Aoyagi

Although it was Mohammed Yone and Masashi Aoyagi pointing at each other, it was Yone and Masao Inoue who started the match. Yone pumped up the fro before starting, in which we discovered that Inoue is also not a disco lover. 

Kinya Okada (young enough to be Aoyagi's grandson) did well against the old veteran, and in true Heisei style, the veterans did not let up on him in any way. Akitoshi Saito in particular sent a punch that was audible around the arena. Okada though, was able to take him down later. 

Shuhei Taniguchi, however, is not a rookie and had Masao Inoue begging for mercy. At this point Saito and Aoyagi scattered, leaving Inoue to scream "bastard!" at Taniguchi. Inoue got his revenge, however, by attacking Taniguchi's gouty toes with stamps. 

WINNER: Akitoshi Saito pinned Kinya Okada with the Sickle Death (13 minutes, 13 seconds)

MATCH TWO

N-1 VICTORY (BLOCK B)

Takashi Sugiura vs Yoshiki Inamura

This is the second singles match between Takashi Sugiura and Yoshiki Inamura, and although he won, Sugiura left the match looking back at Inamura as if he was aware that he was now becoming more of a threat. 

Although Sugiura, the veteran, used Inamura's experience and momentum to throw him from the ring,  Inamura was able to throw him heavily into the barriers outside, and he won the punch war, knocking Sugi to the mat. But the veteran was not going to go down that easily, and after a last minute kick out from Inamura, Sugiura went for the choke. Inamura went to get out of that via a reversal, but Sugiura reversed and Inamura tapped. 

WINNER: Takashi Sugiura with the front neck lock (9 minutes, 11 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura said the match with Yoshiki Inamura was a "good test run", but since his next match is with Shuhei Taniguchi, he will only need to be in "3rd gear" for it. 

MATCH THREE

N-1 VICTORY (BLOCK A)

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Fast paced match, with the crowd clapping enthusiastically from the start. Mochi found Inamura a little too much, so he requested a time out. While Mochi threw his kicks, and Kiyomiya his punches, Kiyomiya had the chance to discover just how inventive Mochi can be. Mochi didn't just work on Kiyomiya's knee, he like Ogawa is not scared to be resourceful and to use what is around him, such as using kicks to get out of the Tiger Suplex, yelling and pointing at someone at ringside and then striking Kiyomiya when the ref was distracted, and so as Mochi lured him in, Kiyomiya found himself meeting both experience and mind games. But as fond as the crowd were of Mochi, they were behind the Noah born.

WINNER: Neither. Time out draw (30 minutes)

With this draw they only get one point each (2 points for a win, 0 for a loss)

MATCH FOUR

Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge vs The Sugiura Army (NOSAWA Rongai & Kaz Hayashi)

Mostly because he's insane, and partly because FULL THROTTLE used them for a show they will be appearing on filmed in Hajima Ohara's Kawasaki, Noah's resident nutcase, Atsushi Kotoge, came zipping out of the curtain clutching the handlebars and light of a motorcycle. Naomichi Marufuji loved it, but NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi were not so impressed. Kotoge wasn't either when the referee told him that such things were not allowed in the ring. The match was very much junior heavy, and you could tell how much Marufuji enjoyed working with the division. 

Marufuji had said on Twitter that he was very much looking forward to chopping NOSAWA, but after a great exchange with Kaz Hayashi, Marufuji wanted NOSAWA, and then tagged Kotoge in, who started bouncing all over and yelling "Brum Brum". NOSAWA thought he was crazy enough to accept a handshake (and who can blame him), Kotoge accepted the offer, but he's crazy not stupid, and caught the kick that NOSAWA went for. If NOSAWA didn't get chopped (Hayashi did), he had to endure Marufuji holding his mouth open so Kotoge could rev up and kick it when bouncing the ropes. Unfortunately, this meant that Kotoge kicked Marufuji's fingers. Always one who is game to join in with anything, Marufuji did his own version of the rope bounce. 

WINNER: ATSUSHI KOTOGE with a moonsault on NOSAWA Rongai (11 minutes, 59 seconds)

Then after the match there was this...

And Kotoge rode an invisible motorcycle backstage

Noah held a short interval in which they announced that on the 19th December they would be heading up to Nagoya. It wouldn't surprise me if Noah's last big show of the year was combined with Takashi Sugiura's 20th anniversary (he debuted in December 2000 in Noah). Sugiura is from Aichi, Nagoya and was featured on the picture. Further details are to be announced. 

MATCH FIVE

N-1 VICTORY BLOCK A

Go Shiozaki vs Manabu Soya

Brutal power match. 

Go Shiozaki might not have been much affected by Soya's chops, but due to taping his arms and shoulders were vulnerable and Soya worked on these areas heavily, even at one point making it so he couldn't chop, but it couldn't stop him getting the machine gun chops. 

There was nothing technical in this match, as it was brutal and full of punches, kicks, chops and elbows. Soya could not ultimately overcome the GHC Heavyweight champion, but he came very close. 

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the Gowan Lariat (16 minutes, 54 seconds)

MATCH SIX

N-1 VICTORY BLOCK B

Kenoh vs Katsuhiko Nakajima

Despite his threats to wreck everything for everyone, Nakajima's act of rebellion was when the ref told him to get down from the turnbuckle, and then take off his jacket, not just his mask. The match started with Nakajima offering Kenoh a handshake. Kenoh (a man with a lot of enemies, both real but mainly imagined), was hesitant and ultimately refused. 

There was more of an emphasis on wrestling and martial arts ability initially, the kick fight came later (when Nakajima dared Kenoh), and compared to their championship match there was no feeling of hatred between them. This time you got more of a sense of Kenoh being a little unsure of Nakajima and what Nakajima was going to do, and Nakajima luring Kenoh into some sense of security. 

The match ended when Nakajima kicked Kenoh in the head, and then punched him repeatedly just to make sure that he was knocked out. He had a huge sinister grin on his face. 

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Diamond Bomb (17 minutes, 19 seconds)

After the match Nakajima bent over Kenoh. Kenoh slowly offered his hand, which Nakajima took and pulled him to his feet. Something seemed to be building as Nakajima pulled Kenoh up and they stared at each other, but Nakajima let him go and Kenoh rolled out of the ring. Nakajima went to speak on the microphone, but took his time. When he spoke, he said that this league was "rotten", and the matches before were "sluggish" (rough translation), but he would make it interesting, and for "everyone to watch me". 

WITH THANKS TO: Metal Noah

PICTURE CREDIT: Shu Nishinaga

GIFS taken from WRESTLE UNIVERSE

Noah's next event: September 20th (bell sounds at 16:00)