(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: N-1 VICTORY 2021 NIGHT 2 (18th September 2021, Noah Special Arena)

Today's event was held empty arena and was broadcast on WrestleUniverse. The event is believed to have been pre-recorded, so it was streamed at a later time of 8pm JST. You can view it as long as you are a subscriber. All matches today were N-1 VICTORY. 

MATCH ONE

BLOCK D: Masakatsu Funaki vs Akitoshi Saito

You would have thought that with both Masakatsu Funaki and Akitoshi Saito being trained by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and their length of their careers, their paths would have crossed in the ring before at some point. As it happens this is their first match ever, which started with an MMA/Karate style initial lock up with Saito being the first to throw a kick. Funaki bought Saito down to mat wrestling, Saito bought him back to his level, and outside the ring tore away one of the mats and piledrove his head into the concrete. Funaki wasn't counted out, but got back in the ring and at Saito's mercy, whereupon he bided his time waiting until went for a kick, dodging and grabbing his leg, locking in a submission. Saito managed to get the ropes. Slaps and kicks followed, with Funaki wearing Saito down with submissions.

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the arm lock (12 minutes, 53 seconds)

(Masakatsu Funaki 2 points, Akitoshi Saito 0)

MATCH TWO

BLOCK C: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kotaro Suzuki

Kotaro Suzuki, a Noah Junior, made his N-1 debut today against Kazushi Sakuraba, and worked hard to get out of Sakuraba's pace as he used some very clever wrestling to do it. It should also be said that at times, Kotaro looked so much like Mitsuharu Misawa with the mannerisms he used, especially in the initial lock ups. Kotaro had to fight in a different way to get round Sakuraba, which often succeeded in making Sakuraba somewhat irritated as he resisted his submissions and locked in a few of his own. Sakuraba's frustration was evident when he resorted to inner thigh shots and was cautioned by the referee, as this junior was not going to give in. Later in the match came Mongolian chops and elbow wars, which Kotaro ended by blocking Sakuraba and using an elbow jab to the sternum. Sakuraba blocked the Tiger Driver and this went into back and forth rolling pins, and one final arm submission to get the win.

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the foot entwined modified arm bar (15 minutes, 2 seconds)

(Kazushi Sakuraba 2 points, Kotaro Suzuki 0)

After the match Sakuraba offered a handshake, and got a quick hand slap from Kotaro before he left the ring. 

MATCH THREE

BLOCK B: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Daiki Inaba

Daiki Inaba was immediately on the attack, hammering Masaaki Mochizuki down in the corner and then chasing him outside the ring, throwing him into the barriers and beating him down some more

The fires of youth needed to be cooled, and so Mochi took a few moments outside of the ring before pulling Inaba down and slamming his leg into the iron ring post. Inaba's knee would remain a target throughout the match, bit he never seemed to capitalize on taking out Mochi's legs, which are his greatest weapon. Despite this and the attacks of the older and more experienced Mochi,  Inaba was no push over and kept kicking out, even when driven into the canvas. After a big slap by Inaba, and a butt of head, Mochi grew angry and felled Inaba after another slap war. When veterans get like this, you know what is coming, and Mochi defeated Inaba with the very move that Inaba had prevented him from using earlier. 

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Triangular Kick (12 minutes, 39 seconds)

(Masaaki Mochizuki 2 points, Daiki Inaba 0)K

Backstage Mochi said today was straightforward enough, but tomorrow was Kendo Kashin and measures were going to be needed.

MATCH FOUR

BLOCK A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs Manabu Soya

Kaito Kiyomiya debuted a new look. Gone was the blonde hair, gone were the light colors, gone was the young boy air. He looked older, serious and less idealistic. The green wasn't entirely gone, but black (and a Zebra stripe on one of his legs) seemed to be the new dominant color. Manabu Soya was burning red, even wearing red eye contacts. 

Soya was more controlled than Kiyomiya during the opening stages of the match, Kiyomiya was not using his head much and was wrestling as if the Furies were on his tail. It was a hard fight, Soya was not going to be pinned any more than Kiyomiya was and both realized that it was either 2 points for a win, or 1 for a draw, and neither wanted to draw. Soya was dominant, throwing Kiyomiya around and almost taking his head off with a lariat, until Kiyomiya got his head back together and realized that he had to take the beast down. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex Hold (25 minutes, 7 seconds)

(Kaito Kiyomiya 2 points, Manabu Soya 0)

Kiyomiya's relief on winning was on par as to beating NOSAWA or winning the title, he screamed into the microphone before he spoke

"Finally advanced! Finally advanced!!But this is still the first match, I can't stay still!! I will win the N-1 and advance again!!"

Backstage Kiyomiya said,  "Finally...I feel like I have taken one step. But this still the first N-1 match and I have a goal. The day after tomorrow, Takashi Sugiura, and I will set in motion what was stopped by defeating Keiji Mutoh!"

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse 

Noah's next event: 19th September 2021, "Noah Special Arena"