(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: N-1 VICTORY 2021 NIGHT 4 (20th September 2021, Noah Special Arena)

The final night at the "Noah Special Arena" (which Noah fan's know is Club Citta, which has kind of become the new Differ in a way) arrived and fans tuned to WrestleUniverse in excited to see who would progress to a big Korakuen match, and who would drop out. No one from here on could (or can) afford to lose or draw, tonight was either the start or the end of hope.

MATCH ONE

BLOCK D: Masa Kitamiya vs Masakatsu Funaki

Masa Kitamiya was in a desperate fight to be prevent being taken down to the mat, however Masakatsu Funaki (in a manner which was almost serpentine) wrapped himself around him and kept him down. Kitamiya had to struggle to get out and when he did Funaki was definitely in Kitamiya's sphere with kicks, slaps and slams. For Masa Kitamiya the need to win was urgent, if he lost, then he was out but he was faced with someone who no matter what he did could get out of pretty much everything, even the Prison Lock was reversed by a kick reversal and then into a submission choke. Knowing Masa Kitamiya as he did, the referee stopped the match as he knew Kitamiya would never give up by himself.

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the sleeper hold (referee stop - 10 minutes, 54 seconds)

(Masakatsu Funaki 4 points, Masa Kitamiya 0 points)

Backstage Funaki looked ahead to his next opponent, Kazuyuki Fujita. Their last singles match had been in 2019 in Real Japan when Fujita beat Funaki for the RJPW Legend Title. Funaki said he wasn't going to lose this time. Masa Kitamiya simply made the comment on his Twitter that time marched on, there was no time for regrets. 

MATCH TWO

BLOCK C: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Masato Tanaka

There was a shake of hands before the match, and then the two different styles collided. Kazushi Sakuraba took Masato Tanaka down, and Tanaka took the cue from there that he had to refresh and find a different way. He found that Sakuraba is the complete master of reversing pins, if he couldn't make him submit, then Tanaka would have to knock him out or catch him by surprise. Wily Sakuraba, this is why they call him "The Gracie Killer". Tanaka however grew frustrated with this style and at one point after they both became irritated and with Sakuraba told off by the referee first of all for kind of telling him to look the other way and then for using a closed fist (which is unusual for Sakuraba), it almost developed into a fist fight, and the ref had to work hard to prevent them from punching each other out. Sakuraba took to complaining about Tanaka, who then got hold of the ring bell and chased him round the ring with it. Tanaka is from FMW, there are worse weapons he could have got hold of had this been a different promotion, but the ring bell in his hand is scary enough. 

In the end Tanaka put the bell down, and Sakuraba (after some complaining) got in the ring and as Sakuraba seemed to be more at home out of it, Tanaka put him in a submission on the ring barriers by wrapping his knee around a railing, working on Sakuraba's knees and ankles, even twisting his foot around. Sakuraba made his comeback when Tanaka went for an elbow and on the momentum rolled him over into a submission but Tanaka got to the ropes. Sakuraba pulled the submission again and modified it, but it was too late as the time ran out leaving them both with 1 point each. 

WINNER: Neither (30 minute time limit draw)

(Kazushi Sakuraba 3 points, Masato Tanaka 3 points)

Sakuraba couldn't believe it, and after taking it up with the ref leant on the ropes in disbelief. He looked almost sulky as he was called away to have his arm raised. It was now time to go from one battle of wits to another, but in a different way. 

MATCH THREE

BLOCK B: Kendo Kashin vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Masaaki Mochizuki entered the ring first, which is always risky as you don't know where Kendo Kashin is going to pop up from. Kashin made a reasonably normal entry in that he walked out of the curtain, but he was carrying a ladder with him, which he set down and then walked off. Mochizuki (despite the referee warning him), went to look to see where Kashin had gone and then got jumped by him. What followed was the usual Kendo Kashin carnival which involved locking Mochizuki in somewhere (Atsushi Kotoge used to do this to his opponents), squishing Mochizuki's face with Perspex, and taking Mochizuki up the club's spiral staircase to try and throw him off the balcony (like Shiozaki and Fujita). By this time the referee was in the ring waving his arms in vain and counting, and when the count neared the 20 mark both came racing down the stairs and back to the ring with Kashin trying to shut Mochizuki out. 

Determined to win and to put an end to Kashin's zany rampage (because God knows what he would do next), Mochizuki beat Kashin in the same way that Kashin had beaten Kenoh, by catching him off guard.

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the schoolboy (9 minutes, 28 seconds)

(Masaaki Mochizuki 4 points, Kendo Kashin 2 points)

Kashin left the ring disputing the win with everyone (even the ring crew, trainees and referees sent to keep him in check), while Mochizuki left removing the ladder that Kashin had left behind. Backstage he was delighted with the win and looking forward to facing Kenoh, although he could not resist taking a little jab at Kenoh's speech about old men "taking home a souvenir"*, he said he would get three perfects wins as one for himself.

*Lit "bringing home dark soil". What Kenoh meant is making memories that you will take into the afterlife. As he used it in the term that something physically is taken from Noah, i.e souvenirs of memories, using "die in peace" does not fit. The phrase itself refers to bringing a souvenir to the underworld. 

MATCH FOUR

BLOCK A: Takashi Sugiura vs Kaito Kiyomiya

The big match to close out an adrenalin pumped three days saw Takashi Sugiura take on Kaito Kiyomiya. This match could only end in either referee stop or a pin, both knew that for their own future in the league it could not end otherwise. Kiyomiya was not just having a match, he was fighting a war, a war not just against Sugiura, but also against himself. There was no clash of styles in this match, just generations, this was not an MMA fighter fighting a wrestler, or someone trying to predict what a highly unorthodox opponent was going to do next, throughout the whole match both played a double game of hiding their strength and fighting back. Both Baba and Misawa would have been proud of the passivity displayed both by the wrestler who trained in All Japan, and the wrestler who is a Noah Born but has inherited both Baba and Misawa through that. 

If Kiyomiya had been bruised going into the match, then this was going to get worse after the flurry of elbows that Takashi Sugiura unleashed upon him, especially when Kiyomiya went mad and hammered on him in the corner. Sugiura naturally reversed it and showed him how it was done. Kiyomiya's own attacks seemed to have very little effect and looked like they just bounced off of him. Not for nothing that Naomichi Marufuji once described Sugiura as a "weapon". Sugiura unfortunately has developed a habit lately of letting go of the choke too early and going for the pin, it cost him against Mutoh and it cost him again tonight when Kiyomiya kicked out and then fought back when reversing the Olympic Slam.

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with a backwards rotation pin (21 minutes, 5 seconds)

(Kaito Kiyomiya 4 points, Takashi Sugiura 1 point)

This young man had now beaten Sugiura twice, once for the GHC Heavyweight and now this, no wonder that Takashi Sugiura left kicking the barrier in frustration. He has only one match left in the league now and the highest he can finish with is three points. Lets just say that Manabu Soya deserves our pity on the 26th September. 

Kiyomiya looked as if he was about to cry, he couldn't believe he was having this second win in this league after so much hopelessness. The light was shining again, but while it may have been all over but the shooting, there was one final opponent, one final wall to cross and it was one he had come across many times and not been successful. He spoke about that on the microphone;

"Only one left! I will defeat Keiji Mutoh and once again stand on top!"

GIFs taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: N-1 Night 5, Sunday 26th September, Korakuen Hall