(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: N-1 VICTORY 2021 ~ Special Prologue ~ (Monday September 6th, Shinjuku FACE)

Aside from some produce shows, Noah have not run full events at Shinjuku FACE since the difficult days of 2018. Mitsuharu Misawa himself never bought Noah there, this being the era of stadiums for them back then. Misawa surely would have approved of today's show (even if Kenta Kobashi did not approve of King Tany) with it's electric junior friction, heavyweight pre-match showdown and most of all the fight that Kotaro Suzuki put up against the heavyweights. 

Noah went all out for their first show at Shinjuku FACE in three or so years, the arena was lit by a green light (which fans believed may have been the first time here), and as ever THE LEAVE left freebies on seats in the form of a white Perros Del Mal De Japon. The pre-show soundtrack also added to the general feeling of anticipation giving it the air of a concert as Metallica was blasting out of the speakers. With a stark green light against the darkness of Shinjuku FACE, surrounded by the green lights held by fans, Noah really put on a show with different shades.

MATCH ONE

Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada vs Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

Junta Miyawaki walked to the ring with a new found dignity and aura which befitted his status as both the most senior in this match and the one with successful victories behind him in the ZERO1 junior league. Kinya Okada, however, is still running to the ring, as were the two young boy opponents. 

There is a slight rivalry growing between Kinya Okada and Yasutaka Yano, in which Yano fired the first shots by knocking Okada off of the apron. Okada, however, is Noah Tank No 2, so it wasn't entirely successful. In the ring together, Okada was giving Yano the "come on" before kicking him down, merciless with the young boys. Almost KENTA like in that manner, especially in the stare. Yano however managed to bring him at one point to his knees. 

Kai Fujimura came very close to pinning Junta twice, and Junta like any good veteran put a halt to it then and there. 

WINNER: Junta Miyawaki with the Falcon Arrow (10 minutes, 52 seconds)

MATCH TWO

Mohammed Yone vs Ikuto Hidaka

Mohammed Yone and Ikuto Hidaka have a history which pre-dates Noah and goes back to their days in BattlArts from 1997, and stretches through other promotions such as ZERO1 and Sportiva. Their last match was in 2017 at an Ikuto Hidaka produce when Yone beat him, humiliatingly in 46 seconds. 

The fans had their blue lights out for Yone, which were waving in the darkness. Unfortunately, a dark venue and stairs are not ideal for someone who comes out to the ring wearing shades (feel glad there was no Tadasuke today), and so it looked very much like Yone may have stumbled. In the ring it was all business as they naturally had a very BattlArts style match. Yone proving that after years of disco dancing and funkiness, he has not forgotten his roots, although he did throw in a "Disco Fever" rope break which resulted in Hidaka slapping him. This was a very different Yone, using moves (mainly submissions), that he does not often use these days, and he appeared bigger, more menacing and even more ice cold and expressionless when Hidaka slapped him repeatedly to fire him. Hidaka, ever the technician, worked to take down Yone's knees knowing that size and power where the things that always let him down. He couldn't do much about power, but he could at least try to bring Yone down to his level.

WINNER: Mohammed Yone with the armlock (13 minutes, 34 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Manabu Soya vs King Tany

Despite Kenta Kobashi practically putting him on blast (the question of what to do with Taniguchi has preoccupied his seniors for a long time with Jun Akiyama weighing in also), King Tany came out looking like his seniors words had been water off a King eider's back, and puffing on a cigar that wasn't even lit, with a big grin. As much as Kobashi feels frustrated about this gimmick, Taniguchi hasn't looked this happy in years. 

There was a contrast between the fun loving King Tany and Kongoh's Spartan Manabu Soya, there was certainly no dancing from Soya after slamming Tany, and after slamming Soya it must be said that Tany's dance looked a little strained. It was an interesting match (Noah put on an interesting card today), with Tany getting a rare singles against someone of similar size and strength, and showing what he was capable of given the chance, especially as it was a beast fight. Hopefully, Kenta Kobashi, found something to like in this match. 

WINNER: Manabu Soya with the Ballistic (21 minutes, 6 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

STINGER (HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu) vs Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara

"A new season"

Atsushi Kotoge

As soon as STINGER emerged from the shadows (which somehow seemed to follow them as the venue was kind of dimmed even more for their entry), there was a square up between the tag champions and their challengers. Daisuke Harada probably knew not to get too close to HAYATA. As this is a Noah Junior match, it escalated into chaos quickly with Yuya Susumu sucker punching the opposition (especially Kotoge) and this triggered a mass brawl between both teams. After this they settled down, but there was the feeling that someone had set a pan of water to boil and it was going to erupt any moment. This chaos was counterproductive however and both teams realized they needed to watch how far it went as it cost the challenger team the win at one point as the ref couldn't count down a pin that would have won Kotoge the match as he was dealing with Ohara, and this gave STINGER the opportunity to turn the tide. 

Daisuke Harada naturally wanted HAYATA. HAYATA was not going to give Harada what he wanted for long, and soon tagged Seiki Yoshioka in. When he was in the ring (albeit the focus was on the tag champions and their challengers), HAYATA was even more coldly sadistic than ever. Harada once said that HAYATA going over to STINGER turned him into someone he didn't know, this must have been a stranger then to Harada who has had countless battles with HAYATA since. Even by Noah Junior matches this was a hard, fast and chaotic match with STINGER making lightning fast attacks on opponents, striking hard and fast and looking like a bolt of static energy in the night sky. 

WINNER: Yuya Susumu with the Cross Face Lock on Hajime Ohara (21 minutes, 6 seconds)

After the winning team had their arms raised (the ref having to call HAYATA over), the usual chaos broke out when Susumu spoke on the microphone to bait his opponents; 

""Fucking challengers. You challenge by casually teaming up just because you happened to win? Don't be stupid. Hot Noah Junior, Kotoge? What is hot? Your fire has gone out. Is it originating from your challenge? I don't have any indication. What is the new Noah Junior? Don't show me the unfinished thing!"

A shoving match broke out, and then after further provocation Kotoge attacked Susumu and the traditional Noah Junior mass brawl broke out. After it had been broken up, Kotoge was seen lying on his back and banging his feet on the apron. Backstage, Susumu said he didn't think a title match was worth it and wouldn't even be bringing his belt to the title match. Later Kotoge said that it was rare for people who had been fighting them to have to bring a microphone into it afterwards, was Susumu trying to create heat? 

MATCH FIVE

N1 ROAD SCRAMBLE 4vs4 Elimination Match

Takashi Sugiura, Kenoh, Kotaro Suzuki & Masa Kitamiya vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Akitoshi Saito

"It's not about challenging your opponent, it's about challenging yourself"

Akitoshi Saito

The competitors entered the ring and stood together with an air of mistrust; Akitoshi Saito came out first, Masa Kitamiya second, Katsuhiko Nakajima slow and menacing, Kotaro Suzuki bringing the Naomichi Marufuji into the match by bouncing over the ropes, Kenoh taking stock of the situation, Kaito Kiyomiya angry and sulky and once again wearing a Noah t-shirt and no robe. Takashi Sugiura entered last of all as the champion. 

Although this was not going to be an easy situation, both teams managed to work together well, and in the case of Kenoh and Takashi Sugiura, it was like old times. For Akitoshi Saito, the N-1 is good as it gets him away from Funky Express and their usual opponents (usually rookies) and gives him Kotaro Suzuki to feud with and Kenoh to have kick wars with. 

Friction grew throughout the match between Kenoh and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Kenoh was distracted by Nakajima and squared up to him. Nakajima stared back like the Cheshire Cat with an innocent expression on his face (usually means he's going to do something worse than he usually does). Nakajima later was seen to bait Kenoh when he knocked his team off of the apron, Kenoh had said earlier that "everyone was an enemy", and Nakajima knew how to play this. The moment they were in the ring, Nakajima offered a handshake to Kenoh. Kongoh (who do physical touch even less than STINGER, which is saying something), just stared at it and then not losing his gaze on Nakajima, accepted very slowly. The two stared at each other, let go, circled each other and then had the kick war from Hell. 

After the kick war came the Shutter Chance. Kenoh took it once, and then erupted in usual fury when Nakajima attempted it the second time. 

Daiki Inaba one of the smaller heavyweights was a target for Kenoh (he is his current Kenoh Enemy Number One) while Kotaro Suzuki was a definite target for the opposition being a junior. Saito had not forgotten being pinned by him, and was determined to show it was not going to happen again. Kotaro might not have eliminated Saito today (Kenoh threw him over the top rope), but he did eliminate Katsuhiko Nakajima, but he had to suffer the Soccer Ball kicks first (Kotaro grew up with KENTA, so he us more than used to being kicked). The only junior among a pack of heavyweights who held his own, Mitsuharu Misawa would have been very proud of him tonight. 

Masa Kitamiya was not in the mood for dealing with the smugness of Katsuhiko Nakajima, and was on the attack the moment they were in the ring. This was the more bitter element for Nakajima, rather than anything he did with Kenoh. Naturally he took the opportunity to wind up his senior (Takashi Sugiura), by grinning and dodging him making Sugiura complain to the referee. Sugiura unleashed vicious elbows on him, and Nakajima unleashed kicks

Akitoshi Saito had not forgotten (or forgiven) Kotaro for pinning him and was determined to show it was now going to happen again, Kenoh hadn't forgotten the kick war from earlier and took the opportunity to get a few shots in. 

Watching Daiki Inaba fight Takashi Sugiura was like watching someone run into a wall and bounce off. 

Kaito Kiyomiya wrestled like a howling demon. Against Kotaro Suzuki his attempting to fight like Misawa was futile, as Kotaro was the one who knew him, but while Kotaro probably isn't very familiar with Kiyomiya, Sugiura was and Sugiura looked as if he did not recognize who he was fighting when Kiyomiya started using wind up punches against him. 

It came down to Takashi Sugiura, Kenoh and Kaito Kiyomiya, the others having been eliminated. Kiyomiya by this point was causing some concern as earlier when Kenoh went to run in to stop Kiyomiya from breaking a pin, Kiyomiya didn't move as he was laying flat out on the mat. Kiyomiya rallied (and I guess he is okay as Noah announced he and Masa Kitamiya would be appearing on Battlemen on Wednesday 8th September), and managed to eliminate Sugiura. It was now down to mortal rivals, Kenoh and Kiyomiya, who have a long history of jealousy, bitterness, Kenoh's mercurial emotions regarding Kiyomiya which swing between concern and hatred, and as fans put it despite all those things, "a lot of love". A massive brawl, a completely vicious slap war, and as Naomichi Marufuji would probably have termed it in "a match that only we could do", meant that fans were left wondering if we would see this again at the end of the N-1. Frantic pins from Kiyomiya, which Kenoh kept kicking out of, meant that Kenoh (the one untroubled by doubt or dark visions of the future), got the win.

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS (54 minutes, 52 seconds)

(Other results: Kenoh eliminated Akitoshi Saito by throwing him over the top rope; Katsuhiko Nakajima eliminated Masa Kitamiya via Vertical Spike; Kotaro Suzuki eliminated Katsuhiko Nakajima via Tiger Driver; Daiki Inaba eliminated Kotaro Suzuki via Ground Extreme Warp; Takashi Sugiura eliminated Daiki Inaba via Olympic Slam; Kaito Kiyomiya eliminated Takashi Sugiura by throwing him over the top rope)

Kaito Kiyomiya was lying on the mat staring into space, as Kenoh spoke on the microphone. He gave a long speech, the gist of which was to say that the N-1 was filled with some clowns (probably a dig at Kendo Kashin) and some guys who should "be in a nursing home" and he Kenoh, who loved Noah and would bet his life on it, would "show those old men" what Noah was, and it wasn't an extension of MMA or a performance. Kenoh was going to win the N-1, fighting Noah's fight.

With thanks to: GONG_EX, Metal-Noah, Oshima-san, Abeshin

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse (you must be a subscriber to view)

Noah's next show: Saturday 12th September, N-1 VICTORY opening night