(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: N-1 VICTORY 2022 - SEMI FINALS NIGHT (Kultz Kawasaki, Sunday August 28th)

Noah hold an event once a year at Kultz Kawasaki, and always in late August. Normally the theme will be the end of summertime, with last year's being fireworks and bonfires, and therefore the event has come to be associated with the transition of summer to autumn. Noah didn't need that symbology today, there were plenty of fires lit and fireworks launched. 

The Noah Junior Regulars did their usual talk before the event, once again sitting on the steps together. Behind them you could hear the sound of training going on, by the time fans arrived, Kazuyuki Fujita was in the ring training while out in the lobby, the Kongoh Juniors made a rare appearance signing autographs and posing for pictures.

Noah announced that Yasutaka Yano will return to Noah on the 21st September, and fans were delighted to see him at ringside tonight. Yano was not going to be the only one making a return. 

Event was broadcast today on WrestleUniverse. You must be a subscriber to view.

DARK MATCH

Funky Express (Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito) & Stallion Rogers vs Shuhei Taniguchi, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura

For some reason Akitoshi Saito was not feeling the funk today, although he was animated on commentary later. His teammates were in a carnival mood though with Stallion Rogers and Mohammed Yone dancing along to the crowd clapping to Saito's hangtime on Daiki Inaba. Rogers was doing the cat dance. Not everything was so sparkly however as Shuhei Taniguchi stopped Yone before he could do his Disco fever rope break pose, but Yone got revenge for being thwarted later.

WINNER: Daiki Inaba with the Octopus Hold on Stallion Rogers (11 minutes, 5 seconds)

MATCH ONE

N-1 VICTORY A BLOCK

Masaaki Mochizuki vs Anthony Greene

No one can truly have an impact on the league here, but there is a chance to finish with better points than before and after a hard hitting match involving a truss kick war, it was Masaaki Mochizuki who reversed and finished with four points and a spot up the table.

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Reversal of the Walkin' Talkin' Flyin' (9 minutes, 46 seconds)

The two shook hands afterwards, indicating that they would do this again at some point. 

MATCH TWO

N-1 VICTORY B BLOCK

Masa Kitamiya vs Jack Morris

Masa Kitamiya used some nasty leg/foot submissions, which looked like he was going to wrench Morris's foot from his ankle, however this did not stop Morris from fighting back and getting the win in spectacular fashion, fitting of an event with the theme of summer's fireworks. Their grueling N-1 ended here.

WINNER: Jack Morris with the Shooting Star Press (11 minutes)

Yoshiki Inamura helped Kitamiya from the ring, Kitamiya reserving a glare for Morris. Backstage, Morris said that his time in Noah was by no means over, he had much more he wanted to do and more he wanted to show the Noah fans. Kitamiya said onwards and upwards. 

MATCH THREE

N-1 VICTORY A BLOCK

Masato Tanaka vs El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior

The two were very well suited in terms of strength and style, El Hijo Del  Dr Wagner Jnr I think has really come into his own during this tournament and shown how adaptable he is to each style of each individual opponent. This league has done more for him than holding the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title and winning Global Tag League ever did...even if he did bite Masato Tanaka's foot during the match.  

WINNER: El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Junior with The Wagner Driver (11 minutes, 37 seconds)

MATCH FOUR

N-1 VICTORY B BLOCK

Masakatsu Funaki vs Takashi Sugiura

Takashi Sugiura bought out his MMA training, although this culminated with a huge slap to Masakatsu Funaki when on the ropes, which led to a slap war and Funaki going for a quick submission. The ref stopped the match almost right away. 

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the Dojime Sleeper Hold (57 seconds)

Funaki left the ring immediately, walking angrily to the back and only turning around to bow to the ring. I'm sure Kenoh was approving though. Sugiura was in disbelief, this had never happened to him before, ever, but I guess that if he can't now go for the GHC Heavyweight, there is that GHC National. Backstage Masakatsu Funaki said that he was thinking of defending the GHC National against the three people he lost against, so they would be Masa Kitamiya (who more than deserves the GHC National), Kaito Kiyomiya and Satoshi Kojima. 

MATCH FIVE

CAPTAIN'S FALL MATCH

STINGER (HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Yuya Susumu) & Kai Fujimura vs PERROS DEL MAL DE JAPON (NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy)

Kai Fujimura rang to the ring ahead of STINGER and was faced with Perros Del Mal De Japon all alone. He soon slipped out and when he was joined by STINGER, he found that Perros weren't going to let them in. Eita sarcastically held the ropes open for Yoshinari Ogawa, but he refused to get in until one of the trainees took over. When everyone was in the ring,  NOSAWA could be seen pointing to HAYATA and the belt. He didn't make a title challenge however (and at the time of writing, hasn't) as events were to overtake him and them all. 

 Ogawa wanted to start with Eita but NOSAWA tagged in, Ogawa half tagged in/half threw in Fujimura, while Perros messed around tagging each other in until the match started with Ogawa and Eita. Eita got a huge slap for patting Ogawa on the head, and this triggered a mass brawl, which continued for most of the match until things calmed down a little (at least in the ring) and Eita put Ogawa in a submission. Ogawa was never going to tap to him, but yet no one in the team could help him as they were all kept away by Perros. There was only one person left who could, and the shape seen running to the ring, holding a belt, turned out to be Chris Ridgeway, who took out all of Perros.  

Match thrown out after 8 minutes & 40 seconds

With Ridgeway back and STINGER back to full power, it was now four on four as compared to previously when it was three and a rookie versus Perros Del Mal De Japon, Perros were stamped from the ring. Eita got on the microphone and made a challenge for the tag titles, on behalf of himself and Kotaro Suzuki. 

"Look who is here, it's Chris Ridgeway, right? This perfect, Kotaro and I will challenge for the GHC Junior Tag Belts!"

The match will take place in Osaka on September 3rd. Backstage, Ridgeway vowed that he would show them what a true tag champion looked like. Kotaro has warned NOSAWA not to interfere and to "leave the two of them to me".

MATCH SIX

N-1 VICTORY A BLOCK

Go Shiozaki vs Hideki Suzuki

Chris Ridgeway was not the only tag champion to return, Timothy Thatcher made a quiet return to Noah today by seconding Hideki Suzuki. Naturally, he is not a Noah Junior, so his return didn't consist of getting into fights. 

Suzuki worked methodically on Go Shiozaki to wear him down by using submission holds, not really by using the mat wrestling we have seen in Suzuki's last matches. The Brainbuster from the top turnbuckle by Go Shiozaki was sadly botched and had Suzuki rolling about on the mat in pain, I also noticed one of his eyes was bloodshot afterwards. I don't think that since his shoulder operation, Shiozaki has had the strength he once did. But despite this, it was a tough match with both wearing each other down with kicks, slams, punches and chops

WINNER: Hideki Suzuki with the Double Arm Suplex (15 minutes, 13 seconds)

With his win, Suzuki now had enough points to go ahead to the finals. It all depended now on whether Kenoh won or lost. Hideki took the chance to yell at Shiozaki after the match, which made fans wonder (and with Suzuki's comment that they will be defending the belts after the N-1) if Shiozaki will make a challenge.

MATCH SEVEN

N-1 VICTORY B BLOCK

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kinya Okada

Katsuhiko Nakajima is the one who Kinya Okada approached and asked him to teach him how to kick. Okada naturally started with some kicks, which the master countered to show him how it was done, at one point even taking Okada's legs out from under him. Okada refused to be back down in this contest, and Nakajima, without a trace of his usual grin, told him to come on. 

Then a slow smile spread over his face as this prey was fighting back. 

Unfortunately, I don't think that Nakajima sometimes realizes just how strong he is and a kick to the side of the face sent Okada crashing to the mat. The referee did a quick assessment and then stopped the match. 

Referee stop: 3 minutes, 17 seconds following a PK Kick to the face

As Okada was stretchered from the ring, the crowd applauded him. Later Noah announced that due to a fractured mandible (i.e. a fractured jaw) he would be absent. 

MATCH EIGHT

Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf & Alejandro vs Kongoh Juniors (Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69)

Alpha Wolf offered Kongoh a handshake, and they just stared at him. The Noah Juniors (Kongoh in particular), do not shake hands and no doubt they were enraged by Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf's fist-bump and chest bump. The match itself was the usual Noah Junior chaos. Alejandro loved teaming with the Lucha brothers, especially the triple moonsault and the tandem top rope somersault. 

WINNER: Alpha Wolf with the Wolf's Tusk on Hi69 (9 minutes, 49 seconds)

MATCH NINE

N-1 VICTORY A BLOCK

Kenoh vs Kazuyuki Fujita

Kenoh is of fire and Fujita is of the earth, fire can scorch earth but earth can also smother fire. Fire was going to have to work hard to prevent a far heavier object being heaped on him and extinguishing his flames, he needed to burn far and wide, so this was not possible. 

This was Kenoh's grudge match following his loss to Fujita of the GHC National, not that Fujita probably cares.  Fujita combined submission moves with pins and Kenoh dodged the football kicks once by rolling out of the ring (he would dodge them twice), Fujita held the ropes open for him to get back in. Kenoh chose another route. Later when in a submission, Kenoh and Fujita had a screaming match as Kenoh fought Fujita to get out of it as Fujita goaded him. Throughout the match Kenoh took heavy damage to his knee, but a submission was not what Fujita was looking for and when the straps came down, the audience screamed. Kenoh could not dodge the soccer ball kicks the third time, and his head wobbled like a boxer's speedball. 

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Powerbomb (19 minutes, 4 seconds)

Kenoh's N-1 VICTORY was over, and Hideki Suzuki was now in the finals. Who he would face, depended on the main event. Katsuhiko Nakajima took a seat at ringside to watch. 

MATCH TEN

N-1 VICTORY B BLOCK

Kaito Kiyomiya vs Satoshi Kojima

This was perhaps Kiyomiya's hardest and most important fight in the N-1, a win would take him to the titles and a loss would cause him to drop behind but also because Keiji Mutoh was Satoshi Kojima's mentor, just as he was in a way with Kiyomiya, so this almost became like sibling students who crossed generations and promotions. Kiyomiya bought out the Flashing Elbow, the Dragon Screw and The Figure-4, and Mutoh-like he almost took the win with the Frankensteiner, before taking Kojima down with The Shining Wizard. 

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with The Shining Wizard (17 minutes, 6 seconds)

The finals were now set in Osaka on September 3rd as Hideki Suzuki vs Kaito Kiyomiya, and Suzuki got into the ring and removed his t-shirt to square up to his opponent. When Suzuki had gone, Kiyomiya spoke on the microphone to close out the show, the league and summer 2022 in Noah. 

It's been a long hot one.

"Everyone was so strong, and while feeling that magnificence, I was able to break through the league. Suzuki-san is insanely strong, and I have bad memories. But, if I have made it this far, then I am the only going going to the top! 3rd September in Osaka, please come and see me"

Attendance: 825 people

GIF taken from WrestleUniverse

Noah's next event: N-1 VICTORY 2022 GRAND FINAL*, Saturday September 3rd, Edion Arena Osaka First Stadium

*This will also be Great Muta's farewell to Osaka