(NOAH) The "strongest" is finally decided! Introducing all the highlights of the 3rd September Edion Arena Osaka First Stadium event, that you can't miss!

30th August 2023

Noah.co.jp

Noah's strongest singles league match, which started from the 6th August in Yokohama, the N-1 VICTORY 2023, has only the championship match remaining. Kenoh has emerged victorious from Block A, while Go Shiozaki has emerged victorious from Block B, with the winner decided in the main event of the 3rd September Osaka event. 

Kenoh in A Block lost to Adam Brooks in the opening match, and therefore started with a loss. After that he won consecutive victories over Yoshiki Inamura and DRAGONGATE's Yuki Yoshioka, but after a dangerous defeat by Jack Morris, he won back-to-back wins against Timothy Thatcher and Masa Kitamiya, and then faced the GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee at the Kawasaki event on August 27th. If Kenoh wins, he will break through Block A, but his opponent, Jake, has been undefeated since January of this year, when he came to Noah. At the beginning of the match, he accidentally hit his right foot on the iron pillar, and was forced into a tough fight. The Kenoh Special, which was his trump card in the N-1 couldn't be used, but in the end he unleashed the Flaming Ring, which is his signature move, and gave Jake his first Noah loss.

Go Shiozaki in B Block was in a huge battle on the 27th August. In the final league match of the Kawasaki event, he narrowly defeated AXIZ ally, Katsuhiko Nakajima. Increasing his points to nine, he tied for first place with Manabu Soya, but as his match against Soya ended in a draw, the match to determine who would advance from B Block to the championship, was hurriedly held after the main event. This was the second match for both of them, but for Shiozaki, there was no one match interval. The 41 year old, the oldest wrestler among the contestants, was battered by Soya, who received a tremendous amount of support from the audience. It became a fierce war of attrition with Shiozaki aggressively chasing the victory while making full use of roll ups that he doesn't usually show. He finally got the pin with a Gowan Lariat, and managed to break through Block B.

Kenoh aims to reach even greater heights by disbanding the popular unit Kongoh, while Shiozaki, who has never been able to beat him before, tries to win the singles league. This is the same card as the 2017 "Global League" championship match, which Kenoh won at that time. On August 10th 2020, it was the supreme singles match that unfolded into an intense 60 minute full time draw in the double title match of the GHC Heavyweight and GHC National championships. 

In terms of past match results, Kenoh has a much better lead with 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw. Most recently in February 2022, the N-1 in August 2022, and three wins in a row in June this year. Since Shiozaki won in June 2017, he has not been able to beat Kenoh in singles for over six years, but he took the pin from Kenoh in the "N-1 Special Tag Match" at the 15th July Korakuen event which was held before the tournament opened. 

Who will win this years N-1 VICTORY 2023, in which Noah's main pillars of Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura, did not participate...

In addition to the main event of the N-1 VICTORY 2023 championship match, the 3rd September Osaka event is full of attractive cards. The semi final is a special tag match between Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa vs Yoshinari Ogawa & Zack Sabre Jnr. 

The 9th match will be the GHC Martial Arts rules match between Masakatsu Funaki and Josh Barnett. Funaki, one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts, and Barnett, the 7th UFC World Heavyweight Champion, will meet for the first time in the Noah ring. Funaki is the 4th and 6th Openweight King of Pancrase, while Barnett is the 10th. 

GHC Martial Arts Rules only require a KO, submission and TKO. There is no getting knocked down repeatedly (as in boxing), count-outs, and no pinfall. Running out of the ring, thumbing, groin kicks and biting will result in a yellow cards, and three yellow cards will result in a loss due to foul play. A tense battle between masters will unfold.

Despite expectations for the N-1 VICTORY 2023, the 8th match will be a farewell to Yoshiki Inamura, who lost all seven Block A matches, and tearfully announced that he had decided to go on an indefinite overseas excursion. Forming a cross border new generation trio with Yoshioka of DragonGate and Yuma Anzai of All Japan, they will take on seniors Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura (who returns after two months) and Masa Kitamiya. 

The seventh match is for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. This will be the first defense of the champions Chris Ridgeway and Daga since they won the titles with overwhelming strength at Korakuen Hall on June 22nd. Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69, who won the tournament to determine the next challengers at Korakuen Hall (9th to 11th August) have together shared the joys and sorrows of Noah for over six years. The champions, who won the pre match in Kawasaki on August 27th, boasted "The title match feels like having a victory party, after the match is already over". 

The 6th match is a six man tag team match between Good Looking Guys and REAL. The focus is on the first showdown between GHC heavyweight champion Jake Lee and Hideki Suzuki.

The 5th match, which is a 4 way survival between Ninja Mack, Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf and Alejandro, is sure to become a huge aerial battle, where blinking is prohibited. 

Manabu Soya, Shuji Kondo, and Seiki Yoshioka, the former WRESTLE-1 warriors, will face Katsuhiko Nakajima, Hajime Ohara and Junta Miyawaki. What kind of “dawn” will Soya, who has transformed in N-1 VICTORY 2023, show from now on?

In the 3rd match, the GHC National Champion, El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jnr will team up with the "Wild Samoan III", Lance Anoa'i, who created a sensation in the N-1 VICTORY 2023, against Adam Brooks and Stallion Rogers. Brooks made an impact with a huge upset victory over Kenoh in his first match. Rogers, although he was not able to participate in the N-1 VICTORY 2023, showed his best every day fighting within the series, and wants to show his own determination amongst the wrestlers who entered. 

The 2nd match is a six person women's tag team match which adds spice to the show, while the first match has been scheduled for the junior front of HAYATA & Eita vs YO-HEY & Tadasuke. 

There is a large volume of eleven matches in total. The event starts at 4pm, but the dark match between Mohammed Yone & Yu Owada vs Kai Fujimura and Taishi Ozawa, will start at 3.40pm.

The scorching hot summer cannot end without watching Noah's show on the 3rd September in Osaka!

Translated from Noah.co.jp

Picture credit: Noah.co.jp