Pro Wrestling NOAH N-1 Victory August 9th 2024

So we got 974 in Korakuen Hall for the second night of the N1 and we’re raring to go. Should have some good matches and an exciting degree of matches for us.

Alejandro vs. Junta Miyawaki vs. Ninja Mack

Background: So we got three flippy dudes all flipping around. Alejandro is part of the All Rebellion main-event stable but loses a lot and is in a mask and silver and white. Junta has pink hair and is a young junior who has been on the cusp of breaking out for years now, blue patterned tights complete the deal. Ninja Mack is a white dude in a mask dressed like a ninja, it’s uh…not a complex gimmick.

The Match: Classic triple threat start as all three try rollups on each other and then they pose. Mack gets a standing somersault counter to a headscissors and then they do some awkward spots and a triple dropkick as they reset and do a standoff. Mack and Alejandro boot Junta to the outside and they can do a sequence ending with both of them countering something into a double flipadoodle reset. Like…I get some of these counters are cool but we can start to see some actual damage here. Junta gets a double missile dropkick to answer my prayer and a springboard plancha follows on Alejandro and then some dropkicks on Mack…into a Diamond Dust by Miyawaki? Alejandro comes in to break it up and Junta whoops his butt before Mack breaks it up. Ninja actually gets some decent chops but misses the Ninja Kick and Alejandro slides in for a rollup. Two slingshot splashes and a springboard splash by Alejandro almost gets a pin on Mack but Junta breaks it up and gets a DDT and then Ninja gets the Ninja Special on Junta on the outside and a Ninja Bomb pins Alejandro.

**¼

Mostly a pretty meh juniors match but the final sequence bumped it up a tad.

Atsushi Kotoge vs. Josh Briggs – A Block Match

Background: So Kotoge is the hardscrabble junior replacement for the aged ex-ace of NOAH, Go. And Briggs is the NXT guy playing classic gaijin monster heel. Kotoge lost his first match, Briggs won his first match. Josh has ugly tattoos and long baggy pants and is very tall. Kotoge has pink hair and baggy shorts and is kinda reedy.

The Match: Lockup and Briggs just tosses Kotoge who takes a bump and ends up outside the ring on it. Josh talks trash a bit and works the count. Atsushi works the count to the fullest and looks dizzy and out of it before finally rolling into the ring. Briggs catches a crossbody as Kotoge comes back a bit but th American shrugs off all of Kotoge’s strikes and boots the junior down. More relentless trash talk from the NXT guy who gets a bodyslam and elbow. More abuse from the big guy as he counters all of Kotoge’s stuff, a whip into the corner gets a sunset flip from Atsuhi but Josh wrenches his neck with his feet in a clever spot and it’s still all Briggs. Kotoge gets something when he rolls away from a jumping splash from the big-man, and then he ducks a corner charge as Josh lands face first and then some more speedy stuff lets Kotoge strike at Josh in the ropes and the Japanese junior even gets a (pretty weak) frog splash on the American who kicks out with authority. A few more running knees from Kotoge but Josh gets a goozle while sitting and then converts it into the chokebomb for 2.7. But Josh doesn’t care, removes the arm sleeve and gets the 45-70 lariat for 3.

**½

Well it didn’t outstay its welcome. Good match as Josh keeps his generic gaijin monster deal going and Kotoge sells his butt off.

Alpha Wolf vs. Yoshiki Inamura – B Block Match

Background: So a battle of the beef and a bit of a first-time match as Inamura has been gone for most of Wolf’s recent rise to the top of the card. Additionally there is a bit of the first time with Inamura being a bulky Japanese heavyweight and Alpha being the bulky Mexican junior. Though…they are not THAT far apart in size (Alpha was ludicrously oversized for a junior). Alpha is in the black and white singlet with a mask and Yoshiki is in trunks that look like boxer briefs, I’ll be honest.

The Match: Lockup and some standing switches to start as they’re definitely teasing power stuff. They do some test of strength stuff and bridges as they both show off more power. International attempt but Inamura shoulderblocks Alpha out of the air and then counters a headbutt with a biel toss. Spinning bodyslam and elbow drop follows as Wolf bounces out of the ring. Yoshiki rolls out to keep the beating with some stomps and throwing the Mexican against the ring. Back in and Wolf tries to fire up with some rope-running but Yoshiki catches a crossbody, slams him and then gets the fired up Vader Bomb as he screams VICTORY! In a thematic addition. More work on the back of Wolf as Inamura does his methodical work but Wolf once again fires up for some rope-running and gets a shoulder, then a headbutt and a bodyslam but that takes out Alpha’s back as well as he falls and grabs his L4. Inamura rolls to the outside to escape and Wolf lariats him on the outside and pops back in for a gorgeous springboard somersault plancha that has to go like…12 feet. Just beautiful. Both guys struggle to their feet and they end up back inside as now Inamura is selling big but charges anyway. Superkick from Alpha, and then a backflip dodge into a headbutt to the spine and a bridging German Suplex as he’s cracking out some new offense here. Wolf teases another springboard and Inamura cuts him off as Alpha taunts to the crowd, but when Inamura goes up for the splash (after Inamura hotdogs and grandstands a bit hyping himself up) Wolf gets his knees up and gets a brainbuster and then a triangle moonsault…for 2. Wolf throws some heavy shots, elbows and knees, but when he tries to go off the ropes in a springboard Inamura almost catches him but stumbles, but they don’t let that mess ‘em up (if that was even the spot and Wolf fires off another superkick but Inamura’s running back elbow puts him down…and comes up for a body press and my goodness, Wolf catches him for a pop-up powerbomb, headbutt follows but Inamura gets another running back elbow into a double-down. Inamura goes up and bounces on the top rope some more and lands the splash…for 2. But Inamura goes for the Musou (waist-lift side slam) and Wolf sunset flips out of it, another power move and we get a Wolf cazadora. Slugfest for a bit and Wolf goes for a second pop-up powerbomb and we get Inamura with a frankensteiner (?!) and that sets up his running toss into the corner and Wolf is staggered. And now we get a huge Musou and Yoshiki gets the dub.

***½

Maybe that’s overrating it a BIT but wow this match was a lot of fun. Both guys working at a super brisk pace and just throwing huge bombs at each other, plus good selling, payoffs to various sequences throughout the match and a ton of charisma portrayed by both guys. Really fun match and a sign that Wolf can be more than just a high-spots guy.

Luis Mante vs. Masa Kitamiya – A Block Match

Background: Luis is of course representing DragonGate and is the romance novel cover model looking lucahdor of a style I’m not quite sure I understand yet. Masa is the beefy leg-breaking tag-specialist who is now FINALLY breaking out on his own as a singles, we swear, we promise.

The Match: Brawl to start as they’re both very kinetic and just throwing shots as they aren’t even teasing a feeling out period. Mante eats it on a pescado attempt though as commentary is informing me that a certain former RoH world champion who worked NOAH and won a tag title with Masa is verboten from the company and they won’t even say his name anymore. Masa stomps on Luis’ knee on the outside here as they slug it out a bit and back in and Masa keeps at the knees and Mante powders again. Masa gets fed up and brings him back in again and goes back for the knees and chops at Luis in the corner and then forest up with a shoulder and a senton and then back to the kicky-punchy. Mante finally gets something with a springboard dropkick and a kip-up but that enthusiasm takes out his own knee and we get a double-down. Mante with a scoop powerslam and then an Argentine rack slam and I guess Mante’s knee is fine now. And Masa just starts the no-selling of his own as they slug it out and Masa wins with a lariat and goes for a piledriver but Mante counters with an Eat Defeat but Masa ain’t selling that so we get a dragonscrew, and then a knee crusher. Masa gets a spear but that’s just 2 and this match unfortunately continues. Prison Lock and Masa flexes and Mante plays with his hair. Luis gets a ropebreak though that sets him up for Masa’s Saito Suplex which is broken and Diamante gets some dropkicks and casually walks around the ring. C’mon man. Masa gets a German suplex, but the Saito Suplex is countered with an ugly Destroyer and Mante gets a German suplex and then an Argentine rack facebuster gets 2.9. Mante decides to get a kinda off-kilter rolling Frankensteiner and that gets the win.

*¾

Well, the ending sequence gave us something at least but overall that was just an ugly, slow, stodgy match with weak selling and bad execution.

AMAKUSA, Eita, HAYATA & Shuji Kondo vs. Daga, Kai Fujimura, Super Crazy & Yu Owada

Background: Not much rhyme or reason to the teams here, but AMAKUSA is juniors champ, Eita and Shuji are tag champions, and HAYATA is the most decorated juniors wrestler of this era. The challengers are ex-champ Daga, perpetual wrestler and 3 time “Huh, he’s still wrestling?” winner Super Crazy, and two rookies in Yu and Kai.

The Match: HAYATA gets a hot start as the champion squad brawls with the upstarts a bit to start the whole deal and we get a big brawl on the outside. Back in and we get HAYATA and Crazy, and the Mexican gets the advantage who brings in Kai who gets a hiptoss into a running somersault senton and HAYATA is actually showing butt here for like…15 seconds but he takes over and brings in AMAKUSA, the champ. And Daga throws a cheapshot and the crowd gets HOT. Eita comes in next and does some taunts before Kondo comes in as the champs do some teamwork and Eita preens. Eita gets too cocky though and Daga gets a kick from the outside and the crowd explodes in anger at this and now Yu is in to stomp on Eita and now Daga is finally in to face him 1v1. Daga shushes the crowd as he beats on his former partner and then Super Crazy comes in with a monster abdominal stretch on Eita. Owada back in and he busts out the strength and athleticism and the crowd makes noise for him. Eita gets a few slick moves though and in comes HAYATA with a series of jump kicks but Daga superkicks him before the combo is complete and everybody is hitting everybody and the champ gets a double-revolution tilt-a-whirl headscissors into the upside-down tope. Kondo in now and he’s going 1v2 against the two rookies in Yu and Kai. Kondo takes ‘em both out and gets a spear/side slam before everybody comes in to break it up. But Kondo gets a running lariat for 3 anyway.

**

I feel like four-person matches are often much worse and less exciting than trios for whatever reason. We got some story advancement but it was too long.

Post-match, Daga and Super Crazy jump HAYATA and then we get YO-HEY and Tadasuke coming out to save him and they seem to want to team up again, but HAYATA rolls away and grabs a mic…and he agrees to join up with them again. And uh, like HAYATA I think has backstabbed YO-HEY 50 times by now but YO-HEY is just an innocent soul. RATELS is back, baby.

El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Ulka Sasaki – B Block Match

Background: EHDDWJ is the charismatic Aztec Warrior looking to rebound from a night 1 loss. Ulka is a super rookie holding his first belt, the GHC National title, a title that Wagner held for a LONG time and made very credible. So there’s very much a sense of old versus new here (even though I think the rookie, Ulka, is older).

The Match: They dance around a bit and Ulka goes high and gets a diving crossbody very early and then a cazadora into a sleeper as Ulka is showing off his repertoire early. But a pescado is caught by Wagner on the outside…and Ulka once again goes to the sleeper, Wagner slips away and back in as Ulka continues to grind out Wagner with an armbar. Wagner eventually gets something going with some chops in the corner and a running elbow, and when Ulka kicks in response Wagner tries to do his “no-sell the strike and powers up via the mask” and Ulka cuts it off and returns to the sleeper attempt. Wagner fights it off again and gets a step-up knee strike and a dropkick as the Mexican sets up a leg-hook anklelock that I haven’t seen before. Ropebreak but Wagner gets some strikes in the corner and fires up the crowd. Ulka takes this chance to get a super frankensteiner for 2. A running cutter and some shoot kicks have Ulka well in control but Wagner hulks up. Ulka has no patience for that though and a stunner and a jump kick puts the Mexican down again. Ulka tries for the Jackhammer but El Hijo responds with an electric chair powerbomb, Wagner can’t get the Driver though and we get some more big strikes from both of them and Wagner gets a headbutt and does the big mask taunt agin…and Ulka responds with another frankensteiner. Well done, well done. Ulka keeps this up by rolling through into a juji-gatame. Wagner gets the ropes but leaves his back exposed and Ulka goes for the sleeper again, but Wagner saw it coming and gets the Driver in response…for 2. Ulka escapes and Wagner puts him up top for a superplex and then the Driver…and that’s 3.

***

Heart vs. brains in a match. Ulka kept at the neck relentlessly and that set up the Wagner Driver that put forth the whole finishing sequence. Wagner is pure charisma and catchphrase, and while it makes him susceptible to counters, Ulka’s single mindedness also made him counterable as well. Good stuff boys.

Dragon Bane vs. Jack Morris – A Block Match

Background: Not much history here as both guys haven’t faced off in a real situation before. Jack is coming back from some scary stuff in the first match and Dragon Bane is a junior trying to hold up against heavyweights…and yeah Jack is kinda small anyway so nevermind! Dragon Bane is in blue and teal trunks and a mask (obviously) while Jack is in white and blue bike shorts.

The Match: Jack poses and Dragon points to his head as they preen to start. Lockup that Jack obviously wins and we get a clean break and him posing. Dragon takes offense to this and speeds up with a flying headscissors and we do some high-speed stuff with Jack responding with his own headscissors and then a simultaneous dropkick. Some mutual respect and then a headlock by the Scot but an international sets up a leg lariat and then a somersault plancha onto Jack and it’s a rough landing on the outside. They recover and they fight a bit on the outside, with Bane getting a quebrada off the ring barricade and then back inside for both of them. A springboard by Dragon misses and Jack gets vicious as he tosses the Mexican into the corner and stomps on him a bit. A snapmare and sliding dropkick keep Jack in control, Morris follows with some armwrenches as I get this match slowing down as Jack was being out-sped but it’s a tad too plodding. Bane reverses a whip and gets a gamengiri and then a springboard back elbow, and then a handspring back elbow off the ropes. DB keeps with the flurry of strikes and gets a standing moonsault to follow but when Dragon taunts, Morris gets an enzuigiri and goes for the quick Tiger Driver but DB flips out of it and gets a knee of his own. Morris tries his Good Looking Knee but Bane reverses it into a crucifix driver in a nasty move. They reset to a slugfest and Dragon Bane gets the better of him but Morris gets the Good Looking Knee and goes for another Tiger Driver and this one Dragon Bane gets a rana to reverse it. Jack grabs the tights to cut off a dodge but that’s not enough as Bane gets a Standing Spanish Fly and then a Made In Japan for 2. Dragon goes up but Jack catches him with a gamengiri and goes up but Dragon tosses him off and gets the Shooting Star Press…and Jack gets his knees up. Good Looking Knee! Jack once again goes to the Tiger Driver but Dragon reverses it AGAIN into a B-Driver for 2. Another Good Looking Knee and the Tiger Driver finally lands for 3.

**¾

Pretty fun match with both guys throwing some huge bombs, I will say that I think there was an undercurrent of them using a lot of similar moves and Jack having to be more vicious/canny to really pull it off since they could counter so much of each others stuff and that didn’t really…happen. But a pretty fine hard-hitting match all the same.

Kenoh vs. Titus Alexander – B Block Match

Background: So Kenoh is of course quite established as a mouthy kickboxer, and Titus is a big prospect as a west coast indie guy that has a varied and athletic moveset. Kenoh is in the silver and white tights and Titus is in black and gold tights.

The Match: They circle a bit before locking up and trading some standing switches before Titus almost catches Kenoh with a schoolboy and the American does the “this close” taunt and they reset to more standing grappling but Titus speeds it up with a dropkick to knock Kenoh outside and he hits a tope to keep up the heat. Back in and Titus gets some shoot kicks to a seated Kenoh who flops around for it. Backdrop suplex and some flexing from Titus as he’s feeling it. Kenoh gets some kicks going, and when Titus tries to silence him with a handspring Kenoh dropkicks the face to cut it off and starts stomping on the younger wrestler and crying to the crowd. Kenoh gets a kneebar and tries for the ankle lock but Alexander makes the rope, Kenoh kicks Titus’s leg out of his leg and works the knee some more with a hold and now Kenoh is talking noise and stepping on the youngsters leg. Kenoh unleashes some heavy kicks to the chest but misses a charge and Titus does his float-over into a kip-up kick and then a Fireman’s Carry slam released into a neckbreaker in a spot that could EASILY go wrong. And now Titus remembers to sell the leg a bit afterwards. Kenoh dodges a knee though and gets a legsweep, standing kneedrop, a flying reverse knee, the diving double knees and then an ankle lock. Titus gets the ropes and he is screaming in pain at least. Titus can barely make his feet now and Kenoh chops him down with big chest kicks. Titus finally fires back with forearms and they slug it out. A flurry of offense follows, roundhouse from Titus, Pele from Kenoh, German from Titus, handspring from Titus caught into a Dragon from Kenoh! Whew. Kenoh goes for a PK but Titus was goldbricking and gets the kip-up into a handspring cutter and then goes for the Big Ugly suplex but Kenoh reverses into another Dragon Suplex. Kenoh attempts the PFS but TItus rolls away and gets a gorgeous jumping knee that had Alexander’s foot darn-near at Kenoh’s collarbone. Half-nelson slam follows for 2. Titus attempts the Big Ugly but Kenoh slips out but TItus turns THAT into the Big Ugly…but he suplexes Kenoh by the ropes and Kenoh gets the ropebreak. Gorgeous. The wily Japanese vet rolls outside and Titus looks up to the turnbuckle and he’s clearly got something crazy planned. And uh…instead it’s just a diving nothing to the outside and Kenoh kicks his head off. Well a gorgeous kick but like, what was the plan Titus? Kenoh refuses to take the countout win though and goes back in for the PFS…but when Titus tries to interrupt Kenoh cartwheels off the ropes and rolls into an ankle lock…and he lifts Titus for a kick to the midsection, a few more PKs follow and Titus gets a defiant kick out at 1 and a middle finger to Kenoh and still kicks out. And the Professional Foot Stomp follows and that’s 3.

***

Commentary was going wild over how this was a star-making match for Titus, and it was good, and fun, but Titus just completely ignoring the knee about 60% through after spending so much time for it just irks me so much. Kenoh was his usual fantastic self and the young American certainly showed off a ton of personality, but if he’s going to be a movez guy he needs offense more original and interesting than what he’s got, and if he wants to move beyond a movez guy, well I encourage that. Good match, but not a great one that commentary tried for.

Post-match Kenoh daps up some kids in the crowd and he is full happy babyface here.

Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryohei Oiwa – A Block Match

Background: Tons of history here, when Kaito bounced down the card after his last title loss before this run, he rebuilt his heat as part of a tag-team with NJPW rookie Ryohei Oiwa. The two of them were handsome, muscular Mid-South style babyfaces, slapping hands, hitting tandem dropkicks, just total goober babyfaces that worked darn near every promotion in Japan and got CRAZY over doing it. And afterwards Ryohei got upset being Kaito’s running mate and wanted to stand out on his own and they’ve had a number of frosty meetings since then. Lots of heat as Oiwa has promised to mow through Kaito and of course Kaito feels slighted his mentorship was so aggressively rejected after some time. Oiwa has gold tights, Kaito has silver trunks.

The Match: Explosive start as they hit simple stuff, shoulders, armdrags, but they hit it with incredible pop and fire before resetting to a slugfest. Oiwa wins and gets some ground and pound on the champ. Gutwrench attempt by Oiwa but the champ gets a dragonscrew into a figure four but Oiwa drags both of them to the ropes. Kaito stomps on Oiwa a bit but the New Japan guy rebounds with a deep armdrag and locks in on Kaito’s arm. Some knees from Oiwa on the grounded Kaito and the big New Japan guy works the hammerlock with bridges. Kaito escapes and works the knee…and then Oiwa escapes and goes back to the arm. Kaito tries to reverse the armhold into a rollup a few times but Oiwa keeps going back to the arm here. Kaito eventually gets it up to a standing position and fires off a dropkick and a jumping elbow, but Ryohei returns to the headlock and keeps it on. And they keep at it. And keep at it. Kaito gets a backdrop suplex but Ryohei keeps the headlock on. And on. And Kaito does some agile stuff and tries to use the ropes to springboard out of something but he slips up and Oiwa goes back to the headlock. And Kaito slips out again, gets the reverse elbow out of the corner but he slips up and Oiwa cranks in the headlock once again. Kaito fires up and slips out again but a Ryohei drop toehold sets up ANOTHER headlock. Kaito finally slips out and gets an uppercut and we finally have some space in the match for the champion here. But uh…Oiwa uses that space to hit some monster shoulders, a dropkick, and the standing splash before a crotch lift suplex, but Kaito fires back with a low dropkick and a dragonscrew and we have a double-down. Missile dropkick from Kaito to Oiwa’s knee follows and another standing dropkick to the grounded Oiwa’s knee as the champ is now in control. Another dragonscrew and Ryohei’s knee is kaput. ANOTHER missile dropkick to the knee and then a figure four and Oiwa is in agony. They drag each other back and forth across the ring and Kaito asks “WHAT DO YOU SAY” in English before Oiwa reverses the hold for a second, but when Kaito un-reverses Oiwa can’t make the ropes before Kaito drags them back to the center of the ring. Kaito fights against the reversal again. Oiwa eventually makes the ropes and his leg is just kaput here. They both trade heavy strike and Kaito just dismisses the younger guy with some casual stomps…and then Oiwa fires up with a big German suplex. Another low dropkick from Kaito but Oiwa shrugs it off and lands the gutwrench this time for 2 and slowly climbs the ropes for a splash and then goes back to the arm. Ropebreak and Oiwa keeps at the arm with wrenches but Kaito breaks with a standing Shining Wizard and then a Tiger Suplex. Oiwa blocks the modified Shining Wizard though and then comes back with a high-lift backdrop suplex. They trade more big strikes and fight over a suplex and it goes Oiwa’s way with a German. Oiwa goes for the Doctor Bomb but Kaito rana’s out of it, chops from Ryohei but another standing Shining Wizard sets up a Wizard out of the corner for 2. Kaito gets the half-and-half Tiger Driver but it only gets 2, and when Kaito goes for the transformed Shining Wizard again Ryohei catches him and gets the Doctor Bomb…but he can’t cover and it’s a draw.

***¾

I might get killed for that, but I mostly hate draws when I can sniff it out. I was expecting Oiwa to win but I think a draw absolutely works here, but they tacked at least 10 minutes of filler onto this match for knee work and arm work they kinda decided didn’t matter. That said, this title match will be incredible. Very, very good stuff, but I will not call it great.

Well, this was fun, the N1 is fun, hopefully the entire lineup won’t be hurt by random injuries and we suck the fun and momentum out of the whole thing. Definitely won’t want that to happen.