Pro Wrestling NOAH 9/16/2019 N-1 Victory 2019 Day 12

Pro Wrestling NOAH 9/16/2019 N-1 Victory 2019 Day 12

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Yoshiki Inamura

They amateur wrestle a bit and Yoshiki gets slapped hard. They do a shoulder block challenge and Yoshiki takes him down. Yoshiki gets slapped hard and then is knee'd hard in the gut.  Yoshiki gets single leg crab'd then hits the ropes and Fujita pulls him back in the center. He finally hits the ropes. Kaz slaps him hard then KNOCKS HIM OUT with a right and left and sleepers him to win. Work or shoot, Fujita had a super easy payday for making one of Noah's best prospects look like a moron. I really hope this was a shoot.

Masa Kitamiya vs Rhyno

I was excited for this when I saw it. I don't know why Japanese companies don't use more former WWE guys to put over their own talent. They shoulderblock challenge each other and Masa goes down, Rhino hits some headbutts and Masa tries to fight back, then takes a TKO for 2. Rhyno punches him and Masa hulks up, then is dropped to his knees. Rhyno tries to suplex him, but he comes back and suplexes him instead. He then shoulder tackles him and senton's him. One person chants for the gore and Rhyno tries it, but Masa moves him aside. Masa then gives him a nice spear off the ropes. Rhyno does a nice belly to belly on him then gets the crowd going for the gore, and gores Masa. He then pins Masa. Why? I don't know. Seriously, how much could it have cost for Rhyno to do the J-O-B? This show seems determined to shit all over its young talent. This was short but okay, I just disagree with the result.

Rhyno says in the post-match interview that it took him 20 years to get here and this is the start, not the end. He said he is coming to leave a path of destruction and that he will leave his opponents in a puddle of their own "p*ss, blood and sh*t". Rhyno then says he is ichiban.

Alexander Hammerstone & Go Shiozaki vs. El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Katsuhiko Nakajima

I was really intrigued by this as there is quite the styles clash here. I don't really get Nakajima's hair these days. He was a good looking dude. Last time I watched NOAH, Go and Nakajima were partners, so I don't know what this is about. Nakajima hangs off the ropes and puts both feet into Go's face while posing. They trade some nice chops for kicks. Go counters a Naka kick with a lariat then is superkicked in the face hard. Go does the "Go Crusher", which is a brainbuster, where he presses him into the mat with his arm. Hijo and Hammer trade some shots. Hijo does some kind of knee to the side and Hammer gives him a great punch to the face and both fall down. Hammer hits a nice dropkick on Wagner to knock him off the apron. Then him gives him another great punch to the jaw. Hijo runs the ramp towards him and Hammer backdrops him into the ring. Go does an upperhand chop which you don't see much. Hijo topes both opponents on the outside and yells "Viva Mexico". Hijo then goes on the ramp again and stomps his feet to get the crowd in, then dives over the top rope into the ring with a lariat. Hijo goes up top and gets a last ride from Hammer. Naka does a nice spinning heel kick to Go up top, then gets caught on a hurracanrana attempt. Go then does a top rope DVD on him. Hammer runs into go who back bodydrops him as he flips over the top rope on both opponents. Hammer chokes out Nakajima on the floor and Go wins it with a lariat. This was an odd match that wasn't much of a tag match. There was maybe one tag total and the Japanese guys mostly stayed away from the foreigners.

N-1 Victory 2019 Final - Kenou vs Takashi Sugiura

The finish

Ken looks awesome in his red tights here and his hair always looks like an anime character's hair. Sugiura is the Japanese Greg Valentine. He's going 30 minutes no matter what, and because of it, I often don't watch him. They do the fakeouts and moving out of the way of stuff early and Kenou no sells a great yakuza kick. Ken does a simple but really nice double knees in the corner. Sugi hangs Ken on the ropes on the ramp, then swings around and makes it into a neckbreaker drop. Ken does weird forearms where he slaps the opponent on the neck to make it sound better, but it ends up looking like a bad punch. Ken's chest kicks are much better though. He legsweeps Sugi then doublestomps his back. Sugi does a big superplex from the 2nd rope and sits on him with a crab. They trade more strikes and Ken ducks a shot and does a pele kick. Ken germans Sugi on the apron and his head hits real hard. Then he top rope double stomps him to the floor. Sugi gets back in and he does a top rope double stomp to his back, then misses another one. Sugi then germans him hard into the buckles. They do double yakuza kicks multiple times and take each other down, then Ken goes for one while Sugi is seated and he ankle locks him. Then they double boot each other again. Ken takes a nasty german on his head and a couple of running knees to the face. He trips Sugi on the last one and ankle locks him, then handstands him and kicks him. Then he does another top rope stomp for 2. Sugi takes some headkicks then olympic slams Ken on his head. He forearms Ken to the back of the head. Then hits another high olympic slam for 2. Ken takes some hard forearm shots and slaps Sugi hard, and they keep it up. They have a fun slap fight. They trade more strikes and Sugi gets dragon suplexed and headkicked for 2. Ken double stomps him again from the top and tries a 450 double stomp from the top(and misses all of it) and wins it. I didn't have any real problems with it, but the crowd was dead and I didn't think it was anything too special. It did not drag though despite being about 30 minutes.

Overall thoughts: Of what I saw, it was a strange show with the young stars getting jobbed out to the old ones and the tag match with the foreigners was quite odd.