Pro Wrestling NOAH 8/4/2024 N-1 Victory 2024 Day 1

Pro Wrestling NOAH 8/4/2024 N-1 Victory 2024 Day 1

It's time for the N-1 Victory again. If we're being honest, it's an embarrassing line-up this year. Noah relied way too much on older talent over the last few years and now those people are too old for these kind of tournaments. They have nobody to replace those people so they are settling for juniors and help from WWE. I don't mind it as it gives us some different matches than usual and the juniors will speed things up, but this is obviously not a long term solution to Noah's problems and it makes the tournament feel less prestigious.

I just don't get why these promotions have so much trouble getting young talent. Put up a couple of signs around some universities, gyms or unemployment offices. Tell them how they will get to tour the world, get their face on magazines and will have girls hanging off of them. Don't make them live in the dojo. You should be able to find 5 new wrestlers in a week.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block B Match - El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Alpha Wolf

They start off fast. Wolf flips over Doc while he's down on the mat. Wolf moonsaults over him and armdrags him. Doc trips him and gets armdragged. They then stand off.

Doc rolls Wolf over the top then he cannonballs him off the apron. Doc rolls him into a grounded octopus. Wolf tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him 3 times. Doc is flipped to the outside and Wolf tope con hilos him. Wolf goes over the commentary table.

Wolf moonsaults him on the inside for 2. Wolf rolls him into a figure four variation. Doc backdrops him for 2. Doc 2nd rope diving armdrags him then backrolls him into a bridge for 2. Wolf tries a pin on him for 2. Doc superkicks him and takes a running headbutt.

Wolf superkicks him and takes a knee to the chin. Wolf suplexes him. Doc rolls him up for a 2 count. Wolf boots him out of the corner then superkicks him.

Wolf slaps him and germans him for 2. Doc hits a michinoku driver for 2. Wolf running headbutts him for 2. Wolf crucifix bombs him and wins.

Thoughts: Wolf's tope here was great. It wasn't all lucha as you would hope and the match didn't flow together as well as it should have. I didn't love this one. Wolf winning was an upset.

Doc has to be helped out after. 

N-1 Victory 2024 Block A Match - Atsushi Kotoge vs. Dragon Bane

 

Go Shiozaki was supposed to be in this but got hurt. Kotoge is replacing him. Bane headflips out of a wristlock then side headlocks him. Bane shoulders AK over then stomps him. AK facekicks him. Bane handsprings and flips over his back. AK rolls him up then armlocks him.

AK dropkicks him and hits chops. Bane dropkicks him out then topes him through the ropes. They go back in and Bane hits chops. Bane corner lariats and corner dropkicks him. Bane standing moonsaults him for 2.

Bane does a nice standing submission and drops AK from it after. AK dropkicks him. AK facebusters him for 2. Bane handspring back elbows him for 2. Bane standing moonsaults him for 2. Bane hits a flying pumping knee then AK rolls into a cutter on him.

Bane running knees him then superkicks him in the head. AK gets his knees up on Bane's standing moonsault. They trade shots on the buckles.

Kotoge sunset bombs him for 2. Bane standing spanish flies him then hits a made in japan for 2. Bane hits kicks to the head then top rope ssp's him for 2. Bane poisonrana's him and wins.

Thoughts: They did too much here and it was just an indy style match.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block B Match - Titus Alexander vs. Tavion Heights

They lock up. Titus clean breaks him. Tav takes him down and side headlocks him. Tav waistlock takedowns him. Titus rolls him up for 2.  Tav hits 2 flying lariats. Titus dropkicks him out then does a nice tope con hilo. Titus punches him outside and sends him into the rails. Tav lariats Titus on the ropes. Tav swats away a dropkick and throws Titus off of his shoulders. Titus karelin's lifts him. Titus boots him out of the corner. Tav catches his crossbody, rolls through and does a nice fallaway slam. Tav hits forearms. They botch an up kick then Titus rolling snapmares him. Tav cradles him off of it. Titus handspring cutters him for 2.

Tav death valley drivers him for 2. Titus superkicks him then pumping knees him. Titus back rolls him into a german for the win.

Thoughts: They had a couple of rough moments here and you could tell Tav was surprised to be in front of a crowd who wasn't that loud. I thought Tav's power spots were good here and are definitely going to be his bread and butter going forward.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block A Match - Josh Briggs vs. Ryohei Oiwa

This is super interesting as this is WWE vs NJPW. I don't think this has happened since Liger came to NXT.

Josh running facekicks him and bangs his head off the buckles. Josh runs through a back elbow and hits his own. Josh side slams him then splashes him for 2. Oiwa goes out to recover. Oiwa back rolls him and running back elbows him. Josh misses a corner charge and Oiwa wraps his arm around the ropes.

Oiwa armdrags him. Josh slams and elbow drops him for 2. Josh slides out and punches him while he's on the ropes. Oiwa hits forearms then takes a pop-up drop. Josh yells at him to get up and show him that he's a man. Josh backdrops him for 2.

Josh stomps on him and hits forearms. Oiwa forearms him back then powerslams him. Oiwa top rope splashes him for 2. Josh hits a sidewalk slam for 2. Josh chokeslams him for 2.

Oiwa hits forearms and suplexes him. Oiwa germans him for 2. Oiwa backslides him for 2. Josh facekicks him, chokeslams him into the buckles and hits a big lariat. Josh wins.

Thoughts: It was a young guy vs vet match, sadly. I would have liked to have seen a more even match. Josh did okay here in that role, talking a lot of trash and working rougher than usual.

Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki, Kai Fujimura & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Eita, Naomichi Marufuji, Ninja Mack & Takashi Sugiura

Mack and Ohara start us off. Mack flips out of a wristlock and puts his own headlock on. Mack headlock takeovers him. Ohara shoulders him over. Mack flips over him while he's in front of him. Mack misses a corkscrew splash on him but lands on his feet.

Kai gets in. He trades leg kicks with Mack. They counter each other and Mack hits a big chop. Kai slingshot corkscrew splashes him. Junta and Eita go at it. They trade armdrags and Junta dropkicks him.

Ohara and Shu slam Eita. Shu slams people on top of Eita. Eita and Kai go at it. Eita suplexes him. Mack hits a ninja splash on Kai for 2. Kai flying forearms Mack then Ohara john woo's Mack. Ohara backbreakers Mack for 2.

Ohara tilt-a-whirl backbreakers Mack. Sugi and Shu go at it. Shu shoulders him over and hits corner lariats. Shu sledgehammer shots him for 2. Sugi knees him in the body then facekicks him in the corner. Sugi 2nd rope superplexes him.

Sughi and Shu trade forearms. Shu suplexes him. Sugi hits a nice lariat. Maru hits chops on Shu then hits some kicks. Mack hits his ninja special on the outside and Maru hook kicks Shu. Maru pumping knees Shu for 2. Shu rolls Maru with a cradle and gets an upset win.

Thoughts: It was too short for how many people were involved. Everyone got their section in then got out for the most part.

Shu celebrates the win after. Sugi isn't happy and he hits a move on him for it. Shu says he wants to challenge for the tag titles after. Sugi says he doesn't have a partner and Shu brings out Shuji Ishikawa. Shu calls him "Shu-chan" and they agree.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block B Match - Yoshiki Inamura vs. Ulka Sasaki

YI = Yoshiki Inamura

Yoichi is now Yoshiki Inamura again. Who knows why. YI shoves him back and throws him down. Ulka rolls into a leglock on him. YI goes out and Ulka plancha's him. Ulka hits leg kicks then YI lariats him.

YI stomps on him. YI slams him then elbow drops him. YI bodyscissors him while trapping the arms. YI hits forearms then corner splashes him. YI does a neat splash. Ulka pumping knees him then puts him in a grounded guillotine.

Ulka cutters him then flying kicks him for 2. Ulka ties up his legs in a submission. Ulka goes for a cutter and takes a spinning slam out of it. YI hits a forearm. Ulka flurries him with slaps then hits mounted shots.

Ulka sleepers him and gets on his back with it. YI falls back to break it. YI running back elbows him then splashes him for 2. Ulka grabs a guillotine choke then high kicks him. YI hits a sky high for 2. Ulka puts another sleeper on and chokes him out.

Thoughts: It was one of the better matches Ulka has had so far. He did some new stuff here and kept working on the sleeper before winning it. I don't understand Inamura's name change at all. It wasn't great and had a ceiling on it due to Ulka's limitations.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block A Match - Masa Kitamiya vs. Jack Morris

Masa side headlocks him then shoulders him over. Jack running back elbows him. They trade forearms. Masa is thrown out then Jack topes him. Jack springboard dropkicks him for 2.

Jack hits boots on him. Jack baseball slides him for 2. Masa goes out again and is thrown into the rails. Masa hits strikes then Jack suplexes him. Masa samoan drops him then sentons him.

Masa corner lariats him They lariat battle and Jack step up enzugiri's him. They trade forearms. Masa hits shots on him then takes a falcon arrow for 2. Jack pump kicks him. Masa hits a punch and piledrivers him for 2.

Jack sunset flips and pumping knees him. Masa rams Jack into the corner then Jack spinebusters him for 2. Jack flies at him and takes a drop on both of his knees. Maa running lariats him for 2.  

Masa prison locks him then sentons him. Jack lariats Masa over. Masa lariats him in the corner and then pounds on him. Masa misses a corner charge and is rolled up for 2. Masa rams him into the corner then slams him. Masa top rope sentons him and wins.

Thoughts: I wasn't a fan of this. Jack didn't respect Masa's size enough and they should have done the big man vs little man match here. 

AMAKUSA, HAYATA, Tadasuke & YO-HEY vs. Stinger (Daga & Yoshinari Ogawa), Super Crazy & Yu Owada

Yu dropkicks Tada to start. He flips off of him and hits armdrags and a dropkick. Yu and Haya trade wristlocks. Haya hammerlocks him. Yu backrolls him then Haya armdrags him. Yu is sent into the buckles shoulder first.

Ama throws Yu over then armlocks him. Yu armdrags him and gets armdragged. Daga gets in and shoulders Ama over. Ama does a nice armdrag then Daga spinning heel kicks him. Yo flying headscissors Crazy when they get in.

Crazy slams him. Daga slingshot sentons Yo and Ogawa throws Yo into the rails outside. Daga stomps Yo then codebreakers his arm. Ogawa yanks on Yo's arm then stomps it. Crazy bangs Yo's arm off the mat then legdrops it. Yu works Haya's arm then Daga headbutts the arm.

Yo is lifted by the arm and thrown down by Daga. Yo headscissors him then Ogawa sends Yo's shoulder into the post. Yo hits a flying kick on Ogawa.

Tada gets in and running euros Ogawa. Tada ddt's Ogawa then things break down. Ama springboard headscissors Crazy then dives out into a headscissors on Daga. Yo superkicks his partner on accident whne Ogawa moves. Haya and Yo have words then Yo is dropkicked into Haya.

Ama springboards and Yu dropkicks him off of it. Ama spinning heel kicks him for 2. Ama spiral taps Yu off the top and wins.

Thoughts: They build up the issues between Yo and Haya here but doing limb work in an 8-man doesn't make a lot of sense. All they had to do was just have a juniors match with some flying and it would have been fine. 

Yo and Haya have more issues after as Tada tries to play peacemaker. Haya shakes hands with Ogawa, Crazy and Daga. He then leaves with them, seemingly joining STINGER.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block B Match - Manabu Soya vs. Kenoh

They trade some basic holds. Ken running facekicks him. Soya shoulders him over and they trade kicks for forearms. Ken chest kicks him and Soya goes out.

Soya shoulders him over outside then shoulders him against the rails. Soya does squats on Ken's back outside. Soya forearms him in the back. Soya hits knees to the head then headscissors him. Soya hits forearms. Ken legsweeps him into a double stomp. Ken flying knees him in the back of the head.

Ken PK's him for 2. Ken misses a top rope double stomp and gets speared. Soya bulldogs him in the corner then brainbusters him. Ken hits a german then Soya backbreakers him. Ken hits chest kicks. 

Soya double chops Ken. Ken hits chest kicks. Soya hits double chops. Soya headbutts Ken. Ken rolls and ankle locks him. Soya blocks a kick and Ken goes for a crossface off of it. Saya lariats him for 2. Soya death valley drivers him for 2.

Soya 2nd rope death valley drivers him for 2. ken kicks Soya's lariat away. Ken slap flurries Soya then Soya lariats him. Ken pele kicks him then dragon suplexes him. Ken PK's him. Ken hits more PK's and Soya sits up. Soya dragon screws him.

Soya running lariats him for 2. Soya sleepers him. Ken crossfaces him. Ken high kicks him. Ken then pins him with a top rope double stomp.

Thoughts: I didn't like the 2nd rope death valley driver. That shouldn't have been done. I would have had Soya win here. Noah doesn't have a lot of possible winners so why not make Soya a threat? It was okay, maybe even good, but not great. It was what you would expect with kicks, chops and lariats. It just didn't get to the next level of quality though and they didn't go all out.

N-1 Victory 2024 Block A Match - Luis Mante vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

KK is dropkicked off the apron as he enters. Luis springboard splashes him over the guard rail. KK is sent into the rails. Luis does an armlock with his knees on KK in the ring. Luis running boots him in the arm.

KK dragon screws him. They trade chops. Luis knees him in the gut then back body drops him. KK dropkicks him in the knee then bangs his knee off the mat. Ken dropkicks him in the knee then Luis tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him. Luis boots KK's arm then goes for keylock.

Luis hits foot slaps then KK chops him. KK flying lariats him then dropkicks him out. KK tope con hilos him outside. KK top rope dropkicks him for 2. Luis springboard dropkicks him after a shoulder to the gut.

Luis torture rack drops him out of the tilt-a-whirl. KK dragon screws him twice. KK top rope double stomps him. KK goes for the figure four, messes it up then puts it in correctly. KK does a half and half driver to the side. KK shining wizards him.

Luis flying kicks him. KK 2nd rope hurricanrana's him. KK hits flying knee then Luis rolls into a hurricanrana for 2. KK shining wizards him for 2. Luis spinning tombstones him and takes a tiger suplex for 2. Luis burning hammers him for 2.

Ken flying shining wizards him. Luis dropkicks and lariats him. Luis pop-up facebusters him for 2. Luis high lifts him and sitout powerbombs him down to win it.

Thoughts: This was horrible with burning hammers that didn't count for anything and limb work that went nowhere. All these guys had to do was do a little flying with some basic heel and faces roles and this would have been fine.

Luis gets on the mic after and promises to win the N-1. He says he's ichiban after.

Overall thoughts: I didn't like this show. The N-1 matches didn't deliver. It was long with too many matches on it and it was just not the knockout show you'd want in a tournament like this. With this being a long tournament, it doesn't give me a lot of hope for the rest of it as these guys will be tired by the end and less willing to go all out. It really says something about this show when I'd say Ulka Sasaki had the second best match of the night (behind Kenoh/Soya).