Pro Wrestling NOAh continued the N-1 VICTORY 2022 Tournament today as the series enters the final stages. Tomorrow wraps up the preliminary stages and sets up next weekend’s finals.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 609.
Match 1: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Kinya Okada.
Match 2: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Hideku Suzuki beat Anthony Greene by submission.
Match 3: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Takashi Sugiura beat Jack Morris.
Match 4: Mohammed Yone & Daiki Inaba beat Shuhei Taniguchi & Yoshiki Inamura. Inaba pinned Inamura.
Match 5: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Go SHiozaki beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
Match 6: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Satoshi Kojima beat Masakatsu Funaki.
Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Masato Tanaka beat Kazuyuki Fujita.
Standings:
1-Kenoh, 4-1-1, 9 pts
2-Suzuki, 4-1-1, 9 pts
3-Fujita, 4-2, 8 pts
4-Shiozaki, 4-2, 8 pts
5-Tanaka, 3-3, 6 pts (OUT)
6-Wagner, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
7-Greene, 1-5, 2 pts (OUT)
8-Masaaki Mochizuki, 1-5, 2 pts (OUT)
Block B:
1-Kiyomiya, 4-2, 8 pts
2-Kojima, 4-2, 8 pts
3-Sugiura, 4-2, 8 pts
4-Katsuhiko Nakajima, 4-2, 8 pts
5-Funaki, 3-3, 6 pts
6-Masa Kitamiya, 3-3, 6 pts
7-Morris, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
8-Okada, 0-6, 0 pts (OUT)
The winner of each block advances to the Finals. In Block A, all of the top 4 have a chance, but if the current standings hold after tomorrow’s final matches, it;s complicated. If either Kenoh or Suzuki wins, butoont both, it’s settled. If they both win, things get interesting-presumably the tiebreaker is head-to-head result, but their match went to a time limit draw. Kenoh’s loss came to Tanaka while Suzuki’s was to Fujita, which opens the door more to Fujita if he beats Kenoh tomorrow. Suzuki has Shiozaki, and Shiozaki is in a tough tiebreaker spot because his losses are to Kenoh & Fujita. Everybody else is out. In Block B, also a potential mess brewing. We’re likely going to need tiebreakers without an epic upset because Nakajima’s final match tomorrow is against Okada, who has been the block jobber, Sugiura has Funaki and Kitamiya has Morris. Kiyomiya has Kojima. We’ll have to wait and see but here’s one key stat that could factor in at the end-one of Kiyomiya’s two losses was an early upset loss to Morris. The other was to Kitamiya. Funaki’s losses are Kiyamita & Kojima. Nakajima’s losses are Funaki & Kiyomiya. Kojima’s losses are Nakajima & Sugiura. Sugiura’s losses are Nakajima & Kojima. Tranlation: ANYTHING CAN AND WILL HAPPEN!
The next event is tomorrow at Culttz Kawasaki in Kawasaki with the final block matches. Live streaing on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. A pre-show dark match is scheduled for 20 minutes before the event.
Also, after the event it was announced that Yasutaka Yano, who has been out the last few months due to injury, will return on 9/21 at the next N INNOVATION event. He will face Kai Fujimura in his return match.
