Pro Wrestling NOAH wrapped up the N-1 VICTORY 2022 Tournament today with a major event, which would determine who gets the next GHC Heavyweight Championship opportunity. The Great Muta also would make his final Osaka appearance among other big matches.
Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. YOu can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube for a limited time.
The announced paid attendance was 2988, a full house/near sellout. A very badly needed strong number. Between capacity limits (Osaka has been among the strictest with limits during the pandemic) and the setup today, that likely was close to a legit sellout.
Match 1: Hajime Ohara beat Super Crazy.
Match 2: Jack Morris & Daiki Inaba beat Anthony Greene & Stallion Rogers. Morris pinned Rogers after a tiger driver.
Match 3: Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka beat HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Kai Fujimura. Kotoge pinned Susumu after Kill Switch.
Match 4: Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & SHuji Kondo beat Masa Kitamiya, Mohammed Yone & Alejandro. Nakajima pinned Yone after Vertical Spike.
Match 6: Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima beat SHuhei Taniguchi & Yoshiki Inamura. Kojima pinned Inamura after a Western lariat.
Match 7: Dragon Bane beat Alpha Wolf.
Match 8: Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Ka Shin, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher beat Naomichi Marufuji, Go SHiozaki, Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki. Thatcher beat Shiozaki with a Fujiwara armbar.
Match 9: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway beat Eita & Kotaro Suzuki to retain the titles. Ridgeway beat Suzuki with Ridgeway Clutch 2. V1 for the champs.
Match 10: The Great Muta (Keiji Muto), Great-O-Khan (New Japan Pro Wrestling) & NOSAWA Rongai beat Kenoh, Manabu Soya & Tadasuke. Khan pinned Tadasuke after Eliminator.
Main Event; N-1 VICTORY 2022 Finals: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Hideki Suzuki to win the tournament. As a result, Kiyomiya will get the next shot at GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenoh. That match will happen on 9/25 at Aichi Prefectural Gym.
The next event is 9/15 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. This is scheduled to be an ABEMA live broadcast in Japan ONLY, and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later time/date. (UPDATE: WRESTLE UNVIERSE will have a live broadcast in English)
As usual with a major NOAH event, lots of post-event news:
Injury Report: Daisuke Harada, who was tentatively scheduled to return to action today, did not and remains out indefinitely due to a neck injury.
Shiozaki was injured during his match, likely at or near the end. Unspecified but appeared to be left arm/elbow/shoulder based on his reaction after the finish, he was clutching what appeared to be his elbow or bicep area and clearly looked in pain. Out indefinitely with more details to come.
THe second match of the Keiji Muto 5 Match Retirement Series was revealed today: On 9/25 it will be Muto & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima.
Daishi/Daiji/Taishi (not sure of his exact first name from translation) Ozawa, the first new NOAH wrestler since Yasutaka Yano 2 years ago, will make his Debut on 9/15. Ozawa, 25, is from Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture and has been training at the NOAH Dojo for just over one year. He became a pro wrestling fan after watching on TV as a child and began gymnastics in high school, citing Mexican wrestler Mistico as inspiration. His Debut Match will be against Yoshiki Inamura. The promotion has launched a special support campaign for Ozawa’s debut-fans and sponsors in Japan can go to NOAH’s online shop and, for 30,000 yen (around $225 US) can submit a support message to Ozawa and it will be published during the opening of the 9/15 event and on NOAH’s official Teitter account, and at a later date an autographed portrait and program will be sent. This promotion starts today in Japan and runs through 9/10. Special Project Sponsor The Reeve (one of NOAH’s main sponsors) has already posted a support message from Representative Director Kazuhiro Sato.
GHC National Champion Masakatsu Funaki vs. Masa Kitamiya for the title has been announced for 9/30 in Niigata.
