Tag: noah_ghc

Pro Wrestling NOAH wrapped up the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today with the Finals, which in a first-time twist was also for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE and ABEMA Live (the live broadcast was free on both). You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1537. Not sure how much it may have been affected by weather (hurricane/typhoon-the promotion decided Friday the event would go on as scheduled).

Match 1: Alejandro beat Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Super Crazu in a 4-way by pinning Crazy.

Match 2: Masa Kitamiya beat Junta Miyawaki.

Match 3: Titus Alexander, Ryohei Oiwa & Kai Fujimura beat Jack Morris, Ulka Sasaki & Yu Owada. Alexander pinned Owada after Big Ugly.

Match 4: Manabu Soya & Tavion Heights (WWE) beat Kazuyuki Fujita & Yoshitatsu (Independent/Freelancer). Heights pinned Yoshitatsu after Heights Bomb.

Match 5: Takumi Iroha, Great Sakuya, Miyuki Takase & Sandra Moon beat Miku Aono, Kouki Amarei, Bozilla & Kizuna Tanaka. Iroha pinned Tanaka after a running knee.

Match 6: Josh Briggs (WWE) beat Yoshiki Inamura.

Match 7: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno Del Mal & Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) beat Shun Skywalker (Dragon Gate), Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. Mante pinned Bane after Vuelta Finale.

Match 8: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura beat Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone by ref stoppage to retain the titles. Sugiura beat Saito with a front neck lock. V2 for the champs.

Match 9: Daga beat GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion AMAKUSA to win the title. Daga becomes the 56th GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Match 10: HAYATA & YO-HEY beat GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shuji Kondo & Eita to win the titles. HAYATA & YO-HEY become the 61st GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. HAYATA pinned Eita after Hedeck.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY 2024 Finals: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya beat Kenoh to win the tournament and retain the title. V3 for Kiyomiya. Next up: Since Kiyomiya won the tournament, TBA.

Post-event news/fallout:
Ryohei Oiwa’s training excursion from New Japan to NOAH will end this month. His final NOAH match will be on 9/14 at Korakuen Hall against Kiyomiya in a NON-TITLE match. 9/14 will also have a GHC National Championship match as Ulka Sasaki defends against Manabu Soya.

The next event is NOAH UK TOUR 2024 starting Friday at O2 Academy in Edinburgh, England. The tour is being co-promoted with and tickets sales handled by Progress Wrestling. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

UPDATE: It has been announced that Kiyomiya will defend the GHC Heavyweight Championship on 9/8 against Ricky Knight Jr. on the final event of the UK tour.

Pro Wrestling NOAH finished up the preliminary rounds of the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today, which would set up the Finals for next weekend.

Today’s event was held at Nagoya International Conference Center in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 843.

Match 1: Manabu Soya & Yu Owada beat Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) & Shuhei Taniguchi. Soya beat Taniguchi with a dragon sleeper.

Match 2: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Alpha Wolf beat Titus Alexander.

Match 3: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Masa Kitamiya beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 4; Akitoshi Saito, Mohammed Yone & Kai Fujimura beat Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. Saito pinned Ohara after Sickle Of Death.

Match 5: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Ulka Sasaki beat Tavion Heights (WWE) by submission.

Match 6: N-1 VICTORY lock A: Josh Briggs (WWE) beat Dragon Bane.

Match 7: In an Elimination Match (with over the top rope eliminations), AMAKUSA, Shuji Kondo, Eita, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki beat Daga, Super Crazy, HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke. Order of elimination: Crazy by Miyawaki, Alejandro by YO-HEY, Miyawaki by Tadasuke, Tadasuke by Eita, Amakusa & Daga simultaneously, YO-HEY by Eita, Kondo by HAYATA, HAYATA by Eita. Eita wins.

Match 8: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Kenoh beat Yoshiki Inamura.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Jack Morris.

Final Standings:
Block A:
1-Kiyomiya, 4-1-2, 10 pts
2-Briggs, 5-2, 10 pts
3-Morris, 4-3, 8 pts
4-Mante, 4-3, 8 pts
5-Kitamiya, 3-3-1, 7 pts
6-Oiwa, 3-3-1, 7 pts
7-Bane, 3-4, 6 pts
8-Atsushi Kotoge , 0-7, 0 pts (injured)
As a result of tiebreakers, Kiyomiya wins Block A and advances to the Finals (he beat Briggs in their match).

Block B:
1-Kenoh, 5-1-1, 11 pts
2-Soya, 5-2, 10 pts
3-Alexander, 4-3, 8 pts
4-Heights, 4-3, 8 pts
5-Sasaki, 3-4, 6 pts
6-Inamura, 3-4, 6 pts
7-Wolf, 2-3-1, 5 pts
8-Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., 1-7, 2 pts (injured)
As a result, Kenoh wins Block B and advances to the Finals.

The Final is Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh, and in an unexpected twist it will now be for the GHC Heavyweight Championship held by Kiyomiya.

The Final is 8/1 at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan so it will be edited/clipped for live. The full unedited version including in Japanese will be available on demand after the event.

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today in Sendai.

Today’s event was held at Sendai Pit in Sendai and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE later this week. There was no live broadcast. (This was the only scheduled non-live broadcast event of the tournament)

The announced paid attendance was 388.

Match 1; Kenoh & Alejandro beat Jack Morris & Super Crazy. Kenoh pinned Crazy after Kenoh Special.

Match 2: AMAKUSA beat Daga & Hajime Ohara in a 3-way by pinning Ohara.

Match 3; N-1 VICTORY Block B: Titus Alexander beat Ulka Sasaki.

Match 4: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Ryohei Oiwa beat Dragon Bane.

Match 5: HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Junta Miyawaki, Kai Fujimura & Yu Owada. Tadasuke beat Owada with a spinning toehold.

N-1 VICTORY:
Match 6: Block B: Manabu Soya beat Alpha Wolf.
Match 7: Block A: Josh Briggs beat Luis Mante.
Match 8: Block B: Tavion Heights beat Yoshiki Inamura.
Main Event: Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masa Kitamiya went to a 30 minute time limit draw.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Morris, 4-2, 8 pts
2-Briggs, 4-2, 8 pts
3-Mante, 4-3, 8 pts (OUT)
4-Kiyomiya, 3-1-2, 8 pts
5-Oiwa, 3-2-1, 7 pts
6-Dragon Bane, 3-2, 6 pts (OUT)
7-Kitamiya, 2-3-1, 5 pts (OUT)
8-Atsushi Kotoge, 0-8, 0 pts (OUT)

Block B:
1-Soya, 5-2, 10 pts
2-Kenoh, 4-1-1, 9 pts
3-Titus Alexander, 4-2, 8 pts (OUT)
4-Heights, 4-2, 8 pts
5-Inamura, 3-3, 6 pts (OUT)
6-Sasaki, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
7-Wolf, 1-4-1, 3 pts (OUT)
8-Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., 1-7, 2 pts (OUT)

The winner of each block advances to the Finals (I incorrectly stated in prior results posts it was the top 2). In Block A, that means if there is a winner between Kiyomiya & Morris in their upcoming match, the winner advances. If it’s a draw, Briggs advances with a win (Bane). Oiwa needs a win and a Kiyomiya-Morris no contest/double DQ/something resulting in no points to advance as he beat Morris but went to a time limit draw against Kiyomiya. Mante can’t advance because of tiebreakers. In Block B, Soya needs a Kenoh loss, Alexander loss or draw and Heights loss or draw to advance. Kenoh advances with a win or draw. Alexander can’t advance because his losses were Soya & Kenoh. Heights can’t advance only because he lost to Soya but may have a tiebreaker chance in a 3-way because he beat Kenoh.

The next event is 8/25 at Nagoya International Conference Center in Nagoya. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today in Kanagawa.

Today’s event was held at Culttz Kawasaki in Kanagawa and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese & English. This was an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan

The announced paid attendance was 1555.

Match 1: Titus Alexander & Yu Owada beat Daga & Kai Fujimura. Alexander pinned Fujimura after Big Ugly.

Match 2; AMAKUSA, Eita & Ninja Mack beat HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke. Eita pinned YO-HEY after Trauma. This was Mack’s final NOAH match for now as he is leaving the promotion, apparently to pursue other goals in wrestling. He stated he will return to the promotion at some point in the future.

Match 3: Hajime Ohara 20th Anniversary Match: Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano beat Hi69 & Super Crazy. Ohara pinned Crazy after Muy Bien.

Match 4; N-1 VICTORY Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Dragon Bane.

Match 5: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Tavion Heights (WWE) beat Kenoh.

Match 6; N-1 VICTORY Block A: Josh Briggs (WWE) beat Masa Kitamiya.

Match 7: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura beat Shuji Ishikawa & Shuhei Taniguchi to retain the titles. Sugiura beat Taniguchi with an ankle hold. V1 for the champs.

Mtch 8: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Ryohei Oiwa beat Jack Morris.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Yohsiki Inamura beat Manabu Soya.

Day 6 is Saturday at Tama Mirai Messe in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET.

In other news, after the event the promotion announced GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion AMAKUSA vs. Daga for the title has been added to 9/1.

It was also announced after the event that Yoshinari Ogawa, out with a serious neck injury, has retired effective immediately, ending a nearly 40-year career. He is expected to fully recover from the injury. He did not and will not make a comment or have a press conference.

The injuries keep piling up at a bad time in Pro Wrestling NOAH-while this latest one won’t affect the N-1 VICTORY Tournament, it may affect lineups because Hi69/HIROKI will be out of action. Surgery for an existing injury. Out indefinitely. No further details released.

More as it becomes available.

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today, which is starting to fall apart due to an unfortunate string of injuries. Today was the third and last day of a Tokyo tripleheader.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 957.

It didn’t affect today, but the promotion has now announced that Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. is OUT of the tournament. Cervical sprain. Out indefinitely. All his remaining matches will be forfeits. He joins Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshinari Ogawa as out of the tournament and/or the tour.

Match 1: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Ulka Sasaki beat Alpha Wolf by submission.

Match 2: Shuji Ishikawa, Shuhei Taniguchi & Kai Fujimura beat Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Jnuta Miyawaki. Ishikawa pinned Sugiura after Splash Mountsin.

Match 3: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Dragon Bane beat Masa Kitamiya.

Match 4; N-1 VICTORY Block B: Manabu Soya beat Tavion Heights (WWE).

Match 5: HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Daga, Super Crazy & Yu Owada. Tadasuke pinned Owada with Tadasuke Clutch.

Match 6: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block B; Titus Alexander beat Yoshiki Inamura.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Mante, 4-0, 8 pts
2-Bane, 3-1, 6 pts
3-Jack Morris, 3-1, 6 pts
4-Josh Briggs, 2-1, 4 pts
5-Kitamiya, 2-2, 4 pts
6-Kaito Kiyomiya, 1-1-1, 3 pts
7-Oiwa, 1-2, 3 pts
8-Atsushi Kotoge, 0-8, 0 pts (OUT) (injured)

Block B:
1-Kenoh, 4-0, 8 pts
2-Soya, 3-1, 6 pts
3-Alexander, 3-2, 6 pts
4-Sasaki, 2-2, 4 pts
5-Inamura, 2-2, 4 pts
6-Heights, 2-2, 4 pts
7-Bane, 1-3, 2 pts
8-Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., 1-7, 2 pts (OUT) (injured)

The top 2 in each block will advance to the Semifinals. All standings now include forfeit wins for those who had not yet faced Kotoge or Wagner Jr.

Day 5 is tomorrow at Culttz Kawasaki in Kanagawa. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in ENGLISH ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan so Japanese (and unedited) will only be available outside Japan on demand after the event.

UPDATE: After the event, Ninja Mack announced he is leaving the promotion after tomorrow’s event. However, the American wrestler, who has become a fan favorite in Japan, says this is not a permanent farewell to the promotion. A translation of his original post in Japanese suggests he is going to pursue other goals & opportunities in wrestling, and after those are complete he will be back.

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the N-1 VICTORY Tournament with Day 2 of a Tokyo tripleheader.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo 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.

The announced paid attendance was 938.

There was a late change to the card because Atsushi Kotoge was a last-minute injury removal and is now out of the N-1 VICTORY Tournament. Neck. Out indefinitely. All of his remaining opponents will get a free win. Today that was Kaito Kiyomiya, meaning he also was off the event.

Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi & Junta Miyawaki beat Kazuyuki Fujita & Kai Fujimura. Miywawaki pinned Fujimura after STV.

Match 2: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Tavion Heights (WWE) beat Alpha Wolf.

Match 3: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Manabu Soya beat Titus Alexander.

Match 4: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Dragon Bane beat Luis Mante (Dragon Gate).

Match 5: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Kenoh beat Ulka Sasaki.

Match 6: AMAKUSA, HAYATA & YO-HEY beat Shuji Kondo, Eita & Ninja Mack. HAYATA pinned Eita after 403 Impact.

Match 7: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Jack Morris beat Josh Briggs (WWE).

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Yoshiki Inamura beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

Day 4 is tomorrow. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

And some fallout from Match 6: Because of what happened today, a GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match has been made as Shuji Kondo & Eita will defend against HAYATA & YO-HEY. That match will happen on 9/1 at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka along with the N-1 VICTORY Finals.

Pro Wrestling NOAH ran Day 2 of the N-1 VICTORY Tournament today, the first day of a 3 day Tokyo tripleheader.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 974.

There was a late change to Match 5 due to Yoshinari Ogawa being off because of a neck injury. Out indefinitely but will be a while.

Match 1: Ninja Mack beat Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki in a 3-way by pinning Alejandro.

Match 2: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Josh Briggs (WWE) beat Atsushi Kotoge.

Match 3: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Yoshiki Inamaura beat Alpha Wolf.

Match 4; N-1 VICTORY Block A: Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) beat Masa Kitamiya.

Match 5: AMAKUSA, HAYATA, Shuji Kondo & Eita beat Daga, Super Crazy, Kai Fujimura & Yu Owada. Kondo pinned Fujimura after a King Kong lariat.

Match 6: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Ulka Sasaki.

Match 7: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Jack Morris beat Dragon Bane.

Match 7: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Kenoh beat Titus Alexander.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryohei Oiwa went to a 30 minute time limit draw. 1 point each. I know it was a draw, but still…UPSET ALERT!!! The New Japan Young Lion went the distance with the GHC Heavyweight Champion!

Day 3 is tomorrow. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET and you can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

Yoshinari Ogawa is the head man of the Stinger faction in Pro Wrestling NOAH, but he gets a lot of those Stingers when it comes to injuries with age. Unfortunately it’s happened again. Neck. Out indefinitely and off tomorrow. He was to have been in an 8-man tag match. This may be another long-term injury. Ogawa has a long history of neck issues dating back to when he was a heavyweight and suffered a life-threatening broken neck, which caused him to drop to Junior Heavyweight and adjust his style.

8/12/24 UPDATE: The promotion has announced Ogawa has retired, apparently effective immediately, ending a near 40-year career. He won every championship in NOAH at least once except the GHC National Championship and also won the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship, World Junior Heavyweight Championship, All-Asia Tag Team Championship and Open The Triangle Gate Championship. It was reported that Ogawa will be able to live a normal life despite the injury, and there will be no press conference or statement from Ogawa.

Pro Wrestling NOAH kicked off the annual N-1 VICTORY Tournament today with an event in Yokohama.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. The live broadcast was available for free. You can also watch the first match FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 949. After better for their last major event, back to not so good on paper. (While the venue’s maximum capacity is 5000 and it probably was well below that, the setup probably was still for at least 3000)

Match 1; N-1 VICTORY Block B: Alpha Wolf beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

Match 2; N-1 VICTORY Block A: Dragon Bane beat Atsushi Kotoge.

Match 3; N-1 VICTORY Block B: Titus Alexander beat Tavion Heights (WWE).

Match 4; N-1 VICTORY Block A: Josh Briggs (WWE) beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 5; Shuhei Taniguchi, Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki & Kai Fujimura beat Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura, Eita & Ninja Mack. Taniguchi pinned Marufuji after Tani Special. More on this at the end.

Match 6: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Ulka Sasaki beat Yoshiki Inamura by ref stoppage (technical submission).

Match 7: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Masa Kitamiya beat Jack Morris.

Match 8: AMAKUSA, HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa, Super Crazy & Yu Owada. AMAKUSA pinned Owada after Opening of the Country.

Match 9: N-1 VICTORY Block B: Kenoh beat Manabu Soya.

Main Event: N-1 VICTORY Block A: Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) beat Kaito Kiyomiya.

Day 2 is Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

Now for the Match 5 fallout-because of this results, Taniguchi got a GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, and his partner to challenge Marufuji & Sugiura will be Shuji Ishikawa. That match will happen on 8/12 at Culttz Kawasaki in Kanagawa and is now a late addition to the otherwise-finalized card.