Andrew’s Pro Wrestling NOAH N-1 Victory Results & Match Ratings: Day 6

N-1 Victory final round robin day! We’re going to find out who fights for the trophy next week! Do we get any tie breaker matches?

Let’s look at the paths to victory:

Now that we’ve gone over these again, let’s get to the show!

Ratings:

• B Block: Yoshiki Inamura vs Shuhei Taniguchi: Shuhei wins via Punt Kick @4:36 – ** ¼
• A Block: Manabu Soya vs Kazushi Sakuraba: Soya wins via Cradle @5:57 – ** ½
• A Block: Masa Kitamiya vs Masaaki Mochizuki: Kitamiya wins via Elevated Saito Suplex @9:23 – ***
• B Block: Kenoh vs Takashi Sugiura: Suigura wins via Front Neck Lock @16:04 – *** ½
• B Block: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Naomichi Marufuji:  Nakajima wins via Diamond Bomb @16:25 – *** ¾
• A Block: Go Shiozaki vs Kaito Kiyomiya: Kaito wins via Tiger Suplex Hold @24:07 – **** ¼

Results:

B Block: Yoshiki Inamura vs Shuhei Taniguchi

Inamura comes out fast, which seems to take Shuhei by surprise. This must be Inamura’s frustration of being 0-4 on this last day of Round Robin action. He’s proven himself, but not well enough for any points in the tournament. So a few clubbing blows, a Scoop Slam and Warrior Splash give him a quick 2 count.

Shuhei starts to fire back with his unique Headbutts, then he catches Inamura with a Polish Hammer, German Suplex, and tries the Punt Kick twice, but Inamura avoids the first two. There’s more back and forth, but the Tiny Tank starts running out of gas as Shuhei continues to weave in Headbutts and Suplexes. He gets Inamura down, not one, but two Punt Kicks put the match away for Shuhei!

A Block: Manabu Soya vs Kazushi Sakuraba

This was a very simple story told, where Soya was looking to exert his power and Sakuraba was trying to dodge it at all costs. He would feign into a Greco Roman Knuckle Lock, just to hunt for a leg pick or an arm submission and it was quite fun watching the frustration grow. Sakuraba was hunting for every limb, and Soya retreated to the ropes quite a bit, everything was going in the favor of Mr. 200IQ.

After getting a near submission with a Key Lock, Sakuraba goes back to the well but Soya figured it out to a degree. He fought around with the Key Lock and then managed to hook Sakuraba’s head with the free arm and turn it into a cradle. So between the Cradle and how Sakuraba tied himself up for the Key Lock, Soya wins!

A Block: Masa Kitamiya vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Another simple but effective story where Mochizuki still has an outside chance to win his block, but he needs to win this match. Kitamiya however won’t go down easily and they both prove to be fairly evenly matched.

Mochizuki uses his kicks and some quality ring positioning to catch Kitamiya in bad spots; but Kitamiya will respond in kind with Suplexes and Lariats to give himself a moment to catch his breath. This beautiful tug of war continued through the entire match, both men kicking out of effective signatures and trying to land the knockout blow. All things look good for Mochizuki as he runs to the corner for his Triangle Kick, but Kitamiya Catches him and hits an Elevated Saito Suplex as a counter, and picks up the win!

三角蹴りを阻止してサイトースープレックス！ @ABEMA で視聴中 https://t.co/z8ZWsUzO9R #noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/p1mqRH4tza

— プロレスリング・ノア (@noah_ghc) October 4, 2020

B Block: Kenoh vs Takashi Sugiura

This is a pivotal matchup, since both men have a shot at winning their block. Sugiura needs help and would need to wrestle a tiebreaker, but Kenoh could win straight up if Nakajima loses his match (and Kenoh wins of course). So there’s a lot on the line here.

Sugiura has his way with Kenoh in the early goings, so Kenoh does something we saw earlier in his match with Taniguchi, and he starts to go for a more acrobatic Junior style. He pulls off the Cartwheel off the Apron and then the Overhead Kick to finally set things in motion for him.  Kenoh brings it back into the ring, hits the Rolling Double Knees and goes for a PK, but Suigura puts the brakes on that.

Kenoh gets rocked and he’s put through the paces once more, but this time Sugiura pulls out a Boston Crab and sits down deep as Kenoh slowly struggles to ropes. Suigura lets him up after the rope break and we have a good ole fashioned strike exchange. Kenoh’s kicks and Sugiura’s forearms, until the big ending to the exchange is both hitting simultaneous Front Kicks. After they get up, now we get dueling simultaneous Front Kicks, the stubbornness of both men is through the roof.

The trading doesn’t end, but Kenoh does manage to get a small opening. He goes to the top and hits his Diving Footstomp into Sugiura’s kidneys, then attempts the normal one, but Sugiura moves and tries the Ankle Lock. Kenoh blocks the Ankle Lock, tries to kick Sugiura’s head off, but Sugiura catches him with the Front Neck Lock and Kenoh passes out.

With the win, now Sugiura needs to hope for Marufuji’s victory and they will have a Play-In match.

B Block: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Naomichi Marufuji

To tie into the story from the last match, Sugiura is seen in the background watching the match, since it’s important to him. As for the match, they start off slowly, and Nakajima hits some of the earlier offense. A few kicks, a gorgeous Water Wheel Kick while Marufuji is perched on the top rope and then we go to some outside action.

While on the outside, Marufuji actually starts to put some things together. Hammerlocks laced over ropes and through guardrails, and strikes that Nakajima hasn’t found a counter for yet. He rams Nakajima into the post left shoulder first, which works towards a set up for the True Tiger King and the Perfect Key Lock.  Nakajima’s personality starts taking over his motions even during the Count Out. He walks over to commentary to talk with them before rolling in at 19, and then he starts to get the best of Marufuji and we see his corner Picture Pose.

Marufuji takes exception to it, and pops up and catches Nakajima with a hook kick while he’s playing to the crowd. The momentum swings wildly as Marufuji misses his corner combination, then Nakajima hits an Uranage Suplex, Marufuji kicks Nakajima’s legs out from under him, but Nakajima retreats to the corner, hits a Drop Toe Hold, then does a few of his Turnbuckle Kicks. Once it looks like Nakajima is putting something together, Marufuji manages to grab the arm and go for the Perfect Key Lock.

Nakajima breaks the submission, but Marufuji stays on him with a Hook Kick and KO-OH, followed up quickly with a Shiranui, but it’s too close to the ropes so Nakajima gets his foot up before 3. A few kick dodges from both, Marufuji hits a body KO-OH, but can’t capitalize as Nakajima hits Vertical Spike, but covers slow, so it’s only a near fall. Nakajima is the first one up, Punt Kick, and then shoves off the referee and uses the Diamond Bomb to win B Block!

R15！！ @ABEMA で視聴中 https://t.co/z8ZWsUzO9R #noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/HbAdXbNEk2

— プロレスリング・ノア (@noah_ghc) October 4, 2020

A Block: Go Shiozaki vs Kaito Kiyomiya

Another decider match and this one with the GHC Heavyweight champion. Winner faces Katsuhiko Nakajima, so conventional wisdom makes you figure it will be Kaito, since they don’t want to waste the Go/Nakajima face off just yet.

Kaito comes out strong, with strikes, headlock takedowns and trying to assert himself against the man who dethroned him as champion in January. This comes off as more of an even match, so Shiozaki is more wrestling a solid match as opposed to the “held together by tape fire up through it” stories he’s been telling. Kaito continues to fight back with his signature moves and really tries to work on the Sleeper Hold.

The Sleeper Hold transitions into the Neck Crank that Kaito started employing, and it’s all smart offense. He wrenches on Shiozaki’s neck, which softens things for the Neck Crank or possibly the Tiger Suplex, all finishers that put pressure on the neck and shoulders. Shiozaki breaks the hold, looks worse for wear, but gets some space after a desperation lariat.

Kaito charges the corner, but Shiozaki gets a foot up. Then he grabs Kaito and powers him up to the middle rope for an Avalanche Brainbuster. Shortly after that, we see Shiozaki pull off the Go Flasher, but only for 2. Kaito fights back and we see Go grab him and pull of the Limit Breaker to slow the momentum. Kaito no sells a little, they face each other, charge and Shiozaki levels him with a Lariat. Shiozaki goes to the ropes for a Moonsault, but Kaito stops that and we see some positioning struggles.

A near Avalanche Brainbuster, turns into an Avalanche Reverse DDT from Kaito to Shiozaki, only a near fall though. Kaito then hits an Emerald Flowsion, again only for 2, but the damage seems to have been severe to Shiozaki’s neck. Tiger Suplex gets locked in, held on with a bridge and Kaito wins!

Overall Score: 8/10

Now this final day had 6 matches, which is technically the most (not counting the day and evening show event together). Because of that, certain matches felt like they lost a little bit of a punch, since some match-ups didn’t matter and were purely a formality. The pivotal matches really stepped up the energy towards the end of the show.

Nakajima had a fairly dominate tournament, now he just needs to put Kaito away to get a shot at Shiozaki for the title. Funnily enough, when I asked a few weeks ago if the Draw was going to hurt Sugiura, look at what happened, he lost the block by exactly that 1 point. Kaito also recovered nicely from having a fairly down year, punctuated with his failure to beat Keiji Muto. Can he overcome a twisted Nakajima?

Final Standings:

A Block:

1. Kaito Kiyomiya: (3-1-1) – 7 Points (Winner)
2. Go Shiozaki: (3-2) – 6 Points (Eliminated)
3. Masaaki Mochizuki: (2-2-1) – 5 Points (Eliminated)
4. Kazushi Sakuraba: (2-3) – 4 Points (Eliminated)
5. Manabu Soya: (2-3) – 4 Points (Eliminated)
6. Masa Kitamiya: (2-3) – 4 Points (Eliminated)

B Block:

1. Katsuhiko Nakajima: (4-1) – 8 Points (Winner)
2. Takashi Sugiura: (3-1-1) – 7 Points (Eliminated)
3. Kenoh: (3-2) – 6 Points (Eliminated)
4. Naomichi Marufuji: (2-2-1) – 5 Points (Eliminated)
5. Shuhei Taniguchi: (2-3) – 4 Points (Eliminated)
6. Yoshiki Inamura: (0-5) – 0 Points (Eliminated)