Shuhei Taniguchi, Mohammed Yone & Kinya Okada vs. Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Masashi Aoyagi
There’s no better way to get the kids excited about your big tournament than a 13 minutes long Dark Argents opener. Yes folks, we are very much inside Masao World now. I have a soft spot for all of these old farts but this was pretty painful. Just the most lifeless wrestling imaginable amusingly clashing with NOAH’s big Cyberfight money presentation. *3/4
Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshiki Inamura – N-1 Victory (Block B)
This took some time to get where it was supposed to go, but it got pretty rad once it did. Inamura feels right at home working with the higher-ranked NOAH heavyweights. His size, presence and energy are already sufficient to close the experience gap. Sugiura almost treated him as an equal here, working a basic but effective match that spotlighted all of the kid’s strengths. The action peaked during the angry screaming strike exchanges, Sugiura’s cranky resilience bringing the Kaiju fury out of Kongo’s prized punk beefcake. ***
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masaaki Mochizuki – N-1 Victory (Block A)
Allright, who do we blame for this one? Interpromotional politics or NOSAWA being a dumbass? Both are fairly plausible at this point. This thing went from one of my most anticipated matches on the card to a colossal chore in the span of 30 painstaking minutes. These guys were clearly capable of having a super fun 12 minute match, so again, I must ask: why. Kaito improved a lot this year but he still has no business going this long and he got exposed big time here. He wasted his only credible finisher at the halfway point and then spent the rest of the match trying to put Mochi away with checks notes… headlocks? They tried to fill up the match with a bunch of limb work subplots but it all came off as filler due to the wonky structure and non-committal selling. The most entertaining part of the match was Mochi loudly calling every single spot on the fly. It blows my mind that Kaito had a better match with 2020 Keiji Muto than with freakin’ Masaaki Mochizuki. **1/2
Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge vs. NOSAWA Rongai & Kaz Hayashi
Marked out for Kotoge coming out with AN ACTUAL MOTORCYCLE STEERING WHEEL (boom boom), but these boring non-tournament matches are not helping the show at all. Marufuji and Kaz working slow motion junior kung fu in the middle of NOSAWA Lidet jokes and Kotoge comedy spots just isn’t my idea of good time. *3/4
Go Shiozaki vs. Manabu Soya – N-1 Victory (Block A)
We are back on track, baby. Go brings a lot of quality drama and sub-stories with him into this tournament. He’s got the belt, both of his arms are fucked and his boyfriend just dumped him. Life is pretty rough for this man right now and that’s what makes him such a compelling character. They went straight to the arm plot subplot here, Soya trying to neutralize Go’s lariats and chops at various points throughout the match. They built a beefy no non-sense heavyweight match against Shiozaki’s eternal suffering and I dug it a lot. Now would probably be a good time to mention that the atmosphere for this show is cold as fuck, even by COVID standards. So, the match would’ve definitely gained from taking place at Korakuen or anywhere else, but both guys still got the job done thanks to a cohesive story and sustained effort. ***1/4
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenoh – N-1 Victory (Block A)
Another match that benefitted from having some storyline fuel behind it. Nakajima just split from Go to join Kongo, but clearly Kenoh has his suspicions. Thus, I liked the early tension with both guys unsure of how to approach the other now that they’re on the same side, before inevitably going back to their good old shit kicking ways. You already know what you’re getting with these two: brutal strike exchanges, clever counters and a couple of crunchy suplexes for good measure. Lots of intricately constructed sequences that showed how advanced their chemistry is getting. Looking at you: Katsu Double Dodging The Kenoh Spin Kick Before Slapping His Head Off Sequence and Dueling Ankle Lock War Into STF Sequence. The head-spike Heavy Rain was an elegant choice of new finisher for Katsu here. Again, the near empty arena vibe kept it all from reaching the level of their August match, but if you’re into these guys, I guarantee you’ll enjoy this. ***1/2
