Nioh vs. Kinya Okada
A pretty decent opener where indie scum veteran Nioh let youngster Okada dominate most of the action. The kid went with fairly basic arm attacks and middle kicks as his weapon of choice and to that I say: why not. The single camera set up and modestly crowded (ahem) venue are not filling me with excitement for the upcoming tournament matches though. **
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshiki Inamura – N-1 Victory (Block B)
Another strong showing by the mohawked beefcake Inamura. Him and Maru worked a cohesive 12 minutes of wrestling, the broken down veteran attempting to reduce Inamura’s power advantage by taking out his arm. Really liked how Inamura handled this particular structure, as he not only sold the arm well but also made sure to constantly remind you of his monstrosity by LOUDLY SCREAMING at Marufuji whenever he had the chance. As ravaged as he is, 2020 Marufuji still knows how to work the crafty vet role and gave Big Yoshiki plenty of shine. ***
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Tadasuke & Haoh
Obviously too long because NOAH, but I’m a sucker for the current Go/Katsu/Kongo soap opera and there was a lot to like on that front. Again, Go did a great job playing Ace in peril and got his arm destroyed by Kenoh’s red army. Kaito and YO-HEY were both born to receive a hot tag and they totally excelled in that role here. Impeccable house cleaning skills. On a less positive note, I’m puzzled by the super long fireman’s carry struggle spot that Harada and Haoh do in every match together. That thing has to go. Other than that: solid work all around. ***
Masa Kitamiya vs. Manabu Soya – N-1 Victory (Block A)
KONGO KOLLIDES! Beefy hoss fight supplemented by a clever legwork subplot. Kitamiya is an underrated Worker of the Leg and the way he milks the Prison Lock always brings me great joy. Both guys laid into each other with all sorts of great offense: Soya with a 2nd-rope Samoan drop deserving of a WWE-style ring collapse, Big Masa with a sweet Susumu Yokosuka kneebreaker on the apron. It all came down to pure meat consumption: a full plate of lariats and forearms to determine to top carnivore in Kenoh’s gang. I had a lovely time. ***1/4
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masaaki Mochizuki – N-1 Victory (Block A)
Fun little BattlARTS-type affair. The story was that Mochi could hang with Saku in the kicking department, but would face certain death any time they’d hit the mat. Made sense to me, considering Mochizuki was never much of a submission guy. Saku doing worked pro-wrestling is always a blast because the guy is completely unafraid to embrace his own nerdery. Case in point, him teasing a god damn Scorpion deathlock here. Perfect length for a Sakuraba singles match too. Don’t wanna go much longer than 10 to keep things as exciting as possible. ***
Takashi Sugiura vs. Shuhei Taniguchi – N-1 Victory (Block B)
This got pretty intense during the last 5 minutes but it took way too long to get there. The early parts of the match were like watching wallpaper dry: Sugiura ploddingly working over Taniguchi with a wide assortment of rest holds to zero crowd reactions. I get that they wanted to give the fans their money’s worth via a longer main event, but this would’ve benefitted so much from getting less time. All you need from this pairing is the ass kicking, everything else feels superfluous. Also, Shuhei’s goofy winding headbutts are even funnier in a single camera setting with no editing. Kinda waiting for someone to crack him in the head as he winds backwards. **3/4
