Takashi Sugiura, Kaz Hayashi & NOSAWA Rongai vs. YO-HEY, Seiki Yoshioka & Hajime Ohara
Our first glimpse of Full Throttle 2.0 with newly appointed leader YO-HEY. I guess it was allright? They’ve dumped the comedy spots and kept that triple-team sequence they used to do with Kotoge. It’s hard to have strong feelings about these NOAH junior faction change-ups when there’s such a high probability that everyone will turn on each other within a month.**1/4
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Yoshiki Inamura – N-1 Victory (Block B)
One-sided Katsu singles matches like this are getting a bit conflicting. On the one hand, there’s undeniable shock value to all the punishment he dishes out. I loudly cringed on about 8 different occasions in this match alone. Can’t go wrong with a straight up ass whooping. On the other hand, his tropes and kick sequences get formulaic real fast when his opponent doesn’t put up enough of a fight. The hierarchical difference definitely gave this one an air of Katsu By Numbers, even if Inamura did his best within his booking limitations. Solid comebacks and inspired vomit-like selling when Nakajima started drilling him with kicks to the gut. I’d love to see a rematch in two years once Big Yoshiki makes his way higher up the card. ***
Kaito Kiyomiya & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Kenoh & Haoh
A bit on the long side, but there was enough competent professional wrestling to keep you on board. The two driving forces here were Kotaro/Haoh building up their upcoming junior title match and Kaito/Kenoh working their usual magic. Execution-wise, the sequences between Kotaro and Haoh were definitely a step up from the last N-1 show. There’s potential for greatness with the lucha-centric technical showdown they seem to be aiming for. They’re both low on personality, so Kaito and Kenoh filled up the charisma quota, working the crowd like a couple of pros and showing off their air-tight chemistry. ***
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Manabu Soya – N-1 Victory (Block A)
Solid match between two solid dudes. They went with a similar arm vs. lower back structure as Soya/Kaito, but the shorter length and Mochizuki having better offense than Kiyomiya made this a lot more entertaining. Even if the the limb story was mostly a prologue, there are worst ways to start a match than having Masaaki Mochizuki kick a guy in the arm a bunch of times. Plus, the stiffness from Mochizuki brought out the intensity from Soya in a big way. The spot where he leaned into all the kicks and forced Mochi against the ropes was an awesome moment. Speaking of awesome moments, Mochi nearly slipping on the Triangle enzuigiri finish but readjusting in mid-air and clocking Soya right in the face was poetry in motion. ***1/4
Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Junta Miyawaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA & Kinya Okada
Good to see wee Junta back in action. His youthful energy and burning desire to take on Evil Uncle Ogawa was one of two highlights here. The other highlight being some fun double teams from reunited Osaka Pro pals Kotoge and Harada. The rest of the match just went on for way too long and never managed to hook me for a sustainable amount of time. Also, doing a movez-heavy countout ending stretch completely out of range from the one house show camera setup was a CHOICE! **1/4
The NOAH juniors have finally figured out the optimal way to settle all of their beefs: ROYAL RUMBLE.
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shuhei Taniguchi – N-1 Victory (Block B)
Don’t wanna completely bury this match because they tried to make it work but it all just fell flat. The crowd had been fairly generous with the clapping up to this point and this is where they decided to take a break. Not much to sink your teeth into storyline-wise except the occasional burst of physicality. Marufuji seemed a bit sleepy, which makes sense if you’ve seen the amount of delicious meals he’s been having on Instagram. Extremely jealous of this man. **1/2
Go Shiozaki vs. Masa Kitamiya – N-1 Victory (Block A)
Not on the level of their leg-centric match from last year’s tournament, but it’ll do as a single camera clapping-only pandemic wrestling main event. Despite the dry presentation, Go’s injured arm story is a guaranteed three star package deal. The method acting-esque commitment to this story makes all of the champ’s matches a decent time, no matter the performance on the other side of the ring. Masa did allright and I was amused by his YOU CAN’T DDT MASA segment, but he’s better suited for leg work matches. Thus, this was again all about Go and the fun subtleties he brings to the table. The mid-way ‘’Fuck, this hurts but I must keep CHOPPING’’ pause during the machine gun chops, the genuinely impressive 2nd-rope deadlift suplex thing, the ‘’Bro are you serious’’ face during the aforementioned You Can’t DDT Masa segment. Probably the best champion in wrestling right now. ***1/4
