PRO WRESTLING NOAH
N-1 VICTORY 2020 NIGHT 4, AFTERNOON SHOW
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
KORAKUEN HALL
TOKYO, JAPAN

Watch: Wrestle Universe & FITE.TV (English)

NON-TOURNAMENT MATCHES

FULL THROTTLE (ATSUSHI KOTOGE, HAJIME OHARA & SEIKI YOSHIOKA) DRAW DAISUKE HARADA, YO-HEY & KINYA OKADA (20:00)

Since this is the only non-tournament match on this card, I’ll review it. Full Throttle worked over YO-HEY for a while in the beginning. Then the tables turned and Ohara got worked over for a bit. This was formulaic, but all action. Okada looked pretty good here, just kicking everyone. Yoshioka and Harada were also standouts. This developed into something really good with a fast pace and big moves down the stretch. As YO-HEY and Ohara tried to get flash pins on each other, the 20 minute time limit expired. A really strong opener. ***3/4

TOURNAMENT MATCHES

KENOH [4] DEF. YOSHIKI INAMURA [0] (10:26)

We have ourselves another Kongoh vs. Kongoh match. Whenever Inamura would try to charge Kenoh, he would be met from a high kick to the face from Kenoh. The Kongoh leader controlled most of this match with Inamura getting in only a few spurts of offense. Inamura went for a top-rope Shouldblock and Kenoh kicked him in the air in a cool spot. However as Inamura had his midsection worked over with kicks and double knee drops, he refused to stay down. Inamura would eventually get some offense in and went for a Crucifx Bomb but Kenoh escaped and hit a flurry of palm strikes that knocked out Inamura for the referee stoppage. The palm strike KO is certainly not as dramatic as a high kick one. This had its moments but also felt aimless at times. ***1/4

KAZUSHI SAKURABA [4] DEF. MASA KITAMIYA [2] (2:29)

Sakuraba came right out of the gate with low kicks to Kitamiya’s legs. He then took Kitamiya down to the mat, looked for a Cross Armbreaker. Kitamiya took control for a bit but then Sakuraba managed to lock in a reverse cross knee lock for the submission in a quick match. Kitamiya’s selling was good here and the leg kicks led into the finish so I’ll go **1/2

SHUHEI TANIGUCHI [2] DEF. KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA [2] (14:42)

These guys started hitting each other hard early. Nakajima hit a punt kick to Taniguchi’s head which caused the former Maybach to roll out of the ring, and we got a count-out tease, but Nakajima eventually came out to roll him back into the ring. Nakajima worked over Taniguchi and we got a spot where Taniguchi collapsed while running instead of being Irish Whipped into the corner. Nakajima worked over Taniguchi some more and it was nothing special. Taniguchi got some hope spots, but there was a lot of Nakajima brutalizing him in between, with kicks to the stomach. Nakajima got the knees up to counter a Taniguchi top-rope splash and this match went into wild mode with both guys throwing a bunch of stiff strikes at each other. Taniguchi landed three punt kicks, a chokeslam, a tope rope splash and one more punt kick to get the win. This took a while to get going but once it did it was great stiff action. ***3/4

KAITO KIYOMIYA [3] DEF. MANABU SOYA [2] (21:55)

This started with some grappling. Kiyomiya worked over Soya’s left arm. Soya then went after Kiyomiya’s back. Things picked up from there with each wrestler getting in a fair bit of offense in on each other, with no one really dominant. This part was solid but never really hit a high gear to me. The last couple of minutes did heat up while Kiyomiya made his comeback and won with the Tiger Suplex, but there was something missing from this match that could have made it great, they way they laid it out suggested they were going for a more of a big match feel, but it didn’t quite deliver. ***1/2

FINAL THOUGHTS

Another solid show for the N-1 Victory. Nothing was must-see but this show went just over 90 minutes, so if you have the time check it out.

N-1 VICTORY STANDINGS

BLOCK A:

Go Shiozaki [4] (2 wins)
Kazushi Sakuraba [4] (2 wins, 1 loss)
Kaito Kiyomiya [3] (1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw)
Manabu Soya [2] (1 win, 2 losses)
Masa Kiyamiya [2] (1 win, 2 losses)
Masaaki Mochizuki [1] (1 loss, 1 draw)

BLOCK B:

Takashi Sugiura [5] (2 wins, 1 draw)
Kenoh [4] (2 wins, 1 loss)
Naomichi Marufuji [3] (1 win, 1 draw)
Shuhei Taniguchi [2] (1 win, 2 losses)
Katsuhiko Nakajima [2] (1 win, 1 loss)
Yoshiki Inamura [0] (3 losses)