Professional Wrestling NOAH N-1 Victory 2023 A Block Preview

Professional Wrestling NOAH’s annual summer time match, in truth their solely presently lively match, returns this August. After a good bit of format flip-flopping lately, the 2023 version marks the second successive match to characteristic the traditional format of two blocks of eight, giving a complete of 16 members.

As a promotion, NOAH has been in a bizarre place in 2023. They drew three huge homes at the start of the yr as Keiji Mutoh lastly referred to as it a day however in any other case they’ve not been notably robust from an attendance perspective. A part of that’s right down to their reserving not being massively compelling, a part of that’s right down to them failing to suitably elevate individuals whereas Muto’s cronies have been on prime, and half is probably going right down to Jake Lee, who they picked up in January as a free agent after his All Japan departure, being champion for the final 5 months. I don’t thoughts Lee as a employee however he’s by no means been a draw and even placing him in there alongside huge names like Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Suguira hasn’t had a serious affect.

That stated, NOAH continues to be in a superb place financially and this yr’s N-1 feels enjoyable, totally different and vibrant – solely 5 of final yr’s cohort are returning, that means 11 returnees/debutants. In current months, they’ve additionally managed to domesticate compelling narratives round three individuals coming into this match; particularly Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Go Shiozaki.

The latter of these two are on this block, which is a curious mixture of established stars, brawlers and newcomers. Alongside Nakajima and Shiozaki, you have got the reigning GHC Nationwide Champion El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr and All Japan’s tremendous rookie Yuma Anzai. Manabu Soya, GHC Tag Crew Champion Saxon Huxley and MLW’s Lance Anoa’i deliver terrific wildman power and have been paired up so much in preview tags. That takes you to seven, with Daiki Inaba feeling just like the odd one out as he completes the block.

Let’s get into the breakdown…

Go Shiozaki

The trendy Mr. NOAH, Go Shiozaki is a five-time GHC Heavyweight Champion and a seven-time GHC Tag Crew Champion. His fourth World title was undoubtedly the strongest, actually starring because the ace of the promotion within the first yr of the pandemic.

He has, nonetheless, by no means received the N-1 or International League, along with his greatest earlier outcome being the 2017 ultimate when he misplaced to Kenoh. Now 41 and the oldest man on this yr’s discipline Shiozaki bought injured on the finish of final yr’s match and missed eight months earlier than returning to the ring in Could. Since that return, he’s realigned along with his former AXIZ accomplice Katsuhiko Nakajima and been clearly positioned as one of many favorites for this yr’s N-1.

May this be his yr?

Previous Singles Event File:

N-1 Victory 2022

N-1 Victory 2020

N-1 Victory 2019

D-Ou Grand Prix 2019

• • 5-1
  • 1st Place Block A
  • Misplaced ultimate to Konuske Takeshita

International League 2018

International League 2017

• • 4-1-1
  • 1st Place Block A
  • Misplaced ultimate to Kenoh

International League 2016

Royal Street 2015

• • Eradicated by Jun Akiyama First Spherical

Champion Carnival 2015

• • 3-1-1
  • Shared 1st Place Block A
  • Misplaced Block A Playoff to Suwama

Royal Street 2014

• • Winner beat Suwama in ultimate

Champion Carnival 2014

Royal Street 2013

Champion Carnival 2013

• • 3-0-2
  • 1st Place Block A
  • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to KAI

International League 2012

International League 2011

16 Carat Gold 2011

• • Misplaced Semi-final to WALTER

G1 Climax 2010

Dragon Cup 2007

• • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to Yutaka Yoshie

16 Carat Gold 2007

• • Misplaced Quarter-Ultimate to Murat Bosporus

King of Europe Cup 2007

• • Misplaced Quarter-Ultimate to Davey Richards

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Prediction: Shiozaki is likely one of the favorites to win this block, alongside tag accomplice Nakajima.

Since his return from damage, they’ve tried to inform the story that Shiozaki nonetheless isn’t fairly at 100% however he’s pushing by way of. He misplaced his first match again, resulting in him reuniting with Nakajima. They misplaced their first tag match again collectively, solely to go 8-1 since then. He misplaced his first singles match again to Kenoh, that means that his final singles win was on Evening 7 of final yr’s match in opposition to Masato Tanaka. I’d count on the traditional sluggish begin earlier than turning it spherical down the stretch.

You even have Jake Lee’s arc as champion, the place his defenses have been particularly focused at all the NOAH previous guard. Lee has accounted for Marufuji, Suguira and Nakajima. Shiozaki is the plain subsequent step and with a purpose to get there, which means Go successful this yr’s match, getting his win again over Kenoh, who has questioned how injured he truly was throughout that eight-month break, within the ultimate within the course of.

If NOAH desires to offer Shiozaki an N-1 win, it actually needs to be this yr. Not simply due to the story however as a result of his physique seems to be held along with double-sided sticky tape and security pins.

Shiozaki and Nakajima meet on the final night time and that appears the plain nailed-on lock to resolve who wins B Block. My choose is Shiozaki but when he doesn’t win, I’d count on him to have overwhelmed El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr earlier within the block to arrange a future Nationwide title match.

Saxon Huxley

I can’t say that Hartlepool’s best was the form of former WWE title I anticipated NOAH to go for however as Paul Völsch factors out commonly on the Emerald Flowshow, you may by no means predict the NOAH random seize bag of foreigners.

Huxley has genuinely improved since his first look, when he appeared like a low-rent Bruiser Brody. His work is basically high-quality if not spectacular and he’s introduced a very entertaining monster power whereas teaming alongside Timothy Thatcher and alongside his REAL stablemates extra broadly.

Previous Singles Event File:

WWE United Kingdom Title Event

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Sam Gradwell

RISE Title Event

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Darius Lockhart

Championship Chase

• • Misplaced First Spherical to LA Austin

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Yuma Anzai

Prediction: Huxley will doubtless be booked much less strongly than his fellow tag workforce champion Timothy Thatcher in Block A.

My sizzling take with Huxley is that he beats Go Shiozaki on night time one. It’s a giant upset, it offers him credibility out the gate (identical to with Jack Morris in opposition to Kaito Kiyomiya final yr) and it furthers Go’s story of nonetheless being on the comeback path.

Aside from that, I’m most wanting ahead to him in opposition to Manabu Soya, as these two went to a double depend out in Huxley’s first NOAH singles match. I don’t know who wins however I count on extra wildman festivities. A win for Soya, or Inaba, would doubtless arrange a future tag title problem although.

Yuma Anzai

Inside a yr of his skilled wrestling debut, All Japan’s Yuma Anzai can have already challenged for the Triple Crown and wrestled in each a Champion Carnival and an N-1 Victory. If you happen to don’t assume he’s the long run and the form of expertise everybody desires to get their claws into, you’ve missed the boat and would possibly must tune into one thing else.

He’s nonetheless a bit inexperienced however he’s undoubtedly placing all of it collectively and this match will probably be a terrific studying expertise for him. It’ll be fascinating too to see how the NOAH crowds react to him.

Previous Singles Event File:

Champion Carnival 2023

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Saxon Huxley

Prediction: Having an Anzai on this spot, relatively than a Kento Miyohara or a Suwama, opens up much more reserving potentialities for NOAH. He’s actually nonetheless a rookie, so he can finish with a 3-4 file, identical to he did within the Champion Carnival, and it’s not an issue.

He’s undoubtedly not successful the block of the match however I count on him to get off to a successful begin and will see him beating Shiozaki or El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr, with a win over the latter probably establishing a Nationwide title match earlier than he goes again to All Japan.

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

When he debuted for NOAH in 2019, El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr didn’t actually do so much for me. Now, approaching his third N-1, he’s some of the improved wrestlers in the whole world and in some way that I think about a must-watch. He’s developing on 9 months as GHC Nationwide champion and has cracked my pocket book with all 4 title defences this yr in opposition to Manabu Soya (****), Hideki Suzuki (****), Jack Morris (****½) and Amakusa (****¼).

He’s charismatic, he’s over and he’s sporting a particular masks on this match to pay tribute to the masks his family members have utilized in tournaments.

Previous Singles Event File:

N-1 Victory 2022

N-1 Victory 2019

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Manabu Soya

Prediction: El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr was booked stronger in final yr’s N-1 than his debut three years earlier than and I count on one other uptick right here. Honestly, he’s the one man outdoors of Shiozaki and Nakajima that has an opportunity to win this block.

I can, for instance, see a actuality the place he beats Manabu Soya on the ultimate night time and a draw between the AXIZ companions places him by way of to lose within the ultimate to Kenoh. Alternatively, although, I can see him dropping to Soya, ending second or third and having a few enjoyable defenses lined up for the ultimate a part of the yr.

Both method, El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr will probably be handled like a giant deal on this yr’s match and rightly so.

Lance Anoa’i

Lance Anoa’i, the son of Samu and cousin of Roman Reigns, is the third debutant on this yr’s B Block.

Anoa’i debuted in 2010 and has been wrestling for 13 years, albeit sporadically for lengthy durations of that point. He’s had a couple of WWE tryouts that haven’t labored out however his most up-to-date house has been MLW, the place he held the tag workforce titles with Juicy Finau for six months earlier than dropping them in early July.

Previous Singles Event File:

23th Annual Tremendous 8 Event

• • Winner defeating Brian Pillman Jr. within the ultimate

tenth Annual Sean ‘Shocker’ Evans Memorial Event

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Stryder

Jersey J-Cup 2014

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Joey Janela

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Daiki Inaba

Prediction: Anoa’i used to be the individual I had most query marks over when he was introduced for this match and that was largely right down to him not working a ton of singles matches all through his profession and most of these singles matches being fairly quick.

Like Huxley, I feel he’ll be a change of tempo for everybody on this block even when he’s not going to be cracking the pocket book fairly often. He’s appeared affordable in his MLW tag matches to this point, getting over this Wild Samoan-type gimmick, however he may need a few duds.

By way of reserving I think about he’ll be about 50/50, along with his matches with Soya and/or Huxley presumably ending in wild brawl double countouts.

Daiki Inaba

A ten-year veteran, Daiki Inaba has been with NOAH since his former house, WRESTLE-1, shut down in 2020. He was a pushed commodity there however has typically been used as a lower-end of the cardboard act in NOAH.

He did, nonetheless, win his first title in NOAH earlier this yr when he received the tag straps alongside Masa Kitamiya. Their title win over Satoshi Kojima and Takashi Suguira is one in every of my favourite NOAH matches this yr and I’m hoping that Inaba will get the prospect to point out extra of what he can do in his second N-1 look.

Previous Singles Event File:

N-1 Victory 2021

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2019

• • Winner defeating Shotaro Ashino within the Ultimate

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2017

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Masayuki Kono

Fireplace Pageant 2017

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2016

• • Misplaced Second Spherical to Manabu Soya

WRESTLE-1 Title Event

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Minoru Tanaka

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Lance Anoa’i

Prediction: Inaba lower a promo on the go-home present for the N-1 saying that he’d shock individuals with this yr’s match but it surely’s exhausting to look past the truth of him ending in direction of the underside of the block with a dropping file.

His future path appears to be forming a tag workforce with Manabu Soya and I believe they set up that on the second night time of this match.

Manabu Soya

Manabu Soya has been round for 16 years however I actually don’t assume I’ve ever loved him greater than I’ve this yr.

His tag teamwork with Kenoh was excellent and their AJPW Tag Title bout with Kento Miyohara and Yuma Aoyagi is amongst my favourite matches this yr. He had a pocket book bout with El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr again in February and, on the time of writing, he’s the one individual with a singles win over Sanada this yr.

He’s coming into this match on a little bit of a slide although, going 1-5 in tag matches since being left very upset by the ending of Kongo.

Previous Singles Event File:

Champion Carnival 2023

N-1 Victory 2021

N-1 Victory 2020

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2019

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Koji Doi

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2017

• • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to Jiro Kuroshio

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2016

• • Winner defeating Yuji Hino within the ultimate

WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2015

• • Winner defeating Shuji Kondo within the ultimate

WRESTLE-1 Title Event

Ikkitousen Sturdy Climb 2014

• • 3-2
  • 2nd Place Block B
  • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to Shuji Ishikawa

GAORA TV Title Event

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Kazushi Miyamoto

Champion Carnival 2012

Taiwan Cup

• • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to Suwama

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Go Shiozaki
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

Prediction: Manabu Soya’s N-1 marketing campaign this yr screams of 1 pushed by storytelling relatively than any explicit directive in direction of successful the block.

He’s dealing with former Kongo stablemate Nakajima on night time one, which has loads of juice to it, and as I outlined in his intro he’s on this relative skid coming off Kongo’s disbanding. I can see him dropping to Inaba as nicely on night time two, with these then uniting formally as a workforce.

He’ll most likely lose to Yuma Anzai, giving the tremendous rookie his win again from the Champion Carnival, however from there the arrogance enhance of a brand new tag workforce ought to energy Soya to a powerful end, probably spoiling El Hijo del Dr Wagner on the final night time.

Katsuhiko Nakajima

A former two-time N-1 winner, Katsuhiko Nakajima had lower the determine of a person bereft of confidence for a lot of the final yr. Quite a lot of backstage points in NOAH and that slap incident with Tetsuya Endo had left Nakajima seemingly working inside himself.

If his matches with Shingo Takagi and Jake Lee earlier within the yr underwhelmed a bit, current weeks have proven the Nakajima of previous. He was incredible in a 45-minute time-limit draw with Kenoh, throwing a full-force slap for the primary time for the reason that Endo incident. He subsequently stiffed Hajime Ohara in a tag match and delivered a bonafide MOTYC in opposition to Kento Miyohara.

A sizzling and reinvigorated Nakajima makes his match a really enjoyable one to observe.

Previous Singles Event File:

N-1 Victory 2022

N-1 Victory 2021

• • 2-1
  • 1st Place Block C
  • Winner defeating Kenoh within the ultimate

N-1 Victory 2020

• • 4-1
  • 1st Place Block Block B
  • Winner defeating Kaito Kiyomiya within the ultimate

N-1 Victory 2019

International League 2018

• • 4-3
  • 1st Place Block A
  • Misplaced ultimate to Kaito Kiyomiya

International League 2017

International League 2016

G1 Climax 2016

International League 2015

International League 2014

International League 2013

International League 2012

NOAH Junior Heavyweight League 2009

• • Misplaced Semi-Ultimate to Yoshinobu Kanemaru

AJPW Junior Heavyweight League 2007

AJPW Junior Heavyweight League 2006

• • 2-0-1
  • 1st Place Block B
  • Misplaced ultimate to Kaz Hayashi

Champion Carnival 2006

Younger Lion Toukon Event

• • Misplaced Ultimate to Ryusuke Taguchi

Tenno-Zan 2004

• • Misplaced First Spherical to Massive Boss MA-G-MA

Better of the Tremendous Junior XI

2023 N-1 Victory Schedule

• vs. Manabu Soya
• vs. Saxon Huxley
• vs. Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• vs. Daiki Inaba
• vs. Yuma Anzai
• vs. Lance Anoa’i
• vs. Go Shiozaki

Prediction: As outlined in my preview of Shiozaki’s match, the winner of B Block is realistically going to be one half of AXIZ.

Nakajima is a determined second favorite of the 2 although and that’s for a couple of causes. Firstly, he’s already confronted Jake Lee and I feel it’d be bizarre to run it again for a couple of causes.

Certainly one of them is that the post-match of his epic with Miyohara hammered house that these two are undoubtedly working it again. With All Japan working their Royal Street match on the similar time, it wouldn’t shock me to see Miyohara win that, dethrone Yuma Aoyagi after which get his win again with a protection in opposition to Nakajima on New 12 months’s Eve.

The opposite issue is the straightforward story between Nakajima and Shiozaki. Companions and rivals, I feel it ties a neat bow on Go’s comeback if Nakajima, the person who helped him discover his greatest, is the one he beats to win the block after which see off the snarling, brooding Kenoh within the ultimate in Osaka.

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