Pro Wrestling NOAH’s biggest tournament of the year is the N-1 Victory, the round-robin-style tournament that pits the company’s top names against each other in a bid to earn a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Earlier today NOAH announced the N-1 Victory lineup and blocks, let’s take a look at what wrestlers make up the four-block tournament.
NOAH N-1 Victory Lineup (2021)
Block A
- Takashi Sugiura
- Kaito Kiyomiya
- Manabu Soya
- Keiji Mutoh
Block B
- Kenoh
- Daiki Inaba
- Masaaki Mochizuki
- Kazunari Murakami
Block C
- Katsuhiko Nakajima
- Kazushi Sakuraba
- Kotaro Suzuki
- Masato Tanaka
Block D
- Masa Kitamiya
- Akitoshi Saito
- Masakatsu Funaki
- Kazuyuki Fujita
N-1 Victory 2021 Confirmed Schedule
Opening Show: September 12th
- A BLOCK: Keiji Mutoh vs. Takashi Sugiura
- B BLOCK: Kenoh vs. Kazunari Murakami
- C BLOCK: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masato Tanaka
- D BLOCK: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Masa Kitamiya
Night Two: September 18th
- A BLOCK: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Manabu Soya
- B BLOCK: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kotaro Suzuki
- C BLOCK: Daiki Inaba vs. Maasaki Mochizuki
- D BLOCK: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Akitoshi Saito
Night Three: September 19th
- A BLOCK: Keiji Mutoh vs. Manabu Soya
- B BLOCK: Kenoh vs. Daiki Inaba
- C BLOCK: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kotaro Suzuki
- D BLOCK: Akitoshi Saito vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Night Four – September 20th
- A BLOCK: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Takashi Sugiura
- B BLOCK: Maasaki Mochizuki vs. Kazunari Murakami
- C BLOCK: Masato Tanaka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
- D BLOCK: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Masa Kitamiya
Night Five – September 26th (Day Show)
- A BLOCK: Keiji Mutoh vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
- B BLOCK: Kenoh vs. Maasaki Mochizuki
- C BLOCK: Takashi Sugiura vs. Manabu Soya
- D BLOCK: Kazunari Murakami vs. Daiki Inaba
Night Six – September 26th (Night Show)
- A BLOCK: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
- B BLOCK: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
- C BLOCK: Masato Tanaka vs. Kotaro Suzuki
- D BLOCK: Masa Kitamiya vs. Akitoshi Saito
Night Seven – Finals Night – October 3rd
- The Semi-Finals Between Block Winners – Two Separate Matches
- The Finals of the tournament.
The four-block structure is always interesting as it makes for some all killer, no filler blocks. Block B and C stand out as two strong ones, Mochizuki taking on Kenoh and the recently debuted Daiki Inaba should stand out as really good matches. In block C Masato Tanaka will clash with Katsuhiko Nakajima in a highly anticipated bout that could deliver one of the best matches of the tournament.
The winner of the tournament will challenge champion Naomichi Marufuji on October 10, Maurufuji withdrew from the N-1 Victory as he didn’t see a need for the company champion to enter such a gruelling tournament.
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