Pro Wrestling NOAH Announces N-1 Victory Field

Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the field for its annual N-1 Victory tournament during its Korakuen Hall event on August 10. The tournament will feature 16 wrestlers split across two blocks, similar to New Japan’s G1 Climax, and will run from September 12 to October 4. The winner will earn a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship, currently held by Tetsuya Naito.

The A Block will include former GHC Heavyweight Champions Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Shane Haste, Kazuyuki Fujita and Takashi Sugiura, as well as one half of the current GHC Tag Team Champions, DDT’s own Yuki Iino, former GHC National Champion Alpha Wolf and former NXT Superstar Dante Chen, who will wrestle under his new in-ring name, Chen.

B Block, on the other hand, will include a few former GHC Heavyweight Champions, including KENTA, Kenoh and OZAWA, as well as the other half of the GHC Tag Team Champions, Manabu Soya, Tetsuya Endo, Masa Kitamiya, Titus Alexander and, perhaps most excitingly, the returning Kouga, who previously wrestled in NOAH as Owadasan before beginning his rookie excursion in Europe.

N-1 VICTORY 2026 ENTRANTS:

Block A:
“Prince of Madness” Kaito Kiyomiya
“Mr. Smack Daddy” Yoshiki Inamura
“Hearts on Fire” Shane Haste
“Passion General” Yuki Iino
“The Beast” Kazuyuki Fujita
“Southeast Asian Standout” Chen
“The Godfather” Takashi Sugiura
“The Lunatic Wolf” Alpha Wolf

Block B:
“Mr. Pain in the Ass” KENOH
“BLACK SUN” KENTA
“Elegant Avenger” Tetsuya Endo
“Passion Boss” Manabu Soya
“The Work in Progress” Kouga
“The Franchise” Titus Alexander
“The Chairman” Masa Kitamiya
“The Real Rebel” OZAWA

Two individuals who will not be competing in the N-1 this year are Tetsuya Naito, who won the GHC Heavyweight Championship on Sunday, and GHC National Champion Naomichi Marufuji.

Whilst Naito is set to be absent from this year’s N-1 Victory tournament despite recently capturing the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Shane Haste, the NJPW alum recently teased an announcement for August 12, which many believe will reveal that he has officially signed with Pro Wrestling NOAH.

For more coverage from the tournament and everything surrounding Pro Wrestling NOAH, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.