N-1 Victory

The **N-1 (Noah-One) Victory** (N-1（ノアワン）勝利, *Noah-One Victory*) is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Originally known as the **Global League** (グローバル・リーグ, *Gurōbaru rīgu*) from 2010 until 2018, the tournament was given its current name in March 2019. Created by Akira Taue, the tournament has been held annually since 2010 and is ranked as the most prestigious event in the Noah calendar. The tournament is compared to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)'s Champion Carnival and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s G1 Climax.

The N-1 Victory is held under a round-robin system, with two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The wrestlers finishing atop the points standings in the two blocks advance to the knockout stage, where the winner is determined in a head-to-head match to determine the tournament winner. The tournament matches are held under the GHC title match rules as the base rule, having a 30-minute time limit.

In the below results, (C) signifies the GHC Heavyweight Champion at the time of each tournament. Usually, the winner of the tournament earns a shot at the title, assuming they are not already the champions.

## Tournament History

In 2010, Pro Wrestling NOAH announced a new tournament "Global League" comprising and showcase twelve of Noah's top heavyweight stars and have them compete in round-robin matches where the winners of the two divisions would then square off in the tournament finals. The Global League has often been used as a platform for NOAH to push their rising stars. Wins by young up-and-comers over Japanese legends would usually take their respective careers to new heights.

Past winners include Takeshi Morishima, KENTA, Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji. The winner of the tournament, assuming they are not already the champion, has traditionally earned a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship. The first tournament was held from March 28 to May 2, 2010. The winner of block A Jun Akiyama faced the winner of block B Yoshihiro Takayama at finals where Takayama won. Yoshihiro Takayama would then receive his shot for the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Takashi Sugiura. However, Takayama would fail to win the championship.

Usually, the winner of the tournament gets his GHC Heavyweight Championship in December. Yuji Nagata was the only wrestler to win the Noah's Global League, the AJPW's Champion Carnival and NJPW's G1 Climax. In 2011 and 2013 until now the number of participants as increased. Naomichi Marufuji was the only wrestler to successfully win his opportunity and become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion after winning the tournament, while Kenoh became the first wrestler to win the tournament in his first appearance.

On March 30, 2019, following the takeover of Pro Wrestling Noah by LIDET Entertainment it was announced that the tournament would be renamed to **N-1 Victory** as part of LIDET Entertainment's plan to relaunch Noah as the second largest promotion in Japan. It was also announced that the tournament would take place in the summer as opposed to the old format of taking place in the winter. Throughout the relationship between Noah and American promotion Major League Wrestling, Alex Hammerstone and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. were announced to take part in the new tournament. For the second time in the tournament history, reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya would not take part in the tournament. The winner of the tournament would receive an opportunity for GHC Heavyweight Championship on November 2 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

## 2010

The 2010 Global League was held from March 28 to May 2, through the Spring Navigation 2010 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with twelve wrestlers divided in two blocks of six. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final.

Final standings
 Takuma Sano | 2 | Naomichi Marufuji | 3

## 2011

The 2011 Global League was held from November 3 to November 20, through the Global League 2011 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with eighteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of nine. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final.

Final standings
 Kento Miyahara | 3 | Bobby Fish | 4

## 2012

The 2012 Global League was held from November 3 to November 23, through the Global League 2012 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with fourteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of seven. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final.

Final standings
 Kento Miyahara | 2 | Shane Haste | 4

## 2013

The 2013 Global League was held from October 19 to November 10. The tournament featured a block system, with fourteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of seven. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final.

Final standings
 Eddie Edwards | 4 | Akitoshi Saito | 4

## 2014

The 2014 Global League took place from October 18 to November 8.

Final standings
 Shane Haste | 4 | Quiet Storm | 2

## 2015

The 2015 Global League took place from October 16 to November 8.

Final standings
 Quiet Storm | 2 | Takashi Iizuka | 0

## 2016

The 2016 Global League was held from November 3 to November 23, through the Global League 2016 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with sixteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of nine. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. The tournament included outside participants freelancer Alejandro Saez and from New Japan Pro Wrestling Toru Yano.

Final standings
 Takashi Iizuka | 2 | Kaito Kiyomiya | 0

## 2017

The 2017 version of the Global League took place between October 14 and November 19. On October 17 it was announced that Yuji Okabayashi was forced to forfeit all of his matches due to suffering a shoulder injury.

Final standings
 Yuji Okabayashi | 0 | Kazma Sakamoto | 2

## 2018

The 2018 version of the Global League would take place between October 30 and November 25, outside participation include Kazusada Higuchi from DDT Pro-Wrestling and Kohei Sato from Pro Wrestling Zero1. Naomichi Marufuji won block A of the tournament, but was forced to pull out of the finals after suffering a shoulder injury in his final round-robin match. As a result, it was decided a three-way match between Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, and Kohei Sato, who had all finished second in their block, to determine Marufuji's replacement.

Final Standings
 Mitsuya Nagai | 4 | Atsushi Kotoge | 6

## 2019

The 2019 version of the tournament was the N-1 Victory and took place between August 18 and September 16. Instead of the tournament taking place in the winter, the tournament took place in the summer opposed to the old format. On July 29, Noah announced the participants, which included three outsiders; Dragon Gate's Masaaki Mochizuki and Major League Wrestling's Alex Hammerstone and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. For the second year in the tournament history, reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya, did not enter the tournament. Instead, the winner of the tournament would challenge for his title on November 2 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Final standings
 Naomichi Marufuji | 0 | El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. | 2

## 2020

The 2020 version of the N-1 Victory took place between September 18 and October 11. On August 10, Noah announced the participants, which included one outsider; Dragon Gate's Masaaki Mochizuki. On August 25, Noah announced that the tournament would air also FITE TV featuring English commentary by Sonny Onoo and Rob Hochman.

Final Standings
 Masa Kitamiya | 4 | Yoshiki Inamura | 0

## 2021

The 2021 version of the N-1 Victory took place between September 12 and October 3 with first and last two shows being at Korakuen Hall with the rest of the tournament being held at closed doors, being streamed on Wrestle Universe, due to restrictions made by the Japanese government regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan. On July 26, 2021, NOAH announced for the first time in the tournament's history that tournament would feature four blocks instead of two blocks. On August 1, 2021, at Cross Over 2021 in Hiroshima GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji announced that he would not take part in the tournament. On August 6, during the second night of Departure Noah announced the participants, which included two outsiders; Dragon Gate's Masaaki Mochizuki and Pro Wrestling ZERO1's Masato Tanaka and was the first time that a junior heavyweight; Kotaro Suzuki was invited to compete in the heavyweight tournament. On August 11, NOAH announced that Kazanari Murakami would miss the tournament due to a left sciatic nerve injury. On August 13, NOAH announced that replacement for his spot would held in a dark match between Kendo Kashin and King Tany which ended with Kashin defeating Tany to earn a spot a the tournament.

Final standings
 Keiji Mutoh | 4
 Takashi Sugiura | 3

## 2022

The 2022 version of the N-1 Victory took place between August 11 and September 3 with the tournament returning to its previous schedule due to the 2021 Summer Olympics, which were originally scheduled to be held in 2020 but would be postponed a year later due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. On June 14, Noah announced that all the tournament matches would feature English commentary for the the first time in the tournament's history. On July 17, Noah announced the participants, which included five outsiders; Dragon Gate's Masaaki Mochizuki, Pro Wrestling ZERO1's Masato Tanaka, New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Satoshi Kojima and freelancers Jack Morris and Anthony Greene. On August 4, 2022, it was announced that Timothy Thatcher would not take part in the tournament due to visa issues with his replacement spot being decided at Departure in a match between Yoshiki Inamura and Kinya Okada which ended with Okada defeating Inamura to earn a spot a the tournament.

Final standings
 Kazuyuki Fujita | 10
 Kenoh (C) | 9
 Go Shiozaki | 8
 El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. | 6
 Masato Tanaka | 6
 Masaaki Mochizuki | 4
 Anthony Greene | 2

## 2023

On June 5, 2023, NOAH announced that the 2023 edition of the N-1 Victory. On June 22, NOAH announced that the tournament would take place between August 6 and September 3, with the final being held at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. NOAH also announced the participants for the tournament, the list included outside entrants from All Japan Pro Wrestling Yuma Anzai, from Dragon Gate's Yuki Yoshioka and from Major League Wrestling Lance Anoa'i and the debut appearances of Adam Brooks, Jake Lee, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Timothy Thatcher and Saxon Huxley, who took part in their first N-1 Victory tournament. On August 19, it was announced that Daiki Inaba would be absent for the remainder of the tournament, due to an injury, leading him to forfeit the remainder of his matches.

Current standings
 Jake Lee (C) | 10
 Jack Morris | 9
 Yuki Yoshioka | 8
 Timothy Thatcher | 8
 Masa Kitamiya | 7
 Adam Brooks
 Yoshiki Inamura | 0

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

Global League old logoGlobal League trophysN-1 Victory old logoN-1 Victory trophy2017 Global League Logo

Yoshihiro TakayamaTakeshi MorishimaKENTAYuji NagataTakashi SugiuraNaomichi MarufujiMinoru SuzukiKenohKaito KiyomiyaKatsuhiko NakajimaGo Shiozaki