N1 Victory Participants And Blocks Announced

In Japan, with summer comes tournament season, and Pro Wrestling NOAH is the latest company to announce the lineup for their annual N1 Victory round-robin tournament. The league is set to begin on August 6, and with NOAH mainstay Kaito Kiyomiya participating in NJPW's G1 Climax starting next month, the two-time N1 Victory leader will not be appearing in NOAH's premier tournament this year. Instead, 16 men from around the world will be competing to stand atop Pro Wrestling NOAH's heavyweight division and potentially face Jake Lee for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in the future.

Here are the two blocks set for Pro Wrestling NOAH's N1 Victory:

A Block:

Jake Lee

Kenoh (2019 Winner)

Masa Kitamiya

Jack Morris

Yoshiki Inamura

Timothy Thatcher (First Appearance)

Adam Brooks (First Appearance)

Yuki Yoshioka (Dragon Gate) (First Appearance)

B Block:

Go Shiozaki

Katsuhiko Nakajima (2020, 2021 Winner)

El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.

Manabu Soya

Daiki Inaba

Saxon Huxley (First Appearance)

Lance Anoa'i (MLW) (First Appearance)

Yuma Anzai (AJPW) (First Appearance)

With six first-time competitors, this year's N1 Victory will be truly unpredictable, especially due to the final entrants into each block. Both Dragon Gate's Yuki Yoshioka and All Japan Pro Wrestling's Yuma Anzai are young competitors who have already made big names for themselves in their respective companies. While Anzai recently suffered a tricep injury in his bout against NJPW star Yuji Nagata for the Triple Crown Championship, the 24-year-old star will look to make a huge impact in this year's N1 Victory, his first non-AJPW tour to date.