[6.0] "Some very good matches on this card, but I found the main event to be lackluster and there were two kinda bad matches as well. Wolf vs. Wagner, Kenoh vs. Soya, & Bane vs. Kotoge were the standout matches for me. [MOTN: Alpha Wolf vs. El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.]"

[8.0] "Alpha Wolf vs El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr: A great way to start this year's tournament, they gave solid performances, solid exchanges, some cool moments, the match was worth watching, Wolf winning was a surprise considering Wagner Jr is a former GHC Heavyweight champion [***3/4]. Dragon Bane vs Atsushi Kotoge: A sprint that was paced fast that was okay to watch, could have been a bit better if they had more chemistry in the ring during this one but they did not which was unfortunate [***]. Titus Alexander vs Tavion Heights: At times in this match did feel sloppy and not of the standard that is usual with these two, this felt like it should not have been in the N-1 Victory tournament rather a house show [*1/2]. Josh Briggs vs Ryohei Oiwa: Considering this was his first match in NOAH and against an opponent that is he not used to, Briggs did well and gave a solid match against Oiwa, who in turn had a solid performance, Briggs getting the win was good to see [***1/4]. Hajime Ohara, Junta Miyawaki, Kai Fujimura & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Eita, Naomichi Marufuji, Ninja Mack & Takashi Sugiura: It was a decent 8 man tag team match, the pacing could have been more consistent, Taniguchi pinning Marufuji to win for his team was surprising [**1/2]. Ulka Sasaki vs Yoshiki Inamura: In a story of power vs submission specialist, this match was okay with an alright ending when Sasaki forced Inamura to pass out [**1/4]. Masa Kitamiya vs Jack Morris: As solid as you would expect from these two wrestlers, the only issue I had with this match were a couple of moments seemed a bit sloppy other than that it was watchable [***3/4]. AMAKUSA, HAYATA, Tadasuke & YO-HEY vs Daga, S uper Crazy, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yu Owada: It was an alright 8 man tag team match, not much memorable happened here, the action was solid enough [**1/4]. Kenoh vs Manabu Soya: MOTN in my opinion, these two had a highly physical, hard hitting match that was better than their previous singles match in January 2024, the match was worth watching from bell to bell [****1/4]. Luis Mante vs Kaito Kiyomiya: A fairly decent match that had a surprise result with the GHC heavyweight champion Kiyomiya losing his first block match, Mante came into this and he delivered a strong opening win, the action was solid [***3/4]"

[6.0] "Pretty poor number for the Yokohama Budokan, and I can see why. This was good overall but unspectacular. When the best match is the first match on a ten match card, stuff can slow down quite a bit. There are few stories going into the N-1, which is the opposite compared to STARDOM and NJPW, who have tournaments going on right now. They can certainly make more stories throughout the tournament, but even the upset in the main event wasn't as exciting as it should have been. Again, a competent opening to the tournament, but this is ultimately skippable."

[6.0] "Pretty boring for the opener to a big tournament. First match was the best of the night. Tavion Heights is way too green for this tournament. Morris had a scare at the end. Really cool seeing Luis Mante in NOAH. This promotion needs more stories and better factions."

[7.0] "A solid but unspectacular opener to the N1. Similar to the G1, if we're comparing, where there was nothing troubling match of the year votes but nothing bad either. Best match was the opener for my money, but Bane/Kotoge, Kenoh/Soya and Mante/Kiyomiya are worth checking out too."

[10.0] "The first night of N-1 all settled and every battle really spoke to the fanbase. Many great debuts, Josh Briggs from NXT, Luis Mante from DG, Ulka Sasaki in his 20th singles match into 7 months, Ryohei Oiwa from NJPW, Alpha Wolf along with Dragon Bane both winning and from The Clash, Titus Alexander from West Coast Pro in a personal favorite match against a debuting wrestler from NXT while returning to Japan after the 2020 Olympics, Tavion Heights. A very physical match up took the midcard by storm between Masa Kitamiya and Jack Morris as he suffered whiplash that completely forced him to lie back to catch himself. Amakusa winning with the Spiral Tap inspired dive as Hayata barely active decided to join back up with Stinger without Susumu or Ridgeway. Lots of unexpected moments like Luis attack before the bell and he dived plunga style onto the GHC heavyweight champion Kaito Kiyomiya and won with his special. Class act on the matches afterwards, handshakes and bit of rushed blushful energy. A good show to the kickstart tour for N-1!"