Into the Indies 07.06.10: O-Pro is a Tween

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column begging for amnesty for Takeru Kobayashi.

Over the last several months, there appear to have been numerous anniversary shows in Japan. Last week, we took a look at a show commemorating Great Sasuke’s twentieth year as a professional wrestler. Still sitting in the queue for me to review is the fifteenth anniversary show of Big Japan Wrestling. This week, we’ll be looking at Osaka Pro Wrestling’s card which was held to celebrate its eleventh year of existence.

It was roughly two months ago that we took our first look at O-Pro within the confines of this column. As a result, I’m not going to bore you by rehashing the same background on the company which I provided in that edition of I2I, but I will bring you up to speed on events which occurred between the February 11, 2010 “Hurricane” show which we last covered and the anniversary show, which took place on April 29, 2010 and aired as a ninety minute long television special on the sky+A sports network in Japan.

As you may recall, the main event of Hurricane 2010 saw Osaka Pro’s top babyface, Billy Ken Kid, win the promotion’s Singles Title from dastardly heel Dick Togo. The victory came after numerous misfires with the championship for BKK, and the question after he stripped the belt from around Togo’s waist was whether he would finally be able to have a championship run befitting of his status as the most popular wrestler in the company. In attempting to accomplish this goal, his first title defense was set for the anniversary show against young Daisuke Harada. Harada, who has only three years of experience as a pro but still displays an impressive arsenal of power-based offense, won the Osaka Pro Tag Team Titles on Hurricane with his regular partner Atsushi Kotoge. Kotoge and Harada, however, agreed to put their time as a championship team on hold so that Harada could gear up and take his shot at the big belt.

The other major story headed into the anniversary show focused on the rivalry between Kikutaro and Kuishinbo Kamen. Kikutaro, who many fans will recall was the first man to play the role of Ebessan in Osaka Pro Wrestling, had a lengthy series of comedy matches with Kamen throughout 2004 and 2005 which were not only popular in their home promotion but also got them recognition from numerous US companies, including Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and, as evidenced by the clip below, even a young TNA:

Kamen and Ebessan competed against one another in several different matches until the latter’s departure from the company later in ’05. Kikutaro returned to sporadically appear for Osaka Pro as a “special guest” in 2008, and, once he did, the rivalry was renewed from time-to-time. Now, in 2010, Kikutaro finds himself holding the company’s Owarai Title, with “owarai” essentially being one of the Japanese words for “comedy.” Kamen was looking to take a championship designed for his specialty match from his oldest rival, but then the stakes were raised even further, as Osaka Pro officials announced that the match would also be for the “World’s Best Osaka Attraction Title,” a championship which existed in the company for several years but was abandoned and replaced by the Owarai Title in 2008. Why the championship is being reestablished isn’t entirely clear to me at this point, but it definitely added an extra level of intrigue to the match for fans of the promotion.

The other highlight of the anniversary card was several returns to the ring by past Osaka Pro stars. Mineo Fujita, a wrestler who originally entered into the business through the FMW-spinoff company Wrestling Marvelous Future and spent several years in O-Pro, came back to team with Atsushi Kotoge in the opener while Kotoge’s regular partner was busy in the main event. Toru Owashi, a Toryumon product who was last seen in this column dressed as a giant peach, came to Osaka for the first time in years to reunite with his former stablemates and current top O-Pro tag team Hideyoshi and Masamune. Finally, Zeus (not the one from No Holds Barred), a muscle man and top player for the company in recent years, decided to make his comeback on this show after being gone for some time to make several appearances in HUSTLE and later to train for a professional boxing career.

With that background out of the way, let’s head to the show.

Match Numero Uno: Tigers Mask & Black Buffalo vs. Mineo Fujita & Atsushi Kotoge

We’ve got Tigers, Buffalo, and Fujita in the ring as we are joined in progress, with Fujita hitting dropkicks on both of his opponents and dispatching the masked man from the ring with a rana. He looks for a dive but gets cut off from behind by Buffalo, giving Tigers an opportunity to try for a top rope bionic elbow. Fujita prevents that with another dropkick and avoids a Buffalo rana en route to landing a MASSIVE no hands tope con hilo on Tigers. Kotoge checks in at this point with a springobard dropkick and a bulldog on Buffalo for two, followed up with a big kick to the back of the head and a dropkick that sets up a tope con hilo of his own after Buff falls to the floor. There’s a bit of a gap in the action as everybody recovers, but eventually Kotoge feeds Buffalo back into the ring and into Fujita’s waiting arms. A very loud leg lariat gets two for the outsider, and an implant DDT sets up the moonsault press for Kotoge. Tigers Mask saves on that one but is immediately thrown to the floor again. He returns in short order, however, kicking Fujita in the head to cut off a corner attack on Buffalo and going after Kotoge with a running knee strike to the face. It only gets two. A buzzsaw kick misses and Kotoge grabs a cradle for a nearfall, but Tigers kicks out and hits the buzzsaw kick. Fujita breaks up the pin attempt and brawls with the masked man, allowing Buffalo to take over on Kotoge. He gives him a backdrop suplex and warms up for a lariat. Kotoge ducks it and tries another cradle, but, in a unique spot, Buffalo blocks it and reverses the cradle into a lateral press to get the three count and win the match for his team.

Match Thoughts: This match ran over ten minutes live and was clipped down to two or three for television purposes, so it is hard to give it a fair evaluation. However, I will say that everybody looked good in what was aired, with the only real down time in the match being the odd gap in between the hilos and renewal of the action. Some decent professional wrestling and a creative finish will be enough to get a thumbs up from men when there are only a few minutes to work with.

Match Numero Dos: Tsubasa, Asian Cougar, & Miracle Man vs. Zeus, Yutaka, & Shigehiro Irie

Zeus is killing everybody with lariats when we join the match, after which he press slams Tsubasa on to his partners and shakes the ropes a la the Ultimate Warrior. Tsubasa and Miracle Man have the common sense to roll out of the ring, leaving Asian Cougar to the proverbial wolves. Zeus takes him down with a leaping clothesline similar to that of the Undertaker and winds up for a second lariat but has it blocked and turned into a Stratusfaction bulldog. That sets up tags to Irie and Miracle Man, with the King of Ape hitting a version of the Vader attack and a Samoan drop for two. Tsubasa saves and dispatches Irie, after which he is joined in the ring by Yutaka. Yutaka finds himself placed on the top rope and brought off with a rana, which earns a two count for Tsubasa. Yutaka responds with a running knee and a slingshot kick to the abs, all setting up a fireman’s carry Michinoku Driver for another nearfall. Things break down into a pier six brawl for a bit, after which Irie and Zeus isolate Miracle Man and set him up for some double teaming. There’s a miscommunication between the two bad guys, though, resulting in a trip to the floor for Irie courtesy of a Tsubasa rana. All six men are fighting at ringisde, with the faces ultimately piling several chairs on top of Irie and Zeus building up to one of Cougar’s trademark spots, a hilo out of the ring and down on to the chair pile. Back on the inside, Double M (not Melchor) is getting his own Michinoku Driver on Yutaka, and that puts the match to an end.

Match Thoughts: Once again, this match was significantly clipped down for television but didn’t appear to be too horrible based on the highlights. I enjoy the fact that Zeus brings a different dynamic to Osaka Pro’s matches. Whereas the majority of the promotion’s wrestlers are trained in a high-flying lucharesu style, Zeus is almost a WWF-style big man straight out of the 1980’s. It’s not a type of wrestler that I would appreciate seeing an entire promotion built around, but, if there’s just one guy on the roster doing that style where everybody else is doing something significantly different, it can be a welcome change of pace for one or two major spots in a six man tag team match if everybody is smart enough to know how to integrate the differing styles.

Match Numero Tres: Kanjuro Matsuyama & Ranmaru vs. Ebessan III & Takoyakida

It’s Takoyakida and Matsuyama as we get to the match, with Tako immediately hitting a dropkick and tagging out to Ebessan. He runs wild with an American-style hot tag but takes it a bit too far and accidentally bodyslams his partner in addition to his opponents. Eventually the partners get back on track and go after Ranmaru, but she gives some sort of command that freezes them in their tracks and just stares at them for a while. She tries to cradle one of the frozen wrestlers, but the referee is frozen as well, meaning that he can’t count the pin. Ranmaru ultimately decides to break whatever the spell was to resume the action, but, in an ironic twist, she is immediately cradled herself for a two count. Matsuyama broke that one up by hitting Tako with a paper fan, and now we’ve got a staredown between Ebessan and Matsuyama. They begin hitting one another with incredibly light slaps to the face, perhaps trying to parody these insufferable strike trading sequences that are overdone in modern puro matches. When that’s over with, Matsuyama hits a lungblower and teams up with Ranmaru to try to give both of their opponents a battering ram. It fails as all four wrestlers are knocked down to the canvas, and, after that, Takoyakida starts to make a comeback. He gets a corner clothesline and a diving back elbow on Matsuyama, and we once again have ourselves a four-person brawl. Matsu and Ranmaru whip their opponents into each other, and, seconds later, the young lady has caught Takoyakida in a forward victory roll to win the match.

Match Thoughts: This one was also quick, but it wasn’t anything particularly special compared to the prior two bouts. There was more focus on comedy and less on action, which I don’t mind so long as the comedy is good . . . but this felt like a series of comedy spots that I have seen several times before The finish came out of nowhere as well, as the battering ram appeared to be setting up a longer sequence of comedy spots but then, all of a sudden, we had a standard professional wrestling rollup ending the match.

Match Numero Cuatro: Toru Owashi, Hideyoshi, Masamune vs. The Bodyguard, Orochi, & Tadasuke

We are once again joined in progress, this time with all six wrestlers doing battle in the ringside area. Bodyguard gets the first somewhat interesting offense of the match, military pressing Masamune over his head for an extended period of time and throwing him back into the ring for Tadasuke and Orochi to work over. They drop numerous elbows and flex, with Bodyguard taking over in the ring once the double teaming is over. Masamune tries to fire back on him with chops, but he no-sells them thanks to his massive chest and chops the masked man down with one shot. Now we get some straight right hands from the Bodyguard, but Masamune ducks under the last of the set and tries for a sunset flip. BG doesn’t go over for the move and picks Masamune up by the throat, tree slamming him into the buckles. At this point Orochi and Tadasuke run in, first knocking Masamune’s partners off the apron and then attacking him in the corner before bringing him out of it with a high double hiptoss. It’s Tadasuke who remains in the ring with Masamune after this sequence, but Masa avoids a boot and hits a flying forearm to set up the hot tag to Owashi. The big man nails boots on his opponents and a dragon screw on Tadasuke, but eventually he’s jumped by both Orochi and the Bodyguard. He blocks their two-man suplex attempt, and eventually Masamune and Hideyoshi join him to hit a three-on-two vertical suplex. That’s followed up by dives from Hideyoshi and Masamune on BG and Orochi while Owashi stays in the ring with Tadasuke. Owashi looks for a chokeslam and a brainbuster, but Tadasuke blocks each and responds with a brianbuster of his own. Hideyoshi is in at this point and dispatches Tadasuke but gets caught by the Bodyguard’s big lariat. Masamune blindsides BG to get rid of him, but he quickly finds himself hit with an Orochi missile dropkick and a version of Total Elimination from Orochi and Tadasuke. Orochi attempts some sort of move out of a torture rack position, but Masamune slips out of it to give Hideyoshi an opening for a big lariat. To follow up, Hideyoshi drops Orochi on his face out of a military press, and that’s enough to put Orochi away.

Match Thoughts: I was a little bit disappointed here, not necessarily by the action that we did get but by the action that we didn’t get. Everything that aired looked good, but I am a fan of the prior work of Owashi’s that I have seen and would have been interested in having a bit more of the focus on him. Of course, I suppose that it makes sense for O-Pro to make sure that their regular wrestlers are the focus of their television special, but I still can’t help feeling a bit like my expectations were not met. The other thing that crossed my mind during this match is that, from what I understand, the Bodyguard was essentially made into a wrestler as a replacement for Zeus when he left the company . . . so I wonder what role, if any, he will have in the promotion if the Z-Man’s comeback winds up being full time. That will be something interesting to keep an eye on.

Match Numero Cinco: Kuishinbo Kamen vs. Kikutaro (c) for the Osaka Pro Owarai Title and the vacant World’s Best Osaka Attraction Title

This is the first match of the special which is being aired without any editing (or at least close to it). It begins with a spot that I’ve seen in several Japanese comedy matches as of late, as the crowd chants for one competitor until the other threatens to walk out, at which point the audience begins to chant for the departing wrestler until he returns to the ring. After that, the men parody the opening ritual of sumo and assume the starting pose for that sport, which prompts the referee to shove them down and yell that this is a professional wrestling match and that it should begin with a collar and elbow tie-up. When the wrestlers comply, their lockup is apparently not good enough for the official. Kikutaro grabs an arm wringer at this point, which Kamen reverses. The reversals continue and eventually turn into a dance routine. Now it’s time for various comedy spots off the ropes, including Kikutaro hurting his foot when he misses a stomp and Kamen missing one of his patented sideways body attacks. Now Kamen is repeatedly trying for leg sweeps, with Kikutaro jumping over each one and, at the end of the sequence, all three men in the ring leaping into the air. Kamen misses another body attack and gets taken to the corner, where Kikutaro throws intentionally weak punches at him and decks the referee with one when he attempts to intervene. Kikutaro drops a slow-motion elbow for two and heads to the outside, where he grabs a chair. He lightly taps Kamen over the head with the chair, and Kuishinbo goes down like he was shot in a hilarious bit of over-selling.

Next, in a parody of everybody’s favorite Eddy Guerrero spot, Kikutaro grabs the championship belt and places it on top of Kamen before laying on the mat and pretending that he was the victim of a belt shot himself. Kamen smartly responds by throwing the belt back to Kikutaro and acting like HE was hit, though the referee doesn’t seem to care that the object was used and just takes it away. When he does, Kikutaro low blows Kamen behind the official’s back, and Kamen responds in kind. Of course, the referee winds up eating a low shot as well to complete the chain, at which point the men begin doing spots in slow motion, all while holding their respective junks. Kikutaro hits a stunner on his man and the ref begins counting the fall, though eventually the pain in his nether-regions is just too great and he has to stop. The men begin trading axe bombers (an odd move to trade, if you think about it), setting up a Kikutaro FU. It was definitely an FU and not a DVD, just for the record. The former Ebessan is up top now. He misses whatever he was going for and gets knocked out of the ring by Kamen, who follows with an out of control Asai moonsault in which he landed abs-first on Kikutaro’s shoulder. More chops are exchanged back on the inside, with Kikutaro eventually removing his shirt. That would make things harder for him, not easier, so I don’t quite get the point. He eventually hits a dragon screw and begins doing Keiji Mutoh poses en route to connecting with a variation on the shining wizard. A leaping knee strike in the corner from Kikutaro also connects, and now he’s headed to the top rope. Not having much faith in his high flying abilities, he moves Kamen closer to the turnbuckles not once but twice before attempting a senton atomico and completely overshooting him. Kamen is up and tries to run his finger across his throat but gets stuck halfway through. Rather than the gesture setting up an offensive maneuver, it merely leads to Kamen making a pin attempt.

Confusion off of a series of Irish whips leads to the referee executing a huricanrana on Kikutaro, giving Kamen an opening to climb the ropes and land a skytwister press for a three count.

Match Thoughts: This wasn’t too bad. I didn’t have the reaction that I did the first time that I saw a Kamen/Ebessan match, which was essentially to laugh out loud for several straight minutes, followed by shaking my head and hitting the back button on my DVD player remote in order to go back and re-watch some of the key spots. The problem is that these men have now been wrestling one another for at least six years, if not more, which has given their original spots plenty of time to grow old and has given plenty of imitators time to copy their best material. As a result, I think almost any match between the two isn’t going to seem quite as “fresh” as it otherwise would. However, they still managed to bust out a few spots which I had not seen before, either due to my own head being buried in the sand or due to innovation by the wrestlers. As far as comedy matches go, it wound up being a decent way to kill fifteen minutes, but it certainly isn’t anything that bowled me over or something that I would go back and watch again.

Match Numero Seis: Billy Ken Kid (c) vs. Daisuke Harada for the Osaka Pro Singles Title

We go to the mat almost as soon as the bell rings, with numerous successful reversals by each man culminating in a stand-up and an armdrag by the champion. We go back to the mat for a miniature fish-out of water sequence which results in BKK grabbing a headscissors. Harada is able to pop out, and the two trade armdrags and headlock takedowns before simultaneously returning to their feet to the adulation of the crowd. The wrestlers run the ropes for a bit with no real offense connecting until Daisuke is able to connect with a spear and a series of forearms. Billy Ken Kid responds with a dropkick, and here come the chops from both wrestlers. The chops give way to a Harada forearm, which BKK answers with a gutbuster. The champion slaps on a Boston crab after a full body slam, but Harada drags himself to the ropes on his forearms to escape. He is able to mount some offense after that, as he manages to block a BKK slingshot into the ring with a forearm and attempts a big dive. Billy recovers more quickly than Harada expected, meeting him with a lariat in the ring before the challenger’s feet can even leave the mat. A short-arm clothesline from the champion earns him a nearfall, and, once Harada kicks out, he finds himself trapped in a headscissors once more. Harada sells it almost like it is a choke or a sleeper hold, struggling and ultimately making the ropes as he would for a normal submission. That looked a little bit odd.

BKK looks to stay on his man with some kicks, but Harada starts to rally, hitting a forearm and then a HUGE overhead belly-to-belly which launches the champion from mid-ring into a set of turnbuckles. (The bump was impressive, but the move itself looked pretty fake due to the two wrestlers barely making contact.) Harada follows up with a couple of running forearms in the corner and heads to the second rope, coming off with a double stomp. He’s not a huge guy, but he’s bigger than most folks that you see doing that move. A head and shoulders suplex gets a two count for the challenger, and you can tell that the pace of this one is starting to pick up. The momentum swings back in BKK’s favor now, as Harada misses a charge and gets kicked in the back of the head, setting up the Billy Buster and a basement dropkick. Daisuke is placed on the top rope for a rana, which gets a two count. BKK attempts a powerbomb, but Harada slips out of it and looks for a brainbuster. The champion is able to block it and dump his man stomach-first over the top rope, after which a well-placed kick sends Harada to the outside. BKK looks to hit him with a Silver King dive, but Harada cuts it off and teases a German superplex to the floor. Obviously that one doesn’t connect, but Harada does succeed in pulling his man from the ropes down to the apron, where Billy Ken Kid charges . . . and he eats another overhead belly-to-belly, this time ON THE APRON. For those who man not be aware, that’s essentially the hardest part of the ring. BKK is slammed on the floor now, and Harada returns to the squared circle, charging across it and diving to the floor with an INSIDE-OUT DOUBLE STOMP. Yikes.

After selling a little bit himself, Harada is able to roll the champion back in between the ropes, where he hits a top rope elbow and a Rude Awakening while BKK is seated on the top. That pulls him into a tree of woe position, which Harada uses to hit a dropkick. The German superplex is teased for a second time, but BKK knocks his man off. The champ turns around as though looking for a dive of his own, but he’s caught offguard with Harada’s belly-to-belly superplex. It only gets a two count, which is a nearfall that I expected to be significantly more dramatic than it actually was. Harada looks to follow with his deadlift German suplex finisher, but BKK counters several attempts and reverses the last one into a move that I can only describe as a variation on Daizee Haze’s Mind Trip. The Kid is up to the top once more, landing a big missile dropkick to the back of the head for two. Everybody lays around for a bit, and then they try a spot which I assume was supposed to be either a reverse rana off of BKK’s shoulders or some other, similar rollup from Harada. Unfortunately it gets botched – badly – and the wrestlers fall to the mat in a heap before Daisuke covers by getting his man in a small package for two. A jackknife cradle also gets two for the challenger, and BKK immediately responds with Code Green.

That move doesn’t put Harada away, so Billy hits a SICK sounding powerbomb into the turnbuckles followed seconds later by a running powerbomb into the ring. Harada still manages to kick out. Forearm trading. BKK wins but is hit with a variant of the Go to Sleep by Harda, which sets up the DEADLIFT GERMAN. The champion kicks out of that AND a second version of the same move, with a third being blocked thanks to a quick grab of the ropes. Harada charges in at his opponent but is caught with BKK’s own version of the German and a quick lariat . . . but the challenger kicks out of an air raid crash! With that exciting sequence out of the way, now the wrestlers hit each other with palm strikes and leadbutts. Out of that, BKK gets another air raid crash, again for two. The champion’s next trip to the top sees him hit a 450 splash, and that’s what gets him the win and his first successful championship defense.

Match Thoughts: Eh. Usually I can find at least something to say about the main event of a major independent show like this one, but Harada/BKK just didn’t do it for me. There were some insane, memorable spots like Harada’s double stomp from the ring to the floor, but they weren’t tied up into a decent package. One of the problems was that Daisuke kept going back to his overhead belly-to-belly, and it just flat-out didn’t look good. I blame some of that on Kurt Angle, who has popularized a version of the move in which the attacking wrestler basically places his open hands on either side of his opponent’s ribcage, which somehow magically causes the opponent to leap over the attacking wrestler’s head and land flat on his back. It looks completely unrealistic and isn’t at all like the superior version of the move that I grew up watching from Owen Hart and Scott Steiner. It would be one thing if the move looked bad and it only got used once during the match, but it becomes a bit problematic when the move is a focal point of the bout. The other big issue that I had was the final few minutes of the bout, as it looked like the men were building towards a quick sequence in which they were going to exchange rapid fire finishes and falls. We got a little bit of that, but then it turned into another cliched strike exchange, which in my mind killed a lot of the momentum that the two had built up to that point. Harada is young and a lot better than some wrestlers with three years of experience who I have seen, but I don’t know if he’s quite ready for a main event match, and, even if he were, I don’t know that BKK is the guy to carry him through it. **

Overall

Given the clipped down nature of the undercard, the success or failure of the televised version of this show was going to depend entirely on the strength of the top two matches. Unfortunately, those matches didn’t deliver sufficiently to carry a ninety minute wrestling program. The Kamen/Kikutaro match was decent enough for what it was, but it was hardly a standout bout, and I’ve already gone into some detail about why the Singles Title match was disappointing. If you’re interested in seeing the same basic style of wrestling, the Michinoku Pro show that I reviewed last week is a much better choice, and even that wasn’t the best lucharesu card that I’ve seen since I started doing this column.

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