Into the Indies 06.21.11: NEVER say NEVER (Part 1)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that has Bieber Fever.

If you’ve followed professional wrestling for more than six months, you should know that puroresu fans love themselves some tournaments. There is almost always at least one tournament either going on or being built up somewhere in Japan, and it’s about time that I2I got back to some tournament action after a long hiatus.

For that tournament fix, I’m heading to NEVER. Technically speaking, I suppose I shouldn’t be reviewing a NEVER show in this column. Why? Because it’s not an indy show, if you want to use a strict definition of “indy.” NEVER is actually a sub-brand of New Japan Pro Wrestling, the largest wrestling company in the country. However, NEVER was created specifically to run in front of small crowds and provide more exposure to New Japan’s younger wrestlers, placing them in higher card positions on shows which are also heavily populated by independent talent. It’s sort of like what Kensuke Office shows are to Pro Wrestling NOAH these days.

NEVER was launched on August 24, 2010, and they’ve not exactly gone out of their way to put on a ton of shows. They ran monthly after August before taking December and January off, running one more time in February before deciding that, in April 2011, they were going to engage in one of their most significant undertakings. What was it?

By way of background, New Japan has a very popular tournament on its main brand known as the Best of the Super Juniors. In it, the greatest lighter wrestlers in the company do battle with one another alongside several outside wrestlers brought in specially for the big event. This year’s version of BOSJ just wrapped up, and, by all accounts, it more than lived up to expectations. If you’re interested in seeing some of the action that took place in this year’s tournament, look no further than this digest video provided by New Japan’s official YouTube channel:

In the tradition of the Best of the Super Juniors, the folks behind NEVER thought that they would put on a little tournament of their own, a tournament which took place in April 2011 and served as a lead-in to BOSJ with numerous young junior heavyweight wrestlers competing in single elimination action. Accurately – though not concisely – it was referred to as the “Road to the Super Jrs. 2Day Tournament,” and took place on April 7 and April 8, 2011, with both days being hosted by Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. Sixteen different wrestlers were invited to participate in the tournament, and we’ll run them down their backgrounds one at a time before getting into the action.

1. Kazuki Hirata: Hirata is one of the youngest wrestlers on the roster of independent group DDT, having debuted in March 2010. I’m frankly not that familiar with him, so here he is in singles action in a quick match against fellow DDT youngster Keisuke Ishii.

2. Keisuke Ishii: Hey, speaking of Ishii, he’s in the tournament too! This fellow, who looks like he stole his haircut from Pebbles Flintstone, has been around DDT since 2008 and only recently has had an opportunity to break out into more noteworthy matches, including 2010’s Campground Pro Wrestling.

3. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi: Remember when I said the focus of NEVER was young guys? Well, Kikuchi is the exception that proves the rule. He’s been wrestling since 1988, starting with All Japan and transitioning to Pro Wrestling NOAH when that company split off from AJPW. In 2010 NOAH finally let him go, leading to an independent career for Kikuchi. I’m sure he was longing for the days when he got to team with Kenta Kobashi.

4. Madoka: Madoka is frequently seen in I2I competing for a variety of different promotions. He was originally a Kaientai Dojo trainee who struck out on his own in 2009. To US fans, his most relevant role would probably be as the guy who popularized (if not outright invented) the move that Kofi Kingston currently uses in WWE as the SOS.

5. Marines Mask II: This Kaientai Dojo wrestler used to be one of its midcard heels under the name of PSYCHO, but, in early 2010, he had a gimmick overhaul and adopted a mask and outfit based on the uniforms of Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines professional baseball team, similar to what Osaka Pro wrestler Tigers Mask did when he adopted his look from the Hanshin Tigers.

6. Kyosuke Mikami: Mikami is one of three New Japan contracted wrestlers competing in this tournament. He’s one of the promotion’s “Young Lions,” having wrestled his first match before a live audience in March 2010 after building his reputation in judo and amateur wrestling. He has generally drawn favorable reviews from critics during his first year in the pro ranks. We’ve seen him before in SMASH, taking on their resident Young Lion, Yusuke Kodama.

7. Osamu Namiguchi: Outside of Kikuchi, Osamu Namiguchi is one of the more experienced wrestlers in this tournament. He was trained by the Toryumon group that produced many Dragon Gate wrestlers and debuted in 2003, gaining the majority of his notoriety in ZERO1. However, despite almost eight years in professional wrestling, he has accomplished very little of note.

8. Ken Ohka: Ohka mainly competes for UNION Pro Wrestling, which is a small sub-brand of DDT. He is known for wrestling a lot of comedy matches, as featured in this UNION music video from our friends on YouTube.

9. Daiske Sasaki: Sasaki is one of a small number of wrestlers trained by former Michinoku Pro star and indy mainstay Dick Togo. Sasaki’s biggest run to date has come alongside Togo in DDT as part of the “Italian Four Horsemen” stable. Since then, he’s gotten a handful of shots with New Japan, though he has yet to become a regular member of the roster.

10. Ryuichi Sekine: Sekine is yet another wrestler in the tournament lineup who has connections to Kaientai Dojo, having been there since 2008 and becoming a solid midcard member of the roster.

11. Shinobu: Here’s another familiar face to hardcore I2I readers, having moved up from the obscure 666 promotion to becoming a regular performer on Dragon Gate shows in 2007. Lately, he’s been a much more prominent member of the Big Japan roster, particularly as part of its MEN’s Club series of junior heavyweight matches hosted by Men’s Teioh.

12. Taichi: Taichi is the only non-rookie member of the New Japan roster in the tournament. Spoiler alert. He’s been rolling through the pro ranks in 2002, joining New Japan in 2009 and forming a fairly successful junior heavyweight tag team with Milano Collection AT. From there, he was sent to Mexico by NJPW for a “learning excursion,” and he recently returned a much improved wrestler but dressed like something that came off the back of a Mardi Gras parade float.

13. Hiromu Takahashi: Here is New Japan Young Lion number two. Takahashi debuted in April 2010 in a match against the aforementioned Kyosuke Mikami. Like Mikami, he has largely been wrestling in NJPW opening matches and doing next to nothing of note aside from learning the ropes in the big leagues.

14. Kazuhiro Tamura: E-Style is a very small independent group that has somewhat of a shoot style background that also runs some traditional pro wrestling. Tamura is a member of their roster who has been wrestling since 2003. I’m not entirely sure what put him on New Japan’s radar to get him booked on NEVER, but here he is.

15. Kaiji Tomato: Got room for one more Kaientai Dojo rep? Well, good, because Tomato also comes out of that company. His name is actually Kaiji Yamato and he has been wrestling for some time, but he didn’t really get any attention until he started doing a comedy gimmick as Kaiji Tomato. I don’t get the joke, but he’s a talented little wrestler, so I’m all for what get shim some exposure.

16. Shinichiro Tominaga: Like Ohka, Tominaga comes to us from UNION Pro. He’s relatively new to the sport, though he did get to wrestle one noteworthy match against El Generico of all people.

And that’s our lineup. This week, we’re going to be taking a look at the first round tournament matches involving these sixteen men. We’ll be back next week to review the second half of the tournament. Let’s go to the ring!

Match Numero Uno: Keisuke Ishii vs. Hiromu Takahashi

It’s your standard lockups, waistlocks, arm ringers, and hammerlocks to start off the match. Nothing you haven’t really seen before. Takahashi tries to get an advantage when he kicks Ishii in the gut off of a test of strength attempt, but all that leads to is a forearm battle, which Ishii wins. The DDT representative uses that advantage to hit his opponent with a double knee to the back, followed by a double stomp. Ishii continues to put the boots to his opponent for a bit and applies a figure four when Himoru misses a dropkick. It’s at this point I realize that Ishii’s tights read “Rubber Soul,” which may be a misspelling of what he’s got in his boots. Himoru eventually makes it to the ropes to break the crab and starts a comeback with a lucha-inspired rana, followed by a dropkick in the corner. Takahashi goes to the top and comes off with a missile dropkick, but it can only get him two. He looks for a fisherman’s suplex, but Ishii escapes it and blasts him with a single leg dropkick to the face, also for two. Ishii hits a body slam to set up a second rope kneedrop, and he hits a second one for good measure. However, it’s still not quite enough to put Takahashi away.

Ishii looks for a German suplex to finish the match, but Himoru reverses it into a victory roll and lands a big forearm for a nearfall. Ishii’s not going to go out that easily, though, as he immediately fires back with a gutbuster. He uses that to set up a SWEET move in which he does a backflip and in the process slams his shin into the back of the head of his doubled over opponent. That’s the prelude to the finish, which is a double arm DDT.

Match Thoughts: This was a relatively quick match, as I assume all of the first round matches are going to be, and it came off primarily as a showcase for Ishii as opposed to anything that would put Takahashi over in a meaningful way. If that really was the purpose, the match was pulled off well and Takhashi did a good job playing the classic enhancement wrestler role. Between that and Ishii busting out a couple of impressive looking moves (especially the backflip kick), I’m not going to complain. **

Match Numero Dos: Ryuji Sekine vs. Kyosuke Mikami

The two men circle each other after the bell, with Sekine looking for some kicks but largely coming up short. Eventually he does score with a spinning back kick and the wrestlers do a highspot off of the ropes, culminating in a Mikami dropkick. He follows that up with a bodyslam for two. Now Mikami applies a half crab, though Sekine is able to quickly make it to the ropes. A kneebar from Mikami follows, and Sekine actually does a pretty damn good job selling it. He surprisingly DOESN’T get a rope break, though, instead rolling through into a position in which he almost is able to apply a rear naked choke. Rather than getting caught in the choke, Mikami lets go of the leg. When the men return to a vertical base, Mikami is quick to take it back to the mat, hitting a clothesline and slapping on a variation on the Anaconda Vice. The ropes are made, and Sekine shows a lot of fire immediately thereafter, reeling off some forearms. However, it’s not long before Mikami takes him off his feet once more, this time with a back elbow in the corner, followed up by a swank diving elbow drop as Sekine is slumped against the bottom turnbuckle.

Mikami gets two off of a butterfly suplex and charges at Sekine, which may have been a mistake since it allows Sekine to hit a dropkick and go on the offensive. Sekine connects with some kicks and a double knee strike in the corner for two, followed up by an awkward looking Boston crab in which he holds Mikami’s legs by the kneepads. Mikami breaks it up with the ropes but gets kicked in the face for a two count seconds later. Mikami gets back up to his knees, but he probably should have just stayed down. Sekine gives him an unprotected roundhouse kick in the right side of the head, followed immediately by the same kick delivered to the left side of the head. My immediate reaction was “please don’t kick out of that, it looked too good to not be the finish.” Fortunately for me, it IS the finish.

Match Thoughts: As noted above, I was a big fan of the way in which this match wrapped up, as there are far too many matches these days in which wrestlers, at least in my opinion, kick out of way too many big offensive moves. This was a breath of fresh air in that regard, and the rest of the match was fairly solid too for the time allotted. Mikami in particular impressed, as, if I didn’t know it beforehand going in, I never would have guessed that he had less than two years in the wrestling business. The only thing that keeps the rating down a bit is, again, the relatively short length. **1/2

Match Numero Tres: Kaiji Tomato vs. Shinobu

Some basic hammerlock exchanges open us up, after which Tomato gets the early offense thanks to a couple of high armdrags and a dropkick that sends Shinobu out of the ring. Kaiji looks for a dive, but Shinobu cuts him off by popping up on to the apron with a forearm, after which he yanks Tomato out of the ring and wipes him out with an Asai moonsault. Tomato is rolled back into the ring, where Shinobu gets a two count on him. Shinobu almost loses his momentum but dodges that bullet when Kaiji misses a springboard splash. Tomato doesn’t miss a springboard dropkick, though, and that sends Shinobu back outside so that Kaiji can get the dive he was looking for earlier, specifically a HIGH elevation tope con hilo.

Back on the inside, Kaiji gives Shinobu a couple of shoulders to the gut in the corner and rolls him up for a two count. That’s followed with a Tito Santana-esque flying forearm, but Tomato quickly thereafter loses a strike battle and gets taken down with a jumping enzuguiri. Some forearms follow to get Kaiji good and softened up so Shinobu can deliver a moonsault press. It only gets two, so Shinobu sets up for a lariat. Unfortunately for him, he takes too long, giving Kaiji several opportunities to cradle him, each of which gets a two count. From there, Tomato lands a leg lariat, also for two. However, before he knows what hit him, he gets caught with a lariat from Shinobu, followed by a second version of the same move. They only result in a two count. Thus, Shinobu decides that he’s going to have to break out the big guns and comes off of the top rope with a shooting star press to win the match.

Match Thoughts: Another thumbs up short match in a series of three. If of the three, this was probably the weakest of the lot, as there were some moves where Kaiji didn’t look quite as polished as the other competitors on the show. Again, he wasn’t particularly bad at what he did, nor was Shinobu, for that matter. **

Match Numero Cuatro: Kazuki Hirata vs. Madoka

We’ve got an open-hand chop exchange early until Madoka tires of that and kicks his opponent twice in the chest for a two count. He drops a knee to the same result. Hirata fires back with a series of forearms and gets his own nearfall. Up next is a scoop slam from Kazuki and what I’ll refer to as a “standing frog splash,” followed by a leg submission. Madoka escapes the hold by heeling it up and raking Hirata’s eyes, after which a forearm exchange breaks out. Hirata is the winner and applies a chinlock to follow up. Eventually he tires of that and tries to cradle his opponent instead, but it only gets two. Hirata stays on his man with more forearms and a rana, followed promptly by a stinger splash and a missile dropkick.

All of that can only get Hirata a two count, so he puts on a double chicken wing submission, which Madoka escapes by placing his foot over the bottom rope. Once out of the hold, Madoka tries to mount a comeback with forearms, but he’s cut off with a Diamond Cutter and another dropkick from Hirata. Kazuki looks for a backdrop suplex, but Madoka fights it off and reverses into a body press for two. Hirata charges in for a lariat, but he’s rolled up, and Madoka gets a two count before kicking his opponent right in the face. Madoka is back on the offensive now, landing a high roundhouse kick and the Ranhei to win himself the bout.

Match Thoughts: Much like Mikami before him, Hirata here was a wrestler who, if I wasn’t aware of his experience level going in, wouldn’t have guessed how little time he’d spent in wrestling. Granted, he didn’t come off as a top flight performer, but, as with Takahashi, he was serviceable in what was essentially an enhancement role, making Madoka look like the big star of the match but getting a little bit more offense than the bulk of US jobbers would. More quality, inoffensive wrestling here. **

Match Numero Cinco: Marines Mask II vs. Kazuhiro Tamura

Marines ducks under an ambush clothesline attempt as soon as the bell rings, at which point the wrestlers begin striking each other in a fairly intense fashion. Tamura avoids a step-up enzuguiri attempt but doesn’t avoid a rana and rolls to the outside. He cuts off a dive attempt by charging back into the ring and hitting a kick, though he runs into Marines’ boot when trying to follow up with some corner offense. The masked man does a backflip off of the top rope and lands on his feet before hitting a kick, a facebuster, and a single-legged dropkick to the head in rapid succession. Instead of going for the cover off that offensive flurry, Marines takes his man down again with a snap mare and drops the leg. Tamura starts coming back with forearms and open hand chops, with Marines responding in kind until Tamura kicks his arm in mid chop. Marines responds by trying to Irish whip his man to the buckles, but Tamura runs up the ropes and comes back off with a flying body attack. More kicks from Tamura are up next, and two big ones connect, only for a third to be blocked and turned into a cool dragon screw variation which involves Marines doing a forward flip and taking a bump of his own while wrenching Tamura’s leg out of place.

From there, Marines Mask tries to springboard in with a clothesline, but Tamura grabs his arm and looks for a Fujiwara armbar. Marines blocks, so Tamura turns it into a cross arm breaker attempt, which Marines turns into a cradle for two. The men fire off simultaneous dropkick attempts when they return to their feet. After that, Maries gets Tamura in position for a 619 variation, but the E-Style wrestler dodges it and goes for a rolling cross arm breaker. Marines blocks it and tries an Oklahoma roll, but Tamura avoids being pinned. A second Oklahoma roll is attempted by Marines, but Tamura cuts off his momentum and cradles him for another nearfall. Both wrestlers pop up to their feet at this point, with Tamura charging in and leaping at Marines Mask for what at first glance looks like it’s going to be a flying cross arm breaker. However, at the last second, he turns the move into a pinning combination while he’s pulling Marines down. That’s enough to give Tamura a flash pin and move him on to the second round.

Match Thoughts: This was the shortest match of the tournament thusfar by a significant margin, coming in at just under five minutes whereas the rest have clocked in at eight or nine. However, despite the length, it was actually the match that stood out the most thusfar, just because it was so different. It was a sprint with the two wrestlers throwing bombs at each other right out of the gate and rapping up with a quick flash pin. I wouldn’t want every match on a show to look like this one, but, given the context of the surrounding bouts, it was damn fun for this show and one of the better four and a half minute matches that you’re going to see. **1/4

Match Numero Seis: Sinichiro Tominga vs. Daisuke Sasaki

The wrestlers take it to the mat with a series of common holds in the first minute or so, with Tominga being the first guy to kick it in high gear thanks to an armdrag that sends Sasaki to the floor. In a spot that we literally just saw in the last match, Daisuke bails from the ring but runs back in just in time to cut off a dive attempt by his opponent. He can’t keep an advantage, though, as Tominga quickly sends him over the top rope and wipes him out with a HIGH moonsault to the floor off of the post. Tominga also climbs to the top rope when Sasaki goes back to the ring, coming off at him with a high cross for a two count. The Union rep sets up for a Gotch style piledriver at this point, but Sasaki blocks it twice. Showing good perseverance, Tominga stays on top of his man and cradles him for a two count.

However, when Tominga tries for a German suplex, Daisuke manages to counter, take him down, and apply a cross arm breaker variation. Tominga’s foot finds its way across the bottom rope to break the hold, so Sasaki knees him in the cut and looks for a slam. Tominga reverses into a cradle but only gets two. Sasaki responds with a DDT and climbs to the top rope, though Tominga catches him with an impressive pop-up rana. Then, in a move I can’t recall seeing before, Tominga runs up to a kneeling Sasaki, pushes off of his shoulders, and knees him in the face. Yikes. Tominga wants to hit a moonsault press after that, but Daisuke rolls out of the way and the Union wrestler crumples to the mat in a heap. Sasaki takes advantage and dumps him gut-first over the top rope, then dropkicking him in the knee as he hangs there. Sasaki goes immediately into a Roll of the Dice (Roll of the Daisuke?) which wins the match for him.

Match Thoughts: I was of two minds on this match. On one hand, it was structured very similarly to the earlier matches (in fact blatantly copying at least one spot), which made it drag at points. Yet, at the same time, the wrestlers were also busting out innovative offense that you’re not going to see in a lot of other places, which is a good counterweight. All-in-all, the two factors evened out to a point where, believe it or not, this match was in the same general range as everything else that we’ve seen on the rest of the show. **

Match Numero Siete: Ken Ohka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

This match actually starts off with some comedy, with Kikuchi climbing up to the top rope as part of his entrance and doing some crazy badass old man facials before Ohka climbs to the opposite corner and starts mocking him. Kikuchi goes over to kick some ass, but Ohka leaps off the ropes and hits his man with a missile dropkick. The fight then spills to the floor, with Ohka posting the veteran before heading into a forearm exchange on the floor. Ken whips Kikuchi into some empty chairs at ringside but is forearmed yet again to calm him down. The men reenter the ring, and more forearming is the next order of the day. Ohka eventually takes a bump off of one of Tsuyohi’s forearms, and he’s quickly kicked in the back after that. Kikuchi stays on his man with a leg lariat for a two count, after which he starts playing to the crowd. Ohka is tossed out of the ring once more, this time on to the elevated entrance ramp that connects to the ring. While there, the wrestlers fight over the suplex, and it is Kikuchi who eventually connects with the move.

Kikuchi tries to suplex Ohka back into the ring as well, but Ken blocks it and hits a springboard dropkick. There’s a lot of selling by both parties after that move, though eventually Ohka gets back up and hits a bridging German suplex for a two count. Ken goes up to the top rope again, but Kikuchi cuts him off and hits a wacky belly-to-belly superplex in which, instead of taking the bump with Ohka, Kikuchi instead hooks his legs around the top rope in almost a tree of woe position and then pulls himself back up. Kikuchi looks for some top rope offense from that position, but this time Ohka cuts him off and hits a standard superplex. At this point, both men start hitting each other with forearms in a kneeling position, eventually returning to their feet for more of the same. Ohka tries a headbutt, followed by several more, but Kikuchi no sells all of them and hits one ‘butt of his own, which is strong enough to get him a two count on Ohka. A second Kikuchi headbutt sets up a form of a pump handle slam, and that wins the match for Tsuyoshi.

Match Thoughts: As with Marines and Tamura, this was a good example of two guys doing a good job of doing a match that would stand out from the rest of the action in the first round of the tournament between their integration of wacky comedic selling and facials and the stuff on the outside of the ring. I also saw some good straight wrestling from Ohka, which is something I almost never seen elsewhere given his tendencies towards comedy. At the end of the day, it was Kikuchi that stood out, though, simultaneously being a badass and making me laugh heartily. I look forward to more of this man in the tournament. **1/4

Match Numero Ocho: Taichi vs. Osamu Namiguchi

Namiguchi’s first bit of offense is a schoolboy seconds after the bell, followed by a small package, followed by an Oklahoma roll. They all get him two counts. From there, Osamu charges his opponent, but Taichi ducks and winds up backdropping his man on to the entrance ramp. Once his there, Taichi slams Namiguchi on the ramp as well and then kicks him until he falls off and down to the floor. Taichi follows his opponent down and slams him back first into the ramp before kicking him across the spine a couple of times. Namiguchi doesn’t make it back into the ring until the referee is on his eighteen count, and, once he’s there, Taichi damn near KO’s him with open hand palm strikes before kicking him in the side of the head. Taichi hits the ropes for more offense, but Namiguchi turns things in his favor with a dropkick and follows with a back elbow in the corner. A leaping forearm in the corner also connects, but it’s not long before Namiguchi runs into Taichi’s boot. The NJPW wrestler keeps using his feet to his advantage, landing a pair of Yakuza kicks for a nearfall. Several kicks to the chest also connect for Taichi, but Osamu blocks the last in the series and uses it to set up a Samoan drop. Namiguchi goes up and hits a missile dropkick, followed in short order by a German suplex and a leg-cradle Michinoku driver. It only gets two.

At this point Taichi begins firing off his offense, starting with a sit-out powerbomb for two. A pair of high kicks to the head can only get a one count, at which point Taichi tries for a superkick, only to miss and get caught in Osamu’s backslide. It can only get two. Seconds later, more kick work from Taichi manages to keep Namiguchi’s shoulders down for three.

Match Thoughts: Oddly enough, even though it was the main event of night one of the tournament, I thought that this was the weakest match of the show, though not by a significant margin. Taichi looked pretty darn good and leagues ahead of most of the other people on this show, though that’s to be expected. Namiguchi, however, was pretty dull and the match didn’t feature too horribly much aside from Taichi’s innate talent that we hadn’t already seen in earlier tournament bouts. Sort of a sorry note to end on but not so bad that I’m turned off from watching the rest of the event. *3/4

Overall

It’s a little premature to give overall thoughts, since we’ve only made it through the first round of the tournament. (And, for television broadcast purposes, the entire show was put together into one block.) However, I will say that, though nothing in the first round was an absolute standout, nothing was bad either, and everything came together in a manner that established a solid foundation for the rest of the tournament by establishing wrestlers’ personalities and holds, which will no doubt play into some of the drama in later rounds. I’m actually looking forward to next week’s review more than most.

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