Into the Indies 06.28.11: NEVER say NEVER (Part 2)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that is like, baby baby baby, oh baby.

Last week, we started looking at the sixth show from NEVER, which is a relatively new sub-brand of New Japan Pro Wrestling focusing on developing younger talent. The sixth NEVER show featured a tournament of junior heavyweights used as a tool to promote the eighteenth annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament being promoted by the main NJPW brand.

If you click over to take a look at our column from seven days ago, you can find virtually all of the basic background information that you need in order to familiarize yourself with the competitors in NEVER’s tournament. You’re also going to be able to find reviews of all of the first round matches.

However, despite the reviews and despite the quick bios on the wrestlers, I realized that, last week, I did a fairly poor job of explaining the concept of the tournament itself. I neglected to mention that there are two separate brackets to the tournament, referred to as Block A and Block B, which parallel the two blocks in the main BOSJ tournament. The NEVER tournament will feature a Block A winner and a Block B winner, though they’re not going to fight each other at the end . . . so, really, it would make more sense to bill it as two separate tournaments. The Block A winner and the Block B winner in the NEVER tournament will be receiving berths in Blocks A and B of Best of the Super Juniors, respectively.

So, by way of recap, the first round Block A matches from last week were Ryuichi Sekine defeating Kyosuke Mikami, Kazuhiro Tamura beating Marines Mask II, Daisuke Sasaki going over Shinichiro Tominaga, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi getting the better of Ken Ohka. Block B saw Keisuke Ishii pinning Himoru Takahashi, Shinobu beating Kaji Tomato, Madoka defeating Kazuki Hirata, and Taichi picking up the victory over Osamu Namiguchi.

Now let’s take a look at the semi’s and the finals of the two brackets.

Match Numero Uno: Ryuichi Sekine vs. Daisuke Sasaki in a Block A semi-final match

Sekine goes behind in the early going but gets caught in an armbar. Reversals of that hold follow, after which Sekine gets a quick two off of a shoulderblock and another one off of a kick to the back. Clubbing forearms are next from the K-Dojo representative, followed up with a scoop slam. Ryuichi then puts Sasaki’s arm into a hammerlock position and kicks it, but Sasaki shows no ill effects and comes back with a dropkick. A back elbow connects for a two count, and then we hit the chinlock. Sekine struggles to get up to a vertical base and elbows out. Sasaki looks to reapply the hold but gets punched in the gut in the process and dropkicked. Ryuichi stays on his man by hitting a double knee in the corner and a facewash for a nearfall. Both men return to a vertical base after the pinning predicament, and Sekine winds up running into Daisuke’s boot before getting hit with an axe bomber. There’s a backdrop suplex from the Dick Togo protégé, who next comes off of the top rope with a missile dropkick. It only gets two, so Sasaki plants his man with a DDT. He misses a top rope elbow, though, giving Sekine an opening to hit a big running kick for two. A buzzsaw style kick from Ryuichi misses, though, which sets off an AWESOME series of fast counters between the men, including another missed roundhouse kick by Sekine. From there, Sasaki hits him with the Roll of the Daisuke and gets a three count.

Match Thoughts: This match only ran about five minutes, so there wasn’t that much time for the wrestlers to do anything spectacular, and, for the majority of the bout, they weren’t. However, the rapid-fire exchange of counter holds building up to the finish was quite an impressive visual and took the bout in my mind from “typical five minute wrestling match” to “five minute wrestling match that has at least one memorable moment.” My only real criticism is Sasaki’s finisher, which I’ve seen twice now. Essentially, he starts with his opponent over his shoulder as if for a running powerslam but then drops them into a Roll the Dice type move. It sounds like it could be cool on paper, but both times I’ve seen it now it’s looked pretty weak. **

Match Numero Dos: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Kazuhiro Tamura in a Block A semi-final match

Tamura cradles the AJPW vet several times as soon as the bell rings, but he can only ever get a two count. Kikuchi rolls to the outside for a breather but gets dropkicked off of the apron, which Tamura follows with a big tope suicida to the delight of the crowd. Kikuchi returns to his feet, and he is so pissed off that I couldn’t help but screencap it.

Tamura has returned to the ring by this point, so Kikuchi trips him from the floor, grabs his legs, and rams him crotch-first into the ringpost. The veteran continues to pull on Tamura’s legs after the fact, putting even more pressure on his groin. Kikuchi returns to the ring and hits some rolling suplexes for a two count, followed by a leg lariat. Of course, wacky facials are interspersed throughout. Tsuyoshi puts his man into the corner to dish out more punishment, but Tamura catches him off guard with leg kicks to set up a weird spot in which Kikuchi dares him to hit more and more of the same move. Tamura obliges and eventually comes off the top rope with a flying body attack for two. His next trick is a huge running kick to Kikuchi’s face, after which he goes to the top rope. Tsuyoshi cuts him off and hits his weird belly-to-belly into a Three of Woe move, then coming off the top with a diving headbutt. It only gets two. Tamura cradles Kikuchi out of the blue for two. He looks for a kick after that, but Kikuchi catches his leg and tries to use it to set up a lariat. However, Tamura blocks the move and rolls through looking to score a cross arm breaker. Kikuchi tries to counter, but Tamura shifts his weight and attempts the cross arm breaker again. Unfortunately for him, as he is trying to apply the hold, Kikuchi stacks Tamuru up on his own shoulders and lays across him to score a surprising three count.

Match Thoughts: This was another short match, though I liked it a bit better than the prior match because it was clear that they were doing a lot to go out of their way and make the virtually unknown Tamura look like a player against Kikuchi, who has been around for decades and wrestled in major promotions at the height of puroresu’s popularity. They gave Tamura plenty of offense to accomplish that goal, and, more importantly, the finish is one where Tamura was in control but got caught unawares by the cagey veteran, who used his experience and knowledge of ring positioning to score the pin. Plus it was all done in a way where Tamura was surprised by the finish but didn’t come off like a complete doofus for not seeing it coming, which is sometimes a problem with rollups concluding a match. **1/2

Match Numero Tres: Keisuke Ishii vs. Taichi in a Block B semi-final match

It’s fast and furious from the opening bell, with Ishii missing a spinning heel kick seconds in and Taichi unleashing boots on him as payback, including a big one to the back of the head. DDT’s favorite son fires back with forearms, but Taichi chops him down and hits the ropes. As he comes off, Ishii catches him with a big kick and turns it into a series of three, followed by a German suplex attempt. Taichi escapes and blatantly rakes the eyes in front of the referee, though it doesn’t get him anywhere as he is quickly subjected to Ishii’s backflip kick and a German suplex for two. A butterfly suplex is attempted by Ishii and it’s blocked, though he rebounds and hits the spinning heel kick he was looking for earlier to get two. Keisuke misses a lariat, though, and before long he’s hit with a Taichi Yakuza kick for a nearfall. Taichi charges at his opponent in the corner, but Ishii avoids it and gets in a sunset flip and a cradle, both for two. Taichi responds with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a buzzsaw kick before he slaps on the LION TAMER~! Ishii can only stomach a few seconds in the hold and promptly submits.

Match Thoughts: Another match that came to a quick end, though in the prior matches they paid some lip service to the idea of starting on the mat and building up to more action, whereas in this one they just started throwing bombs at each other as soon as the first bell rang. For a short match, there was good back and forth action, and, much like in the Kikuchi/Tamura match, they did a fine job of making it look like the guy from a lower level (Ishii) had a shot against the bigger name (Taichi). No complaints from me here. **

Match Numero Cuatro: Shinobu vs. Madoka in a Block B semi-final match

Much like the last match, this is action straight from the opening bell, as Shinobu IMMEDIATELY wipes Madoka out with a lariat and throws him to the floor so he can hit an Asai moonsault. Shinobu then slams one of his opponent’s legs into the ringpost at high speed. They tease a count out with Madoka selling the leg and not making it back into the ring until the ref’s count hits seventeen. As soon as he does get back between the ropes, Madoka is dropkicked in the bum leg, and he has difficulty running the ropes when Shinobu shoots him in. A scoop slam leads into a lionsault by Shinobu, which he follows with a unique sit-out version of the old Ric Flair knee crusher before applying the figure four. Eventually Madoka makes the ropes, and the men are returned to a vertical base. Once there, Madoka blocks a Shinobu lariat and boots him in the face for two. An impressive enzuguiri variation from Madoka follows, and, believe it or not, it sets up the Ranhei after virtually no prior offense from Madoka.

Match Thoughts: I liked this match because it was something different, which you need to break up the repetition that you can sometimes have when you hold a tournament with guys who are known for having similar styles. Though they had some standard puroresu spots peppered in throughout, this was in a lot of ways a more American style match with a somewhat slower pace and psychology that would be familiar with US wrestlers. Plus, as we’ll see, the story of the match helps to contribute to things later on in the evening. **3/4

Match Numero Cinco: Daisuke Sasaki vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in the Block A finals

This match will decide which wrestler moves on to compete in Block A of the Best of the Super Juniors. The wrestlers stare each other down for a good long while after the opening bell, followed by a forearm exchange. The forearms give way to slaps, which in turn give way to dropkicks. Kikuchi is the second guy to hit his dropkick, so he gets the advantage going forward and lands a series of four headbutt drops to a prone Sasaki. He runs into a boot, though, which sets up a missile dropkick from Sasaki. That sets the crusty old man out to the floor, leading into an INSANE tope by Sasaki in which he wraps around Kikuchi in midair and manages to land on his feet. Both men return to the ring at the same time, where Sasaki looks to capitalize with some boots and forearms. Kikuchi starts hulking up, though, eventually catching his man with rolling Gremans and a blue thunder driver for two. Tsuyoshi takes too long showboating after hitting the big moves, though, and Daisuke is back in the thick of things, quickly, hitting some forearms. I don’t know what caused it, but Kikuchi appears to have been busted open. No clue whether it’s legit or not, as the blood is located exactly where it would be if he bladed, but, on the other hand, there hasn’t been a spot in the match that it would make sense for him to blade off of. Anyway, the match moves into a kneeling forearm exchange, which Sasaki wins before hitting three simultaneous leaping enzguiri (enzuguiris?). There’s the Roll of the Daisuke, and there’s the victory for Daisuke Sasaki.

Match Thoughts: This certainly wasn’t a bad match by any stretch of the imagination, but, aside from the big tope, I was a bit disappointed with it because there wasn’t much which made it as the “finals” of the Block stand out from anything else on the card. Kikuchi still brought it with the entertaining, wacky facials and Daisuke still looked like a promising young competitor, but it did come off feeling as though you’d seen it all before. **

Match Numero Seis: Madoka vs. Taichi in the Block B finals

And now we determine who goes in to Block B of BOSJ. Madoka comes on strong in the opening seconds by dropkicking the NJPW contracted wrestler out of the ring. He looks for an Asai moonsault, but Taichi kicks him the back of the legs and jams a chair into his knee. From there, Taichi picks up Madoka’s leg by the foot and slams it into the arena floor, now clearly trying to play off of his injury from earlier in the evening. Back in between the ropes, Taichi puts the boots to the bum wheel but gets cocky and is caught with an enzuguiri before Madoka puts him in a small package for two. As soon as he kicks out, Taichi kicks his opponent’s leg again, though he doesn’t follow up quickly and is grabbed by Madoka who hits, for lack of a better term, a “tornado” version of the divorce court on Taichi’s left arm. Awesome. Madoka runs the ropes looking for some offense, but, before he can hit anything, Taichi cuts him off by going back to the leg. In an incredibly sick move, Taichi stretches Madoka’s leg over the top rope and then runs in to hit him with a Yakuza kick to the knee. For the second time in two matches, Madoka finds himself trapped in the figure four leg lock, though this time he rolls it over to “reverse the pressure” and eventually grabs the bottom rope.

The two wrestlers now stand at center ring, where Taichi again uses an eye rake to his advantage, this time setting up a sit-out powerbomb for two. Taichi starts setting up for something, but Madoka pops up from the mat earlier than he expecting, clocking Taichi with a high kick and the hundred hand slap. Madoka sets up for the Ranhei, but Taichi elbows out of it. He hurts his bad arm in the process, though, giving Madoka an opening to kick it and apply an armbar similar to the trademark hold of Yuji Nagata. Taichi makes the ropes, and Madoka tries to stay on him with a lionsault. It misses. Both wrestlers get back up to their feet and take turns hitting each other’s bad limbs, Madoka with the arm and Taichi with the leg. It’s Taichi that gets the better of it, though, connecting with a running Yakuza kick (this time to the face). When Madoka kicks out of that, Taichi rips off his own pants (seriously) and looks for another big kick. It misses, and Madoka gets a series of three two counts off of crucifix pin attempts. As soon as he gets back up to his feet, Madoka is superkicked and blasted with a diving knee strike. He gets out of the follow up pin attempt at two, but there’s no getting up when Taichi lands the old Kryptonite Crunch. That’s enough for the Taichi win.

Match Thoughts: This match did make it to a level above the rest of the tournament matches, unlike the prior bout. Madoka was a good foil for Taichi and did a fine job fighting from underneath and, for lack of a better term, playing the “babyface in peril.” He did everything that he needed to do in selling the knee that made him look strong in defeat, and the wrestlers also worked things in a way that still made this look like a legit victory for Taichi even though he was going up against somebody who was apparently injured. This won’t be anywhere near anybody’s match of the year ballots, but, for a show on this level, it was a perfectly acceptable main event. ***

Overall

NEVER 6, which in its television format consisted of all of the junior heavyweight tournament matches, was a fun show to watch. Nothing on it was a blow-away bout, but a tournament is always a good way to be introduced to new wrestlers, as you see several of them more than once and as a result have more of an opportunity to become acquainted with their moves and level of skill than you do if you just see them in one match on a stand-alone card. In this particular tournament, the competitors were mostly either youngsters or wrestlers who have not gotten a ton of exposure on a major level, so you’re going to want to check it out if you’re a person who likes to see wrestlers whose careers are on the uptick. My only criticism is that, even though none of the matches were bad, I would have liked the show to have five or ten extra minutes so that it could have the potential to be capped off by a match in the neighborhood of **** as opposed to a match in the neighborhood of ***. That would have gone a long way in terms of making the entire event stand out as something memorable as opposed to making the event something that you pop in to kill a couple of hours with fairly innocuous wrestling. However, like I said, if you’re somebody who wants to familiarize yourself with young junior heavyweight wrestlers who are probably going to move up in the world, you can’t go wrong watching this show.

Looking forward to the next installment of Into the Indies? Keep an eye on 411’s Twitter accounts, and you just might see it pop up!

RYAN BYERS ON TWITTER~!

http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma

See you all next week!