Never Say Never (2021) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

supercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW), which aired on March 31, 2021, as a special episode of ''

Fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

'' on

fubo Sports Network FuboTV Inc. (stylized as fuboTV) is an American streaming television service serving customers in the United States, Canada, and Spain that focuses primarily on channels that distribute live sports. Depending on country, channels offered by Fubo ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. It was the fourth event under the Never Say Never chronology. Three

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

were contested at the event. In the

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

Jacob Fatu Jacob Fatu is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Major League Wrestling. He is a former one-time MLW World Heavyweight Champion and his reign is the longest in the title's history at 819 days. He also performs on the independen ...

retained the World Heavyweight Championship against

Calvin Tankman Christopher Heyward III is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Calvin Tankman. He is currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenures with Major League Wrestling and IWA Mid-South. Professional wres ...

, thus ending Tankman's undefeated streak in MLW. The undercard featured matches between

Contra Unit Contra Unit is a villainous professional wrestling stable in Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Southern Honor Wrestling (SHW). It consists of Ikuro Kwon and Mads Krügger. In SHW (where Krügger is known as “The Heathen” Krule), the group also ...

and

Injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but n ...

, in which

Jordan Oliver Jordan Oliver may refer to: * Jordan Oliver (amateur wrestler) (born 1990), American freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler * Jordan Oliver (professional wrestler) Jordan Oliver Jr. (born June 18, 1999) is an American professional wrestler ...

defeated

Simon Gotch Seth Lesser (born October 18, 1982) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Simon Gotch. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he held the NXT Tag Team Championship as one-half of The Vaudevillains along with Aid ...

and Myron Reed defeated Daivari.

Production

Background

On December 9, 2019, it was announced on MLW's website that the 2020 edition of Never Say Never would take place at the Melrose Ballroom in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

on July 16, 2020. However, MLW postponed all of its tapings due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

after the

AAA vs MLW AAA vs MLW (also known as MLW x AAA and AAA vs. MLW Super Series) was a professional wrestling supercard event co-produced by the U.S-based Major League Wrestling (MLW) and the Mexico-based Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), in partnership with Prom ...

tapings in March. Never Say Never was postponed to February 4, 2021 at the Melrose Ballroom in New York City.

Storylines

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed

villains A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character as ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by MLW's writers. Storylines were played out on MLW's television program ''

''. The main storyline heading into Never Say Never was the feud between

and

. At the end of the AAA vs. MLW Super Series on the May 10, 2020 episode of ''Fusion'', Contra Unit attacked various wrestlers and MLW staff before ultimately taking over MLW headquarters (a storyline explanation for MLW's hiatus during the

). Injustice member Kotto Brazil was severely injured in the attack and doctors rendered him unable to compete (therefore explaining Brazil's

legit ''Legit'' is a slang abbreviation of '' legitimate''. It may also refer to: * Legit (professional wrestling) * ''Legit'' (2006 TV series), Scottish sitcom * ''Legit'' (2013 TV series), created by comedian Jim Jefferies * Legit Ballin', a record ...

imate departure from MLW when he opted not to sign a new contract). In November 2020, a match was set up between Injustice member

and Contra Unit member

Kings of Colosseum Kings of Colosseum is a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The first event was held in 2019 as a special live episode of MLW's weekly series, ''Fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining ...

, but Gotch faked injury and the match was cancelled. Later in the night, Contra attacked Injustice during an interview after Myron Reed lost the

World Middleweight Championship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

to the debuting

Lio Rush Lionel Gerard Green (born November 11, 1994), better known by the ring name Lio Rush, is an American professional wrestler and musician currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Chaos stable. He has also ap ...

. Daivari made his MLW debut by joining Contra Unit in the attack and cementing his status as Contra's newest member. A rematch was set between Gotch and Oliver on the January 20 episode of ''Fusion'' which ended with Gotch winning the match. On March 18, a match was set up between Reed and Daivari at Never Say Never. On March 19, it was announced that Gotch and Oliver would have a rematch at Never Say Never. On the March 4 episode of ''Fusion'', the recently debuted

defeated

Laredo Kid Laredo Kid (born December 30, 1986) is a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler. He is currently signed to both Impact Wrestling and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, but is currently inactive due to abdominal surgery. Lar ...

and demanded a title shot against Contra Unit member

for the World Heavyweight Championship on the basis of his undefeated streak since his MLW debut in November. Later in the night, Fatu successfully defended the title against Jordan Oliver and Contra Unit attacked Injustice and tried to lock them in body bags but Tankman made the save. On March 11, it was announced that Tankman would challenge Fatu for the title at Never Say Never.

Event

Preliminary matches

The event kicked off with a match between

member

against

member

. Oliver nailed a diving cutter from the middle rope for the win. It was followed by a second match pitting Injustice against Contra Unit as Myron Reed from Injustice took on Contra Unit member Daivari. Reed avoided a

frog splash Aerial techniques, also known as "high-flying moves" are maneuvers in professional wrestling using the ring's posts and ropes as aids, in many cases to demonstrate the speed and agility of smaller, nimble and acrobatically inclined wrestlers prefer ...

by Daivari and removed the chest protector from Daivari's body and wore it and then nailed a

springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

360° splash on Daivari for the win. A segment featured in which

Alexander Hammerstone Alex Rohde (born January 17, 1991), better known by his ring names Alexander Hammerstone or simply Hammerstone is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling, where he is the current MLW World Heavyweight ...

took issues with

Mil Muertes Gilbert Cosme Ramírez (born May 25, 1972) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler, better known by his ring names El Mesías, Mil Muertes, Ricky Banderas and King Muertes. He began his career in the International Wrestling Association based in ...

on stealing Hammerstone's National Openweight Championship belt, setting up a match between the two on the April 14 episode of ''Fusion''. It was followed by an interview between former

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

members

Richard Holliday Joe Zimbardi (born November 8, 1992) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Richard Holliday. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he was a member of The Dynasty. He is a former one-time IWA W ...

and Gino Medina hosted by

Alicia Atout Alicia Atout ( ; born 1 June 1995) is a Canadian interviewer and YouTube personality, best known for her work in the music and professional wrestling industries. She is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW) as a member of the promotio ...

, setting up an

IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Championship The IWA Puerto Rico/Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Peso Pesado del Caribe/Caribeño de la IWA'' in Spanish) is a regional championship originally defended in the International Wrestling Association of Puerto Rico (IWA-PR), where ...

match between Holliday and Medina for the April 14 episode of ''Fusion''.

Main event match

The main event was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship between

and the undefeated

. Daivari distracted the referee by tossing the Contra Unit flag into the ring and Tankman headbutted Daivari. This led to the referee getting distracted in ejecting Daivari and Fatu hit Tankman with the flagpole and performed a double jump moonsault on Tankman to retain the title and end Tankman's undefeated streak in MLW.

Results

References

External links

Major League Wrestling official website
{{MLWPPV, Never Say Never 2021 in professional wrestling Major League Wrestling shows March 2021 sports events in the United States 2021 in professional wrestling in Florida Professional wrestling shows in Orlando, Florida