FMW 8th Anniversary Show | |||
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Promotion | Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling | ||
Date | April 29, 1997 | ||
City | Yokohama, Japan | ||
Venue | Yokohama Arena | ||
Attendance | 16,000 | ||
Event chronology | |||
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FMW Anniversary Show chronology | |||
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FMW 8th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on April 29, 1997 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. This was the eighth edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the seventh anniversary of the company. It was the second edition of the event at the Yokohama Arena after 3rd Anniversary Show in 1992 and the first time in four years that the event was not held at Kawasaki Stadium.
The main event was a no rope 200 volt double hell double barbed wire barricade double landmine crushed glass electrical barbed wire deathmatch between Shark Tsuchiya and Megumi Kudo for Tsuchiya's FMW Independent and WWA World Women's Championship. Kudo defeated Tsuchiya to win the title. The match was billed as Kudo's farewell match as she retired from wrestling after the event. In other major matches on the card, FMW's Atsushi Onita and Masato Tanaka and W*ING Alliance's W*ING Kanemura defeated Funk Masters of Wrestling's Terry Funk, Cactus Jack and The Gladiator in a Texas Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch and Hayabusa defeated Mr. Gannosuke in a highly acclaimed mask vs. hair match, the first of the historic matches of their epic rivalry.
The opening match of the event was a tag team match, in which Ricky Fuji teamed with Ricky Morton to take on Hido and Dragon Winger. Fuji executed a jumping DDT and a brainbuster to Winger for the win. [1]
Next, the team of Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hayato Nanjyo took on Flying Kid Ichihara and Crypt Keeper. Keeper delivered a double underhook powerbomb to Hayato, allowing Ichihara to execute a moonsault to Ichihara for the win. [1]
Next, Koji Nakagawa competed against Funk Masters of Wrestling member Katsutoshi Niiyama. After a back and forth match, Nakagawa delivered an exploder suplex to Niiyama for the win. After the match, Niiyama turned into a fan favorite by shaking hands with Nakagawa as it was Niiyama's last match in FMW. [1]
Next, the team of Kaori Nakayama, Michiko Omukai, Chikako Shiratori, Mizuki Endo and Yoko Ikeda competed against Lioness Asuka, Eagle Sawai, Crusher Maedomari, Michiko Nagashima and Miss Mongol in a ten-woman tag team match. Nakayama delivered a frankensteiner to Mongol for the win. [1]
Later, Jinsei Shinzaki competed against Super Leather. After a back and forth action, Shinzaki applied a Gokuraku-Gatame on Leather to make him submit. [1]
Next, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters competed against Fuyuki-Gun (Kodo Fuyuki, Jado and Gedo) in a Street Fight. A Headhunter delivered a double underhook powerbomb and a moonsault to Gedo for the win. [1]
Next, Hayabusa took on Mr. Gannosuke in a Mask vs. Hair match. Near the end of the match, Gannosuke delivered a Northern Lights suplex to Hayabusa but got a near-fall and then Hayabusa delivered a Falcon Arrow to Gannosuke for the win. After the match, Hayabusa offered to forgive Gannosuke and not to cut his hair if Gannosuke left Funk Masters of Wrestling and joined FMW side. Gannosuke then shook hands with Hayabusa but turned on him by attacking him and ripping off his mask and then attempted to blow fire on him until Jinsei Shinzaki made the save. [1]
The penultimate match was a Texas Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch, pitting the team of Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka and W*ING Kanemura against Funk Masters of Wrestling members Terry Funk, Cactus Jack and The Gladiator. Kanemura dived from the top rope and hit Gladiator with a chair for the win. [1]
In the main event, Shark Tsuchiya defended the FMW Women's Championship against Megumi Kudo in a No Rope 200 Volt Double Hell Double Barbed Wire Barricade Double Landmine Crushed Glass Electrical Barbed Wire Deathmatch. This was Kudo's retirement match. Near the end of the match, Kudo blocked a lariat by Tsuchiya, but both fell into the barbed wire. Tsuchiya managed to escape but Kudo was trapped and the barbed wire exploded with Kudo within it. She then fell on Tsuchiya and Tsuchiya got pinned, resulting in Kudo winning the title. [1]
Stuart of Puroresu Central gave negative reviews to the event, calling it "a very disappointing major show", with "there were no good matches (a couple of those clipped matches looked promising, but were cut to shreds)." He panned the deathmatch between FMW and Funk Masters of Wrestling, considering it "the biggest letdown of the show and wasn't as good as people hoped it would be." He praised Kudo's performance stating that she "had an epic performance and took uncanny punishment. The post-match stuff was also very effective, a vintage FMW moment with raw emotion, not just a storyline. She went out with the belts, but it would have been nice if she retired having a match worthy of her talent, against someone like Aja Kong or Lioness Asuka." He praised the Hayabusa/Gannoske hair vs. hair match, suggesting it to be a "real good match" He praised Hayabusa's performance by stating that he "really stepped up to carry Gannosuke to more than just a spot-to-spot match", with Gannosuke "wasn't that great here, after wallowing as Tarzan Goto's underling for so long. He always showed potential, but never really had the chance to build on it until arriving in FMW". He stated that the "match was close and the finish was quick and somewhat sudden", with "telling the tale of how evenly matched they were" and opined that the match was a "good start to their excellent feud". He also praised Nakagawa/Niiyama match, with "the action was solid and the sequences quite smooth". [1]
Eiji Ezaki was a Japanese professional wrestler, stage actor, musician and professional wrestling promoter, better known under the ring name Hayabusa. He was best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily wrestled throughout his career and was the franchise player of the company between 1995 and 2001.
Yukihiro Kanemura, better known by his ring name Kintaro Kanemura, is a Zainichi Korean retired professional wrestler. He also wrestled under the ring name Wing Kanemura. He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), International Wrestling Association (IWA) and Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING).
Masashi Honda is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) under the ring name Mr. Gannosuke.
Koji Nakagawa is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) between 1992 and 2002. He is perhaps best known for his “Hitman” character, heavily inspired by Canadian professional wrestler Bret Hart. Nakagawa also wrestled as Goemon between 2000 and 2002, a dark thief character that was eventually killed and turned into a ghost in storyline.
FMW 9th Anniversary Show: Entertainment Wrestling Live was the first professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on April 30, 1998, at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in Yokohama, Japan. This was the first FMW event to be broadcast on pay-per-view via DirecTV. The event commemorated the ninth anniversary of FMW and was the first to be broadcast on pay-per-view.
The W*ING Alliance was a Japanese professional wrestling group that existed in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) between 1994 and 1997. The group consisted of wrestlers from the W*ING promotion, which ended in March 1994 due to FMW hiring the top tier talent of W*ING and the W*ING alumni wanted to avenge the demise of the company from FMW and the company's owner Atsushi Onita in storyline.
FMW 2nd Anniversary Show: Fall Spectacular (1991) was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on September 23, 1991 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was FMW's first show at the venue and it would become a venue for FMW's future major events. This was the second edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the second anniversary of the company.
FMW 4th Anniversary Show: Origin was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on May 5, 1993 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was the fourth edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the fourth anniversary of the company.
The FMW 5th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on May 5, 1994 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was the fifth edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the company. It was the third edition of the event to take place at Kawasaki Stadium and took place on May 5 for the second consecutive year. May 5 would become a significant date for FMW like January 4 was for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
FMW 6th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), taking place on May 5, 1995 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was the sixth edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the sixth anniversary of the company and the third consecutive and fourth overall edition of Anniversary Show at Kawasaki Stadium.
FMW 7th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), taking place on May 5, 1996 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was the seventh edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the seventh anniversary of the company and the fourth consecutive and fifth overall edition of Anniversary Show at Kawasaki Stadium.
ZEN was a professional wrestling stable in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The group was led by former FMW owner and the company's founder Atsushi Onita from late 1997 to mid 1998 and the group was based on World Championship Wrestling's New World Order (nWo). The group produced its own shows in collaboration with FMW like nWo promoted its own pay-per-view nWo Souled Out.
Team No Respect was a professional wrestling faction in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), which existed in the company between 1998 and 2000. The ideology of the group was that they disrespected all the wrestlers in FMW as well as the company's management and President Shoichi Arai. TNR was formed after Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido turned on their ZEN leader Atsushi Onita out of jealousy with Onita due to his high ego and selfishness and formed a major alliance with Fuyuki-Gun. TNR was the most popular, successful and influential stable in the history of FMW and were involved in FMW's major storylines and rivalries during its two and a half year existence.
FMW 12th Anniversary Show: Kawasaki Legend 2001 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on May 5, 2001 at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The event marked the return of FMW to the Kawasaki Stadium since Fall Spectacular in 1997. The event commemorated the twelfth anniversary of the promotion and was the final edition of the Anniversary Show as the promotion closed on February 15, 2002.
Super Extreme Wrestling War was a series of professional wrestling events produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in 1997. These events marked the first time that FMW began a partnership with American counterpart Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and a working relationship began between the two companies as ECW wrestlers competed at these events and it marked the beginning of interpromotional matches and events between ECW and FMW. These events would create a huge impact in FMW's storylines as they concluded with the breakup of ZEN when Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido attacked their leader Atsushi Onita out of jealousy after Hayabusa pinned Onita in a WarGames match. They merged with Fuyuki-Gun to form Team No Respect, which would dominate FMW until 2000.
Year End Spectacular (1996) was the third and final Year End Spectacular professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling on December 11, 1996. The event was a part of the 1996 Year End Sensation tour, which concluded with the Year End Spectacular event.
Summer Spectacular (1993) was the second Summer Spectacular professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on August 22, 1993 at the Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan.
Summer Spectacular (1994) was the third Summer Spectacular professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on August 28, 1994 at the Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka, Japan.
Summer Spectacular (1996) was the fourth Summer Spectacular professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on August 1, 1996 at the Shiodome in Tokyo, Japan.
Fall Spectacular: Kawasaki Legend was a Fall Spectacular professional wrestling event produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). The event took place on September 28, 1997 at the Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The show aired via tape delay on Samurai TV! on October 12.