FMW 8th Anniversary Show
4/29/97 Yokohama Arena
This was one of FMW's two biggest events of 1997. It was held in the Yokohama Arena due to rennovations of Kawasaki Stadium, where the anniversary show usually took place. The show featured the standard FMW hardcore streetfight with all the wild action and violence with good moves mixed in. The main event featured the final match in the career of Megumi Kudo. Appropriate for the queen of hardcore wrestling, this match was the barbed wire double hell death match that FMW had invented and popularized. Overall, the quality of work on the show was fine, with the six man marquee match and the Hayabusa-Gannosuke matches being the highlights. Aside from the poor Shinzaki-Super Leather borefest, most of the other matches ranged from watchable to good. If anything, the dark lighting of the arena seemed to hinder the atmosphere a bit. Also, crowd heat for the undercard matches was weaker than it usually was for such matches at the stadium. Not a bad event, though.
The tape presentation, while at times mildly annoying, was overall thoughtful and effective. The undercard matches were heavily edited, sometimes overly so. Also too much time was devoted to showing clips and footage previewing the top three matches. Some of that time could have been given to the 10-woman tag match or the undercard 6-man match, both of which seemed to contain good work.
Match 1: Dragon W*inger & Hido vs Ricky Fuji & Ricky Morton
Fuji & Morton double dropkicked Hido out of the ring. Morton and Fuji hit tope suicidas on opposite sides of the ring. Fuji pinned W*inger at 11:03 after a brainbuster. Only 1 minute aired. Looked
okay but unremarkable.
Match 2: Hayato Nanjyo & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs Cryptkeeper & Flying Kid Ichihara
Hayato looked good in his offense. He went for a somersault tope but hit Kuroda instead of Ichihara. Cryptkeeper powerbombed Hayato and Ichihara pinned him at 11:11 after a moonsault.
Only 50 seconds aired.
Match 3: Katsutoshi Niyama vs Koji Nakagawa
Niyama hit a top rope spin kick for a near fall. Nakagawa gave Niyama a top rope shoulder tackle. Niyama gained near falls with a powerslam and two lariats. Nakagawa hit a urunage and a
German suplex for a near fall. Nakagawa pinned Niyama at 10:54 with an exploder. Only 3:24 aired but the match looked decent.
Match 4: Lioness Asuka, Eagle Sawaii, Crusher Maedomari, Miss Mongol & Michiko Nagashima vs Kaori Nakayama, Chikako Shiratori, Mizuki Endo, Michiko Omukai & Yoko Ikeda
Everyone was fired up, but there was little heat for the most part early on. The heels ganged up on Nakayama for a minute before the faces mounted a comeback. Nakayama gained a near fall on
Maedomari with a tornado DDT. Decent action and heat in the closing moments. Nagashima splashed Nakayama through a table on the floor. Nakayama pinned Mongol at 13:03 after a top rope
huracanrana. There was really good heat for the finish. Only 1:26 aired of this match. Overall a decent match, ** or slightly better.
Match 5: Jinsei Shinzaki vs Super Leather
I don't know why this match took place, because this was a disaster in the making. Shinzaki did his ropewalk spot early on. Leather blocked a prayer powerbomb, but Shinzaki later gained a near
fall with a prayer powerbomb. Shinzaki made Leather submit with his variation of the camel clutch at 10:29. 3:22 aired of this bad and boring match.
Match 6: Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo & Jado vs Headhunters & Hisakatsu Oya
Fuyuki used a stretch plum on Oya. Headhunters did a doomsday device on Jado for a near fall. Gedo hit a plancha on one of the Headhunters. Fuyuki gained a near fall on a Headhunter with three
lariats. Headhunter A gained a near fall on Gedo with a powerbomb and another with a tiger driver. Headhunter A pinned Gedo at 12:30 after an amazing moonsault from a 5' 10" 360 pound man.
4:58 of this match aired, and it looked like a good match, maybe as high as ***.
Several minutes of highlights, clips and interviews aired previewing the next match.
Match 7 (Mask vs Hair): Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke
Gannosuke attacked Hayabusa before the bell. Hayabusa hit a spectacular tope con hilo less than a minute into the match. They traded offense as the pace slowed down. Hayabusa suplexed
Gannosuke off the apron to the floor. He buried Gannosuke in chairs and moonsaulted him from the apron to the floor. Hayabusa hit a springboard somersault senton but met Gannosuke's feet when
he attempted an lionsault. Gannosuke used a pole on Hayabusa, stabbing his stomach with it. Hayabusa fought back with a 360 spin kick and a fisherman buster. Hayabusa gained a near fall with a
firebird splash and another with a falcon arrow. Gannosuke powerbombed Hayabusa and gained a near fall with a falcon arrow of his own. Hayabusa gained a near fall with a huracanrana but
then missed his phoenix splash. Gannosuke gained a near fall with a released German suplex and another with a northern lights suplex. Hayabusa pinned Gannosuke at 13:32 with a falcon arrow.
All but a minute of this match aired. Hayabusa went to shake Gannosuke's hand but Gannosuke attacked him, ripped off his mask and was going to blow a fireball at him when Shinzaki made the
save. Gannosuke left without losing his hair. Very good match. ***1/4
The six man tag match was previewed with several minutes of highlights and clips of previous matches and incidents.
Match 8: Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka & W*ING Kanemura vs Terry Funk, Mike Aewsome & Cactus Jack
The match started with wild action all over ringside. Onita piledrove Funk through a table at ringside. Tanaka hit a tope suicida on Aewsome, but Awesome came back and hit Tanaka with a Psicosis-like
tope suicida as Cactus fought with Kanemura. Funk used a flaming branding iron on Onita. Kanemura used a barbed wire bat against his opponents but Cactus took the bat and hit Kanemura with it.
Awesome gained a near fall on Kanemura with an Awesome bomb. Funk dominated Onita for several minutes during the match. Onita fought back and used a piece of a table on his opponents. He
gained a near fall on Cactus with a back suplex. Funk spewed a fireball that hit Onita's back and gained a near fall. Onita was dominated by the heels until Tanaka made the save. Tanaka gained a
near fall on Awesome with a roaring elbow and another with an Awesome bomb of his own. Tanaka gained a near fall on Cactus with a tornado DDT. There was more wild brawling in and out of
the ring. Awesome gained a near fall on Tanaka with an awesome bomb. He gave Tanaka a top rope Awesome bomb through a table for a super near fall as Onita made the save. Funk went for an
Orihara moonsault on Onita but Onita moved and Funk crashed onto his teammates in a crazy spot. Kanemura crashed onto Awesome off the top rope with a chair and pinned him at 20:20. 17:37
of this match aired. A super match with something happening every second. Basically the typical higher-end FMW great 6 man tag match. ****1/4
Several minutes of highlights aired previewing the main event.
Match 9: Megumi Kudo retirement match
WWA and FMW Women's Independent World Title
No Rope Electrified Barbed Wire Land Mine Double Hell Death Match
Shark Tsuchiya (champion) vs Megumi Kudo
They mainly teased barbed wire spots in the first couple minutes. Tsuchiya whipped Kudo into a side of electrified barbed wire for the first explosion at the five minute mark. She dominated Kudo
with rather dull offense. Kudo went for a German suplex but Tsuchiya countered and pushed Kudo into the other side of barbed wire for the second explosion. Tsuchiya then used a sickle to
carve up Kudo's head for a while. Tsuchiya used a sleeper on Kudo. She went to throw Kudo out of the ring but Kudo reversed the move and threw Tsuchiya onto the barbed wire explosives on
the floor. Kudo gained a near fall with a DDT and another with a northern lights suplex. She countered a powerbomb with a sunset flip for a near fall. Kudo gained another near fall with a tiger
driver. Tsuchiya caught Kudo and powerbombed her onto the barbed wire explosives on the floor. Tsuchiya gained a near fall after three backdrop drivers as heat picked up. Tsuchiya piledrove
Kudo on a chair for a near fall. She gained another near fall after she scorched Kudo with a fireball. Tsuchiya gained a near fall with a powerbomb. She charged at Kudo and they both fell into a
side of electrified barbed wire. A limp Kudo fell on top of Tsuchiya and scored the pin at 21:47 to win the titles. 17:43 of this match aired. Not great, but acceptable given the limitations caused by the
barbed wire and explosives. **1/4
After the match, Kudo took several minutes to get back to her feet. She briefly spoke to the crowd and was then carried to the back by several of the female wrestlers. Backstage it was a very emotional scene. She gave the title belts to Kaori Nakayama to return to the FMW president. She was tended to by several of the female and male wrestlers, oncluding Onita. Kudo broke down in tears and Onita did as well at one point. Onita drenched her in water to try to relieve the burning sensations caused by the explosives. After a long time, Kudo was placed in an ambulance and driven out of the arena. The postmatch footage took up over 15 minutes and was really interesting and surreal. They did a great job of getting over the emotional nature of the queen of hardcore's farewell. A fitting conclusion to the show. As much of a risk as it might have been to put Tsuchiya in any kind of main event, Kudo deserved the position and spotlight after all the great action she provided in her years in FMW.