FMW: STORY OF THE F VOLUME 2
This is basically a compilation tape of FMW's most prominent matches, moments and storylines from the period of 3/30/96 (where Story of the F Vol. 1 ended) to July 27, 1997. This tape covers many top stories in great detail, but most of the matches shown are in edited form. Air times of matches range from 11 minutes (for the deserving Kudo-Ozaki barbed wire match) to a few minutes, to one or two minutes (which many bouts receive) to just clips of the finishes (also applies to many matches). If you are looking for FMW's best matches during this time period in complete form, this is not the tape for you. However, many of the highlights of matches are action-packed, heated and dramatic, and most of the matches that get the most air time deserve the time. In short, this is a very good tape to get if you are new to or completely unfamiliar with the FMW product. If there is one glaring weakness and mystery, it is that many speeches, interviews and backstage angles are given so much more air time than many of the matches that are clipped to just show the closing moments. Seems like FMW wasted valuable minutes on such content, especially since many of the matches for which less than one minute were shown appeared to be heated and exciting.
This tape presents itself in two equal, 2 1/2 hour parts, the first for the men and the second for the women of FMW.
The men's portion picks up at the 5/5/96 Kawasaki Stadium shows, which was one of my favorite shows in terms of exemplifying the broad range of FMW's product. They show Taka Michinoku winning the FMW jr. title from Koji Nakagawa in a very good match (***1/2 in its entirety) and Terry Funk & Mr. Pogo defeating Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka in a barbed wire explosion extravaganza. From there, the main issue focused on was Mr. Pogo's face turn, which took place after he was pinned by Tanaka in a tag team match to great fan heat. Victor Quinones and company attacked Pogo, setting up a program between he and Terry Funk & The Headhunters. The tape showed Pogo going to various faces like Tanaka, Nakagawa & Kuroda for support and being met with distrust and uncertainty. He showed his loyalties by volunteering himself to team with them to defeat Quinones' thugs in a tag team match.
The next significant show covered was the 8/1/96 Shiodome card, which was lackluster by FMW's standards. Hayabusa defeated Nakagawa in his first match back since 5/5, and did not seem to look good since crowd heat was very minimal. Tanaka and Kanemura had a very good match in the semi-main event position. Finally, in the long-awaited showdown, Terry Funk beat Pogo in a barbed wire glass explosion death match when Pogo fell on top of glass and barbed wire with explosives underneath and was unable to continue after about 11:00 of action. Pogo suffered severe injuries, including temporary paralysis, which signified that the end of his career (in FMW) was nearing its end. That fall, he proclaimed allegiance to FMW, and won the trust and respect of the faces, although his in-ring matches were sporadic. Late that fall, he announced he would retire in December, but only if his all-time archrival, Atsushi Onita, would come out of retirement to TEAM with him! Onita was reluctant, since he made a solemn vow to retire at the 5/5/95 Kawasaki Stadium show. However, Pogo had earned his respect by this time, and Onita finally agreed to return in a match on 12/11/96 pitting he, Pogo, Tanaka & Kuroda against Funk, the Headhunters and Oya. It was a frenetic and bloody match, symbolic of the styles that Onita and Pogo had popularized. Their team appropriately won, and the man who made the pin was even more appropriate. Masato Tanaka pinned one of the Headhusters to win the match. Tanaka would go on to become arguably the best worker in FMW history and the group's MVP in the years to come. Pogo and Onita played less prominent roles than would be expected, but were used prominently in spots that were appropriate.
On to 1997, the beginning of which was marked by the return of Mr. Gannosuke to FMW rings. Although his return was fairly subdued, he soon made his presence felt, siding with the heels like Mike Awesome and Hisakatsu Oya against the likes of Hayabusa, Tanaka and others. Meanwile, W*ING Kanemura stirred things up by siding with Onita and Tanaka in a match against Funk, Awesome, and Mankind at the 4/29/97 Yokohama Arena show. Onita's team won the match, and his feud with Funk basically ended as Funk went to ECW full time after the match. Also on that show, Hayabusa defeated Gannosuke in a hair vs mask match, but Gannosuke attacked Hayabusa after the match and left without his head being shaved.
That Spring, Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo and Jado debuted in FMW and shook things up. In particular, Fuyuki, who started going by the first name Kodo, taunted and challenged Onita and feuded with many of the top faces. Things were briefly well between Onita and the W*ING alliance, but tensions flared and reached a boiling point during the summer. The following are tidbits on matches that received the most airtime.
2/18/97: Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome
This was not necessarily their best match, but was very good and a precursor of their super matches to come. Awesome hit his incredible suicide dive and gave Tanaka an Awesome bomb from
the ring to the floor through a table. Tanaka hit a springboard missile dropkick for a near fall. Awesome pinned Tanaka after an Awesome bomb at 15:25. About 2 minutes aired. Looked like *** to ***1/2.
5/8/97: Great Nita, W*ING Kanemura & Hido vs Kodo Fuyuki, Gedo & Jado
Not a good match, but there was enough action and violence to keep the fans into it. Hido suplexed Kanemura off the apron through a table. Nita used an axe on Fuyuki to split his head open and also
spewed green mist at Jado. Kanemura pinned Gedo at 13:25 after a top rope senton. Again, 2 minutes aired. Appeared to be no better than **.
5/13/97: Hayabusa, Ricky Fuji & Ricky Morton vs Mike Awesome, Mr. Gannosuke & Hisakatsu Oya
Morton bled pretty badly from the head during this match. There were some nice double team spots by the faces. Although the body of the match was nothing special, the last minute was hot ending
when Oya pinned Morton at 17:28 after a back suplex. 3:47 aired of this match. Better than **, but not great.
5/13/97: Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs W*ING Kanemura, Hido & Dragon Winger
Great, wild action and very strong heat during the portion of this match that aired. One of the better near falls saw Kanemura powerbomb Tanaka for the near fall that fans went nuts for. Onita pinned
Winger at 14:53 after a thunderfire powerbomb. 3:13 of this match aired. Seemed to be at least ***, maybe ***1/2.
5/25/97: Barbed wire match: Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa vs Atsushi Onita, Hido & W*ING Kanemura
This match has as much great action in it as any of the men's matches on the tape. Tanaka was the star, and his work against the legend Onita had tons of heat, especially the near falls. Onita pinned
Tanaka after a thunderfire powerbomb at 13:51. Four minutes of this match were shown. Great match, maybe ****.
7/19/97: Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Mike Awesome, Mr. Gannosuke & Hisakatsu Oya
Gannosuke pinned Nakagawa after mocking Shinzaki by doing a prayer powerbomb at 19:06. 2:44 of the match aired. Decent match, but far from great. Nakagawa, Shinzaki & Oya were pretty colorless
while Awesome did not contribute much.
7/27/97: Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Ricky Fuji vs Mr. Gannosuke, Hisakatsu Oya & Headhunters
One of the highlights was a great sequence with Hayabusa and Shinzaki doing different top rope moves on Gannosuke. Fuji gained a near fall on Gannosuke with a powerbomb. Gannosuke pinned
Kuroda at 21:44 after a move similar to the greetings from Asbury Park. 2:41 of this match aired. Not great, but a good match with some very good moments. Everyone was fired up but the Headhunters looked slow and out of
shape.
7/27/97: Barbed wire match: Hido vs W*ING Kanemura
Kanemura powerslammed Hido through a table off the apron to the floor. Both men were busted open by the barbed wire. Kanemura powerbombed Hido on a pile of barbed wire and pinned him at 14:56.
2:33 of this match aired. Although it looked like a good match, the heat was much weaker than it should have been for such a type of match and given who was involved.
The Women's portion of the tape picks up on 4/4/96, and the early portion features some match clips and highlights of Combat Toyoda's final matches, including her memorable barbed wire explosion death match against Megumi Kudo at the 5/5/96 event. Backstage, Toyoda is shown in a painful and greatly weakened and emotional state as Onita comes to her side and thanks her for her dedication to FMW. Kudo won FMW's women's title by defeating Toyoda in that match. From there, Kudo's feud with Shark Tsuchiya gains momentum and reaches new bloody heights. Also, youngster and newcomer Aki Kanbayashi turns heel, joining Tsuchiya's faction and becoming known as Miss Mongol. Kaori Nakayama continues to fight alongside Kudo.
During the summer of 1996, Kudo announced her impending retirement from pro wrestling, leaving an uncertain long-term future for FMW's women's division. However, in the interim she had many memorable matches, including barbed wire bloodfests against Shinobu kandori and Mayumi Ozaki. Indeed, some of the best efforts of her career came during this time, and served as many of the highlights of the women's action. Other highlights came in interpromotional matches, as the likes of Lioness Asuka, Chigusa Nagayo, Jaguar Yokota, and a newcomer and future Arsion star Michiko Omukai had some matches in FMW rings.
10/26/96: Megumi Kudo, Kaori Nakayama & RIE vs Shark Tsuchiya, Crusher Maedomari & Miwa Sato
Overall a decent match. Kudo was the star of the match in terms of work. Maedomari pinned RIE after a chokeslam at 16:26. 2:50 of this match aired on this tape.
3/21/97: Megumi Kudo vs Shark Tsuchiya
This was not a great match due to Tsuchiya, but Kudo did her best to make it watchable. Tsuchiya used her axe to cut open Kudo. Tsuchiya powerbombed Kudo through a table. She then gave Kudo
a standard powerbomb and pinned her at 16:24. Half of this match aired. Another weakness was that the closing minutes were very one-sided in favor of Shark, and her offense is nowhere nearly as
good as Kudo's.
3/28/97: Megumi Kudo & Bison Kimura vs Shark Tsuchiya & Lioness Asuka
An interesting interpromotional match combining the main feuds in FMW and the JD group. The action was intense and inspired, but somewhat sloppy at times. The match had decent heat towards the
end. Kudo looked good and so did Asuka at times. Asuka gained a near fall on Kudo with a torture rack dropped into a powerbomb. Tsuchiya pinned Kudo after a powerbomb at 18:38. 4:19 of this match aired.
It turned into a good match, but no better than ***.
4/18/97: Barbed wire double hell death match: Megumi Kudo vs Mayumi Ozaki
This was a super match, the best barbed wire match and the best women's death match I have seen. Both women were at their best- Kudo in terms of bump taking and Ozaki in terms of wrestling
and pacing, although each was good in the other discipline. Good teasing of barbed wire spots before Ozaki became the first to be split open on the wire. Kudo was thrown into barbed wire on the
other side of the ring a minute later. Kudo gave Ozaki a tiger driver for a near fall, but Ozaki's kickout sent Kudo into the coils of barbed wire on the floor in a really creative spot. Ozaki dominated the
action until a Kudo hip attack knocked her out of the ring and onto the barbed wire coils on the floor. They continued to mix barbed wire spots with great wrestling moves during the body of the match.
Ozaki gained a near fall on Kudo with a tequila sunrise suplex and another with a powerbomb. After sending Ozaki into the barbed wire on one side of the ring, Kudo gave her a fisherman buster for
a near fall. Kudo then gained another near fall with a tiger driver. Ozaki gained a great near fall with a tequila sunrise suplex. Kudo gave Ozaki her reverse Gori special suplex and pinned her at 17:18.
11:10 of this match aired. Great idea to give it the most air time of any match. A real gem for fans of barbed wire matches. ****1/4
4/29/97: 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. 6:11 aired of this match. Overall a decent match, ** or slightly better.