Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
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| Details | |
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| Acronym | FMW |
| Established | 1989 |
| Style | Hardcore Wrestling |
| Location | Japan |
| Founder(s) | Atsushi Onita |
| Owner(s) | Shoichi Arai |
| Parent | World Entertainment Wrestling |
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, better known by its initials FMW was a revolutionary Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 1989 by Atsushi Onita. It specialized in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire, and fire. It changed the face of professional wrestling forever. It often portrayed Onita as the hero of the organization. FMW also had a short lived working agreement with Extreme Championship Wrestling. FMW has had 14 DVDs released in the U.S. by Tokyopop.
[edit] History
In 1990, Onita had the first ever exploding barbed wire match with Tarzan Goto. This match started a revolution between the small "garbage wrestling" organizations of Japan. From there, Onita recruited some of hardcore wrestling´s best, like Mr. Pogo, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Super Leather (Leatherface) and Kintaro Kanemura. In 1995 Onita wrestled his retirement match with young talent Hayabusa in an exploding ring, barbed wire steel cage match. This match started a revolution in FMW, called Neo FMW, where stars Masato Tanaka, The Gladiator and Ricky Fuji took part in high-flying matches. Hayabusa became the central star of the promotion winning its belt several times and battling most of the FMW roster. FMW also had a thriving women's wrestling division led first by Shark Tsuchiya and then by Megumi Kudo. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling talent feared them so much that they rarely had interpromotional matches against each other, but the FMW women were successful in other feuds with LLPW and JWP. During this time FMW signed a contract to held a mayor event every May 5th in the Kawasaki Stadium, some of the most notable matches held in Kasawaki Stadium were:
- September 23,1991: Atsushi Onita vs Tarzan Goto in a Explosion Barbed Wire Steel Cage Deathmatch
- May 5, 1993: Atsushi Onita vs Terry Funk in a Exploding No Rope Barbed Wire Time Bomb Deathmatch
- May 5, 1994: Atsushi Onita vs Genichiro Tenryu in a Explosion Barbed Wire Steel Cage Deathmatch, Onita lost to Tenryu, forcing him to retire in a year due to the stipulation.
- May 5, 1995: Atsushi Onita vs Hayabusa in a Explosion Barbed Wire Steel Cage Deathmatch, in the first Onita retirement match.
- May 5, 1996: Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyoda in a Exploding No Rope Barbed Wire Deathmatch.
- May 5, 1996: Masato Tanaka and Hayabusa vs Terry Funk and Mr. Pogo in a Exploding Barbed Wire Double Hell Time Bomb Deathmatch.
Under new FMW president Shoichi Arai, the promotion began to falter. Arai brought in former International Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and SWS jobber Hiromichi Fuyuki as the new booker and he brought an end to the garbage/death matches in favor of an entertainment-oriented style based on that of the WWE. Although this saved the roster from further potential injury, it called into question the essence of FMW's wrestling. Onita began withdrawing further into the background, eventually leaving the promotion altogether to create his own death match ventures and to go back to high school to earn his diploma. Shawn Michaels was even invited as a guest referee for one match.
In 2001, in a match against Mammoth Sasaki, Hayabusa attempted a springboard moonsault—one of his signature moves—but slipped on the ropes and fell directly on his neck, breaking it and paralysing him. He retired, but actually regained some control over his legs a year later. By the end of 2001, Arai owed about a million dollars to influential organizations in Japan, rumored to be connected to the Yakuza (or Japanese Mafia). Realizing that the promotion was going nowhere, he decided to finally close its doors. FMW came to an end with a final show on February 4, 2002 and Shoichi Arai declared FMW brankruptcy on February 15, 2002. On May 16, 2002, Arai hung himself in a Tokyo park using his tie to collect life insurance for his money to pay off the Yakuza.
The talent divided into two promotions: Fuyuki's WEW (World Entertainment Wrestling), the name of FMW's title governing body since 1999), and Mr. Gannosuke's WMF (Wrestling Marvelous Future). Some of the talent also made appearanced on Onita's special shows.
[edit] Championships promoted by FMW
- FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship (1996-1999)
- FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship (1994-2002)
- FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship -later unified with Brass Knuckles title (1996-1999)
- FMW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1993-2002)
- FMW Women's Championship (1990-1997)
- FMW/WEW World Heavyweight Championship (1999-2002)
- FMW/WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1996-2001)
- FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship (2000-2002)
- FMW/WEW Hardcore Championship (1999-2001)
[edit] External links
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