FMW 2nd Anniversary Show: Fall Spectacular (1991) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

event produced by

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

(FMW). The event took place on September 23, 1991 at the

Kawasaki Stadium is a stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The stadium was opened in 1952 and had a capacity of 30,000 people, but was demolished and rebuilt in 2003 as an American football venue and is now the home of the Fujitsu Frontiers of the X-League. ...

Kawasaki, Kanagawa Kawasaki, officially Kawasaki City, is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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. 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 ...

was a no rope exploding barbed wire

steel cage Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the m ...

deathmatch between

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing the hardcore wrestling, deathmatch style of professional wrestling t ...

and

Tarzan Goto , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ( ...

, which Onita won after Goto was knocked out and failed to answer the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

's ten count.

Background

Production

planned two major shows for FMW in the summer of 1991. The first show took place on August 17, 1991 at the Torisu Stadium in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, where FMW held a Barbed Wire Deathmatch Tournament, which Onita won. However, FMW had to split gates due to a concert taking place at the venue as well and FMW planned its next major show at the

on September 23, marking the company's first show at Kawasaki Stadium.

Storylines

After having made peace at the 1990 Summer Spectacular,

and

resumed their

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

with each other after Goto brutalized his opponent Sambo Asako in a

Barbed Wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

Deathmatch on June 21, 1991, forcing the

to stop the match due to Asako injuring his arm badly. Goto continued the brutal assault and Onita angrily shouted at him for injuring Asako. On June 27, Goto

turn To turn is to rotate, either continuously like a wheel turns on its axle, or in a finite motion changing an object's orientation. Turn may also refer to: Sports and games * Turn (game), a segment of a game * Turn (poker), the fourth of five co ...

ed into a

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

by turning on his partner

Ricky Fuji (born September 27, 1965) better known under his ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Action Advance Pro Wrestling, where he also runs the day-to-day operations. He is perhaps best known for his time with Frontier M ...

in a

tag team match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "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 storyline. ...

and became the rival of Fuji, Asako and Onita. On June 30, Goto teamed with Horace Boulder and The Gladiator to defeat Onita, Fuji and Asako in a street fight. Goto and Onita clashed in many tag team matches with different partners throughout the summer, leading to a match between the two at Fall Spectacular.

Event

Preliminary matches

Eiji Ezaki was a Japanese professional wrestler, stage actor, musician, and professional wrestling promoter, better known under the ring name . He was best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily wrestled througho ...

defeated Masashi Honda in the opening match by delivering a

Dropkick A dropkick is an Professional wrestling strikes, attacking maneuver in professional wrestling. It is defined as an attack where the wrestler jumps up and kicks the opponent with the soles of both feet; this sees the wrestler twist as they ju ...

to Honda and then made him submit to a cross armbreaker. Miwa Sato won an eight-

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

by last eliminating Eriko Tsuchiya with a reverse

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

hold. Horace Boulder and The Shooter defeated Jimmy Backlund and Kim Hyun Han in a

after Boulder performed an '' Axe Bomber'' on Han. Amigo Ultra, Akihito Ichihara and Ultramancito defeated El Pandita, Pandita Chiquita and Yukihide Ueno in a

Six-man tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder m ...

. Combat Toyoda successfully defended the WWA World Women's Championship against

Reggie Bennett Reggie Bennett (born January 24, 1961) is an American former professional wrestler. She is best known for her work in ''joshi puroresu'' organizations such as All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Early career (1986� ...

in an Indian Strap Deathmatch by making her submit to a camel clutch by wrapping strap around her neck. Following the match, Svetlana Gundarenko defeated

Megumi Kudo is a Japanese entertainment personality and former professional wrestler. She wrestled under her maiden name for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, where she became the top star of the Women's Division. Kudo is primarily known for competing in ...

in the second consecutive women's match of the event by making her tap out to a cross armbreaker. Big Titan and The Gladiator won the elimination street fight against their opponents Sambo Asako and

when Gladiator first eliminated Asako by knockout and then Big Titan knocked out Fuji.

Grigory Verichev Grigory Vladimirovich Verichev (; 4 April 1957 – 25 May 2006) was a Russian judoka who competed for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight class. From 1990 to 1993 Verichev competed for ...

took on Katsuji Ueda in Ueda's speciality, a mixed style match. Verichev knocked out Ueda in the fifth round to win the match.

Main event match

faced

in a no rope exploding barbed wire

deathmatch. Near the end of the match, Onita performed a '' Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' on Goto to knock him out and Goto failed to answer the

's ten count.

Reception

The success of the 2nd Anniversary Show with a crowd of 33,000 people which earned FMW a $1,200,000 at the Kawasaki Stadium would pave the way for FMW to hold more shows at the stadium and the company signed a contract with Kawasaki Stadium to produce a major show at the venue every year on May 5, beginning with the 4th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1993, which drew a crowd out of 41,000 people due to the heavily hyped main event match between Atsushi Onita and

Terry Funk Terrance Dee Funk (June 30, 1944 – August 23, 2023) was an American professional wrestler and actor. Widely considered one of the most influential and greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his car ...

Aftermath

Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto ended their rivalry and made peace after their match at 2nd Anniversary Show, which caused Goto to revert to being a fan favorite. Onita and Goto paired together to participate in the World's Strongest Tag Team Tournament in the fall of 1991 for the new WWA World Martial Arts Tag Team Championship, which they won. Onita headlined his third straight Anniversary Show at the 3rd Anniversary Show in the following year against

Tiger Jeet Singh Jagjeet Singh Hans (born April 3, 1944) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, known better by his ring name Tiger Jeet Singh. He was known for his elaborate ring entrances, and generally performed as a heel. He wrestled in Japan and was the ...

at the

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, drawing a crowd of 30,000 people. Eiji Ezaki and Masashi Honda's popularity began to increase after their opening match at 2nd Anniversary Show and they started becoming successful in the company as Onita picked them to be the major stars. Ezaki would be sent to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to learn the high-flying

lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

style and Honda was repackaged as "Mr. Gannosuke" due to his resemblance with actor Ashiya Gannosuke. Gannosuke was quickly pushed to compete in the

matches while Ezaki remained in the undercard. Ezaki would develop a character named "Hayabusa", which would become extremely popular and successful. He succeeded Onita as the company's

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

after losing to Onita in Onita's

retirement match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "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 storyline. ...

at 6th Anniversary Show in 1995. Hayabusa and Gannosuke's rivalry would become one of FMW's long lasting rivalries and the two competed in many major matches.

Results

References

External links

FMW 2nd Anniversary
at Cagematch.net {{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1991 in professional wrestling FMW Anniversary Show 1991 in Japan September 1991 in Japan Events in Kawasaki, Kanagawa 20th century in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Professional wrestling shows in Japan