FMW 8th Anniversary Show 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 April 29, 1997 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 ...

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 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 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. ...

. 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 200 volt double hell double barbed wire barricade double landmine crushed glass electrical barbed wire deathmatch between

Shark Tsuchiya Eriko Tsuchiya (土屋恵理子, born February 19, 1970) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Shark Tsuchiya (シャーク土屋). She spent most of her career working for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. Pr ...

and

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 ...

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 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

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

and W*ING Alliance's

W*ING Kanemura , better known by his ring name , is a Zainichi Korean retired professional wrestler. He also wrestled under the ring name (stylized as W*ING Kanemura). He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Extre ...

defeated Funk Masters of Wrestling's

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 ...

, Cactus Jack and The Gladiator in a Texas Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch and

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

defeated Mr. Gannosuke in a highly acclaimed mask vs. hair match, the first of the historic matches of their epic rivalry.

Event

Preliminary matches

The opening match of the event was 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. ...

, in which

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 ...

teamed with

Ricky Morton Richard Wendell Morton (born September 21, 1956) is an American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit. For most of his career, Morton has performed with Robert Gibson (wrestler), Robert Gibson as the Rock 'n' Roll ...

to take on Hido and Dragon Winger. Fuji executed a

jumping DDT Jumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jumping can be distinguished from running, galloping and o ...

and a

brainbuster A brainbuster is a professional wrestling throw in which a wrestler puts the opponent in a front facelock, hooks their pants or thigh, and lifts them up as if they were executing a vertical suplex. The wrestler then falls onto their back so that ...

to Winger for the win. Next, the team of

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's c ...

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 A moonsault, moonsault press, or back flip splash is a Professional wrestling aerial techniques, professional wrestling aerial technique. It was innovated by Mando Guerrero. Much of its popularity in both Puroresu, Japanese and professional wrestl ...

to Ichihara for the win. Next,

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 B ...

competed against Funk Masters of Wrestling member Katsutoshi Niiyama. After a back and forth match, Nakagawa delivered an

exploder suplex A suplex is an Offense (sports), offensive move used in Wrestling, sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and Bridge (grappling), bridging or rolling to slam the ...

to Niiyama for the win. After the match, Niiyama

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

fan favorite In professional wrestling, a face (babyface) is a heroic, "good guy", "good-doer", or "fan favorite" wrestler, booked (scripted) by the promotion with the aim of being cheered by fans. They are portrayed as heroes relative to the heel wrestler ...

by shaking hands with Nakagawa as it was Niiyama's last match in FMW. Next, the team of Kaori Nakayama, Michiko Omukai, Chikako Shiratori, Mizuki Endo and Yoko Ikeda competed against

Lioness Asuka is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by her ring name . She was one half of the Crush Gals professional wrestling tag team, along with Chigusa Nagayo, who are known for their mainstream popularity in the 1980s, and for be ...

, Eagle Sawai, Crusher Maedomari, Michiko Nagashima and Miss Mongol in a ten-woman tag team match. Nakayama delivered a

frankensteiner Professional wrestling throws are the application of professional wrestling techniques that involve lifting the opponent up and throwing or slamming them down. They are sometimes also called "power" maneuvers, as they are meant to emphasize a wrest ...

to Mongol for the win. Later,

Jinsei Shinzaki Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎健介 ''Shinzaki Kensuke'', born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive, better known by his ring name, Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎人生 ''Shinzaki Jinsei''). He is sign ...

competed against Super Leather. After a back and forth action, Shinzaki applied a '' Gokuraku-Gatame'' on Leather to make him submit. Next,

Hisakatsu Oya is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler. Although he started out for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he is well known for his stint in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1986–1989) Kenichi Oya trained at th ...

and

The Headhunters The Headhunters was an American jazz fusion band formed by Herbie Hancock in 1973. The group fused jazz, funk, and rock music. History and band name Hancock had grown dissatisfied with his prior band, Mwandishi, and wanted to make a band with ...

competed against

Fuyuki-Gun was the name of Japanese professional wrestling stables led by Hiromichi Fuyuki in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and Wrestle Association R (WAR) during the 1990s. Fuyuki-gun was originally founded by Fuyuki in WAR in 1994 and they beca ...

( Kodo Fuyuki,

Jado and Gedo were a professional wrestling tag team that currently work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they are also the head bookers. One of the most accomplished tag teams in puroresu, the team has won numerous tag team titles and six-man tag tea ...

) in a Street Fight. A Headhunter delivered a double underhook powerbomb and a moonsault to Gedo for the win. Next,

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. The penultimate match was a Texas Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch, pitting the team of

and

against Funk Masters of Wrestling members

, Cactus Jack and The Gladiator. Kanemura dived from the top rope and hit Gladiator with a chair for the win.

Main event match

In the main event,

defended the

FMW Women's Championship The FMW Women's Championship consisted of two Japanese women's professional wrestling championships, the FMW Independent Women's Championship and the WWA World Women's Championship. The championships were contested in the promotion Frontier Martia ...

against

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 A lasso or lazo ( or ), also called reata or la reata in Mexico, and in the United States riata or lariat (from Mexican Spanish lasso for roping cattle), is a loop of rope designed as a restraint to be thrown around a target and tightened when ...

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.

Reception

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 , 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 ( ...

'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".

Results

References

External links

FMW 8th Anniversary Show
* {{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1997 in professional wrestling 1997 in Japan FMW Anniversary Show April 1997 in Japan Events in Yokohama Professional wrestling shows in Yokohama 1990s in Yokohama