Fall Spectacular: Kawasaki Legend was a Fall Spectacular

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 28, 1997 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 ...

. The show aired via tape delay on Samurai TV! on October 12. 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 Ropes Exploding Barbed Wire Steel Cage Time Bomb Death Match 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

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 ...

, which stipulated that if Onita lost, he must

retire Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

from professional wrestling and if Kanemura lost, then W*ING Alliance would have to disband. Onita won, forcing W*ING to disband. After the event, Onita formed a bonding with W*ING members and quit FMW team in sympathy and formed

ZEN Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

with W*ING members to feud with FMW. In other major matches on the event,

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 ...

defeated The Gladiator to win the

FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship The FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship was world heavyweight championship in the wrestling promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion fo ...

and the

FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship The FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship contested in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). It was one of the top two titles in the company, along with the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyw ...

, the All Japan team of

Kenta Kobashi (born, March 27, 1967) is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired wrestler. Broadly referred to by the nickname , he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He is best known for his two run ...

and Maunakea Mossman defeated

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 ...

and

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 ...

, Funk Masters of Wrestling leader

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 ...

defeated

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 ...

leader Kodo Fuyuki in a loser leaves FMW match to retain the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, Vader defeated

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock ( né Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract, under the ring name Ken Shamrock. He is best known ...

in an ultimate rules

steel cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

and

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 ...

defeated

Aja Kong is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by her ring name . She currently makes appearances on the Japanese independent circuit and for Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW). She is the founder of the Arsion all-women professional wrestli ...

to win the FMW Independent and WWA World Women's Championship.

Event

Preliminary matches

The opening match was a twelve-man

Royal Rumble match The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic battle royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the ...

. The final two participants were

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Kuroda lastly eliminated Fuji with a one shoulder powerbomb to win the match. Next, Kaori Nakayama and Miwa Sato took on Mad Dog Military members Crusher Maedomari and Miss Mongol. Maedomari executed a '' Nodowa Otoshi'' on Sato for the win. 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 Mr. Gannosuke defended the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship against

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 ...

. Gannosuke executed a ''Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' on Gedo to retain the titles. Later,

took on

in a match for the vacant FMW Independent and WWA World Women's Championship. Tsuchiya attacked Kong with a fireball to win the vacant titles. Next,

defended the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship against Kodo Fuyuki in a Loser Leaves FMW match, with the loser being forced to leave FMW. Funk executed 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 ...

on Fuyuki to retain the title. Next,

took on Vader in an Ultimate Rules

Steel Cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

. Vader was awarded the match via referee stoppage after Shamrock began bleeding heavily. Next, The Gladiator defended the unified FMW Double Championship against

. Tanaka nailed a '' Rolling Elbow Smash'' to Gladiator to win the title, ending Gladiator's year-long reign. In the penultimate match, the team of

and

took on

and Maunakea Mossman in an interpromotional tag team match. Kobashi nailed a '' Burning Lariat'' to Hayabusa for the win.

Main event match

The main event was a No Ropes Exploding Barbed Wire Steel Cage Time Bomb Death Match between

and

. The match stipulated that if Onita lost then he would be forced to retire and if Kanemura lost then W*ING Alliance would be forced to disband. After a back and forth match, Onita executed a ''Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' on Kanemura for the win, thus saving his career and forcing W*ING Alliance to retire.

Results

References

{{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1997 in professional wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling shows 1997 in Japan September 1997 in Japan Organized events in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Professional wrestling shows in Japan