29, 1997, three matches rocked FMW with an undercard featuring just as much excitement for the fans. Now, these matches can be yours on the great DVD from TokyoPop.| Current Issue | The Archives | Our Top 5 Articles | Ebay Auctions | The Shoppe |
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On April 29, 1997, three matches rocked FMW with an undercard featuring just as much excitement for the fans. Now, these matches can be yours on the great DVD from TokyoPop.
In the opening matches, I saw Crypt Keeper, who is a really cool looking wrestler. The fans in Japan really like the horror characters. In a 10-women tag-team match, 10 women demonstrate that you don't have to have T&A to put on a wrestling clinic. These people even put Lita to shame.
Hakushi (his former WWF name) beat Super Leather with a cool submission move called the Heavenly Lock. He pulled both his opponent's arms across his opponent's own neck until the wrestler submits. Great move.
In the three main events, Hayabusa fought his former friend Mr. Ganosuke. These guys met in 1987 and trained together in 1991. The DVD contains a history before each match, which is great for those just getting into the action. Ganosuke betrayed the FMW fans and turned on his friend, leaving the federation. When he came back, he attacked various wrestlers including the founding father Onita. Tanaka confronts Hayabusa and gives him a choice. Will he side with his old friend or will he defend the honor of FMW.
This led to their match, which featured some awesome aerial action from Hayabusa. He knows how to use the ropes better than anyone. As you watch the match, you notice that Hayabusa's finisher doesn't always end the match. It turns out that in Japan, wrestlers have more than one finisher to vary a match. Hayabusa does it all, but it doesn't finish off his opponent, who will even go so far as to use his old friend's finisher against him. Hayabusa eventually won with a Falcon Arrow, or what I know as a variation of the Michinoku Driver.
This match was a hair vs. mask match, but Hayabusa told his old friend that he would not cut his hair. You can hear him crying through the mask as he asks his opponent to shake his hand and start over. You have to see what happens next.
Cactus Jack is back, teaming with Terry Funk and Mike Awesome as part of the Funk Master of Wrestling (F.M.W) against Masato Tanaka, Kanemura, and Onita of the real FMW. Kanemura and Tanaka were fighting one another over leadership of FMW, but side with one another against a common threat. This was also the final match of Cactus Jack's, before he resurrects in the WWF (In fact, he was in the WWF, wrestling as Mankind when he went back to FMW for this match).