Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling started in 1989 and created a hardcore brand of wrestling that could only be imitated, but never duplicated. Extreme Championship Wrestling, under the direction of Paul Heyman, adopted this hardcore style and brought it to America. However, unlike the World Wrestling Federation's outright stealing of ECW ideas, ECW worked together with FMW and the two federations had a mutual respect for one another. When two federations have mutual respect for one another, they often agree to exchange talent and work together in an effort to help both federations out. What follows are reviews of two American Invasions of FMW? Who will come out the winner, ECW and the Americans or Hayabusa, Tanaka and FMW?
The show began with FMW President Arai welcoming everyone to the show, before being confronted by Commissioner Fuyuki. Arai tells Fuyuki that on this show, Tanaka will beat Fuyuki and drive him out of FMW. Fuyuki lets Arai know that FMW will be his for the taking. Out of nowhere, Shawn Michaels, on loan from the WWF, who had a working agreement with ECW, interrupted them and told both men to shut up and let the fans enjoy the matches.
This was a ladder match between both teams and the only way to win was for any member of either team to climb the ladder and pull off the title belt hanging from above. Two women accompanied the teams to the ring and both women promptly took their clothes off to distract the men from winning the match. Of course, both women got into a catfight as action spilled all over the ring and on the outside. There was too much going on here, but Fuji eventually made his way to the top pf the ladder, knocked Gedo off and took the belt to give his team the title victory.
This match was pretty quick. I liked the fact that there was a woman as referee for this encounter. Nakayami dresses like Sabu, which I thought was an honorable act of appreciation. She won the match with a whippersnapper on Hosaka. An awesome technical match proving men could do what women could do.
This match didn't belong and ended in the second round when a lethal kick by Williams put Hido to the mat.
It was the first time Dory Funk and his fellow legendary brother teamed up since 1987. The Funk Brothers chose to dedicate this match to the late memory of Bruiser Brody. Dory Funk looked old in this match, but he can still wrestle as well as anyone. He immediately hit the patented spinning toehold on his opponent along with the lethal Funk Forearms. Eventually, the youngsters are able to gain the advantage, working on Terry Funk's legs. Sasaki hits a monstrous shoulder tackle, and then a second one before getting a two count on his opponent. They then hit a spectacular neck breaker/bulldog combo you never see in the States. The Funk Brothers look to be in dire straights, but Dory makes the save and the two men fight back landing double spinning toe holds to get the big victory. They may be old, but these guys can still wrestle.
Before ECW folded, Balls Mahoney was probably the most vicious competitor in the group. Here in FMW, he fought a pretty strange Kanemura in a falls-count-anywhere match. Balls starts off with his usual chair shots, repping ECW with his famous Balls punches and a big tiger bomb. Mahoney even hit an awesome leg drop off the top ropes. This match was brutal, featuring all kinds of weapons, including a sledgehammer that Balls used to destroy a television set with. They even brought a car into play and it was totally demolished by these two big men. Windows were smashed and the car saw more action than the wrestling ring. The match went back and forth between both men and Balls Mahoney did his best Abdullah the Butcher imitation when he stabbed at Kanemura's head with a fork. However, Kanemura is a tough guy and eventually uses a chain to tie Mahoney onto a table and lands a big leg drop on Mahoney through the table. What a match and probably one of the best on the card. Kanemura got a big win against a Hardcore Icon.
It was great to see ECW's big-time talent on the show, but so far, ECW stars were not fairing all too well against FMW talent. This was a brutal match between both tag-teams, but Raven and Dreamer did not look as good as they normally look, overshadowed by their Japanese counterparts. Raven could have won the match with the Evenflow DDT, but Ooya was able to break up the pin attempt. Ooya would then place Raven in an octopus hold until Francine came in and attacked Ooya, who responded by trying to piledrive her. Dreamer saves his woman by cracking Ooya over the head with a chair and landing a big piledriver of his own onto the same chair. Dreamer looks stupid shouting ECW and then missing a big elbow smash onto the same chair. This match was pretty well choreographed, but I was disappointed with the outcome. What the hell is a Kuroda clothesline anyway and how can that stop Dreamer and Raven?
This match was awesome, because you could actually see the electricity coursing through the cage. Of course, we got the usual tease with each wrestler almost getting thrown into the cage and getting the shock of his life. The fans were really excited and to see both men come this close to hitting the electrified cage had me on the edge of my seat. The coolest part was when Tanaka hit a guillotine leg drop from the top ropes across Fuyuki's neck onto the ropes, causing Fuyuki to flip backwards into the electrified cage. Tanaka went for the flying forearm, hit it once and then went for it again, only to be flipped into the cage himself. A whole lot of electricity flew in this match, but there was a whole lot more.
I could not believe some of the moves these guys were using! I have never seen so many two-counts in my life as both men struggled to stay in FMW. They were fighting for their life and it really felt that way. Eventually, the match just went crazy as Fuyuki removed the support keeping the turnbuckle attached to the pole. He then strangled Tanaka with the rope and got a 2 ¾ count. Tanaka just kicked out at the last minute. With the rope off, Fuyuki now had a chance to easily send Tanaka into the cage, but the plan worked against him as a forearm from Tanaka sent Fuyuki back into ropes that are no longer there and into the electrified cage. They both fell into the cage and again neither man can got the pin. No one wanted to lose, but a vicious shot ended it for one man, costing him his career in FMW. You have to buy this tape just to see this match, to see who loses his career and see exactly how they get rid of a wrestler when it is time to go. What a match.
This is the other reason to buy the tape. H is actually Hayabusa and Hayabusa II is actually H's old friend Mr. Ganosuke. They wrestled in a match reviewed in our last issue. Their feud continued on viciously and Hayabusa decided to adopt a mean streak, taking off the mask and becoming H. Mr. Ganosuke was ordered by Fuyuki to put on the Hayabusa mask and mock his old friend by becoming Hayabusa II. Shawn Michaels is just here to make the three count, but as we all know he gets involved, almost immediately as Hayabusa II gets in HBK's face, only to get hit with sweet chin music. H stops Michaels from any further damage, as he wanted to end the match his way. Hayabusa II took off his mask and threw it in disgust, and decided to wrestle as Mr. Ganosuke. The match already was a classic, but it continued as H hit some devastating flying maneuvers. Ganosuke hit a really wacked out reverse Fire Thunder Driver onto the concrete and then followed it up with an equally impressive full nelson/camel clutch maneuver. H would not give up and the two men continued to go back and forth trading two counts and awesome moves.
It was hard to keep up with this match and you could only wish Americans would see this more often. There was so much emotion riding in the match and each hold represented a part of the story. The WWF has forgotten all about storytelling. Ganosuke hit a powerbomb, but H kicked out. Both men could barely get to their feet, as they were so fatigued from all the action. H hits the H Edge, which is like the Rock Bottom, but only gets a two count. He decided to hit a Phoenix Splash corkscrew move off the top ropes to finally get the pin. What a match! "This is why FMW is the #1 promotion in Japan," said Shawn Michaels, "because they have excellent athletes and one hell of sportsmanship." Both men ended their feud, shaking each other's hand and then giving the fans an emotional speech that you have to see to believe. If you want things you don't get a chance to see in the WWF, this tape is definitely for you.
"ECW April is a tradition started by Terry Funk," said Paul Heyman. "Not just classic wrestling or hardcore wrestling or taking it to the Extreme. It's about being the hardest working athlete in the sport today. It's about getting fans to say that event was worth more than what I spent on it. It cannot be found in the WWF, WCW, New Japan or All-Japan. In Japan, people respect work ethic. If you work hard for me, I will pay to see you."
There were a lot of awesome matches on the show and they proved Heyman correct. These wrestlers really gave it their all and the fans appreciated everything they got. Right from the start in a three-way match between Buh Buh Ray Dudley, Sandman and Terry Funk, the fans saw how brutal things could get and saw more ways to use a ladder than to just climb it. Funk pinned both men and showed everyone why he is a legend in Japan. However, the Dudley Boys were not done yet and in another match, they tangoed with Jado and Gedo. This match actually was not that good, but it was one of the only FMW matches to actually end in a double disqualification. I thought there were no disqualifications, but both teams proved too rowdy and the match had to be stopped. However, Buh Buh Ray challenged both men to step up to the plate at the ECW Arena in Philly. I wonder if they ever accepted that challenge?
The tape continued with more Terry Funk as he teamed with Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman to battle Kanemura, Ganosuke and "Gladiator" Mike Awesome. The ECW guys looked to be on their way to their first win against FMW, but as Funk had a spinning toe hold on his opponent, Kanemura hit him with a piece of table, leading to a rollup pin by Mr. Ganosuke. The Dudleys were featured again as they battled Awesome and Hido and Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk w/ Belulah in a wild three-way tag-team match. This match went all over the place, but Mike Awesome shocked many a fan when he hit a 300+ pound plancha on his opponents outside the ring. Awesome's team was quickly disposed of when the Dudleys hit a Dudley Death Drop on Hido to eliminate them. The Dudleys worked on Funk until he could tag in Dreamer, who went crazy with a piece of table and beat on both brothers with a vengeance. Funk and Dreamer then hit a double DDT on Buh Buh Ray to get the pinfall victory.
I say awesome because of the way Kronus wrestled. This man started to lose a little bit toward the end of his ECW career, but it all came back to him during this match as the big man hit moves even Mike Awesome couldn't hit. He landed a moonsault and then he and his partner hit Total Elimination, a spin kick by one man and a leg sweep by the other onto one opponent. This was a move made famous by Kronus and Saturn, but it didn't do much, because Jado and Gedo were able to stay alive in the match. It took a 450-degree splash by the big man to get the...but no, the ref is distracted and Jado was able to get the pin with a brainbuster. Poor Kronus.
This is the awesome match that should have been the main event of the show. They wowed us in the States, but now they continued their long running rivalry in Japan, where Tajiri has the home crowd advantage. The Japanese Buzzsaw hit his patented Tarantula move on Crazy, wrapping him up in the ropes, before having to let go to break the five-count. Tajiri then landed some stiff kicks to Crazy, before wrapping him up in the tree of woe and landed a baseball slide dropkick to Crazy's face. Ouch. Crazy fought back with some submission holds of his own. Following a drop toehold, Crazy rode Tajiri like a surfboard and pulled his arms back, before locking him into a Dragon Sleeper that could not put Tajiri away. Tajiri hit his famous springboard elbow, but Crazy hit his Three-Tier moonsault and both men were got the fans excited, but neither one could put the other one away. I won't even tell you who wins this match, because whenever these men wrestle, the fans win. I have never watched a bad match between these men and I have never seen a match look the same. Anytime you can watch these two wrestle, I urge you to do so.
One Man Gang sucks, but he did provide a funny moment, when he had both Sabu and Kanemura down and just kept jumping from one man to the other, getting four two-counts in total. He still couldn't put either man away and was actually eliminated when both men pinned his fat ass. The real wrestling started right afterwards, as both men put on a clinic in hardcore wrestling. Kanemura was thrown off the ropes and through a table. Sabu used a piece of that table to beat on Kanemura with, only I don't think he felt it. He was bleeding heavily, though. Blood was prominent in this awesome match. Both men collected chairs on the outside, but in FMW, the chairs are tied in three's so each man carried mini rows with them back into the ring. They then dueled each other, swinging these chairs at one another before Sabu picked up the advantage. The Madman from the Sudan sprung off the chairs onto the ropes and into a moonsault that landed perfectly onto Kanemura. He then grabbed a piece of the table he had broken earlier and went to the top ropes, hitting his Arabian Face-Buster to get another win for ECW. Sabu is the man.
I didn't know why Bigelow was in this match, because to me, he wasn't a main event caliber wrestler, but in Japan, this guy knows a thing or two about hardcore and the fans love him. This was a great match with both men using their size to their advantage. Tanaka went for some glitz, hitting a hurricanrana, but Bigelow reversed it and powerbombed the #1 Son of FMW. The Beat from the East goes to hit another powerbomb, but Tanaka fights out of it hit a big suplex, followed by a dropkick from the top ropes and a flying forearm smash off the top ropes. The match went to the outside when Tanaka goes to jump on Bigelow, but the big man caught him and slammed him into the ring post.
The two traded tremendous shots. The match began to change tides when Bigelow places Tanaka on top of a table and hit a splash from the top ropes. Tables are hard in Japan and don't break. Tanaka was in pain, but Bigelow was not done and stopped at nothing to break the table, which he eventually did with Tanaka's body. Upset over his inability to put Tanaka away, Bigelow went for a moonsault, as only this large man can, but Tanaka surprises him and landed a power bomb instead. He followed it up with a vicious forearm, and a pin attempt. Bigelow kicked out and Tanaka went to the top ropes to end the match. Bigelow caught him off the top ropes and hit Greetings from Asbury Park to get the big victory for ECW. The match ended with Bigelow congratulating Tanaka and Tanaka stating that he is not good enough until he goes to America and learns how to wrestle.
This is the battle we have all been waiting for. America vs. Japan. Both countries contain great wrestlers. Both countries showcase awesome action, highflying moves, and intense hardcore battles. These are two tapes you must buy. Two great countries, two great promotions, only one winner; THE FANS!!
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