FMW Winning Road 03/13/98 & 03/16/98

Previously In FMW…

FMW start a tournament to decide the number one contender for the Double Titles, which means a TV special with less filler and more killer than usual!

Only news going into this show was Masato Tanaka making his ECW debut at ECW Living Dangerously on March 1st. He was supposed to wrestle Kanemura but either Heyman didn’t want him or Kanemura accepted a M-Pro booking and couldn’t make it. Either/or. Anyway Tanaka had an underwhelming match with Doug Furnas.

Mr. Gannosuke joins us in the Samurai TV studios for this episode wearing his finest bathrobe and briefs.

FMW/ZEN Winning Road 1998 – Night 5
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Nakajima Sports Center
Attendance 4,800

Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Super Leather (Team No Respect) 03/13/98

Another ZEN-hosted show and I think it ended up as the last one. Match starts with Leather immediately chokeslamming the ref. When Shinzaki goes to check on him, Kanemura chair shots Shinzaki. Gannosuke brings out the special guest ref, the newly-indoctrinated Go Ito! Shinzaki isn’t concerned and is able to lock in his Straight Jacket Camel Clutch easily enough, until Ito forces him off. Shinzaki delivers a shoulder tackle off the top but Ito doesn’t count the pin attempt because Kanemura had to ask him an important question. Gannosuke grabs Shinzaki’s foot as he runs the ropes so Shinzaki has enough and dives outside to beat the hell out of Gannosuke and drag him through the crowd and out the building. Gannosuke gets dumped in the outside snow but before Shinzaki regains his senses and tries to make it back to the ring, Ito counts him out at 7:19 and gives Leather the win.

Nothing as a match but fine as angle advancement and I approve of any match that involves bumps in snow.

Post-match Shinzaki attempts to kill TNR but they powerbomb him onto a dozen chairs. Which would have been impressive if they turned on the bloody lights so we could see it.

Atsushi Onita & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa & Hideki Hosaka (ZEN) vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Yukihiro Kanemura & Horace Boulder & Hido (Team No Respect) 03/13/98

Horace Hogan returns to reclaim his mantle as Mr. 1998!

He’d not been in FMW since November 1996 and if Cagematch is accurate, he’s done absolutely nothing since then. He’s joined Team No Respect because everyone else is doing it.

Bell rings and everyone brawls because it’s an Onita multi-man. Horace delivers a Fallaway Slam to Nakagawa without injuring him before everyone heads out the arena and into the void.

When we clip ahead to viewable footage, Onita is kicking out of Gannosuke’s powerbomb attempt and Kuroda is taking out the front row chairs. Horace chokes Onita for a while before Hosaka gets powerbombed through a Japanese Table. So far Horace has been very tolerable, no wonder Meltzer gave him 5 stars that one time.

Kuroda saves Onita from Horace The Horrible so he can smash table pieces over everyone. Fuyuki runs in to try to deliver the lariat/backhander combo he gave to Hayabusa but Onita doesn’t understand it so Ito smashes his crutch over him instead. Yes he brought another crutch with him despite not needing it cos he has NO RESPECT. Onita kicks out of it before also kicking out of Kanemura and Gannosuke’s elevated neckbreaker combo. Finally a four-man Powerbomb puts Onita away at 11:38 to an annoyed silence from the crowd.

Horace lariats Onita and flips off the crowd before The Gladiator Mike Awesome shows up! And immediately takes a chokeslam from Horace. Jesus Christ. Then everyone does the No Respect dance with Ito doing it whilst on top of Onita because he’s not dead yet.

Match was the usual Onita brawl but thankfully the TNR guys came to play and their antics made it all the more watchable, even with Horace being the guy the match was built around.

FMW Winning Road 1998 – Night 7
Morioka, Iwate, Japan
Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium
Attendance 2,350

Shark Tsuchiya vs. Crusher Maedomari 03/16/98

Hooray this venue is properly lit! And we can see the sea of empty chairs in the cheap seats. Ah. This would be Shark Tsuchiya’s penultimate appearance as she’s vowed to destroy FMW’s Women’s Division that was already mostly dead.

Luckily Crusher is here so the pair of the brightly coloured facepainted beasts immediately hit the chop battle early before rolling outside amongst the fans. A FMW staff member tries to break it up but gets punched by Crusher. Shark decides to use him as a shield but it’s too much for the refs who throw the match out at 1:40. Huh. I was enjoying that.

Jinsei Shinzaki & Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Horace Boulder & Super Leather (Team No Respect) 03/16/98

Oh good it’s been 1:40 since we’ve seen Horace. Gannosuke mouths off at Fuji and dares Shinzaki to tag in instead. Shinzaki obliges so Gannosuke immediately tags Leather in. One of those jokes that you know is coming from a mile away but you still laugh. Shinzaki smacks Gannosuke off the apron so he blind tags in so Shinzaki can finally give him some of his rage, including his rope-walk chop that he doesn’t waste time walking so he can deliver the blow.

Leather and Fuji tag in because we were having too much fun. The battle of the clunky offenses is won by Fuji and his Moxley Tope, followed by a really sloppy Sunset Flip that nearly misses. Hogan tags in to deliver a release Northern Lights on Oya which may be the most sophisticated thing I’ve seen from him. Oya lands another trademark brutal Back Suplex to make Hogan forget how to ever do that again.

Shinzaki floors Hogan with the massive shoulder tackle but Leather’s distraction allows him to come back with rough-looking powerslams and clotheslines. Triple Powerbomb onto Shinzaki is broken up by Fuji but that doesn’t stop Gannosuke from delivering a Falcon Arrow which he’s somehow able to kick out of. Shinzaki is too mad to sell for Gannosuke leading to Fuji come in to turn Gannosuke into an accordion with a sickening Brainbuster. Match completely falls apart with everyone brawling, leaving Fuji to take an Uncle Slam from Horace for the win at 15:56.

These shows are like the first Heyman Smackdown shows in 2002 where a new person is getting pushed every week. Which means Hogan’s push isn’t lasting. Still, this was all about giving us fun action and continuing the Gannosuke/Shinzaki blood feud, which carried on after the bell with Shinzaki again trying to murder Gannosuke but TNR save his ass yet again.

FMW Double Titles Number One Contender Tournament First Round

Hayabusa vs. Masato Tanaka 03/13/98

We get a brief highlight montage of the finishes to the other rounds but who cares, this match is what matters. Tanaka has only faced The Ace in singles competition once before, in another tournament setting in 1995 and lost. Can D*A*N*G*A*N get a pin when everyone else in the world is getting a push?

Tanaka’s feeling out process is halted by a Hayabusa wrist-lock which is maintained for a while as Hayabusa turns his attention to Tanaka’s permanently-injured elbow. Hayabusa lands a springboard dropkick directed at the elbow but gets too comfy and Tanaka takes him down with a dropkick and into a Figure Four Leg Lock.

Hayabusa sells it by not being able to run properly into the ropes which Tanaka capitalises on with a sweet Tornado DDT with all the snap for two. Crowd are clapping very politely. Tanaka starts throwing elbows and ignoring the pain so Hayabusa indulges him by dropping him directly onto his bastard head with a high angled German Suplex…which Tanaka shrugs off. Hayabusa doesn’t care and kicks him outside to land a perfect Quebrada. Back inside, Hayabusa’s Dream Sequence lands for two with a Fisherman’s Buster causing Tanaka to wail in pain. Hayabusa’s Twisting Senton gets two so it’s time for FALCON ARROW which is kicked out of as Excalibur cries somewhere. Hayabusa heads up again with Tanaka attempting to stop him but deciding to slug Hayabusa in the face with an elbow on the way down instead. Tanaka removes his elbow brace like The Rock flexing his cast off in Furious 7 but gets planted onto his dome again by a gruesome Tiger Suplex.

Tanaka teases no-selling that but his body decides to stay down instead. Hayabusa thinks he’s had enough and heads up top to finish but Tanaka pops up to deliver a Fire Thunder Powerbomb for a close two as the crowd are going wild now. Tanaka keeps up the pressure with a running Death Valley Driver and a follow up Fire Thunder Powerbomb with the crowd getting louder and louder as the kick outs get closer and closer. A third powerbomb is blocked so Tanaka nails Hayabusa with his naked elbow but Hayabusa…still kicks out. Tanaka won’t let up and gives The Ace a second DVD while making sure to put his whole weight on him in the pin but it still won’t keep him down. Tanaka tries the running elbow again but Hayabusa blocks it with a spinning wheel kick, but Tanaka’s in the zone and ignores it to land another running elbow for a dangerously close two-count. Hayabusa musters up enough energy to deliver yet another scary German Suplex but Tanaka AGAIN no-sells it to land a running elbow that causes Tanaka to collapse from the effort of delivering it.

Both men struggle to get back up after all that, but eventually they’re both trading shots in the middle of the ring with Hayabusa intent on breaking Tanaka with another bloody German Suplex that Tanaka can’t stand up from, followed by the Falcon Arrow which finally ends this war at 23:17.

HELL YEAH THIS RULED. Tanaka continuing to take Hayabusa’s moves and shrug it off really made you think he was going to take this thing but it wasn’t meant to be. It didn’t stop the crowd from increasing in volume every time he stood up or delivered an elbow, with Hayabusa’s typically smooth offence making Tanaka look all the more stronger in defeat. Get this in you.

Both men embrace afterwards because they’re both cool dudes.

FMW Double Titles Number One Contender Tournament Semi-Finals

Yukihiro Kanemura (Team No Respect) vs. The Gladiator Mike Awesome (ZEN) 03/16/98

Hard arse chops are traded before Awesome slams Kanemura across the ring. Over the ropes shoulder tackle takes Kanemura down but Gannosuke trips Awesome up which allows Kanemura to land a chubby yet cute elbow for two. Awesome tries to end quickly with the Awesome Bomb so Ito runs in to cause mischief. However Awesome deals with him easily before delivering a Powerbomb which he then scoops up Kanemura (with some difficulty) to follow with a Running Awesome Bomb to end it at 3:12.

Very to-the-point match and the display of power at the end was impressive. I can see why Awesome didn’t do many of those powerbombs-into-other-powerbombs.

And then of course Horace attacks Gladiator afterwards to build up the battle of the New Blood guys that hung around the Hulkster in 2000.

FMW Double Titles Number One Contender Tournament Semi-Finals

Hayabusa vs. Jado (Team No Respect) 03/16/98

Very polite wrestling to start off until Hayabusa attempts an Asai Moonsault with Gannosuke throwing a chair as he’s mid-rope jump. Jado aims his offence towards Hayabusa’s ankle but isn’t wrestling with a lot of enthusiasm. He lands a wild anklebreaker off the apron which you don’t see many of but he has rotten mannerisms. I know it’s part of the TNR thing but come on mate, you’re like a dead horse out there. Hayabusa agrees and starts the Dream Sequence that is a bit off-centre. Selling the ankle or just messed it up a bit? You decide! Wonderful Tiger Driver splats Jado in the middle of the ring but he dully kicks out. Gedo attempts to prevent the Firebird Splash but gets kicked away easily, meanwhile the move connects but Gannosuke messes with the ref to prevent it from ending the match. Hayabusa doesn’t panic and takes out Jado with a Quebrada, which leaves him wide open for a group attack from TNR and results in Jado delivering a powerbomb off the apron through a Japanese Table. Strewth.

Masato Tanaka arrives to give Hayabusa the motivation he needs, leading to Hayabusa taking a few lariats from Jado before converting one into a Tiger Suplex. This results in a Twisting Senton for a loooong two count and a shocked crowd. Gannosuke AGAIN interferes but can’t hold Hayabusa for long enough and Jado ends up smashing him off the apron, enabling Hayabusa to land the Falcon Arrow at 17:15 to send Hayabusa to the finals.

Satisfactory main event with The Ace triumphing over TNR despite the odds and Jado’s lack of fucks. I’m not sure how Jedo is considered a bigger threat than Can’t Feel Pain Tanaka but I can understand how they’d want to shove TNR into this near the end.

Overall: Hell of a show! Team No Respect continue to bring the entertainment, Hayabusa and Tanaka continue to bring the wrestling, and Horace continues to bring the mirth. FMW’s regular TV shows are a lot of fun and are even better when they’re showing only the best stuff. Hope this format lasts! (forebodingmusic.wav)

Next Week: The last Hayabusa vs. Mike Awesome match!

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