FMW Winning Road 03/17/98

Korakuen Hall
Attendance 2,150

Previously In FMW…

The last Samurai TV episode for a few years as FMW would go all-in on their deal with DirecTV which will bring us to the next part of this company’s sad decline. But that’s for another time, there’s lots of good stuff in the build to FMW’s first PPV.

Hayabusa joins us this week wearing his mask, a suit and a coat. And a smile.

Mr. Pogo #2 vs. Yoshinori Sasaki

Oh not again. Same match as always, Pogo wins with a Camel Clutch at 8:40.

Hideki Hosaka (ZEN) vs. Flying Kid Ichihara

Kid throws a spinning wheel kick but spins in the opposite direction to what you’d expect so Hosaka stands nervously for a second before realising it was supposed to hit and then rolling outside. Starting the match off strong. Kid manages to collide with a baseball slide and Asai Moonsault to get things back on track. Kid carries on with his high flying but it’s got to suck when the ace of the promotion does everything you can but you’re already changed to your style. You can’t make like Final Fantasy V and change jobs on a whim. Hosaka also ruins Kid’s mood by landing a smooth Frankensteiner off top before landing a rubbish Sky High powerbomb that the production avoids. Hosaka doesn’t seem to be confident in what Kid’s going for so there’s notable pauses and hesitation before Hosaka lands an enormous running powerbomb which…Kid kicks out of but the ref counts three anyway at 6:50. Big big big Oof. Hosaka is so unimpressed he immediately leaves the ring and I can’t blame him. Yeah this stunk.

Shark Tsuchiya vs. Crusher Maedomari

Street Fight

Like last time both monsters immediately brawl outside with Shark being sent into the chairs at ringside but immediately starts grinning when she stops rolling. That was a cool image. Back inside a chair duel ends with Crusher taking the metal to the back, but she’s able to bounce off the ropes and into Shark with neither of them giving an inch. Both go down on a double clothesline with Crusher able to recover quicker. Shark low blows the ref for some reason so Shark’s uranage doesn’t result in the end as while Crusher is grabbing the ref, she turns the second uranage into a dodgy-looking roll-up to end it very quickly and shittily at 3:56. Action was fine and furious until then and it’s leading to a (hopefully) bigger blow-off soon so I’ll allow it.

Crusher is furious and attacks the referee afterwards before heading backstage to continue brawling with Shark in the stairwell in a cool image that’s sadly treated as an afterthought as we immediately cut away to something else.

Super Leather (Team No Respect) vs. Hido (Team No Respect)

So why are these team-mates going at it? Hido clotheslines Leather outside to connect with a very high plancha with the cameraman picking the perfect angle to capture that. Hido starts working over Leather’s leathery legs with chairs and STFs. Leather gets battered by Hido’s fun blend of pleasant moves until the light bulb goes off over his head to let him know he needs to make a comeback and executes a Superplex without falling over to a big pop. High elevated powerbomb can’t put Hido away but the crowd is popping wonderfully for Hido’s kick outs. Ace Crusher confuses Leather so he pretends he didn’t see it and lands another very high powerbomb for two. Then Leather lands a running walking powerslam to finish at 12:19. I don’t know what the point of this was but it was annoyingly well done and the crowd loved it.

Kodo Fuyuki & Gedo (Team No Respect) vs. Koji Nakagawa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (ZEN)

Fuyuki fans the flames for his feud with ZEN and really hammers the No Respect by dressing as Onita, complete with jeans, drawn-on scars and water spitting.

Crowd cheer and boo (che-boo) but Kuroda lobs a chair at Fuyuki to start this off with a big ol’ brawl outside. Back inside, Kuroda decides if Fuyuki’s going to be Onita then he’ll be Tarzan Goto and starts head-butting Fuyuki as the crowd yell “hey we get that reference!” It’s effective as Kuroda is able to dominate for a bit before Gedo tries to save and fails like it’s the finals of Super J Cup 1995. Nakagawa is able to work him over too and he’s not even good. Fuyuki has enough of this and tries throwing chairs but they can’t stop Kuroda’s onslaught on Hido. Powerbomb pin has to be broken up by Fuyuki leading to even more offence onto Gedo from Nakagawa until he remembers low blows exist leading to Fuyuki tagging in and lariating everything. Superbomb is set up and executed but Nakagawa kicks out before a Yelling Lariat sets up the Stretch Plumb for…not the finish, surprisingly as Kuroda saves his partner. Who immediately takes another lariat and a Fuck You Onita Fire Thunder Powerbomb at 9:52.

Good, exciting, feud-building match here with Kuroda getting a chance to show what he’d do as a headliner years later. One of the reasons why this period is so fun to watch is even guys like Nakagawa are getting to do something in matches with obvious outcomes (Fuyuki is wrestling Onita for the big PPV match, I should have made that more obvious).

Post-match Fuyuki mocks Onita’s post-match speeches while Gedo mockingly pounds the mat like the fans do. Oh that was good imitation, Russo would be proud.

Jinsei Shinzaki & Masato Tanaka & Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Yukihiro Kanemura & Jado & Horace Boulder (Team No Respect)

So a big eight-man tag before the PPV because TNR are feuding with everybody? Yes I’ll take this to go, thanks.

Everyone brawls outside except Gannosuke and Shinzaki who stay inside and stare daggers at one another before Shinzaki makes the first move and takes apart Gannosuke with an array of wonderful looking offence. Shoulder tackle, back heel kick, Praying forearm off the top IT’S ALL HERE. Like last time, Shinzaki doesn’t waste time showboating while doing the walk, he simply gets up there and immediately lands the move to show his hate for Gannosuke. Big Arse Pump Splash lands on knees which causes Jado to re-enter the ring to help Gannosuke brutally powerbomb Shinzaki through a table.

While TNR hold off everyone else at ringside, Gannosuke attempts to lock in Shinzaki’s own hold on him but even half-dead he resists. Tanaka finally saves him with kicks before Horace escorts him outside. It calms down with everyone back on the apron but Shinzaki is so worn out Horace really has to drag him up into a piledriver. Shinzaki sells really well for a stoical guy. Jado superplexes Shinzaki with TNR bum-rushing the FMW guys off the apron, leading to a Falcon Arrow and a Superbomb also but Shinzaki still kicks out because he has God on his team. Well he’d be a better partner than the FMW crew who have been bloody useless this match. Shinzaki finally recovers to dodge a charging Jado and Dragon Screw Gannosuke. Fuji starts giving everyone nuggies before a Finlay Roll gets two on Jado. Tanaka starts throwing his big moves on Kanemura including a rare Tornado DDT set up for the Diamond Dust. Oya Backdrop Drivers Hogan before attempting an Abdominal Stretch to finish. Tanaka lariats Kanemura into taking a truly disgusting neck-first sell but thankfully Kanemura is too dumb to feel real pain. Jado brainbusters Tanaka as this has got hot fast with everyone attempting to pin everyone as quickly as possible before someone runs in. Shinzaki applies his wonderful strait jacket submission onto Kanemura with Gannosuke immediately attempting to break up with kicks…but Shinzaki is so mad he keeps it on while staring evilly at Gannosuke. Both lads end up staring wildly at one another until Fuji takes out Gannosuke leading to Shinzaki applying the hold onto Gannosuke finally! Until Horace shows up to ruin everything. While Shinzaki and Gannosuke stare down one another, Cunt Corace delivers an Uncle Slam to pin Fuji at 17:13.

As soon as the match ends, both men go at it with both factions and ring crew having to separate them as The Offspring’s Come Out & Play blasts out, ironically enough. That’s what the song is about! The brawl goes on and on with the crowd making noise the entire time as the feud is easily the best thing going in FMW right now.

So of course it would end a month later on a show not recorded for PPV or TV due to Shinzaki needing to leave to return to Michinoku Pro full-time ASAP. However, the match was recorded and included for the annual FMW Story of the F compilation tape.

FMW Double Titles Number One Contender Tournament Finals

Hayabusa vs. The Gladiator Mike Awesome

The last Hayabusa vs. Awesome match. Gladiator is 2-1 in singles matches having defeated Hayabusa for the FMW Brass Knuckles Title in 1995. Winner gets Mr. Gannosuke at the PPV.

Hayabusa wearing the special-occasions-only brown gear. Gladiator attempts to intimidate Hayabusa by squaring off against him but that doesn’t work so he instead chops his chest and delivers a top rope clothesline very early on. Gladiator sends Hayabusa outside and springboard crossbodies him and the front row as we’re going hard and fast tonight.

Gladiator wears out a chair over Hayabusa’s body before breaking one over his head, causing the crowd to begin yelling for Hayabusa to stop getting his arse kicked so bad. Gladiator puts Hayabusa over his shoulders, walks to the ropes and casually lets go as he splats to the floor. Oh that’s a great spot. Gladiator continues this one-sided beatdown until he sends Hayabusa into the ring and sees him charging. Gladiator naturally goes for the springboard shoulder tackle but Hayabusa’s wrestled him enough times to know it’s coming so he kicks Gladiator directly in the face mid-move. Class. Dream sequence swanton/moonsault gets two as Hayabusa is firmly coming back now, managing to suplex and Double Underhook the much bigger man with ease. This pleases the high-pitched screams in the crowd.

Twisting Senton connects wonderfully so Hayabusa decides a 450 Splash should work too but Gladiator still kicks out. Hayabusa can’t do the Falcon Arrow so he tries a Michinoku Driver instead to put the big man down for another dive. Sadly for Hayabusa, Gladiator kips up and lands the always-amazing backwards Awesome Bomb off the top to really put the panic into the crowd. Hayabusa kicks out though, leading to a graceful Awesome Splash off the top. The Ace still won’t be put away so Gladiator attempts a Camel Clutch but all it does is help Hayabusa enough to German Suplex Gladiator directly onto his mullet. Hayabusa sends him outside to wipe him out with a beautiful Tope into the crowd, but it doesn’t have any long-lasting damage as Gladiator simply lariats a mid-air Hayabusa back inside. Gladiator uses (of all moves) a pedigree which is a bizarre choice. Gladiator takes way too long setting up a table at ringside, leading to Hayabusa bouncing him off the apron and through it…before diving onto a prone Gladiator for good measure! Oh so that’s where Gladiator got the idea for One Night Stand 2005. Hayabusa is feeling it and does actually manage the Falcon Arrow but Gladiator cruelly kicks out anyway. Gladiator cuts off Hayabusa going to the top yet again to set up a Top Rope Awesome Bomb but Hayabusa uhhh kind of counters with a wonky Frankensteiner. The Tokyo fans are sticklers for quality so Awesome ignores it to powerbomb Hayabusa and nail him with an elevated German Suplex for good measure. Ow. Running Awesome Bomb sends Hayabusa half way across the ring but doesn’t end the match, so Awesome attempts a Non Running Awesome Bomb which Hayabusa slips out of, ducks a lariat and converts it into a giant Dragon Suplex to end the war and earn the Double Titles Shot at 14:09.

I’ve seen people say this isn’t on the same level as their 1995 and 1996 matches but for their final match against one another this was everything it should have been. We had numerous instances of each wrestler reading each other’s playbooks back to them, disgusting dumps onto heads and of course table spots. Gladiator never looked particularly graceful here but you know what? I’M GLAD. If I wanted that I’d watch every other 300lb guy in 2025 doing that, I’m happy with Gladiator wrestling like a big guy that did little guy moves like a big man. Great way to keep Hayabusa at the top of the card by having him vanquish guys that gave him a run for his money (Tanaka, Gladiator) on the road to this era’s biggest card and match.

Overall: Another worthy show in a series of them with FMW still managing to provide a mix of great action, proper feuds as well as silly bollocks in one lovely package.

Fuck it, I’m in such a good mood let’s look at the big match.

Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Mr. Gannosuke 04/21/98

We’re at Korakuen Hall again and incidentally this was FMW’s 1,000th show. Hey how about that?

This match could have headlined their first big PPV but the timing wasn’t there. The feud has been intense so far, so much so that the usually stoical Shinzaki can’t wait for Gannosuke to head so he goes to meet him…only to be confronted by Kanemura who distracts him long enough for Gannosuke to attack him from behind and send him flying dangerously fast off the apron with a Praying Powerbomb through a table and onto his neck on the floor. Fucking hell.

Shinzaki is bleeding from the back of his head which you rarely see. Gannosuke batters him around the ring as Shinzaki flops around. He’s tremendous at selling, which is just as well as Gannosuke is firmly in control. Shinzaki cartwheels away from a lariat but Gannosuke simply knocks him down and continues the pounding as the crowd get madder and madder. Shinzaki tries a suplex so Gannosuke attempts the Dynamite Kid thing where they both suplex outside but they get caught in the ropes and roll outside and to be honest, it looked better than the usually dumb-looking spot. Gannosuke kicks Shinzaki in the balls and lands a quick Praying Powerbomb but he should have prayed for longer cos Shinzaki kicks out. Shinzaki absolutely mule kicks Gannosuke low before landing the stunning flying kick to the head. Time seems to slow when he lands that. Shinzaki stomps the shit out of Gannosuke with a Pump Splash, leading to the merry monk going up top and staring at Gannosuke while not moving, waiting for him to stand up so he can land a massive shoulder tackle. Shinzaki gets carried away and prays for too long, leading a Gannosuke Clutch and an audience gasp but he kicks out at two. A mad Shinzaki lands it properly but Gannosuke kicks out, leading to Shinzaki trying the Nirvana Stranglehold.

However, Gannosuke rolls out of it with such force that Shinzaki dives outside impressively. As he struggles onto his feet, Shinzaki manages to head onto the apron until Gannosuke bounces him off and onto another table in the front row. Jesus, I didn’t realise he loved that spot so much.

Shinzaki somehow manages to recover quickly from that so Gannosuke tries it again, leading to Shinzaki springboard dropkicking him into oblivion. Shinzaki again takes too long praying so he misses a diving headbutt so gets absolutely planted with a Fire Thunder Driver for two. Shinzaki is recovering quicker and quicker though, until several lariats have him rethinking that strategy. Gannosuke dropkicks the back of his head but Shinzaki kicks out at one. Gannosuke doesn’t give a shit and lands a Falcon Arrow for another close two. Praying Powerbomb is halted by Shinzaki clicking his heels at the right moment, with Shinzaki trying a Frankensteiner to take a wicked sit-out powerbomb. Shinzaki gets mad and ignores that to lock in the Nirvana Stranglehold, with Gannosuke only just getting the ropes to escape. Crowd are going wild. Shinzaki gets kicked twice low but he’s beyond mad and ignores the CBT to kick Gannosuke in the back of the head before simply punching him in the fucking face. Ha! Powerbomb with no prayer only gets two so Shinzaki lands a Razor’s Edge to finally put the man who made his life hell for months away at 15:43.

It’s almost to the detriment to the enjoyment of this match to have it on a Best Of months after the fact because the build to it was so entertaining. Ah well it’s not like that type of thing matters in 2025 anyway when it’s all online and can be watched in any order. But yes, this was a wonderful way to end the Shinzaki vs. Gannosuke feud with Shinzaki finally putting that dickhead away after taking some staggeringly brutal bumps.

Hell yeah, FMW 1998 rules!

Next Week: The biggest show of 1998 doesn’t rule.

I’ve been Maffew