FMW Over The Top Super Fight Part 1 01.05.99 DirecTV PPV
By Maffew Gregg on 27 July 2025
Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 2,050
Let’s return to FMW for a new year! And a new show that didn’t sell out!
FMW Double Champion
Kodo Fuyuki (since 11/20/98)
FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions
Daisuke Ikeda & Hayabusa (since 10/26/98)
Nanjyo Hayato & Flying Kid Ichihara & Naohiko Yamazaki vs. Hideki Hosaka & Gosaku & Yoshinori Sasaki
We’re JIP because the person recording this was in no hurry to watch a Flying Kid Ichihara opening match. I understand. Sasaki gets his arm worked over until he attempts to tag out to Hosaka who declines, thus giving this match an extra half a star. Sasaki takes a bunch of moves to no reaction before figuring out he has to tag the guy on the apron. Gosaku clumsily lands a top rope stunner before tagging Sasaki back in after he’s been battered for ten minutes because he’s a dumb-dumb. Sasaki slams Yamazaki who holds on to convert into a cross armbreaker for the instant tap-out at 11:35. Match was a set-up for later.
Hosaka then decides now is a good time to do something so he delivers some beautiful powerbombs. When his partners try to stop him, he attacks them also before moodily stomping to the back. More to come.
Ricky Fuji vs. Super Leather
Leather goes after the ring announcer so Fuji starts the match by landing a Moxley tope to the outside to save him. Fuji brawls with Leather through the crowd and the sight of scared/laughing fans trying to get away as the wrestlers throw water at one another cracks me up. Fuji throws someone’s coat over Leather’s face and batters him hockey-style. Leather should have instantly fallen asleep like a parakeet. Leather lobs some chairs in the ring so Fuji sets one up and plays with his hair. This annoys Leather because he knows his hair can’t compete with Ricky’s. Leather sends Fuji into a vertical table at ringside which gets no reaction so a mad Leather sends him into fans instead to ensure a scared/amused pop. Leather goes after a female fan with long hair (to compete with Ricky’s) so Fuji saves her before taking a drop toe hold into a chair. Fuji comes back by slamming Leather’s while yelling “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Fuji lands the Kamikaze and nearly wins with a cheeky small package before Leather creams the guy with a lovely brainbuster. Fuji kicks out and the crowd is feeling this now. Fuji attempts a backslide but Leather counters into an unexpectedly crunchy neckbreaker before a Tombstone ends it at 9:28.
Hey this wasn’t bad! Fuji knew Leather’s strengths were brawling and comedy so they stuck to that and it didn’t out-stay it’s welcome. Best Leather match in ages.
Team No Respect (Gedo & Hido) vs. Tompachi Machine Guns (Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono)
TNR attack Orihara with chairs during the intros because they know it’s their only chance of getting any offence in. TNR don’t allow Ono to remove his goth jacket as they drag him into the ring so the match resembles drug dealers attacking their clients. Orihara retaliates with low blows and chairs of his own before they land a modified Dream Sequence. Look at him, stealing puro wrestlers moves for his own. He’s going to put Nova out of a job. The Guns land double stomps before getting mad at the quiet crowd and flip them off. I mean Orihara is a natural heel but so are TNR so I don’t blame the crowd for not caring about this unlikable heel vs unlikable heel match. Orihara flattens Gedo with a piledriver so harsh the after-effects would cause him to put the IWGP title on EVIL. Orihara takes a leathering while selling overdramatically so everyone knows he’s above this. Then the goth lads cause another brawl outside to take out Gedo so they can land their nifty double teams on Hido. OK now the match has some direction and the crowd is into it, so of course Hido recovers and starts landing piledrivers and lariats to disregard everything. Orihara kicks out at 2.999 to frustrate the crowd. Hido and Gedo take in turns to see who can miss a springboard moonsault the most before Orihara nearly wins with a small package. Ono uses a chair on Hido so Orihara can spike him with a messy Michinoku Driver onto a chair at 14:50.
Like most Orihara matches, there were some nice moments and spots but TNR weren’t able to control him enough to get a story going before he insisted on doing all his fancy things at the expense of everyone else. There are very few wrestlers I’ve seen as selfish as Orihara.
Yukihiro Kanemura vs. Kodo Fuyuki
Both guys are Team No Respect members but-Oh wait, Hosaka shows up to sneak attack Kanemura and bust him open with a tonfa. Fuyuki makes the save as the crowd cheers TNR, which is funny as it was only a few months ago that Hosaka was their hostage. The match is rebooked for after intermission which is a good way to get people to keep watching the show. That they’ve already ordered on PPV.
Team Phoenix vs. Team No Respect 12/17/98
While the fans go and buy t-shirts, the PPV audience is treated to highlights of Oya ending a Winner Stays On style match that went 36:38 by last eliminating Fuyuki. Fuyuki isn’t happy. Well he’s smirking in his post-match interview. Probably because he’s sat down.
Yukihiro Kanemura vs. Kodo Fuyuki
OK let’s try this again. This is supposed to be a friendly match between the two members of Team No Respect but Kanemura is still covered in blood and isn’t in the mood so he attempts to sneak attack his boss. It doesn’t work and Kanemura ends up landing in the laps of the fans sat front row like the water at Splash Mountain. Fuyuki lands a Yelling Lariat and a wonderful powerbomb but there’s no heat because it’s a friendly. Why care? A Dragon Sleeper kills a few minutes. Kanemura takes a chair to the head which wakes him up as he starts flying off the top rope. Kanemura attempts a Yelling Lariat but runs directly into one from Fuyuki so he can land his wild Rikishi sell.
Kanemura reverses a Yelling Lariat of his own to a Fujiwara Armbar before repeating the moment with a backslide before accidentally walking into a third attempt for the pin at 7:14.
They were aiming for something dramatic here but it was too abridged and focused on Hosaka for it to work. Which sucks as Kanemura is usually the highlight of these shows as he’s always bumping for ten people.
Fuyuki clarifies that TNR are no longer attempting to take over FMW so it’s OK to cheer them. Jado & Go Ito are sat on commentary and strongly disagree with these comments so decide to leave TNR because they *do* want to take over FMW. That’s one way to reduce the numbers on this huge stable that’s changing direction in 1999.
Hayabusa vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Now that Onita has been wrapped up in a carpet and thrown off a bridge, Hayabusa is comfortably the Ace so this is a test for the fast-rising and improving Kuroda.
Some slow mat wrestling quickens quickly as Hayabusa’s high kick is blocked and Kuroda nails a Lariat early on to demonstrate he’s READY, BABY. Kuroda slaps Hayabusa’s ankle around the ring post, apparently not knowing that Hayabusa Must Dive so that’s not going to do much to him. Kuroda locks in a Figure Four which allows Hayabusa to slap him around because they’re face to face. Kuroda shrugs it off to keep the hold locked in before he gets bored of that and tries to send his opponent outside. Hayabusa reverses and uses this opportunity to wrap Kuroda’s arm around the ring post to nullify his lariat. Hey look a story! Hayabusa now armbars Kuroda for a while with the rising star escaping and running right into a spinning kick. Kuroda ducks an Asai Moonsault to the outside which allows him to drag Hayabusa into the crowd to land his Running Through The Crowd Lariat. Hayabusa recognises that move as the cheap pop that it is and Frankensteiners Kuroda down the stairs!
A quick powerbomb allows Hayabusa to moonsault off the guardrail onto the hard-arse floor.
The commentators react with an understandable “aaaah!!” This isn’t enough to put Kuroda away and neither are a Fisherman’s Buster or Tiger Bomb. Kuroda attempts to prevent Hayabusa from going to the top rope but an angry Hayabusa clotheslines him off instead. Hayabusa thinks that’s enough to go up top again but Kuroda jumps up and German Suplexes him off the second rope to set up a Dragon Suplex for a close two. Crowd are enthused. Kuroda heads up top but Hayabusa tells him to fuck off (in Japanese so he understands) and attempts to cut off Kuroda. However Kuroda does his odd jump-off-to-the-top-rope-to-bounce-his-opponents-head-off-the-top-rope move which is so successful he walks right into a Dragon Suplex from Hayabusa…only to bounce up and Lariat Hayabusa before falling to the mat.
With both men slow to get on their feet, the battle of pad-mashing is won by Hayabusa who lands a 450 Splash for the very close two count as the crowd are ejaculating now. Hayabusa sets up Kuroda for something which gets converted into a running powerbomb to the shock of the crowd and the “ah ah ah ah!” commentators. Rolling Germans can’t end Hayabusa so Kuroda charges up the Lariat and lands it directly in the middle of the ring but it still can’t put The Ace away. Hayabusa recovers but somehow walks directly into a follow-up Lariat for another screaming kick-out. Hayabusa then blocks several more Lariats to turn Kuroda into a Double Underhook Powerbomb before Doing The Deal and ending with a Falcon Arrow at 16:14.
Man what a battle that turned into. Kuroda was keen to show he can give it to the biggest deal in the company with Hayabusa shocked at amount of energy it took to put him away. Comparable to Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid on Raw. Recommended match (if you ignore both men disregarding the legs and arm work at the start but I’m used to these FMW lads doing that by now).
Masato Tanaka vs. Koji Nakagawa
Tanaka’s return to FMW after spending six months in ECW and winning the tag titles with Balls Mahoney at November To Remember. ECW was still advertising Tanaka for their Guilty As Charged 1999 PPV and he was last seen pinning Justin Credible on TV, but FMW had always insisted Tanaka be back by 1999 and had already advertised him on posters. Heyman would explain Tanaka’s absence from the PPV as “VISA issues” and the FMW/ECW relationship would cease for nine months.
Tanaka chair shots Koji but misses a running one in the corner. Koji lands a release Northern Lights which Tanaka dramatically no-sells to the roar of the crowd. Tanaka lands a running elbow to set up this brand new move, the Diamond Dust!
And that’s it at 0:33!
Well that was a statement and a half. Good way to break up the action between the evening’s big matches too.
Over the Top Finals
Mr. Gannosuke vs. Hisakatsu Oya
Here we go, the finals to decide the new Number One Contender to Double Champ Fuyuki. Fuyuki himself was eliminated from the tournament by losing to Oya in a shocker. I mean he’s good but he’s not been pushed as a headliner before now. However, even with hair resembling a bird’s nest made in a rush, he’s probably at his peak as a wrestler. Gannosuke is a heel but also beefing with the other kinda-heel-but-not-really Team No Respect. He’s also really good.
Oya’s best when on the mat so he naturally takes the blond bomber down to maintain control. I know this can often feel perfunctory but Oya is very good at making it seem he’s genuinely trying to rip something off rather than doing mat work for the sake of doing it. Both men keep active on the floor as commentators use hushed voices like it’s snooker. Gannosuke tries to roll out of something but Oya wraps his legs around his face and grins maniacally. Gannosuke manages an armbar and holds on to it for dear life while grabbing Oya to his feet…with Oya bringing him back to the mat instantly. Ha! Gannosuke still has the armbar but Oya makes it clear he can keep stretching him with his other one until Gannosuke has enough and grabs the ropes. As soon as both men are reset, he kicks Oya in the balls. No-one reacts to that but I thought it was funny so fuck ’em. Gannosuke removes Oya’s advantage by dragging him outside for chair shots. Gannosuke tries to chop a bleeding Oya but he returns the favour and kicks Gannosuke low. Fair. Oya resumes the mat stretchings until moral improves with Gannosuke escaping via rope break again.
Gannosuke attempts to roll up Oya but the Balding One responds with flying enziguris and an Octopus Stretch. Wow I wonder who inspired him. Gannosuke gets dumped via a typically vicious backdrop driver. However this only motivates him to block an Octopus Stretch into an Abominable Stretch pin for two. Oya responds with a knee drop off the top, before synching in a Bow & Arrow which gets the crowd applauding. Oya’s enziguri only causes Gannosuke into lariating his foe and attempting his own Octopus Stretch which is easily rolled out of by a smarter foe. An unhappy Gannosuke delivers a backdrop driver of his own. as this match is lacking in heat because the pace hasn’t increased since the start.
Oya backdrops Gannosuke again but a second is countered into a pin for two. Missile dropkick sends Oya too far into the ropes so a Boston Crab is easily halted with a rope break. Don’t know what the thinking was there. Oya punishes this stupidity with a brutal top rope backdrop driver but it only gets two.
Neckbreaker is turned into a backslide is turned into a Fujiwara Armbar is turned into a happy crowd. A schoolboy roll-up gets turned directly into a cross armbar with Gannosuke teasing he’s going to tap so convincingly that fans yell “no no!”
He escapes and cuts off Oya on the top rope to superplex him. Oya jumps up and rolls him in an Abominable Stretch Pin and when it gets two he does it again. Oya’s a fine spammer. Bridging German is kicked out of by Gannosuke. Second attempt is countered into Gannosuke’s submission hold he borrowed (stole) from Shinzaki. Oya doesn’t have a counter so he gets the ropes, allowing Gannosuke to land the Fire Thunder Driver! For two. C’mon don’t tease me with that. Praying Powerbomb and Sex Pin also only gets two as crowd politely applaud some more. Nirvana Stretch gets fully locked in in the middle of the ring, and Oya with no counter has no choice but to tap at 24:55.
It was a long encounter that stayed at a steady pace because they knew they were going 25 minutes so it took forever for the crowd to get invested, which took away from the overall enjoyment. I enjoyed the finish with Gannosuke outsmarting Oya with his own version of an established hold but this was merely a good match when it should have been a great one.
Afterwards, Gannosuke is presented with the big trophy by the head of DirecTV. Gannosuke doesn’t care and calls out Tanaka. Instead Kanemura attacks from behind because they still have beef. Hosaka shows up to save Gannosuke with his new Big Boss Man stick. Then Fuyuki shows up to help his stable-mate with Oya running back out to attack HIM until Hayabusa shows up to tell everyone to calm the fuck down.
Kuroda Pearl Harbours Hayabusa From The Front and yells about how pissed off he is at losing to him. Tanaka wants to see how much Kuroda has improved since that sweet Tanaka’s farewell match last year and insults Kuroda until he’s dragged away. Tanaka then talks shit about Hayabusa who leaves him to it because even though he’s the Ace, Hayabusa is still a bitch. Tanaka flexes to show how happy he is to be in a company that isn’t going to put him in crack den hotels and that’s your show!
Notes…
Fresh out of being ousted out of his own company, Onita made his debut for NJPW to wrestle Kensuke Sasaki in a five minute no-contest that is best remembered for the entrances. Onita would lose via DQ after throwing fire into Sasaki’s face because he sure as shit wasn’t losing to Onita.
Also of note: Hayabusa was in attendance to watch the show as a fan. Fans were apparently asking him if he was going to go and help Onita, to which Hayabusa laughed and told them “no!!!”
Fuyuki-Gun held their last show under that name the day after this one in the same venue. It wasn’t taped. Sensing this was a dying concept and seeing as the shows consisted of only FMW talent, the members of Fuyuki-Gun simply became full-time FMW employees. This didn’t go down well with Gedo & Jado who were happy being free-lance so they’re now losing money as a result. Good times.
Oh and Gannosuke would officially create a new fancy stable consisting of uhhhh Hosaka & Super Leather?
Yikes. Best of luck mate.
Overall: Watch Hayabusa then leave if you’re not here for the long run. If you are, then this was an OK set-up show for the rest of the year because FMW’s undercards are still rougher than a badger’s arse but the likes of Tanaka, Gannosuke, Hayabusa and Kuroda are here to make the nights less cold. The sports entertainment stuff isn’t too distracting and mostly works, which is not something we’ll be able to say about the rest of the year.
Next Week: Tanaka vs. Kuroda II!