FMW Making Of New Legend 06.15.99 DirecTV PPV

Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 2,100

Previously In FMW…

It’s the first show under Fuyuki’s creative so let’s see how well the inmates are treating the asylum.

We get a recap of the first big show of the year, focusing on Team No Respect reuniting as a giant evil stable again, along with the fans throwing rubbish into the ring. To show how much they’re being inspired by the West, they’re using the Pulp Fiction song to recap things.

There’s plenty of major changes to address: Going forward there’s no more involvement with AJPW or Battlarts due to the issues of having their wrestlers actually lose matches when it mattered. That’s fair.

Low blows are now grounds for a DQ. Oh that’s a relief, they’ve been so frequent they’ve lost all meaning.

Also Fuyuki’s Double Titles are being split into their original form as two belts, with Kanemura being awarded the FMW Brass Knuckles Title and Mr. Gannosuke the FMW Independent Title.

We’re not going to be seeing the titles for a while however as FMW are still waiting for them belts to be made, so enjoy this photo of Kanemura.

Fuyuki’s new role isn’t just relegated to backstage as Shoichi Arai announces Fuyuki as the new Commissioner at the start of the show. You know he’s the commissioner because he’s wearing a suit.

Elimination Match 05/31/99

Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya & Hideki Hosaka (FMW) vs. Kodo Fuyuki, Kanemura & Mr. Gannosuke & Koji Nakagawa & Hido (Team No Respect)

FMW ran Korakuen Hall twice so we’re getting the main event of the first show to start off the PPV. It’s like Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night.

Team FMW charge the ring because they’re raging at current events (as they should be) and it’s a giant brawl around ringside with Fuyuki still wearing his suit for this match. Kanemura and Tanaka start in the ring first as Tanaka plants Kanemura with a sweet Tornado DDT. Gannosuke lariats Oya as I realise FMW have at least taken the best bit of the Battlarts feud and replaced it with people they can do business with. Gannosuke locks Oya in an Octopus Stretch as the crowd boo. Gannosuke receives a head drop for this troubles. Kuroda batters Hido around as the crowd are wild for him so that previous show was good for something. Everyone runs in to brawl and kick Hido in the head, with Hayabusa managing to show aggression with a knee drop off the top. Fuyuki tags in to square off with Hayabusa as the crowd “oooo” in anticipation…so Fuyuki takes one shot and tags out. Ha!

Gannosuke tags in and gets chants, despite being heel. Some of the crowd boo the fans chanting for him, yes! This is so much happier to watch than those empty quiet Yokohama shows. Kanemura & Gannosuke make up for lost time by kissing each other and elbow dropping Kuroda. Koji contributes nothing before Gannosuke points at Hayabusa before delivering a Falcon Arrow on Kuroda. Team FMW all run in to kick him for that. Fuyuki tries his Yelling Lariat but ends up running into a lariat from Kuroda for a cheeky two-count. Hayabusa can’t even look at Fuyuki so he attacks him from behind to kick start another brawl. Fuyuki in the chaos chokes Hayabusa with his tie.

Kuroda uses this moment to armbar Fuyuki while shoving a microphone underneath him so everyone can hear his moans. And then Fuyuki has enough and submits at 8:44! Oh wow, that was only 8:44? God that was a lot of action.

Koji tries something but takes a HARD lariat from Kuroda to wild applause. Tanaka drags Koji into the crowd, with Koji knocking down Tanaka. He doesn’t realise Tanaka doesn’t feel pain as he jumps back up to land the Rolling Elbow to eliminate Koji at 10:03.

Kanemura drags Tanaka back into the ring so he can batter him, with Hido managing an impressively hard lariat because everyone is busting their arse here. Kanemura is all butt drops and splashes before Gannosuke tags in to try to take out the unbreakable Tanaka with a Fire Thunder Driver. Hido thinks Tanaka is hurt because he’s dumb so Hayabusa tags in to slap some sense into him with an Asai Moonsault into the third row. Hayabusa misses the follow up moonsault so Tanaka tags in to attack an interfering Kanemura. Kanemura’s German Suplex can’t stop the Tanaka but a lariat does. Big back senton connects but only wakes up Tanaka into tagging out. Hosaka (who I’ve only just noticed was even in the match) drops Kanemura with a Release Powerbomb onto the top rope (the move that Big Show and Tori used to do) before murdering Kanemura with a fucking Fire Thunder Driver off the apron through a table to eliminate him via K.O. at 15:24.

Hosaka then lands a pretty top rope Frankensteiner as this version of Hosaka has been missing for a while. Hayabusa can’t pin Gannosuke with the Falcon Arrow (blasphemy!) but Gannosuke kicks him low directly in front of the ref and due to the new rules from Fuyuki, that means a DQ elimination at 16:34.

Gannosuke has a big grin on his face regardless.

Hido is now one man against five and even has some of the crowd chanting his name. Everyone comes in to land their finishers and top rope moves with Hido bravely kicking out every time until Hayabusa lands the Firebird 450 Splash at 18:28.

What a way to start a new era, this had tons of heat as well as action and plot advancement while also assuring fans that Fuyuki isn’t just going to do the nWo storyline every week. Hell yeah, if you watched this you’d think brighter things were on the horizon for FMW.

Ricky Fuji vs. Nanjyo Hayato

Fun fact: Hayato pinned Onita clean in a singles match in 2011 because he paid him lots of money. It was Onita’s first singles loss in six years. Anyway this is Hayato’s last appearance for FMW and you can tell he’s treating it seriously as he’s not wearing his usual blue and black outfit. Fuji ended Orihara’s run in FMW a few shows ago so he’s slowly becoming the 911 of the company. 119?

Hayato lands hard kicks as that’s his thing now. Hayato applies ankle locks and busts out an Asai Moonsault to the outside for the hell of it. Hey go big or go home. Split-legged moonsault meets the canvas and apathy. Hayato has a big wrapped up shoulder so he lands all these moves then sells. Fuji comes back with some Kamikazes before Fuji blocks a rolling armbar by kneeling and not doing anything. Well done. Fuji lands a Frankensteiner pin and…that’s the pin at 8:02! I’m unsure if Hayato was late kicking out on that one or not because he gets up very quickly afterwards and isn’t happy. Well regardless it’s not like the crowd cared about the match anyway.

Hayato bows to the audience as he leaves the company forever. Next.

Fuyuki heads out with more news because he’s pissed at losing last time. Firstly, Masato Tanaka is Public Enemy #1 and says if he loses any match, he’s fired. That’s added some uncertainty to his matches at least.

Secondly, Fuyuki is sick of Hayabusa’s superhero schtick and says he’s going to force him to remove his mask and retire the gimmick in August. Crowd do not fucking like that. Hayabusa chases the commissioner off as the camera follows him to the back, furiously hitting stuff. The reason for the angle and change was Hayabusa’s elbows being so wrecked after years of doing Phoenix Splashes every night. So it’s understandable but also moves like that are why people like Hayabusa so…this going to get worse before it gets better.

Jado (Team No Respect) vs. Flying Kid Ichihara

Kid heads out with one of the many porn stars FMW has started working with, in this case Sena Wakana. Fuyuki was really studying the Attitude Era hard. Jado is mad he doesn’t have a valet. Kid’s getting the most heat of his career so no wonder. Jado suplexes Kid before the cameras focus on Fuyuki showing up to ask Sena why she didn’t want to be with him instead. We see an Asai Moonsault from Kid before the camera goes back to the hotter match on the outside. Oh then Jado pins Kid with a powerbomb counter at 1:47.

The woman kicks Fuyuki low (DQ her ref) before she checks on her Kid. That was a bunch of stuff, nice of FMW to give gimmicks to undercard guys though. And then have them lose.

Hisakatsu Oya & Hideki Hosaka vs. Yoshinori Sasaki & Naohiko Yamazaki

The green horns are teaming up so they can try to be less green. Oya and Hosaka are friends by default.

Long feeling out process with the veterans matching the rookies. We get a look at the new female referee and I imagine the commentators are reacting like this:

Oya lets Sasaki counter some of his offence before eating him on the mat. Hosaka takes some pleasant dropkicks before riding the other one. Match stays in first gear before Yamazaki lands a crossbody off the second rope, allowing Sasaki to sumo slap and hip toss Hosaka. Then Yamazaki fires off Masacaras’ style flying hammers but a quick knee drop stops that. The kids land a nifty bulldog/stunner combo on Hosaka but he kicks out. Sasaki smashes him daft with a stiff chokeslam but that isn’t enough. It’s enough to get the crowd believing in them though. Yamazaki lands several suplexes that get very close kick outs, but just as everyone’s thinking they might win, Hosaka lariats him into Oya’s backdrop driver for the pi-NO! Sasaki breaks up the pin so Oya takes him outside while Hosaka Liger Bombs Yamazaki to finish at 13:18.

Started off very basic indeed but they had me going near the end that we might see an upset (as did the crowd) so well done.

Milky Kaori Nakayama vs. Chikako Shiratori

Oh so FMW decided to bring their women’s division back! Despite not having one.

I’m passing this to jabroni but I forget if he actually responded so if you see this he declined. 7:08

We get clips of the good guys practicing for the ladder match by going to the beach and taking bumps in the water. Ha! This was cool, especially with casual attire Hayabusa in swim gear (and mask).

Highlights of Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda losing the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Titles on 06/13/99 to Koji Nakagawa & Gedo in front of a quiet, small crowd. Well that was a hell of a reign.

FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Titles

Koji Nakagawa & Gedo (Team No Respect) vs. Sabu & Super Leather

Sabu’s in the country so lets get him on the show, his first appearance since the ECW invasion of December 1998. I don’t see these two gelling with his styles.

It’s a brawl in the crowd to start to get the fans running from Leather. I know the feeling, I try and avoid his matches too.

That kills five minutes until Sabu returns to the ring to lock in his camel clutch on Gedo. Springboard leg lariat and Arabian Press impress the crowd. Sabu tries to tag Leather but he declines and encourages Sabu to beat up Koji instead. Yeah, you know who else wears leather? COWBOYS. Super eventually comes in to hold Koji down so Sabu can do the moves that involve effort. Leather has issues with a chair so Sabu starts laughing and smiling which I’ve never seen him do before.

I’d say “Sabu corpsing” but…you know. Sabu misses Air Sabu and takes out his partner on the apron. Gedo takes over for a bit before Sabu lands a wonderful top rope jumping Frankensteiner. Leather is so mad at being upstaged that he smacks Sabu from the apron. Sabu then lands such a high-angles Triple Jump Moonsault that he comes short of his target. Crowd decides that’s the moment to chant “ECW” which killed me. Sabu tries to put Gedo through a table but he escapes so Sabu follows them with another crazy over the ropes dive. This sets Gedo up for a legdrop over the ropes through a table as the crowd chant for that ECW guy again. Sabu accidentally strikes Leather with part of a table, which Leather gets really mad at so Sabu gets his spike ready requiring referees to run down and grab him. In the process, Gedo smacks Leather with the title belt to retain at 15:30.

Sabu doing Sabu stuff was fine, it was the rest of the match that fell apart as it was all to set up the finish cos Sabu was not losing clean.

Afterwards Leather chases Sabu off with his chainsaw. Or more accurately: Leather waits for Sabu to be halfway out of the arena before deciding to make chase.

Loser Eats Dog Food Ladder Match

Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Yukihiro Kanemura & Hido (Team No Respect)

Giant bags of Pedigree dog food are brought to ringside to show no expense will be spared tonight. The ladder is set up in the middle of the ring with both teams either side of the hall, with a count down commencing before both teams can charge the ring. Team No Respect have no respect and charge before the count is finished because it’s not like they can be DQ’d in a Dog Food Ladder Match. I think.

Kuroda and Hido smash one another into the ladder to loud cheers and “KURODA” chants. Then Gannosuke and Hayabusa go at it with both knowing each other so well that neither can get the advantage. Well, until Hayabusa lands a lariat off the apron. Tanaka then takes all of Kanemura’s moves before reminding everyone You Can’t Hurt Tanaka and planting the big man with a wild tornado DDT off the apron onto concrete. Christ.

That was a wild start but settles down with Hayabusa working over Hido. Oh then he gets sent into a ladder on the outside. Tanaka chops the hell out of the jean wearer before Kuroda works the leg. Kanemura tries to save his mate but Tanaka is having none of him tonight, so all of Team FMW apply figure four leg locks on their respective rivals. The heat for this has been grand so far, these multi-men brawls really excel in the Hall. Hido gets further abuse piled on as Team FMW are not pissing about tonight. Hido manages to escape thanks to a low blow so TNR drag their foes outside into the crowd so Kanemura SMASH a chair over Tanaka’s head. Man did he eat all of that too. Meanwhile, Kuroda is casually landing the Running Crowd Lariat on poor Hido as the crowd look worried at the amount of action occurring around them.

Kanemura suplexes a ladder onto Tanaka and then press slams it off the top rope onto Tanaka too. Tanaka will even sell for a ladder. Gannosuke very nearly wins after a dirty powerbomb, with Hido managing to shove it onto Tanaka’s head for further bumps that would have stopped a mortal man by now. The Big Gay Kissing Elbow can’t put away Tanaka so Gannosuke has to try a real move like the Falcon Arrow. Gannosuke busts out the Praying Powerbomb which he’s still allowed to do even though he’s no longer an evil monk but it causes another stand-clearing brawl between the two teams.

Hayabusa shrugs off a Gannosuke powerbomb to land a graceful Asai Moonsault into the front row. Kanemura tries to cut him off but then Hayabusa takes him out also, leading to Kuroda tagging in to distribute lariats to everyone. Tanaka missile dropkicks Hido but walks into a Diamond Cutter. Tanaka doesn’t care because he’s harder than diamonds. Kanemura tries to slam him but Tanaka’s meter is on fire like NBA Jam so he Tornado DDTs him half way across the ring. All three lads jump off the top onto Kanemura but Gannosuke saves as the crowd are again molten.

Gannosuke sneaks in to attempt the Nirvana Stretch on Kuroda, leading to another brawl in which Kuroda takes a kinda-3D and a Fire Thunder Driver, with only Tanaka being able to make the save in time. Hido takes the Rolling Elbow but somehow kicks out. Some of the crowd chants his name which is impressive. Elevated double facebuster from the good guys (nicely combining both Hayabusa/Shinzaki and Kuroda/Tanaka’s double teams) can’t end Hido so Hayabusa lands a 450 Splash…for two. Crowd can’t believe he’s kicking out of all this.

So Hayabusa has enough of this super version of Hido, gets his mates to hold the ladder for him to land a giant moonsault…

…which doesn’t end it because Gannosuke breaks it up, so Hayabusa chases him out to leave Hido alone with Kuroda who finally lariats Hido hard enough to kill him dead dead at 21:05

I can’t get enough of these massively heated multi-men brawls as the crowd are so into them and the more kick-outs there are, the better they get. Hell yeah, another great match to finish the PPV.

Fuyuki slowly heads out, ready to be a man of his word as he opens the tin of dog food, spoon at the ready. Fuyuki puts it in his mouth and starts chewing…only to then spit it out into Hayabusa’s face and triggering yet another brawl, with the big bags of dog food being split open and spread all over the ring in the process. Sadly no-one takes a bump into them or makes dog food angels on the floor. Bait and switching already? Wow Fuyuki, you don’t need to steal EVERYTHING from the Yanks.

Overall: Well let’s see: two really heated megabrawls, undercard wrestlers getting new gimmicks and even green guys getting pushes? Yeah this will do me, and another sign that everything will be OK for FMW by the end of the year!

Next Week: The WEW Six Man Tag Team Titles return! God do they look bad!

I’ve been Maffew