FMW Hayabusa Graduation Ceremony 08.23.99 DirecTV PPV
By Maffew Gregg on 21 September 2025
Korakuen Hall
Attendance 2,150
It’s Hayabusa’s penultimate appearance, The Hall is sold out, let’s get to it!
Mr. Gannosuke & Jado vs. Flying Kid Ichihara & Naohiko Yamazaki
Jado hits on Sean Wakana (Kid’s valet) so Gannosuke admonishes him. Gannosuke immediately does the same to the crowd’s approval. I’m missing a lot of the jokes but the crowd are enjoying it.
Kid wastes no time landing an Asai Moonsault that collides with more ringside chair than Jado. That was rough and Jado makes it to the ring before Kid does. Gannosuke plays around with Yamazaki who is never going to graduate from opening matches at this rate. Yamazaki eventually lands the flying Polish hammer to tag in Kid whose moonsault lands on knees and then Jado makes him tap with a Texas Cloverleaf at 5:18. That was the match.
Kid has become The Godfather for FMW as his matches are short and crap but the crowd love his gimmick. Well, they love his valet.
Speaking of which, Sean Wakana disrobes to a bikini to the delight of Team No Respect, but she still leaves with Kid to their disgust.
Masato Tanaka & Ricky Fuji vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Shoichi Arai
We’re combining feuds now. Fuji demands Arai tags in, which he does. So Fuji tags in Tanaka, with Fuyuki reluctant to tag in. Tanaka tags out to annoy Fuyuki, so Arai excitedly tags back in. OK this goes on for a while before both teams charge one another, with Fuji getting his hands on Arai while Tanaka rolls outside to get hand-cuffed to Kaoruko Arai (Shoichi’s niece) because Fuyuki is so clever. Tanaka is too much of a gentleman to give her an elbow so he’s stuck outside while Fuji gets double teamed. Arai manages some horrible offence to the fan’s amusement so Fuyuki comes in to do all the hard work on The Fuj before Arai locks in the worst Stretch Plumb of all time. Eventually Sean Wakana gets the key to the handcuffs from between Kaoruko’s tits to Unleash The Tanaka who kicks Arai’s face off. Fuji delivers a Kamikaze to kill Arai for the win as the crowd go wild at 7:15
More of FMW borrowing silly stuff from the West. The match was nothing but the crowd reactions were wonderful.
Tanaka again challenges Fuyuki, who declines as he has plans to make soup out of Arai.
WEW Tag Team Titles
Koji Nakagawa & Gedo (c) vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya
This is Gedo & Koji Nakagawa’s second defence of the titles since winning them on 06/13/99 when they were still called the FMW Tag Team Titles.
Long feeling out process reminds everyone that Oya is the boss on the mat. Gedo attempts to shake Oya’s hand to trick him out of a leg lock, but Oya turns his fingers inside out. Good. Kuroda’s lariat is blocked by Gedo who follows with an eye poke. Koji’s attempts at offence fails so he gets his ankle smashed. Koji counters the Figure Four thanks to Gedo, but the ref spots him and kicks his hand away which puts Kuroda back in the driver’s seat. Nice spot. Oya wonderfully plays with Koji because he’s a ratboy and deserves it. Pace is glacial so far so you know they’re going long.
Kuroda batters Koji as the crowd roar their approval. Gedo attempts to leave with the titles so the good guys have to drag them back in. Kuroda takes this opportunity to land the Running Crowd Lariat on Koji…oh wait no he doesn’t, the little bastard catches him and delivers an Exploder Suplex down the stairs! Christ. Kuroda is a little sore after that so TNR tenderize him back in the ring. Kuroda can only stomach being worked over by Koji for so long, so Oya tags in to lock in an Octopus Stretch after teasing a lariat. Koji dares to try to counter Oya so he ends up in an armbar. Gedo runs in to make things awkward but Oya rolls him up and is only saved when Koji grabs the ref. Oya accidentally whips Gedo into the ref, which allows Koji to twat their opponents with his tag title. Oh but Oya recovers quickly to land backdrop drivers to everyone. The ref is still down so Gannosuke decides to brawl with Sasaki at ringside as this has turned into a Raw main event. Ref recovers as Oya Backdrop Drives Gedo to set up an armbar as Kuroda sprints across the ring to take out a charging Koji, and that’s enough for the submission victory and new champions at 18:52!
I appreciated Koji wrestling like his character (a dick) for the first time in a while, this made a decent match more enjoyable. At the same time though, I’m glad the belts have switched to a more interesting team that don’t require people to do all the work.
WEW Brass Knuckles Title
Yukihiro Kanemura vs. Hayabusa
It’s the first appearance and defence of the WEW Brass Knuckles title since Fuyuki awarded it to Kanemura on 05/18/99. Kanemura is still defiantly stupid as he wears it backwards and tries to reclaim it from the ref after he hands it to him. Hayabusa stands perfectly still, staring like a defiant owl statue even as Kanemura dances for a comically long time.
We fire out the gates with Kanemura shoulder tackling Hayabusa, resulting in him kipping up and trying a sneaky Frankensteiner but Kanemura shuts that down with a powerbomb. nice showing they’re on the same level, continued by Kanemura taking a Frankensteiner but turning around to kick Hayabusa so he can drop him on the ropes. The Ace isn’t taking that shit and delivers a top rope Frankensteiner to send Kanemura outside and sail over the corner post with a sweet Quebrada.
Hayabusa attempts to out-brawl Kanemura but that’s his specialty so he absorbs the chair whips and backdrops Hayabusa into the fans and darkness. Kanemura ramps up the violence by jumping off the entrance to put Hayabusa through a table with the fans going wild. Kanemura then kisses Gannosuke for good luck. It works as Kanemura powerbombs Hayabusa on part of the table piece and it sends Hayabusa flying downwards into the crowd. Kanemura keeps going further and further by landing a back senton off the bleachers onto a non-set up table piece and a now flat Hayabusa. Kanemura was a ridiculous bumper in his prime.
Kanemura wears down Hayabusa back in the ring with chokes and using an entire table to smash The Ace in the back repeatedly. Airplane spins follow but Kanemura has to try to pin with just his thigh because he’s a fool. Crowd are beginning to boo his antics now which means they’re working. Kanemura absorbs Hayabusa’s headkick to low kick him down. Hayabusa has enough and German Suplexes Kanemura which sends him into prime Asai Moonsault-taking position on the outside so that’s what he does.
Falcon Arrow on the gym mats outside sets up Hayabusa putting Kanemura through a table via slingshot legdrop from inside the ring, aka one of Kanemura’s trademark spots. Crowd really appreciated Hayabusa’s theft. Hayabusa tries to end this with big moves in the ring but Kanemura kicks out of a tumbling swanton. Kanemura stops another attempt so he can belly to belly him across the ring. Kanemura kicks Hayabusa low (distracting the ref cos it’s illegal now) before landing multiple Germans for another close kick out. Kanemura’s powerbomb onto chairs gets an emotional response from the fans who beg Hayabusa to kick out. He does, so Kanemura uses the ring bell off the top rope which sadly doesn’t make the required DING noise. Kanemura tries to use half a table like a chair, but Hayabusa kicks it away so he can triumphantly smash it over Kanemura’s head. It doesn’t break as expected despite Hayabusa swinging like Barry Bonds, so Kanemura does a Fighting Spirit yell despite the bruises. Hayabusa slaps him to set up a Falcon Arrow and a 2.999 count.
Kanemura immediately comes back with a sit out reverse suplex. Hayabusa angrily slaps him in the face again to land the H Crusher which sets up the 450 Splash to win the title at 18:28.
Despite Hayabusa not liking Kanemura in real life (apparently his persona is his real life personality), he had great chemistry with the big bumper who gets more respect the more he has matches like this. His willingness to take anything to get a match over as well as knowing when to be on offence and when to be a dick made this a wonderful use of 18 and a half minutes between two guys in their prime. You can watch it here.
Hayabusa is given a ceremony to pose with his new belt and allow people to give him flowers to say goodbye to the gimmick, including Fuyuki who is respectful.
For now.
Overall: A bunch of passable curiosities, a decent tag match and a wonderful main event. Let’s face it, the Hayabusa match is the only thing you’d want to check out anyway so you don’t need me to tell you if it’s good. Or maybe you do, I don’t know I’m not your mam.
Next Week: Hayabusa retires the gimmick!