FMW 1st Anniversary Show was the first

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

supercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

produced by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

(FMW). The event took place on November 5, 1990 at the

Komazawa Gymnasium Komazawa Gymnasium is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located in Komazawa Olympic Park, Tokyo, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 3,875 spectators. Designed by Japanese architect Yoshinobu Ashihara, along with the landmark Control Tower, ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and was held to celebrate the first anniversary of FMW, which was founded on July 28, 1989. This was the first edition of the Anniversary Show, FMW's biggest event of the year. The

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

was a

Texas Deathmatch Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

between the company's promoter and owner

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing Japan to the deathmatch style of professional wrestling. He founded ...

and

Mr. Pogo was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name . He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestlin ...

for Onita's WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. Onita won the match to retain the title.

Background

Production

FMW owner

originally planned to hold the company's 1st Anniversary Show on October 19, 1990 at the

Sumo Hall is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

but the plans were shelved after the arena management did not allow FMW to hold their show at the venue due to their intense brutal and barbaric deathmatches and due to the brutality of a storyline, which Onita had

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

ed with

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC) (Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha"), is a Puerto-Rican professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón Sr., Victor J ...

(WWC) in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

to bring WWC wrestlers to compete at the event. In the storyline, he was brutally attacked by

Invader I ''InVader'' is the fourth album by Finnish glam metal band Reckless Love, released on 4 March 2016 through Spinefarm Records. Track listing All songs written by Olli Herman, Pepe Reckless, and Ikka Wirtanen, unless otherwise noted. Reception Wr ...

Víctor Quiñones Víctor Quiñones Hernández (June 30, 1959 – April 2, 2006) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestling Promoter (entertainment), promoter, manager, and the founder and owner of International Wrestling Association of Japan, International Wrestli ...

and El Gran Mendoza and a Japanese photographer took pics of his stitches. Onita and FMW received criticism and backlash from the Japanese audiences for working the storyline with Invader I (José González), who had murdered

Bruiser Brody Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, The Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. Over the yea ...

in reality In Reality (March 1, 1964 – May 8, 1989) was an American bred racehorse. Bred in Florida, he was a son of Intentionally and out of the mare My Dear Girl, the 1959 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. His damsire was Santa Anita Derby winner ...

, forcing FMW to withdraw the event from Sumo Hall and postpone it for November 5 and changed the venue to

Storylines

The main

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

heading into the event was between Atsushi Onita and

for the WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. Onita won the title on January 17, 1990 by defeating Beast the Barbarian. He had formed a unique partnership with

Tarzan Goto , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ( ...

, which would break up after Goto introduced Pogo to FMW during his match against

Ricky Fuji Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic *Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...

on June 2. Onita was angered at it and Goto became a

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

and a new arch rival to Onita and Pogo also became a rival to Onita. Onita defeated Goto in their first singles encounter, an

empty arena match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

on June 24. Fuji joined Goto and Pogo to become Onita's rival but Goto switched back to join Onita after Onita defeated Goto in a No Ropes Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch to retain his title at Summer Spectacular. On August 20, Onita and Sambo Asako defeated Pogo and Fuji in a Street Fight after Onita scored the pinfall over Fuji. The following day, Fuji became Onita's partner in a match against Pogo and Gran Mendoza, thus quietly separating himself from Pogo to become Onita's ally. This transition made Pogo, the new top villain and the biggest arch rival to Onita. On August 25, Onita met Pogo in their first singles encounter in a street fight, which Onita won and set the stage for their match at the 1st Anniversary Show. Jimmy Backlund won the

AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a title in the American Wrestling Association from 1981 until it closed in 1991. In 1988 Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling claimed that Jim Backlund won the championship, something not officially ackn ...

in 1988 and began defending it at FMW events after the promotion came into existence. On April 1, Backlund lost the title to Lee Gak-soo at ''Texas Street Fight'' but the title was vacated after Gak-soo apparently left FMW in September. Later that month, a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

was conducted for the vacant title on September 25, in which

Katsuji Ueda was a Japanese kickboxer, martial artist and professional wrestler, best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) between 1990 and 1995. He was usually utilized in martial arts fights during his FMW career and won the promotio ...

defeated Backlund in the tournament final to win the title, thus setting the stage for a title match between Ueda and Backlund at the 1st Anniversary Show.

Megumi Kudo is a Japanese entertainment personality and former professional wrestler. She wrestled under her maiden name for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, where she became the top star of the Women's Division. Kudo is primarily known for competing in brut ...

Noriyo Toyoda Noriyo Toyoda (豊田記代, born October 26, 1967) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, best known under the name Combat Toyoda (コンバット豊田). She spent much of her career in Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. Professional wres ...

and Reuben Amada were trainees of the 1986 badge of

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held th ...

and worked for the promotion for a few while before leaving it in 1988. The three were brought into FMW by Atsushi Onita in 1990 as they debuted in FMW on March 8, 1990 as a villainous team called The Outbreakers. They attacked Miwa Sato and Yuki Morimatsu before their match and Kudo and Toyoda delivered a

spike piledriver Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

to Sato to make an impact. They declared war on FMW's women's division and continued their impact until Kudo began showing signs of a transition as a fan favorite on May 19 after not joining Amada and Toyoda in cutting Sato's hair after Kudo and Amada had defeated Sato and Morimatsu in a

hair vs. hair match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. This created dissension within Outbreakers. On July 16, Kudo and Toyoda lost a match to Sato and Morimatsu and Kudo once again refused to join Amada and Toyoda in double-teaming Sato and Morimatsu, which led to Toyoda and Amada attacking Kudo and kicking her out of Outbreakers to complete her face turn. Kudo became their rival and faced Toyoda in a losing effort at ''Summer Spectacular in Shiodome''. On August 25, Kudo and Sato defeated Amada and Toyoda in a street fight. Amada defeated Kudo in singles competition on September 25 due to Kudo injuring her knee, thus setting up a rematch between Kudo and Amada at 1st Anniversary Show.

Event

Preliminary matches

The first match of the event was a

tag team match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

in which Miwa Sato and Yuki Morimatsu defeated

Eriko Tsuchiya Eriko Tsuchiya (土屋恵理子, born February 19, 1970) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Shark Tsuchiya (シャーク土屋). She spent most of her career working for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. P ...

and Yoshika Maedomari when Sato performed a

Powerbomb A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted (usually so that they are sitting on the wrestler's shoulders) and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a sta ...

on Tsuchiya. In the next tag team match, The Shooter and Billy Mack defeated Akihito Ichihara and

when Mack delivered a

Powerslam A Powerslam or simply Slam is a professional wrestling body slam move in which the wrestler performing the slam falls face-down on top of the opponent. The use of the term "powerslam" usually refers to the front powerslam or the scoop powerslam. ...

to Fuji.

Ultraman ''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with ''Ultra Q'' and then ''Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is one ...

and Lee Gak Soo defeated Kim Hyun Han and Yukihide Ueno after Ultraman made Ueno submit to an ''Ultra Clutch''.

Combat Toyoda Noriyo Toyoda (豊田記代, born October 26, 1967) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, best known under the name Combat Toyoda (コンバット豊田). She spent much of her career in Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. Professional wres ...

took on Beastie the Road Warrior to determine the inaugural WWA World Women's Champion. Toyoda performed a '' Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' to become the champion.

defended the

against Jimmy Backlund in a different style fight. Backlund made Ueda submit to a Scorpion Death Hold in the fifth round to win the title.

ended her rivalry with Reuben Amada by defeating her via knockout.

Grigory Verichev Grigory Vladimirovich Verichev (russian: Григорий владимирович Веричев; April 4, 1957 – May 25, 2006) was a Russia, Russian judoka who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1988 he won th ...

defeated Sambo Asako in a different style fight in the first round with a triangle choke.

defeated Soul King in a different style match by knocking him out in the second round with a belly to back inverted mat slam.

Main event match

defended the WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship against

in a

. Both wrestlers bled in the match by performing

headbutts A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

to one another. Onita delivered a

Facebuster A facebuster, also known as a faceplant, is generally a takedown move in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler forces their opponent down to the mat face-first without involving a headlock or facelock. A standard facebuster, also ...

to Pogo and Pogo refused to answer the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

's ten count. As a result, Onita retained the title.

Reception

The 1st Anniversary Show was considered to be FMW's most successful event at the time drawing a crowd of 7,352, which was considered to be the biggest crowd for a Japanese

independent promotion In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wr ...

. The success and popularity of FMW skyrocketed following the event.

Aftermath

Atsushi Onita continued his feud with Mr. Pogo as the two clashed in the first-ever Exploding Double Hell Deathmatch on May 6, 1991, which Onita won. Later that month, FMW's co-founders Kazuyoshi Osako and Mickey Ibaragi left the company and formed their own

hardcore wrestling Hardcore wrestling is a form of professional wrestling where disqualifications, count-outs, and all other different rules do not apply. Taking place in usual or unusual environments, hardcore wrestling matches allow the use of numerous items, inclu ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

W*ING Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion specialized in deathmatches. History After leaving Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in the summer of 1991, Kazuyoshi Osako and Kiyoshi "Mickey" Ibarag ...

as they were unable to cope with Onita's ego. They hired Pogo and

with a promise of better salaries than FMW and Pogo was promised to be the top guy of the company and Quiñones was hired as the head booker of the organization because everyone was jealous of Onita being benefited from FMW's success. Pogo's departure led FMW to replace Pogo with Tarzan Goto as the company's lead

and he renewed his rivalry with Onita, which culminated in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire

Steel Cage Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

Deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

at the 2nd Anniversary Show on September 23, 1991. Following the success of 1st Anniversary Show, FMW capitalized on the emerging women's division as they held their first women's only show on December 22. At the show, Reuben Amada retired after losing to her teammate Combat Toyoda. This broke up The Outbreakers team and Toyoda formed a new

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

Combat Army with

and Yoshika Maedomari. Megumi Kudo began to emerge as a rising star in the women's division and ultimately became the top female wrestler of the company.

Results

References

External links

FMW 1st Anniversary Show
{{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1990 in professional wrestling FMW Anniversary Show November 1990 events in Asia 1990 in Tokyo Events in Tokyo