FMW 2nd Anniversary Show: Fall Spectacular (1991) was a

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 or ...

event produced by

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 f ...

(FMW). The event took place on September 23, 1991 at the

Kawasaki Stadium is a stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The stadium was opened in 1952 and had a capacity of 30,000 people, but was demolished and rebuilt in 2003 as an American football venue and is now the home of the Fujitsu Frontiers of the X-League. ...

in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. This was FMW's first show at the venue and it would become a venue for FMW's future major events. This was the second edition of the company's flagship event Anniversary Show, commemorating the second anniversary of the company. 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 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 t ...

deathmatch between

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

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 Onita won after Goto was knocked out and failed to answer the referee's ten count.

Background

Production

planned two major shows for FMW in the summer of 1991. The first show took place on August 17, 1991 at the Torisu Stadium in

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

, where FMW held a Barbed Wire Deathmatch Tournament, which Onita won. However, FMW had to split gates due to a concert taking place at the venue as well and FMW planned its next major show at the

on September 23, marking the company's first show at Kawasaki Stadium.

Storylines

After having made peace at the 1990 Summer Spectacular,

and

resumed their

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 ...

with each other after Goto brutalized his opponent Sambo Asako in a Barbed Wire Deathmatch on June 21, 1991, forcing the referee to stop the match due to Asako injuring his arm badly. Goto continued the brutal assault and Onita angrily shouted at him for injuring Asako. On June 27, Goto turned into 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 ...

by turning on his partner

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" ...

in 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 ...

and became the rival of Fuji, Asako and Onita. On June 30, Goto teamed with Horace Boulder and

The Gladiator ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

to defeat Onita, Fuji and Asako in a street fight. Goto and Onita clashed in many tag team matches with different partners throughout the summer, leading to a match between the two at Fall Spectacular.

Event

Preliminary matches

Eiji Ezaki was a Japanese professional wrestler, stage actor, musician and professional wrestling promoter, better known under the ring name . He was best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily wrestled through ...

defeated Masashi Honda in the opening match by delivering a

Dropkick A dropkick is an attacking maneuver in professional wrestling. It is defined as an attack where the wrestler jumps up and kicks the opponent with the soles of both feet; this sees the wrestler twist as they jump so that when the feet connec ...

to Honda and then made him submit to a

cross armbreaker Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a submission. This article covers the various pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ring. Some wrestlers use ...

. Miwa Sato won an eight-

woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

by last eliminating

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 ...

with a reverse

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

hold. Horace Boulder and The Shooter defeated Jimmy Backlund and Kim Hyun Han in a

after Boulder performed an '' Axe Bomber'' on Han. Amigo Ultra, Akihito Ichihara and Ultramancito defeated El Pandita, Pandita Chiquita and Yukihide Ueno in a

Six-man tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder m ...

. Combat Toyoda successfully defended the WWA World Women's Championship against

Reggie Bennett Reggie Bennett (born January 24, 1961) is an American former professional wrestler. She is best known for her work in ''joshi puroresu'' organizations such as All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Bennett began wrestl ...

in an Indian Strap Deathmatch by making her submit to a

camel clutch Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a Submission wrestling, submission. This article covers the various pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ri ...

by wrapping strap around her neck. Following the match, Svetlana Gundarenko defeated

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 bru ...

in the second consecutive women's match of the event by making her tap out to a cross armbreaker. Big Titan and

won the elimination street fight against their opponents Sambo Asako and

when Gladiator first eliminated Asako by knockout and then Big Titan knocked out Fuji.

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

took on

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 promoti ...

in Ueda's speciality, a mixed style match. Verichev knocked out Ueda in the fifth round to win the match.

Main event match

faced

in a no rope exploding barbed wire

deathmatch. Near the end of the match, Onita performed a '' Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' on Goto to knock him out and Goto failed to answer the referee's ten count.

Reception

The success of the 2nd Anniversary Show with a crowd of 33,000 people which earned FMW a $1,200,000 at the Kawasaki Stadium would pave the way for FMW to hold more shows at the stadium and the company signed a contract with Kawasaki Stadium to produce a major show at the venue every year on May 5, beginning with the 4th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1993, which drew a crowd out of 41,000 people due to the heavily hyped main event match between Atsushi Onita and

Terry Funk Terrence Funk (born June 30, 1944) is an American retired professional wrestler, rapper, disc jockey and actor. Funk is known for the longevity of his career – which spanned more than 50 years and included multiple short-lived retirements – ...

Aftermath

Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto ended their rivalry and made peace after their match at 2nd Anniversary Show, which caused Goto to revert to being a fan favorite. Onita and Goto paired together to participate in the World's Strongest Tag Team Tournament in the fall of 1991 for the new WWA World Martial Arts Tag Team Championship, which they won. Onita headlined his third straight Anniversary Show at the 3rd Anniversary Show in the following year against

Tiger Jeet Singh Jagjeet Singh Hans (born April 3, 1944) is an Indo-Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler, known better by his ring name Tiger Jeet Singh. He was known for his elaborate ring entrances, and generally performed as a heel. He wrestled in Japan ...

at the

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, drawing a crowd of 30,000 people. Eiji Ezaki and Masashi Honda's popularity began to increase after their opening match at 2nd Anniversary Show and they started becoming successful in the company as Onita picked them to be the major stars. Ezaki would be sent to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to learn the high-flying lucha libre style and Honda was repackaged as "Mr. Gannosuke" due to his resemblance with actor Ashiya Gannosuke. Gannosuke was quickly pushed to compete in the

matches while Ezaki remained in the undercard. Ezaki would develop a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

named "Hayabusa", which would become extremely popular and successful. He succeeded Onita as the company's

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

after losing to Onita in Onita's

retirement 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 ...

at 6th Anniversary Show in 1995. Hayabusa and Gannosuke's rivalry would become one of FMW's long lasting rivalries and the two competed in many major matches.

Results

References

External links

FMW 2nd Anniversary
at Cagematch.net {{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1991 in professional wrestling FMW Anniversary Show 1991 in Japan September 1991 events in Asia Events in Kawasaki, Kanagawa 20th century in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Professional wrestling in Japan