FMW 9th Anniversary Show: Entertainment Wrestling Live 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 or ...

pay-per-view (PPV) 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 April 30, 1998, at the

Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium is an indoor sports arena located in Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 5,000 people and was opened in 1962. It is a five-minute walk from the closest subway station, Kannai Station, on the JR/Yokohama Municipal Subway. ...

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 ...

, Japan. This was the first FMW event to be broadcast on pay-per-view via

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

. The event commemorated the ninth anniversary of FMW and was the first to be broadcast on pay-per-view. There were two

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 ...

matches on the card. In the first main event, Mr. Gannosuke defended the FMW Double Championship (the unification of the

FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship The FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship was a premiere championship in the wrestling promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, ...

and the

FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship The FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship contested in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). It was one of the top two titles in the company, along with the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyw ...

) against

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C fo ...

, who earned the title shot by winning a tournament. Hayabusa defeated Gannosuke to win the title. The second main event on the

card Card or The Card may refer to: * Various types of plastic cards: **By type ***Magnetic stripe card *** Chip card *** Digital card **By function ***Payment card ****Credit card **** Debit card ****EC-card ****Identity card ****European Health Insur ...

featured

Kodo Fuyuki (May 11, 1960 – March 19, 2003) was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter better known by his ring name best known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), W ...

defeating

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 ...

, the leader of

ZEN Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

in a match which stipulated that if Onita lost then ZEN must disband.

Background

Production

FMW signed a deal with the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

provider

to begin producing monthly pay-per-view events at the time when DirecTV had just begun launching in Japan. As per deal, DirecTV would pay FMW around $600,000 annually to show FMW once a month on pay-per-view as their television outlet instead of Samurai TV. This led FMW owner

Shoichi Arai Shoichi Arai (荒井昌一 ''Arai Shōichi'') (December 19, 1965 – May 16, 2002) was a Japanese professional wrestling promoter. Arai ran Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling from 1995 until its closure in 2002. Career Arai started with FMW as a ...

to broadcast the 9th Anniversary Show on April 30, 1998, on pay-per-view and named it Entertainment Wrestling Live.

Storylines

and Mr. Gannosuke had been feuding with each other since January 5, 1997, when Gannosuke returned to FMW to confront Hayabusa for not leaving FMW with him for IWA Japan. Hayabusa defeated Gannosuke 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 ...

at the 8th Anniversary Show and the two battled with each other in many matches throughout the year. On January 6, 1998, Gannosuke defeated Masato Tanaka to win the unified Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship. Following Gannosuke's title win, an eight-man single elimination tournament was set up in March to determine the #1 contender for the title at Entertainment Wrestling Live which included former champion Tanaka, Hayabusa,

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 ...

Yukihiro Kanemura ( ko, 김행호 ''Kim Hyeong-ho'') (born August 9, 1970) is a Zainichi-Korean retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is also known as W*ING Kanemura or . He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Jap ...

Jado (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's careers have largely para ...

Hisakatsu Oya Kenichi Oya (大矢健一) (born July 2, 1964) is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Hisakatsu Oya (大矢剛功). Although he started out for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he is well known for his stint in Fro ...

Koji Nakagawa is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) between 1992 and 2002. He is perhaps best known for his “Hitman” character, heavily inspired by Canadian professional wrestler Br ...

and

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's cl ...

. Hayabusa defeated Gladiator in the final of the tournament on March 17 to win the tournament and earn the title match with Gannosuke. On March 29, Gannosuke and Kanemura lost the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to

and Hido. On April 17, a tag team gauntlet took place to determine the #1 contenders for the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, which was won by Hayabusa and Tanaka by defeating Gannosuke and Kanemura and then they subsequently defeated tag team champions Kodo Fuyuki and Hido to win the title. On April 21, Hayabusa's friend

Jinsei Shinzaki Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎健介 ''Shinzaki Kensuke'', born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive, better known by his ring name, Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎人生 ''Shinzaki Jinsei''). He is curre ...

announced that he would leave FMW after Entertainment Wrestling Live and he defeated Gannosuke in a non-title match to end their long running feud. On April 26, Gannosuke cost Hayabusa and Shinzaki, a tag team match against Jado and Yukihiro Kanemura by blowing fire at Hayabusa as their last confrontation before their match. Fuyuki-Gun (Fuyuki,

Jado and Gedo were a professional wrestling tag team that currently work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they are also the head bookers. One of the most accomplished tag teams in puroresu, the team has won numerous tag team titles and six-man tag tea ...

) debuted in FMW on February 19, 1997, and he immediately began a rivalry with the former FMW owner

by insulting him backstage after Onita had been assaulted by Funk Masters of Wrestling. This began a feud between Fuyuki-Gun and Onita's

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

. ZEN crippled by the end of the year after its key members Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido turned on Onita after Onita was pinned by Hayabusa in a

WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of either four, five, or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not ...

on December 22. Gannosuke and his allies merged with Fuyuki-Gun to form a new group

Team No Respect Team No Respect was a professional wrestling faction in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), which existed in the company between 1998 and 2000. The ideology of the group was that they disrespected all the wrestlers in FMW as well as the compan ...

to feud with ZEN as all of them were jealous of Onita pushing himself as a main eventer at the expense of the entire FMW roster. On March 17, 1998, Fuyuki and Gedo defeated Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in a tag team match, where Fuyuki mocked Onita by using Onita's " Wild Thing"

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

and Onita's finishing move '' Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' on Nakagawa, thus setting up his match with Onita at Entertainment Wrestling Live. Another added stipulation into the match due to TNR's influence was that Onita must disband ZEN if he lost the match.

Event

Preliminary matches

The opening match of the event was between

Hideki Hosaka (August 5, 1971 – August 2, 2021) was a Japanese professional wrestler, who is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Zero-One. Career Early career (1991–1993) An amateur wres ...

and Hido. Hosaka dominated the majority of the match but Hido won the match by reversing Hosaka's attempt at a

hurricanrana Professional wrestling throws are the application of professional wrestling techniques that involve lifting the opponent up and throwing or slamming them down. They are sometimes also called "power" maneuvers, as they are meant to emphasize a wrest ...

into a roll-up. The next match was a

three-way dance 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

and

Chris Chetti Christopher Chetti (born July 16, 1974) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1996 and 2001. Professional wrestling career Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

from

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

(ECW). Oya quickly eliminated Nakagawa by making him tap out to an

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that Anatomical terms of motion#General motion, hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow, elbow joint or glenohumeral joint, shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the ...

. After a back and forth action between the two, Oya applied an octopus hold on Chetti but Chetti managed to get out of it. Oya delivered a backdrop suplex to Chetti but got a near-fall and then Oya delivered another suplex to win the match.

took on ECW's

John Kronus George B. Caiazzo (January 13, 1969 – July 18, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, John Kronus, and later simply Kronus. Caiazzo worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling, the United States Wrestling Asso ...

and Ricky Fuji in a tag team match. Both teams traded momentum during the earlier part of the match until Kronus and Fuji took control of the match and delivered a '' Total Elimination'' to Jado and then Kronus proceeded to perform a 450° splash but Gedo broke the pinfall. Fuji fought Gedo and both men fell out of the ring and Kronus delivered a

Chokeslam A chokeslam is a type of body slam in professional wrestling, in which a wrestler grasps an opponent's neck, lifts them up, and slams them to the mat. It is common in televised wrestling because it is simple and relatively safe, yet looks power ...

for another near-fall and then Jado kicked him in the groin and performed a

Brainbuster A brainbuster is a professional wrestling professional wrestling throws, throw in which a wrestler puts the opponent in a Professional wrestling holds#Front facelock, front facelock, hooks their pants or thigh, and lifts them up as if they were e ...

to win the match. The fourth match on the card was

's last match in the company against Team No Respect member

. Go Ito interfered in the match on Kanemura's behalf which allowed Kanemura to gain momentum by hitting Shinzaki with a piece of table and following it with a '' Baku Yama Special''. Kanemura grabbed the piece to hit Shinzaki with it again but Shinzaki blocked it and hit Kanemura with it in the head repeatedly. Shinzaki delivered a '' Mandala Hineri'' and applied a '' Gokuraku-Gatame'' but Go Ito broke it. Shinzaki went after Ito and applied a ''Gokuraku-Gatame'' which was broken by Kanemura and then Shinzaki delivered a

high knee Strikes are offensive moves in professional wrestling, that can sometimes be used to set up an opponent for a hold or for a throw. There are a wide variety of strikes in pro wrestling, and many are known by several different names. Professional wre ...

and a '' Nenbutsu Powerbomb'' to Kanemura to win the match. ECW wrestler

Bam Bam Bigelow Scott Charles Bigelow (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Bam Bam Bigelow. Recognizable by his close to 400-pound frame and the distinctive flame tattoo that spanned most ...

and Masato Tanaka battled back and forth in a lengthy match, where Tanaka delivered a '' Roaring Elbow'' near the end of the match but got a near-fall. He delivered a pair of enzuigiri kicks to Bigelow and climbed the top rope and dived onto his opponent but Bigelow caught him in mid-air and delivered a '' Greetings from Asbury Park'' to win the match.

and

represented ZEN against Team No Respect members Horace Boulder and Super Leather. Boulder won the match for his team by delivering a

Spinebuster Professional wrestling throws are the application of professional wrestling techniques that involve lifting the opponent up and throwing or slamming them down. They are sometimes also called "power" maneuvers, as they are meant to emphasize a wrest ...

to Kuroda. The final match on the

undercard 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 ...

pitted ZEN leader

against TNR member

. Fuyuki controlled the earlier part of the match until Onita gained momentum. Both men had back and forth action and several near-falls. Onita delivered a '' Thunder Fire Powerbomb'' near the end of the match but got a near-fall. Fuyuki hit Onita with a wooden board and delivered a lariat. Onita blocked Fuyuki's attempt at the second lariat and continued to perform moves on Onita but Onita made comeback into the match. Go Ito tried to slow down Onita's momentum by hitting him with a

crutch A crutch is a mobility aid that transfers weight from the legs to the upper body. It is often used by people who cannot use their legs to support their weight, for reasons ranging from short-term injuries to lifelong disabilities. History Crutc ...

and Fuyuki delivered 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 ...

but still got a near-fall. Fuyuki delivered a charging lariat and a powerbomb to win the match.

Main event match

In the

, Mr. Gannosuke defended the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship against

. Hayabusa injured Gannosuke's knee by

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 ...

ing him in the knee and Gannosuke

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 t ...

ed the entire match with the injured knee. Near the end of the match, Gannosuke delivered a '' Fire Thunder'' and a Northern Light suplex but got near-falls on both attempts. He attempted to slam him down to the mat but Hayabusa countered with a

dragon suplex A suplex is an offensive move used in sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs. Professional wrestling featu ...

and performed a '' Phoenix Splash'' to win the titles.

Aftermath

Mr. Gannosuke was out of action for six months due to suffering the knee injury in his title loss to Hayabusa and Kodo Fuyuki took over as the leader of Team No Respect due to his win over Atsushi Onita and became the top villain and the new rival to Hayabusa. Fuyuki formed a tag team with TNR member Yukihiro Kanemura called "The New Footloose", a play on Fuyuki's old tag team

Footloose Footloose may refer to: * ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film ** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack) ** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins * ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film ** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...

. Onita continued to feud with Fuyuki as Onita, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hido and New Footloose at a FMW and ZEN promoted show on May 5. New Footloose won the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship by defeating Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka on May 27. ZEN suffered the final blow when Nakagawa turned on Onita during a title shot against New Footloose on May 31. ZEN and TNR continued to fight throughout the year and Onita was slowly being phased out of the company and quit it by the fall of the year and Hayabusa cemented his place as the permanent

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 ...

of FMW. Fuyuki continued his role as the top villain and ultimately defeated Hayabusa to capture the Double Championship on November 20. Horace Boulder left the company after Entertainment Wrestling Live as he had already debuted for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW) prior to the event and his tag team match at the pay-per-view was his last ever match for FMW. Masato Tanaka and The Gladiator left FMW and joined ECW where they continued their rivalry and competed there for the rest of the year. Gladiator would compete there under the ring name "Mike Awesome" and the two exchanged the

ECW World Heavyweight Championship The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW ...

with each other in 1999. Tanaka would continue to work on and off with FMW while Awesome competed in his home country

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Mr. Gannosuke returned to FMW on November 20 and won an Over the Top Tournament between late 1998 and early 1999 to become the #1 contender for the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship against Kodo Fuyuki. Gannosuke got his title shot on March 19, 1999, and Fuyuki retained the title.

Results

Three-Way Dance eliminations

References

External links

* {{FMWPPV, Anniversary Show 1998 in professional wrestling FMW Anniversary Show 1998 in Japan April 1998 events in Asia Events in Yokohama 1990s in Yokohama April 1998 sports events in Asia