Super Extreme Wrestling War was a series of

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 ...

events 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 ...

(FMW) in 1997. These events marked the first time that FMW began a partnership with American counterpart Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and a working relationship began between the two companies as ECW wrestlers competed at these events and it marked the beginning of interpromotional matches and events between ECW and FMW. These events would create a huge impact in FMW's storylines as they concluded with the breakup of ZEN when

Mr. Gannosuke is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) under the ring name . Honda was quickly pushed as "Mr. Gannosuke" due to his resemblance to the actor Ashiya Gannosuke and he beg ...

, Yukihiro Kanemura and

Hido was a Japanese professional wrestler, better known under the ring name or simply . He is best known for his time with hardcore wrestling federations Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS), Frontier Ma ...

attacked their leader Atsushi Onita out of jealousy after Hayabusa pinned Onita in a WarGames match. They merged with

Fuyuki-Gun Fuyuki-gun (English: Fuyuki Army) was the name of Japanese professional wrestling stables led by Hiromichi Fuyuki in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and Wrestle Association R (WAR) during the 1990s. Fuyuki-gun was originally founded by Fuyu ...

to form Team No Respect, which would dominate FMW until 2000.

Dates, venues and main events

Background

Production

The tour marked the beginning of a talent exchange working agreement between ECW and FMW which would last throughout the existence of both promotions. The theme of the tour was that ECW wrestlers would work matches on all of the shows on the tour. The tour also featured the return of FMW wrestlers, who were part of ECW roster at the time,

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 – a ...

and Sabu as ECW wrestlers. Funk had been the leader of Funk Masters of Wrestling and was returning the company for the first time since beating Kodo Fuyuki at Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular and Sabu was returning since losing to Hayabusa at Summer Spectacular in 1994.

Storylines

At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Atsushi Onita defeated

W*ING 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 ...

in a no rope barbed wire electrified dynamite land mine time bomb death match which stipulated that if Onita lost, he would retire and if Kanemura lost, then W*ING Alliance must disband. After the match, W*ING Alliance members Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka and

were concerned because no group in FMW would accept them. Onita became upset at FMW's team of Hayabusa,

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in Ext ...

and Koji Nakagawa for being rude to Kanemura, Hosaka and Hido and then he met Kanemura in his ambulance to conduct a meeting with the former W*ING members. On September 30, Onita held a press conference in which he

turn Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...

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 ...

for the first time in his FMW career by denouncing himself as a FMW wrestler and formed ZEN with the former W*ING Alliance and FMW's upstart Tetsuhiro Kuroda. A rivalry blossomed between FMW and ZEN and the Funk Masters of Wrestling was quickly phased out after

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 ...

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 ...

ended it due to the group's leader

leaving FMW and they joined ZEN. On November 20, Masato Tanaka, Ricky Fuji and Mr. Pogo #2 defeated ZEN's Atsushi Onita, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hido 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 ...

when Tanaka pinned Onita, leading to a match between the two on the first show of the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour on December 19. At 8th Anniversary Show, Hayabusa defeated Mr. Gannosuke in a mask vs. hair match and then attempted to reconcile with Gannosuke but Gannosuke attacked him and attempted to blow fire on him until Hayabusa's ally Jinsei Shinzaki made the save, thus forming an alliance with Hayabusa and beginning to feud with Gannosuke. On June 21, Gannosuke attacked Shinzaki under a Hayabusa disguise during Shinzaki's entrance before a match at a

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

show. On July 19, Gannosuke, Hisakatsu Oya and The Gladiator defeated Hayabusa, Shinzaki and Koji Nakagawa in a six-man tag team match. On August 25, Gannosuke, Gladiator and

Super Leather Michael James Penzel (September 7, 1957 – December 22, 2021) was an American professional wrestler and United States Army paratrooper. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Corporal Kirchn ...

defeated the team of Shinzaki, Ricky Fuji and Ricky Morton in a barbed wire tornado deathmatch. On October 14, Gannosuke attacked Shinzaki from behind before a match between the two and then easily defeated him by making him bleed. On October 19, Gannosuke, along with Hisakatsu Oya left Funk Masters of Wrestling and joined ZEN after losing the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to ZEN's Atsushi Onita and Yukihiro Kanemura. The title would be vacated due to Onita's inactivity. On November 28, Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura defeated Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka to win the vacant title. On December 5, Gannosuke stole Shinzaki's clothes and wore them during a tag team match pitting him and Hideki Hosaka against Shinzaki and Ricky Fuji, which Gannosuke and Hosaka won. This set up a title defense for Gannosuke and Kanemura against Hayabusa and Shinzaki on the December 19 show of the tour. Other important changes in the FMW roster took place in December as Hisakatsu Oya quit ZEN after losing to Hayabusa on December 5 and Koji Nakagawa walked out on FMW after feeling betrayed by

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 ...

for not been given major opportunities which had been promised to him in the past.

Events

Day 1

The first show of the Super Extreme Wrestling War took place on December 19, 1997 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 ...

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 ...

. It was the first event in FMW history to host Extreme Championship Wrestling's (ECW) roster in FMW and marked the beginning of the talent exchange between FMW and ECW wrestlers which would see wrestlers from both companies appear in interpromotional matches. In the first match,

( Kodo Fuyuki, Jado and

Gedo Gedo ( so, Gedo, Maay: ''Gethy'', ar, جيذو, it, Ghedo or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. It was created in 1974 and is bordered by the Ogaden in E ...

) defeated ZEN members defeated Tetsuhiro Kuroda,

and The Great Fake when Fuyuki performed a Lariat on Hido. Aja Kong defeated

Shark 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. Pr ...

with a ''

Uraken A punch is a striking blow with the fist. It is used in most martial arts and combat sports, most notably boxing, where it is the only type of offensive technique allowed. In sports, hand wraps or other padding such as gloves may be used to prote ...

''. D-Von Dudley from ECW defeated Ricky Fuji with a '' Dudley Death Drop'' from Dudley Boyz and ZEN's

defeated ECW's Tommy Dreamer with a '' Super Awesome Bomb''. The event marked the return of the former leader of Funk Masters of Wrestling

to FMW as an ECW wrestler. He defeated

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

and

Buh Buh Ray Dudley Mark LoMonaco (born July 14, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and Impact Wrestling under the ring name Bully Ray. He was previously known as one-half of The Dudley Boyz tag tea ...

in a three-way dance.

and Yukihiro Kanemura retained the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship against Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki when Kanemura hit a diving Hayabusa in his injured ribs with his knee and then rolled him up to win the match. The main event of the show featured the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and the Independent Heavyweight Champion

competing against ZEN leader Atsushi Onita in a non-title match, stemming from Tanaka

pin A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. Pin or PIN may also refer to: Computers and technology * Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system ** PIN pad, a PIN entry device * PIN, a former Dutch de ...

ning Onita in a match. Onita defeated Tanaka in the match. A dissension took place within ZEN as Onita booked himself in the main event while Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura grew upset as they thought that their FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship match deserved to be the main event of the show as they had become popular

villains 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 as ...

of FMW. A clash occurred within ZEN. ;Three-Way Dance eliminations

Day 2

The second show of the tour took place on December 20, 1997 at the Osaka Seaside Sports Center in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. It drew an attendance of 3,600. In the opening match, Ricky Fuji defeated Flying Kid Ichihara with a

Brainbuster A brainbuster is a professional wrestling throw in which a wrestler puts the opponent in a front facelock, hooks their pants or thigh, and lifts them up as if they were executing a vertical suplex. The wrestler then falls onto their back so that ...

Kaori Nakayama Kaori Nakayama (中山香里) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, who spent much of her career for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Professional wrestling career The daughter of former All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling star Miyoko Hoshino ...

and Miwa Sato defeated Toxic Corps (Crusher Maedomari and Miss Mongol) when Nakayama pinned Mongol with a la magistral, leading to a rematch between the two teams on the next show. Jinsei Shinzaki made Mr. Pogo #2 submit to a '' Gokuraku-gatame''.

leader Kodo Fuyuki continued his rivalry with ZEN by defeating ZEN member Hideki Hosaka as The Great Fake, with a running lariat. Extreme Championship Wrestling's (ECW) Dudley Boyz ( Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) fought

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 ...

to a no contest. ZEN's

and Yukihiro Kanemura defeated ECW's

and Tommy Dreamer when Gannosuke pinned his former Funk Masters of Wrestling leader Funk with a '' Gannosuke Clutch''. In the main event, Hayabusa,

and former ZEN member

defeated ZEN's Atsushi Onita, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and

to win the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

Day 3

The third show took place on December 21, 1997 at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, Aichi,

. The event drew a crowd of 4,350 people. Hideki Hosaka defeated newcomer Yoshinori Sasaki by making him submit to a one-legged Boston crab. Toxic Corps (Crusher Maedomari and Miss Mongol) defeated

and Miwa Sato in a rematch from the previous show when Maedomari delivered a '' Nodowa Otoshi'' to Sato. Jinsei Shinzaki gained a submission victory over Flying Kid Ichihara with a '' Gokuraku-gatame''.

( Kodo Fuyuki, Jado and

) defeated the FMW team of Hayabusa, Ricky Fuji and Mr. Pogo #2 when Fuyuki delivered a running lariat to Pogo #2.

defeated his former tag team partner

with a '' Gannosuke Clutch''. Extreme Championship Wrestling's (ECW)

, Tommy Dreamer and Dudley Boyz took on ZEN's

, Tetsuhiro Kuroda,

, Atsushi Onita and The Great Fake in an interpromotional match which Funk won by pinning Hido with a small package. In the main event,

successfully defended the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship 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 Heavywe ...

against ZEN's Yukihiro Kanemura by performing a '' Roaring Elbow''.

Day 4

The final show of the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour took on December 22, 1997 at the historic

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...

. The show drew a crowd of 2,150 and marked the conclusion of Extreme Championship Wrestling's (ECW) tour in FMW. Mr. Pogo #2 defeated Yoshinori Sasaki in the opening match with a body scissors. Miss Mongol and Miwa Sato competed in a match after exchanging wins in tag team matches during the previous two shows. Mongol won the match with a diving senton. Former Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions

and Ricky Fuji teamed with each other as FMW members for the first time in over a year in an unofficial reunion against ZEN's Tetsuhiro Kuroda and The Great Fake. Fake pinned Fuji with a small package. ECW had an exhibition match in which former FMW wrestler Sabu returned to the company, having competed for the last time in a loss to Hayabusa at Summer Spectacular in 1994. He defeated

with an ''

Arabian Facebuster A leg drop or legdrop refers to an attack used in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler will jump and land his leg across a fallen opponent's chest, throat, face or head or in some cases, the groin/lower-abdominal area. The mov ...

''.

and Tommy Dreamer defeated Dudley Boyz and ZEN members

and

in a three-Way dance. The main event was an important match in FMW history as it concluded the rivalry between FMW and ZEN. Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki and

took on ZEN's Atsushi Onita,

and Yukihiro Kanemura in a WarGames barbed wire baseball bat ladder cage match. Gannosuke and Kanemura separated themselves from Onita and did not help him throughout the match and Hayabusa won it by performing a

Moonsault A moonsault, moonsault press, or back flip splash is a professional wrestling aerial technique. It was innovated by Mando Guerrero. Much of its popularity in both Japanese and American wrestling is attributed to The Great Muta, despite it being u ...

from the top of the steel cage, which he had failed to execute during his match against Onita at the 6th Anniversary Show. After the match, Gannosuke and Kanemura attacked Onita until Koji Nakagawa made the rescue for him and forced Gannosuke and Kanemura to retreat and quit ZEN, along with Hido. ;Three-Way Dance eliminations

Aftermath

Koji Nakagawa was added into ZEN for helping Atsushi Onita to fend off the attack of Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura and ZEN ended their

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with FMW and focused on feuding with the new freelance trio of Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido. On January 6, 1998, Gannosuke defeated Masato Tanaka to win the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship. The following night, ZEN promoted its first show, modeled after nWo Souled Out, which was headlined by ZEN's Onita, Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeating Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido. After the match, Gannoskue, Kanemura and Hido attacked ZEN and Fuyuki-Gun joined them in the assault and the two groups merged to form Team No Respect, which became the lead

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

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 ...

in FMW. Hayabusa won a tournament to become the #1 contender for the Double Championship and defeated Gannosuke for the title at the 9th Anniversary Show while Onita lost to TNR member Kodo Fuyuki.

References

External links

Super Extreme Wrestling War 1997 at PUROLOVE
{{FMWPPV 1997 in professional wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling shows Entertainment events in Japan December 1997 events in Asia 1997 in Japan