FMW Launch Battle: The Grudge (10.6.89) review 

 

October 6, 1989 

We’re in Nagoya for the very first Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling show. This is so fucking surreal for me. Nowadays it feels normal for a bunch of wacky offshoot Japanese promotions to exist. Splinters of splinters until there are dozens of promotions. It wasn’t always the case. FMW promoter Atsushi Onita had been an All Japan trainee. One of the earliest, trained by Giant Baba and debuting waaaay back in 1974. Onita suffered a career ending injury and retired in 1984. He had been a leading figure in AJPW’s junior division. Not the greatest of divisions but their counter to NJPW’s version of junior heavyweights at the time. Onita recently returned to the ring, in April of 1989, for Pioneer Senshi, a short-lived crossover “martial arts” promotion that lasted five shows. The concept, and the success of the UWF, must have set a fire burning in Onita because by October he’d formed his own wrestling promotion; FMW.  

 

I’m sure you’re reading this and thinking…FMW? Isn’t that exploding ring promotion? Well, yes, it was eventually. However, it started life as a shoot-style promotion. Onita wrestled Masahi Aoyagi on another Indie show in 1989, and the idea formed of him facing Aoyagi on this show, dubbed “The Grudge”. Essentially a two-part match where they would fight under “different style” rules here in Nagoya and then again, a few days later, at Korakuen Hall. Thus, FMW was born. Just a few months later Onita would be in death matches and street fights. Give them a moment to find their identity.  

This is literally a fancam btw, which you can find on VK.com if you want to watch it. The picture quality is fine, but the view is iffy. There’s a post directly in front of the camera. What the fuck? Is this Dansk Pro* or something? The wrestlers are introduced while “Born to be Wild” blares through the sound system. When the tape runs out, they switch to “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle. This is so weird.  

 

*This is a Eurograps DEEP CUT, brrrrrrother.  

 

Boat People Joe vs. Monkey Magic Wakita 

If you’re looking at these names and you’re like “who the fuck are these guys?” you wouldn’t be alone. I stared at this card and was hoping for two absolute nobodies doing crazy gimmicks. However, it’s not. Monkey Magic Wakita is better known as Super Delphin. Or maybe Hub if you’re young. He’s not wearing a mask. The other guy, Boat People Joe, is MOTHERFUCKIN’ JADO. He is wearing a mask.  

 

I didn’t even know Delphin was working until the mid 90s. This might even be his debut. Honestly, the same is true of Jado. I don’t think I saw him work until WAR, which doesn’t even exist at this point. They both do every move and sequence they know to utter silence as the crowd don’t care for children performing high spots. In terms of excitement, it’s a fun little match. Jado does a swank snap suplex. The execution is a wee bit off on a lot of moves, and Nagoya sure knows it.  

 

The crowd start to get into it when Wakita busts out a Mexican Surfboard. They quickly lose them when Jado walks out of the corner for a spot looking like a zombie. Clown shoes behaviour. Was that selling mate? It’s bizarre to me that one of these guys went on to be famous and it’s the shit one. Jado, fucking useless shithead that he is, finishes with a clothesline off the ropes. This would have been a great little match if Super Delphin had someone competent to work with. He looked like a hell of a talent. **½ 

 

Jimmy Backlund vs. Mitsuteru Tokuda 

Tokuda turns up in a gi and Del Ray, dirtbag that he is, is in tights. Del Ray had worked some NWA territories, and I thought he was good. He was a scumbag, but this is the 80s, they’re all scumbags. Tokuda is a judoka, converted to wrestling for FMW. Converted might be a stretch because he’s just doing judo moves and taking the odd bump. He doesn’t have concepts like ‘selling’ and ‘striking’ down yet.  

 

It does make for interesting viewing as he regularly stiffs poor Jimmy, who’s trying to walk him through the match. Baby steps. Jimmy frequently tries to put it in the cooler, to avoid more potatoes. There is some tidy psychology as Del Ray works armbars as rest holds and Tokuda works them like he’s trying to dislocate Jimmy’s shoulder. Del Ray has eventually had enough and pulls out a cool suplex variant (a pumphandle backdrop with bridge) and that’ll fucking do it! While this wasn’t a good match it showed how talented Del Ray was.  

 

Different Style Fight 

Billy Mack vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga 

This is to showcase the concept (the main event is under the same round system and rules) and get people into it, but it also serves to debut former sumo and karate fighter Matsunaga. Which is so weird, because I’ve only ever known Matsunaga as a murderous death match guy. Covered in blood and scars. Now that I think about it, he did wear a gi then too though. Mack is a big jacked up Indie guy who WWF used as a jobber a few times. 

 

R1. Matsunaga starts out with flurries of strikes, which look super cool and get reactions. Mack regularly goes into the clinch to avoid kicks but simply gets kicked more for it. It’s like watching UFC #1. It’s that kind of jarring mismatch. The ref breaks it up if they go into the ropes so very little happens. Mack sweeps the leg (this is after Karate Kid tbf) but even that gets broken up by the ref. Are they scoring points or something?  

 

R2. Mack starts developing a tactic by going after the leg, to stop the kicks, and by taking it to the mat where his big muscular upper body can ground the smaller kickier Matsunaga. Some of the takedowns and strikes and stuff look like early MMA. It’s fascinating to see it presented like this four years before UFC started. Matsunaga starts using Mack as a punching bag (only with kicks) and he’s saved by the bell. 

 

R3. Mack goes quickly onto the offence by grabbing a waistlock, into a takedown. Matsunaga struggles to combat grappling. What he doesn’t struggle with is throwing a bunch of fucking kicks. The third round is basically a barrage of kicks until Mack gets fed up and punches Matsunaga square in the face for the DQ.  

 

This was a solid enough demonstration of the style but Mack’s failure to compete on a level playing field felt odd. While he did get kicked a lot, he’d been working on effective takedown offence to counter that. His little ‘rah, I’m angry’ bit afterwards tells me everything I need to know about his place in the wrestling world’s totem pole.  

 

Eriko Tsuchiya, Kumiko Matsuda & Miwa Sato vs. Witch Warrior 

3 on 1 handicap matches suck. I don’t know who Witch Warrior is but she’s a tall, blonde gaijin. Tsuchiya, the future “Shark”, went on to some success. A mainstay of FMW for years to come. I don’t remember her being any good though. All three natives wrestled for FMW for most of their careers. This match is mostly served up for chuckles. Double Dub overpowering her inferior Japanese opponents unless all three of them gang up on her and they still can’t get a pin. Shark eats the pin with a one-foot cover. This was bad. 

 

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Sambo Kid 

Kurisu is the only other established name that FMW has. He’s finished up with All Japan and this is his stop off on his way to New Japan, where he started his career way back in 1972. Yes, First Class. Sambo Kid is a tall white guy in a mask. He plays a generic foreign heel.  

 

The show has had a wild west feel, with all manner of crazy crap happening. This is the first time it feels like a normal Japanese show with the heel-face dynamic, the standard in-ring and the structure. Sambo Kid does the ‘stomp’ when you’re hitting moves thing to an extreme level. He also takes shitty delayed bumps. Kurisu wins via submission, and we can all move on with our lives.  

 

Different Style Fight 

Atsushi Onita vs. Masashi Aoyagi 

So, initially, Onita was chasing the UWF crowd. Thinking that UWF had been successful, so he’d just copy that and booyah, we have a new Indie. The crowd response wasn’t on the same level though, and nor was the roster, so Onita had to take a different tack. Aoyagi comes from karate and has only ever had one match, which was against Onita earlier in the year. Onita has wrestled two matches since his return from five years off. You would be forgiven for thinking this would be shit. Aoyagi wears a gi and enters to “Eye of the Tiger”. Onita, of course, enters to “Wild Thing”, which would become a signature move for one of the coolest fucking wrestlers of all time. Like, who’s your favourite sporting icon? That dork Rocky or Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Ricky Vaughan?  

R1. It’s mad to think Aoyagi’s career is peaking here. Simply for stepping foot in the ring with Onita, who slaps away his handshake and batters him in the corner to start this. Karate fighter eh? Fuck you! Onita is sporting a wifebeater, so you know he means business. Aoyagi imitates Matsunaga from earlier and tries some kicks, but Onita saw that match too and grabs his leg. Fuck you! A clear 10-9 round for Onita. Aoyagi looked like a deer in headlights.  

 

R2. Aoyagi responds in R2 though, firing off kick combos until he roundhouses Onita out of the ring. He celebrates by doing a big elaborate spin kick pose and streamers come piling in! Onita gets back in there and LARIATS Aoyagi while the ref is trying to hold the karate man back. Fuck you! Holy shit, this rules! More violence from Aoyagi follows and the strikes are now getting through. The combos are too quick, and Onita can’t get his hands up. Unlike the earlier match, punches seem to be fine, as Onita punches Aoyagi in the jaw and they have words as the round ends. Sick! 10-9 Aoyagi there. Would have been 10-8 if Onita hadn’t recovered from the roundhouse. This round KICKED ALL KINDS OF ASS. 

 

R3. Onita once again punches Aoyagi and this time he goes down, but he springs back up, kicks Onita off his feet and lays in the boots in the corner. Oh, shit, it is ON now. Onita, aware he’s in trouble, goes to a side headlock. A tactic we would see from the likes of Dan “The Beast” Severn in years to come. Aoyagi retorts with a koppou kick! He nails it too. Onita bails out and the round ends. 10-9 Aoyagi. The two flurries of offence from him offset the side control from Onita. 

 

R4. Onita rushes straight in and eats a bunch of kicks, while covering up and the fight spills out of the ring! Holy shit! Onita comes up braggadocios and Aoyagi kicks him down again! Another streamer flies in as Aoyagi pushes the ref over. We’re playing loosey goosey with the rules here and I, for one, love it. Onita continues to eat kicks for the rest of the round, including a sensational roundhouse, which probably would have been a KO if Aoyagi hadn’t piled in kicking Onita on the ground. 10-9 Aoyagi. He’s now well ahead 3-1 on rounds and Onita needs a knockout. 

 

R5. Onita spends the entire time between rounds receiving attention. He’s fucked. Aoyagi mercilessly continues the assault. Onita gets kicked in the head, stays down and his corner throws the towel in. Everyone piles in and fighting continues!  

 

I can only apologise for the play-by-play on this, which is not normally what people want to read, but this was fantastic and needed describing. ****¼. One of the best matches of 1989, just because it was so different. Onita took the concept of UWF and made it more exciting. Something the UWF itself would agonise over before eventually going that route too.  

 

The 411: 

By FEBRUARY, Onita would have a barbwire match. The ideal didn’t last long. This is a fine example of how shoot style can be effective in different ways though and Onita, a consumate showman, was front and centre for it.  

 

BONUS: 

 

October 10, 1989 

 

Also, on VK we have the second FMW show, from Tokyo, which served as the sequel to this opening show. It’s not in full but it will help me to get some screenshots because it’s an actual TV presentation not a fancam.  

Like this! Heck yeah. We get crowd interviews and Onita has captured the same scumbag audience that Paul E got in Philly. No wonder this promotion went in for bloodshed straight away.  

 

You can see who the star of this show is. Onita is all over the presentation. First in clips from Nagoya, then in a video package and then in the ring cutting pre-show promos. The crowd adore him.  

Speaking of video packages. They’re full of sick visuals like this. Watching this is making me all hyped up!  

 

Koshi Mathuo vs. Masaru Umezama 

This is karate style. It looks worked but they’re two karate guys doing karate things.  

 

Monkey Magic Wakita vs. Masanobu Kurisu  

This is literally just clips of these matches. This one includes Wakita doing his elbow drop and they show it three times to emphasise it. Kurisu wins with a half crab and then bitch slaps Wakita for daring to do spots and stuff.  

 

Mitsuteru Tokuda vs. Jimmy Backlund 

This is just a rehash of Nagoya but with Tokuda looking slightly better. Del Ray does a good job of holding it together, but his strikes look bad here. I feel like you can get away with some things not being good in Japan, but strikes aren’t one of them. Del Ray goes over with the same finish as Nagoya.  

 

Matsunaga vs. Sambo Kid must have been horrendous because they don’t even show clips of it. The result is just posted onscreen with crowd noise in the background. There’s a reason we’ve not heard of Sambo Kid, I’d wager. 

 

Witch Warrior vs. Bat Girl 

They set this up in Nagoya, where Bat/Bad Girl came out and argued with Witch Warrior after her match. This is so bad that the crowd laugh at it, which is never a good sign. Bat Girl wins but WW attacks her with a chain so this feud must continue! This was extremely bad. FMW is known for putting women’s wrestling on the shows but not for having good women’s matches.  

 

Billy Mack vs. Tarzan Goto 

Goto is resurrecting his career here after a few years in the void. Presumably, he was pals with Onita in All Japan. This is a hair match, for some reason, and Goto wins with a frogsplash.  

FMW1hair 

 

Atsushi Onita vs. Masashi Aoyagi 

This is their third match. Onita is 0-2 but is all fired up.  

 

R1. Aoyagi starts fast with kicks, again, and Onita responds by taking it to the mat. Onita has learned tactically from last time. They get stood back up and Onita is kicked out of the ring. There’s a strong feeling they’re trying to replicate Nagoya but don’t quite have the same energy. Aoyagi 10-9 in that round. 

 

R2. Onita is kicked out of the ring straight away, but Aoyagi follows and they fight on the floor with Onita waffling his opponent with a chair. The chaotic nature of FMW is a real contrast to other promotions around the same time. The round fizzles out after a long armbar attempt from Aoyagi. 10-9 Aoyagi.  

 

R3. Onita screams abuse at Aoyagi and gets kicked in the face for it. I like that he leaned into it. That’s what a proper sicko looks like taking a strike, lads. Aoyagi proceeds to kick Onita in the dome twice more, rocking his head back, and if we had concussion protocols this would probably be over. Onita is bleeding from the ear! This was so one-sided that 10-8 seems generous to Onita. He got fucked up here. As the round ends Onita is attempting a takedown and he looks genuinely ruined.  

 

R4. Onita pulls the Rocky “I ain’t going down again” pose to start the round and uses the ropes to avoid a takedown. They do the pull apart/lariat spot again. The story of the match has become that Aoyagi has punched himself out. Onita has pulled the old “rope-a-dope” only that tends to work better if you DODGE instead of getting kicked in the head. Aoyagi does nothing in this round. 10-9 Onita.  

 

R5. 39-36 on the cards going into this round. Onita needs a KO. Onita doesn’t build on his success here and struggles to get going again. Onita pulls off a brutal looking powerbomb though and Aoyagi can’t get to his feet. Onita wins by KO.  

 

This was not as great as Nagoya, and I hate that they re-did some spots from that match. However, I can understand them doing so as the chances of Nagoya appearing on TV seemed to be slim. ***½  

 

We end the tape with Onita cutting a tearful backstage promo. He has finally triumphed in The Grudge. They would meet again in 1994, for Onita’s “retirement”, in a no ropes barbed wire explosion death match. Not quite the same spirit as this but an FMW tradition.  

 

The 411: 

Overall, FMW was an exciting new product. They did try to replicate what UWF was doing in these early shows but there were already hints at Onita’s true intentions. He was showbiz. UWF was all serious about the sport of professional wrestling. Onita was about the circus. Telling stories. Blowing shit up. Of all the wrestlers involved in this flashback story, Onita may be the most fascinating. FMW was a trailblazer in wrestling, changing it forever. If you’ve ever enjoyed some crazy, violent affair in your graps, you can probably trace it back to this mad bastard. At least in modern times. Hell, Moxley comes out to Onita’s music!