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More FMW You Might Have Missed - 1998

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Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Yukihiro Kanemura & Hido (01/06/98): Oh yeah, this was just a blast! You kinda get everything you want here in one 14 minute match. It's like a Dean Malenko Nitro match from like '96 😋 It is just 4 pros having a very good wrestling match. It tells a little story (or continues one), has some drama with the heels hitting nut shots, using chairs and making blind tags, you've got your baby faces shining with their cool moves! Hayabusa vs. The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) (03/17/98): I wouldn't have laid it out this way but this was a very good battle between the two most flashy wrestlers. It did not disappoint one bit. There were some really great moments here and nice surprises. Really high impact stuff throughout. I thought the selling was pretty good as well. Nothing fantastic but both guys really sold the pain and struggle they were going through in this big stakes match. I think if you want to see a Gladiator vs Hayabusa match this is...
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Month in Review: June - Thoughts & Recommendations

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Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami (03/19/82 NJPW) : Roughly 15 minutes of grappling & more grappling. If you want to see technical wrestling, this is your ticket. A technical duel between master & student.  Definitely recommend this one! Fujinami has worked his way into my top 3 favorite wrestlers of all-time. Let's look at the other top matches of the month. NJPW Tiger Mask vs Villano III (06/24/81): Amazing technical encounter. Two greats engaged in a battle of wit & will. A classic bout - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Vader vs Riki Choshu (06/27/89): Vader gets his mask ripped and they are looking to destroy one another! THIS is what you want with these two. Awesome ending too. LOVED THIS!  =-=-=-=-= Jushin Liger vs Pegasus Kid (11/01/90) Oh yes! This was great stuff wrestled at an urgent pace. Each guy was going for the win whether it was from a big move or a quick pinning maneuver. LOVED THIS. Not overwrought or cliche. Solid RECOMMENDATION Hiroshi Tanahashi & TAJIR...
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TAJIRI You Might Have Missed #5

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Tajiri & Zumbido vs Chicago Express & Black Warrior (05/29/97 BJW): 7-8 minutes of lucha sweetness. Nearly constant movement. BJW shows the whole thing. Even they knew how good this was - hidden gem. RECOMMENDED Tajiri vs Chicago Express (05/30/97 BJW): Reminds me of Tajiri vs Super Crazy - dives, cool arm drags, ranas - you'll dig it! Tajiri & Ikuto Hidaka vs Super Crazy & Super Calo (12/18/99 ECW) Chattanooga, TN. This would be so awesome to see at your high school gym! These fans saw something special. Spring board moves, tilt-a-whirls, dives, fighting in the crowd... the ending came sooner that I would have wanted but that's not a complaint but a preference. Very good stuff! RECOMMENDED  Tajiri vs Tommy Dreamer (03/25/00): Wichita, KS. Corino is talking crap on the mic. Dreamer comes out to shut him up but Tajiri intervenes. This was a fun house show type match yet had some pretty good spots. Definitely scratches an itch for your standard ECW match. Everyone...
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Cruising the 80's: Giant Baba vs Nick Bockwinkel - 12/01/80

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Giant Baba vs Nick Bockwinkel (All Japan):  Holy cow! Bockwinkel was like a man possessed in this match! I've never seen him this aggressive. He's usually cool, calm & calculating in the ring. Here he was looking to hurt Giant Baba. Nick was driving in knees like Yoji Anjo and clubbing Baba's chest like Stan Hansen. This really was something special to see. Baba was certainly spry in in 1980. His big boot looked great and he had quite the offensive flurry (for him at least). This was very good pro wrestling. It's about 9 minutes long. I really liked this match.  👇👇👇Check out the labels below for more reviews you might enjoy!
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FMW You Might Have Missed

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I'm really glad that I've had the opportunity to dig into FMW. As an ECW fan in high school, FMW always seemed like the cooler cousin of ECW...if just for the Tanaka vs Awesome stuff. In my VHS days, I had BJW & IWA Japan stuff but not FMW. Eventually I got an Explosion Death Match comp tape. Then a few years later, I got the Highspots Hayabusa comp which was very good but not great as a taste of the true best of Hayabusa. So finally digging my teeth into the meat of FMW has been fulfilling. As garbage/hard core wrestling has fallen out of mainstream favor for a long while, I think the memory of ECW and FMW is fading. So I'm glad to keep the flame burning. I need to watch more but my absolute favorites so far are: Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Masanobu Kurisu & Dragon Master [Kendo Nagasaki] (FMW 04/01/90) Masato Tanaka, Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa vs Kanemura, Hido & Hosaka (FMW - Exploding Barbwire match - 09/01/96) Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke (01/06/98...
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Best Matches Watched So Far...2026

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All Japan Pro Wrestling Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) HM Genichiro Tenryu vs Ashura Hara (04/12/86) Jumbo Tsuruta & G. Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (05/17/86) Tenryu & Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/05/86) HM Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Yatsu (07/31/86) HM Hansen vs Terry Gordy (09/11/86) HM Jumbo & Tenryu vs Baba & Tiger Mask (11/28/86) HM Zero One Wrestling Omori & Otani vs Takayama & Kohei Sato (02/18/07) Manabu Nakanishi & Omori vs Takayama & Sato (03/08/07) HM Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Sekimoto (07/16/07) M. Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki (05/27/07) Omori vs Y. Sasaki (07/16/07) Sekimoto vs Y. Sasaki (07/28/07) Sekimoto & Sato vs Omori & Y. Sasaki (08/02/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Dick Togo (09/30/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Takao Omori (10/26/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki (12/24/07) M. Tanaka & Otani vs Yuji Nagata & M. Nakanishi (05/29/08) Ring of Honor AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs Dragon Kid & G...
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Lucha Libre: World Wrestling Peace Festival '96 and IWE '81

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IWE Cobarde & Herodes vs Isamu Teranishi & Mach Hayato (02/28/81): Great action tag match! Tons of stuff going on here. Definitely recommend this one! Ref kinda muffs the finish but it doesn't really matter. Mach Hayato vs Cobarde (03/02/81): Pretty cool stuff, paced closer to Mil in AJPW but moves similar to NJPW lucha libre at the time. joined in progress Carlos Plata & Jose Luis Mendieta vs Isamu Teranishi & Mach Hayato (04/08/81): This was off the hook! Joined in progress but fast paced action with some really crazy moments. Definitely recommend this one! Herodes vs Mighty Inoue (1981): Roy's got this listed as El Cobarde but it's Herodes. Very good stuff, Herodes is quite the the chicken shit heel. Good face/heel match with Inoue finding his openings. Exciting finish too. World Wrestling Peace Festival 06/01/96 Lady Apache & Reina Jubuki (Akira Hokuto) vs Bull Nakano & Neftali: This was Bull vs Hokuto with Lady & Neftali as help. A fun time!...
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