Burning Hammer Tape Review #17

CellJr300 On

FMW: Anniversary X
November 23, 1999

--Taped from Yokohama, Japan

--Your hosts are a couple of Japanese announcers whose names I don't know

--WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship, Ladder Match: Gedo, Jado, Koji Nakagawa (W/Kaoruko Arai) V. Chocoball Mukai, Kid Ichihara, Ricky Fuji (W/Sena Wakana). WEW stands for World Entertainment Wrestling, and was Kodo Fuyuki's attempt to give FMW more of a WWF feel. Arai is the storyline niece of FMW President Shoichi Arai, but in reality she & Wakana are both Japanese porn stars. Mukai is a Japanese porn star as well, and he totally blows the Val Venis gimmick out of the water just for the mere fact that he is an actual porn star. Mukai's pre-match antics are choice, as he acts like a peanut vendor at a baseball game, but instead of tossing peanuts into the crowd he tosses condoms. Ichihara is the real life son of FMW founder Atsushi Onita. Gedo, Jado, & Nakagawa do the smart thing and attack Mukai where it'll hurt him the most, his genitals, by ramming into his package with the ladder a bunch of times. Fuji hits Jado with an Ace Crusher off the middle of the ladder. Gedo climbs the ladder, but gets distracted by Wakana stripping out of her teachers uniform, which allows Fuji to pull him down & climb the ladder until he gets distracted by Arai stripping out of her schoolgirl outfit, and of course for the best interest of everyone involved a catfight breaks out. Fuji climbs the ladder and grabs the belts to win the match and make his team the new champions at 15:05. *1/2 Highlight of the match was clearly the catfight, and really, does it get any better than a hot underage schoolgirl in her underwear rolling around on a wrestling mat with a hot porn star teacher in her underwear?

--Handicap Match: Miss Mongol, Jazz, Malia Hosaka V. Emi Motokawa, Kaori Nakayama. Hosaka is a fairly talented wrestler who was trained by Harley Race, and wrestled in the WWF a couple of times, but since matches between her and Victoria or Molly Holly would have been good she was never signed to a contract. For some reason Motokawa is dressed like a cowgirl and Nakayama is dressed like Sabu. Let's just hope she doesn't blow all of her spots like Sabu. Motokawa & Nakayama hit an Event Omega off the same turnbuckle onto Hosaka. Nakayama gets the pin on Hosaka at 10:12 with the Diamond Best (middle-rope Ace Crusher.) *1/2 Match had its moments, but overall it wasn't that good of a showing.

--Shootfight Match: Hido V. Willie Williams. This is a worked shoot designed to get Hido over as a legitimate martial artist, but no matter how you slice it, Hido is a schmuck who's lucky enough to be married to someone a million times more talented than he is in Megumi Kudoh. Williams was apparently a big Judo star in Japan in the 1980's. Williams wins the match by knockout at 6:35 (in the second round) with a Roundhouse Kick. DUD This was a terrible worked shoot, and one has to wonder about the decision to have Hido lose in a fight that was supposed to establish him as a legitimate martial artist.

--Naohiko Yamazaki, Yoshinori Sasaki V. Funk Brothers. The Funks are of course real life brothers Dory Jr., and Terry. The Funks get massive pops all throughout the match for just about everything they do. Dory Jr. gets the submission on Yamazaki at 15:13 with a Spinning Toehold. 1/4* Dull, boring, and incredibly long match.

--WEW Hardcore Championship, Hardcore Match: Balls Mahoney V. Kintaro Kanemura. Mahoney slams a car door on Kanemura which causes the window of the door to shatter all over Kanemura's chest in a cool visual. Mahoney gets a Powerbomb onto the hood of a car, but it only gets 2. Kanemura Backdrop Suplexes Mahoney off the car and onto a pair of tables, which don't break, then he Suplexes one of the tables onto Mahoney, but only gets 2. Kanemura gets the pin at 12:36 after hitting a Legdrop off the top of a light stand onto Mahoney who was on a table. **1/2 Decent hardcore match, but there were times it was blatantly obvious that Mahoney couldn't keep up with Kanemura.

--WEW Tag Team Championship Match: Tommy Dreamer (W/Francine), Raven V. Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Hisakatsu Ooya (W/Tomomi Tanimoto). Ooya's entrance is quite possibly the greatest entrance ever, as he carries his incredibly hot & incredibly talented valet, Tanimoto, to the ring on a rickshaw while she sings his entrance music. All four men brawl to the outside and to the top of the ramp where Raven & Kuroda go through a bunch of Small Package reversals as they roll down the ramp. Kuroda gets the pin on Dreamer at 11:14 with a Lariat. * Eh match, but then again Dreamer was a cripple at this point, and Raven was so drugged out of his mind that I'm surprised he even made it to the ring, let alone was able to wrestle. Post-match Tanimoto further endears herself to me by ripping on Francine, who looks extremely anorexic tonight, in Japanese, while Francine just stands there like an idiot.

--WEW Heavyweight Championship, Loser Leaves Town, 13,000 Thunderbolt Cage, Death Match: Masato Tanaka V. Kodo Fuyuki. Sadly, Fuyuki just recently passed away earlier this year, but he will be remembered for all the years he spent in FMW, and his memorable stint in AJPW, All-Japan Pro Wrestling, as part of the tag team Footloose alongside Toshiaki Kawada. Pinfall/Submission to win the match rules are in effect here. The cage is your basic cage, only with 13,000 volts of electricity running through it. This feud was a result of Fuyuki taking over FMW, and attempting to change everything that FMW stood for, while Tanaka is representing FMW tradition, and is the only one who can stop Fuyuki. They tease throwing each other into the cage early on. Fuyuki is the first to get thrown into the cage, but he's quickly followed by Tanaka, as both guys appear to have decided to not sell the 13,000 volts of electricity that are running through their bodies all that much tonight. Lariat by Fuyuki, but he only gets 2. Tanaka hits his SWEET~ Tornado DDT. Dragon Sleeper by Fuyuki, but he releases the hold before the ref can drop Tanaka's arm a third time, and then only gets a 2 count when he applies a Lateral Press. Diamond Dust (flip-over middle-rope Ace Crusher) by Tanaka only gets 2. Wicked German Suplex by Fuyuki, but Tanaka no sells it and hits a Running Elbow for a 2 count. Muscle Buster by Fuyuki gets 2. Fuyuki takes apart all three ring ropes, so now there's no ring ropes, just the cage. Powerbomb by Tanaka gets a close 2 count. Roaring Elbow (now, I understand that it's actually a Rolling Elbow, but I've always liked the "Roaring" version better than the "Rolling" version, and that's what I'm going with) by Tanaka gets another close 2. Both men collide with the cage at the same time for a double knockout. Tanaka gets the pin, the title, and forces Fuyuki to leave FMW at 16:12 with a Roaring Elbow. ***3/4 Really good match, with lots of good back & forth action, and a ton of really good, believable near falls. Only real flaw was the lack of selling by both men in regards to the effects of the electrified steel cage.

--Hayabusa II V. H. Shawn Michaels is the special referee. Hayabusa II is Mr. Gannosuke under a mask, while H is the original Hayabusa, who is unfortunately paralyzed & confined to a wheel chair in the present day, sans mask. This match features a big back story, all revolving around Hayabusa & Gannosuke. Hayabusa & Gannosuke were real life childhood friends who got their start in wrestling together, with both men facing off against each other in their first pro matches back in 1993. After a brief period apart when Gannosuke left FMW to go to IWA: Japan, they were reunited again in 1997, but this time Gannosuke went after Hayabusa. In their first meeting sine their initial match as pros Hayabusa picked up the win & offered his hand in friendship to Gannosuke, but instead of accepting Gannosuke attacked Hayabusa and ripped off his mask, but luckily Hayabusa was able to cover up his face before too much was revealed. Fast forward a couple of years to Kodo Fuyuki ordering Hayabusa to take off his mask, but he refuses, and is then attacked after a match against Gannosuke and loses his mask. Hayabusa later reappears as an unmasked H, who is supposed to be a heartthrob to girls ala Jeff Hardy, but instead he looks like a heartthrob to homosexual males ala Billy Gunn. Shortly after this Hayabusa II appears and doesn't hide the fact that he is indeed Gannosuke under the mask. They feud for a while, including their infamous anus explosion match, and it all culminates here in this match at FMW's Tenth Anniversary Show. (Okay, from this point on when I refer to Hayabusa I'm talking about Hayabusa II, and not the original Hayabusa.) Hayabusa immediately makes me proud by nailing Michaels in the nuts when Michaels is checking him for foreign objects before the match can begin. Hayabusa hits a Falcon Arrow, one of H's signature moves, for a 2 count. Hayabusa gets into Michaels face, elbowing him in the face and then hitting him in the stomach with a chair, which pisses off Michaels, so he nails Hayabusa with a Superkick. All of this causes Hayabusa to take off his mask and reveal that he is in fact Gannosuke. H hits a SWANK~ Asai Moonsault. Michaels & Hayabusa get a good banter going while Hayabusa & H are on the outside, Michaels: "5", Hayabusa: "No Count", Michaels: "6", Hayabusa: "No Count, No Count", and of course the crowd eats it up with a spoon. H hits a wicked Tiger Driver onto the exposed cement on the outside. Hayabusa kills H dead with an insane Crown's Gate off the apron to the cement on the outside, with H's head making an audible thud upon impact with the cement. Hayabusa hits a vicious Praying Powerbomb for 2. H hits a Fisherman's Buster followed up by a Tiger Driver, but he only gets 2. A pair of Gannosuke Clutches by Hayabusa, but H manages to kick out of each one at 2. 450 Splash by H, but that only gets 2. Rock Bottom by H gets another close 2. Hayabusa hits a Tiger Suplex followed by a Fire Thunder Driver, but only gets 2. Vicious Powerbomb by Hayabusa, but once again he only gets a 2 count. H nails Hayabusa with his feet on a Phoenix Splash at 18:22 to get the pin. **** Superb match, with lots of emotion & both men clearly laying everything on the line in the final match of their long standing feud. The ongoing banter between Michaels & Hayabusa was also an interesting sideshow, and didn't affect the overall outcome of the match, so it didn't hinder the flow of the match. Only real detraction was both men getting sloppy at certain points in the match. Post-match H once again offers Gannosuke his hand in friendship, and this time Gannosuke accepts and they embrace so that their friendship can come full circle.

--Final Flash: This was a really enjoyable show, with even most of the crappy matches having some redeeming factors to them. The final two matches were really good emotional contests & helped make a decent card into a good card.

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