Burning Hammer DVD Review #2
CellJr300 On
FMW: King Of The Death Match
(Anniversary VII)
May 05, 1996
--There's nothing of any real note in the extra's section other than a pretty cool Hayabusa video. Other than that there's just a bunch of bio's that you can't read because the print is so small, a history of FMW that you can't read either, and more crap with the Snake Sisters.
--Taped from Kawasaki, Japan
--Your hosts are various Japanese announcers throughout the DVD, because I refuse to listen to the really bad English announcers provided by Tokyopop.
--FMW Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Taka Michinoku V. Koji Nakagawa. Koji would now be known as Goemon. Taka hits a SWANK~ Dropkick to Koji's chest to counter a Cross Bodyblock. Koji hits an nice Dragon Suplex. Koji then hits an even better looking Tiger Suplex. Taka gets the pin and the title at 6:09 aired with a trio of Michinoku Driver II's. They cut out about 10 minutes from this match, so NO RATING.
--Jason the Terrible V. Nanjyo Hayato. This is the 2nd Jason the Terrible that I'm aware of, the first being from Stampede Wrestling in the late 80's. Jason kills Hayato with a Powerbomb, but picks him up at 2. Jason gets the pin at 2:28 aired with a Northern Lights Bomb. Some more massive clipping, but from what they aired it looked like a total squash. NO RATING
--Chigusa Nagayo V. Shark Tsuchiya. Nagayo gives an interesting pre-match promo where she says "I'll kill her" about 10 times. We hit the ring and before the match Nagayo once again reiterates her plan to "kill" Shark. Shark immediately starts carving up Nagayo with a sickle. To the outside where Nagayo gives Shark a Piledriver on a table. Nagayo gets the win via KO at 8:18 aired from a Fujiwara Armbar. Some more massive clipping, and what they did show was nothing but them getting cut open with knives. NO RATING
--FMW Streetfight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match: Gladiator, Hisakatsu Ooya, Horace Boulder V. Super Leather, Headhunters (W/Victor Quinones). Gladiator would be better known as Mike Awesome. Horace Boulder would be better known as a sack of shit who is related to Hulk Hogan. We pick it up with Gladiator & Leather fighting on a light stand. Headhunter I hit's a middle-rope Elbowdrop on Ooya, and I'm surprised Ooya is still alive after that one. Ooya gets a SWEET~ Saito Suplex on Headhunter I. Headhunter II gets a nice looking middle-rope Powerbomb on Boulder. Headhunter I totally overshoots Boulder on a Moonsault. That was real bad, he completely missed Boulder and the table he was on. Leather gets the pin and the titles at 8:52 aired with a Brainbuster on Boulder. A pretty bad clusterfuck, but once again they clipped a lot out of the match. NO RATING
--Barbed Wire Barricade Spider Net Broken Glass Death Match: Cactus Jack V. W*ing Kanemura. Kanemura may be more familiar to some people as Kintaro Kanemura. Sick looking spot, as Kanemura just plugs Cactus in the head with one of those really hard little tables you always see in Puro. Cactus gives Kanemura a Vertical Suplex onto a bed of barbed wire. Cactus tries a Double Axe-Handle off the top-rope using a piece of a broken table, but Kanemura Dropkicks the table piece back into Cactus's face & then destroys Cactus with the broken table piece. A Baseball Slide Dropkick by Kanemura sends Cactus into the other bed of barbed wire. Cactus Bodyslams Kanemura off the top-rope and onto a barbed wire glass board & follows with a middle-rope Elbowdrop that only gets 2. Cactus Hotshots Kanemura onto the barbed wire. Cactus gets the pin at 16:45 after a Butterfly DDT onto the broken glass. *** 1Ú4 This was a pretty good death match, but there's only so many times you can see a guy thrown onto glass until it loses its luster.
--FMW Independent Women's Championship, WWA Women's Championship, No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Match: Megumi Kudo V. Combat Toyoda. Kudo is married to a wrestler I can't stand, Bad Boy Hido. Really long mat sequence to start, as they work in all kinds of cool spots to avoid the barbed wire. Toyoda finally sends Kudo into the explosive barbed wire at about the 7:00 minute mark with a Dropkick. Toyoda pulls out one of my favorite moves, a Mexican Surfboard. At around the 10:00 minute mark, Kudo finally sends Toyoda into the explosive barbed wire with an Irish Whip. Toyoda gives Kudo a German Suplex right on her head for 2. Vicious Backdrop Driver by Toyoda gets 2. Awesome spot, as Kudo runs into Toyoda, who gives her a German Suplex into the explosive barbed wire. Sick spot as Kudo Powerbomb's Toyoda right on her head, but that only gets 2. Kudo gets the pin at 21:25 with a Vertabreaker. **** This was a SWEET~ wrestling match, with the death match stuff playing into the wrestling aspect of the match, instead of dominating the entire match.
--No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Time Bomb Land Mine Double Hell Death Match: Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka V. Mr. Pogo, Terry Funk (W/Victor Quinones). At this point in time, Hayabusa is good, Tanaka is really good, Funk is still able to bring it, and Pogo is a piece of crap, so there you have it, let's see what we get. Funk slips and falls trying to avoid Hayabusa, and that's not a good sign for this match. We go through the really long Òeverybody manages to avoid the barbed wireÓ sequence until Tanaka misses a Splash and goes flying into the barbed wire. Pogo goes to the only wrestling move he knows, carving up people with knives. Tanaka & Hayabusa double team Funk, and give him a Gourdbuster on the barbed wire. Once the time bomb clock reached 5 minutes, it set off an air raid signal, and man, does that get really annoying very fast. Hayabusa & Pogo roll out onto the explosive barbed wire bed on the floor. Tanaka & Hayabusa badly screw up a double Powerbomb/Neckbreaker on Funk. Funk slams Tanaka into the other explosive barbed wire bed. We hit 15:00 as the time bomb goes off with Hayabusa & Pogo in the ring for it. Pogo & Funk toss Hayabusa onto a flaming chair, but only get 2. Funk gets the pin on Hayabusa at 18:58 with a double team Powerbomb. *3Ú4 I'm not a big fan of death matches where they take most of the wrestling out of it, and it turns into a contest for who can pull off the sickest bump, and this would definitely fall into that category.
--Final Flash: Other than Toyoda/Kudo, this was a pretty forgettable DVD. Jack/Kanemura was good for a death match, but the final match was bad, and the rest of the DVD was clipped matches. After re-watching this, I now remember why I didn't bother buying any other FMW DVDs from Tokyopop. The stuff they put in with the English announcers & the Snake Sisters was atrociously bad, and that time could have been used to, oh I don't know, maybe show all of the matches uncut.
Not recommended, other than Toyoda/Kudo which if you can find somewhere else, is well worth checking out.
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