BAHU

There really wasn't that much on the Stop the Matsunaga stuff in the second book at least not the more popular 2005 run. He did talk about Kazunari Murakami a lot from the 06 run, so I just felt like there wasn't enough meat on the bone when I already had so much stuff and it was going to be such a time consuming project. Here's the 05 run talk in his second book It's great that "Mr. Danger" became a thriving restaurant, but every night, night after night, as I looked at the dark night sky after the restaurant closed, I often thought back to the past, thinking, "Oh, how short the glory was." Living in Tokyo, I never run into my friends from the countryside, and although I would love to visit them, I don't have time to do so, and I spent my time thinking that I would never see them again, and then I happened to receive a notice for a reunion. After that, Director Aoyagi and Kazuhiko Ogasawara were looking for Karate Gundan members in Zero-One, and even though it was three days before the show (June 17, 2005, Korakuen Hall), they offered me, "Will you be our X (Mystery Partner)?" I thought that if I was going to be at the reunion anyway, it would be cooler to be an active member, so I ended up promising to enter. Back then, it had been about three years since I left Big Japan, and I was only looking forward to wrestling once a year at the Mr. Pogo WWS Isesaki shows as a hobby, and I wasn't training, nor was I prepared for it. My body had also lost weight to the low 90s (around 200 pounds). So, I made a mask with X and went to the Karate Army's second line, but the fans didn't say, "Matsunaga! The audience was like, "Who is he?" I was more perplexed and wondered if I had come to the right place. Moreover, I had heard that it was a Karate vs. wrestling match, so I thought it would be a tense match, but it turned out to be a karate match with Masashi Aoyagi, Kazuhiko Ogasawara, Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Akio Kobayashi, all of whom had wrestling experience, even though they were karate fighters. When I made my full-fledged debut at Zero-One on June 30, 2005 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring and first bloodied Osamu Namiguchi, I felt as if I had hit Zero One with the culmination of my wrestling career. Then, when I beat Rikiya Fudo (August 23, 2005, Shin-Kiba 1st Ring), Kohei Sato (September 19, 2005, Korakuen Hall), and Hirotaka Yokoi (October 9, 2005, Korakuen Hall), who was also active in mixed martial arts at the time, in the first "no rope barbed wire death match" at Zero One, I was reminded of W*ING. As my career progressed, I began to have various feelings. In the past, W*ING held a Mr. Pogo vs. Kim Duk match at Korakuen Hall (September 27, 1992), and the venue was very lively. From the outside, it didn't look like they were doing much at all, but the two were staring at each other, and the venue was filled with excitement just from the exchange of Mr. Pogo's louder voice and Mr. Duk's squeaky voice. Mr. Duk had a complicated expression on his face, as if he was in pain, sad, or angry because of the bloodshed. I would like to have matches like that in the future. But I can't do it while I'm young. I was very envious that they were wrestling with such dignity. When I was able to do that at Zero-One, I felt like I had to make a decision here, even though I had been so focused on it up until then. On November 17, 2005, when I was there, I fought Yoshihito Sasaki at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium # 2. Sasaki was a wrestler who joined FMW because of his passion for death matches, and during my W*ING days, he was a fan of the five-sided nail match between me and Leatherface at the Toda Sports Center (December 20, 1992), and he watched it live. Unfortunately, FMW had changed course and gone the entertainment route by the time he debuted. I think that's why his obsession with death matches was so great. Sasaki, who defeated me, said after the match, "I didn't think death matches were this hard. I want to be called the best "Mr. Barbed Wire" if I get another chance." The match between me in my 40s and Sasaki in his 20s reminded me of my first fight with Mr. Pogo in W*ING. And after I lost to Sasaki, I said to myself, "My plan went awry..." That was, after all, when I entered Zero One, I was asked "Why did you come to Zero One? but in reality, there was no particular reason, just that I was asked to do so because there was no one in the karate army. Moreover, there was no past causal relationship or grudge. For example, if Hayabusa was there, things could be complicated, but the only one I knew in Zero-One was Masato Tanaka who was really a young pawn back then. So, even if you talk about taking over Zero-One, the current fans won't react to it, and it won't matter if you do. There were some freaks who said, "Zero-One, do the WING-ization plan," but my W*ING past had been sealed after I had a singles match with Kanemura, and I never wanted to bring it out again. I was very particular about that, and then a quick thought came to me: if I went into Zero-One and didn't speak from beginning to end, and at the end said, "The plan went wrong," I thought that would be enough. That's why the white mask came to Zero-One to do something... In the end, it remained a mystery.

FMW Stories Episode 6 covering Mitsuhiro Matsunaga I go over his career with many never before told stories in English. I go over him getting into wrestling as a child, his college days, trying to get into wrestling before starting with FMW, his W*ING days, and his later career in Big Japan into retirement. Also, covering his issues with Onita, Hayabusa, Kanemura, Mr. Pogo and more.

It's not a work or an injury. The main blood vessel that goes to his heart is swollen. It's from being old and smoking a lot. He is having surgery on it May 9th. He won't retire from it as he's already booked for June in All Japan and then FMW-E again in July and August.

Kawasaki Stadium was torn down in 2000 but the land was still used by FMW in 2001 then Fuyuki/his widow promoted shows in 2002-2004 there. I went by there in 2011 and they had turned the space into a football field for kids to practice/play on and anyone could just walk around the area freely. They have since turned into a football stadium for a Japanese Football league which means you have to pay to enter now. They also have began allowing wrestling shows to be booked there as Hard Hit and DDT booked it the last couple of years. Onita wants to book it next year for his 50th Anniversary show. As far as FMW running other stadiums they ran Yokohama Stadium in 1992 after running Kawasaki Stadium once in 1991, but they didn't do as well and they liked Kawasaki more and made Kawasaki their once a year home.

FMW Stories Episode 5 going over FMW's top rival promotion W*ING. I go over the history of W*ING and tell many untold stories of the promotion that is still remembered fondly 30 years later for its chaos.

No, FMW-E still exists. They are running two shows in Hokkaido on October 1st and October 2nd. They have pretty much been dead since December though as they are only running house shows bought by sponsors. They were losing money running once a month shows in Yokohama so they stopped doing that. Fire Blast Wrestling is not a new promotion. It is a name change from Fire Pro-Wrestling that started back up in 2016 and ran as recently as July. Onita does not run Fire Blast Wrestling. The company just bases their shows off him. Onita hasn't put his own money in a company since FMW in 1995. Even Onita Pro was financed by sponsors to where he wasn't putting up his own money.

FMW Stories Episode 4 going over the first two years of FMW up until their first Kawasaki Stadium. I talk about about many never before heard in English stories of the old FMW, the many issues that came up with the young promotion, what caused several people including Mr. Pogo to leave FMW to start up the rival W*ING promotion and much more.

FMW Stories Episode 3 going over Megumi Kudo's life and career. From her beginning in All Japan Women's to her going from job to job before settling in as a teacher, before getting an opportunity to join FMW and all the goods and bads that came with it, before her 1997 retirement followed by her post active wrestling life. This episode contains many never before told stories in English about her.

FMW Stories Episode 2 - Going over the life and times of Tarzan Goto. Going over his career in Sumo, All Japan, Memphis, FMW, and why he decided to leave FMW right before wrestling in the biggest FMW match ever.

FMW Stories Episode 1 - a new show I started going over specific FMW topics with stories attached to them with pictures and clips to go along with it. This episode covers the Creation of FMW with Atsushi Onita and how everything lead to the start of the first big time independent promotion in Japan.

I have never even heard of such a rumor. Gannosuke retired because he was 40 and been dealing with many injuries and was tired of not making that much money the last couple of years. If he was hiding, he probably wouldn't have had started two separate bars, continued training for Ice Ribbon, made two movies, been to every FREEDOMS show in Tokyo selling his stuff, promoted his own shows under his own name multiple times a year, and working for the Guts World office until Ishijima convinced him to come out of retirement so that he could help draw their first Korakuen Hall show. If he was "under ground" he did a horrible job at it, because I saw him every year from 2009-2013 I went to Japan while he was retired. The Arai situation was much different as FMW was a major company and WMF under Gannosuke the last three years was a promotion that ran one show a month in a 300 seat building. They are night and day different situation, and that's even if Gannosuke even went the route for financial support you're saying.

They came over to my house and interviewed me for three hours. I gave them every detail of that night of FMW in one sitting without notes. It was a lot, mentally fried me the rest of the interview, as it was very detailed. So they had all the information, but time wise cut to the chase. Don't know why they said school yard when I specifically told them a park. I also got them Ricky, Arai's daughter, and Hayabusa's daughter for the show.

History of FMW Volume 50 going over the year 2020 with clips and pictures for the final timeline episode. Atsushi Onita works various outside death matches including returning to Kawasaki Stadium. Megumi Kudo works against her long time rival Shark Tsuchiya one final time. Toru Sugiura continues his hot streak of main event matches in FREEDOMS and much more!

NOW was Kendo Nagasaki's baby and when it died it allowed for Big Japan to be created with Kojika and Nagasaki.

Christmas 2013. It's a really good match, but it didn't air on Samurai and just released on Commercial video. He didn't like the magazine that week gave more attention to the semi-main of Takashi Sasaki vs. Minoru Fujita which wasn't as good of a match. Death Match Carnival 2012. It was the biggest FREEDOMS show/match at the time until 2018.