Puroresu Show Reviews

I'm not really sure as to why, but FMW held huge single elimination tournament. There was also the dissention in the ranks of Team No Respect as Mr. Gannosuke left the big heel group and turned into a holy man, much like Jinsei Shinzaki, only in black! This show features the quarter and semi finals of the tournament, as well as participation from ECW stars Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, ECW Tag Champions The Dudley Boyz and the ECW World Champion, Shane Douglas!

Over The Top Tournament: Mohammed Yone VS Tetsuhiro Kuroda
This was OK. Yone representing BATTLEARTS spends most of the match trying to lock down Kuroda with submissions and strikes, but the more experienced Kuroda got in his fair share of offense, including some submissions of his own. Slow paced match, but the ending sequence was pretty good.
Match Rating: **

Over The Top Tournament: Hido VS Masao Orihara
This match is a prime example of why it’s not always good to have a no-disqualification rule. There were so many low-blows in this match that it really sucked any credibility these guys have to be called “pro-wrestlers”! Plain and simple, this was just horrible.
Match Rating: *

Over The Top Tournament: Mr. Gannosuke VS Yukihiro Kanemura
As good a garbage-brawl as you would expect from these two. Kanemura has a score to settle with Gannosuke for quitting Team No Respect and taking up a Jinsei Shinzaki holy man-type gimmick, but in black instead of white! Gannosuke started rather tame, but when his temper picked up, so did the pace and the rate of in ring violence! The match was capped off by one seriously sick Fire-Thunder Driver!
Match Rating: **1/2

Over The Top Tournament: Hayabusa VS Hisakatsu Oya
Finally! After a rookie match, a boring brawl and a basic garbage match, we get the WRESTLING! Ohya always looked plain, but was definitely one of the best workers in FMW! And do I really need to say anything about Hayabusa? A great grappler VS high-flyer match!
Match Rating: ***1/4

Ricky Fuji, Super Leather & Flying Kid Ichihara VS Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa & Gedo
Another waste of time match which sees Team No Respect just totally squash young Ichihara and Super Leather didn’t even get to tag in, which led to a post-match rampage by the big maniac gaijin with a chainsaw.
Match Rating: *

Some fun footage of the ECW contingent doing a meet the fans session. First up was Bill Alphonso, Sabu & Rob Van Dam. Fun bit where Sabu cleared his throat as if he was about to speak, but instead did his pointing to the sky hand motion! RVD was his classic ECW self. Next up was the ECW tag team champions, the Dudley Boyz who were also sharing a dressing room with ECW World champion, The Franshise, Shane Douglas with Francine! The Dudleys did their usual ECW promo, but I felt they disrespected the Franchise when they FAST FORWARDED his promo! They tried to make it funny by having a timer in the corner to let us know how long he was talking, which went about 10+ minutes. I would have preferred to hear his promo in full though.

ECW World Heavyweight Title Match (12/12/98)
Shane Douglas VS Gedo
Douglas was not in his prime at this point and was still healing a legit busted arm which he had for most of 1998, but he still seemingly had dumb down his offense to get Gedo over! Seriously, it looked like Douglas had to carry Gedo to make this match passable! If this was ECW, Gedo definitely would not have lasted even five minutes with the Franchise!
Match Rating: **1/2

Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer VS Sabu & Rob Van Dam (12/12/98)
I was looking forward to this, but was disappointed by how little Hayabusa was used here. This was a fun match with a lot of big spots, but in the end, I seriously would have preferred more of Hayabusa in the match, other than doing some big dives.
Match Rating: ***

ECW World Heavyweight Title Match
Shane Douglas VS Tommy Dreamer
A match I had always wanted to see in ECW! It’s pretty obvious they way they were moving that neither man was at 100%, but they still did they best they could and delivered a very American-style match, which the Japanese audience seemed to be able to relate to, even though it was sports entertainment infested like Francine’s constant interference. Dreamer’s show of respect at the end didn’t make much sense to me though.
Match Rating: ***

ECW World Tag Team Titles Match
The Dudley Boyz VS Sabu & Rob Van Dam
Another match I highly anticipated! And it delivered! Sabu & RVD RULED here! This was a great match, though the ending was a bit surprising. The after match activities where Sabu went on a rampage with a nine-inch nail ala his uncle The Sheik also looked over-done and I could have gone without it. I think he even hit a fan with the nail on his way out!
Match Rating: ****

Over The Top Tournament: Mr. Gannosuke VS Hido
Another match that was more of a brawl due to Hido’s limited abilities. I still can’t believe he’s married to an awesome worker like Megumi Kudo, and can’t learn anything off of her! Gannosuke took a bit of a beat down, but again showed why he’s superior to Hido in the end.
Match Rating: *1/2

Over The Top Tournament: Hisakatsu Ohya VS Tetsuhiro Kuroda
If there’s one thing FMW was known for in its later years, it was how to put on an insanely entertaining main event! This was no exception! I haven’t seen a match on tape where I was cheering out loud in support of someone in a LONG time like I did here! Ohya dropped Kuroda on his head several time with some big homicidal backdrops, and Kuroda tried to hack off Ohya’s head with big time lariats! A great match to end a mostly good show!
Match Rating: ****

Overall: This PPV showcases some of the good and the bad of FMW’s World Entertainment Wrestling years. You get some good stuff as well as some stuff that sucks. The after match rampage of Super Leather and Sabu for instance, which really wasted time. But if your like me, you’ll most probably want to get this to watch the ECW participation, which was good. Also notable was the two matches involving Ohya! Good show overall.

Labels: FMW