Added: 12/30

Mr. Gannosuke ran his 8th show under his own name on December 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The show was considered a success drawing 325 fans, about 25 fans short of a sell out which is what he drew for his last show back in September, although he did not advertise nearly as much as he did for this show as he did for the September show. Gannosuke stated that he enjoyed watching the show as a fan and announced that he plans to do another show in 2010 but has doesn't know when and stated it maybe in March, April, or maybe even 6 months as he no plans right now for the next show. The main selling point for this show was GENTARO taking on Munenori Sawa in a rematch from their September 5th match that went to a thirty minute draw with this match looking to be a very long match with a 61 minute time limit enforced and the match being two out of three falls. GENTARO also put up the Independent Jr. Heavyweight Title (which use to be the FMW. Jr. Heavyweight Title and still has the FMW letters on the belt) on the line. GENTARO and Munenori Sawa ended up having an amazing match one fan who was there live stated as the two ended up going the entire 61 minutes to a time limit draw as it was GENTARO's fourth successful title defense of the belt. The first fall didn't take place until 44 minutes, 34 seconds in with Sawa grabbing a Cross Armbreaker on GENTARO and forcing him to tap out. It would look like that would be the only fall in the match until GENTARO would hit a Backdrop Hold on Sawa at 60 minutes, 21 seconds into the match with just 39 seconds left in the time limit to tie it up at one fall a piece before the 61 minute time limit would run out. I would guess a third winner must be determined rematch between the two would take place at the next Gannosuke show whenever that is in 2010.

 After the show, with all the wrestlers meeting with the fans and selling merchandise, Sawa was seen wrestling with a five year old kid outside of Shin-Kiba to show he still could go after the 61 minute match. 

Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega teamed up to take on Yuko Miyamoto and Masashi Takeda in the semi-main event of the show in a DDT vs. Big Japan match with Ibushi hitting the Union PK Heart on Takeda for the win at 16 minutes, 18 seconds.

Masato Tanaka and Mineo Fujita teamed up to take on TAJIRI and Asian Cougar in a match billed as "FMW vs. IWA" since Tanaka came up through FMW and TAJIRI came up through IWA with Tanaka hitting the Sliding D on former WMF and current Osaka Pro star Asian Cougar for the pinfall with the Sliding D at 15 minutes, 22 seconds. A women's three way match saw Emi Sakura vs. Makoto vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto with Emi getting the La Magistral pinfall over Fujimoto at 7 minutes, 34 seconds. The opening match was Yasu Urano and Kamui defeating Daisuke and Keita Yano when Urano getting a backslide pinfall over Yano at 7 minutes, 56 seconds.

Atsushi Onita announced that he will be retiring for the 5th time from wrestling in January 2010 to focus on running for Governor of Nagasaki with the election in February 2010. Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto both ran shows at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring three days apart from each other. The first show which was Tarzan Goto's FMW show on December 24, 2009 that saw him team up with Atsushi Onita for the first time since January 6, 1995 to take on Mr. Pogo and Leatherface. Goto ended up pulling off Leatherface's mask early on to reveal Ichiro Yaguchi and eventually put away Yaguchi with a lariat at 8 minutes, 20 seconds. Highlights of the match can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at6Cz7qyEyA

Atsushi Onita then ran his own show on December 27, 2009 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with Onita and Goto against each other for the first time in a 5 vs. 5 match in a 3 out 5 falls match with Goto's team getting the victory after Goto would get the last pinfall and winning 3 million Yen as a result. 

Jun Kasai ran his annual Christmas Death Match show on December 25, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The show usually draws a sell out every year, but no attendance figure was released this year. Kasai took on Masashi Takeda in a Glass Death Match with glass being poured all over the ring at the beginning of the match and the two taking bumps on the glass throughout the match before Kasai would hit a Vertical Drop Reverse Tiger Driver on Glass and Thumbtacks on Takeda for the win at 14 minutes, 56 seconds. The semi-main event would see the Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Minoru Fujita who look to have become FREEDOMS regulars defeated the team of GENTARO and The Winger after Fujita hit a Jackknife Roll up on the ladder to get the pinfall win over The Winger at 14 minutes, 13 seconds. Takashi Sasaki defeated Ricky Fuji at 13 minutes, 52 seconds with a D-Geist on the Thumbtacks for the win, and MASADA defeated Kamui with a Death Valley Bomb at 12 minutes, 57 seconds in a Street Fight. The FREEDOMS show before that on December 9, 2009 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring announced 230 fans for the show with Great Kojika, Takashi Sasaki, and GENTARO making up Team FREEDOMS taking on Shiro Koshinaka, TAJIRI, and Hajime Ohara making up Team HUSTLE with the FREEDOMS team getting the win when Sasaki would hit Ohara with a Right Leg and Kojika would follow it up by getting the pinfall on Ohara for the victory. Jun Kasai and The Winger teamed up to defeat Yuko Miyamoto and Masashi Takeda after Kasai hit Takeda with the Reverse Tiger Driver for the win. 

The first FREEDOMS show of 2010 will be on January 14th at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Former FMW wrestler Magnitude Kishiwada will make his FREEDOMS debut teaming with Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Minoru Fujita against Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, and Masashi Takeda in the main event. The semi-main event will be GENTARO against Takuya Sugawara, Ricky Fuji will go up against TAJIRI, Madoka and Keita Yano will take on Hajime Ohara and Takeshi Minamino, and in the opening match Asian Cougar, The Winger, and Kamui will take on Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and Ken45°.

GENTARO participated in the 5th Super J-Cup Tournament on December 22, 2009 at Korakuen Hall. GENTARO's opponent would be against New Japan Ryusuke Taguchi and although GENTARO would end up losing after being hit with a Dodon at 10 minutes, 39 seconds it was GENTARO that was praised for his performance which included busting out a Sasuke Special. The next day on December 23, 2009 at Korakuen Hall, GENTARO competed in the 8 man tag that consisted of the losers of the first day and would team with Jado, Atsushi Aoki, and Fujita Jr. Hayato against Jushin Thunder Liger, AKIRA, Kota Ibushi, and Taguchi with Aoki and Jado teasing dissension throughout the whole match and AKIRA eventually getting the La Magistral roll up on Jado for the win at 17 minutes, 41 seconds. 

Kintaro Kanemura's participation in ZERO-ONE's Furinkazan Tag Team Tournament with Steve Corino would end up with the team scoring 3 points in the tournament and failing to make it to the finals. They would open up scoring a draw and one point on December 9th by going to a Double Count Out against Ikuto Hidaka and Munenori Sawa. They would end up losing on December 13th to the team of Ryouji Sai and Kenta Kakinuma after Sai would hit the Sidmouth on Kanemura for the loss. They would get their first win and stay alive in the tournament by defeating the team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara after Corino would hit a Sliding Lariat on Sugawara for the pinfall and earn Kanemura and Corino three points. They would officially be eliminated on the last day to the eventual winners of the tournament in Akebono and Shinjiro Otani after Akebono would hit the Dai Funka on Corino for the loss on December 19th. Kanemura will return to ZERO-ONE on January 1, 2010 teaming up with Masato Tanaka against Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara. Kanemura also promoted his own show called "W*ING Premium" on December 20, 2009 and although the show was very little promoted by Kanemura it was still able to draw 238 fans at the Nagoya Sports Center. The main event which symbolized the beginning of Kanemura's 20th year in pro-wrestling as he made his debut on December 20, 1990 as he would revise his W*ING Kanemura name once again and team up with Masato Tanaka to lose to Kohei Sato and former W*ING wrestler Koichiro Kimura with Kimura making Kanemura tap out at 12 minutes, 34 seconds to a Cross Armbreaker.

Added: 12/6

Big Japan ran their annual end of the year Yokohama Bunka Gym show on December 4, 2009 announcing a disappointing 2100 fans for the show. Yuko Miyamoto defended his BJW Death Match Title against former tag team partner Takashi Sasaki in the main event in a Fluorescent Light Tubes and Scaffold Death Match. It was their third singles match against one another with Sasaki getting the victory both times, but their first match in particular leading to Miyamoto becoming a star for the promotion in the process. Miyamoto and Sasaki started the match off fighting on the scaffold with Miyamoto knocking Sasaki off the ladder. Sasaki would roll outside the ring and Miyamoto would jump off the scaffold and land on Sasaki on the outside. Sasaki and Miyamoto would return to the ring and begin breaking the fluorescent light tubes over one another with Miyamoto eventually grabbing a hold of Sasaki and delivering the Yankee Driver on a stack of fluorescent light tubes. The bloody Miyamoto and Sasaki would climb back on to the scaffold where Sasaki would kick the light tubes against Miyamoto's head and then take it back into the ring where Sasaki would deliver another kick to the light tubes against Miyamoto's head. They would climb up once again on the scaffold with Miyamoto grabbing the light tubes and breaking them over Sasaki's head. Miyamoto would then deliver the spot of the year by delivering a Fire Thunder off the scaffold onto a table in the ring. Miyamoto would then follow that up with another Fire Thunder, this time on fluorescent light tubes on Sasaki for just a one count. The two would climb the scaffold again and for the third time Miyamoto would hit a Fire Thunder on Sasaki, this time on the scaffold. Sasaki would eventually be dropped off the scaffold and Miyamoto would deliver a Moonsault off the scaffold onto Sasaki for the three count and finally a victory over Sasaki for his third title defense. The two would embrace after the bloody match out of respect for what they had just done to each other. Highlights of the match can be found by clicking here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xfx1DMShN0

Jun Kasai announced the lineup for his annual Death Match Christmas show on December 25, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The main event will be Jun Kasai taking on Masashi Takeda in a Death Match not yet announced. The semi-main event will see the team of GENTARO & The Winger taking on Minoru Fujita & Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a Ladder Death Match. Takashi Sasaki will take on Ricky Fuji for the first time in a Thumbtack Death Match. Kamui will face off against MASADA in a Street Fight, and the opening match will be a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match between Jaki Numazawa, Mototsugu Shimizu, and Yamada Man Pound against Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei & Ken45°.

Eddy Fatu who wrestled in FMW by his real name as well as Armageddon # 1 died on December 4, 2009 in his home in Spring, Texas of a heart attack. Fatu and cousin Matty Anoai who would start off in FMW for FMW's Tag Team Tournament for the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Titles as the team of Armageddon in March 1999. Their debut in FMW would be on March 20, 1999 in Miyagi teaming with Armageddon # 2 and Ricky Fuji to lose to the team of Hisakatsu Oya, Super Leather, and Hideki Hosaka with Oya pinning Ricky Fuji after Armageddon had turned on him. The next day their first match in the tournament and main event of the show on March 21, 1999 in Shizuoka would see Armageddon lose to the team of Hayabusa & Kodo Fuyuki after Hayabusa would pin Armageddon # 1. Armageddon's only win in the tournament would be on March 29, 1999 at Korakuen Hall by defeating the team of Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido as they would finish the tournament with only two points by the end of the tournament in May 1999. They would come back for the WEW 6 Man Tag Team Tournament in July 1999 teaming with Super Leather and eventually be eliminated on July 31, 1999 at Korakuen Hall after Hayabusa pinned Leather with a Fire Bird Splash. They would return to FMW in October 1999 dropping the Armageddon name and going by the names Eddy Fatu and Matty Samu and calling themselves "The Samoans". They would be brought back as an emergency team in May 2000 after FMW and ECW would severe ties with one another before FMW's May 5th show. The Samoans would take the place of ECW's New Jack and Balls Mahoney for the May 5, 2000 show and challenge for the WEW Tag Team Titles against Hideki Hosaka and Yoshinori Sasaki with Sasaki getting his biggest pinfall win at the time over Samu to get the defend the titles. Fatu and Samu would get another chance at the titles on June 21, 2000 at Korakuen Hall and this time would come away with the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Titles. Their only title reign in FMW. The reign would not last long as Hideki Hosaka and Yoshinori Sasaki would win back the titles on July 28, 2000 at Korakuen Hall with Hosaka getting the pinfall victory over Fatu. Their last match in FMW would be on July 30, 2000 in Chiba as they would end up going to a No Contest with Jado & Gedo with the referee having to throw the match out due to the brawling between the two. Fatu & Samu would agree to return to FMW in February 2001 but after agreeing would pull out after being given a deal in WWE development to work for their Memphis promotion. Fatu and Samu would eventually become Jamal and Rosey in WWE before Jamal would be let go and return to Japan, but this time for All Japan in 2003 before returning to WWE as Umaga in 2006. Fatu and Hayabusa met up once again in August 2006 as Hayabusa was backstage at a WWE show with Fatu coming up to him and the two talking about their time in FMW together. Eddy Fatu was 36 years old. 

Added: 11/29

Mr. Gannosuke announced back in June that he had started up his own acting agency and had hired several of his friends from wrestling to take part in the agency with him. Gannosuke announced this past week that the first movie starring himself will be called "Tonpachi Fellow of the Heisei Era" which is produced by a company called Endless will open in a theater in Shibuya with an airing on December 16th and again on December 17th. The movie will then be released on DVD on January 6, 2010. The movie stars Gannosuke as Mr. Tigernosuke as well as co-starring GENTARO, Ricky Fuji, Yuko Miyamoto, Emi Sakura, Mineo Fujita, Gosaku, Makoto, and Munenori Sawa in women's lingerie again. The link of the trailer can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf2ZhqGbdJk

FREEDOMS' GENTARO will be participating in the 5th Super J Cup hosted by New Japan on December 22nd and December 23rd at Korakuen Hall. The first round matches will take place on the first night with the rest of the tournament taking place on the next night. Former FMW wrestlers Jado & Gedo will also be participating in the tournament. The tournament has no matches announced as of yet.

Big Japan's Yokohama Bunka Gym show on December 4th will be main evented with a rematch of their 2007 Match of the Year and the match that put Yuko Miyamoto on the map. The match will be Yuko Miyamoto defending against former friend Takashi Sasaki for the Big Japan Death Match Championship in a Scaffold Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. The first meeting between the two was also a Scaffold Death Match on March 14, 2007 at Korakuen Hall with Sasaki defending the title against Miyamoto where Miyamoto delivered a Moonsault off the Scaffold as well as being hit with a D-Geist off the scaffold before being pinned by Sasaki. This match is to show how much Miyamoto has grown in the last two and a half years against Sasaki and finally beat the FREEDOMS' ace.

Kintaro Kanemura is returning to the ZERO-ONE promotion to participate in their Furinkazen Tag Team Tournament. Kanemura will be teaming with Steve Corino with the team being slotted in the A bracket of the tournament. Kanemura & Corino will take on the teams of Ikuto Hidaka & Munenori Sawa, Ryouji Sai & Kenta Kakinuma, Minoru Fujita & Takuya Sugawara, and Shinjiro Otani & Akebono on December 19th which will also hold the finals of the tournament later in the show. Masato Tanaka will be teaming up with Masaaki Mochizuki and be slotted in the B bracket. 

Hayabusa celebrates his 41st birthday today. His next singing performance will be tomorrow, November 30th at the Tokyo Ota Ward Kamata for a solo performance. His next big show will be at the Yokohama Star Ship on December 22nd which will be his Christmas Special with Ricky Fuji and Ichiro Yaguchi performing with him. 

Former W*ING, FMW, and Big Japan death match wrestler Mitsuhiro Matsunaga has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year. His final match will be on Naomichi Marufuji's Production show on December 23rd at the Tokyo Differ Ariake against current NOAH and former W*ING wrestler Akitoshi Saito. Matsunaga's career spans over 20 years after training under Masashi Aoyagi in karate and participating on the first FMW show on October 6, 1989 under Aoyagi's karate group before jumping over to W*ING in 1991 and making a name for himself as the promotions ace and top death match wrestler against top heel Mr. Pogo. Matsunaga then jumped off the sinking ship of W*ING after the promotions financial problems and made his debut in FMW on September 1, 1993 and feuding with Atsushi Onita right away before turning face and then going back as a heel again. Matsunaga would end up leaving FMW after their May 5, 1996 Kawasaki Stadium show where he was originally suppose to face off against Cactus Jack before being replaced by W*ING Kanemura and put in early match on the card with Hido and Hideki Hosaka in his last match for the promotion. Matsunaga would then join Big Japan where he would reunite his feud with Mr. Pogo. Matsunaga would stay with Big Japan until losing his Big Japan Death Match title Zandig on December 2, 2001 at the Yokohama Arena. Matsunaga would float around as a freelancer working for Toryumon in a comedy match and then feuding and putting over Mammoth Sasaki huge in WMF in 2002. Matsunaga would mostly go inactive after 2003 until appearing in the Zero-One MAX promotion in late 2005 where he would attack and beat several Z1 wrestlers in a angle entitled "STOP THE MATSUNAGA". Eventually former FMW wrestler Yoshihito Sasaki would end up getting his biggest win of his career by defeating Matsunaga on November 17, 2005 in a Barbed wire Double Hell Barricade Boards Death Match. Matsunaga would again go mostly inactive afterwards and has mostly focused on his Mr. Danger's Steakhouse which has become very popular over the years. 

Added: 11/14

Tarzan Goto held a press conference on November 4, 2009 to announce that he was creating his own FMW promotion under his own name. Goto announced that the show would be on December 24, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring and will also be a Tarzan Goto 30 years in professional wrestling show. Click here for the Tarzan Goto press conference announcing his promotion which includes a clip of Goto appearing at Onita's show. Tarzan Goto and Atsushi Onita then held a press conference together on November 12, 2009 to announce that they would be teaming for the first time since January 6, 1995 when Onita and Goto team up to take on Mr. Pogo and Leatherface in a Street Fight as the main event of Goto's FMW show. GOEMON, Ricky Fuji, and Miss Mongol are also former FMW wrestlers that have agreed to wrestle on the show. Click here for Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto's press conference. Tickers for the show are very highly priced as they will be about 100 dollars for front row which are usually sold at 50 dollars for shows that other promotions that run at Shin-Kiba charge. 

Mr. Gannosuke announced the full lineup for his Mr. Gannosuke Productions show on December 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The semi-main event was announced as the DDT team of Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega teaming up to take on the team of Yuko Miyamoto and Masashi Takeda. That match pushes back the Masato Tanaka and Mineo Fujita against TAJIRI and Asian Cougar to third on the show. The women's match which will be a three way match which will be on second on the card will see Emi Sakura vs. Makoto vs. Tsukasa Fujimoso. The opening match will see Yasu Urano and Kamui teaming up to take on Daisuke and Keita Yano for the 5 match show. The GENTARO vs. Munenori Sawa which is still the main event will most likely go well over thirty minutes which is the main draw for the show. 

The FREEDOMS promotion ran their monthly show at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on November 11, 2009 drawing 209 fans for the show. The main event saw a Captain Falls Elimination Match between Great Kojika, Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, and The Winger against TAJIRI, Minoru Fujita, Takuya Sugawara, and Abdullah Kobayashi with Kojika and TAJIRI being the captains for their teams. The Winger was the first one eliminated after getting hit by a Kneedrop from Fujita and pinned at 13 minutes, 50 seconds. Then as Kasai and Kobayashi were fighting trying to eliminate each other over the top rope, Kojika came by and knocked both of them over the top rope at 16 minutes, 13 seconds. Kojika then knocked both Fujita and Sugawara over the top rope at 17 minutes, 7 seconds. This left Kojika and Takashi Sasaki against TAJIRI but TAJIRI would end up squaring off against Kojika and hitting the Buzzsaw Kick on Kojika at getting the pinfall at 19 minutes, 4 seconds for the win for his team. 

The next FREEDOMS show will be on December 9, 2009 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with the main event of Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, and Great Kojika teaming up against TAJIRI and two mystery partners. Jun Kasai and The Winger will team up in the semi-main event to take on Yuko Miyamoto and Masashi Takeda as Miyamoto makes his debut for the promotion. Makoto Oishi faces off against Keita Yano in the third match, Ricky Fuji and Kamui team up to take on the Brahman Brothers, and Madoka takes on DDT's rookie Takuma Sano in the opening match. 

The next Big Japan Korakuen Hall show on November 20th will pit Ryuji Ito against Jun Kasai in a Razor Death Match. Also, on November 20th this site will celebrating its 11 year anniversary of covering FMW and everything FMW related. Holy crap, that's a long time. I do believe this is the longest running Japanese active wrestling site on the internet. 

Added: 10/25

Masato Tanaka main evented the ZERO-ONE October 24, 2009 Korakuen Hall show by defending the promotions World Heavyweight Championship against Toshiaki Kawada with Kawada getting the pinfall victory over the former FMW star with a Running Face Kick for the pinfall at 14 minutes, 20 seconds to win the belt from Tanaka. Kintaro Kanemura wrestled ZERO-ONE's Osamu Namiguchi in Namiguchi's retirement and got the win by bloodying Namiguchi and then hitting the Blast YAMA Senton Special at 16 minutes, 3 seconds. A retirement ceremony was held for the bloody Namiguchi after the match. Namiguchi's last match would be the same result as his first as Namiguchi made his debut on November 7, 2003 at Korakuen Hall when he teamed with Wataru Sakata and lost to Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda when Kanemura pinned Namiguchi with the Blast YAMA Senton Special. 

FREEDOMS held their third show on October 14, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring drawing an announced 254 fans. The shows have apparently become a little more fresh than the later Apache shows but the main problem still remains Takashi Sasaki's booking with his promotions with no real main storyline for the promotion to focus on. The main event with the outsider team of TAJIRI, Abdullah Kobayashi, and Minoru Fujita defeating the FREEDOMS team of Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, and Masashi Takeda when TAJIRI hit the Buzzsaw Kick on Sasaki for the win at 17 minutes, 8 seconds. The next shows announced will all be at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with no matches announced yet for November 11, 2009, December 9, 2009, and Jun Kasai will team with FREEDOMS on December 25, 2009 to promote the third Jun Kasai Christmas Day Death Match show.

Mr. Gannosuke announced that he will promote his eighth show and second since his retirement called "Kishindoh Returns 2" on December 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The main event will be a return match from the last show as GENTARO will take on Munenori Sawa in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match with a 61 minute time limit. Masato Tanaka and Mineo Fujita will team up once again to take on TAJIRI and Asian Cougar in the semi-finals match in a match built up as an old time "FMW vs. IWA" match due to Tanaka and TAJIRI facing off against each other. Three more matches will be announced later on. 

Atsushi Onita who turned 52 on October 25th announced last week that he would be running for Governor for the Nagasaki Prefecture with the election being held for the spot in February. The only news at all to come out of the Atsushi Onita Productions show held on September 26, 2009 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring was that Tarzan Goto came to the ring after the main event and shook hands with Onita to the crowds applause ending their 14 year feud after Goto left FMW right before Onita's retirement in 1995 due to Onita refusing to job to Goto in his retirement match making Goto feel like he was being setup to fail as ace of FMW by not being passed the torch by Onita and joining IWA Japan as a result. 

Mineo Fujita won his first ever title in his 7 year career as he won Dradition's NWA International Jr. Heavyweight Championship on October 1, 2009 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE by defeating HUSTLE's Hajima Ohara for the title after hitting the Downburst on Ohara for the title. A six-man tournament will be held at the end of this month with the winner getting a shot at Fujita's title on December 15, 2009 at the Shinjuku FACE. Amigo Suzuki, Satoshi Kajiwara, Masaki Okimoto, Kikutaro, Takeshi Minamino, and Gran Hamada will be the participants in the tournament with the winners of their singles match going on to wrestle in a three way match for Dradition's October 31, 2009 show at the Fukouka Hakata Star Lanes.

Yuko Miyamoto successfully defended his Big Japan Death Match Championship on September 30, 2009 at the Takaoka Techno Dome for the second time as he defeated Abdullah Kobayashi in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match after hitting Gannosuke's Fire Thunder on Kobayashi into the light tubes for the win. Kobayashi two days before challenging for the title used his own Mr. Gannosuke finisher at Korakuen Hall by pinning Masashi Takeda with the Gennosuke Clutch in a six man. Gennosuke being Abdullah Kobayashi being real first name and original ring name when he first started out. Miyamoto's next title defense will most likely be on December 4, 2009 when Big Japan returns to the Yokohama Bunka Gym.

Added: 9/8

Mr. Gannosuke promoted his 7th show under his name first since retiring back on December 27, 2008. Due to no longer wrestling anymore, Gannosuke really went all out to promote this show. He went to the Apache Army June 26th Shin-Kiba show, ZERO-ONE's August 29th Korakuen Hall show, and DDT's August 31st Shin-Kiba show to sell tickets for the show. The show was held on September 5, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring and ended up being a success with an announced sell out at 350 fans. Yuko Miyamoto and Kenny Omega teamed up to take on Masato Tanaka and Mineo Fujita in the main event of the show. Miyamoto and Omega got the win after Omega hit the Croy's Wrath on Fujita at 20 minutes, 39 seconds. Miyamoto ended up injuring his waist during the match and was seen laying on the floor backstage afterwards in extreme pain. Mr. Gannosuke announced that he plans on running another show under his name in December 2009 and that Masato Tanaka has already agreed to be apart of it. GENTARO and Munenori Sawa wrestled to a thirty minute time limit draw on the show and talks were that there might be a 60 minute Iron Man rematch between the two on the upcoming December show. 

FREEDOMS ran a somewhat successful debut show on September 2, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring drawing an announced crowd of 320 fans. The problem with this promotion has is that it's going to have overcome the recent Apache Army promotion and how it just lacked so many things while under Takashi Sasaki in 2009. Sasaki is trying to be a little bit different with the main events by bringing in Junior Heavyweight outsiders to wrestle FREEDOMS wrestlers in the main event. The main event of the show saw HUSTLE's TAJIRI and K-Dojo's TAKA Michinoku against GENTARO and The Winger with TAJIRI hitting the Buzzsaw Kick on GENTARO to score the pinfall at 20 minutes, 10 seconds. The main feud of Apache Army in 2009 continued with Takashi Sasaki and Jun Kasai teaming up with Big Japan founder and owner The Great Kojika against Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and Ken45° with Ken45° getting the pinfall victory over Kojika. Abdullah Kobayashi who will be getting a shot at the Big Japan Death Match title on September 30th against Yuko Miyamoto took on another WMF Dojo graduate in Kamui with Kobayashi hitting a Diving Backachinga Elbow in a Hardcore Rules Match. Masashi Takeda and Keita Yano got the win over the FMW team of Ricky Fuji and Koji Nakagawa when Ricky ended up being knocked out of the ring and not being able to get back in the ring before the twenty count and was counted out as a result. The opening match was slated as a mystery opponents match with the crowd not knowing who would be in the first match in the promotion until their music began to play. Takashi Sasaki and GENTARO were the two wrestlers to come out as the former Akrangers team battled with GENTARO getting Sasaki to tap out to the Ground Abdominal Stretch Hold for the first win the promotions history. 

The next FREEDOMS show will be on September 27, 2009 at the Nagoya Nakamura Sports Center with GENTARO facing off against former New Japan Junior Heavyweight El Samurai in the main event. Takashi Sasaki and Kamui will team up in the semi-main event against HUSTLE's TAJIRI who looks like he's going to be a regular for the promotion as he teams up with ZERO-ONE's Minoru Fujita. Ricky Fuji will take on Satoshi Kajiwara and Masashi Takeda will take on Shigehiro Irie. Two more matches will be made for the show with Jun Kasai, The Winger, Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, Ken45°, Keita Yano, Kengo Takai, Hide Kubota, and Yasu Kobata on the show. They will then return to Shin-Kiba on October 14, 2009.

Kintaro Kanemura ran his third XWF show on September 6, 2009 at the Osaka World Hall drawing 206 fans. NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA were unable to participate on the show and as a result vacated their WEW Tag Team Titles that they held for over a year. Kohei Sato and Kamikaze who also put up their NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles on the line took on Magnitude Kishiwada and Koichiro Kimura for the vacant titles with Sato and Kamikaze getting the win to become the new WEW Tag Team Champions when Sato hit a German Supplex on Kimura at 22 minutes, 17 seconds. The main event was a Hardcore Rules Match with Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Madoka getting the win over the team of Kintaro Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka, and Yusaku Obata when Kuroda hitting the lariat on Kanemura at 18 minutes, 26 seconds.

Atsushi Onita has decided to start promoting his own shows once again. This time the promotion will be called Atsushi Onita Promotions with Onita teaming up with Gran Hamada and Katsnunari Toi against Ichiro Yaguchi & Leatherface & Gokuaku Umibozu in a Street Fight. The Winger, Emi Sakura, and Yusaku Obata will also be on the show. Onita has withdrawals from wrestling and begins promoting his style of shows but after not drawing what he expects he tends to stop and just goes back to his band before getting withdrawal again.

Added: 8/16

Takashi Sasaki on August 14, 2009 announced at a press conference the lineup for the FREEDOMS Debut show on September 2, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The main event will consist of GENTARO and The Winger to take on as of right now a mystery tag team. Sasaki announced that the team will be announced a couple of days before the show takes place. The semi-main event will be another continuation of the year long feud between Takashi Sasaki and Jun Kasai against the Brahman Brothers as Sasaki and Kasai will team up with Big Japan founder Great Kojika to take on Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and Ken45°. Kamui will take on Big Japan's Abdullah Kobayashi in a Hardcore Rules Match, and the FMW team of Ricky Fuji and Koji Nakagawa team up to take on Masashi Takeda and Keita Yano. The opening match will be a singles match with the two wrestlers not being known until their music begins to play at the show.

Tetsuhiro Kuroda ended the 2009 Fire Festival with only 2 points and failed to advance in the tournament. After having already lost to Masato Tanaka and Ryouji Sai earlier in the tournament, Kuroda was officially eliminated from advancing after losing to Magnitude Kishiwada on August 1, 2009 in Kanai City after Kishiwada hit Kuroda with a Last Ride Powerbomb for the win. Although already eliminated Kuroda from advancing in the tournament, Kuroda took on Big Japan's Daisuke Sekimoto in Kuroda's last match of the tournament on August 3, 2009 at the Zepp Nagoya with Kuroda getting his only win after rolling up Sekimoto with the Gedo Clutch for his 2 points in the tournament. Kuroda then teamed up with Takuya Sugawara and Yusaku Obata to take on the team of Kamikaze, Osamu Namiguchi, and Yuzuru Saito on August 8, 2009 at Korakuen Hall with Kuroda getting the pinfall with a lariat over Saito for the win on the day of the Fire Festival Finals. Ryouji Sai representing the B Block was able to capture the Fire Festival Sword at the end of the show after hitting Kohei Sato with a Nachi Waterfall. Kuroda looks to be trying to get a full time spot with Zero-One with the Apache Army closing down and not accepting the offer to join the FREEDOMS promotion.

Mr. Pogo's Shin-W*ING promotion runs its second show on August 21, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with the main event being Kintaro Kanemura revising his W*ING Kanemura name once again to take on Mr. Pogo in a Super Extreme Dangerous Weapons Tornado Bunkhouse Death Match in the main event. Hideki Hosaka will take on Magnitude Kishiwada revising his old Toryu masked gimmick, and Hido taking on XWF's Yusaku Obata in the opening match. A Ted Tanabe Memorial Match will also take place as Kikutaro and Tsubo Genjin take on Osaka Pro's Kuishinbo Kamen & Kanjuro Matsuyama.

A bunch of new updates on the site. I recommend anyone that is the slightest fan of Mr. Gannosuke to check out my updated Biography of him over in the Biography section. I spent an incredible amount of time adding pictures throughout and writing up Part 4 which focuses on his last three years of his career. I also have added a bunch of old FMW videos in the FMW 1989-1995 page is mostly around 1991-1992 but also several handhelds from 1993 to 1995. I've also updated tons of pictures in the Results sections throughout the site as I have been scanning the 100 or so magazines that I had gotten throughout my two trips to Japan.

The left picture is Eiji Ezaki at Universal Studios Hollywood posing by the Jaws ride, and on the right is Ricky Fuji and Koji Nakagawa by the gift shops at Universal. 

Added: 7/31

Takashi Sasaki announced that he will be starting up a new promotion called FREEDOMS to follow up on the Apache Army ending. The roster of FREEDOMS will consist of Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, Jun Kasai, The Winger, and Kamui. Mammoth Sasaki will wait until his injury has healed to make any type decision to join the promotion, and Tetsuhiro Kuroda has declined to join the promotion. FREEDOMS is to symbolize that the wrestlers the promotion have the freedom of not having be just in Death Matches which the Apache Army was centered around, as well as that they're "independent" thus they have freedom. Takashi Sasaki announced the debut show will be on September 2, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring and will be followed up with another show at the Nagoya Nakamura Sports Center on September 27, 2009. The website for the promotion can be found at http://freedoms.ne07.jp/ but there's not on the site as of right now.

Tetsuhiro Kuroda opened up his return into the Fire Festival Tournament with a very familiar foe in Masato Tanaka. Kuroda faced off against his former FMW friend and foe on July 25, 2009 at Korakuen Hall. Kuroda who hasn't scored a singles victory over Tanaka since January 5, 2000 was once again unable to defeat Tanaka as Tanaka pinned Kuroda with the Sliding D at 16 minutes, 12 seconds. The picture above shows Tanaka and Kuroda from 1993 in FMW shortly after both had made their debut. Although Kuroda made his debut in PWC, he shortly after transferred over to the FMW Dojo and became friends with Masato Tanaka and Gosaku Goshogawara who represented the FMW Dojo 1993 class and the two have stayed friends ever since. Kuroda followed his loss from Tanaka with another loss on July 29, 2009 in Toyosaka as Ryouji Sai defeated Kuroda at 18 minutes, 31 seconds with the Orca Waterfall thus almost pretty much eliminating Kuroda from the possibility of winning the tournament. Kuroda's next match will be on August 1st in Kanai against Magnitude Kishiwada in hopes of somehow possibly getting back into the tournament.

After the team of Yuko Miyamoto and Takashi Sasaki defeated the team of Ryuji Ito and Jaki Numazawa in the main event of the Big Japan July 27, 2009 Korakuen Hall show when Miyamoto pinned Numazawa in a 200 Fluorescent Light Tubes and Free Weapons Death Match, Miyamoto called Masashi Takeda and Isami Kodaka to the ring and announced that the three wrestlers would be creating a New Generation group in the promotion. Abdullah Kobayashi then came to the ring and announced that there would be a Death Match Generation group to oppose the New Generation and the Death Match Generation would consist of the veterans of the promotion. Yuko Miyamoto's partner Takashi Sasaki looks to be splitting with from Miyamoto and joining the Death Match Generation.

One of the coolest things about going to Japan last month was getting to meet and talk with Ricky Fuji. One of the things I got to talk to him about was his friendship with Chris Jericho. Jericho and Ricky's friendship started when Jericho toured FMW in 1991 and had a lot of in common things with Ricky from music to Canada. The two recently reunited when Chris Jericho returned to Japan back on July 9th and Fumi Saito got the two together with Ricky writing that even though it had been awhile since the two had last seen each other, it was like nothing had changed at all when the two got to meet up again.

Former FMW wrestler Katsutoshi Niiyama was recently spotted on network television station Fuji TV the other day as he took part in a tricycle race on one of the television shows airing on the network.

Added: 7/19

Tetsuhiro Kuroda will participate in his 4th Fire Festival Tournament for the ZERO-ONE promotion later this month and early next month. Kuroda who participated in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 versions of the tournament and reached the finals before losing to Shinjiro Otani in 2002 will be in the B Block. Kuroda will first go up against FMW friend Masato Tanaka on July 25, 2009 at Korakuen Hall. It will be the first time the former rivals will be wrestling in a singles match since January 14, 2004 for the Fuyuki Army Promotion when Tanaka beat Kuroda in the main event of the show. Kuroda will then go on to face Ryouji Sai on July 27, 2009 in Toyosaka, he will then face off against former FMW wrestler Toryu better known today as Magnitude Kishiwada on August 1, 2009 in Kani, and his final scheduled for the tournament will be on August 3, 2009 as he will face off against Big Japan's Daisuke Sekimoto in Zepp Nagoya. 

Mr. Gannosuke announced the full lineup for his Mr. Gannosuke Productions September 5, 2009 "Kishindoh Returns" show at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Gannosuke has been promoting this show hard as he has announced the full lineup over 2 months before the show were to take place and has been going to shows like the Apache Army's June 26th show as well as Ice Ribbon shows to sale tickets for the show during intermission and after the show. Gannosuke announced the main event will be a tag team match with Masato Tanaka teaming up for the first time against Mineo Fujita to take on the team of DDT's Kenny Omega and BJW Death Match Champion Yuko Miyamoto. GENTARO will face off against Munenori Sawa in the semi-main event, and DDT's Yasu Urano will face off against Madoka. The womens match on the show will be Makato taking on Fuka, and the opening match will be Masashi Takeda against Chon-Shiryu. Staying after the Apache Army show last month, it was obvious watching that Gannosuke and Takeda have become good friends as they were together talking and laughing with one another and other fans for an hour after the show. 

Kintaro Kanemura will run his XWF show the very next day on September 6, 2009 at the little less than 300 seat Osaka World Hall where he team up old W*ING friends Hido and Hideki Hosaka to battle against Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Madoka in the main event. The only other match announced so far is that NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA will put up their WEW Tag Team Titles on the line against Kohei Sato and a Mystery Partner in the semi-main event of the show. 

Takashi Sasaki announced the final Apache Army show lineup for August 8, 2009 in Iwate. If Takashi Sasaki decides to promote more wrestling shows, it will not be under the "Apache Army" name. In what will most likely be the end of the main feud for the Apache Army in 2009, Takashi Sasaki will once again team up with Jun Kasai and Masashi Takeda to battle Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and Ken45° in a Barbed wire Board Death Match in the main event. Union Pro's Shuji Ishikawa will face off against powerful Big Japan rookie Yuji Okabayashi, GENTARO and The Winger will team up against the 666 team of Yuko Miyamoto and Shinobu, and Kamui will face off against Onryo. 2 more matches will be announced for the show.

Yuko Miyamoto successfully defended his BJW Death Match Championship on July 12, 2009 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym in a Scaffold One Night Carnival Again Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match after Miyamoto hit a Moonsault off the Scaffold to pin Takeda at 22 minutes, 9 seconds to defend his title for the first time. Takashi Sasaki defeated Isami Kodaka in a Ladder Death Match at 15 minutes, 46 seconds. The show drew a decent 2996 fans for the show. 
Click here for highlights of Yuko Miyamoto vs. Masashi Takeda One Night Carnival Again Death Match. 

Added: 7/4

The Apache Army promotion announced that the new sponsor that Takashi Sasaki had gotten for the Apache Army at the start of 2009 has decided to pull out. Three reasons were given with one being that the attendance were much lower than they had expected it was going to be as the crowds were around only 100 fans per month for a show, another reason was that they had expected Takashi Sasaki to use his Big Japan ties much more than he did and they had expected more Big Japan wrestlers for the shows instead of wrestlers like the Brahman Brothers and Ken45° being the focal point heels of the promotion, and the third reason which was the straw that broke the camels back was having Kintaro Kanemura appear at the May 22nd Apache show when they were told that Kanemura would never be brought back to the promotion due to the black cloud he brings with him after last years scandal.

The announcement was made shortly after the Apache Army June 26, 2009 show at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The original announcement was that the promotion will be taking another hiatus after the August 8, 2009 show in Iwate while looking for another sponsor. I asked Takashi Sasaki after the Big Japan June 29th show if he planned on anymore Apache Army shows after August 8th and he gave me a sad face, shook his head and said "no more."

The Apache Army promotion announced the wrestlers that will be on most likely the final Apache Army show on August 8th at the Iwate Ichinoseki City Gym U Dome Sub Arena. Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, GENTARO, The Winger, Kamui, Yoshihito Sasaki, Yuji Okabayashi, Shuji Ishikawa, Yuko Miyamoto, Shinobu, Keita Yano, Syuo Fujiwara, Masashi Takeda, Makoto Kato, Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, Ken45°, and Kankuro Hoshino. An announcement will also be made about the future of the promotion during the show.

I attended the Apache Army June 26, 2009 show at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The announced crowd was of 210 fans but during the opening match I tried to count how many people were in attendance and I counted 93. I'm sure I missed a couple of people and some fans were late and came in after the first match, so i'm guessing there was a little over 100 fans at the show, but no way was there 210 fans really at the show. I sat front row right behind K-Dojo/Apache Army announcer Fuyuki. The main event was of Takashi Sasaki and Jun Kasai teaming up to take on GENTARO and Masashi Takeda. Sasaki and Takeda squared off most of the match, and GENTARO and Kasai were squared off most of the match. The match ended up going into the crowd with GENTARO going up to the top of the seats of the building and jumping off onto Kasai to the loudest pop of the evening. The ending sequence saw the former Akrangers battling against each other with Sasaki hitting all his moves on GENTARO with GENTARO managing to kick out of them. GENTARO would end up countering Sasaki and getting a Backhold Drop on Sasaki to score the victory at 24 minutes, 11 seconds. Kasai and Sasaki stayed in the ring as it looked like they were about to make an announcement, as ring announcer Fuyuki even through two mics in the ring for them, but instead of talking, Sasaki and Kasai just hugged and embraced each other before leaving. Many people I could tell were expecting Kanemura to hit the ring as I even heard one fan mention Kanemura's name, but he never showed up for reasons given later after the announcement of the sponsor dropping the promotion. 

The Winger, Ricky Fuji, and Koji Nakagawa teamed up to defeat the team of Yoshihito Sasaki, Munenori Sawa, and Keita Yano in the semi-main event. Yoshihito Sasaki controlled most of the match by overpowering his older FMW alumni in Koji Nakagawa and Ricky Fuji including giving Ricky Fuji the Argentine Backbreaker. The finish saw all six wrestlers fighting in the ring when Keita Yano rolled up Ricky Fuji but referee Nikkan Lee refused to make the count citing he wasn't the legal man with The Winger following up and rolling up Munenori Sawa for the win at 18 minutes, 32 seconds upsetting Keita Yano greatly for her counting the three for him as Ricky, Nakagawa, and Winger would celebrate their victory. 

Tetsuhiro Kuroda faced off against Shigiro Irie. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of Tetsuhiro Kuroda matches. This was like everyone of them. Kuroda hit all his normal spots before putting away Irie with the lariat at 9 minutes. Irie was very upset at himself after the match.

After the opening match, Brahman Kei, Brahman Shu, and Ken45° attacked Kamui with chairs before Naoshi Sano rushed the ring to make the save. The scheduled handicap match between Sano and the Brahman Brothers turned into a tag team match with Kamui joining Sano's team. The match turned into the Brahman beating the crap out of Kamui as Sano made one tag and was only in the ring for less than a minute before Kamui came back in the ring and was eventually pinned at 12 minutes, 23 seconds. Sano then went back upstairs where he had been before the match and hung out with the woman that plays the music for all the wrestlers and helped her the rest of the show. 

WMF Dojo graduates Yuko Miyamoto faced off against Kamui in the opening match. Miyamoto controlled most of the match, although Kamui was able to get some offense in before eventually being put away with the figure four leglock at 11 minutes, 42 seconds. 

Mr. Gannosuke and Tatsutoshi Goto were at the show and watched the first three matches by the door before intermission. Gannosuke was there to sell tickets and pass out flyers of his upcoming show on September 5th during intermission and after the show. No idea why Goto was there other than he wrestled at the building the next day, but he acted like he did not want to be there early and let after intermission. 

I was in Tokyo, Japan for the second time from June 24th to June 30th. You can find a report with tons of pictures on my trip by clicking at at BAHU's Japanese Trip Diary 2009 and you can check out more random pictures from the trip at Random Japanese Pictures.

Added: 6/15

I will be returning to Tokyo, Japan this month. I will be arriving on June 24th and staying until June 30th so there will be a 2009 BAHU's Japan Trip Diary Report posted on this site sometime in July. I will be most likely attending the June 26th Apache Army Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, the June 28th DDT Korakuen Hall, and the June 29th Big Japan Korakuen Hall show. I also might possibly attend the June 25th HUSTLE Korakuen Hall show. I'll be staying in a hotel very close to Korakuen Hall/Tokyo Dome City this time. I very much look forward to returning to Japan as I will be pretty much all on my own this time unlike last time where I went with a group of fellow fans.

The Apache Army announced their upcoming lineup for their June 26th Shin-Kiba 1st Ring show. Takashi Sasaki and Jun Kasai will main event against GENTARO and Masashi Takeda in a Apache Style Rules Match. I would be surprised if Kintaro Kanemura and his new group does not make a return once again during the show. Former WMF Dojo graduates Yuko Miyamoto and Kamui will open the show in a match that was originally scheduled back in January before Miyamoto was replaced by Shinobu. 

Masashi Takeda & Isami Kodaka despite already having been eliminated in the Maximum Tag Team Tournament were put back into the tournament after Ryuji Ito suffered an injury and ended up winning the 3 month long tournament after defeating Yuko Miyamoto and Takashi Sasaki in the finals on May 28, 2009 at Korakuen Hall in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Tower Death Match after Takeda pinned Miyamoto with a Dragon Supplex at 35 minutes, 35 seconds. The win for Takeda and Kodaka won them the tournament, the BJW Tag Team Titles, as well as it earned Masashi Takeda a shot at the biggest match of his career on July 12, 2009 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym as he will challenge Yuko Miyamoto for the BJW King of the Death Match Heavyweight Title in a One Night Carnival Again Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. 

The Shin-W*ING show on May 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring turned out to be a success as the show announced 379 fans in attendance for the show. The main event saw Mr. Pogo and Toryu (former FMW jobber and now Magnitude Kishiwada) defeat the team of W*ING Kanemura and Hido as Pogo got the victory for his team after placing the chain over Kanemura's throat and throwing him over the top rope forcing the referee to give the victory to Pogo and Toryu via KO at 15 minutes, 48 seconds. Hideki Hosaka returned to the ring for the first time since February 17, 2008 to team with fellow W*ING alumni Masaru Toi to take on Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in a FMW vs. W*ING Caribbean Bunkhouse Falls Count Anywhere Death Match with Kuroda getting the victory after a Reverse Cradle on Toi for the win. 

Mr. Gannosuke announced more wrestlers that will be appearing on his Mr. Gannosuke Productions "Kishindoh Returns" show on September 5, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Masato Tanaka, GENTARO, Munenori Sawa, and Makoto will be appearing along with Mineo Fujita and Yuko Miyamoto on the show. Gannosuke also made the announcement that he was starting his own acting agency. Yuko Miyamoto, Mineo Fujita, GENTARO, Ricky Fuji, Gosaku, Makato, Daisuke, Munenori Sawa and others have all signed on to the agency. 

Mitsuharu Misawa passed away on June 13th at the age of 46 after suffering a heart attack in a match for his Pro-Wrestling NOAH promotion. He was friends with both Hayabusa and Kodo Fuyuki and was apart of one of Hayabusa's best matches on November 27, 1997 in Sapporo for the All Japan Real World Tag Team Tournament, as well as wrestling Kodo Fuyuki in his last singles match of his career on April 7, 2002. Misawa also wrestled on both the WEW May 5th Kawasaki Stadium shows in 2002 and 2003. Osaka Pro Referee Ted Tanabe also passed away at age 46 on June 15th. Although he worked for Michinoku Pro during this time, he was the main FMW referee from 1997 to 1999 during the FMW/Michinoku Pro relationship that lasted until Kodo Fuyuki ended the relationship in May 1999. Tanabe had referee numerous top matches for FMW during that time and had joined up with Osaka Pro over the last couple of years before collapsing in the ring while referee and passing away shortly afterwards. 

Added: 5/24

The Apache Army promotion finally got to have the match they had wanted since March when Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, and Masashi Takeda teamed up to take on Ken45°, Brahman Shu, and Brahman Kei in a Single Elimination Match. Kasai who tore his meniscus back on March 12th an injury that was suppose to cause Kasai to go through surgery and force him out for a year to fully heal. Kasai decided against the surgery and chose to just rehab for 2 months to be able to return much faster although the decision might end up costing Kasai in the long run as he runs the chance of seriously injuring it again. Ken45° would be the first one eliminated after Masashi Takeda would put him away at 15 minutes, 28 seconds with a German Supplex. Brahman Shu would even up things for his side by pinning and eliminating Masashi Takeda at 22 minutes, 18 seconds. Takashi Sasaki would toss out Brahman Shu over the top rope to eliminate him at 25 minutes, 26 seconds. But Ken45° still standing out at ringside would take the opportunity to pull the rope down and send Takashi Sasaki over it to the floor to eliminate him at 25 minutes, 38 seconds. This would leave Jun Kasai against Brahman Kei as the last two for their teams. Kasai and Kei would use many different weapons against each other until Kasai would pull out the thumbtacks and pour them all over the ring before nailing the Pearl Harbor Splash on Kei for the pinfall at 30 minutes, 22 seconds. 

Afterwards the big story of the show would take place as all of a sudden Kintaro Kanemura would come to the ring along with Kohei Sato, Takuya Sugawara, and Tomohiko Hashimoto. Kanemura would begin screaming how he created the Apache Army and that he was banned from his own promotion. Kanemura and his group would eventually be escorted out of the building but not before Kanemura would throw his lit cigarette in the ring. This marks the first time Kanemura has returned to the Apache Army since sexually harassing a Big Japan female employee back in February 2008. 

Mr. Gannosuke announced that he would promote his first show in 9 months and the first time since his retirement with a show at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on September 5, 2009. The only thing announced for the show would be that Mineo Fujita and Yuko Miyamoto would be wrestling on the show. 

Atsushi Onita has pulled out of his scheduled Shin-W*ING show on May 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring changing the card all around. The main event will now be Kintaro Kanemura revising his W*ING Kanemura character which would be the second time this month he has done so as he used the name against Freddy Krueger back on May 3rd for the Guts World show. Kanemura will team up with fellow W*ING friend Hido against Mr. Pogo and Toryu who is now better known as Magnitude Kishiwada in a W*ING Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match for the main event. The FMW vs. W*ING match now will be a semi-main event match as Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda will team up to take on the W*ING team of Hideki Hosaka and Masaru Toi in a Caribbean Bunkhouse Falls Count Anywhere Death Match. It will be the first time Hideki Hosaka has wrestled since February 17, 2008 for WMF after the KHM stable disbanded. 

The finals of the Big Japan Maximum Tag Team Tournament will take place on May 28, 2009 at Korakuen Hall. The tournament has been riddled with injuries as both Mammoth Sasaki and Jun Kasai were force to pull out. Then after the semi-finals matches saw Yuko Miyamoto & Takashi Sasaki eliminate Masato Tanaka & Daisuke Sekimoto when Miyamoto scored a huge win over Sekimoto and Ryuji Ito & Shuji Ishikawa defeat Masashi Takeda and Isami Kodaka back on April 28, 2009 to set up the finals for the vacant BJW Tag Team Titles another injury would screw everything up. Ryuji Ito would suffer an injury on May 9th in Yokkiachi causing him to be out of action until June 29th. As a result, Ryuji Ito & Shuji Ishikawa were force to forfeit their spot in the fand the team they already defeated in Masashi Takeda and Isami Kodaka will now take their place in the Finals. The match will be a Fluorescent Light Tubes Tower Death Match. It also should be noted that Yuko Miyamoto has began using his trainer Mr. Gannosuke's moves since his retirement as Miyamoto frequently uses the Fire Thunder and the Gannosuke Clutch to put away his opponents. 

Added: 4/2

Jun Kasai tore his meniscus in match against Jaki Numazawa on March 12, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, with the injury requiring surgery. Kasai will be out action for about two months. Kasai came to the ring at the beginning of the Apache Army 16, 2009 Shin-Kiba 1st Ring show and announced to the crowd that he would not be participating in the scheduled Takashi Sasaki, Jun Kasai, and Masashi Takeda vs. Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and ken45° due to his injury. Shu, Kei, and ken45° then came to the ring and mocked Kasai before attacking his injured knee before Kamui would come out to make the save. Kasai would end up coming back to the ring on crutches with Kamui's assistance to watch the main event from ringside, but with the two on three advantage against the Apache Army side, the end result would see Brahman Shu get the pinfall victory over Masashi Takeda with an inside cradle. 

Jun Kasai then announced at the Big Japan March 26, 2009 Korakuen Hall show about his injury as well as that he and Jaki Numazawa's team would be out of the Maximum Tag Team Tournament and that all their remaining matches would be forfeit losses. Kasai and Numazawa would finish the tournament with 2 points. The teams of Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinya Ishikawa and Masashi Takeda & Isami Kodaka would be rewarded forfeit wins as a result of Kasai's injury. 

The Apache Army announced their next lineup on April 17, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with Takashi Sasaki once again looking for revenge against the Brahman Brothers as this time he will team up with Tetsuhiro Kuroda in the main event in a Apache Style Death Match. Mammoth Sasaki who has apparently lost a lot of weight since his car wreck back on February 28th will still remain out of action due to all the injuries he suffered. They also announced future shows at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring to be held on May 22, 2009 and June 26, 2009. 

Added: 3/10

Mammoth Sasaki was involved in a car accident on February 28, 2009. His car was hit in the rear end after somebody failed to stop at a red light. The accident did enough damage to destroy the backside of the passenger seat of Mammoth's car. Mammoth suffered a pretty bad neck, back, and elbow injury. The neck injury was diagnosed as a vertebrae sprain.

Mammoth announced that the injuries have forced him to pull out of the upcoming Apache Army March 16, 2009 show at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with his partner Daisuke Sekimoto taking his spot against The Winger. Mammoth also announced that he will not be able to continue participating in the Big Japan Maximum Tag Team Tournament and that Masato Tanaka will be taking his spot in the rest of the tournament. Mammoth and Sekimoto announced that they will be vacating the BJW Tag Team Titles as a result of Mammoth's injury.

A new group promoted by Mickey Ibaragi will be starting up on May 29, 2009 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring called "Shin-W*ING" which means "New W*ING". The main event will consist of an FMW vs. W*ING match as the FMW team of Atsushi Onita and Masato Tanaka will take on the W*ING team of Mr. Pogo and Kintaro Kanemura.

Added: 2/27

Hayabusa promoted his first successful show on January 24, 2009 entitled "FIESTA DEL HAYABUSA ~ PHOENIX" at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE drawing 467 fans for the show. The show had a mix of former FMW wrestlers, former FMW gimmicks, and Dragon Gate wrestlers. Flying Kid Ichihara opened the show defeating Choudensenshi Battle Ranger Z which was a former FMW gimmick from 1994-1995 played by Yukihide Ueno who is actually disliked by Eiji Ezaki due to Ezaki feeling Ueno was jealous of Ezaki in the early FMW days and thus the two never got along. More older FMW gimmicks were portrayed in the second match as The Turboman and Pandita 2009 defeated Cockroach III and Cockroach IV when Turboman and Pandita scored the pinfalls over both of the Cockroaches at the same time. The Cockroach gimmick took place in FMW in 1992. The more well known former FMW wrestlers took place as Mammoth Sasaki and GOEMON defeated the former FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions The Love Guns, Hisakatsu Oya and Ricky Fuji when Mammoth nailed the 29 Years Old on Ricky Fuji for the pinfall victory at 15 minutes, 54 seconds. Another former FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champion team reformed as Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda teamed up to take on the Dragon Gate team of Shingo Takagi and Akira Tozawa with Tanaka hitting the Sliding D on Tozawa for the victory at 23 minutes, 35 seconds. In the main event, the team of Eiji Ezaki gimmicks consisting of Dragon Kid wrestling as Hayabusa Kid, BxB Hulk as H, and PAC as Darkside Hayabusa defeated the team of NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA, and former FMW wrestler Toryu with Darkside Hayabusa hitting the Phoenix Splash on MAZADA for the pinfall at 16 minutes, 15 seconds. Hayabusa announced afterwards that he still plans on returning to the ring in as Hayabusa one last time. When I met Hayabusa last year, I asked him what promotion would he want his return to before with him not knowing the answer, but it looks like with a successful promoted show, that when he returns to the ring as Hayabusa that it will be promoted under him. 

The Apache Army promotion returned to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo, drawing 150 seats in the 350 seat arena. Although the promotion is only able to run one show a month with Takashi Sasaki now promoting the shows himself, they have announced shows for March and April already. The show took place on February 19, 2009 with Mammoth Sasaki and Tetsuhiro Kuroda taking on the team of GENTARO & The Winger in the semi-main event with Mammoth getting the pinfall victory over Winger with the 29 Years Old at 19 minutes, 56 seconds. The Winger challenged Mammoth to a singles Chain Death Match with Mammoth for the next show on March 16, 2009 with Mammoth accepting the challenge. The main event saw the former El Dorado now freelancer team of Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei defeating the new team of Takashi Sasaki and Jun Kasai in a Death Match when Ken45° interfered in the match and helped the Brahman team get the pinfall when Shu got an inside cradle on Sasaki at 14 minutes, 13 seconds. Shu, Kei, and Ken45° would continue to the 3 on 2 beat down until Masashi Takeda would run to the ring to make things even helping Sasaki and Kasai clear the ring. A challenge was made for the main event for the March 16th show with Takeda teaming up with Sasaki and Kasai to take on Shu, Kei, and Ken45° in a six man tag team match. 

Recently retired Satoru "Soldier" Makita of FMW and WMF announced that he would be starting up his own bar in Ikebukuro on February 28th. He'll join Mr. Pogo and Chocoball Mukai as the former FMW wrestlers who run their own tavern. 

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The full lineup was announced for the Hayabusa Production show Fiesta Del Hayabusa ~ Phoenix on January 24, 2009 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE. The main event will be three Dragon Gate wrestlers in Eiji Ezaki gimmicks with Dragon Kid as Hayabusa Kid, BxB Hulk as H, and PAC as Darkside Hayabusa to take on the team of NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA, and Toryu in the main event. Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda team up to take on the Dragon Gate team of Shingo Takagi and Akira Tozawa. Hisakatsu Oya and Ricky Fuji reform their former FMW tag team to take on Mammoth Sasaki and GOEMON. Old FMW wrestling gimmicks from the Onita era in FMW return as The Turboman will team up with Pandita 2009 to take on Cockroach III and Cockroach IV. Flying Kid Ichihara will also wrestle former FMW gimmick Battle Ranger Z in the opening match of the show.

Former four time WEW World Heavyweight Champion Kintaro Kanemura challenged current champion Tomohiro Ishii for the chance to win back his title at the LOCK UP January 10, 2009 Shinjuku FACE show. Ishii who defeated Tetsuhiro Kuroda back on November 3, 2008 managed to defeat the bloody Kanemura to defend the title for the second time after putting Kanemura away with the lariat to keep the WEW World Title in the hands of the rival GBH group. 

BAHU's Japanese Trip Diary 2008

WMF & Apache Army News 2008 (January - December 2008)

WMF & Apache Army News 2007 (January - December 2007)

WMF & Apache Army News 2006 (January - December 2006)