FREEDOMS 10/24/24
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

Jun Kasai & Daisuke Masaoka vs. Minoru Fujita & Rina Yamashita *Death Match*
Toru Sugiura vs. HAKKA *Death Match*
Violento Jack & Kenji Fukimoto vs. Masashi Takeda & Yusaku Ito *Death Match*
Takashi Sasaki & Mammoth Sasaki vs. Tomoya Hirata & Takahiro Katori
Yuya Susumu & Jun Masaoka & Gaia Hox vs. Dragon Libre & Kengo & Munetatsu Nakamura
GENTARO & Rekka & Kentaro Hachisu vs. Toshiyuki Sakuda & Kyu Mogami & Brahman Shu

FREEDOMS 11/13/24
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

FMW-E 11/24/24
Osaka Sakai City Ohamo Sumo Arena

Atsushi Onita & Raijin Yaguchi & Naoshi Sano vs. Mr. Pogo & Magnitude Kishiwada & Orochi *No Ropes Barbed wire Exploding Pad Death Match*
Sayaka Unagi v SAKI
Kazutaka Hasegawa & Maku Donaruto v Gamma & Hiroaki Moriya
Super Delfin & Takashi Tachibana & Hirakata-san v Haruto Ki & Takaki Iwasaki & Mikiya Sasaki
Pandita & Flying Penguin v Yuichi Taniguchi & Maho Blanca
Sae v Momo Tani

FREEDOMS 11/28/24
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FMW-E 12/8/24
Yokohama Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetables Market

FREEDOMS 12/12/24
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

Jun Kasai Productions 12/25/24
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

FREEDOMS 1/3/25
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FREEDOMS 1/15/25
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FREEDOMS 2/7/25
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

I have gathered all the results of shows from Big Japan/ZERO1/666 shows in 2024 as well as matches from FREEDOMS/former FMW wrestlers working on shows and will continue to update it for the rest of the year. It can be found at http://fmwwrestling.us/MiscResults24.html (Last updated: 10/20)

Added: 9/5

FMW-E ran their "Kawasaki Legend 2024" on August 24, 2024 at Kawasaki Stadium. This is the first show with the "Kawasaki Legend" name since FMW's last show at Kawasaki Stadium on May 5, 2001. This show would be sponsored by the city of Kawasaki celebrating their 100th Anniversary as a city in an attempt to bring in tourism to the city.

The announced crowd for this show would be 5,040 fans which is the highest number announced for the stadium since the final Fuyuki Army Promotion show on May 5, 2004 announced 8,250 fans. I was told that the real number was  closer to around 3,600 which is interesting to probably just me but the final Kawasaki Baseball Stadium show for FMW on September 28, 1997 with Atsushi Onita vs. W*ING Kanemura going on last announced 50,000 fans and the real number was 36,000 fans. This was still a profitable show though considering the only bigger than usual payment for the roster would have been Dory Funk, Jr.

Many fans ended up arriving several hours into the show after it got dark avoiding not only the 85 degree hot and humid weather that is Kawasaki, Japan in August, but also avoiding an undercard that many people had no interest in seeing. Dory Funk, Jr. wrestling a death match at 83 years old against Onita at Kawasaki Stadium was the big draw for the show, and as they setup the explosions for the match, the seats were more noticeably filled. The expensive seats were placed on the field by ringside and one side of the stadium's seats closer to where the ring were about two thirds filled while they did not even bother selling tickets to the other section farther away from the ring.

The main event of the show would see Atsushi Onita and Raijin Yaguchi taking on Dory Funk, Jr. at 83 years old which match made him the oldest male wrestler to compete in a wrestling match and Osamu Nishimura dealing with stage 4 cancer esophageal cancer that has spread to his brain and left side of his body. The match would be an Exploding Barbed wire, Exploding Barbed wire Barricade, and Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bats Death Match.

Osamu Nishimura was the first to come out followed by Onita and Yaguchi together and then finally Dory Funk, Jr. would come out to Spinning Toe Hold playing at Kawasaki Stadium for the first time since 1997. Funk would need a helper Yoshio Osumi who would come out with him and guide him to the ring while Dory wore his Texas Broncos jacket as someone else carried Terry's jacket to the ring. Dory would be presented a framed picture of Terry which would actually be a profile picture that FMW used for when they started their website in 1996 as a 10 bell salute would be held for Terry followed by his name announced for the fifth and final time at Kawasaki Stadium.

Onita and Dory would start off squaring up for only the second time in their careers when Onita and Mighty Inoue teamed up to to take on Dory and Terry in All Japan on December 1, 1984 which would see Dory pinning Onita with a Backslide in Onita's second to last match before his first retirement.

Nishimura would come in and hold Onita while Funk would punch Onita before Onita would back away and tag in Yaguchi. Yaguchi and Nishimura would exchanged holds before Onita would come back in, but Nishimura would end up throwing him into the exploding barbed wire. Nishimura would then turn on the exploding bat and smash it across Onita. Nishimura would then strike Yaguchi before turning around and getting met with green mist in the face by Onita. Yaguchi would then throw Nishimura into the exploding barbed wire. Onita would then turn on the exploding barbed wire bat as Yaguchi would hold Dory and in the spot of the match Onita would hit Dory in the back with the exploding barbed wire bat which Yaguchi would sell by falling down to the ground as Dory would remain standing before dropping down.

Onita would turn on the exploding bat again, but this time Nishimura would get up and throw his body in the way of Dory and take the exploding bat shot to protect Dory. Onita would then hold up Nishimura as Yaguchi would go for a lariat, but Nishimura would move out of the way and Yaguchi would hit Onita. Onita would drop down to the barbed wire barricade, but it would be Nishimura kicking Yaguchi out of the ring onto the exploding barricade that would cause the huge explosion. Yaguchi would get back in the ring as Nishimura would take the exploding bat and hit Yaguchi in the leg with it to setup Dory doing the Spinning Toe Hold on Yaguchi before Nishimura would take over and do a Spinning Toe Hold that would look like it was actually doing something to Yaguchi as Yaguchi would tap out at 13 minutes, 5 seconds to Nishimura's Spinning Toe Hold for the Dory and Nishimura win. Nishimura did a good job in the match and it showed he was in good shape as he stated in the interview before the match that he was doing 300 squats and doing full body muscle training after being released from the ICU. All four would pose together as fireworks would go off which the wrestlers would not be expecting before Onita would then point to the heaven for Terry watching over the match.

Dory would get on the mic and thank the fans and that he had a great time and reminded the fans to never quiet, forever as Spinning Toe Hold would play one final time as Dory would then thank Terry and Dory, Funk Sr. before exiting. Onita would then close the show by tossing buckets of water on fan before exiting. Click here for highlights of Onita/Yaguchi vs. Funk/Nishimura from 8/24/24.

It was announced at the show that an Atsushi Onita documentary will be released on December 6, 2024 going over his 50th Anniversary in wrestling as cameras had been following Onita through out the year which as I believe this match will be the conclusion to the movie.

In a match that did not fit on the card but it was most likely done just to get some DDT wrestlers on the show in the hopes that would bring in some DDT fans to the show, Yukio Naya and Yuki Iino would defeat Dylan James and Mr. Luther who is Makoto Oishi doing a Dr. Luther gimmick with Iino getting a Burning Elbow Drop for the win at 12 minutes, 49 seconds over Luther with Ricky Fuji whose match did not air getting some TV time by standing outside ringside and attacking the DDT wrestlers when they would go outside the ring.

In what should have been in the semi-main event was Team Goto consisting of Guts Ishijima who was trained by Tarzan Goto and wearing a Goto outfit from 1991 along with HASEGAWA, Hideki Shrek Sekine, Skull Reaper A-ji, Great Koji, and movie producer BILLY taking on the Pogo Army team of Shadow WX as Mr. Pogo, Onryo, Monster Leather, Mr. Atomic, Takumi Sakurai, and Devil Magician in a Special Fire Death Match.

The big fire spot would see the Pogo Army set a board on fire and send HASEGAWA into it, but Sekine would save him and the two of them would take Pogo and throw him into it instead. Pogo would get revenge and a Pogo fireball on BILLY's ass and cover him before Sekine would grab Pogo and put the Iron Claw on him. Ishijima would then come in and hit a Ghostbuster on Sakurai as HASEGAWA would climb the top rope and hit a Diving Footstomp to get the win at 12 minutes, 21 seconds for the win over his fellow A-Team member Sakurai as Tarzan Goto's theme would play for the Goto Army win.

Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei would take on the team of Maku Donaruto and Sumire Natsu with the spot of the match seeing the Brahman Brothers bringing Natsu and Donaruto outside the ring to the goal post of the football stadium and then charging at them, but Donaruto and Natsu would move out of the way and suplex both Brahman Brothers before bringing back in the ring before Kei would end up getting the win at 9 minutes, 58 seconds with the Nobody's Perfect. Masahiko Takasugi under his Ultra Seven masked gimmick and Chikara would team up to take on the 76 year old Tiger Toguchi coming out of retirement for the first time in two years along with Big Japan's Yuichi Taniguchi as Takasugi would get the win at 9 minutes, 1 seconds after a Backdrop Suplex on Taniguchi. Chikara's dad 75 year old Mitsuo Momota who was originally suppose to be in the match tested positive for COVID prior to but had tested negative before the show, so he was able to accompany his son to the ring and get on the mic before the match.

Crusher Maedomari and Miss Mongol wearing a shirt in memory of Hideki Hosaka would come out with their Mad Dog Military leader Shark Tsuchiya as they would defeat Ann Cham and Little Cat Mask with Tsuchiya hitting Cham with a lariat from outside the ring followed by Mongol hitting a Running Senton on Cham for the win at 12 minutes, 29 seconds with both Maedomari and Mongol wrapping chains around their opponent and throwing the two women into the crowd.

In the matches that did not make Samurai TV a mixed match between Ricky Fuji and Onryo's daughter Kaicho Ram would defeat Ram's long time rival Naoshi Sano and fellow 666 wrestler Nene ∞ D.a.i when Ram would pin Sano at 8 minutes, 27 seconds with the Rainmaker. Chiitan*, Pandita, Doraemon would defeat Tomoryu, Construction Site Dad, and FMW-E Shocker after Chiitan* would pin Shocker at 4 minutes, 16 seconds with a Senton. The opening match would be a Sugamo Pro Offer match as Z Warrior Trunks, Monkey D. Norereffy would defeat Great Muda and Great -CO- Khan when Warrior would win a Diving Body Press over both Khan and Muda for the pinfall.

Atsushi Onita would then return to Kawasaki Stadium the next day although to a much smaller crowd as Hikaru Sato would promote his fifth annual Kawasaki Stadium show. No attendance was given this year with last years number being 196 fans in attendance. The main event would be Atushsi Onita teaming up with Raijin Yaguchi, Naoshi Sano, and Takahiro Tababa against Hikaru Sato, Hideki Suzuki, MMA fighter Kohei Tokeshi, and MMA fighter Yutaka Kobayashi who was the groom of the match along with his bride Emi Tomimatsu who is also a MMA fighter in a Exploding Wedding Death Match which would be an Exploding Barbed wire Board, Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Death Match.

The match would start off as an outside brawl with everyone fighting all over the stadium. Onita would get back in the ring where Sato and Suzuki would shove him down in a chair as the married couple Kobayashi and Tomimatsu would show their first public love collaboration by together hitting Onita with the exploding bat. Sato would then take a bat and shout out "Here's one more as a gift from Kawasaki and Onita" and handed them the bat as they would hit Tababa with it as both Kobayashi and Tomimatsu would pin Tababa at 16 minutes, 3 seconds to get the win for the new couple. Onita would get on the mic afterwards and congratulate the two on their marriage before doing his 1,2,3 Fire chant to the crowd for his second straight night at Kawasaki Stadium.

FREEDOMS would run at the Tochigi Oyama Citizens Cultural Center and announce a crowd of 113 fans for the show. The main event would be a Hardcore Match with Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Yusaku Ito defeating Daisuke Masaoka, Violento Jack, and Kenji Fukimoto with Takeda getting the win at 16 minutes, 16 seconds with a Reverse U Crash. Takahiro Katori and Minoru Fujita would win the semi-main event defeating Jun Masaoka and Yuya Susumu when Katori would pin Masaoka at 14 minutes, 9 seconds with a Backwards Roll up for the win. Takashi Sasaki and Mammoth Sasaki would defeat Toru Sugiura and HAKKA when Mammoth would pin HAKKA at 13 minutes, 11 seconds with the 29 Years Old. GENTARO would defeat Shoji Ohono at 14 minutes, 9 seconds with a Backdrop. Gaia Hox would win a Three Way Match over Dragon Libre and Choi Dueuk when Hox would pin Dueuk at 9 minutes, 10 seconds with his Fonos finisher. The opening match would see Kengo, Rina Yamashita, and Crusher Takashi defeat ERE's Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Kyu Mogami when Kengo would pin Ueki at 15 minutes, 41 seconds with a roll up for the win.

The final Jun Kasai Death Match Carnival show of the year would take place on August 29, 2024 at Korakuen Hall where they would announce a crowd of 964 fans for the show. Many fans would not be able to make it after buying tickets for the show due to a typhoon that was hitting that day. FREEDOMS offered refunds or the ability to get a DVD of the show when comes out in October for those who were not able to attend.

The show would be the best number that FREEDOMS has had all year and I expect that will stay the same after the Yokohama Budokan show with only the Christmas Death Match show having a chance to hit over 1,000 fans for an even this year.

The main event would be Jun Kasai taking on Daisuke Masaoka in a Construction Site Scaffold Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Board Death Match. Kasai and Masaoka would end up fighting up on top of the scaffold with Kasai trying to deliver a Reverse Tiger Driver but Masaoka delivering a headbutt and flip both himself and Kasai off the scaffold onto the glass board. Masaoka would then place light tubes over Kasai and hit a running elbow breaking the light tubes across Kasai's body. Masaoka would go for a Fire Thunder, but Kasai would escape and then punch Masaoka and then deliver a Reverse Tiger Driver and then a Pearl Harbor Splash off the scaffold for a one count. Kasai would then deliver a Reverse Cross Arm Stimulation to get the win at 25 minutes, 25 seconds over Masaoka with Kasai and Masaoka agreeing to become a tag team as Kasai would need to wrap his arm up like a sling due to the pain of the scaffold spots.

The semi-main event would be a Four Corners of Pain Death Match for the King of Freedom Tag Team Championship as Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto would defend the titles against Masashi Takeda and Yusaku Ito with Ito delivering a headbutt to Jack followed by Takeda delivering a German Suplex. Takeda would then place a fork board over Fukimoto and pick up Ito and drop him on the board sending the fork board into Fukimoto. Fukimoto would then get up and come rushing at the fork board at Takeda and then hit Ito with a Package Piledriver to get the win at 15 minutes, 5 seconds to defend the tag titles for the first time.

Toru Sugiura would take on his old Mammoth Buster tag team partner in Mammoth Sasaki in a Hardcore Match to setup Sugiura as the next challenger for the King of Freedom World Championship against Mammoth who Sugiura had never beaten in a singles match. Sugiura and Mammoth would do a dueling chair spot, before Mammoth would bring in a ladder and smash a chair against the ladder into Sugiura's crotch in the corner. Sugiura would fight back and hit Mammoth with a flying drop kick before picking him up and hitting him with the Soul Driver for the win at 14 minutes, 40 seconds to build Sugiura as the main event opponent against Masashi Takeda for the King of Freedom World Championship at the Yokohama Budokan.

The 5 Way Barefoot King Title Death Match between Brahman Shu, Minoru Fujita, Rina Yamashita, and champion Takayuki Ueki would see Kei get involve and both Shu and Kei would pin Ueki at 11 minutes, 42 seconds with Shu getting on the mic and cutting up the Barefoot Title and giving Kei the other half and proclaiming the title now the Barefoot King Tag Team Title with both Shu and Kei now being the champions.

Australian wrestlers Mad Dog and Vixsin would return to FREEDOMS for the first time since November last year as they would team up with Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami to defeat Takashi Sasaki, Kengo, and HAKKA when Sakuda would pin HAKKA at 7 minutes, 31 seconds with a Tornado Clutch. Takahiro Katori, Dragon Libre, and Rekka would defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox at 9 minutes, 12 seconds when Katori would pin Susumu with the Kapigoe to setup their Yokohama Budokan Jr. Heavyweight Title Match. The opening match would see GENTARO defeat Choi Dueok in a Wrestling vs. MMA match in 1 minute, 44 seconds in the second round via submission. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 8/29/24 Korakuen Hall show.

FREEDOMS will be running their 15th Anniversary show on September 15, 2024 at the Yokohama Budokan. The main event will be a rematch of the Christmas Death Match show as Masashi Takeda looks to defend the King of Freedom World Championship against Toru Sugiura. This will be the third Yokohama Budokan show that Sugiura will main event and challenge for the title on it. Jun Kasai and Daisuke Masaoka will form their new tag team against the Big Japan team in Abdullah Kobayashi and Daiju Wakamatsu in a Self Board Death Match. Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto will defend the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Takashi Sasaki and Dragon Gate's YAMATO. Tomoya Hirata makes his return after 13 months following his injury at last years Yokohama Budokan show as he teams up with Mammoth Sasaki and GENTARO against Big Japan's Daisuke Sekimoto, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and HAKKA. Takahiro Katori will defend the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title againt Yuya Susumu. The Brahman Brothers will defend what is now the Barefoot King Tag Team Titles against Takayuki Ueki and Kentaro Hachisu. Rina Yamashita, Minoru Fujita, and Yusaku Ito will take on VENY, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Kyu Mogami. The opening match will see Dragon Libre, Kengo, and Rekka against Jun Masaoka, Maori Kawashima, and Gaia Hox.

Hayabusa along with Kensuke Sasaki, and Akira Hokuto took a trip to Mexico in May 2012 and while they were there they filmed a Versus episode for Samurai TV. The show would start off with Hayabusa and Kensuke Sasaki sitting down and talking before Akira Hokuto would take Sasaki's place. The show would start with Hayabusa talking about being in Mexico for the first time in 13 years when he was there for a week in the Summer of 1999. Kensuke would mention that he had just found out that Hayabusa was two years younger than him and they are both from Kyushu with Hayabusa being from Kumamoto and Sasaki being from Fukuoka. Kensuke would ask Hayabusa the story of how he got into pro-wrestling with Hayabusa mentioning that when he was a young boy he casually watched TV with his grandpa and pro-wrestling came on with Mil Mascaras catching Hayabusa's attention. His love for pro-wrestling continued as a grew, and eventually he started wrestling while in college. He mentions a class mate (with no mention of Mr. Gannosuke's name despite the fact that Sasaki had wrestled Gannosuke) had convinced him to try out for the FMW Dojo.

Hayabusa did not believe he would actually be accepted as he was 121 pounds and had to lie about being 165 pounds while filling out the resume. Sasaki even mentioned that they would have had to notice the lie upon seeing him. Hayabusa mentioned that after being accepted and becoming a pro-wrestler he tried to gain weight for the first couple of  years, but never could and felt he was left behind by his peers (another reference to Gannosuke) before he was asked to go to Mexico. Mexico is the country of masked men, so Hayabusa felt he had no choice but to become a masked man while there. Kensuke mentions that his story relates to him, as he felt he could never break out of his shell until he changed his gimmick and became a Power Warrior.

Hayabusa would ask Kensuke his thoughts about FMW with Kensuke stating that he was concerned after hearing about the promotion, but he never really knew too much about it. Hayabusa stated that Onita's FMW was really all about how to make Onita look great in the magazine. The image of the promotion was about one person and the explosions. Hayabusa would state the FMW wrestlers were never going to become the New Japan wrestlers, but they tried their best. Hayabusa stated that Onita's FMW wasn't really about wrestlers against each other like New Japan was, but more about FMW vs. The World and trying to gain as much attention from the public as possible through that way.

Hayabusa's injury was brought up and Hayabusa how after his heart valve surgery that nearly ended his life and he was able to begin seeing guests one of the non FMW wrestlers to come by and visit him was Kensuke Sasaki. Hayabusa was surprised to see Kensuke, as around that time he was not breathing well and needed an oxygen tube and earlier had his teeth broken due to tubes forcibly being pushed in his mouth after the accident in October 2001. Hayabusa mentioned that he felt like it was hard for people to look at him in the state he was in, but Kensuke smiled at him and told him it was going to be okay. Hayabusa mentioned that Kensuke was the main person that helped him up into the ring when he first stood and walked in the ring at Korakuen Hall in October 2011. Hayabusa mentioned that seeing Mil Mascaras wrestle earlier on the show at the age of 69, made Hayabusa feel that it would have rude for him to not try and stand up and walk into the ring that night. Kensuke asked Hayabusa what his goals were with Hayabusa stating getting back into the ring on his own terms was his main goal. Hayabusa mentioned that no matter how long it would take, it was definitely going to come true. This took place a month before I specifically asked Hayabusa if he ever thought he would actually wrestle and he told me no he would never wrestle again, and he planned on actually wrestling again, just walking to the ring in the Hayabusa costume and being introduced as Hayabusa one last time.

Akira Hokuto would then sit down and talk with Hayabusa with Hokuto bringing up their time in Mexico together in 1994. Hokuto mentions that she actually worked a tag team match with Hayabusa which at the time was unheard of in Japan. They mention how difficult the schedule was in Mexico with Hayabusa mentioning that he one time wrestled three times in one day, and Hokuto mentioning her record was four matches in one day. Hayabusa would mention it was about a one to two hour drive between venues. Hokuto mentioned there's a bond between the Japanese wrestlers that are together in Mexico. Hayabusa mentions every time he would see a Japanese wrestler while in Mexico he would feel relief that he can finally speak Japanese to someone.

Hokuto would state that she still remembers Spanish for her time in Mexico, with Hayabusa stating that he does not remember it because he never uses it. Hayabusa mentions when he hears someone speak in Spanish, the words seem familiar to him, but he doesn't remember what they mean. Hokuto mentioned that she had a dream she had to answer everything in Spanish, with Hayabusa stating that the he had the same dream as well.

Hayabusa mentions the first time that he actually met Akira Hokuto was in Japan at the Yokohama Stadium for the September 19, 1992 match between Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto against Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda. Hokuto mentions that they were told they were not allowed to get on the mic after the match because that was saved for just Onita but Hokuto and Nakano both got on the mic after the match. Hokuto mentions that it was the first time that women wrestlers were facing against another promotion and she felt it was something that deserved for them to speak afterwards although she had to make up what she was going to say right there on the spot. Hayabusa mentions that it was Onita's gimmick to get on the mic and throw water and say unintelligible words into the mic with Hayabusa mentioning that it's Hokuto's personality that if you tell her she can not do something, she's going to do it. Hokuto mentioned that Rossy Ogawa who wad head of All Japan Women's Planning and Reporting Department came up to her after the match and was very upset over what they did, but she felt it was necessary to get the importance of the match across to everyone.

Hokuto then asked Hayabusa about wearing the mask and he stated that he felt like once he wore the mask at the Super J-Cup in Japan that he had to honor the mask tradition in Mexico. Hokuto mentioned that that him never giving up after his injury symbolizes the dream everybody has.

Hokuto mentions that she broke her neck in a match in April 1987 taking a tombstone piledriver off the turnbuckle and being taken to the hospital right away in Osaka. They drilled a screw in her neck and when she woke up and couldn't move her head at all and the only thing she could feel was her neck. She began to get feeling in her hands and moved to her head where she felt her bald head as they had to shave her head to perform the surgery. She mentioned that people would come up to her and told her it was going to be okay, but she felt it wasn't going to okay. She laid there immobile but her brain was still strong and she just laid there without even a window. Then after two months she was moved to the general ward where there was a window but she couldn't even open it so all she could do was count the holes in the wall to calm her mind, but it was really hell.

Hayabusa responded by saying that the tears will never dry up. It never dies. It took him three months to get the feeling back in his body. He mentioned even if he wanted to make a sound, he couldn't because he didn't have any strength in his muscles. All he could do was cry and that just leads to frustration because he can't wipe them off his face. Hokuto mentions that they placed a halo over her head, but she was finally able to stand up, but the halo was quite heavy like wearing a iron and she couldn't sit on the bed with it and she ended up with really bad anemia and she had to go through rehab, but the doctors took over her belt and said she couldn't sit down, but she couldn't stand up either and so she began to feel nauseous like she was anemic and she has no choice to cry. Hokuto then mentions that the first thing in rehabilitation isn't to practice walking, it's to practice sitting and putting your legs in front of you.

Hayabusa then mentioned that he caught pneumonia and had a heart attack (I had never heard him say he had a heart attack before) and had to have heart surgery and woke up disappointed he was still alive from the surgery. Hayabusa couldn't even mumble after waking up. Hayabusa worked the next couple of days on speaking, and after three days of finally being able to talk he cried tears of joy because up until that point all he knew was about his body stopping. It changed his mindset as before all he was thinking about was negative things, but this made him realize how great the possibilities were and how thankful he was. Hokuto mentions she felt like there was no hell that, but it made her realize that if she could overcome that, she can overcome anything.

Hayabusa mentioned that it was a mental hurdle for him that he was flying around the ring and then the next moment he can't even die on his anymore. Hokuto mentioned that they went through similar experiences, and she feels because she overcame what she did, she can laugh at most things. Hokuto doesn't like telling people to do their best, because they're already doing their best in their own way. She feels that because she just kept being told to do her best after her injury, but she didn't know what that meant. What more did she need to do? She just knew she was trying her hardest. Hayabusa mentions that they have the same way of thinking, but when someone tells him to do his best, he knows it's coming from their heart and it gives him strength. It's a heartfelt effort by humans, and he wants to convey that heartfelt effort to the people that support them. Hokuto mentions that she continued to fight for her dream, and that she wants Hayabusa to always to continue to fight for his dream with Hayabusa thanking Hokuto for her kind words.

I personally didn't know about Hokuto's neck injury before this, but their bonding over similar injuries was really good, with Hokuto showing so much passion based off what she went through with Hayabusa feeling that someone could relate to in similar hell that he had gone through.

Added: 8/23

The full lineup for the FMW-E Kawasaki Stadium show entitled "Kawasaki Legend 2024" on August 24, 2024 has been announced. The main event will be Atsushi Onita and Raijin Yaguchi teaming up to take on Dory Funk, Jr. and Osamu Nishimura in a Exploding Barbed wire, Double Hell Landmine, and Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bats Death Match.

Dory Funk, Jr. who is 83 years old has stated that this will be his final match as well as his last time ever coming to Japan. Dory has stated he agreed to the match with Onita after finding out that the match would take place at Kawasaki Stadium which is where Onita vs. Terry Funk took place. The show is the one year anniversary of Terry passing away (Terry passed away on August 23rd in America, but it was August 24th in Japan when he passed away)

Osamu Nishimura will be Dory Funk Jr.'s partner as Nishimura has sworn to protect Dory's body from all the explosions in the match. Nishimura has been dealing with severe health issues himself as he has been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer which is cancer of the tube that runs from the throat has spread to his brain and his upper left body. Nishimura went into a coma in July due to brain metastasis. Nishimura has written a letter of intent to his hospital that he will be competing in the match, and he will have four doctors at ringside including New Japan's trainer to make sure he is okay during the match.

Nishimura had participated in several of these explosion matches going back to 2022 where he participated for both FMW-E and Fire Pro-Wrestling after Onita and he had originally formed a team together but split up for a series of matches after Onita had accidentally hit Nishimura with an exploding bat shot.

Nishimura gave an interview on August 22nd in regards to the match while having cancer. He stated "If you pamper your body, it will only weaken. To cure cancer, you need to get plenty of nutrition and build up your strength, not just through chemotherapy. To lose weight, you need to train your body. When I was released from the ICU, I couldn't even do three squats, but if I worked hard and added one more, the next time I could do four, five, and so on. Now I can do 300 squats in the morning and do full-body muscle training in the afternoon, and my stamina has improved since I was first hospitalized in April. I can now fight in the ring."

Nishimura stated that thanks to radiation that 70% of the cancer is his upper left hand body has disappeared and that he will go for another round of treatment in September. Nishimura stated in reference to being Dory's bodyguard during the match. "In this match, I have no time to worry about myself. I have to protect Dory, the treasure of the professional wrestling world, even if it means risking my life. This is the last time he will fight in Japan. No one else can do this role. I am participating because I have to do it."

The doctor at one of the leading cancer hospitals in Japan, where Nishimura is being treated, gave up, saying, "I can't allow it, but I can't stop Nishimura anymore," but five other doctors, nurses, and trainers will be watching over him at ringside. Nishimura also stated "If the cancer that is stuck tightly to the aorta behind the esophagus explodes due to a landmine or electric shock, it's the end. I would immediately vomit a lot of blood and go to the other world, so the hospital made me sign a self-responsibility document," he said with a wry smile, revealing the truth.

Nishimura after getting the diagnosis looked up on the internet the main cause of esophageal cancer which seems to be alcohol stating "It's probably the result of drinking heavily during my life as a wrestler and a politician, even though it's not good for my constitution. But what happened can't be helped now. Rather, somewhere inside me, I'm enjoying this desperate situation."

Onita and Dory met with the press on August 22, 2024 after Dory's arrival with Onita stating that he was grateful that Dory had accepted the match and came to Japan. Onita stated that Dory was against the explosion matches in the past, but he has accepted the match. Onita stated that he will fight with all his might and him and Yaguchi will try to hit Dory with explosions. Dory would respond quietly, stating that he think it's going to be a tough fight, but he will use his experience. He then concluded to show his determination by stating "Forever! Never quit! Ganbatte (Keep going)!

This will be Atsushi Onita's 10th wrestling match at Kawasaki Stadium. It will be the first Kawasaki Stadium match for him with significant explosions since his exploding cage death match on September 28, 1997 against W*ING Kanemura.

The show will air on Samurai TV on September 1, 2024 although I would imagine the undercard is going to get cut up a lot as the undercard might stand out because of some of the ages of the wrestlers, but it does not expect to be much in regards to quality matches.

The semi-main event will be Guts Ishijima, HASEGAWA, Hideki "Shrek" Sekine, BILLY, Skull Reaper A-ji, and Great Koji taking on Shadow WX back as Mr. Pogo, Onryo who is making his 4th Kawasaki Stadium appearance, Monster Leather, Mr. Atomic, Takumi Sakurai, and Devil Magician. Maku Donaruto and Natsu Sumire will take on the Brahman Brothers in a comedy match.

69 year old Masahiko Takasugi will be taking the place of 75 year old Mitsuo Momota after Momota had recently been diagnosed with COVID. Takasugi will team up with Momota's son Chikara against Tiger Toguchi who is better known as the Kim Duk and Tiger Chung Lee who is coming out of his May 31, 2022 retirement at the age of 76 years old for the match as he teams up with the young up and comer 46 year old Yuichi Taniguchi. Crusher Maedomari making her 7th Kawasaki Stadium appearance along with Miss Mongol making her 3rd Kawasaki Stadium appearance will team up against Ann Cham and Little Cat Mask.

Ricky Fuji at the age of 58 will be making his 9th Kawasaki Stadium appearance with Onryo's daughter Kaicho Ram against Naoshi Sano and Nene ∞ D.a.i. Tomoryu, The Construction Site Dad, and FMW-E Shocker will take on Chiitan, Pandita, and Doraemon who will be Sanshiro Takagi dressed up as the popular anime character. The opening match will be Z Warrior Trunks and Monkey D. Norefi against Great Muda & Great -CO- Khan.

A DVD will be on sale of the FMW-E main event Onita matches covering 2023 and the April 14, 2024 match from the promotion. These will be the first time these matches will be released in full since FMW-E stopped airing their footage after 2021.

The next day after the show, Onita will return to Kawasaki Stadium for his 11th match in the building as he will participate in the annual Hikaru Sato promoted show at the event that is scheduled to air on NicoNico. The match will be a Exploding Wedding Death Match with Onita teaming up with Raijin Yaguchi, Naoshi Sano, and Takahiro Tababa against Hideki Suzuki, Kohei Tokeshi who is a Japanese MMA fighter, Yutaka Kobayashi who is going to be the groom in the match and his bride in the match will be Emi Tomimatsu with Kobayashi and Tomimatsu both being MMA fighters.

FREEDOMS would run at the Shizuoka Shimizu Marine Building on June 30, 2024 and announce a crowd of 160 fans for the show. The main event would see Daisuke Masaoka, Toru Sugiua, and Yusaku Ito defeat Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Takashi Sasaki in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match at 17 minutes, 33 seconds when Ito would use Sakuda's Sakauchi on Takashi Sasaki to get the win to build him up for his match against Takeda at Korakuen Hall in less than two weeks prior. Toshiyuki Sakuda and Takayuki Ueki would defeat Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto in a Hardcore Match when Sakuda would hit a Swaton on Fukimoto at 16 minutes, 23 seconds to get the win. Mammoth Sasaki, Rina Yamashita, and HAKKA would defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox when Mammoth would pin Hox at 10 minutes, 58 seconds with the 29 Years old. Kyu Mogami would defeat Kengo at 9 minutes, 2 seconds with the EX Wolf Weath. Anarko Montana and Rekka would defeat Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Dragon Libre at 9 minutes, 54 seconds when Montana would get the win the Niau Driver 87 on Libre. The opening match would see Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei defeat GENTARO and Choi Dueuk when Shu would roll up Dueuk at 9 minutes, 45 seconds with Nobody's Perfect for the win.

The first Tokyo Death Match Carnival of the year would take place on July 11, 2024 at Korakuen Hall where they would announce a crowd of 714 fans for the show. This would be the first show that FREEDOMS would release a DVD of since their Christmas Death Match show. The main event would see Masashi Takeda defending the King of Freedom World Championship against Yusaku Ito in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Board Spidernet Death Match. Takeda would charge at Ito with a flip in the corner sending him into the glass board followed by suplexing Ito off the turnbuckle into the barbed wire spidernet board on the outside. Ito would manage to get back in the ring and spit takesumi at Takeda's face and hitting Takeda with the Octopus Trap for a two count. Takeda would then place an Octopus Jar over Ito's head and throw a concrete block at it breaking it over Ito's head as Takeda would cover and get two. Takeda would then pick up Ito and hit him with a Reverse U Crash Kai on a set of light tubes for the win at 18 minutes, 33 seconds for his fourth successful title defense. After the match, they would do something different and do the usual pre-match photo with the referee holding the belt.

The semi-main event would be a Weapons Death Match for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles as Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami would defend the titles against Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto. Fukimoto would end up hooking a fish hook to Sakuda's mouth while he was on the top rope and use the fishing pole to flip him over back into the ring. Jack and Fukimoto would then hit double Package Piledrivers on Sakuda and Mogami with Fukimoto hitting Sakuda with another Package Piledriver this time to get the win at 16 minutes, 59 seconds for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles ending the 8 month reign of Sakuda and Mogami.

Jun Kasai would take on Daisuke Masaoka with a 10 minute time limit in a Self Board Death Match. Kasai would place one of the boards over with both trying to get a quick win over one another Masaoka hitting an Asai Moonsault on Kasai followed by Kasai hitting a Pearl Harbor Splash with Masaoka kicking out at one with Masaoka then trying to roll up Kasai before the ten minute time limit would expire. Kasai would then suggest a rematch at the next Death Match Carnival at Korakuen Hall on August 29th in a Construction Site Scaffold Death Match as the two would fist pump each other out of respect.

Takahiro Katori would manage to defend the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title at 11 minutes, 14 seconds after defeating Anarko Montana with the Luna Cult to successfully defend his title for the third time.

Jun Masaoka, Yuya S usumu, and Gaia Hox would defeat Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, and Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Susumu would pin Takaiwa at 6 minutes, 53 seconds with a Double Arm DDT for the win. GENTARO, Dragon Libre, HAKKA, and Brahman Shu would defeat Rina Yamashita, Minoru Fujita, Kengo, and Rekka when Shu would pin Fujita with a Kogure Clutch at 8 minutes, 5 seconds in a Tokyo Desert Homeless Death Match.

The opening dark match would Takayuki Ueki defend his custom made Barefoot King Championship against Toru Sugiura who would defend his custom Sugiuraman World Jr. Heavyweight Championship with Sugiura getting the win over Ueki in a Barefoot Match at 11 minutes, 7 seconds to defend his Sugiura title and win the Barefoot King Title before giving Ueki back his custom made title. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 7/11/24 Korakuen Hall show

The annual Jun Kasai Death Match Carnival in Osaka would take place on July 21, 2024 at the Osaka Active Square Daito. The main event would be Masashi Takeda and Jun Kasai defeating Daisuke Masaoka and Toru Sugiura in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with Takeda getting the win over Sugiura at 17 minutes, 42 seconds with a Reverse U-Crash Bomb on a bundle of light tubes for the pin.

Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto would win a non-title match against Takashi Sasaki and Mammoth Sasaki in a Double Board Death Match when Fukimoto would pick up the pin over Takashi at 13 minutes, 38 seconds after hitting a Package Piledriver on a Empty Can Board. Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Gunso would defeat Minoru Fujita, Rina Yamashita, and Dyna Mido when Ueki pin Mido at 15 minutes, 2 seconds with a Diving Headbutt on a chair to get the win over Mido in a Hardcore Match. Takahiro Katori and GENTARO would defeat Shigehiro Irie and Ultra Soki when Katori would pick up the pin at 9 minutes, 42 seconds with a Inside Cradle. Anarko Montana and HAKKA would defeat Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox when HAKKA would get the pinfall at 10 minutes, 45 seconds over Hox with a Jackhammer. The opening match would see Yuya Susumu defeat Dragon Libre at 7 minutes, 24 seconds with a Cross Facelock.

FREEDOMS would run the first Jun Kasai Shin-Kiba Death Match Carnival show on July 24, 2024 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring drawing 201 fans which is a higher than usual number for their Shin-Kiba show.

The main event would see Jun Kasai and Daisuke Masaoka take on Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. Mogami would break a stack of light tubes over Masaoka's head busting him open and then using a staple gun on his forehead. Takayuki Ueki would then come in the ring and grab a hold of Masaoka with Sakuda coming off the top with a flying dropkick with Masaoka moving out of the way and Sakuda hitting Ueki instead followed by Masaoka hitting a Thunder Fire on Sakuda. Kasai would then come in and put skewers in Mogami's head and deliver a Reverse Tiger Driver, Pearl Harbor Splash with a stack of light tubes with knives attached to them  and then finish Mogami at 17 minutes, 27 seconds with a Cross Arm Stimulation on a box of light tubes for the win with Kasai and Masaoka afterwards getting in each others face before fist bumping in celebration of the win.

Masashi Takeda, Toru Sugiura, and Yusaku Ito would team up to take on Violento Jack, Mammoth Sasaki, and Kenji Fukimoto in a Barbed wire Board Death Match for the semi-main event. Takeda would dropkick Ito his own partner into the barbed wire board that had been placed over Fukimoto's body. Ito would then spit takesumi in Fukimoto's face and headbutt him and then get the win at 15 minutes, 11 seconds with the Onimaru. Takeda and Ito would challenge Jack and Fukimoto afterwards for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles.

Takashi Sasaki and Kengo would team up to take on Takahiro Katori and Dragon Libre with Sasaki getting the win at 10 minutes, 49 seconds with the D-Geist while Jun Masaoka and Yuya Susumu would defeat GENTARO and HAKKA when Susumu would get the win at 10 minutes, 53 seconds with a figure four jackknife on HAKKA for the win.

The ope ning match would see Minoru Fujita, Rina Yamashita, and Rekka defeat Takayuki Ueki, Brahman Shu, and Brahman Kei at 10 minutes, 7 seconds when Yamashita would pin Kei with a Jackknife in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 7/24/24 show.

FREEDOMS would return for the Jun Kasai Shin-Kiba Death Match Carnival Part 2 on August 7, 2024 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring this time drawing a more usual 162 fans for the show.

Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Yusaku Ito taking on Daisuke Masaoka, Toru Sugiura, and Takashi Sasaki in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with the finishing sequence seeing Kasai nail Sugiura with a Lariat and then try for a Reverse Tiger Driver on Sugiura with his right arm giving out due to the damage in the match. Kasai would then pick up a stack of light tubes with Sugiura nailing a right elbow to the tubes breaking them across Kasai. Sugiura would then hit a Sit Down Tornado and then finish Kasai off with a running right elbow breaking the light tubes across Kasai for the win at 19 minutes, 38 seconds with Sugiura getting on the mic afterwards to challenge Takeda for the title at the Yokohama Budokan in September. Takashi Sasaki would then get on the mic and state that since it will be the FREEDOMS 15th Anniversary show that he would want a shot at the title as well with a match being made for August 18th with the winner getting a shot at Takeda's title for the big anniversary show.

Violento Jack would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda at 17 minutes, 37 seconds in a Weapons Death Match with safety pinboard and stapler board were used as weapons before Jack would get the win over his former ERE partner with the Amatalan in a match described as better than expected.

Kenji Fukimoto would defeat Kyu Mogami in a Scramble Bunkhouse Falls Count Anywhere with the two brawling all over ringside onto the ramp of Shin-Kiba before Fukimoto would get the win at 9 minutes, 51 seconds with a Rat Trap rollup in a match that was described as the finish coming out of nowhere just as the match was about to get interesting.

Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox would defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and Kengo when when Susumu would pin Kengo at 9 minutes, 1 seconds with a Figure Four Jackknife as Susumu looks to challenge Katori for the Jr. Heavyweight Title at the September 15th Yokohama Budokan show.

Takahiro Katori and Dragon Libre would defeat GENTARO and HAKKA when Katori would pin HAKKA at 11 minutes, 59 seconds with a Cradle Cutback for the win. Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita would defeat Takayuki Ueki, Brahman Shu, and Brahman Kei in a 2 vs. 3 handicap match when Yamashita would get the win at 9 minutes, 11 seconds with a Schoolboy. The opening dark match would see Kengo defeat Choi Dueuk with a STF for the win. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 8/7/24 show.

FREEDOMS would run a Jun Kasai Sendai Death Match Carnival show on August 18, 2024 at the Sendai Dream Messe in Miyagi and announce a crowd of 280 fans for the show. The main event would see four sides of Fluorescent Tubes as Toru Sugiura would defeat Takashi Sasaki at 18 minutes, 17 seconds with the Soul Driver to earn a shot at the King of Freedom World Championship against Masashi Takeda on September 15th at the Yokohama Budokan. This will mean that Sugiura will challenge for the belt in the main event of three consecutive Yokohama Budokan shows.

Masashi Takeda and Rina Yamashita would defeat Jun Kasai and Daisuke Masaoka when Takeda would pin Masaoka at 16 minutes, 24 seconds with a Reverse U Crash Bomb in a Barbed wire Board Death Match. Violento Jack, Mammoth Sasaki, and Kenji Fukimoto would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Kyu Mogami when Jack would pin Sakuda at 12 minutes, 27 seconds with the Amatalan. Takahiro Katori, Minoru Fujita, and Aizawa # 1 would defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox when Katori would pin Hox at 11 minutes, 56 seconds with the Luna Clt. Dragon Libre would defeat Kengo and Choi Dueuk at 8 minutes, 30 seconds with a Front Cradle on Dueuk in a Three Way Match. GENTARO would win the opening match at 8 minutes, 18 seconds over HAKKA after making him submit to a Cross Armbreaker for the victory.

The Jun Kasai Death Match Carnival Part 2 show on August 29, 2024 will take place at Korakuen Hall. The main event will be Jun Kasai will be taking on Daisuke Masaoka who announced back in June that he is going to be a part time wrestler due to family issues starting in 2025 as they will face off in a Construction Site Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Board Death Match. Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto will defend the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles in a Death Match. Toru Sugiura looks to finally be put over by his former tag team partner Mammoth Sasaki in a singles match on his way to challenging for the King of Freedom World Championship on September 15th as the former Mammoth Busters will face each other in a Hardcore Match. Takashi Sasaki, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Kengo, and HAKKA will take on Toshiyuki Sakuda, Kyu Mogami, and the returning Australian Death Match wrestlers Mad Dog and Vixen. Takahiro Katori, Dragon Libre, and Rekka will take on F-SWAG's Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox. The opening match will be a 5 Way Barefoot Death Match for Takayuki Ueki's custom Bareking King Championship with Ueki taking on Minoru Fujita, Rina Yamashita, Brahman Shu, and Brahman Kei.

Kevin Sullivan passed away on August 9, 2024 in Concord, Massachusetts at the age of 75 due to blood clots. Although Sullivan is much better known for his time in Florida, Georgia, and WCW he also ended up working for both FMW and W*ING in the early 90s.

His FMW run is not well known because it was only tour and it none of his matches ever made video. He made his FMW debut on January 5, 1992 at Korakuen Hall squashing Mr. Gannosuke in three minutes. His second match against Ricky Fuji on January 6, 1992 would be noticeable as he would brawl with Ricky up the balcony of Korakuen Hall and tease throwing him off the balcony for the first time in the history of the building. This would be one month before Matsunaga would end up jumping off the balcony himself so Sullivan had developed a reputation as the "balcony man" before Matsunaga. Sullivan would bring Ricky back to the ring and defeat him easily in under five minutes.

Sullivan's next match would be noticeable because he would defeat the number two babyface Tarzan Goto in just three minutes on January 7, 1992. This would seem that they were establishing Sullivan to be a heel that would eventually face Onita at a bigger show at a later date. Sullivan would end up teaming up with The Sheik as he would be apart of The Sheik Army during the tour before once again defeating Mr. Gannosuke once again on January 15, 1992 in what would turn out to be Sullivan's last FMW match.

Sullivan would actually be booked for the February 1992 tour but would end up canceling it after getting a better offer by Victor Quinones to join W*ING. Sullivan would end up offering New Jersey independent wrestler Chris Candito to take his place on the tour with FMW agreeing as Candito would work as The Blonde Bomber for the February 1992 tour in Sullivan's place. Sullivan would end up making his W*ING debut on April 5, 1992 where he would face off against the Giant Kimala at Korakuen Hall and once again the balcony man would brawl with Kimala up the balcony and tease trying to throw him off once again with referee Ted Tanabe ruling the match a double count out which would be the first time a match had ended while being up in the balcony of Korakuen. Sullivan would enter into the Fire Death Match Contestant Tournament and win the first bracket of the tournament defeating Giant Kimala by Count Out.

A second tournament would be held with Mitsuhiro Matsunaga winning that one setting up Matsunaga vs. Sullivan on July 25, 1992 with the winner facing Mr. Pogo on August 2, 1992 in a Fire Death Match. Sullivan who been portrayed as a babyface because of his hatred for the heel Pogo would show his evil side towards Matsunaga as he would bloody Matsunaga and then throw Matsunaga into his henchman Lucifer who would try to throw a fireball at Matsunaga, but Matsunaga would end up kicking Lucifer and placing Sullivan in a choke and manage to get the pin in order to earn the shot against Pogo in Sullivan's first pinfall loss in Japan.

Sullivan would take a break from W*ING and begin working for Smokey Mountain Wrestling where a match would be scheduled between him and Yukihiro Kanemura on March 1, 1993 with Sullivan attacking Kanemura before his interview. Kanemura who gained a reputation as someone who was willing to do anything to get over would get busted open during the match before Sullivan would pull out his spike and begin stabbing Kanemura's bicep which would result in Kanemura needing to go to the hospital for stitches.

This would setup a match between Sullivan and Kanemura in W*ING on May 27, 1993 at Korakuen Hall. Sullivan would destroy Kanemura from the very beginning before bringing him through the crowd into the entrance of Korakuen before going up in the balcony where Sullivan would stab Kanemura in the eye with his spike. Sullivan would bring Kanemura in the ring and use the spike on Kanemura's bloody eye until Sullivan would get DQ'd once again for it with Kanemura being stretcher off despite technically winning.

This would setup a rematch on August 25, 1993 at Korakuen Hall. Kanemura would come into the match with his foot wrapped up and his eye still still bandaged from the Sullivan match three months earlier. This match would start with Sullivan and Kanemura coming out of a door with Kanemura already all bloodied up from a Sullivan pre-attack before the match. Sullivan would bring Kanemura ringside with him all bloody and begin throwing chairs at him before hitting him with a powerbomb and multiple foot stomps and then would bring out the spike looking to cut Kanemura's eye up again.

Nobutaka Araya would hit the ring to make the save as Sullivan would be awarded the victory with the referee citing that Kanemura could not continue. Sullivan and Araya would then take place with Sullivan winning with that match via DQ being completely cut out of the video of the show. Sullivan would finish up the tour by defeating Araya on August 31, 1993 via KO in his final match in Japan before going to work for ECW the following month. Sullivan's legacy in Japan is a short one, but he made his mark especially with putting over Mitsuhiro Matsunaga to help establish him as a credible number one babyface in W*ING as well as all he did to Kanemura is the real first recognition that Kanemura would receive for what he was willing to allow to his body to help get him over.

I recently watched the Atsushi Onita and Kintaro Kanemura Versus episode on Samurai TV that was taped on July 14, 2017. This show specifically happened because of the recent passing of Mr. Pogo at the time so that is topic that is mostly covered on the show as Onita and Kanemura have never really been that close on a personal level. Kanemura starts off by getting a call the night before Pogo passed away from Hideki Hosaka that Mr. Pogo was in danger following his spinal surgery that he had. Kanemura then says he got a call back the next day from Hosaka that Mr. Pogo had passed away. Onita mentions that he got a call that night from Pogo on his cell but he didn't look at it until the next day when he got a call from Hosaka that Pogo had passed away. Kanemura mentioned that he had so many memories rush through his head as soon as heard about Pogo passing away.

Kanemura talked about there was a period (he is most likely referring to May-July 1995 in FMW) where he was getting a fireball blown at him by Pogo every night and Pogo after every show would go up to Kanemura afterwards and ask him if he was okay with Kanemura telling him of course, the fire was hot and scary. Onita stated the first time he got a Pogo fireball blown at him it got him in the face (May 15, 1991) and the photo made the front cover of Tokyo Sports.

Onita stated that Pogo followed the heel path to the fullest when everyone wants to be a babyface. Kanemura mentioned how back in March 1992 he went to Mickey Ibaragi's house and while talking to him came up with the idea of a new weapon for the upcoming Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Mr. Pogo match on March 8, 1992 at Korakuen Hall with wrapping barbed wire around a baseball bat. Then he was told that while in FMW (it would have actually probably been in IWA Japan) that the barbed wire baseball bats didn't have that much impact so he took a barbed wire bat and wrapped a towel around it and then poured kerosene on it and came up with the flaming barbed wire bat and eventually it became one of Pogo's top weapons that he used during the FMW vs. W*ING matches in late 1994/first half of 1995. Onita stated that Pogo's passing is like the end of an era to him.

Onita mentioned that after Pogo's passing that Hideki Hosaka asked to be named Mr. Pogo # 2 even though that name was already given to Gosaku back in 1997, but Onita stated he gave Hosaka his blessing since Hosaka originally had patterned his look after Mr. Pogo back in 1994 and 1995 in FMW when they were teaming. Kanemura mentioned that while he was trained in W*ING by the foreigners like Tracy Smothers, Danny Davis, and Miguel Perez Jr. that Mr. Pogo was really the only Japanese wrestler to really teach Kanemura about the business. Kanemura stated that Pogo caused a lot of frustrations in W*ING though and that there was one time where all the juniors were badmouthing their seniors with Kanemura telling a joke and making fun of Pogo when all the juniors went quiet and Kanemura noticed that Pogo was right  behind him.

Kanemura told a story that he was in a hotel somewhere in the country and got a call from Pogo to come to his room. Kanemura went to the room and Pogo had drawn a picture of a fox and posted it on the door. Kanemura entered the room and Ryo Miyake is sitting straight up. Pogo would tell Kanemura (Kanemura does a Pogo voice impression) that Miyake was possessed by an evil spirit. Miyake had been in the room with Pogo and began to say something strange and then began to have a convulsion and screamed at Pogo in a demonic voice. Miyake would then scream at Kanemura in that demon voice for him to get out before he would burst out laughing with Pogo getting very angry at Miyake to where he started hitting Miyake.

Onita would change the topic about Kanemura's current health situation with him needing a cane. Kanemura would mention that he had suffered a hernia a year prior and his legs were already feeling before going into his retirement match on December 27, 2016. Two days after his retirement, Kanemura's legs started to feel weird and got an MRI done where it was discovered that he had a bone completely out of place. Kanemura mentioned that he still feels numb and understands he's probably going to need the cane the rest of his life.

Onita would ask Kanemura about what kind of person Mr. Pogo was since he never really got to know Pogo on a personal level. Kanemura laughed and said he was selfish, everyone though is selfish especially in wrestling with Kanemura mentioning that he's just telling the truth. Onita would state he still doesn't believe Pogo had passed and mentions about attending the Mr. Pogo Farewell Ceremony put on by Ramenman on July 27, 2017 in Shin-Kiba.

Kanemura mentioned about going to Puerto Rico and he was called by everyone there "Pogo Jr." as he was nearly 300 pounds around that time in his life. Onita would confuse that with Kanemura and Pogo teaming in Puerto Rico with Kanemura stating he was just in Puerto Rico and Pogo was in Japan at that point. Onita mentions that Kanemura had a reputation as "The Fireball Kid" when he came to FMW as just a death match wrestler, but he always saw great wrestling talent in him when working with him and that Masato Tanaka is a great worker today because of Kanemura.

Onita would bring up FMW and how if it wasn't for FMW with Sabu taking what he learned from being there back to ECW that ECW would not have been as popular as it was. Onita would then bring up doing an explosion match in America for the first time on August 5th (it wouldn't be an explosion match, although he would finally do one on October 31, 2021). Kanemura would bring up that he was always scared of doing the explosion matches with Onita stating he was scared of them as well. Onita would then say for the first time he would admit that he was a fan of the Brief Brothers with Onita asking who came up with the gimmick with Kanemura stating it was Jado.

Onita mentioned him and Gedo were there the first days in FMW and now their in New Japan and how strange pro-wrestling is sometimes. Kanemura then mentioned about wishing he could talk about America and Puerto Rico with Pogo, with Onita mentioning he had been to Puerto Rico also and wish the three of them could all talk about it together.

Kanemura then would bring up how there's only a couple more months until Onita's October 2017 retirement. Onita mentioned that although he loves pro-wrestling, but he wants to go back to his hometown. Kanemura would Onita how his knees are holding up with Onita stating he takes Hyaluronic acid once a week and Loxonin. His neck, knees, arms, and low back all hurt and his body needs to rest after these three months and would ask Kanemura to attend which he would not end up attending. They would then show a clip of the Super Battle FMW show from September 24, 2015 with Pogo attending and Onita asking Pogo for another match with Pogo stating once his body his healed he will fight Onita once again

I wanted to let anyone reading this that I have done some thinking and I have decided that instead of starting up a Patreon that would most likely require me to make sure to keep up to date in translating my collection of Japanese wrestling books, that I have decided here in the near future to put up individual translations of the books I have done for sale, much like how I sell the videos. The price will be $12 dollars per book. I have completed several already including the ones in the picture above, but I would like to translate a couple more before putting a list of them up for sale on this site. I also will be getting in a Atsushi Onita autobiography in the next week or so that I will begin working on as well.

I wanted to make it known that I have started back up on updating the FMW Match of the Days where I take translation of FMW matches over the years from Pro-Wrestling Weekly magazine and have what the magazine reporter wrote about the specific match. I am not able to do them anymore every day like when I started the project last year, but I am managing to several a week now. You can find them at http://fmwwrestling.us/FMWMatchofDay.html and there will always be a link in the info section of the page. I will try and do a quicker update than usual to cover everything about the FMW-E Kawasaki Stadium show as well as the FREEDOMS August 29th Korakuen Hall show at a quicker pace.

Added: 6/24

Atsushi Onita would announce on April 14, 2024 his plan to return to Kawasaki Stadium on August 24, 2024 to conclude his 50th Anniversary Tour that began in April 2023. The original plan for Onita was to conclude his 50th Anniversary with a Kawasaki Stadium show on May 5, 2024 but Kawasaki Stadium was unavailable that day to run a show, so when Kawasaki Stadium let Onita know the days that were available to run a wrestling show, he noticed that August 24, 2024 was available which would be the one year anniversary of his mentor Terry Funk's passing so he ended up booking the show that day. Onita stated that he wanted to wrestle Terry Funk's brother Dory Funk, Jr. on the show in a explosion match in a call back to the Onita vs. Terry Funk match on May 5, 1993 at Kawasaki Stadium.

Very little information was announced about the show for the next two months until Onita visited Kawasaki Stadium on June 24, 2024 and announced that the 83 year old Dory Funk, Jr. had agreed to attend the show to pay tribute to his brother in what he has stated will be final time in Japan. Onita has stated that Funk, Jr. has just agreed to attend the show and has not agreed to wrestle, but that he wants to wrestle Funk, Jr. for the first time in a tag team match and that if a match does happen that it will be a dangerous explosion match. It was announced that although the show will be listed under FMW-E that it will actually be the city of Kawasaki sponsoring the show to celebrate their 100 years as a city after it was formed on July 1, 1924 when the city of Daishi and the village of Miyuki merged together to form the city. Tickets will go on sale on June 27, 2024 for the event. The only wrestlers announced so far are the regular FMW-E wrestlers. Onita stated that he hopes that Tarzan Goto, Hayabusa, and Terry Funk are all watching the show from the clouds.

Earlier in the month, Onita tried to get All Japan Pro-Wrestling to allow their wrestlers to participate n the show. Onita went to the All Japan office and met with President Tsuyoki Fukuda asking him to allow some All Japan wrestlers to participate on the show since All Japan was such a big part of Onita and Terry Funk's career. Fukuda stated that All Japan has a show at Korakuen Hall on August 24th, so that they would not be able to participate in the show. Onita stated that the stadium show will start at 4:30 pm and that All Japan's Korakuen show will not start until 6:30 pm so there is time for the All Japan wrestlers to be on both shows, but Fukuda refused to budge on Onita's request. Onita stated after the rejection that he felt that Terry Funk was still playing a trick on him even though he's dead.

The first Atsushi Onita 50th Anniversary show would would take place on Onita's actual 50th anniversary of his career for FMW-E on April 14, 2024 at the Yokohama Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetable Market in a Exploding Barbed wire, Exploding Barbed wire Board, Exploding Barricade, Jado Rocket, and Exploding Bar bed wire Baseball Bat Death Match between Atsushi Onita, Raijin Yaguchi, and Ricky Fuji taking on the the All Japan team of Shuji Ishikawa, Yoshitatsu, and Black Menso~re.

Onita and Ishikawa would end up going into the exploding barbed wire together followed by Ricky hitting a Kamikaze on Black Menso~re before the Jado Rocket would be setoff hitting the turnbuckle to a loud explosion. Onita and Yoshitatsu would eventually trying to shove one another into the exploding barricade mat with Yoshitatsu managing to knock Onita down into it. Onita would get back in the ring, but be met with Ishikawa and Black Menso~re turning on the exploding bats and smashing them against Onita with Ishikawa covering and Onita kicking out. Yaguchi would come over and give Black Menso~re and Olympic Slam and shove him into the exploding barbed wire board in the corner with Onita covering Black Menso~re's body for the pin at 13 minutes, 34 seconds for the Onita team win. Click here to watch highlights of the FMW-E 4/14/24 main event.

FMW-E would put on an event in the parking lot of the Kawasaki Uvance Todoroki Stadium on May 11, 2024 right before a J1 soccer match between Kawasaki and Sapporo. Onita would team up with Raijin Yaguchi and Ricky Fuji to take on Mr. Pogo, Onryo, and Takumi Sakurai in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Weapons Death Match.

Onita would go after Pogo right away to start the match with a trash can lid and brawl with him outside the ring with him. Onita would then make it back in the ring, but Sakurai would block Onita from trying to save Yaguchi who would end up getting hit with an exploding barbed wire bat shot from Pogo. Pogo and Sakurai would then tie a chain around Onita before Sakurai would grab a hold of Onita as Onryo would to deliver a bat shot, but instead Onita would spitting green mist in Onryo's face. Onita would then piledrive Onryo through a table when Leatherface would hit the ring interfere in the match and set Onita down in a chair with Sakurai hitting Onita in the chest with a exploding bat.

Yaguchi would make the save for Onita as Ricky would also finally make it back as Yaguchi would hand Onita a broken table piece who would begin smashing it over Pogo, Onryo, and Sakurai's head as Onita and Yaguchi would both take exploding bats and hit Sakurai at the same time as Onita would cover Sakurai and get the pin at 11 minutes, 53 seconds for the win. GLEAT's Ryuichi Kawakami would then hit the ring and announce that he would be teaming up with Onita on June 9th for GLEAT in a explosion match against CIMA, Kaz Hayashi, and Minoru Tanaka as Onita would hug Kawakami and dump water over him and allow Kawakami to dump water over him. Click here to watch a handheld of Onita/Yaguchi/Ricky vs. Pogo/Onryo/Sakurai from 5/11/24.

Atsushi Onita would then return to the Fire Blast Wrestling show on May 25, 2024 at the Shimane Kunibiki Messe Exhbitiion Hall where they would announce a crowd of 451 fans for the show. The main event would see Atsushi Onita, SAKI, and HASEGAWA take on Shadow WX not using his Mr. Pogo name, Sayaka Unagi, and All Mighty Inoue in a Meteor Fire Rocket Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Exploding Coffin Tornado Death Match. The finish would see Onita and Unagi squaring off in the middle of the ring when both Inoue and SAKI would take exploding bats and hit both Onita and Unagi with them causing Onita to fall over on Unagi's body to get the pin at 15 minutes, 56 seconds for the Onita win. Due to the stipulations of the match, Onita would then take Unagi's body and place it in a coffin with explosions going off afterwards. Onita would pull Unagi out and pour water over her and show her that she had earned his respect for what she had gone through in the match.

The next Fire Blast Wrestling show would take place on May 26, 2024 at the Osaka City Sumiyoshi Civic Center announcing a crowd of 326 fans with Atsushi Onita teaming up with SAKI and HASEGAWA against Shadow WX, Sayaka Unagi, and Rising KID in a Barbed wire Rope and Barbed wire Board Bunkhouse Royal Rumble Weapons Death Match. The match would start with Unagi and SAKI as other wrestlers would enter the ring every minute or so. Onita would be the last to come to the ring and would spit mist in Shadow WX's face. Onita would then grab Unagi and take her into the crowd before getting back in the ring to piledrive Rising KID through a table. Onita would then try and spit mist in Unagi's face but she would move out of the way and would end up in SAKI's face instead leading to Unagi getting the win over SAKI at 19 minutes, 23 seconds using her Through the Castle Gate for the win and revenge on Onita.

Atsushi Onita would make his GLEAT debut on June 9, 2024 at the Nagoya International Conference Hall Event Hall and team with Ryuichi Kawakami and Yoshitatsu against CIMA, Kaz Hayashi, and Minoru Tanaka in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Death Match. Hayashi who is retiring on July 1st wanted to have his first ever death match of his career so Onita was brought in to GLEAT for the occasion. Onita and Hayashi would brawl out in the crowd to start the match before Kawakami would manage to get Hayashi in the ring and put him in an Octopus Hold as Onita would smash Hayashi with an exploding bat shot. Hayashi would manage to recover and along with CIMA end up hitting Yoshitatsu with a double exploding barbed wire bat shot with Hayashi covering Yoshitatsu for the win at 10 minutes, 33 seconds for the GLEAT win. Onita would not be done though as he along with Kawakami would grab GLEAT President Hiroyuki Suzuki and bring him to the ring as Onita would hold Suzuki and allow Kawakami to hit him with the exploding barbed wire bat. Click here to watch highlights of Onita/Kawakami/Yoshitatsu vs. CIMA/Hayashi/Tanaka 6/9/24.

FREEDOMS would return to the Hiroshima Industrial Hall West Building and announced a crowd of 430 fans for the show. The main event would see Masashi Takeda and Jun Kasai defeat Violento Jack and Toshiyuki Sakuda in a Fluorescent Light Tubes and Thumbtacks Death Match with Takeda would pin Sakuda at 18 minutes, 36 seconds with a Reverse U-Crash Kai on a stack of light tubes on Sakuda for the win. Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita would defeat Daisuke Masaoka and Yusaku Ito when Fujita would pin Ito at 13 minutes, 29 seconds with a Samson Clutch for the win. Mammoth Sasaki and Toru Sugiura would defeat Takashi Sasaki and HAKKA at 13 minutes, 29 seconds with Sugiura would pin HAKKA with a Swift Driver in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match.

Devil Magician's 10th Year Anniversary Match would take place with the F-Swag coming out on a bike and a motorcycle with the team of Takayuki Ueki, Brown Rat Fukki, and Tsuyoshi Okada defeating Devil Magician, Yuya Susumu, and Takumi Tsukamoto when Ueki would deliver a Diving Headbutt on Magician for the win at 12 minutes, 21 seconds in a Hardcore Match. GENTARO against Rey Paloma would end at 9 minutes, 49 seconds with them getting a double pinfall on each other. Takahiro Katori, Dragon Libre, and Rekka would defeat Jun Masaoka, Gaia Hox, and Takahiro Kaimoto when Katori would pin Kaimoto at 10 minutes, 28 seconds with a Luna Cult. Kengo would defeat rookie Hiromu Nakamura at 6 minutes, 49 seconds in the opening match after making Nakamura submit to a Headlock.

FREEDOMS would then run the Chiba 2AW Square on April 29, 2024 and announce a crowd of 87 fans for the show. The main event would see Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami defending their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Kengo and Yusaku Ito when Mogami would pin Ito at 17 minutes with the EX Wolf Wrath to Defend their tag team titles for the third time. Masashi Takeda, Daisuke Masaoka, and Rina Yamashita would defeat Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, and Mammoth Sasaki when Masaoka would pin Takashi Sasaki at 15 minutes, 23 seconds with a Tornado Clutch in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match. Violento Jack and Jun Masaoka would make the odd team and defeat Toru Sugiura and Dragon libre when Jack would get the pin at 13 minutes, 51 seconds over Libre with the Amatalan. Yuya Susumu and Gaia Hox would defeat Takahiro Katori and Minoru Fujita when Hox would get the pin over Katori at 8 minutes, 26 seconds after using his own Luna Cult to setup their title match at Korakuen. Takayuki Ueki, Brown Rat Fukki, and Anarko Montana would defeat Rekka, HAKKA, and Choi Du Eok when Ueki would pin Du Eok at 10 minutes, 43 seconds with a Diving Headbutt. GENTARO would defeat Hiromu Nakamura at 9 minutes, 25 seconds with a Inside Cradle for the win in the opening match.

FREEDOMS would run Korakuen Hall on May 2, 2024 announcing a crowd of 505 fans for the main event of Masashi Takeda and Kyu Mogami in a King of Freedom World Championship Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Chinpira Death Match. I will say the 500 fans is better than the 300 fans I was expecting for this show, although it still is kind of sad to consider 500 fans a win at Korakuen Hall at this point, but it just seems like kind of the landscape of the independents in Japan at this point.

Takeda would throw Mogami into the corner where a light tube corner had been setup, but Mogami would manage move out of the way and then toss Takeda into the light tube tower instead. Mogami would then pick up the broken light tubes as Takeda would get up and drop kick them shattering them over Mogami. Takeda would then pull out his secret weapon of a Wassabu Board, but Mogami would end up back dropping Takeda onto it, but Takeda would get up and suplex Mogami onto it and then deliver a knee to a light tube breaking it across Mogami before hitting a Reverse U-Crash Kai on a stack of light tubes to get the win at 17 minutes, 23 seconds to defend the King of Freedom World Championship for a third time.

The semi main-event would see Takahiro Katori defend his King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Gaia Hox. Hox's gimmick was that he would be copying Katori's mannerisms and moves as Hox would hit Katori with his Luna Cult, but Katori would manage to kick out at one and then hit his own Luna Cult on Hox and get the win at 15 minutes, 40 seconds to defend the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title for the first time.

Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, and Daisuke Masaoka would defeat the ERE team of Violento Jack, Brown Rat Fukki, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Takayuki in a Barbed wire Board Death Match. Brown Rat Fukki would grab a hold of Kasai with Ueki swinging a chair but Kasai would move out of the way and Ueki would hit Fukki over the head with the hair which would result in Fukki clotheslining Ueki and ripping off his mask and throwing it at ERE and leaving as Kasai would hit Ueki with a Reverse Tiger Driver and follow that up with a Pearl Harbor Splash to get the win at 12 minutes, 35 seconds as Fukki would announce that he was leaving ERE and going back as Kenji Fukimoto.

GENTARO would take on Toru Sugiura in GENTARO's 30th Anniversary Match. The 30 years actually goes back to GENTARO's college wrestling days in 1994 as he did not end up making his professional debut until May 8, 1999. Sugiura would come to the ring in a t-shirt of GENTARO from his college days at Josai University where he competed as Yabusame. GENTARO would come to the ring in a Onryo t-shirt to symbolize his pro-wrestling debut for the Wrestle Yume Factory which Onryo was in his debut match back on May 8, 1999. Sugiura would end up getting the win over GENTARO at 17 minutes, 40 seconds with a Rolling Elbow. Takashi Sasaki would come to the ring in another GENTARO in college t-shirt and present flowers to GENTARO for his anniversary.

Rina Yamashita, Yusaku Ito, and Kengo would defeat the F-SWAG team of Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Anarko Montana when Ito would pin Montana at 8 minutes, 27 seconds with the Disturbing Driver. Rekka and HAKKA would defeat Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Dragon Libre when HAKKA would pin Libre at 9 minutes, 15 seconds with a Jackhammer. The opening match would see Minoru Fujita defeating Hiromu Nakamura at 8 minutes, 8 seconds with a Samson Clutch. Nakamura have gotten injured during the match as he not wrestled since this match and looks to be out for the foreseeable future. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 5/2/24 Korakuen Hall show.

FREEDOMS would return to Osaka at the Hirano Ward Citizen Hall and announce a crowd of 254 fans for the show. The main event would be a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match between Masashi Takeda and Jun Kasai against Daisuke Masaoka and Rina Yamashita with Takeda getting the win at 20 minutes, 17 seconds over Masaoka with a Reverse U-Crash on the light tubes for the win. The semi-main event would be Kenji Fukimoto and Gunso defeating the team of Violento Jack and Anarko Montana with Fukimoto getting the pin over Montana at 10 minutes, 16 seconds with a Package Piledriver in a Weapons Death Match.

Toshiyuki Sakuda and Takayuki Ueki would defeat Takashi Sasaki and Dyna Mido when Ueki would pin Mido with a Death Valley Bomb at 13 minutes, 22 seconds with a Death Valley Bomb. Mammoth Sasaki and Takahiro Katori would get the win over Toru Sugiura and GENTARO when Mammoth would get the pin at 9 minutes, 59 seconds over GENTARO. Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox would defeat Minoru Fujita and Dragon Libre at 12 minutes, 8 seconds when Masaoka would hit a Thrust Kick to get the pin at 12 minutes, 8 seconds over Libre. The opening match would see Yuya Susumu defeat HAKKA at 7 minutes, 46 seconds with a Front Cradle for the win. This show should eventually end up on DVD as it looks like only the Osaka shows are the only ones still finding themselves on DVD that do not also air on Samurai TV.

A week later FREEDOMS would then return to Okinawa at the Nishihara Town Sawafuji Mirai Hall and draw an announced crowd of 145 fans for the event. Toshiyuki Sakuda and Takayuki Ueki would get the win in the main event over Jun Kasai and Toru Sugiura at 15 minutes, 10 seconds when Sakuda would hit a Swaton Bomb to pin Sugiura. Violento Jack would defeat Ryukyu Dragon's Ultra Soki at 13 minutes, 35 seconds with a Amatalan. Mammoth Sasaki and Daisuke Masaoka would defeat Takashi Sasaki and Kengo when Masaoka would get the win at 10 minutes, 37 seconds over Kengo with a Tornado Clutch. Kenji Fukimoto would defeat GENTARO at 7 minutes, 22 seconds with a Package Piledriver. The opening match would see Ryukyu Dragon's Guruken Mask and Tearan Shisa defeat Takahiro Katori and Dragon Libre when Shisa would pin Libre at 10 minutes, 41 seconds with a Frog Splash.

FREEDOMS would then return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on May 23, 2024 and announce a crowd of 153 fans for the show. The main event would see Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Daisuke Masaoka defeating the ERE team of Toshiyuki Sakuda, Kyu Mogami, and Takayuki Ueki when Takeda would pin Ueki at 17 minutes, 18 seconds with a Reverse U-Crash on a fluorescent light tube for the win. Masaoka backstage would ask Kasai for a singles match for either the July or August Korakuen Hall stating he does not know how much longer he has as a professional wrestler with Kasai agreeing to give him the match.

The semi-main event would see Violento Jack and Kenji Fukimoto go to a No Contest at 8 minutes, 43 seconds when ERE would hit the ring and attack Fukimoto with Jack getting upset and attacking ERE and agreeing to side with Fukimoto and leave ERE. ERE would go back in the ring and attack both of them though and look to hit Fukimoto over the head with a light tube when Takeda would hit the ring and grab the light tube and smash it over Ueki's head.

Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, and Toru Sugiura would defeat the team of Rina Yamashita, Yusaku Ito, and Kengo when Sugiura would pin Ito at 13 minutes, 16 seconds with a Swift Driver. Takahiro Katori, Minoru Fujita, and Dragon Libre would defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox with Katori pinning Hox at 8 minutes, 46 seconds after the Brahman Brothers would hit the ring and hit Hox over the head with a street sign and then lay Katori's body over him the win. The Brahman Brothers would then throw powder in Katori's face afterwards with Shu challenging Katori for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title on June 8th.

GENTARO would defeat Rekka at 10 minutes, 22 seconds with a GENTARO Clutch and the opening match would see Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei defeat Anarko Montana and HAKKA when Shu would pin Montana at 9 minutes, 4 seconds with Nobody's Perfect. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 5/23/24 show.

FREEDOMS would run the Yokohama Radiant Hall on June 8, 2024 and announce a crowd of 146 fans for this show. The main event would be Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Mammoth Sasaki taking on the old DEP team from a year ago in Daisuke Masaoka, Toru Sugiura, and Yusaku Ito with Takeda and Ito squaring off and Takeda delivering a punch to Ito in the face and then lay him out with a Reverse U Crash to get the win at 13 minutes, 26 seconds with Ito following the loss asking Takeda for a shot at the King of Freedom World Championship for the next Korakuen Hall show.

The semi-main event would have Takahiro Katori defend his King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Brahman Shu with the Luna Cult at 12 minutes, 47 seconds to successfully defend the title for the second time. The Takashi Sasaki vs. Takayuki Ueki match would be changed as ERE would jump Sasak right away and the match with Fukimoto getting the win over Ueki at 13 minutes, 57 seconds with a School Boy. Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita would defeat Kengo and Dragon Libre when Fujita would reverse a roll up to get the win at 13 minutes, 20 seconds over Libre. The opening match would see Tatsuhito Takaiwa, GENTARO, Rekka, and HAKKA defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Sususmu, Gaia Hox, and Anarko Montana when Takaiwa would pin Hox at 7 minutes, 32 seconds with a Death Valley Bomb. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 6/8/24 show.

FREEDOMS would run Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on June 20, 2024 and announce a crowd of 161 fans for the show. The main event would see Masashi Takeda and Jun Kasai taking on Daisuke Masaoka and Yusaku Ito with Ito getting the pinfall at 16 minutes, 25 seconds with the Octopus Trap to setup their title match on July 11th at Korakuen Hall. Ito would get on the mic afterwards stating that back in 2013 when Ito was working undercard matches for FREEDOMS they asked him to sit ringside for a Takeda death match and watch and learn from it. Ito stated that now all these years later it is his time for him to beat the man he studied over a decade ago and no matter how worn out or broken he is going to be during the match, he is going to get the three count and win the title from Takeda.

Takeda would then get on the mic and looked into Ito's eyes and told Ito to prove to him that his eyes aren't lying. Ito would state that he's going to shoot Takeda with a bullet in the match that could end his life at any moment with the Mad Octopus and concluded by calling Takeda a sonofabitch. Ito was said to have been great on the mic to try and build a match that he seems to have absolutely no shot at winning.

The semi-main event would see the ERE team of Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Kyu Mogami defeat Takashi Sasaki, Violenot Jack, and Kenji Fukimoto in a Weapons Death Match when Ueki would pin Sasaki at 17 minutes, 1 seconds with a Death Valley Bomb. Jack and Fukimoto would challenge Sakuda and Mogami for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles with the match being scheduled for July 11th at Korakuen Hall. Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita would defeat Toru Sugiura and Kengo with Fujita rolling up Sugiura at 9 minutes, 5 seconds with a Samson Clutch. Takahiro Katori, Rekka, and Anarko Montana would defeat Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox when Montanaka would get the pin at 12 minutes, 49 seconds with an Anarko DDT with Anarko then attacking Katori after the match and challenging him for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title on July 11th at Korakuen. Tatsuhito Takaiwa and GENTARO would defeat Mammoth Sasaki and Dragon Libre when GENTARO would pin Libre at 10 minutes, 45 seconds with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch. The opening match would see Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei defeat HAKKA and Choi Dueuk with Shu would roll up Dueuk at 7 minutes, 49 seconds with the Nobody's Perfect. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 6/20/24 show.

Mr. Gannosuke & Kintaro Kanemura reunited on April 21, 2024 at Toudoukan in Sugamo, Tokyo. The event was promoted by W*ING's Mickey Ibaragi as he paid for Gannosuke's flight from Kumamoto to Tokyo and hotel for the one night before Gannosuke would have fly back home for work.

There is not that much details about the event as the audience was asked not to post anything in detail about what is talked about as the event would be streamed and then eventually released on DVD by Ibaragi. I will eventually get the DVD and write a review when I get watch it, but Ibaragi tends to take several months before bothering to release these shows.

The event started with Mr. Gannosuke along discussing his recent feelings about Atsushi Onita as Gannosuke has become very vocal about his displeasure with Onita after Onita had made it seem like earlier this year that Gannosuke was the one that convinced Tarzan Goto to leave FMW right before the May 5, 1995 Kawasaki Stadium show.

Kanemura would then come out and made mention about his recent arrest in October 2023 that he was never indicted for the hit and run and does not have a criminal record from it but that this was never reported and he wanted that information to be out there. The two ended up talking about their Brief Brother days in FMW including mentioning a wrestler that was neither of them that actually came up with the gimmick that was a big success and very popular for the first part of 1998 until Gannosuke ended up getting injured and the group changed over the next couple of months.

Gannosuke and Kanemura then ended up taking pictures with all the fans in attendance then along with Ken Suzuki who was the MC of the event as well as a long time FMW reporter ended up doing the Team No Respect Brief Brother Dance together possibly for the final time.

Mr. Gannosuke reported on June 14, 2024 that his former GUN's partner Katsumi Hirano had passed away. Gannosuke stated that an acquaintance of Hirano had called the police after not hearing from him for awhile. The police arrived in Hirano's apartment to find a body in such bad condition that they are unable to identify it meaning it he had been quite some time since he had actually passed away. Gannosuke has stated there is no more information to give since the body has not been able to have been identified as Hirano although it for sure is him, but the police want to keep things private for his family. Hirano was 58 years old.

Katsumi Hirano was born on September 27, 1965 in Chiba and would make his pro-wrestling debut in August 2, 1992 in Hachioji, Tokyo going to a 10 minute time limit against Kazuhiko Matsuzaki. The only promotion that has given a tribute to Hirano has been the Crazy Union promotion on June 16th with Kazuhiko Matsuzaki holding a picture of Hirano during the 10 bell salute.

Hirano worked the undercard for Oriental Pro-Wrestling for the rest of 1992 and by 1993 the struggling Oriental Pro would begin working with W*ING as Oriental Pro was barely hanging on but had a Dojo that the W*ING promotion did not have for their younger wrestlers. Hirano would begin working working the undercard for W*ING taking on the likes of Ryo Miyake and Hido through out 1993 before leaving the promotion after July 1993 to go back to working for a re-start of the Oriental promotion that would now see Hirano pushed up the card because of him being in the original promotion and the promotion having lost a bunch of its homegrown talent during the re-start. Hirano would end up working the last Oriental Pro show on November 18, 1993 as he and Masahiko Takasugi would lose to Hiroshi Itakura and Jun Kikawada.

With Oriental Pro and W*ING both having shut down he would find a new home with the New Fighting Wrestling promotion and other small independent promotions like Ryuma Go's Go Gundan promotion before finding a home in IWA Japan in August 1995. Hirano would continue to work with IWA Japan despite regime changes and the promotion changing bookers multiple times through out the years until finally working his last IWA Japan show on September 29, 2003 at Korakuen Hall.

While working in IWA Japan in 2003, Hirano would get contacted by a former IWA Japan wrestler Mr. Gannosuke to begin working for his WMF promotion in 2003. Gannosuke felt Hirano who had dyed his blonde a couple of years earlier had a striking resemblance to him and would turn it into an angle. Gannosuke who had turned heel in WMF and had reverted back to his old Hayabusa gimmick he used in FMW announced to prove he was not Mr. Gannosuke and in fact Hayabusa that he would he team up with Mr. Gannosuke. Hayabusa would introduce Hirano as Mr. Gannosuke with a towel over his head to reveal Katsumi Hirano as Mr. Gannosuke as they would defeat Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Ricky Fuji when Hirano would give a very ugly looking Fire Thunder to Ricky who was born the same day as him for the win.

Gannosuke would drop the Hayabusa gimmick at the next show and announce his new group consisting of Ichiro Yaguchi and Katsumi Hirano as Mr. Gannosuke look-alikes with their group being called The GUN's.

This would lead to Hirano's only time main eventing Korakuen Hall on July 25, 2003 in WMF as he would team up with fellow GUN's members Mr. Gannosuke and Ichiro Yaguchi in a losing effort to Mammoth Sasaki, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Kintaro Kanemura when Mammoth would debut his new finisher on the show the 29 Years Old to pin Hirano. Hirano would continue to work in WMF until October 19, 2003 but Gannosuke had moved on to working in the Apache Army

Hirano would continue to get booked every so often for the next couple of years until finding a spot getting booked once a month for former IWA Japan's TAJIRI SMASH promotion. He would work there from October 2011 until February 2012 before the promotion would close down in March 2012. Hirano would work one more show on October 28, 2015 where he would appear for a Royal Rumble for Alexander Otsuka's 20th Anniversary show at Korakuen Hall.

Katsumi Hirano would no longer take anymore bookings after that as Mr. Gannosuke and Ichiro Yaguchi would revise the GUN's group in November 2016 but instead use another Gannosuke look-alike Michio Kageyama in the place of Hirano for two shows that month.

The only bit of information about Hirano's life after wrestling was that he was recognized by a wrestling fan as working security for the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in 2018. Hirano is not someone that is well known by many English speaking fans, and he was not some great worker, but he like so many others gave his body up for so many years in the ring for the independent scene in Japan to make it as great as it has been over the last 30 years and he hopefully will always be remembered for that by the passionate fans.

Back in the early part of the last decade, Samurai TV would run a TV show called Versus where they would include two wrestlers talking to one another about certain topics. I recently watched an episode that included Hayabusa and The Great Sasuke from September 23, 2011. This episode was done to promote the upcoming Mask Fiesta show on October 7, 2011 at Korakuen Hall that saw Hayabusa get in the ring and stand for the first time since his accident.

The moderator Ken Suzuki then asked Hayabusa how he first knew about Sasuke with Hayabusa stating he was a fan of his from Sasuke's Universal days while Hayabusa was in college. Sasuke was a little confused by that as he felt that they were the same age, which Hayabusa is actually 8 months older than Sasuke but Sasuke started a year before Hayabusa had joined the FMW Dojo and was still just a fan in college at the time when Sasuke was getting started in Universal. Hayabusa then mentioned that the first time he saw Masa Michinoku's new gimmick of Ninja Sasuke was photos in a magazine while Sasuke was in Mexico in 1992 and Hayabusa thought he looked really cool. Suzuki would then ask Sasuke if he had any thoughts on the young Eiji Ezaki when Sasuke would end work FMW shows in 1993.

Hayabusa mentioned that he was in Tijuana the first six months while in Mexico but had no matches. Ezaki was constantly complaining about not getting booked and that's why he was so upset when he found out he was going to booked for the Super J-Cup and refused twice to participate because of how little practice he had gotten while in Mexico, but the third time he was told he had no choice. Sasuke would then ask about the Tope Con Hilo that Hayabusa used on Jushin Liger to start the match at the Super J-Cup. Hayabusa responded that he had been spending a lot of time with Koji Kanemoto while in Mexico and Kanemoto had stated that Liger would destroy Hayabusa if he was not aggressive during the match. Hayabusa felt if he did not start off with a sneak attack right away to get an early advantage. Hayabusa felt he was going to get crushed by Liger anyway, so it was better to do it than not do it. Hayabusa stated that even though he lost he tried his best and just like his Shooting Star Press in the match, it wasn't perfect but he tried his best. Hayabusa then mentioned that he felt proud that Sasuke an independent wrestler was able to defeat Liger and make it to the finals that night.

Hayabusa stated that night was the most nervous he was of his entire career with Sasuke responding that night was the biggest positive for both of them in their careers. Hayabusa would go back to Mexico just a couple of days later and shortly after get a try out for AAA while in Tijuana and be accepted to begin working for them and move to Mexico City, but would only end up working two matches with AAA and despite signing a contract with them never actually got paid.

Sasuke would ask Hayabusa how did he find himself at Ultimo Dragon's Dragon Hall training facility in Mexico City with Sasuke stating that is where he learned how to do the Sasuke Special at. Hayabusa felt after the Super J-Cup performance he had developed a reputation and he could not go back to Japan without learning more highflying moves so he took the approach that Sasuke did while he was in Mexico and begin training at Dragon's facility. Hayabusa stated that it was him, Dragon, Kanemoto, and Chris Jericho at the facility with Hayabusa convincing Dragon to purchase mats so he could practice creating the Phoenix Splash and other highflying moves with Dragon agreeing. Hayabusa would state in a sense this was the first Ultimo Dragon training class.

NEO-FMW was brought up with Sasuke's first memory being his match against Hayabusa on December 11, 1996 in Komazawa. Sasuke stated the match left a strong impression on him with Hayabusa's strongest memory of working with Sasuke was actually the 6 man tag team match at the Tokyo Dome on May 2, 1999 with Tiger Mask IV.

Hayabusa then made mention that he felt like whenever FMW was in trouble they would contact Sasuke to help out which brought up Hayabusa being out injured in 2001 and Sasuke replacing him for the time being to feud with Tetsuhiro Kuroda. This lead to them talking about the Naked Man Death Match on March 5, 2001 at Korakuen Hall between Sasuke and Kuroda where it was thought that a wrestler would actually get naked in order to lose and thus the police were at the venue waiting to make an arrest in the event someone actually got naked. It was mentioned that Weekly Pro refused to cover the match at all and the show was an economic failure. Hayabusa mentioned that the entertainment era was a lot of trying new ideas and trying new things which resulted in a lot of economic failures like that match.

Sasuke mentioned the Anus Explosion Match being an example of that has DDT had taken the idea and used it for themselves and it is a lot more acceptable than when FMW tried it. Hayabusa mentioned that Michael Nakazawa had asked him permission to use the match with Hayabusa giving him his blessing.

The topic of the Mask Fiesta event on October 7, 2011 came up with The Great Sasuke mentioning that he was in contact with Dos Caras a lot while Mexico as he helped him get booked but he did not have any interaction with Mil Mascaras other than getting to team with him one time, but one time in the locker room El Samurai told Sasuke that Mascaras was in the shower and now was there time to try and what he looked like without the mask only for them to find out that he showered with his mask still on. Sasuke felt he would integrate this as well and does the same thing and showers with his mask still on after his matches. Hayabusa stated he took off his mask off quite a bit to a laugh from both of them.

Sasuke mentioned that the mask protection is just one of the many differences in Mexican and Japanese wrestling. Hayabusa mentioned that one of those differences is you have to get a wrestler license while in Mexico which includes having to get a physical exam at a doctor's office. Hayabusa said that after the exam was over when the doctor came over started going over the results he in broken English while reading the paper work said "AIDS" leaving Hayabusa confused and freaked out. Hayabusa asked a nurse about the doctor stating AIDS while reading the medical papers in which the nurse responded that was the doctor's best attempt at trying to pronounce his name "Eiji". Hayabusa stated when you go to Mexico things like that happen. Sasuke responded to that story by saying he met a female of his after a show in Mexico who asked him to go have drinks afterwards. She ended up putting a drug in Sasuke's drink that made him sleepy and when he woke up his wallet with all the money had he made from the show that day was gone. He was an hour outside of Mexico City and didn't have anyway to get home. Sasuke went into a store and offered a man his mask as collateral to get some money to be able to make it back to Mexico City with the man accepting Sasuke's offer.

Sasuke mentioned that there were a lot of parties while in Mexico with Hayabusa mentioned that he would hear about Sasuke at parties while he was in Mexico two years later with other Japanese wrestlers that would have spent time with Sasuke in Mexico and would tell the story that Sasuke would just be naked with just his mask on. Hayabusa would admit that he would also get drunk and naked while partying but also make sure to keep his penis hidden with a paper cup over it.

Ken Suzuki would then bring up the serious topic of Hayabusa's injury. Hayabusa mentioned that couldn't accept the fact that he was paralyzed but he was in a state where he couldn't even die while wanting to, as he wanted to jump out the window of his hospital bed. All he thought about wanting to die. As time went by, his condition continued to get worse and he developed a fever. The hospital found out why and it was because they had found bacteria in his heart and lungs. Hayabusa's mindset was that he hoped the surgery would fail so that he could just die. Hayabusa admits he felt shame at the time, because the surgery was a success. He was so frustrated he couldn't stop crying

After the surgery though, he did start to feel better and the thought of wanting to die began to lessen and then a week later he began to feel his fingers started to twitch and his feeling began to become more positive and wants to continue to live. Sasuke stated what Hayabusa said was very important as the suicide rate in Japan is very high. Hayabusa mentioned that he wants to convey his feelings through his words with songs and has been invited to lectures to discuss the topic and he hoped to continue to be able to more of them in the future. Hayabusa mentioned that while still a professional wrestler his voice can be heard  by more and that he still buys new Hayabusa masks out for public appearances because he is still an active wrestler.

The last bit of the show was them promoting the Mask Fiesta show with Hayabusa talking about the match he booked for the show with Big Hayabusa, The Great Sasuke, and Jinsei Shinzaki against Kensuke Sasaki, Prince Devitt, and El Samurai. Hayabusa concluded by stating that he is trying his best of his ability and he would appreciate it if Sasuke could lend him his strength and stand next to him for support with Sasuke agreeing and the two stating they would see each other on October 7th at Korakuen Hall for the show.

I wanted to give a small little update on my life. I haven't really been able to keep up with this site the way I have wanted to and that's why these news updates are only happening every other month pretty much. My passion for everything wrestling took a huge hit due to my personal life taking a big hit. I was translating so many things back before it happened, as I just felt there were so many Japanese wrestling stories that will never be known about unless someone out there was willing to get them out there. Now it has been over 6 months and I have not even picked up a book to translate anything.

I was thinking about doing a Patreon back before everything happened that would include all the books I have translated, but now I don't think I will ever be able to get to a point to translate enough of them that I would feel good charging people and making sure I can continuously update it with more books. I will probably be putting up a Shoichi Arai book that consisted mostly of interviews from fellow wrestlers that people that knew about him on the site soon enough as a tribute to him, but every other book I don't know what I am going to do with yet including the many that I had started but not finished.

I have also barely posted on social media during this time and it's now going on a year since I have made any YouTube video which was such a big part of my life for so many years. I want to get better at all of these again, I think it's just going to take time and hopefully as there has just been some kind of block in my brain that makes doing all this stuff I did for 25 years so much more difficult now. Just bare with me as I get my life back together and can get back to providing my passion and love for the business that I can.

Added: 4/13

Atsushi Onita returned to the United States for the first time since August 2022 as he would appear for the Battleground Championship Wrestling promotion on April 5, 2024 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Onita and a Mystery Partner would open the show against Bully Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. Tommy Dreamer would come out as Onita's tag partner as he would wear Terry Funk's pants for the match. Onita and D-Von would start off by brawling on the outside with D-Von busting open Onita's face before throwing a beer at him. Onita would make it in the ring but D-Von would get him down on the mat as Bully would deliver a headbutt to Onita's groin. The Dudleys would then get a table out from under the ring and hit Dreamer with a 3D although the table would just barely manage to break as D-Von would pin Dreamer at 7 minutes, 52 seconds for the Dudleys win. Although Onita would only do some brawling around ringside for the most part, he would walk away with a bloody face. Click here for the Atsushi Onita/Tommy Dreamer vs. Dudley Boys 4/5/24 match.

While in the United States, Onita would take the opportunity to fly to Texas where he would go to the home of his mentor Terry Funk and visit Amarillo where he would go to visit Terry Funk's grave on April 10, 2024. Onita would lay flowers by Funk's grave and state "Everybody dies, but somewhere in my heart I thought Terry would live forever." Onita mentioned that when he got into a fight with the promoter in Santa Domingo and got beat up by five wrestlers he called Terry who told him to come stay at his house in Amarillo. Terry picked Onita up and let him stay at his house for a month and a half. Onita mentioned that Terry was always a big brother to him. Onita would then visit downtown of Armarillo where he would see a huge mural of Terry and make sure to take a picture next to it.

Atsushi Onita and the former Kojima Toy now going by To-y would defend their All Asian Tag Team Titles on March 30, 2024 in the Tokyo Ota City General in All Japan against Hikaru Sato and Dan Tamura in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Death Match. Onita would spit green mist in the title belt presenter before the match that would start the match with Onita and Sato brawling into the crowd before making it back in the ring and piledriving Sato through a table. Onita would then take a barbed wire bat and begin hitting Sato with it before Tamura would come over and take the bat and turn it on to hit Onita across the chest with the exploding bat. Sato would try to hit Onita with the exploding bat again, but this time Onita would spit green mist in his face and take the bat from him. Onita would try to hit Sato with it, but he would move out of the way and Onita would accidentally hit To-y with the exploding bat instead. Tamura would throw Onita out to the apron of the ring as he would turn on the explosions again and both Tamura and Sato would hit To-y at the same time with double exploding bats as Sato would pin To-y at 10 minutes, 32 seconds to win the All Asian Tag Team Titles. Onita afterwards would state that he has now has eyes on the All Japan Tag Team Titles which are currently held by the Saito Brothers. Click  here to watch Onita/To-y vs. Hikaru Sato/Dan Tamura 3/30/24.

FMW-E will run the big Atsushi Onita 50th Anniversary show on April 14, 2024 at the Yokohama Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetables Market. The main event will be Onita teaming up with Raijin Yaguchi and Ricky Fuji against the All Japan team of Shuji Ishikawa, Yoshitatsu, and Black Menso~re in a Exploding Barbed wire, Exploding Barricade Mat, Exploding Landmines, Jado Rocket, and Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat Death Match. I would consider it disappointing that the big 50th anniversary that Onita wanted to build up for a year will end up being like all the other FMW-E shows with a 6 man main event at the Fruit and Vegetables Market, but at this point this is probably the most physically Onita is going to be able to participate in or expect to be able to draw as it pretty much closes the door of any possible one more Kawasaki Stadium match again for Onita.

FREEDOMS would return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on February 28, 2024 and announce a crowd of 142 fans for the show. The main event would be Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Daisuke Masaoka taking on Violento Jack, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Kyu Mogami in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. Masaoka, Kasai, and Takeda would all take turns working on Jack before Masaoka would go for a Rokkura Kai with Jack catching him and dropping him followed by a power bomb and then an Amatalan followed by rolling Masaoka up for the pin at 17 minutes, 10 seconds with a Crucifix as Jack would be setup as the next challenger for Takeda for the next Korakuen Hall show.

The semi-main event of Toru Sugiura going up against Dragon Libre would see it turn into a slap and elbow fest between each other with Sugiura trying for a rolling elbow but being met with a superkick. Libre would go for another superkick but get caught by Sugiura and dropped before hitting him with a Right Elbow at 18 minutes, 7 seconds for the win. Takahiro Katori and Minoru Fujita would defeat Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox as Katori would hit Hox with the Luna Cult at 13 minutes, 49 seconds for the win to setup Katori as the challenger for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title at the upcoming Korakuen Hall show. Yuya Susumu would also come out to announce that his partner for the upcoming Jun Masaoka promoted show would indeed be Seiki Yoshioka. Kengo and Yusaku Ito would defeat Takayuki Ueki and Brown Rat Fukki when Ito would pin Fukki at 12 minutes, 7 seconds with the Onimaru. Yuya Susumu, Rekka, HAKKA, and Rina Yamashita would defeat Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, GENTARO, and Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Susumu would get the win over Takashi Sasaki at 6 minutes, 29 seconds to a Cross Arm DDT. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 2/28/24 show.

Jun Masaoka would promote his first show entitled "MJ AMBITIONS 2024" on March 10, 2024 at the Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring drawing an announced 158 fans for the show. The main event would be a match between F-SWAG's Masaoka and Gaia Hox against Yuya Susumu and his tag team partner in NOAH Seiki Yoshioka which would go to a Double KO at 23 minutes, 19 seconds when Masaoka and Susumu both could not get up by the 10 count. Dragon Gate's Kagetora would defeat Dragon Libre in the semi-main event at 14 minutes, 7 seconds with the Gurumakakari. Daisuke Masaoka and Takahiro Katori would defeat Van Vert Negro and Van Vert Jack when Katori would pick up the win at 11 minutes, 32 seconds with the Luna Cult. Kengo would defeat Tetsuya Goto at 13 minutes, 17 seconds with the Backdrop Suplex. The opening match would see the FREEDOMS wrestlers Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, and Toru Sugiura defeat Keiichi Sato, TiiDA, and Donguri Fujie when Kasai would get the win at 13 minutes, 34 seconds with a Pearl Harbor Splash. Click here to watch highlights of the Jun Masaoka 3/10/24 show.

FREEDOMS would then run later in the day on March 10, 2024 and draw an announced crowd of 165 fans for the show. The main event would be Violento Jack and Brown Rat Fukki taking on Masashi Takeda and Jun Kasai in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. Jack would grab a stack of light tubes but be met with a drop kick by Takeda breaking the light tubes across him. Takeda would then charge at Jack but get caught and powerbombed for a two count. Jack would then grab a stack of light tubes but both he and Takeda would headbutt the light tubes at the same time. Kasai would then come in and stick skewers in Jack's but be met with a kick to the head by Jack, followed by a Package Piledriver to pick up the pin at 15 minutes, 53 seconds for the ERE win.

The semi-main event would see Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami take on Kengo and Yusaku Ito with Ito taking his shirt off and throwing it in the referee's face and then pinning Sakuda at 16 minutes, 49 seconds for the win as all four would continue to brawl afterwards. Babyface Daisuke Masaoka would team up with heel Yuya Susumu as they would defeat Toru Sugiura and Dragon Libre when Susumu would get the win at 11 minutes, 48 seconds after hitting Libre with the Front Crash. Takashi Sasaki and GENTARO would reunite their team as they would defeat Mammoth Sasaki and Tatsuhito Takaiwa when GENTARO would get the win at 10 minutes, 48 seconds after hitting Takaiwa with a Backdrop. Minoru Fujita, Takahiro Katori, and Rina Yamashita would defeat Van Vert Negro, Van Vert Jack, and Tetsuya Goto when Katori would get the win at 13 minutes, 45 seconds with the Hyakki Yagyo on Goto. The opening match would see Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox defeat TiiDA and HAKKA when Masaoka would pin Masaoka pin TiiDA at 9 minutes, 45 seconds with the 2trap. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 3/10/24 show.

FREEDOMS would return to Korakuen Hall on March 22, 2024 drawing an announced 547 fans for the show for Violento Jack's 20th Anniversary show with him challenging Masashi Takeda for the King of Freedom World Championship. I would consider this to be a disappointing number, but also a sad realization that just any Korakuen Hall show that isn't either the Death Match Carnival in August or the Christmas Death Match show is going to draw in the 500-600 range at Korakuen. In comparison on May 2, 2018 the same main event of Takeda vs. Jack drew 957 fans.

Violento Jack's 20th Anniversary Match would be a Fluorescent Light Tubes Caribbean Barbed wire Lucha Extreme Death Match. There was concern that they would not be able to have the match be a Glass Board Death Match after the truck caring the boards ended up dealing with high winds resulting in the glass boards being broken in the process of transportation to the building, but the company was able to get them two new glass boards just in time before the show.

Takeda would charge at Jack in the corner, but get picked up and sent into the glass board with Takeda going to the outside. Jack would look to go for a tope, but Takeda would grab a light tube and throw it Jack's head but Jack would still come back with a tope. Jack would then grab a tequila bottle and smash it over Takeda's head and try for a Package Piledriver, but Takeda would come right back and knee Jack in the face and hit him with a U Crash followed by a Reverse U Crash on a board of forks to get the win at 22 minutes, 53 seconds to successfully defend his King of Freedom World Championship for the second time.

The semi-main event would see Jun Masaoka defending his King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Takahiro Katori with Katori getting another shot at the title after coming short back in July. The two would battle on the apron with Katori hitting a brainbuster on Masaoka on the apron and get back in the ring with Masaoka delivering a diving foot stomp off the turnbuckle on Katori. Masaoka would then deliver the Van Terminator to Katori. Masaoka would then charge at Katori in the corner, but Katori would grab Masaoka and suplex him into the the turnbuckle followed by hitting the Luna Cult to get the win over Masaoka at 17 minutes, 55 seconds to win the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Champion for Katori's biggest win of his career.

The Unchain Graduation Match officially ending the group that began with Jun Kasai turning heel on March 30, 2012 along with Masashi Takeda and Kenji Fukimoto to feud against the FREEDOMS team. Kasai would end up getting hurt just weeks later and Tomoaki Honma would become the next member of the group. Minoru Fujita, Gunso, Kamui, and Rina Yamashita would eventually end up joining the group through out the years while original members Takeda and Fukimoto would end up exiting it.

Jun Kasai would team up with Daisuke Masaoka would be representing Kamui who is still out with a neck injury as Masaoka would wear the Kamui mask to the ring as they would take on Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita in a Double Cross Board Weapons Death Match. Both Yamashita and Fujita would try to present Kasai with graduation flowers but as Kasai would debate on who to choose to accept them from, Yamashita would charge at him with Kasai moving out of the way and she would end up hitting her partner Fujita with them the flowers instead. Fujita would then try to hit Kasai with his flowers, but he again would move out of the way with Fujita hitting Yamashita accidentally instead. Kasai would then charge at both of them with them both swinging the flowers and hitting Kasai knocking him down.

Yamashita would then deliver a superkick to Kasai followed by Fujita rolling up Kasai with a Samson Clutch for two. Kasai would follow that up by going low on Fujita and rolling him up with his own Samson Clutch to get the win at 15 minutes, 39 seconds to officially end Unchain as all four wrestlers would hold their different colored logo shirts of the group.

ERE's Toshiyuki Sakuda, Kyu Mogami, Takayuki Ueki and Brown Rat Fukki would defeat Toru Sugiura, Mammoth Sasaki, Kengo, and Yusaku Ito when Mogami would pin Ito at 4 minutes, 53 seconds with the EX Wolf Wrath. Yuya Susumu, Gaia Hox, and HAKKA would defeat Tatsuhito Takaiwa, GENTARO, and Dragon Libre when Hox would get the win at 10 minutes, 30 seconds with the Vanishing Shift over Libre. The opening match would see Takashi Sasaki defeat Hiromu Nakamura in his debut match at 10 minutes, 43 seconds after making Nakamura submit to the Crab Hold. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 3/22/24 Korakuen Hall show.

FREEDOMS would return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on April 3, 2024 with a main event of Masashi Takeda and Takashi Sasaki taking on Takayuki Ueki and Kyu Mogami in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match. Takeda and Ueki would begin to fight over a light tube when Mogami would come over and knee the light tube breaking it across Takeda followed by Ueki hitting a Death Valley Bomb on Takeda with Sasaki barely managing to make the save. Ueki would then setup a stack of light tubes on a chair but Takeda would end up grabbing him and delivering a German Suplex sending him into the stack of light tubes on the chair. Takeda would then hit a Swanton Bomb on a stack of light tubes and then deliver a Rokkinpo breaking the light tubes to get the win at 15 minutes, 59 seconds over Ueki. Mogami would then attack Takeda afterwards and hold up the belt and make the challenge to Takeda for the next Korakuen Hall show on May 2nd.

This will most likely continue the problem that FREEDOMS has had where they are booking so many Korakuen Hall shows, but do not have the roster or the contenders in order to hold successful shows at the building. Kyu Mogami challenged Toru Sugiura for the title back in November and it was the lowest attended Korakuen last year drawing just 374 fans and it is the only Korakuen Hall show in the history of the promotion that neither Samurai TV or even their Commercial DVD company bothered to air/release this show because of lack of interest around it. Now Kyu Mogami who lost in that match will now get another title shot with his biggest win being a tag win over Yusaku Ito to build him up will now challenge again in a show that will again most likely draw something in the 300s unless they spice up the midcard with an interesting Jun Kasai match.

Jun Kasai and Daisuke Masaoka would team up in the semi-main event to defeat the team of Violento Jack and Brown Rat Fukki in a Barbed wire Board Empty Can Board Death Match with Kasai and Masaoka trying to pull off Fukki's mask until he would end up just ripping the mask off himself and going about the rest of the match as Kenji Fukimoto before Masaoka would get the pin over Fukki at 12 minutes, 12 seconds with a Tornado Clutch. Kengo would end up defeating Toshiyuki Sakuda at 11 minutes, 45 seconds wit ha Dropkick. Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox would defeat Takahiro Katori, Rekka, and Van Vert Jack when Hox would use Katori's Luna Cult to get the win at 11 minutes, 54 seconds over Rekka with Hox becoming the first challenger for Katori's Jr. Heavyweight Title. Toru Sugiura, Mammoth Sasaki, and Dragon Libre would defeat Tatsuhito Takaiwa, GENTARO, and Minoru Fujita when Sugiura would pin GENTARO at 8 minutes, 33 seconds with the Meatball. The opening match would see HAKKA defeat Hiromu Nakamura at 6 minutes, 33 seconds with a Crab Hold. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 4/3/24 show.

Chad Rowan best known in pro-wrestling as Akebono passed away this month at the age of 54. Akebono who got into sumo in 1988 ended up achieving the highest rank of Yokozuna in 1993 before retiring in 2001. Akebono would get into K-1 following his retirement before finding his way in All Japan in 2005 and then New Japan and HUSTLE before beginning to work for ZERO1. He began a feud with Atsushi Onita in 2012 that really began the Onita resurgence a decade ago that lasted until his 2017 retirement. The first was their No Ropes Exploding Barbed wire Death Match on August 26, 2012 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym which saw Akebono defeat Onita, but instead of showing respect to Akebono, Onita would light a fireball in his face. This would setup a rematch on February 8, 2013 at the Osaka Prefectural Gym in what would be the best match that the two would have due to smoke and mirrors, Onita would end up getting the win this time by hitting Akebono with the debut of the exploding barbed wire bat to get the win. This would lead to both Onita and Akebono shaking hands in what would look to be the end of the feud.

There was still money to be made though and a third match would take place on August 31, 2013 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym. This would be a match between Onita's alter ego Great Nita and Akabono's new alter ego KILLER "ANY" WHERE which was translated as Kilauea which was a Hawaiian Volcano. The magic between the two had been lost by this point as this match was not only not good by their standards, neither one of them wanted to job again and as a result All Japan owner Nobuo Shiraishi (who still technically owns Giant Baba's All Japan) would enter the ring and be thrown into the exploding barbed wire by Onita and then pinned for the Onita win as Akebono was already down the entrance aisle getting out of there officially ending their feud. A rematch would actually be announced for August 2014 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym but would eventually be canceled months before the show were to have taken place. Akebono would end up teaming with Atsushi Onita along with Masato Tanaka on October 30, 2015 for the Super Battle FMW promotion as they would defeat the W*ING Monster Army team of Raijin Yaguchi, Buffalo, and NOSAWA Rongai.

Another FMW wrestler would end up having a series of matches with Akebono in 2014 as Mammoth Sasaki would challenge Akebono to first a tag match on October 16, 2014 at Korakuen Hall where he and GENTARO would lose to Akebono and Takao Omori before Mammoth a former sumo wrestler as well would take on Akebono in a singles match on December 25, 2014 at Korakuen Hall and although Mammoth would tease powerbombing and sending Akebono through a table, he would take pretty much all the punishment at the hands of Akebono before getting pinned by a piledriver which would see Akebono's head get busted open during the match. Akebono began to suffer a heart condition in April 2017 that lead to him needing to be placed in a medically induced coma with Akebono's wife announcing that he had suffered from acute heart failure. Akebono would lose his ability to walk and had suffered memory loss only being able to remember his sumo days, but nothing about his pro-wrestling days. Akebono would end up passing away due to heart failure in April 2024.

Mr. Gannosuke will be returning to the Tokyo area to take part in a special interview on April 21, 2024 put on by Mickey Ibaragi at Toudoukan in Sugamo, Tokyo. Ibaragi who had promoted successful shows with Kintaro Kanemura and Megumi Kudo over the last year reached out to Gannosuke and see if he would be interested in doing the show. Gannosuke who had only known Ibaragi in passing at the very beginning of his pro-wrestling career as Ibaragi only worked for FMW while Gannosuke was a dojo student accepted Ibaragi's request of Gannosuke participating on the show with Kintaro Kanemura who is a long time friend of Ibaragi being a special guest of the show. Gannosuke agreed although he has not seen Kanemura in person since moving to Kumamoto in 2018 he has talked to Kanemura on the phone several times during that time. Gannosuke and Kanemura have a very estranged friendship.

Gannosuke will admit that Kanemura is his best tag team partner of his career as they were the two key pieces in forming Team No Respect in FMW. Their personal relationship has had its highs and lows though. In November 1997, just as they were really starting to connect and form their great heel tag team with one another they would end up getting in a fight at a bar while both were drunk and tired of what the other was saying with Jado and Gedo having to break it up. Kanemura told me that he likes Gannosuke personally, but Gannosuke does not like him. Gannosuke has never said anything negative about Kanemura, but it was known in pro-wrestling that there was a big riff between the two that that has not been made to public which resulted in the two not being able to be booked on the same independent shows from 2004 to 2008. After Kanemura's sexual harassment scandal in 2008, the two would work together for Gannosuke's retirement show on December 27, 2008 with Gannosuke pinning Kanemura and the two hugging afterwards. That would not really change much between the two as the two would pretty much stay away from one another until 2016 when both of them would work a match in 2016 against one another which would again lead to them interacting with one another at the end and them teasing like they were going to fight before kissing and then doing the Team No Respect Brief Brother Dance together. Gannosuke was publicly negative about Kanemura in October 2023 following Kanemura being arrested for accidentally hitting a bicyclist on the rode and still continuing to drive before hitting another car. Gannosuke has stated that he looks forward to seeing Kanemura once again and talking to him once again as well as well as talking to him about his recent issues with Atsushi Onita from earlier in the year.

Hayabusa's daughter's Ayane and Shie recently took a trip to their father's hometown of Yatsuhiro, Kumamoto on March 30th and March 31st to where Eiji Ezaki grew up from 1968 to 1991 before moving away to Saitama, Japan to live at the FMW Dojo to become a professional wrestler. Eiji's brother Takanori would pick up the girls and take them to his son Takuro Ezaki who is a professional soccer player who plays for Roasso Kumamoto in the Kyushu Soccer League. They then visited their grandmother who is living in a nursing because of her declining mental state over the last couple of years. Mr. Gannosuke who lives in the area would go see Hayabusa's mother every year at where she lived announced that she moved into the nursing facility in 2022 due to her inability to live by herself anymore with her declining mental state. Ayane mentioned that her grandmother who could only speak to them through the phone in a glass barrier due to rules since the girls were coming from a different region of the country. Ayane mentioned that her grandmother acted like she remembered who they were, but she could tell that she probably only has a vague memory of they were at best at this point in her current condition. They would then visit Yoshinori Murata's wrestling Beer Hall MAN restaurant which is where their father spent many hours drinking and eating as Murata told them stories about their father growing up. Ayane who did not know much about her father's wrestling career before his passing has  made an effort to learn more and more about her father's career and speak with the people like Murata who spent a lot of time with him as she gets to know more and more about why her father is such a beloved individual in pro-wrestling.

Added: 2/19

Atsushi Onita and Mr. Gannosuke have worked together professionally several times off and on through out the years, but like most of the people that Onita does business with they have never really been that close on a personal basis.

Gannosuke's two closest companions during his FMW days were his college friend Hayabusa and his trainer and mentor Tarzan Goto who both had issues dealing with Onita while in FMW. Gannosuke and Onita worked together as recently as 2017 when Mr. Gannosuke finally decided to agree to begin working for Hideki Takahashi's Super Battle FMW promotion.

Later that year Onita would retire, Super Battle FMW would stop running, and Mr. Gannosuke would retire as well and move to Kumamoto. So there wouldn't seem to be any reason that Onita and Gannosuke would have any reason to interact again.

Until former FMW women's wrestler Crusher Maedomari would be interviewed for Hochi Sports on January 19, 2024 about Atsushi Onita celebrating his 50th anniversary in pro-wrestling this April, where she would state that Onita had taken care of so many of his FMW children and made their dreams come true, and the fact that some of those children got together and kicked Onita out of his own company in 1998 was a terrible act.

Gannosuke saw this comment and criticized Maedomari for that statement because it was aimed towards both Shoichi Arai and Hayabusa who were the two main people in deciding that Atsushi Onita was hurting FMW more than helping it and he needed to leave and they had passed away and were not able to defend themselves for their decision. Gannosuke was one of almost all the FMW wrestlers that were in agreement that Onita needed to leave the company and was present for when Arai told Onita that he would no longer be working for FMW.

As someone who has followed FMW as closely as pretty much anyone not having worked there, I am in agreement with the Hayabusa/Arai side that Onita had to go. 1998 FMW was not 1994 FMW. The company had changed directions, Onita while still over, was not as over, but was still requesting to be paid like he still as over in 1994 when the company wasn't making the same amount of profits with him on the shows, and he was causing so many headaches to the point that FMW owner Shoichi Arai who everybody has labeled him as one of the nicest people ever in the business ended up choosing death over reconciling with Onita due to the frustrations that Onita had caused him after returning back to wrestling in 1996.

Hochi Sports would then did an interview with Atsushi Onita and asked him about Tarzan Goto leaving FMW in 1995. Onita would state that it would have been easier for Onita to retire and leave FMW to his long time friend Tarzan Goto, but it was not that simple. Onita stated that Goto was stubborn and a single-minded man. Onita trusted him with the training the wrestlers, but Onita stated he feared that him retiring would give Goto all the power to do whatever he wanted. Onita stated that he wanted to make a system where the wrestlers would be allowed to express their opinions to Goto. This is essentially Onita as the father telling the wrestlers as the kids, "kids if you have issues with mom's rules, then challenge her about it, because I have been on bad terms with her anyway lately and I am leaving the house soon regardless."

Onita then stated that Gannosuke and Akihito Ichihara who were in the meeting about the system being created which Goto was not apart of went to Goto and told him about it. Onita stated that he can't believe Gannosuke and Ichihara who both left FMW encouraged Goto to leave and then would eventually return to FMW two years later anyway. They were the reasons that Goto left and then came back anyway, with Onita stating that Ichihara would later apologize to Onita about it. Onita would state that he made peace with Goto and even worked his Shin-FMW promotion in 2009 and 2010 and while he was never paid for working the shows, which Onita stated he didn't care about, things ended up going wrong again between him with Goto and there was never another reconciliation between the two before Goto passed away in 2022.

Onita then brought up Hayabusa and felt he was the next generation ace and that he needed to be passed the baton over Goto as if Goto would have been made the ace of the company following Onita's retirement then Hayabusa would have been made the top heel and that wasn't something Onita wanted to do, so it was Onita's decision to pass the baton to Hayabusa instead and make him the ace. Onita also stated that while he was out of action in 1993 due to sepsis, that he saw how poor the Korakuen Hall shows did without him and it rattled him making him believe that Goto could not carry FMW on his shoulders as the ace as he was just not good enough and that Hayabusa would be. Onita says he stated to Goto that he wanted to make Hayabusa the ace, that Goto rejected what Onita was saying and told him that he would destroy Hayabusa if he became the ace. Onita stated that Goto was jealous and that Hayabusa was the only one that could replace him as the ace of FMW.

Gannosuke responded back to Onita on his YouTube channel reading the interview on his phone and commenting back. Gannosuke would state it was true that Onita had announced to the locker room he was coming up with a system that would allow the wrestlers to express their opinions about Tarzan Goto which Gannosuke felt was contradictory and strange to just allow the wrestlers to be able to go up to the man in charge of making the rules and challenge him. It would undermine Goto and Onita waited until he was retiring and leaving to come up with it. Gannosuke stated that this idea by Onita was actually the reason that Gannosuke was going to quit which eventually lead to Goto following him.

Gannosuke stated that Onita's words are what made him quit FMW and that has made Onita in his mind believe that Gannosuke was the perpetrator and the one who lied to Goto to get him to quit with him. Onita believes that Gannosuke and Ichihara went up to Goto to get him to quit FMW that day and Goto was not grasping the full story as when Goto confronted Onita about everything, Goto asked Onita if he was kicking Goto out of FMW which Onita stated was not the case.

Gannosuke stated Onita was lying as Gannosuke did not try and convince Goto to quit FMW. Gannosuke stated that he along with Goto, Ichihara, and Katsutoshi Niiyama all had a sit down meeting with Shoichi Arai on April 23, 1995 right before a Korakuen Hall show with Arai stating that he was going to follow Onita's orders and have the system that Onita had in place for Goto with Gannosuke not wanting to leave until FMW until that meeting where he got up and said he was going back home and at the moment was planning on leaving the wrestling business in general. Goto then got up and said "if you are going to quit, then so am I" and Ichihara followed them with Niiyama deciding to stay.

Gannosuke also stated that Onita was lying about Tarzan Goto rejecting Hayabusa being the future ace of the company and that he would crush him as Gannosuke stated he was around Goto all day, every day during that time period and would lunch and dinner with him and he never heard Goto one time say anything like that about Hayabusa. Gannosuke then stated it was Onita who destroyed Hayabusa. He's the one that came back and got in the way of Hayabusa's ace path when no one else wanted it. Gannosuke felt it was terrible that Onita was doing all this because Goto and Hayabusa are no longer with us to challenge what Onita was saying.

Gannosuke did state he respects Onita and owes him a debt of gratitude for being the reason he was in the business and then commented on Gannosuke and Ichihara coming back to FMW in 1997 stating that Go Ito had called him asking him to come back so he did. Gannosuke stated that nobody besides Mr. Pogo wanted Onita to come back, as he came back on his own.

Gannosuke asked Onita to stop telling lies and embellishing everything and if he had any issues with Gannosuke's response to his lies for him to address it with Gannosuke and they can have a separate discussion. Gannosuke then ended the video by showing a clip of one of my favorite segments in FMW where Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura who were in Onita's ZEN heel group came up to him upset over Onita switching their match against Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki on December 19, 1997 from the main event to the semi-main event making Onita vs. Masato Tanaka go on last instead. Gannosuke would begin screaming at Onita, with Onita screaming right back at him and Kanemura giving Onita one of the best death stares I have ever seen. Gannosuke stated afterwards that his passion that day was real as all his years of frustrations about Onita came out in front of the camera while keeping with a storyline that would eventually lead to Gannosuke turning on Onita three days later. Click here for the Onita/Gannosuke backstage confrontation.

Hochi Sports did write a retraction article following Gannosuke's YouTube video including all of Gannosuke's points in response to Onita which Gannosuke stated he was thankful for them doing. Onita responded by not specifically referencing Gannosuke by name but his post on Twitter stated "Have we become a world where people are okay with being raised by an organization and then betraying it? It's disgusting but I can't help but laugh."

This is my opinion on the situation. There was a break in the long time Onita/Goto friendship towards the end right before Onita was to retire. The wrestlers minus Gannosuke, Ichihara, and possibly Niiyama were frustrated with Goto and the rules he was making and there was a fear that Goto would have complete and total control as the ace of the company after Onita retired. It would be his show and was he really fit for the show to be based around him? Everything that Goto did afterwards in the business wise in regards to making good money points to no.

Goto was not liked by most of the wrestlers. Onita knew this and because of his friendship being pretty much over with Goto at this point sided with the wrestlers in making sure that Goto would not have complete power once Onita was gone. This did undermine Goto though and Gannosuke got so upset by the disrespect towards his mentor that when he decided to quit, and Goto couldn't just let his student quit over him and not quit also.

Gannosuke in a sense called out Onita for his plan that was disrespectful towards Goto and that upsets Onita. I don't think Onita made the wrong decision either though, as FMW under Hayabusa was the better long term decision for FMW which is also probably also why Arai went with Onita's decision because he had always loved Hayabusa and always saw the potential in him and Hayabusa at the time brought much more potential as a game changer than Goto who had just been a solid number two.

There here was going to be an issue with Hayabusa being the ace he needed to be with Tarzan Goto still being in the company. In the end it although there were definite hard times which was going to be the case running FMW without Onita anyway, in the end it did start to finally work and pay off with Hayabusa as the ace instead of Goto, until Onita decided he wanted to come back 18 months later and created the same problem that Goto and Hayabusa was going to be. Like most arguments, it's a complex situation, then you add in that all this was almost 30 years ago, and one of the people telling his side is Onita who is going to feel he is right regardless if he is or not because he's Onita.

Atsushi Onita wrestled his first match of the year on January 14, 2024 for DDT at the Yokohama Tsurumit Fruit and Vegetable Market where he would team up with Toy Kojima to challenge for the All Asian Tag Team Titles against Yukio Sakaguchi and Hideki Okatani in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat and Exploding Board Death Match. Onita would go after Okatani at first and brawl in the crowd and smash a can over Okatani's head. Onita and Okatani would make it back in the ring where Onita would Okatani a horrible looking stunner before Sakaguchi would come in to make the save and begin squaring off against Onita. Okatani would come over and place Onita on the chair as Sakaguchi would turn on the exploding bat and hit Onita across the chest with it. Kojima would come in to make the save and end up hitting Sakaguchi with the barbed wire bat himself. Kojima would then turn on the exploding barbed board and take Okatani up the turnbuckle but Sakaguchi would come over and powerbomb Kojima into the exploding barbed wire board with Onita making the save and spitting green mist in Okatani's face and smash a chair over his head. Onita and Kojima would then activate both exploding bats and hit both Sakaguchi and Okatani with them as Kojima would cover Okatani to get the win at 11 minutes, 36 seconds for Onita to win his third reign as All Asian Tag Team Champion. Click here to watch the Onita/Kojima vs. Sakaguchi/Okatani 1/14/24 match.

Atsushi Onita would then return to All Japan on January 27, 2024 at the Tokyo Hachioji Esforta Arena where he would team up with Great Kojika and Raijin Yaguchi against Mr. Pogo, Onryo, and Takumi Sakurai in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bats Death Match. Onita would go after Pogo right away with Onita knocking Pogo down with a headbutt. Onryo would then get on the turnbuckle to turn on the exploding bat with Onita trying but failing to stop him as Pogo would hit Kojika over the back with the bat. Pogo would then wrap a chain around Kojika with him and Onryo pulling at it before Onryo would turn on the exploding bat and try to hit Kojika with it, but Onita would jump in front of Kojika just in time and take the bat shot himself instead. This would allow Kojika to grab a chair and hit Sakurai, Onryo, and Pogo over the head with it, but Pogo would grab Kojika who would kick him low. Onryo would then throw powder in Kojika's face. Pogo would then grab a hold of Onita as Onryo would go to swing his bat at Onita, but Onita would spit green mist in Onryo's face and turn on the exploding bat and hit Onryo with it and cover him at 10 minutes, 10 seconds for the pinfall. Onita and Kojika would hug afterwards. Click here to watch Onita/Kojika/Yaguchi vs. Pogo/Onryo/Sakurai 1/27/24.

Although when Atsushi Onita originally announced his one year 50th Anniversary tour starting in April 2023 he announced that the goal was to conclude with a show in May at Kawasaki Stadium. Like every time Onita has tried to get Kawasaki Stadium booked, it was just a dream. Even though Hikaru Sato is able to get Kawasaki booked every year and runs shows with very low attendance, Onita or FMW-E still can not get the building booked. The 50th Anniversary show for Onita will be on April 14th at the Yokohama Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetables Market. It will be promoted by FMW-E and it is the 50th anniversary date that Onita made his debut in pro-wrestling back in 1974. Sadly, this last show at Onita main eventing one last Kawasaki Stadium show on May 5th looks to just be another dream of his.

Atsushi Onita will also return back to America in April to coincide with WrestleMania 40 taking place in Philadelphia as Onita will renew his feud with Bully Ray Dudley from two years ago for the Battleground Championship Wrestling promotion on April 5, 2024 at the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia as Onita will team up with a Mystery Partner to take on Bully Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley.

FREEDOMS first show of the year would be on January 3, 2024 where they would announce a crowd of 266 fans for the show. The main event would be Masashi Takeda, Jun Kasai, and Daisuke Masaoka taking on Violento Jack, Crazy King, and Takayuki Ueki with Ueki getting the win over Masaoka at 16 minutes, 8 seconds after a Death Valley Bomb and then challenging Takeda for a King of Freedom World Championship Match at the February 8th Korakuen Hall show.

Minoru Fujita and Takahiro Katori would defeat Toru Sugiura and Dragon Libre after Katori would pin Libre at 13 minutes, 51 seconds with a Luna Cult. Rina Yamashita would defeat Brown Rat Fukki at 6 minutes, 8 seconds with a Samson Clutch.

Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox would defeat Takashi Sasaki, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and Kengo with Masaoka pinning Sasaki at 8 minutes, 14 seconds with a 2trap. Masaoka would get on the mic and proclaim that he beat the producer of FREEDOMS in Sasaki and that he could put on a better show himself as producer. Sasaki stated if that he thought that was the case, then he would give Masaoka permission to promote his own show under the FREEDOMS banner. The Jun Masaoka promoted show will take place on March 10th before the FREEDOMS show that day in Shin-Kiba.

Mammoth Sasaki and GENTARO would defeat Rekka and HAKKA at 10 minutes, 19 seconds when Mammoth would get the win with the 29 Years Old. Mammoth will be turning 50 years old this July. Just three years away from being able to call it the 53 Years Old. The opening match saw Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kyu Mogami defend the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles after defeating Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei at 7 minutes, 22 seconds for the first time with the Ressentiment. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 1/3/24 show.

FREEDOMS would promote their first Osaka show of the year on January 8, 2024 at the Hirano Ward Citizen Hall. Usually Kamui releases DVDs of the Osaka shows he puts on, but FREEDOMS DVD sales have rapidly declined over the last couple of years and the Bloody Halloween show he promoted in October still has not been released as a DVD, so it doesn't look good that this show will ever end up being released either. They would announce a crowd of 232 fans for the show. The main event would be Jun Kasai and Daisuke Masaoka defeating Violento Jack and Crazy King in a Caribbean Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with Masaoka finally getting a win over his former tag team partner Jack at 16 minutes, 37 seconds with a Rokura. The semi-main event would see the former Mammoth Busters team of Toru Sugiura and Mammoth Sasaki defeat Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita when Mammoth would pin Fujita at 13 minutes, 33 seconds with a 29 Years Old in a Weapons Death Match. Takayuki Ueki and Toshiyuki Sakuda would defeat Takashi Sasaki and HAKKA when Ueki would make HAKKA tap out at 15 minutes, 49 seconds with a barbed wire bat Camel Clutch in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match. Gunso and Brown Rat Fukki would defeat GENTARO and Idea when Fukki would pin Idea at 9 minutes, 14 seconds with a Package Piledriver. Takahiro Katori would defeat Gaia Hox at 8 minutes, 5 seconds with a Luna Cult. The opening match would see Jun Masaoka and Yuya Susumu defeat Dragon Libre and Tetsuya Goto at 10 minutes, 13 seconds when Masaoka would pin Goto with the Ambitions.

FREEDOMS would then return to Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on January 18, 2024 and announce a crowd of 161 fans for the show. The main event would be Masashi Takeda and Daisuke Masaoka taking on Violento Jack and Takayuki Ueki in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Weapons Death Match.

Takeda and Ueki would fight over a stack of light tubes with Takeda head butting the tubes breaking them over Ueki's head. Takeda would charge at Ueki but Ueki would deliver a drop top hold bringing Takeda down head first into Jack's knee in the corner. Ueki would then grab Takeda and bring him head first with a light tube into a board. Takeda would come back and manage to double suplex Ueki and Jack at the same time, but when he would go to break a light tube over Ueki with his knee he would get picked up and hit with a Death Valley Bomb and covered for the pin at 16 minutes, 36 seconds for the ERE win to setup their upcoming Korakuen match.

The semi-main event would be Jun Kasai teaming up with Takashi Sasaki and Minoru Fujita to take on Crazy King, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Brown Rat Fukki in a Barbed wire Board Death Match. ERE would take turns on Kasai including the barbed wire from the barbed wire board getting attached to Kasai followed by Fukki hitting a Reverse Tiger Driver on Kasai with Sasaki and Fujita making the save for Kasai. Sakuda would then deliver a drop kick sending Sasaki and Fujita outside the ring as Crazy King with deliver a spinning top con hilo onto everyone outside the ring. Fukki would go for a lariat, but would miss and receive a punch in the face by Kasai followed by a Reverse Tiger Driver and then a Cross Arm Stimulation to score the pin at 15 minutes, 4 seconds over Fukki. Crazy King would then attack after the match and stick Skewers in Kasai's head and drop Kasai on his head with the skewers still stuck in his head to setup a singles match between the two on February 8th at Korakuen Hall.

Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Takahiro Katori would take on the team of Mammoth Sasaki and Dragon Libre with Takaiwa putting away Libre at 12 minutes, 3 seconds with the Death Valley Bomb for the win. Kengo would end up defeating GENTARO and Kyu Mogami in a Three Way Match where Kengo would end up pinning GENTARO at 7 minutes, 13 seconds with a Backslide as it would look to setup a possible future match up with Kengo against Mogami. The opening match would see Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox defeating Toru Sugiura, Rekka, and HAKKA when Hox would get the win at 8 minutes, 25 seconds with the Vanishing Shift on Rekka. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 1/18/24 show.

FREEDOMS ran their first Korakuen Hall show of the year on February 8, 2024 where they would announce a crowd of 492 fans for the show. The main event would be Masashi Takeda defending his King of Freedom World Championship in a Barefoot Fluorescent Light Tubes and Thumbtacks Death Match against Takayuki Ueki.

Ueki would end up dropping Takeda bare foot first onto a light tube breaking it with Takeda screaming in pain. Ueki would then take a bucket of thumbtacks and drop them down and try to drop Takeda on them but Takeda would take Ueki down into the thumbtacks, but when he would jump at Ueki he would move and Takeda would go feet first into the thumbtacks. Ueki and Takeda would then begin fighting over a light tube with both of them headbutting it and breaking it over each others head. Takeda would manage to drop Ueki on the thumbtacks and toss a light tube at Ueki with Ueki catching it and Takeda giving a round house punch breaking the light tube over Ueki's head. Takeda would then deliver a rolling senton followed by a Reverse U Crash on a light tube and the thumbtacks to get the win at 19 minutes, 59 seconds to win and defend his King of Freedom World Championship Championship for the first time. Takeda would also win Ueki's personal cardboard barefoot title but declare he didn't want the title and would throw it up in the air and vacate the title. Takeda would later state that he would be walking funny the next day when bringing his daughter to school after having stepped on thumbtacks and glass through out the match.

The semi-main event would be a Razor Cross Board and Bamboo Skewer Cross Board Death Match between Jun Kasai and Crazy King with King blocking Kasai trying to hit him over the head with the razor cross board so Kasai would headbutt it against King's head instead. Kasai would then deliver a lariat to Crazy and then go to put the skewers in Crazy King's head but King would grab them from Kasai and put them in his own head instead and hit Kasai with a Death Valley Driver and a piledriver off the ropes. Crazy would then try to drop Kasai onto skewers in the ring but Kasai would back drop Crazy on them instead and then hit a Pearl Harbor Splash and finish King with a Cross Arm Stimulation to get the win at 13 minutes, 32 seconds in the bloody match.

Daisuke Masaoka would face off against Yusaku Ito in a Barbed wire Board Death Match. Ito would set up a stack of chairs and then hit a Tiger Driver off the chairs sending Masaoka's head against a chair. Ito would then setup a barbed wire board over Masaoka's body and go up to the top but Masaoka would get up and send Ito through the barbed wire board off the top rope. Ito and Masaoka would end up headbutting one another with Ito getting up and charging at Masaoka, but Masaoka would catch him and hit a Tornado Clutch to get the win at 10 minutes, 6 seconds with the former DEP partners from a year ago going head to head against one another before giving each other the middle fingers before leaving.

Violento Jack, Toshiyuki Sakuda, Brown Rat Fukki, and Kyu Mogami would end up defeating Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, Minoru Fujita, and Takahiro Katori when Jack would get the win at 9 minutes, 45 seconds with a Artouran on Katori in a Hardcore Match. Tatsuhito Takaiwa and GENTARO would defeat Rekka and HAKKA when GENTARO would pick up the pinfall at 10 minutes after hitting a Backdrop on Rekka. The opening match would be Toru Sugiura, Kengo, and Takahiro Katori defeating Jun Masaoka, Yuya Susumu, and Gaia Hox when Katori would pin Hox at 9 minutes, 53 seconds with a Leg Roll Clutch for the win to setup Katori as a future challenger for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title. Click here for highlights of the FREEDOMS 2/8/24 Korakuen Hall show.

FREEDOMS would run at the Yokohama Radiant Hall on February 17, 2024 and announce a crowd of 157 fans for the show. The main event would be Jun Kasai, Daisuke Masaoka, Minoru Fujita, and Takahiro Katori taking on Violento Jack, Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, amd Kyu Mogami in a Hardcore Elimination Match. The first elimination would be the ERE teaming up on Fujita before Mogami would eliminate him with a Brainbuster for the elimination. Masaoka would then end up drop kicking Ueki into Mogami who would fall to the outside for the elimination. Ueki would then eliminate Masaoka with a Death Valley Bomb. Kasai would manage to eliminate Sakuda by hitting him with a ladder knocking him off of the apron for the outside elimination, but then Jack would shove Kasai off the apron for the outside elimination on him. This would lead Takahiro Katori against Jack and Ueki. Jack and Ueki would punish Katori until Katori would manage to roll up Ueki out of nowhere for the elimination. This would leave just Jack and Katori with Jack looking to powerbomb Katori over the top but Katori would deliver a hurricanrana sending Jack over the top for the elimination at 20 minutes, 50 seconds for the FREEDOMS win. This win would build up Katori as he looks to challenge Jun Masaoka for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title.

The semi-main event would see Masashi Takeda, Takashi Sasaki, and Rina Yamashita defeat Brown Rat Fukki, Brahman Shu, and Brahman Kei when Yamashita would pin Kei at 10 minutes, 45 seconds with a Schoolboy. Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox would defeat Toru Sugiura and Dragon Libre when Hox would pin Libre at 14 minutes, 54 seconds with the Vanishing Shift. Yusaku Ito would defeat Kengo at 11 minutes, 2 seconds with a Bonno Driver. The opening match would see Yuya Susumu, Rekka, and HAKKA defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and GENTARO when Rekka would pin GENTARO at 7 minutes, 40 seconds with the Daizanto for the win. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 2/17/24 show.

Jun Masaoka announced the lineup for his promoted FREEDOMS show earlier in the day on March 10, 2024 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. This show is similar is the old FLYDOM Jr. Heavyweight sub-promotion that FREEDOMS did years ago. The main event will be Dragon Libre taking on Dragon Gate's Kagetora. Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox will take on Yuya Susumu and a mystery partner who I am hoping will be Seiki Yoshioka. Daisuke Masaoka and Takahiro Katori will take on Van Vert Negro and Van Vert Jack. Kengo will take on Keisuke Goto and the opening match will be Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, and Toru Sugiura taking on Keiichi Sato, TiiDA, and Donguri Fujie.

The FMW Independent Title was originally designed for Atsushi Onita to come out with it as a replacement for the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Title for his May 5, 1995 Kawasaki Stadium Retirement show. The belt was not ready though, so Onita ended up coming out with the original Brass Knuckles Title that had been been around since 1993. I don't know when exactly the newly designed belt was finished, but it was a whole year later when the new belt was introduced with the World Brass Knuckles Champion words on the belt which still confuses people to this day. The belt was called the FMW Independent Heavyweight Title and a 8 man single elimination tournament was held in the summer of 1996 with W*ING Kanemura defeating Masato Tanaka on August 1, 1996 for the belt. This meant there were two champions in FMW and the promotion decided to make things simpler to just unify the belts and thus FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion The Gladiator would defeat W*ING Kanemura for the Independent Title on December 11, 1996 becoming the first FMW Double Titles Champion. The two belts would go together until Kodo Fuyuki would become the last FMW Double Titles Champion and Fuyuki who never liked either the Brass Knuckles or Independent belts and wanted his own designed belt would give the Independent Title to Mr. Gannosuke on May 18, 1999 at a press conference breaking up the belts.

Masato Tanaka would end up defeating Mr. Gannosuke for the Independent Title on August 20, 1999 and then defend the title on August 25, 1999 against Yukihiro Kanemura symbolizing Tanaka vs. Kanemura being the match to determine the first champion and last champion. The title would never be seen again after August 25, 1999 as Fuyuki would debut his new WEW Title the following month. I asked Tanaka the last champion if he knew anything about the belts since the final FMW 6 Man Street Fight Tag Team Champions got to just keep the belts after they were retired in 1998. Tanaka stated he had no clue of what happened to the belt. I was told by someone back in 1999 that both the Brass Knuckles and Independent Titles were auctioned off pretty soon after they were last seen. I would believe that since I have never seen anything about the belts ever again in the last nearly 25 years, but I was going to the FMW website every day back then and never saw any mention of the belts being auctioned off back then and all the wrestlers have no clue what happened to the belts. There has been no sign of anything about them, so whoever in Japan did end up getting them ended up just keeping them privately for themselves. So having an exact replica of this beautiful belt that I have in my display case with my white Hayabusa jacket will have to do for now in regards to keeping the history of this beautiful belt alive.

I just wanted to give a little bit of an update on me. I am doing somewhat better. This update was much easier than the last update to write. It was incredibly difficult to do the last update as wrestling has just been one of the last things on my mind as of late and I had to keep it short. I am still struggling with anxiety over just some really traumatic stuff going on in my life, but I am working on getting back on track and hope to have the passion for all of this soon enough. I have been running this website for 25 years now, and I have been saying this for years now, but I really don't know how much longer I am going to keep up doing at least this type of news update. I guess we will see how I feel once I am able to get back to normal. I do like writing about the history of FMW and wonder if that would be something suitable as a replacement of just writing about FMW stories similar to the Onita/Gannosuke top story in this update and then just shortening the FREEDOMS section as that tends to be where a huge amount of the time in doing these updates. It will be something I will need to think about. Thanks to all that have reached out to me over the last couple of months though, I know what I have pretty much given up half my life to is a pretty niche thing, but I am happy that I have been able to make so many other people happy by talking about a bunch of wrestlers that I love.

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW-E/Production Shows News 2023 (January - December 2023)

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW-E/Production Shows News 2022 (January - December 2022)

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW-E/Production Shows News 2021 (January - December 2021)

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW Misc./Production Shows News 2020 (January - December 2020)

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW Misc./Production Shows News 2019 (January - December 2019)

FREEDOMS/A-Team/FMW Misc./Production Shows News 2018 (January - December 2018)

FREEDOMS/Super Battle FMW/Onita & Production Shows News 2017 (January - December 2017)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS/Super Battle FMW & Production Shows News 2016 (January - December 2016)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS/Super Battle FMW & Production Shows News 2015 (January - December 2015)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS/Onita & Production Shows News 2014 (January - December 2014)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS & Production Shows News 2013 (January - December 2013)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS & Production Shows News 2012 (January - December 2012)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS & Production Shows News 2011 (January - December 2011)

FREEDOMS& Production Shows News 2010 (January - December 2010)

Apache Army/FREEDOMS & Production Show News 2009 (January - December 2009)

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

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

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