Added: 9/1

NOAH would run their final Wrestle Magic show at Korakuen Hall on June 15, 2026 with Alejandro bringing in his own team of masked wrestlers with the likes of Hayabusa, The Great Sasuke, Tsubasa, and finally Ultimo Dragon to take on the former Tokyo Gurentai now called Escandalo team in MAZADA, Minoru Fujita, Shuji Kondo, brother YASSHI, and Takuya Sugawara with NOSAWA Rongai in their corner. Hayabusa would help with Sasuke early on and hold down Fujita as Sasuke would do a somersault splash onto him on the outside. Hayabusa would eventually get tagged in and deliver a swanton and quebrada combo onto brother YASSHI before everyone would hit the ring with Escandalo would begin trying to rip off everybody's mask with YASSHI trying to rip Hayabusa's mask before they would all give up. The entire mask team would then end up taking a Escandalo member and throw them into each other as they would place them in a leg lock with Dragon delivering a hurricarana onto YASSHI for a two count. Hayabusa and Alejandro would then team up to deliver a double rope conhilo onto the entire Escandalo team before Dragon would end up rolling YASSHI with a La Magistral to get the win at 9 minutes, 33 seconds for the mask team. This was a more of a tribute than a match but it was fun and the fans enjoyed it as well.

Hayabusa's first match of the Fire Festival Tournament would take place on June 13, 2026 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring against Katsuhiko Nakajima. This would be a rematch of their March 20, 2027 match at Shin-Kiba that saw Nakajima get the win. Nakajima would lay a boot to the face with Hayabusa going down and coming back with a kip up but missing the drop kick by being too short. Nakajima would try for a running kick that Hayabusa would duck and manage to hit the dropkick sending Nakajima out of the ring as Hayabusa would deliver a tope con hilo.

They would get back in the ring with Nakajima hitting a spinning heel kick and then a back drop with Hayabusa going to the outside. Nakajima would go outside and deliver a kick in the stands and then throw Hayabusa head first into the turnbuckle. They would get back in the ring with Nakajima delivering more kicks and then send Hayabusa into the ropes but he would come back with a handspring kick followed by coming off the top for an face crusher and then a swanton bomb and quebrada combo. Hayabusa would then go up to the top with Nakajima getting up as well and hitting a spinning heel kick to knock Hayabusa back down to the mat.

They would get up and both begin exchanging kicks to one another with Nakajima getting the better end of it. Nakajima would try for a back drop but Hayabusa would avoid it and deliver a suplex to Nakajima but again would fight back with kicks and lift up Hayabusa but Hayabusa would manage to deliver a poisonrana to him and then avoid a kick and deliver his own superkick multiple times followed by a Tiger Driver and then a Fire Bird Splash with Nakajima kicking out and then debut a new Wrist Clutch Falcon Arrow to get the win at 19 minutes, 43 seconds to earn his first two points in the tournament and the biggest win in 2026. This was okay, it picked up a little at the end, but Nakajima was so kick happy during this match it never really could go to another level. **. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 6/13/26

Hayabusa's next Fire Festival Tournament match would take place on July 4, 2026 at the Osaka Azalea Taiso Hall against Koji Doi. The first part of the match would see Doi work over Hayabusa's arm to utter silence from the crowd before working on his neck. Hayabusa would fight back and they against exchange strikes to a quiet crowd. Doi would charge after Hayabusa with moving out of the way and Doi going over the top with Hayabusa delivering a tope con hilo on Doi to finally get the crowd to react to something. Hayabusa would throw Doi back in and hit hit swanton and quebrada combo before getting Doin in an armlock with Doi getting his foot on the rope. Hayabusa would try for a Falcon Arrow, but Doi instead would pick Hayabusa up and place him on his shoulders for a firemans carry before placing him in a Crossface with Hayabusa making it to the ropes. Doi would get Hayabusa on the turnbuckle and tossing him off onto the mat but Hayabusa would get up instantly and superkick Doi with Doi getting up and hitting a German Suplex with Hayabusa getting up instantly and hitting a spinning heel kick. Doi would then get up and nail Hayabusa with a lariat.

They would both get up and Doi would charge at Hayabusa and be met with an H Edge followed by a Moonsault and then a Falcon Arrow with Doi kicking out at two. Hayabusa would then slam Doi and go up to the top for a Firebird Splash with Doi getting his knees up although Hayabusa would make it back to his feet first and deliver Doi with a superkick, but as he was trying for a Wrist Clutch Falcon Arrow he would be overpowered by Doi who would pick him up and deliver a Brainbuster and then nail Hayabusa with another lariat to get the win at 15 minutes, 43 seconds for Hayabusa's first Fire Festival loss. This was a chore to get through the first half and while it picked up a little towards the end, there was still so much no selling that I just can't stand. * 3/4

Hayabusa would appear for the DDT sub-promotion Super Japan Pro-Wrestling on July 6, 2026 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE against Ganbare's Ken Ohka. Ohka would jump Hayabusa right at the start and throw him and begin brawling with him into the crowd and where they would up brawling on a table with Ohka DDTing Hayabusa onto it before getting back to ringside with Hayabusa grabbing Ohka on his shoulders and dropping him on his face as Hayabusa would run back into the ring and hit a tope con hilo on Ohka. Ohka would come back in the ring bloody with Hayabusa working on Ohka's cut before delivering the swanton bomb and quebrada combo and hitting a Fisherman Suplex.

Hayabusa would then go up to the top but Ohka would climb up as well and be met with a head butt and suplex by Ohka. Ohka would pick up Hayabusa and deliver a Kamikaze and then nail Hayabusa with a spear for a two count. Hayabusa and Ohka would get up and exchange strikes with one another with Ohka giving Hayabusa headbutts but that would result in Hayabusa superkicking Ohka and hitting him with a Falcon Arrow and then follow that up with a Firebird Splash at 9 minutes, 6 seconds for the win. Ohka afterwards would begin dancing to his theme and include Hayabusa with his dance. Match started off hot with the brawl at the beginning and the crowd was into but the rest of the match was pretty basic. ** 1/2

Hayabusa's next Fire Festival Tournament match would take place on July 11, 2026 at the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square against Tsugataka Sato. Hayabusa and Sato would square up with Hayabusa smacking Sato right in the face before Sato would throw Hayabusa into the ropes and knock him down with a shoulder tackle with Hayabusa doing a kip up to dropkick Sato. Sato would get up and charge at Hayabusa with Hayabusa sending Sato out of the ring. Hayabusa would try for an Asai Moonsault but Sato would end up grabbing him by his legs and then throwing Hayabusa back first before focusing on the back with strikes followed with a suplex to Hayabusa on the outside. Sato would continue working on Hayabusa's back in the ring including putting him in a Crab Hold with Hayabusa having to grab the rope to break.

Hayabusa would fight back while selling his back pain by giving weak strikes to Sato before he would just deliver a forearm to Hayabusa's back. Sato would then deliver a hard strike to Hayabusa's face before then just repeatedly striking his back. Hayabusa would fight back by climbing up to the top and delivering a Tornado DDT sending both of them to the outside in a spot I did not expect to see him do. Hayabusa would then go back in the ring and deliver a tope con hilo to Sato and begin holding his back afterwards.

Hayabusa would bring Sato back in the ring and rush at him in the corner with Sato moving out of the way and hitting him a clothesline followed by a brainbuster with Hayabusa kicking out at two. Hayabusa would come back and deliver a Back Suplex with Sato coming right back and hitting him with a Back Suplex followed by Hayabusa hitting a spinning heel kick on Sato. Hayabusa would then deliver a hurricanrana off the top followed by a moonsault and then would go up to the top with Sato getting up and nailing a suplex off the top and covering with Hayabusa again kicking out.

Sato would then try to nail Hayabusa with a lariat but instead Hayabusa would pick him up for a Spanish Fly and then a Falcon Arrow but right as he would get up he would be met with a clothesline by Sato. They would begin exchanging strikes with one another with Sato getting a hard rolling elbow, but Hayabusa would counter that with a Superkick and an H Edge before going up to the top for a Fire Bird Splash with Sato moving out of the way. Sato would then nail Hayabusa with a German Suplex and then nail Hayabusa with two lariats to put him away at 19 minutes, 38 seconds for Hayabusa's second straight loss.

This would be Sato's first and only tournament victory. This would put Hayabusa in a hole being 1-2 with two more matches left in the tournament. This was better than the Sato as I liked the working on Hayabusa's lower back early on in the match, although they would end up abandoning it the second half the match. They were able to pick things up, but it was still just an okay match. ** 1/4. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa vs. Tsugataka Sato 7/11/26

Hayabusa would try and shake off the bad luck from earlier in the month as he would take on Big Japan's Daichi Hashimoto for the first time on July 25, 2026 at the Yokohama Radiant Hall. Hayabusa and Daichi would start off with chops and strikes with one another at an incredibly quick pace which would be a great way to start with the feel that Daichi was trying to big time Hayabusa with Hayabusa managing to keep up with him. Daichi would end up knocking Hayabusa down eventually with a strike before getting Hayabusa down with a shoulder tackle with Hayabusa kipping up and dropkicking Daichi outside the ring. Hayabusa would look to try for a tope con hilo but instead Daichi would come back in the ring and deliver a kick to Hayabusa.

Daichi would then begin working on Hayabusa's knee with a dragon screw and then kicks. Daichi would charge at Hayabusa with a shoulder tackle with Hayabusa again kipping up and drop kicking Daichi out of the ring and trying for an Asai Moonsault, but Daichi would move out of the way. Daichi would then begin attacking Hayabusa's injured knee with chair shots although the amount of heat for the crowd would be noticeably quiet by this point of the match. Daichi would get back in the ring and begin talking to Hayabusa and allow him to get up and strike him with elbows that would not phase Daichi before he would just drop kick Hayabusa's bad knee. Daichi would then tease taking off Hayabusa's mask off which would at least get some reaction from the crowd with boo's before throwing him to the ropes with Hayabusa's injured knee making him collapse before he run into the turnbuckle.

Daichi would then charge with a clothesline with Hayabusa moving out of the way and delivering a kick to Daichi and then throwing him into the turnbuckle and coming off the top with a face crusher followed by the swanton and quebrada combo spot for two. Hayabusa would look to setup Daichi with a Falcon Arrow, but Daichi would end up reversing it with Hayabusa managing to block it and land on his feet but then just collapse to the ground as Daichi would nail Hayabusa with a kick. Daichi would go to the ropes, but Hayabusa would be met with a kick and then try for a Falcon Arrow, but it would be Daichi that would hit him with one instead as Daichi would then try to hit another one, but then he would be met with a Falcon Arrow from Hayabusa instead. Both would would take turns striking one another as Daichi would go for a clothesline and be met with an H Edge and then a Tiger Driver. Hayabusa would then go up to the top and try for a Firebird Splash with Daichi moving out of the way and hitting Hayabusa with a Shining Wizard and getting a two count before placing Hayabusa in the STF with Hayabusa managing to grab the ropes for a break.

Daichi would then begin delivering kicks to Hayabusa across the chest before Hayabusa would manage to block one and deliver a superkick, although when he would try to hit him with a German Suplex he would be rolling into an ankle lock by Daichi with Hayabusa managing to roll out of it and hit a moonsault on Daichi followed by successfully hitting the Firebird Splash on him and getting the three count for the win at 18 minutes, 24 seconds keeping Hayabusa alive in the tournament with four points.

The ending kind of came out of nowhere. I liked the match for Daichi acting like he didn't respect Hayabusa and it was a just good match overall but the lack of heat just was too noticeable here to say it was a match that stood out and needs to be watched. Hayabusa and Daichi would shake hands but then Daichi would begin attacking Hayabusa afterwards with Hayabusa getting some strikes in before as again they did a great job of acting like they really did not like each other here before closing it out by shaking hands which that did not need to happen. I wouldn't mind seeing this again, but I don't want to see anything at the Yokohama Radiant Hall again. ** 3/4

Hayabusa's final Fire Festival Tournament match would take place on July 26, 2026 at the Chiba Urayasu Oriental Tokyo Bay against Yuko Miyamoto. Hayabusa would enter into the show still mathematically alive but needing to win the match and hope for a Nakajima loss. The match would start early on with Miyamoto charging at Hayabusa with a shoulder tackle but Hayabusa would get up with a kip up and deliver a drop kick to a louder pop than anything from the previous day. Miyamoto would fight back with a kick to Hayabusa's knee and begin working on it as Hayabusa would try and fight back with strikes while selling the injured knee. Miyamoto would Hayabusa into the ropes with him coming back with a not so great looking handspring elbow although I think he was still trying to sell the knee when doing it which would send Miyamoto out of the ring.

Hayabusa would then deliver a tope con hilo although his leg would land on a empty chair in a spot that looked like it hurt. Hayabusa would throw Miyamoto in the ring and hit the senton and quebrada spot before rushing at Miyamoto and being met with a hurricanrana sending Hayabusa out of the ring with Miyamoto hitting a tope con hilo on Hayabusa in a really good spot.

Miyamoto would get Hayabusa back in the ring and hit him with a belly to back suplex followed by a lariat and then a moonsault with his knees landing on Hayabusa. Miyamoto would go up to the top and hit a moonsault before trying for a powerbomb with Hayabusa reversing that and hitting a hurricanrana followed by a Tiger Driver. Hayabusa would go up to the top and try for a Firebird Splash with Miyamoto moving out of the way and rolling him up with a La Magistral for two.

Miyamoto then charge at Hayabusa with a clothesline with Hayabusa catching his arm but Miyamoto would turn it into a Gannosuke Clutch for two. Miyamoto would then try and lift up Hayabusa, but Hayabusa would instead pick up Miyamoto and nail him with the Falcon Arrow followed by a Wrist Clutch Falcon Arrow to get the win over Miyamoto at 12 minutes, 11 seconds. I enjoyed this match as it was a much quicker pace than the Daichi match, and the crowd was so much better for this than in Yokohama. This match would keep Hayabusa alive in the tournament until the very next match as Nakajima would defeat Tsugataka Sato to advance to the finals in the B Block of the Fire Festival officially eliminating him from the chance to repeat. ***

Hayabusa not qualifying for the finals of the Fire Festival would mean he would be slotted into the royal rumble match on August 7, 2026 at Korakuen Hall with all the other Fire Festival tournament participants not making the finals. Hayabusa would enter in sixth and enter by going up to the top and delivering a flying missile dropkick to Junya Matsunaga and Tsugataka Sato. There would be a lot of Hayabusa just standing around during comedy spots before he and Matsunaga would team up and throw Kuma Arashi into the ropes but he would back with a flying press body press onto both of them. Hayabusa would again sit around and watch as Ryunosuke Nagai would end up eliminating Shuji Ishikawa and Junya Matsunaga leaving the final three of Hayabusa, Kuroshio Tokyo Japan, and Ryunosuke Nagai with Hayabusa and Kuroshio teaming up on Nagai.

Nagai would try to deliver a double clothesline with Hayabusa and Kuroshio moving out of the way and deliver a superkick to Nagai. Hayabusa would then hold on to Nagai as Kuroshio would go for a superkick with Nagai moving out of the way and Kuroshio connecting on Hayabusa. Nagai would then try to throw Kuroshio out but instead Kuroshio would toss him over the top leaving it to be Kuroshio and Hayabusa as the final two. Hayabusa would end up nailing Kuroshio with a Superkick followed by a Tiger Driver and then a Falcon Arrow but when Hayabusa would go to the top for the Firebird Splash he would end up missing as Kuroshio would move out of the way and get the pin over Hayabusa at 18 minutes, 24 seconds with an Okahoma Roll. Kuroshio would end up being presented with a $10,000 dollar check from Megumi Kudo for winning the rumble. Hayabusa would end up getting revenge by defeating Kuroshio on August 16th at the Shinjuku FACE for the Up Town promotion.

Hayabusa would make his Michinoku Pro debut on August 23, 2026 at the Kobe Sambo Hall teaming up with GAINA to take on Masato Tanaka and Taro Noashi. Hayabusa would start off against Nohashi with them doing mat work before tagging in Tanaka and GAINA who would face off with GAINA knocking Tanaka down with a shoulder tackle to a loud pop from the crowd. Nohashi would throw GAINA ou tof the ring and Hayabusa would come in and face off against Nohashi again with Tanaka coming in as well and doing double team moves on Hayabusa. Hayabusa and Nohashi would again face off with strikes against one another before GAINA would come in and help Hayabusa do a double shoulder tackle on Nohashi as Hayabusa would place Nohashi in a single leg crab with the crowd chanting for Nohashi as he would make it to the rope.

Hayabusa would tag in GAINA who would have control delivering a splash to Nohashi with the again the crowd all chanting for Nohashi before he would be met with a hard lariat from GAINA. GAINA would look to powerbomb Nohashi but he would turn it into a hurricanrana and make the tag to Tanaka who would hit a Tornado DDT to GAINA and the DDT and Stunner combo to both Hayabusa and GAINA. Tanaka would then nail both Hayabusa and GAINA with lariats with Nohashi coming back in the ring and hit a flying dropkick off the middle rope on Hayabusa. Nohashi would charge at Hayabusa but he would be met with a superkick causing him to exit the ring as Hayabusa would deliver a tope con hilo to the outside on Nohashi.

Everyone would begin brawling outside the ring with Nohashi setting Hayabusa up on a table and Tanaka would go up to the top but GAINA would knock Tanaka off the turnbuckle and get back in the ring and pickup Nohashi and give him an Awesome Bomb out of the ring through the table. The hard camera would be on the other side of the ring so it would not show how Nohashi landed through the table.

Nohashi would struggle to make it back in the ring before the count as GAINA would slam him and Hayabusa would hit a moonsault on him followed by GAINA coming off the top with a diving elbow and cover Nohashi for a two count. GAINA would then go up to the top with Tanaka climbing up as well and suplexing him off the turnbuckle as he would escape to the outside. Nohashi would then deliver an Asai Moonsault onto both Hayabusa and GAINA on the outside and bring GAINA back in the ring as they would square off with GAINA hitting a lariat on Nohashi followed by Hayabusa hitting him a Falcon Arrow and a Firebird Splash with Tanaka making the save.

GAINA would then nail Nohashi with a Last Ride Powerbomb and cover Nohashi with him kicking out to a good pop. GAINA would then go for another one but Nohashi would escape and Tanaka would nail him with an elbow followed by Nohashi delivering a drop kick to GAINA and hitting Hayabusa with a Back Suplex as Tanaka would hit GAINA with a Sliding D at the same time as a Nohashi dropkick. Nohashi would then go up to the top and deliver a diving headbutt and Tanaka hitting another Sliding D on him as Nohashi would go up to the top again and hit another flying headbutt to get the win at 21 minutes, 13 seconds in a really good match. Crowd was super into Nohashi as the hometown guy and all four worked well here. *** 1/2

Hayabusa's next most noticeable match will be for the Hamamatsu Mask Festival on September 6, 2026 in Shizuoka as he will once again team up with The Great Sasuke to take on Super Delfin and Andy Wu.

Masato Tanaka who would make it to the finals of the Fire Festival Tournament on August 7, 2026 at Korakuen Hall before losing to Katsuhiko Nakajima would end up getting nerve release surgery on his elbow on August 31, 2026 and announced that he will be out of action for the remainder of 2026 making it seem like the plan would be to return for January 2027. Edit 9/2 - ZERO1 announced that Masato Tanaka's nerve ending surgery on his elbows were a success on September 2nd. They also stated that he still plans to work the Megumi Kudo 40th Anniversary show on October 17th. It was Tanaka himself when announcing the surgery that he would be out the rest of the year due to it.

Atsushi Onita would return to the Sakai Project promotion on August 11, 2026 at the Osaka Sun Square Sakai. Onita would open the show entering the ring with a picture of Dory Funk, Jr. with a 10 bell salute in memory of Dory who passed away on August 4th at the age of 85. Dory's final match would be against Onita at Kawasaki Stadium on August 24, 2024 when Onita and Raijin Yaguchi took on Dory who was 83 at the time as well as Osamu Nishimura who also has since passed away as he was battling cancer during the time of the match.

Onita would end up teaming up with Hideaki Sumi, JADE, and Naoki Tanizaki to defeat the team of Shigehiro Irie, Hiroaki Taniguchi, Kenta Koyama, and Hirakata-san when Onita would pin Koyam ain a Barbed wire Jungle Death Match. CIMA would come out afterwards and finally accept Onita's challenge to a death match as it will take place for FMW-E in Osaka on November 23rd at the Osaka Sakai City Ohama Sumo Arena.

Onita would face off against CIMA in a six man street fight on August 22, 2026 in Osaka with Onita announcing that the six man match against CIMA will be an explosion match on November 23rd at the Ohama Sumo Arena.

FMW-E will also be returning to the Kawasaki Fujimi Park Center on October 25, 2026 and although it has not been made official, but it looks to be Atsushi Onita vs. The Great Sasuke in an explosion match although without it being made official it can always turn into a six man match eventually because of Onita preferring them then an actual singles match at this point. This would be the fifth match between Onita vs. Sasuke.

The most famous one took place on October 30, 1994 with Onita defeating Sasuke in an exploding ring match in Michinoku Pro. The next one would also take place at Michinoku Pro on September 23, 2003 in a Exploding Barbed wire Double Hell Death Match with Sasuke getting his one win over. The next two are forgotten as they were never released on video with Onita defeating Sasuke on May 15, 2016 for the Super Fireworks promotion in a Exploding Barbed wire Death Match and then their last one taking place on February 24, 2017 at Shin-Kiba in a Lumberjack Death Match. This would put Onita at 3-1 over Sasuke in their singles matches.

The Jun Kasai Death Match Carnival would begin on July 5, 2026 a the Osaka Active Square Daito drawing an announced 357 fans for the show. The main event would see Jun Kasai team up with Masashi Takeda and Mizuki Watase against Violento Jack, Takashi Sasaki, and Daiju Wakamatsu in a Fluorescent Light Tubes TLC Death Match.

The Kasai team would jump the Jack team before the bell with Kasai and Jack starting off in the ring with Kasai hitting a body press on Jack but Jack would pick up Kasai and throw him back first into the light tubes before they would clear the ring for Takeda and Sasaki with Takeda grabbing light tubes and smashing them over Sasaki's head before they would clear the ring of Wakamatsu and Watase. Wakamatsu would headbutt a stack of light tubes over Watase but Watase would come back and slam Wakamatsu on a set of light tubes as Kasai would come in and look to double suplex Wakamatsu when Jack would come in the ring and smash a light tube over both their heads. Wakamatsu would then begin repeatedly sending Kasai back first into the light tubes before slamming on another stack of them. Sasaki would then come in and take another stack of light tubes and kick them across Kasai's back before smashing light tubes over his head and cutting him open with the broken tubes.

Jack would come in and Kasai and they would exchange strikes with Jack getting the upper hand and slamming Kasai on another stack before working on Kasai's arm. Wakamatsu come in and headbutt the light tubes breaking them across Kasai's head followed by going up to the top and tossing light tubes at Kasai and coming off with a flying drop kick. Kasai would fight back and deliver a Reverse Tiger Driver to Wakamatsu and would tag in Takeda who would grab a stack of light tubes and rush right into Wakamatsu. Jack would then come in the ring with light tubes and Takeda would spear him and then toss a ladder back at Wakamatsu and then pull out scissors and begin stabbing him followed by placing a chair over the back of his head and smashing it. Takeda would then go up to the top of the ladder but Wakamatsu would get up and begin smashing the ladder and climb it up as well and headbutt Takeda and suplex Takeda off it. Sasaki would then come in and begin breaking light tubes across Takeda but as he would grab another light tube he would be met with a dropkick from Takeda.

Watase would then come in and grab a stack of light tubes and rush right into Sasaki with them and place the ladder over Sasaki and dive onto it. Watase would then go up top with Sasaki and deliver a legsweep off the top sending both of the back of their heads crashing against chairs. Jack would come in with Kasai and Watase double suplexing him and pulling out syringes and stick them in their foreheads instead of using it as a weapon. Watase would then hit a double foot stomp followed by Kasai hitting a Pearl Harbor Splash off the ladder but Jack would get up right away and hit Kasai with a brainbuster. Sasaki and Wakamatsu would then setup a table as Jack would hit a Package Piledriver off the apron sending Kasai though a table.

Sasaki would bring him back in the ring and Wakatsu would lay light tubes over him and hit a somersault on him with Kasai kicking out. Jack would then slam Kasai with a stack of light tubes and go for another Package Piledriver but Kasai would counter and punch Jack and then roll him up with the Gouin G MY WAY at 18 minutes, 38 seconds for the win. A lot happened in this match, it was never boring, it never went to another level though, but everyone really went all out for this match and it helped setup Kasai challenging Jack for the title at Korakuen. *** 1/2

The semi-main event would see Daisuke Masaoka and Kamui defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Takayuki Ueki in a Barbed wire Board Death Match when Kamui would roll up Sakuda at 20 minutes, 12 seconds with the Gannosuke Clutch for the win. Mammoth Sasaki would defeat Maori Kawashima at 9 minutes, 7 seconds with the 29 Years Old. Captain Grace and Shigehiro Irie would defeat Yuya Susumu and Idea when Irie would pick up the win at 9 minutes, 20 seconds over Idea with the Beast Bomber. Minoru Fujita and Tomoya Hirata would defeat Toru Sugiura and Reiya Igarashi when Fujita would roll up Igarashi at 13 minutes, 36 seconds with the Samson Clutch. The opening match would see Gaia Hox and Dyna Mido defeat GENTARO and Kaixa Zheng when Hox would pin Zheng at 11 minutes, 46 seconds with the Butterfly Effect for the win.

The Jun Kasai promoted Tokyo Death Match Carnival Volume 1 would take place on July 9, 2026 at Korakuen Hall announcing a crowd of 772 fans for the show. The main event would see Violento Jack defend his King of Freedom World Championship against Jun Kasai in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with light tubes on the mat.

Both would stomp all over the light tubes on the mat with Kasai being the first one to throw Jack into the light tubes but Jack would come back and pick up Kasai and just begin slamming his back repeatedly into light tubes before breaking a light tube and using it to cut him open and then legsweep Kasai's back into a broken can board and then smash a chair against the board over Kasai's back. Jack would pick up a stack of light tubes with Kasai tripping Jack and him falling into the light tubes giving Kasai the advantage. Kasai would grab a stack of light tubes, but Jack would manage to kick them breaking across Kasai's chest as Jack would pull out a stapler gun and staple a piece of paper to Kasai's head and deliver a DDT to Kasai with the paper still stapled to his head.

Jack would go up to the top and try for a swanton with Kasai moving out of the way as Kasai would grab a stack of light tubes and run them right into Jack's body. Kasai would then pull out a board of syringes and place it over Jack's body with the needles facing him as Kasai would go up to the top but Jack would get up and go up to the rope with Kasai giving him a lowblow and powerbombing Jack onto the syringe board followed by a Pearl Harbor Splash and cover with Jack kicking out. Kasai would then pull out a large ladder and bring it in the ring and nail Jack with a Reverse Tiger Driver followed by placing light tubes over Jack's body and hitting a Pearl Harbor Splash followed by a Stimulation Driver but Jack would again kick out.

Kasai would then try for a lariat but instead Jack would meet him with one instead and nail Kasai with a Package Piledriver on a stack of light tubes as Jack would then begin to climb up the ladder with Kasai smashing a light tube over Jack's head and suplexing Jack off the giant ladder with Jack getting up right away and smashing light tubes over his own head as Jack would out of nowhere would roll up Kasai for a two count and then both Jack and Kasai would begin striking one another with Jack giving Kasai a high kicks and pulling out more light tubes and dumping them on the mat with Kasai rolling up Jack on the light tubes for a two count. Jack would counter by hitting a uranage on a stack of light tubes and then finish Kasai off with the Jack Pack on a stack of light tubes for the win at 19 minutes, 51 seconds to successfully defend the King of Freedom World Championship for the sixth time.

This was one of the better Kasai vs. Jack matches as the matches their early matches, but the later half of their series has gotten a little stale over the last couple of years. They did a good job of doing new things here like including the syringes board and the giant ladder which all worked well for the match. The match never really got to that next level to be considered great, but it was still really good. *** 3/4. Click here for highlights of FREEDOMS 7/9/26 Korakuen Hall show

The semi-main event would see Toru Sugiura and Kyu Mogami taking on Daisuke Masaoka and Kamui in a Hardcore Match. Sugiura and Mogami would both lift up Masaoka but he would deliver a hurricanrana to both of them with Kamui coming off the top with a flying body press on Sugiura followed by grabbing a ladder and dropping it down on Sugiura. Masaoka would then rush at Mogami but he would pick up Masaoka and slam him followed by Sugiura hitting a running elbow at him before Mogami would hit Masaoka with the X Trail with Sugiura getting the cover at 16 minutes, 27 seconds for the win to setup Sugiura and Mogami as the number one contenders for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles.

Tomoya Hirata would end up defeating Takobutsu at 11 minutes, 11 seconds with a Argentine German Suplex in a Barbed wire Board Death Match to begin the build towards Hirata becoming the next challenger for the King of Freedom World Championship.

Takayuki Ueki would take on Mizuki Watase for the vacant Barefoot King Title in a Barefoot Toy Block Death Match with Watase doing a leg frog and landing feet first and feeling the pain. Watase would then lift up Ueki and he would also come falling down on the blocks barefooted. Watase would then go up to the top and hit a diving footstomp on Ueki and cover him to get the win at 9 minutes, 58 seconds to win the Barefoot King Title although Watase would not want it and would end up giving the title back to Ueki.

Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, and Daiju Wakamatsu would defeat Masashi Takeda, Aoi, and Crea when Wakamatsu would pin Crea at 11 minutes, 59 seconds with a Backachina Elbow Drop in a Weapons Death Match. Gaia Hox, Kengo, and Kaixa Zheng would defeat Yuya Susumu, GENTARO, and Reiya Igarashi with Hox pinning Igarashi at 6 minutes, 22 seconds with the F Drive. Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Kota Sekifuda in a Tokyo Desert Man on the verge of homeless Death Match when Shu would pin Sakuda at 7 minutes, 16 seconds with Nobody's Perfect.

The Jun Kasai Shin-Kiba Death Match Carnival Volume 1 would take place on July 30, 2026 announcing a crowd of 167 fans for the show. The main event would see Tomoya Hirata, Toru Sugiura, and Kyu Mogami defeat Violento Jack, Masashi Takeda, and Yusaku Ito in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with Sugiura getting the pin at 16 minutes, 10 seconds over Ito with the X Trail.

The semi-main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defend their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match when Watase would pin Kei at 9 minutes, 21 seconds with the Venetian to successfully defend their tag team titles for the sixth time. Takashi Sasaki would win the Barefoot King Title against Takayuki Ueki in a Barefoot Cat Repellent Mat Death Match at 7 minutes, 56 seconds after pinning Ueki with a D-Geist. Mammoth Sasaki and Daiju Wakamatsu would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea in a Hardcore Match when Mammoth would get the win at 11 minutes, 7 seconds after hitting Crea with a Mammoth Home Run. Yuya Susumu, Kamui, and Kota Sekifuda would defeat Gaia Hox, Kaixa Zheng, and WILLY when Susumu would made Hox tap out at 11 minutes, 11 seconds with the Crossface. The opening match would see GENTARO and Kengo defeat Ryuma Sekimo and Reiya Igarashi when Kengo would get the submission over Igrashi at 9 minutes, 23 seconds with the Chickenwing.

The second Jun Kasai Shin-Kiba Death Match Carnival would take place on August 12, 2026 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with this show being the first show in the nearly 17 year history of FREEDOMS with them purposely not announcing an attendance for the show. The main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defending the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Toru Sugiura and Kyu Mogami with Mogami getting the pin over Kasai with the X Kyodo at 24 minutes, 32 seconds to win the tag team title ending the Kasai and Watase tag title reign after over 6 months on their seventh title defense.

Tomoya Hirata and Daiju Wakamatu would defeat Violento Jack and Masashi Takeda at 13 minutes, 46 seconds after Hirata would pin Jack with a Frankensteiner. Takashi Sasaki would defeat Takobutsu at 10 minutes, 51 seconds a right foot kick to a barbed wire bat in a Hardcore Match. Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Crea would defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Kamui, and Aoi when Ueki would pin Aoi at 11 minutes, 18 seconds with a Death Valley Bomb. Yuya Susumu and Kengo would defeat GENTARO and WILLY at 8 minutes, 34 seconds when Susumu would pin WILLY. The opening match would see Gaia Hox and Kaixa Zheng defeat Ryuma Sekimo and Reiya Igarashi when Zheng would pin Igarashi at 7 minutes, 54 seconds with a Firebird Splash.

The Jun Kasai Death Match Carnival Volume 2 show would be held on August 20, 2026 at Korakuen Hall with no attendance being announced as this would be the first Korakuen Hall show that FREEDOMS would not announce an attendance for as although I am guessing it was disappointing for what is usually their second (and sometimes first) biggest show of the year, just looking at the people in the crowd it's not anywhere near the lowest crowded Korakuen Hall show for FREEDOMS. It would not even be the lowest FREEDOMS Korakuen Hall show this year with Violento Jack vs. Tomoya Hirata as the main event as the February show looked empty compared to this show. 

Violento Jack vs. Tomoya Hirata in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Boards Death Match. Jack would charge at Hirata with Hirata catching him and slamming him with Jack escaping to the outside and Hirata hitting a tope onto him. Hirata would send Jack towards one of the glass boards in the corner with Jack stopping himself short. Hirata would smash a light tube over Jack's head and begin setting up the glass board but as he would do that Jack would dive onto Hirata sending him through the glass board. Jack would use the broken glass to cut open Hirata. Hirata would try to fight back with a chop but Jack would grab his arm and place him in a submission with Hirata managing to break free but Jack would end up grabbing a staple gun and stapling a piece of paper to Hirata's head followed by suplexing Hirata with Hirata escaping out of the ring and grabbing a chair and smashing it over Jack's head and grabbing a stack of light tubes with Jack delivering a tope con hilo breaking the light tubes across Hirata.

They would get back in the ring with Hirata fighting back and delivering a powerslam to Jack on a stack of light tubes and then placing the other glass board on a stack of chairs over Jack's body and going up top but Jack would get up and deliver a Kamikaze off the apron sending Hirata to the floor. Jack would go up top but then Hirata would get up and deliver a hurricanrana sending Jack through the glass board. They would both get up at the same time and charge at another one with Hirata delivering a hurricanrana but Jack would grab Hirata's arm and place him in the Mexican Stretch. Hirata would break out and the two would begin striking one another before Jack out of nowhere would hit Hirata with a urange on a light tube followed by a powerbomb followed by a Jack Pack on a stack of light tubes with Hirata kicking out. Jack would then place a light tube over Hirata and deliver a Swanton but as soon as Jack would land he would get picked up by Hirata and hit with a German Suplex.

Hirata would then grab a stack of light tubes and rush right into Jack but then be met with a clothesline by Jack but then Hirata would follow that up by suplexing Jack and then hitting a German Suplex for a two count. Hirata would then set Jack up for the Argentine Backbreaker with Jack using his staple gun on him and then placing Hirata in a leglock and begin stapling his leg, but Hirata would grab the staple gun and staple Jack to break out of the submission. Jack would grab another stack of light tubes with Hirata breaking them across Jack and hitting him with a clothesline. They would then begin swinging at one another with Hirata getting the upper hand with knocking Jack down and then delivering another German Suplex to get the win at 24 minutes, 55 seconds to win the King of Freedom World Championship.

Takashi Sasaki would come out afterwards to challenge Tomoya Hirata for the title for Takashi Sasaki's 30th anniversary show on September 6th at Yokohama Budokan. I did not like this. They killed each other here, but I just don't like the no selling, just so much you get your offense in, and then I get my offense in and it was a long match. I also do not like the booking. You end Jack's reign with someone that he beat 6 months earlier in a show that did not do well, you sacrifice the attendance for this show which most years is the second biggest show of the year to the point that they don't announce a Korakuen Hall attendance for the first time ever, and you already have done Hirata defeat Jack for the title years ago so it didn't mean as much as this go around as it did three years ago all to get a somewhat fresh match (they did it once at Korakuen in May 2023) of Hirata vs. Sasaki for Sasaki's 30th at the Yokohama Budokan. This is the problem that I think you face when you just have such a small roster and mostly all older wrestlers that have been around for so long at this point and you still run 9 Korakuen Hall/Yokohama Budokan shows a year. * 1/2. Click here for highlights of FREEDOMS 8/20/26 Korakuen Hall

The semi-main event would be a comedy match with Jun Kasai teaming up with Mizuki Watase and Dragon Gate's Hyo against Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei, and New Japan's Ryusuke Taguchi in a Tokyo Desert Man on the verge of homelessness Death Match with Kasai looking to get revenge on Taguchi for losing to him resulting in Kasai being eliminated from advancing in the Best of Super Juniors Tournament. Taguchi would end up getting on a mini step ladder and doing his own Pearl Harbor Splash but missing Kasai. Watase and Hyo would knock out the Brahman Shu and Taugchi out of the ring as they would do a tope con hilo onto both of them as Kasai would climb up a ladder and hit a Pearl Harbor Splash off the ladder to get the win at 14 minutes, 8 seconds over Kei. Kasai afterwards would challenge Watase for the Spirit of Ganbare Title for the FREEDOMS September 6th show at Yokohama Budokan.

Takashi Sasaki and Daiju Wakamatsu would defeat Daisuke Masaoka and Kamui when Sasaki would pin Masaoka at 11 minutes, 9 seconds with a D-Geist in a Weapons Death Match. Masashi Takeda, Yusaku Ito, and Takayuki Ueki would defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Toru Sugiura, and Kyu Mogami when Ito would get the win over Sugiura at 10 minutes, 33 seconds in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match to setup a tag titles match for the Yokohama Budokan. Gaia Hox and Kaixa Zheng would defeat Yuya Susumu and Kengo when Hox would pin Kengo at 8 minutes, 32 seconds with the Vanishing Shift. Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea would defeat Takobutsu and Aoi when Sakuda would pin Takobutsu at 10 minutes, 18 seconds with the Pentagon Driver. The opening match would see GENTARO and Kota Sekifuda defeat Ryuma Sekimo and Reiya Igarashi when Sekifuda would made Igarashi tap out at 9 minutes, 56 seconds with a crab hold.

After what seemed to be another low in Kintaro Kanemura's life since retirement following Kazushi Miyamoto posting a video of Kanemura living in filth due to depression at his home it was Yuji Hino that has helped Kanemura including get his home cleaned up. Hino has continued to care for Kanemura over the last couple of months including bringing him to the FREEDOMS show on May 31st in Kumamoto as well as having Naoshi Sano throw Kanemura a birthday party at Sano's Stanley Club Bar on August 6th in Shinjuku. Hino and Kanemura also practiced at the 2AW Blue Field and did a minute of working out of the ring doing take downs and hip tosses with one another as Kanemura who needs a cane to walk was able to do everything without assistance.

Hino has even stated he has done all sorts of volunteer work, but taking care of Kanemura is by far the most challenging volunteer gig, but he's hilarious, so it's fine. Hino then took Kanemura to Mitsuhiro Matsunaga's Danger Steak on August 30, 2026 in Sumida City, Tokyo. Hino made mention that Kanemura was saying childish things but deep down was happy to see Matsunaga again.

Kanemura and Matsunaga's relationship goes back to 1991 before W*ING would begin as Kanemura would begin training at Masashi Aoyagi's Seishin Kaikan karate dojo following the closing of Ryuma Go's Pioneer Senshei that Kanemura started in the business with. Matsunaga and Kanemura would both get into W*ING through Aoyagi's connection with former FMW President Kazuyoshi Osako who had just left FMW to help start up the new promotion W*ING with Mickey Ibaragi who had also just left FMW. Ibaragi and Osako would have a styles clash early on in how they wanted the direction of the promotion to go s they would split with Ibaragi starting his own new W*ING promotion and Osako planning on starting a new Martial Arts promotion that would never end up getting started. Matsunaga and Kanemura would be the only two wrestlers with ties to Aoyagi and karate side to decide to jump to Ibaragi's W*ING which would focus on death match wrestling instead of the martial arts promotion.

Matsunaga and Kanemura would get closer through out the next couple of years in W*ING with a very much big brother/little brother relationship. Matsunaga was the ace of W*ING, but Kanemura was somebody that was also doing very well for himself and getting more over for how crazy he was willing to be especially when it came to bleeding.

The friendship would have its first big strain though when Matsunaga would take the deal to leave W*ING for FMW. Kanemura who was really upset when Mr. Pogo had left two months earlier would cut a promo on Matsunaga on August 25, 1993 at Korakuen Hall stating he would never forgive Matsunaga before beginning to cry for the ace of the promotion abandoning the promotion to get the W*ING fans to turn on Matsunaga for what he had done and joining the enemy. While everyone in W*ING was sad that Matsunaga was leaving, they were all understanding of the situation with some of them happy and congratulating Matsunaga on finally get paid. Kanemura was the only one that took Matsunaga leaving W*ING personally creating a rift in their friendship.

Matsunaga years later when asked about Kanemura being so upset about Matsunaga leaving W*ING would bring up that if Kanemura was so loyal to W*ING, how come when he was powerbombed into fire on October 31, 1993 which was his own decision, when he was taken to the hospital and on W*ING's dime, he decided to take a private hospital room that was for 200 dollars a day and told others that if the private room with a telephone in it for 250 dollars a day was available, he would have taken that instead. Kanemura was asked about staying in such an expensive room saying it was fine, because Ibaragi was paying for it, although Ibaragi did not actually end up having the money for the room and would never end up paying the hospital back for Kanemura's stay.

Although Kanemura would stay with W*ING until the bitter end with Ibaragi and technically be the only wrestler left when W*ING closed its doors as IWA Japan had been announced prior to W*ING officially closing and all the W*ING wrestlers besides Kanemura had already agreed to join, and only when W*ING was done for good that Kanemura would end up joining IWA Japan. IWA Japan would be run by Victor Quinones who Kanemura loved as well as owned by Tatsukuni Asano who had previously promoted W*ING shows. Kanemura and Asano did not get along though after Asano promised Kanemura raise if he were to get over, and after getting over and becoming the ace of the new promotion he would not get the raise. Kanemura would then end up getting approached by FMW who would pay him 30,000 dollars to leave IWA Japan and show up in FMW a year after criticizing Matsunaga for doing the same thing. Kanemura and Matsunaga would join up together in with Kanemura being the key factor in turning Matsunaga back to being heel in FMW and starting up a W*ING group as the top heel stable to go against FMW.

Although Kanemura would never say he had an emotional attachment to FMW like he did W*ING, he would make friends with Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda who he was facing every show and also had a friendship with fellow partners Hideki Hosaka and Hido. Matsunaga though hated every moment of FMW and when Onita retired and FMW changed direction he hated it even more and was now making less money while hating it. This would come to a head on February 23, 1996 at Korakuen Hall for a War Games match between FMW and W*ING that would be a really good match with lots of heat. Matsunaga would not feel that way as he would get so upset about how the match went and felt it was shit he would throw dumb bells across the room afterwards. Matsunaga's anger and hatred for FMW while Kanemura was making friends with the FMW would put another strain on an already fractured friendship.

Kanemura would continue to show respect to Matsunaga due to him being a senior as Matsunaga would call Kanemura after his sexual harassment scandal  in 2008 with Kanemura answering the phone and showing respect to Matsunaga and listening to his advice although around that time Kanemura would have been humbled and was not going to speak against anyone let alone a senior. Kanemura would invite Matsunaga to attend his retirement show in 2016 with Kanemura hugging Matsunaga because of how connected their careers were with each other, but Kanemura would still have bitter feelings towards Matsunaga personally. Kanemura would jump at the chance to criticize Matsunaga anytime Matsunaga would get brought up on my History of FMW Facebook including calling Matsunaga an idiot and a liar whenever he would get the chance. Kanemura has stayed quiet over the years since his hit and run incident although with the help of Yuji Hino it seems like Kanemura is going in the right direction with his life and hopefully agreeing to see his former friend Matsunaga for the first time in a decade will be the first steps in letting go of his hostility towards Matsunaga and the two can be able to connect again soon. Matsunaga stated after Kanemura visited him that he hopes that they can stay in touch from time to time going forward.

Last month I was able to attend my second WrestleCon this year this time in Minneapolis. This trip was booked of attending to get to meet Jinsei Shinzaki and Jushin Liger. I also got to take pictures with a Curry Man as well as Rick Martel and Andre Chase (NXT from like 2022-2023 is the only American promotion I have really followed in a decade). I was going through my collection of pictures and it made me think about how much I would enjoy going through Masa Horie's writings back in the late 1990's and seeing all the pictures that he had taken with wrestlers over the years so I decided to make a page with a collection of wrestlers that I have gotten the chance to take pictures with over the years starting with Hayabusa for my first Japan trip in 2008 and concluding with Liger and Shinzaki in Minnesota. If I ever meet anyone else, I will update it, but at this point I have pretty much met everyone that's still alive that I would have like to have met. You can find it at http://fmwwrestling.us/Pictures.html

Sorry for the delay in this update. I also was hoping to finish my translating Hayabusa articles but just simply ran out of time and will include the final one for the next update. Between this being the busiest work will be all year, getting in a car accident, life stuff, and in July the entire website getting deleted and me having have to re-upload every single file that has ever been on this site over 27 years I fell behind on keeping up with stuff. I hope to get back on track and be able to do another update in October which include the final Hayabusa article update and not have to write about not be two months behind on certain things that happened.

ZERO1 9/5/26
Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square

Junya Matsunaga & Ryunosuke Nagai vs. CIMA & So Daimonji
Hayabusa vs. Yuki Toki
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Bryan Ishizaka
Takuya Sugawara vs. Koji Doi
Chris Vice & Hide Kubota vs. Yasu Kubota & Tsugataka Sato

FREEDOMS 9/6/26
Yokohama Budokan

Tomoya Hirata vs. Takashi Sasaki *King of Freedom World Championship Match*
Mizuki Watase vs. Jun Kasai *Spirit of Ganbare Openweight Championship Match*
Toru Sugiura & Kyu Mogami vs. Masashi Takeda & Yusaku Ito *King of Freedom Tag Team Titles Weapons Death Match*
Gaia Hox vs. Yuya Susumu *King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title Match*
Violento Jack vs. Yuko Miyamoto *TLC Death Match*
Royal Rumble
Kamui & Kaixa Zheng vs. Kengo & Kota Sekifuda

Hamamatsu Mask Festival 9/6/26
Shizuoka Hamamatsu City Create Hamatsu

Hayabusa & The Great Sasuke vs. Super Delfin & Andy Wu

FREEDOMS 9/13/26
Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square

FREEDOMS 9/23/26
Aichi Kariya City Industrial Promotion Center Aioi Hall

FREEDOMS 9/25/26
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FREEDOMS 10/5/26
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

ZERO1 10/10/26
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FREEDOMS 10/16/26
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

Megumi Kudo Productions 10/17/26
Tokyo Yoyogi National Stadium # 2

Tatsumi Fujinami & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Mitsuya Nagai
Sareee & Chi Chi vs. MIRAI & Cohaku

FMW-E 10/25/26
Kawasaki Fujimi Park Center Special Venue

FREEDOMS 11/5/26
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

FREEDOMS 11/13/26
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

ZERO1 11/23/26
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

FMW-E 11/23/26
Osaka Sakai City Ohama Sumo Arena

FREEDOMS 11/29/26
Miyagi Sendai Yume Messe

FREEDOMS 12/11/26
Tokyo Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

Jun Kasai Productions 12/25/26
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

I have gathered all the results of shows from Big Japan/ZERO1/666 shows in 2026 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/MiscResults26.html (Last updated: 9/2)

Added: 6/12

Hayabusa conducted his first sit-down interview in front of a live audience on May 5, 2026, at Toudoukan in Sugamo, Tokyo. One of the attendees was able to record the entire two-hour event on his phone and sent it to me so that everything discussed could be translated and reviewed.

The event was divided into two segments. In the first segment, Hayabusa appeared in his red mask and discussed everything that led to him becoming Hayabusa, culminating in his debut match against Masato Tanaka on April 27, 2025, at Ryogoku Sumo Hall. In the second segment, he appeared in his brown attire along with the jacket and talked about everything that happened following the Sumo Hall match.

Ken Suzuki, who served as an FMW reporter for Pro-Wrestling Weekly magazine throughout the NEO FMW era, acted as the MC. With his extensive knowledge of FMW and Hayabusa, Suzuki was uniquely qualified to guide the conversation, drawing on his memories of both Eiji Ezaki's Hayabusa and the current Hayabusa's activities over the past year.

Hayabusa opened the event by telling the audience that he did not consider himself a very good speaker, as this was the first time he had spoken to a group of people in this format. Suzuki noted that Eiji Ezaki had never participated in a sit-down interview like this. Hayabusa responded that when he debuted a year earlier, he had wanted to do something similar, but ZERO1 did not want him speaking publicly, especially in the beginning. Suzuki asked if there were topics he was not supposed to discuss. Hayabusa explained that he had simply been told to remain more mysterious and not talk much, effectively preventing him from appearing at events like this.

Hayabusa felt that the reason they did not want him speaking was because fans associated Hayabusa with Eiji Ezaki, and hearing a different voice would create an entirely different image. He mentioned that the first time he spoke openly was at a Fire Festival press conference, as it had become obvious that he was not Eiji Ezaki's Hayabusa. Because of that, he was given permission to speak normally. Hayabusa added that this was really his first opportunity to speak freely rather than simply promote an event.

Suzuki then asked Hayabusa when he first learned about the Hayabusa project. Hayabusa replied that he received a phone call about it in November 2024. Around that time, there was a lot of speculation within ZERO1 regarding a certain masked wrestler and a possible connection to Astroman. As a result, he assumed the offer might involve becoming the new Astroman following Genta Hiriki's departure in July 2023, an idea that interested him, so he agreed to hear them out.

When he met with ZERO1, however, he was told that they wanted him to become Hayabusa. His immediate reaction was, "Why didn't you tell me this from the beginning?" He initially thought, "No, that's impossible." However, he did not want to reject the idea outright, especially after they asked him to seriously consider it. It was agreed that he would take some time to think about it, as the project was not going to happen immediately.

For the next month, Hayabusa reflected on Eiji Ezaki's legacy and everything that Hayabusa represented. He worried about damaging that legacy and about the sadness or pain fans might feel if they saw someone else portraying the character. As he continued to think about it, however, his perspective gradually changed. He considered who was asking him to take on the role, and eventually came to believe that he could become Hayabusa.

Hayabusa mentioned that he had trained in martial arts, but when he wrestled before becoming Hayabusa, he often used moves that Eiji Ezaki had performed. That made him think that maybe he could take on the role. He knew there would be a lot of pressure, but it was also the first time in his life that others had placed such high expectations on him. After about a month and a half of consideration, he decided in mid-December 2024 to accept the offer.

Suzuki asked whether this was something he could discuss with anyone. Hayabusa responded that he did not consult anyone and instead carried all of the pressure himself.

Suzuki then asked if he was familiar with Hayabusa before being offered the role. Hayabusa said, of course, he was, but he had never seen Hayabusa wrestle live. He recalled that he started following wrestling around 2000, the year he believed Ezaki was injured. Suzuki corrected him, noting that the injury occurred in 2001. Hayabusa replied that it was toward the end of Ezaki's career. He watched videos of Hayabusa and thought he was incredibly cool. As a student, he even practiced the Firebird Splash while still in high school.

Hayabusa was then asked by Suzuki how he was first introduced to professional wrestling. Hayabusa explained that his friends kept inviting him to attend wrestling shows with them, and eventually he went. His first live wrestling event was around August 1999.

When asked who his favorite wrestler was, Hayabusa said that Big Van Vader was his favorite, although he generally liked all of the large foreign wrestlers. Suzuki then asked what had drawn him to masked wrestlers, guessing that Jushin Liger was a major influence. Hayabusa confirmed that Suzuki was correct.

Suzuki followed up by asking what specifically attracted him to Hayabusa. Hayabusa said that Hayabusa was simply cool. Between the look and the spectacular moves, he found everything about the character appealing. Suzuki asked what the first Hayabusa match he had seen was, but Hayabusa admitted that it had been on video and that he could not remember exactly which match it was.

Hayabusa explained that he was not from Tokyo and that professional wrestling was often broadcast late at night in rural areas. He would record the programs and watch them later. One night he watched what he remembered as an FMW Entertainment-era show. Suzuki believed it was more likely a Battle Weekly-style highlights program rather than a full event, since FMW was only airing on Samurai TV, Sky PerfecTV, and DirecTV around 2000. Hayabusa insisted that it was a full one-hour program. Suzuki jokingly asked if he had been watching something illegal, which drew a big laugh from the audience. I tend to agree with Suzuki on this point, as I believe Hayabusa may be misremembering exactly what he was watching at the time.

Hayabusa said that it was difficult to follow FMW while living in a rural area because videos were not readily available. Nevertheless, he followed Hayabusa's career as closely as possible during the year before Ezaki's injury. Hayabusa was one of the major reasons he wanted to become a professional wrestler.

Hayabusa then shared a story about how New Japan happened to be recruiting junior wrestlers during the year he was preparing to graduate from junior high school at age 15. He took and passed the entrance examination, but he was not eligible because he had not yet graduated. Being so close to achieving his dream left him devastated. As a result, he had no choice but to attend high school.

Although he continued to love professional wrestling, PRIDE became very popular during that period, and he developed an interest in martial arts. He ultimately chose to pursue martial arts rather than professional wrestling. About ten years later, however, he was asked if he wanted to try professional wrestling, a path that eventually led him to where he is today.

Hayabusa mentioned that he was not affiliated with any wrestling organization when he was approached about becoming Hayabusa. As a result, he did not even have access to a ring to practice. When he was asked to take a test to demonstrate that he could perform Hayabusa's moves, he did not think he would pass and simply resolved to do his best.

He had to wait until the new ownership group took over ZERO1 on January 1, 2025, and opened the dojo in February before he could seriously begin training as Hayabusa. That left him with only about three months before his debut.

To prepare, he watched videos of Eiji Ezaki's Hayabusa, recorded himself performing the same movements, and repeatedly compared the footage in an effort to replicate the mannerisms. Suzuki asked how long it took him to perfect the character. Hayabusa replied that he never felt he had perfected anything. In his opinion, Ezaki's movements were more beautiful, cooler, and more elegant, and he had not been able to reproduce a single one perfectly. He added that Ezaki possessed greater explosiveness and, of course, a larger physical presence.

Suzuki noted that Hayabusa's debut match had been met with widespread praise, with many fans describing him as a living reincarnation of the character. Even so, Hayabusa still feels he has a long way to go.

Hayabusa mentioned that he had heard stories of fans crying after watching his debut on April 27th at Ryogoku. Hearing those positive reactions brought him tremendous relief. Throughout the preparation process, he battled anxiety and was not always able to train every day, but he did everything he could.

He also stated that he wanted to perform the full range of Hayabusa's signature moves. If he only used the Firebird Splash, he felt fans would inevitably say, "Is that all he's got?"

Hayabusa then discussed the negative reaction that followed the announcement of the new Hayabusa in January or February 2025. The criticism surrounding the revival of the character depressed him. Suzuki asked whether that negativity helped motivate him to persevere. Hayabusa replied that he simply processed everything internally.

Suzuki then asked whether Masato Tanaka or Megumi Kudo had offered him any words of encouragement. Hayabusa replied that they had not, which drew laughter from both Suzuki and the audience, especially since they were the ones who had come up with the idea in the first place.

Hayabusa said that he became completely focused on April 27th, to the point that he felt as though his brain might explode from the pressure. Suzuki noted that Tanaka and Kudo themselves had faced criticism for bringing Hayabusa back, but they remained determined because of their desire to see the character return.

Suzuki then brought up a 1997 Hayabusa interview that he had conducted. I had messaged Suzuki the night before and asked him to reference that interview. Although he never responded, he ended up bringing it up during the discussion.

In the 1997 interview, Hayabusa stated that if someone ever came forward wanting to become Hayabusa, he would not stop them, because there were many wrestlers capable of flying better than he could. This was a direct statement from Eiji Ezaki himself, indicating that the idea of a successor was something he was open to.

For context, in that 1997 interview with Suzuki, Ezaki acknowledged that his days as Hayabusa were likely numbered because of the mounting injuries caused by his high-flying style. He said that if a second-generation Hayabusa ever emerged, he would either want to feud with him which, in a sense, happened with Mr. Gannosuke in 1999 or team with him.

Suzuki noted that many of the critical voices came from people who cared deeply about Hayabusa and were emotionally invested in the character. However, because he had personally heard these comments from Ezaki himself, he felt it was important to share them with the audience.

Suzuki then brought up the big day on April 27, 2025 and asked Hayabusa if he felt confident which Hayabusa stated he did not feel confident at all. The day of he woke up thinking "Oh no, it's finally here." but when he was putting on the Hayabusa attire he started to feel like this was him. Suzuki mentioned that Ezaki as Hayabusa had an approachable aura that exudes the moment he puts on the mask and makeup. Hayabusa responded that it would be wonderful if he could exude that kind of aura.

Hayabusa mentioned that his theme song began to play and he hadn't even thought about the theme song at all since other wrestlers choose their own entrance music and go to the ring to their favorite songs so when Fight with Dream began playing he thought "Oh yeah, this is my theme" and then thought "oh no, what should I do?" and felt he was not good at adapting to the music at all. Suzuki mentioned it was the same venue as the legendary J Cup match and he was wearing the same color attire as Hayabusa did for that tournament back in 1994.

Hayabusa mentioned he that match against Liger firmly on his mind and that's why jumped Tanaka before the bell. He still felt anxiety knowing he was going to the inside the ring Asai Moonsault during the match that Ezaki was injured and having never done the move before he became Hayabusa. It was the most nervous spot in the match and he is still nervous doing it. Suzuki mentioned that he felt that Ezaki was watching the match from above and made sure that he would complete the Asai Moonsault perfectly.

Suzuki then mentioned taking a photo from the match and placing it by Shoichi Arai's grave in May as he felt President Arai would have wanted to see it as well. Hayabusa mentioned watching his Firebird Splash and Ezaki on video and did not see much difference in the two as he did not have to practice too hard to get Ezaki's Firebird down. Hayabusa got the three count and felt like all the feelings he had had since December were finally over as he did not make any mistakes or have any blunders.

Hayabusa shook hands with Jinsei Shinzaki after the match which they showed a picture of with Hayabusa stating when you look at a picture like this, the fact that an amateur like me can create such a beautiful picture like this means that the actual subject is quite beautiful. Suzuki mentioned that Megumi Kudo id a reserved person and does not show that much emotion outwardly, but he was sitting next to her at the show and saw the emotion overwhelm her to where she couldn't contain it. Suzuki mentioned that if he had not agreed to do it three months earlier we would have never got that incredible moment so he was thankful for him accepting to become Hayabusa to make it possible. This would conclude the first part of the segment and Hayabusa would go change into his brown Hayabusa costume for the second half of the event.

The second portion of the interview began with fans asking questions to Hayabusa.

The first question was why he had not yet performed the Shooting Star Press. Hayabusa responded that, since Eiji Ezaki had also failed the move several times during his career, he did not feel it was necessary for Hayabusa up to this point. He admitted that he had not practiced it very much, but said that he might unveil it someday. Suzuki then brought up Hayabusa's famous Shooting Star Press mishap on July 30, 1995, against The Gladiator, when he failed to complete the full rotation and landed awkwardly, resulting in a hospital visit afterward.

Hayabusa was then asked whether he thought there would ever be another Hayabusa after him. He replied that there might be, and if there was, he joked that he had lowered the bar considerably for that person. Suzuki responded by saying that he thought it would be perfectly fine if the next Hayabusa happened to be a woman. Suzuki then shifted the discussion to everything that had happened since Hayabusa's debut. He brought up the May 7, 2025, show at Kawasaki Stadium, where Hayabusa used the H Thunder as his finishing move. Suzuki asked whether he had also been practicing moves associated with H prior to his debut.

Hayabusa replied that he wanted to incorporate elements from every stage of Eiji Ezaki's career, including the moves he performed as H. The conversation then turned to Hayabusa winning the Fire Festival tournament by defeating Chris Vice. Suzuki noted that the finish was a near-perfect recreation of the classic Hayabusa vs. The Gladiator match. Hayabusa confirmed that it had indeed been inspired by that match. Hayabusa said that winning the Fire Festival and holding the tournament sword carried a great deal of weight and responsibility. Suzuki jokingly asked whether he was ever afraid of accidentally cutting his own neck while striking the Hayabusa pose with the sword and warned him to be careful whenever he did it.

Suzuki then brought up Hayabusa's thirty-minute time-limit match against Masato Tanaka on August 3, which carried the stipulation that Hayabusa would lose his mask if he lost. Hayabusa said he was proud that he was able to go the full thirty minutes, but admitted that the match was especially difficult because it took place during the intense summer heat of August.

The discussion then moved to the FREEDOMS show on August 17th at Yokohama Budokan, where Hayabusa faced Mammoth Sasaki. Mammoth had been the final opponent of the original Hayabusa, making the match a continuation of the unfinished bout from October 22, 2001. Suzuki noted that it was originally someone else's story, filled with another person's emotions and history, yet Hayabusa somehow managed to step into that role and bring it to a conclusion.

Hayabusa said that, as a fan himself, he wanted to see the story of Hayabusa vs. Mammoth reach a proper ending. Because of that, he felt that once he accepted the role of Hayabusa, participating in that match became something he absolutely had to do.

He recalled that Mammoth's facial expression during the match was truly indescribable. Suzuki added that Mammoth's reaction demonstrated just how much the match meant to him. He also recalled conducting an interview with Eiji Ezaki years after the accident, during which Ezaki admitted that he would occasionally dream about finishing the match with Mammoth. In those dreams, he would wake up in a cold sweat, still wanting to continue the bout. Suzuki noted that the long-awaited continuation of the match would never have been possible without the current Hayabusa stepping into the role.

Hayabusa joked that he had told Mammoth before the match that he did not enjoy doing hardcore wrestling, yet he still ended up participating in hardcore spots during the match anyway. Suzuki laughed and replied that this was because Mammoth had always been wild when it came to hardcore wrestling, even as a young wrestler.

Suzuki then noted that many fans do not realize that Hayabusa's original signature move was actually the Moonsault Press. He stopped using it regularly relatively early in his career, but the move remained closely associated with him. Suzuki remarked that the move had transcended the wrestler himself and become part of the larger Hayabusa legacy. He added that this kind of emotional continuity is something you simply cannot see in sports like baseball or soccer.

The conversation then shifted to the November 10, 2025, Korakuen Hall show against Kaito Kiyomiya. Much like the match against Mammoth Sasaki, this match stood out because it marked the first time Hayabusa had wrestled at Korakuen Hall since Eiji Ezaki's accident on October 22, 2001.

Hayabusa admitted that he was more nervous and anxious about this match than usual. In fact, he felt so overwhelmed beforehand that he thought he might throw up.

At one point before the match, Mammoth approached him and told him that everything would be fine and that Ezaki would be watching over him during the match. Hearing those words helped him relax, and he was ultimately able to successfully perform the Asai Moonsault at Korakuen Hall during the bout.

Suzuki described the moment as being like the hands of a clock that had suddenly stopped finally beginning to move again. Suzuki also praised Kiyomiya's performance. He noted that NOAH is filled with major stars, which sometimes causes Kiyomiya to be overlooked, but he felt Kiyomiya handled both the match and the situation exceptionally well. As a result, it became a very memorable match. Hayabusa admitted that losing to Kiyomiya was frustrating and said that he would like the opportunity to get revenge someday.

Suzuki then pointed out an interesting historical parallel. Hayabusa had worn brown gear for the match, just as Eiji Ezaki had worn brown attire in the finals of the Grand Slam Tournament when he lost to The Gladiator. The comparison drew another connection between the current Hayabusa and the history of the original character.

Suzuki would then ask Hayabusa about teaming up with Dragon Kid in January. Hayabusa would mention he was very close to Ezaki but he felt he would not think very highly of him so when he met him he was very kind and be careful of injury and to keep trying his best. Suzuki would then bring up the blue costume he wore for the Furinkazan with Hayabusa saying he decided to wear a darker blue than Ezaki wore light blue and he wants to add more colors to his ring attire in the future.

Suzuki would ask about the Phoenix Splash with Hayabusa saying it's been difficult to land because his opponents have been dodging it a lot because he's turning his back on his opponent. He mentioned that he used the Phoenix Splash as a move before he became Hayabusa but he was doing it at a different side as he was turning his back to the left and now he's turning his back to the right.

Suzuki would then mention his ZERO1 Strongest Tournament event on January 17th with his match against Masato Tanaka in the first round and Tanaka defeated Hayabusa in a singles match for the first time in his career with Suzuki mentioning that this story wouldn't have been possible without Hayabusa's comeback and would ask Hayabusa about Masato Tanaka with Hayabusa mentioning he is incredible and how he's 53 and far from declining and seems to be getting stronger and faster. Suzuki mentioned it was actually kind of amazing that Hayabusa won his debut match against Tanaka and that the story of Hayabusa and Tanaka gets to keep going is truly wonderful.

Suzuki would then ask about teaming up with The Great Sasuke and Tiger Mask on December 4th for Strong Style with Hayabusa mentioning it was the first time they had teamed since 1999 at the Tokyo Dome although he wasn't there but the two of them looked same and he thought they were amazing.

Suzuki then mentioned BUSHI spraying mist in Hayabusa on February 28th as he doesn't remember Ezaki ever getting sprayed with mist as the mist culture back then was mostly just Great Muta. Hayabusa joked that they breathed fire in FMW instead of mist which got a laugh. So this was the first time that the Hayabusa mask had been injured in a match which Hayabusa stated he did not know that.

Suzuki would then bring up the Universe Cup and how Yumehito Imanari used his lariat like how Kodo Fuyuki would use it against Hayabusa and then mentioned him slipping on the Asai Moonsault and how he mentioned earlier how Mammoth stated that Ezaki was watching over him well for this one he felt Ezaki was watching over him for this. Hayabusa mentioned how he felt like he was being protected. Suzuki asked Hayabusa if he panicked which Hayabusa responded that he did not panic as he wrestles with the understanding that things like that can happen. He mentioned that he has watched Ezaki's accident several times since he has become Hayabusa to try and figure out what happened. He mentioned that when Ezaki jumped on the middle rope he let go of the top rope before jumping and once he slipped there was no way to recover so he makes sure his feet are properly on the second rope before he releases his hands from the top rope. He does not think the same kind of accident that happened to Ezaki would happen in this scene so when he slipped he didn't panic and was able to complete the Asai Moonsault. He mentioned he was more worried about the people who saw it being really scared than he was.

Suzuki would mention his singles match against Katsuhiko Nakajima and after the loss Hayabusa mentioned on X he needed to come up with something new with Suzuki asking him if he meant coming up with a new submission move with Hayabusa mentioning yes but he was still in the process of figuring it out so he couldn't really answer the question but he does not want to just imitate Ezaki's Hayabusa and he has been losing quite a lot so he's wondering if there's a change that is needed. Suzuki mentioned about Hayabusa and Nakajima teaming up at the end of May for Nakajima's promoted show so the fact that Nakajima wanted to team up with Hayabusa for his event shows he had a significant presence for Nakajima.

Suzuki then mentioned Hayabusa's tough stretch in January, Shuji Ishikawa in February, Katsuhiko Nakajima in March, then he faced Low Ki in Australia on March 28th, then had the match against Naomichi Marufuji shortly after with Suzuki asking about how Hayabusa's body is holding up to the tough schedule. Hayabusa would mention he's fine now but he had fun with the Marufuji match.

Suzuki would ask about the Texas Cloverleaf and how him doing that submission caught his eye. Hayabusa would mention how Ezaki was constantly flying and throwing wrestlers and there was no time to rest and he was told that Ezaki used the Texas Cloverleaf early on as Hayabusa. Suzuki mentioned that he used while he was in America as a submission and that's why there's no pictures of video of him doing it in Japan.

Suzuki brought up about him recently working in Australia and challenging for the GCW World Title asking him what was it like fighting in America. He felt it was a completely different experience. He mentioned the rings are different than Japan as he felt the rings were looser. Suzuki mentioned he felt Hayabusa will get more overseas tour offers and he will get a sense of how significant Hayabusa's existence is when you go abroad. He felt that when he was in Las Vegas and he got to meet so many fans of Hayabusa while he was at WrestleCon.

Suzuki asked him if he could have a conversation with Eiji Ezaki what would it be about with Hayabusa answering that he would want to talk about how to make Hayabusa even cooler as Ezaki's Hayabusa he has in his head is even cooler. Since he's doing it, he wants to go beyond what he envisioned in his mind as Hayabusa and even surpass Ezaki's Hayabusa in terms of coolness.
He mentions that he always to keep in mind things like his posture and wants to be exactly the same as Ezaki's version. Suzuki mentioned that after his injury Ezaki continued to work hard because felt he had to continue to work hard as Hayabusa and how Hayabusa's presence was a huge influence on Ezaki.

Suzuki asked Hayabusa about his life changing with Hayabusa stating his life has changed since taking over the gimmick and that he's continuing to work hard and his goal is to stay injury free and wants to take it to the end without suffering a serious injury. Suzuki mentioned when the gimmick was first announced there were critical voices that the gimmick would end quickly but the gimmick has now lasted a year. Hayabusa mentioned that he is grateful to continue to do it but if the gimmick had just been a one time thing on April 27th he feels it would have been a bit of a legend and left behind something amazing.

Suzuki would ask Hayabusa what kind of future prospects does he vision for himself with Hayabusa mentioning because he's a member of ZERO1 he wants to win the ZERO1 belt or a belt from another promotion and he wants to continue working all over the world.

Suzuki would then ask the audience who they would want him to have a match against as the audience would state OZAWA, Konosuke Takeshita, and El Desperado would get mentioned. Hayabusa mentioned he has one in mind but it would lose impact if he said is out loud. The closing would see Hayabusa mention about continuing to work hard and having all the fans thoughts and feelings in mind and how grateful he was for all the fans. Suzuki would mention that he was a very kind person and asked for Hayabusa to give one final message with Hayabusa thanking everyone for gathering as this was the first time doing an event like so he was really nervous the whole time, but thanks to Suzuki and everyone else, he was able to manage to get through it without any problems. Hayabusa would then close by doing the Hayabusa catch phrase the fun is just beginning.

Hayabusa would make his American debut teaming up with Masato Tanaka as they would take on the team of Bear Bronson and Mr. Danger for GCW's MDK Fight Club on April 16, 2026 (technically April 17th as the show started after Midnight) at the Las Vegas Horseshoe. Tanaka and Bronson would start before Hayabusa and Danger would get tagged in with Danger delivering a hurricanrana on Hayabusa and then a dropkick before sending him into the ropes but Hayabusa would come back with a dropkick of his own sending Danger out. Bronson would then come in with Hayabusa moving out of the way as Bronson would go flying over the top rope.

Hayabusa would deliver a tope con hilo onto Bronson but Danger would get up and hit a no hands Asai Moonsault onto Hayabusa. Bronson would bring Hayabusa in the ring and go up to the top and hit an elbow drop before picking up Danger and dropping him over Hayabusa for a cover with Hayabusa kicking out. Bronson would then pick up Hayabusa and deliver a slam as Danger would pull out a table and put it against the turnbuckle and look to powerbomb Hayabusa, but instead Hayabusa would manage to deliver a hurricanrana sending Bronson into the table. Hayabusa would tag in Tanaka who would begin exchanging elbow strikes before they would grab chairs and exchange hitting each other over the head with chairs before Tanaka would hit a rolling elbow followed by Hayabusa hitting a flying dropkick on Bronson out.

Hayabusa and Danger would then face off with Hayabusa hitting a springboard bulldog on Danger followed by Tanaka hitting a suplerplex along with Hayabusa hitting a moonsault on Danger, but as he would go to over Bronson would drop down on Hayabusa followed by picking up Tanaka and deliver a Thunder Fire on Tanaka landing down on Hayabusa. Danger would then come in and hit a springboard moonsault on Hayabusa and then Danger would grab another table with Bronson setting it up and placing Hayabusa on it but as soon as he tried to put Hayabusa on it the table would break right away so Bronson would have to get another table from under the ring.

Danger would then place Hayabusa on that table with Danger hitting an impressive spring 450 splash sending Hayabusa through the table. Danger would bring Hayabusa in the ring and hit a Swanton Bomb and cover Hayabusa with Tanaka making the save. Danger would then go for another 450 Splash but Hayabusa would get hit knees up followed by Tanaka hitting a Sliding D and Hayabusa would then hit a Falcon Arrow and finish Danger off with the Firebird Splash to get the pin at 15 minutes, 26 seconds for the ZERO1 team. This was good and Mr. Danger's two impressive highflying spots were definitely the highlight of the match.

Hayabusa would then challenge Atticus Cogar for the GCW World Heavyweight Title on April 17, 2026 at the Las Vegas Horseshoe at Joey Janela's Spring Break X. Atticus would charge at Hayabusa right trying to hit him with skewers but Hayabusa would move out of the way and dropkick him out of the ring and hit the tope con hilo. They would get back in the ring with Atticus charging and Hayabusa moving out of the way with Atticus going out of the ring and Hayabusa would hit an Asai Moonsault on the outside. They would get back in the ring with Atticus setting Hayabusa in the middle rope and hitting a moonsault on Hayabusa. Atticus would then go to the outside and pull a table out as Hayabusa would charge at him with Atticus smashing the table across Hayabusa's head. Atticus would then pull several chairs out and then smash a chair across Hayabusa and then begin scratching up and stabbing Hayabusa wih the skewers then setting him on the top rope and then try for a superplex but Hayabusa would shove him off with Hayabusa hitting a flying dropkick followed by Hayabusa hitting a middle turnbuckle moonsault and then putting Atticus in the Figure Four with Atticus making it to the ropes.

Hayabusa would then setup a chair and point to the heavens deliver Air Sabu before Atticus would kick the chair at Hayabusa's knee and then knee the chair into Hayabusa's face. Atticus would then setup Hayabusa's body on a six chairs and go for a moonsault with Hayabusa moving out of the way with Atticus landing legs first on the chair in the most memorable spot of the match. Hayabusa would then place a door on the chairs and place Atticus on the door and deliver a Firebird Splash sending Atticus through the door for a two count. Hayabusa would go up to the top but Atticus would get up and roll Hayabusa up and then hit him with a Superkick and a Brain Hemorrhage with Atticus covering and getting a two count. Atticus would then pull out the skewers again with Hayabusa blocking them and grabbing them himself and shoving them in Atticus' head and then deliver a poisonrana and a Falcon Arrow with Atticus kicking out. Hayabusa would then go up to the top but Atticus would move way too close to the turnbuckle that it would make Hayabusa look bad for going for a Phoenix Splash with Atticus so far away from the intended target as Atticus would hit him with the Brain Hemorrhage to get the win at 14 minutes, 44 seconds to defend the title for the fifteenth time. This match started pretty slow, but it picked up towards the end that I would say it was good overall.

Hayabusa's first show back in Japan would take place on May 2, 2026 at the Chiba Urayasu Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay with the main event of Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka against Junya Matsunaga and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima and Tanaka would start off with chops that would lead to Tanaka elbowing him and knocking Nakajima down as they would both tag out. Hayabusa and Matsunaga would start off as Matsunaga would shoulder tackle Hayabusa and charge at him but be met with a dropkick as he would tag in Tanaka that would begin working on Matsunaga's shoulder before getting a hard kick to the back from Nakajima with Tanaka going over and smacking Nakajima across the face. Hayabusa would get tagged back in with Matsunaga delivering a dropkick and throwing him outside as Tanaka and Nakajima would also begin brawling in the crowd. Hayabusa and Matsunaga would get back in the ring with Matsunaga nailing Hayabusa with an elbow knocking him down and tagging in Nakajima who would begin striking Hayabusa before knocking him down with a hard kick. Nakajima would lift Hayabusa up but he would manage to escape and deliver a spinning heel kick and tag in Tanaka who would nail Nakajima and Matsunaga with his Stunner/DDT combo before sending Nakajima to the ropes where he would be met with a dropkick to the knee as Matsunaga would get tagged in and get met with a DDT from Tanaka.

Hayabusa would come in and hit his Swanton/Asai Moonsault combo before he and Matsunaga would get in a striking exchange that would lead to Hayabusa hitting a enziguri and then a Tiger Driver followed by a Spanish Fly. Nakajima and Tanaka would come back in and they would exchange elbows before Nakajima would grab Tanaka's leg and deliver a Dragon Screw Legwhip before Matsunaga would run and deliver a backdrop to Tanaka followed by Hayabusa coming off the top to get Matsunaga out of the ring. Nakajima would then nail Hayabusa with a kick but be met with a Tanaka clothesline. Tanaka and Nakajima would face off against trading elbows and kicks before Tanaka would knock Nakajima with an elbow and and deliver a superplex to Nakajima followed by a Hayabusa moonsault and Tanaka Superfly Frog Splash for a two count. Tanaka would then charge at Nakajima but Nakajima would deliver a drop toe hold sending Tanaka face first into the bottom turnbuckle with Nakajima again laying kicks across Tanaka's chest and back followed by a suplex before finishing Tanaka with a Northern Light Bomb at 22 minutes, 33 seconds for the win. This match focused much more on Nakajima and Tanaka through out much more than Hayabusa and Matsunaga and it was good, although other than Nakajima and Tanaka really beating the shit out of each other through out I would not say it was anything you need to go out of your way to see. Click here to watch highlights of Hayabusa/Tanaka vs. Nakajima/Matsunaga 5/2/26

Katsuhiko Nakajima would then promote his own show on May 31, 2026 at the Osaka Azalea Taisho Hall with the main event of him teaming up with Hayabusa against Masato Tanaka and Yuko Miyamoto. Nakajima would come off the top rope with a dropkick on Tanaka followed by Hayabusa delivering a hurricanrana to Tanaka as Nakajima would lay a kick to Tanaka's chest and then Nakajima would hit a Brainbuster on Tanaka. Nakajima would then grab a hold of Tanaka and Hayabusa would try to lay a superkick but Tanaka would move out of the way and Hayabusa would accidentally kick his partner Nakajima instead. Tanaka would then lay Hayabusa out with a lariat and nail Nakajima with a Brainbuster as Miyamoto would hit a Phoenix Senton followed by a Frog Splash from Tanaka before Tanaka would finish Nakajima at 28 minutes with a Sliding D for the win. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa/Nakajima vs. Tanaka/Miyamoto 5/31/26

ZERO1 would renew their rivalry with the 2AW promotion as Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka would take on 2AW's Kengo Mashimo and Naka Shuma on June 6, 2026 at the Itabashi Tokyo Square with Hayabusa this time getting into words on X with Naka Shuma prior to the match. Shuma would post on X about how Ricky Fuji had donated a bunch of FMW commercial videos to the 2AW Dojo with Shuma saying he has no idea how to play a VHS so he has never to watched them. Hayabusa would respond that he was envious and almost wants to watch them himself and stating he was looking forward to seeing the results of Shuma preparation. Shuma would come back asking what's this VHS crap anyway and how Hayabusa should run his ass all the way to Chiba if he wants to see them that badly and called Hayabusa a damn chatterbox. Shuma would end up losing three teeth in this match before Tanaka would end up putting him away at 16 minutes, 48 seconds with the Sliding D. Tanaka would state afterwards he would like a rematch with both Mashimo and Shuma.

Hayabusa's Fire Festival schedule will begin on June 13, 2026 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring as he looks to get revenge on Katsuhiko Nakajima in the main event after his loss to him in March. He will then face off against Koji Doi on July 4th in Osaka and then Tsugataka Sato on July 11th at the Itabashi Tokyo Square. He will go up against Daichi Hashimoto on July 25th at the Yokohama Radiant Hall and a rematch of last years Fire Festival tournament will see him take on Yuko Miyamoto on July 26th at the Uraysu Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay. The finals of the tournament will take place on August 7, 2026 at Korakuen Hall.

FMW-E would return on May 5, 2026 at the Osaka Sakai City Ohama Sumo Arena this would be the first show promoted with the initials FMW on May 5th since May 5, 2001 although obviously they are two very much different promotions as Onita was long gone from FMW at that point although did want to work the show since it was going to be at Kawasaki Stadium but was denied by Shoichi Arai.

The main event would see Atsushi Onita, JADE, and Hiroaki Taniguchi against Raijin Yaguchi, Hideaki Sumi, and Kandai Koyama in a Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat, Exploding Chair, and Barbed wire Board Hell Death Match. Onita would drive up to the ring in a car and ending would Onita spraying mist in Sumi's face before JADE would hit Sumi with the exploding barbed wire bat before Onita would hit Sumi over the head with the exploding chair and get the win at 15 minutes, 27 seconds for the Onita team victory. CIMA who challenged Onita to a match back in February worked the undercard although nothing progressed as far as them facing one another the next time Onita works in Osaka on August 11th. This show was released on DVD.

FMW-E returned to Kawasaki for the first time since August 24, 2024 when they ran their biggest show at Kawasaki Stadium. This show would take place on May 30, 2026 at the Kawasaki Fujimi Park Center right next door to Kawasaki Stadium. Atsushi Onita and The Great Sasuke would team up to face Shadow WX who carries Mr. Pogo's legacy by being his former partner and carrying the Mr. Pogo name and Guts Ishijima who carries Tarzan Goto's legacy by being trained by him. The main event match would be an Exploding Barbed wire Baseball Bat, Exploding Barbed wire Chair, Jado Rocket, and Barbed wire Board Hell Death Match.

Onita and Sasuke had also previously teamed up at Kawasaki Stadium back on May 5, 2002 against Shinya Hashimoto and Shinjiro Otani would start off brawling with Pogo and Ishijima before Ishijima would hit Onita with an exploding bat shot. Pogo would then superplex Sasuke off the top onto the barbed wire board. Onita would eventually end up spitting mist in Ishijima's face and Sasuke would set off the Jado Rocket that would end up hitting everyone although it seemed to be more loud than actually do any damage. Pogo would then end up hitting Sasuke with the exploding barbed wire bat before trying to throw him in the barbed wire board although Sasuke would reverse it and throw Pogo into the barbed wire board instead as Onita would hit Ishijima over the head with the exploding chair and cover him at 15 minutes, 33 seconds for the Onita team win. Onita would then ask Sasuke in an explosion match in Kawasaki with Sasuke agreeing to the match. The match is being planned for October in Kawasaki although the actual location has not been announced. Click here to watch highlights of FMW-E 5/30/26 Kawasaki

The main event of the New Japan Death Vegas Invitational on April 16, 2026 at the Las Vegas Horseshoe would see Jun Kasai and El Desperado teaming up to take on the team of Masashi Takeda and Rina Yamashita as well as Nick Gage and Matt Tremont in a Three Way Tag Team Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Boards Death Match. Takeda would smash a light tube over Kasai and Gage right away before Gage would grab a stack of light tubes and smash them over Takeda. Kasai and Gage would then face off and begin striking one another with Gage spearing Kasai back first into the first glass board. Desperado and Yamashita would then throw Gage into the light tubes followed by suplexing Gage through the second glass board in the corner.

Desperado and Yamashita would then face off against each other before Tremont would come over and although they would smash the light tubes over Tremont he would slam both of them and then deliver a splash on both of them as well before Takeda would come over and smash a light tube across Tremont and taking a fork and sticking it in Tremont's head before smashing a light tube over his head. Takeda would then pull out the scissors and begin stabbing Tremont with it before Desperado would come over with a barbed wire board with Takeda smashing Desperado against it as Takeda would cut Desperado's mask and stab him as Yamashita would come over and help slice both Desperado and Tremont.

Gage would come in the ring and smash a stack of light tubes over Yamashita and stab her with the broken light tubes as Tremont would place the third glass board over Takeda's body as Tremont would go up to the top with Yamashita coming over and trying for a hurricanrana but Tremont would catch her and powerbomb her through the glass board over Takeda's body. Kasai and Desperado would then come over with skewers and stab Tremont and Gage before delivering DDT's followed by Reverse Tiger Drivers on Takeda and Yamashita but as they would go to cover them they would be met by Gage slicing both Desperado and Kasai with the pizza cutter. Kasai would manage to throw Gage out of the ring as both he and Desperado would place light tubes over Takeda and Yamashita and hit Double Pearl Harbor Splashes with Takeda and Yamashita kick out. Gage would then come over with broken glass and begin stabbing everyone's forehead with broken glass before hitting Takeda, Desperado, Kasai, and Yamashita with Facewash kicks as Tremont would hit Yamashita with a Death Valley Driver.

Tremont would place light tubes over Yamashita and deliver an elbow across the light tubes with Yamashita herself finding her second wind and begin attacking Tremont and Gage as Takeda would come over to help as Desperado would hit a flying dropkick on everyone. Desperado would then grab a stack of light tubes but be met with a dropkick from Takeda breaking them as Kasai would go for Reverse Tiger Driver but Yamashita would reverse it and hit a Reverse Thunder Fire as Desperado and Gage would begin striking one another with Desperado kicking Gage low and then back suplexing Gage on the light tubes as Kasai would pull out the fourth glass board with Desperado placing it in the corner but Tremont would come over and clothesline Desperado and then chokeslam Desperado through the glass board in the corner.

 Takeda and Kasai would send Tremont into the ropes but be met with a double clothesline as Gage would take Desperado and hit him with two piledrivers and then finish Desperado off with a powerbomb for the win at 14 minutes, 26 seconds for the American team. Kasai would go up to Gage afterwards with Gage putting his hand out with Kasai slapping it and flipping Gage off to his face. Kasai would take the mic and call Gage a cocksucker before walking away. This was all action throughout as  there was never a dull moment during this match as I would consider it one of the better recent death matches I have seen as of late.

FREEDOMS would return to the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square on April 26, 2026 and announce a crowd of 103 fans for the show. The main event would see Violento Jack and Toshiyuki Sakuda defeat Daiju Wakamatsu and Tomoya Hirata in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match when Wakamatsu would hit Jack with a German Suplex and then smash light tubes over Jack and go up to the top rope and deliver his diving elbow but when pinning him he would be placed in a Mexican Stretch by Jack but manage to turn it into a cover before Jack himself would also reverse it into a Crucifix Hold at 21 minutes, 9 seconds for the win over Wakamatsu leading into their title match.

Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase would team up to take on JTO's Takobutsu and Aoi in a Hardcore Match with the finishing sequence seeing Kasai and Watase suplexing Takobutsu on a ladder followed by Kasai sticking skewers in his head and nailing him with a lariat and then climbing up a ladder with Takobutsu climbing up it up as well but Kasai would knock him off and hit the Pearl Harbor Splash off the ladder to get the win at 17 minutes, 58 seconds for the win with Kasai getting on the mic and stating he did not know that this team was so energetic and capable and the next time they would fight it would be for the tag titles.

Hyakuroku Mogami and Kyu Mogami would defeat Masashi Takeda and Takayuki Ueki when Kyu would end up getting the win over Ueki at 11 minutes, 29 seconds with a Kikane Clutch. Gaia Hox, Kaixa Zheng, and Rekka would defeat Daisuke Masaoka, Kengo, and Kota Sekifuda with Hox rolling up Sekifuda at 11 minutes, 14 seconds with a Cradle. The opening match would see Mammoth Sasaki and Yuya Susumu defeating Takashi Sasaki and Reiya Igarashi at 10 minutes, 51 seconds after Susumu would make Igarashi tap out to the Cross Facelock.

FREEDOMS would run their annual Golden Week Korakuen Hall show on May 1, 2026 with an announced crowd of 485 fans. Comparing this number to last years number is unfair as last years show had Kasai and Sugiura against Jack and El Desperado in a Death Match which drew 1,169 fans and this show they knew they were going to take the hit drawing wise for a quality main event match by bringing in the unproven Daiju Wakamatsu to challenge Jack for the title. The fairer comparison would be the March show that had the ICW guys on it that drew 525 fans.

The main event would see Violento Jack defend his King of Freedom World Championship in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Glass Boards Death Match against 2AW's Daiju Wakamatsu. Jack would start by throwing Wakamatsu in the corner with Wakamatsu catching himself before going into the fluorescent light tube tower with Jack throwing Wakamatsu in the ropes with Wakamatsu coming back with a flying shoulder tackle but then Jack would just pick up Wakamatsu and send him back first into the glass board in the corner. Jack would use the broken glass to cut open Wakamatsu.

 Jack would then look to pick Wakamatsu up again but he would get away and push Jack back first into one of the fluorescent light tube towers in the corner. Wakamatsu would then begin breaking light tubes with headbutts over Jack before Jack would come back by kicking one of the light tubes against Wakamatsu and then headbutting light tubes against Wakamatsu himself before Wakamatsu would turn it around and headbutt more light tubes against Jack. Wakamatsu would then smash a chair over Jack's head and then hit him with the death valley bomb on the apron followed by setting up the other board on a stack of chairs on the outside and lay Jack under the glass board and then deliver a running swanton clearing the top rope landing on the glass board over Jack with the glass board not breaking.

Wakamatsu would then go up to the top and deliver a diving elbow onto the glass board managing to break the glass this time. They would get back in the in the ring with Jack hitting Wakamatsu with a lariat and follow that up with the Amatalan and then a suplex off the top with Wakamatsu getting right up and hitting Jack with a Brainbuster and then a German Suplex. Wakamatsu would then place light tubes over Jack and go up to the top rope but Jack would get up and smash the light tubes over Wakamatsu and grab the other light tube tower but Wakamatsu would come off the top with a flying dropkick breaking the light tube tower across Jack in a cool spot.

Wakamatsu would take some of the broken light tube tower over Jack and deliver a flying elbow breaking the rest of the light tube tower over Jack. Wakamatsu would then headbutt another light tube across Jack's head but then go for a lariat and charge at Jack but get with a Uranage as Jack would would hit another Death Valley Bomb on a stack of light tubes followed by going for a Jack Pack but Wakamatsu would escape and just begin tossing light tubes at Jack's head before charging at Jack and getting caught with a powerbomb followed by a sit-down powerbomb and then Jack would hit the Jack Pack for the three count at 22 minutes, 36 seconds to successfully defend the title for the fifth time.

This was good match and Wakamatsu brought good fire the problem was just Wakamatsu just did not seem like he was anywhere near Jack's level and really had no legitimate chance at winning but with so few challengers left I think they will take the fresh good match at this point despite it not begin particularly dramatic in anyway.

The semi-main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defend their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Hyakuroku Mogami and Kyu Mogami for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles in a Street Fight. This match would have everyone involved be a "Villain" as well as the ring announcer and referee for the match. Kyu would end up hitting Watase with a concrete block as Sugiura and Kyu would deliver a double bulldog to Watase sending him out of the ring as Sugiura would do a somersault tope con hilo on everyone before Kasai would end up placing Sugiura on a table and delivering a dive sending him through the table outside. Kasai and Watase would take broken table pieces in the ring and smash them over Kyu and Sugiura's heads with them keeping their hands in their pockets. Kasai would then pull the skewers out but Sugiura would take them and shove them Kasai's head as Kyu would come over and hit Kasai with a Diamond Cutter. Sugiura would then go for a rolling elbow but Kasai would catch him and roll him up with a Gouin G MY WAY on Sugiura to get the win at 18 minutes, 42 seconds to successfully defend the titles for the fourth time. The Mogami Brothers would end up getting in a shoving match afterwards with a singles match being made between them for Shin-Kiba later in the month.

Daisuke Masaoka would take on Tomoya Hirata in a Barbed wire Board Death Match with Masaoka placing the barbed wire board over Hirata's body and delivering a splash off the turnbuckle sending the barbed wire portion of the board into Hirata. Masaoka would then take a ladder and drop it down over Hirata. Masaoka would begin choking Hirata with barbed wire and then deliver a headbutt to Hirata with Hirata coming back with a lariat and then finishing Masaoka with a German Suplex for the pinfall at 13 minutes, 43 seconds as they slowly start to build Hirata back up following his February title loss.

Masashi Takeda would team up with Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea against Takayuki Ueki and JTO's Takobutsu and Aoi in a Hardcore Match with Takeda managing to hit Aoi with a Fire Thunder on a Fork board before smashing a chair against her head and then deliver a swanton off a ladder before finishing her with the U Crash at 13 minutes, 52 seconds for the win as Takeda and Takobutsu would square off face to face after the match.

GENTARO would make his return to the ring after suffering broken ribs as he would team up with Mammoth Sasaki against Takashi Sasaki and Daisuke Sekimoto with Sekimoto getting th ewin at 11 minutes, 41 seconds with a Diving Body Press. The opening match would see Gaia Hox, Kaixa Zheng, Rekka, and Kota Sekifuda defeating Kamui who would be making his Tokyo return, Yuya Susumu, Kengo, and Reiya Igarashi with Hox getting the win at 7 minutes, 8 seconds with the Butterfly Effect over Kamui.

FREEDOMS would return to Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on May 14, 2026 and announce a crowd of 124 fans for the show. The main event would see the Mogami Brothers face off in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with the brothers fighting over a light tube and them both breaking it across each other with an elbow but and Sugiura would end charging at Kyu he would get picked up and slammed followed by hit with the X Kyodo for the win at 15 minutes, 8 seconds as Sugiura would announce he would no longer be going by the Hyakuroku Mogami gimmick but he would still continue to team up with Kyu Mogami going forward.

The semi-main event would see Jun Kasai and Takashi Sasaki teaming up against their tag partners Mizuki Watase and Daiju Wakamatsu in a Barbed wire Board Death Match with Kasai squaring off against Watase with strikes that would turn into headbutts before Kasai would hit Watase with a Reverse Tiger Driver and then go for a lariat with Watase moving out of the way and delivering a dropkick on Kasai followed by a brain buster, but as he would go for a clothesline he would get blocked by Kasai who would manage to roll Watase up for the win at 16 minutes, 53 seconds with the Gouin G MY WAY cradle over his tag partner.

Violento Jack, Mammoth Sasaki, and Tomoya Hirata would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda, Takayuki Ueki, and Crea in a Hardcore Match with Jack getting the win at 12 minutes, 24 seconds with the Jack Pack. Masashi Takeda and Kengo would defeat Takobutso and Aoi when Kengo would pin Aoi at 10 minutes, 10 seconds with a Backdrop. This would setup a match between Takeda and Takobutso at the following months Shin-Kiba 1st Ring show. GENTARO would defeat Kamui at 8 minutes, 25 seconds with a Leg Height Inside Cradle. The opening match would see Gaia Hox, Kaixa Zheng, and Kota Sekifuda defeat Yuya Susumu, Reiya Igarashi, and Ryumi Sekimo when Hox would pin Igarashi at 10 minutes, 21 seconds with the F Drive.

FREEDOMS would then run their annual South Japan with the first show taking place at the Kitakyushu City Moji Red Brick Place on May 30, 2026 with Jun Kasai and Takashi Sasaki defeating Masashi Takeda and Takayuki Ueki when Kasai would get the win at 12 minutes, 31 seconds over Ueki with the Cross Arm Stimulation. The semi-main event would see Violento Jack and Tomoya Hirata defeat Toru Sugiura and HIROYA when Jack would pin HIROYA at 13 minutes, 24 seconds with the Amateulan. Yuya Susumu would pin Kamui at 8 minutes, 18 seconds with a Figure Four Jackknife. Trueno Guerrero would defat Tetsuo at 5 minutes, 50 seconds with a reverse pin in the Gamushara Pro sponsored match. Mammoth Sasaki would open the show defeating Reiya Igarashi at 6 minutes, 36 seconds with the 29 Years Old.

The next show on the tour for FREEDOMS would be on May 31, 2026 at the Kumamoto Gran Messe with the main event seeing Violento Jack, Masashi Takeda, and Masashi Takeda defeating Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, and Toru Sugiura in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match with Jack pinning Sasaki at 16 minutes, 39 seconds with the Jack Pack. Gaia Hox would defeat Van Vert Jack to defend the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Championship at 16 minutes, 22 seconds with the Butterfly Effect. Yuji Hino having his first match in 15 months following his heart attack would win the Barefoot King Title afer defeating Takayuki Ueki in a Toy Block Death Match at 7 minutes, 36 seconds with Hino stating this was a one time thing and he does not plan on returning back to the ring again anytime soon.

Kintaro Kanemura who had traveled to Kumamoto with Yuji Hino would attend the show and come to the ring along with Mammoth Sasaki, Kamui, and Takashi Sasaki as they would all do the TNR Dance together before Mammoth and Kamui would lose to Mt. Aso and HIROYA when Aso would pin Kamui at 11 minutes, 15 second swith the Magma Driver. Daisuke Masaoka and Kaixa Zheng would defeat Van Vert Negro and CoCo when Masaoka would pin CoCo at 9 minutes, 53 seconds with a cutback of a La Magistral. The opening match would see Yuya Susumu would defeat Reiya Igarashi at 8 minutes, 22 seconds when he would make him tap out to the Cross Facelock for the win.

Jun Kasai competed in New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors Tournament from May 16th to June 3rd. He started off with a loss on CMLL's Titan but was able to get his first win of the tournament by def eating last years winner Kosei Fujita. He would keep the momentum by defeating Daiki Nagai and Robbie X before losing to CMLL's Valiente Jr. He would then defeat AEW's Nick Wayne who he would state he could his father due to the age difference before getting jumped by Francesco Akira. Kasai would end up losing to Akira on the next show before defeating Master Wato. It would all come down to June 3rd to see if he could advance into the semi-finals of the tournament but he would end up losing to Ryusuke Taguchi to close out the tournament with 10 points. The final show of the tour on June 7th he would team up with Aaron Wolf and Toru Yano to defeat Dick Togo, Ren Narita, and Yujiro Takahashi. Kasai would tease teaming up with Aaron Wolf for the World Tag League in November. Kasai would also win the Outstanding Performance Award for his matches in the tournament.

FREEDOMS would return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on June 12, 2026 and announce a crowd of 173 fans for the show. The main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defend their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Violento Jack and Tomoya Hirata with Kasai getting the win at 18 minutes, 46 seconds with his rollup Gouin G MY WAY over Jack to defend the titles for the fifth time. Kasai would challenge Jack for the King of Freedom World Championship for the July 9th show at Korakuen Hall with Kasai stating that now that he has been in the Best of the Super Junior Tournament he is a 1000% times more stronger.

Masashi Takeda would defeat Takobutsu in the semi-main event at 7 minutes, 57 seconds in a Weapons Death Match after hitting him with the Reverse U Crash on the forkboard. Toru Sugiura and Kyu Mogami would team up to defeat Mammoth Sasaki and Kamui when Sugiura would pin Kamui at 10 minutes, 54 seconds with the X Trail. Takayuki Ueki and Aoi would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea at 12 minutes, 23 seconds when Ueki would pin Crea with a Death Valley Bomb. Yuya Susumu, Kengo, and Kota Sekifuda would defeat GENTARO, Gaia Hox, and Kaixa Zheng when Sekifuda got the pin at 11 minutes, 26 seconds with a Frog Splash over Zheng. The opening match would see Takashi Sasaki and Daiju Wakamatsu defeat Reiya Igarashi and Ryuma Sekimo when Wakamatsu would pin Igarashi at 11 minutes, 47 s econds with his Heaven in Chaos finisher.

Masashi Takeda announced on June 13, 2026 will be the release of his documentary at the Waterras Common in Ochanomizu. The documentary was made by a college student so it was not expected to be a big deal, but right away with there only being one showing of the documentary tickets sold out instantly as they were not expecting to have that much interest. Takeda mentions that the documentary is more about his life than wrestling as it covers his personal life over the last 2 1/2 years with him being a single father to his daughter showing all the mess ups he makes as a father daily. Takeda stated he agreed to be filmed as he knew with it just being him he would not be able to film that much himself so this was a way to have family video documented by someone else. There will be 100 Blu Rays of the documentary sold only at the screening as they have stated they will not make anymore copies of this after they have sold out. 100 copies is not a lot so unless someone ends up buying the video and ends up either selling it right away online or uploads to a site like YouTube there is a chance this video will not make it out of Japan. I will try my best to make sure there is possible access to it if I can though.

Megumi Kudo would return to America for the first time since May 1992 when she visited Las Vegas, Nevada on April 16, 2026 for GCW's MDK Fight Club show. She would come out to be inducted into the GCW Death Match Hall of Fame with a video playing of her career and her giving a speech in English thanking everybody as this was a moment she was very proud of. Rina Yamashita, Vipress, and Charli Evans would all come to the ring and present Kudo with flowers before the start of their match. Kudo also announced that for her 40th anniversary show coming up in August that the likes of Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, and The Great Sasuke will be wrestling on the show. Kudo also announced that was starting up her own YouTube show with a new video every Thursday. Kudo stated that she recent visited Combat Toyoda at her restaurant in Hyogo and did a video with her so I would expect that to be the first video to be uploaded to the channel next week.

Kazushi Miyamoto back in November 2023 uploaded a video of him meeting with Kintaro Kanemura in a park where Kanemura talked about his hit and run incident and not being able to afford to pay the fine and going to jail as a result. The comments on Miyamoto's video was almost all negative about Kanemura wanting Miyamoto to wash his hands of Kanemura. Miyamoto would upload another video on April 19, 2026 this time going to Kanemura's house stating he was doing a check up since he had not heard from him in awhile. Kanemura mentioned that his phone is broken and let Miyamoto in while filming. Miyamoto would film that Kanemura's home was a complete mess where it was difficult to walk around because of all the clutter. Kanemura also had cigarettes and alcohol all over the place. Miyamoto asked Kanemura how he was feeling and he stated he was feeling good. Miyamoto would joke about not really being able to move anywhere to sit down because of the room being so dirty.

Miyamoto asked about Kanemura's job situation with Kanemura stating he keeps getting fired from security jobs because it's a struggle for him to move at this point. Kanemura would begin smoking which would begin to frustrate Miyamoto who would try and pull the cigarette out of his mouth with Miyamoto telling him he needed to quit and Kanemura stating he will never quit. Miyamoto began to get critical of the house being so dirty with Kanemura stating he does clean the futon before he tries to go to sleep on it. Miyamoto would ask Kanemura about his routine when he wakes up with Kanemura stating he has been having difficult sleeping and regularly is going 24 hours without sleep regularly with Miyamoto asking him what is he doing and Kanemura stated he is just watching TV.

Miyamoto was critical of Kanemura for just staying at home and not working with Kanemura stating he can't get a job because he lacks strength. Miyamoto mentioned about all the rumors that go around about the character of Kanemura with Kanemura stating they are all lies. Miyamoto would mention that he's a legendary wrestler and that Kintaro Kanemura can transform his life. Kanemura would mention he can't do pro-wrestling anymore with Miyamoto stating that wrestling in the ring is just part of a career that he can still do other things in the sport. Miyamoto he wants him to just be able to live a normal decent life and he needs to stop drinking and smoking and sleep more and that he needs to clean this room. Kanemura did thank Miyamoto for coming by as he left with Miyamoto just sighing as he walked out.

The comments were much more critical of Miyamoto here stating things like that Kanemura is definitely suffering from depression so to come in and criticize him for his life choices isn't going to help when he's just trying to survive and instead of forcing changes the best approach is to affirm even the smallest things and support him over a long period of time as he sees changes. Another person stated being yelled at while suffering from depression just makes it harder. Another comment was Miyamoto should have shown kindness and him clean the house if he was worried about him. Mr. Gannosuke also was critical of Miyamoto stating that a junior should not be talking down to a senior like that while offering no actual help and filming it to make the public aware of his current struggles.

Yuji Hino who has helped Kanemura a lot since his retirement and it was his car that Kanemura was in when he did the hit and run that resulted in him going to prison. Hino would state he saw the video and that he felt it was questionable to show Kanemura's room in the video and it would have been better if he had helped clean it up afterwards.

Kanemura is someone who is now living on welfare and barely making ends meet. Hino stated that Kanemura entertained so many people and ruined his health in the process so he should be able to live at his own pace on welfare with pride. Hino then brought up the sexual harassment and hit and run incidents about how famous people tend to get criticized more than less famous people, but there are plenty of people worse than Kanemura. Of course, Kanemura is also at fault in these cases, but he is a good person at heart. Kanemura would often work for smaller promotions struggling for free as well as help pay for juniors (he helped support all the young FMW wrestlers after FMW closed down in 2002) and Kanemura also will help Hino out by picking up his kids from school and how he is full of good qualities.

Hino mentioned that Kanemura was on the verge of dying while living alone in Funabashi and took him to a hospital and then helped Kanemura find a place of his own in Chiba so Hino has been to his place regularly. Hino stated that video was filmed at its messiest and it's a small room so it can get really messy really easily.

Hino stated that people tell him that he needs to just take Kanemura to a hospital but he has already done and you can't just base all opinions on a 20 minute video. There are a lot of things you can not understand unless you're actually living through it and Hino just wants people to leave Kanemura alone. Hino then stated he's the only person that has taken care of Kanemura more than he has taken care of anyone so he feels he is the only one suited to lecture him. Hino stated though that thanks to that video he realized he needs to start helping clean up and asked if any of the wrestlers that have been helped by Kanemura if they could by and help as well. Hino also mentioned that Kanemura having insomnia is a lie that he tells and that he just can't sleep because he's not tired and if you take him for a walk he will get tired he will fall asleep properly and if you want him to have a regular lifestyle just take him out and go do stuff with him during the day.

Hino would come by and along with Yuki Miyazaki and Yuu Yamagata would help clean Kanemura's house on June 8th to where it was sparkling clean. Hino thanked Yamagata for buying all the cleaning supplies used to help clean the house.

I have completed translating everything Hayabusa related from 2000 to 2001 going over his return to the Hayabusa gimmick from H, his feud with Kodo Fuyuki over the WEW Title, and his double elbow surgery that would put him out for 6 months leading up to his return at Kawasaki Stadium in May 2001. This is the second to last installment of this series that I have been working on since last year. The final one will cover his final 5 months of his in ring career and then everything interview I have been able to gather following his injury. After I complete the final one, I will put them all together on one page for easier access to all of them. You can find the page at http://fmwwrestling.us/Hayabusa0001.html

I traveled to Las Vegas this past April after Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, and Megumi Kudo would be announced to attend certain shows as well as attend WrestleCon at the Horseshoe. I ended up attending on April 17, 2026 and Masato Tanaka ended up recognizing me from my Twitter account. He ended up telling Hayabusa and Kudo how I have put much work into promoting ZERO1's Hayabusa and FMW over the years to English speaking fans. Tanaka then asked if I could take a group photo with him, Hayabusa, and Kudo and asking if I was okay with it going on social media which he would end up posting the picture and talking about meeting me on the ZERO1 Neo Base app. This was actually the second time I was able to take a group photo with Hayabusa, Tanaka, and Kudo although obviously the first time was with Eiji Ezaki as I attended Megumi Kudo's Happy Share With event in 2013 where everyone in attendance got to take a picture with Hayabusa, Tanaka, and Kudo. This was a a really cool moment for me as there are really few wrestlers I actually really care about and these three wrestlers fall in that very small category. You can check out more about my Las Vegas trip by going to http://fmwwrestling.us/LasVegas26.html

Added: 4/12

Hayabusa would appear in the semi-main event of the ZERO1 February 28, 2026 at the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square as he would team up with Tatsumi Fujinami's son LEONA as they would lose to the Strong Style Pro-Wrestling's Super Tiger and Hayato Mashita when Tiger would end up knocking LEONA out at 13 minutes, 11 seconds with a high kick for the win. The main event would see Katsuhiko Nakajima defeat Junya Matsunaga with Hayabusa coming out afterwards and a singles match between Nakajima and Hayabusa being made for March 20th at Shin-Kiba. Nakajima would leave with Hayabusa staying in the ring to do the 3-2-ZERO1 chant with the crowd when BUSHI's music would begin playing and out would come BUSHI in a Hayabusa style mask with one eye glowing out of it. BUSHI would ask for a match with Hayabusa but before Hayabusa could respond he would end up getting black mist spit in eyes with a very upset Hayabusa afterwards accepting BUSHI's request and a singles match would be made for April 3rd for ZERO1's 25th Anniversary show for the Shinjuku FACE. Click here to watch highlights of Hayabusa/LEONA vs. Super Tiger/Hayato Mashita 2/28/26

Hayabusa would face off against Junya Matsunaga on March 6, 2026 at the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square with the winner of the match becoming the number one contender to face off against Masato Tanaka for the World Heavyweight Title so with Hayabusa already lined up against BUSHI for the show the end result was already pretty well known going into the match.

Matsunaga would send Hayabusa into the ropes and nail him with a shoulder tackle, but Hayabusa would end up kipping up and delivering a drop kick sending Matsunaga out of the ring with Hayabusa looking to hit a tope con hilo but Matsunaga would move out of the way, so Hayabusa would catch himself on the ropes. Matsunaga would try to come back in the ring but be met with a dropkick to the outside and then Hayabusa would take Matsunaga to the entrance of the building and smash his head against a table as they would back to ringside and begin striking one another with Hayabusa going in the crowd and climb on one of the railings for fans standing to use and dive off of it onto Matsunaga.

They would get back in the ring with Hayabusa applying an arm bar to Matsunaga with Matsunaga grabbing the ropes for the break. Hayabusa would head to the ropes but be met with a boot to the face and a Northern Lights Suplex from Matsunaga. Matsunaga would then hit the ropes and be hit with a spinning heel kick sending Matsunaga out of the ring as Hayabusa would hit him with a Tope Con Hilo. Hayabusa would bring Matsunaga in the ring and hit the Swan Dive/Asai Moonsault combo and then try for a Tiger Driver with Matsunaga turning it into a hurricanrana and follow that up with a Uranage. They would both get up and exchange strikes with one another before it would turn into elbows and then them exchanging suplexs before Hayabusa would hit Matsunaga with the Tiger Driver although when he would try for a Falcon Arrow it would see Matsunaga turn it into a brainbuster.

Matsunaga would try for a lariat but Hayabusa would duck it and hit a lariat of his own. Hayabusa would go up to the top and hit a moonsault and then follow that up with a Falcon Arrow. Hayabusa would go up to the top and try for the Firebird Splash but Matsunaga would move out of the way and deliver a knee to the back of Hayabusa's head. Matsunaga would then try for a knee to the face but Matsunaga would block it. Hayabusa would then look to hit the H Thunder but Matsunaga would escape and hit a flying forearm and then a knee to the face and then finish Hayabusa off at 20 minutes, 9 seconds with the Bee Sting.

This was good, better than the Ishikawa match with Hayabusa the month prior but the losing streak for Hayabusa in singles match continues as to put Matsunaga over for his title match against Masato Tanaka at the Shinjuku FACE in April. Hayabusa afterwards would state that he didn't think he would lose a singles match to Matsunaga this early, but since Matsunaga lost to Nakajima previously that if he beats Nakajima on March 20th that would set him up for a World Heavyweight Title match soon. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa vs. Junya Matsunaga 3/6/26

Junya Matsunaga afterwards would do a interview with Pro-Wrestling Weekly magazine to promote the ZERO1 25th anniversary show with the main event against Masato Tanaka for the World Heavyweight Title which he would end up winning from Tanaka on the show. I translated the interview that you can find at http://fmwwrestling.us/Matsunaga26.html

Hayabusa returned to NOAH for the Universe Cup Tournament on March 9, 2026, at Shinjuku FACE. His first round opponent would be Ganbare Pro's Yumehito Imanari. Imanari got the better of an early shoulder tackle exchange, but when he charged at Hayabusa again, he would be met with a dropkick that sent him to the outside. Hayabusa would attempt an Asai Moonsault, but Imanari moved out of the way, causing Hayabusa to crash onto a chair. Hayabusa would make his way back onto the apron, but Imanari would knock him down again and followed up by jumping off the apron onto him.

Back in the ring, Imanari would attempt to slam Hayabusa, but Hayabusa overpowered him and hit a slam of his own. Hayabusa would send Imanari into the ropes, but Imanari would come back with a flying body press, followed by chops to the chest, a face crusher, a running senton, and then a Vader Splash for a two count. Imanari then locked in an STF, forcing Hayabusa to reach the ropes for a break. Imanari would send Hayabusa into the ropes again, but Hayabusa countered with a dropkick to the knees, sending Imanari to the outside. Hayabusa followed with a Tope Con Hilo before throwing Imanari back into the ring. Hayabusa would then go for a swanton, but would land hard on Imanari and taking a moment to recover. Hayabusa would then get up and go for an Asai Moonsault, but then look to either slip or miss the middle rope altogether, but manage to quickly regain his footing and execute the Asai Moonsault successfully.

Hayabusa attempted a Tiger Driver, but Imanari broke free, leading to a striking exchange. Hayabusa connected with a rolling elbow, but Imanari responded with a lariat and then hit a Tiger Driver of his own. Imanari would attempt a suplex, but Hayabusa reverse it into a brainbuster. Hayabusa would then go to the top rope, but Imanari would follow and hit a suplex off the top on Hayabusa. Imanari then would deliver a powerbomb and another lariat for a two count. He attempted another lariat, but Hayabusa would catch him and execute a Spanish Fly followed by climbing to the top rope and hitting a moonsault, and then a Tiger Driver for another near fall. Hayabusa would then charge at him, but Imanari would counter with a Lou Thesz Press for a two count before Hayabusa would kick out. Hayabusa would get back to his feet, and deliver a high kick to Imanari’s head, and follow that up with a Falcon Arrow for another two count. Hayabusa would then go up to the top rope again and hit the Fire Bird Splash, and get the victory at 14 minutes and 16 seconds to advance to the semi-finals of the Universe Cup tournament. This was really nothing much of a match, and will just end up being remember for the Hayabusa struggling with the Asai Moonsault to scare everyone.

Hayabusa would then take on Katsuhiko Nakajima for the first time on March 20, 2026 for ZERO1 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. They would start off on the mat, before it would turn into an exchange with strikes, before Hayabusa would end up dropkicking Nakajima and sending him out of the ring. Hayabusa would look to deliver the tope con hilo, but Nakajima would rush back in the ring and boot Hayabusa right in the face. Nakajima would go for a strike, but Hayabusa would grab Nakajima and bring him to the mat with a triangle choke, with Nakajima making it to the ropes for the break. Hayabusa would then place Nakajima in an armbar, with Nakajima once again making it to the ropes for another break. Nakajima would manage block a high kick from Hayabusa and turn it into a dragon screw that would then lead Nakajima begin focusing on Hayabusa's ankle, and place him in a leglock, before focusing on his neck.

Hayabusa would try and fight back with strikes, but would miss and get kicked in the chest by Nakajima, but as Nakajima would try for a suplex, Hayabusa would land on his feet and deliver a spinning heel kick, sending Nakajima out of the ring, as Hayabusa would hit the tope con hilo. Hayabusa would come back in the ring with the Swanton Dive/Asai Moonsault in the ring, followed by going to the top, but Nakajima would meet him with a spinning heel kick and try for a suplex off the top, but Hayabusa would land on his feet and deliver an enziguri, but then Nakajima would counter with a superkick and deliver a backdrop that Hayabusa would get up right away and deliver a German Suplex, with Nakajima getting right up and delivering a kick to Hayabusa, as both would fall to the mat.

Nakajima would get up first, but be met with a hurricarana, followed by Hayabusa delivering a kick and then a Thunder Fire Powerbomb on Nakajima. Hayabusa would charge at Nakajima, but be knocked down into the corner, as Nakajima would begin delivering kicks and try and set up for a Vertical Spike, but instead Hayabusa would turn it into a Falcon Arrow, before going to the top and trying for a Firebird Splash, with Nakajima getting his knees up and then hitting Hayabusa with the Vertical Spike, with Hayabusa kicking out at two. Nakajima would then lift Hayabusa and hit him with the Northern Lights Bomb to get the win.

This was okay. I had saw several people speak highly of it before seeing it, so I would say I was disappointed overall They did a lot of the no selling counters, and the peak of the match never really had a great flow. Nakajima would get on the mic and state the history of Hayabusa was incredibly rich and is incredibly complex, that he can't begin to understand, but Katsuhiko Nakajima's history has unfolded in its own way, but the match they had turned out great, and thanked Hayabusa by shaking his hand. Nakajima would then ask Hayabusa to participate on his independent show in Osaka on May 31st. Hayabusa would accept the invite, as they would shake hands and left Hayabusa close the show out doing the 3-2-1 chant.

Nakajima does have a history with the original Hayabusa as he actually spent some time with Eiji Ezaki back in 2012, as when he was apart of the Kensuke Family and along with Kensuke Sasaki, Akira Hokuto, and Kento Miyahara, they all went to Mexico in May 2012 with Ezaki for several days. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 3/20/26

Hayabusa would make his Australia debut in Success at the Cockburn Youth Centre on March 28, 2026 at the New Horizon Pro-Wrestling show where the night before it would be announced that Hayabusa would be facing off against Low Ki. This was Low Ki's first match since wrestling for the promotion back in November when he faced off against Dragon Kid. This was a hard hitting match that went close to 15 minutes with the crowd very into everything they were doing before Hayabusa would end up getting the win over Low Ki with the Firebird Splash. The two would shake and raise their arms out of respect afterwards.

Hayabusa would take on BUSHI for the ZERO1 25th Anniversary show on April 3, 2026 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE. Hayabusa and BUSHI had gotten into words with one another on X with BUSHI referencing Hayabusa's weight with Hayabusa responding back that BUSHI was going to be the one wearing a t-shirt during the match. There was also a section dedicated to BUSHI fans in the crowd although BUSHI would state that the ticket sales for his section were not doing well so everyone that would buy a ticket in his section would get a free BUSHI pen. BUSHI would go over to his section during his entrance and the section would look full. BUSHI would end up charging into Hayabusa and he would deliver the kip up and drop kick to BUSHI and deliver a rolling senton onto BUSHI.

They would trade strikes before BUSHI would deliver a dropkick as they would both go in the crowd which would see BUSHI taking Hayabusa throughout Shinjuku FACE and slamming him head first into a table before bringing him back to ringside where Hayabusa would strike back at BUSHI with BUSHI knocking him down and bringing back in the ring. Samurai TV would cut out almost the entire outside in the crowd sequence on their version. Hayabusa would come back and deliver a spinning leg kick sending BUSHI out of the ring again this time followed by Hayabusa hitting a tope con hilo and bring him back in the ring and deliver the Swanton/Asai Moonsault and get a two count. Hayabusa would then deliver a Tiger Driver and get another two count before sending BUSHING into the turnbuckle but BUSHI would climb up to the top and deliver a flying dropkick and go up to the top again but be met with a Hayabusa dropkick on his way down. Hayabusa would deliver a Thunder Fire Powerbomb and then a moonsault for a two count. Hayabusa would then nail BUSHI with a Falcon Arrow and go up to the top and miss the Firebird Splash.

Both would crawl and face each other mask to mask as they would begin striking one another with BUSHI landing a kick to the face followed by Hayabusa hitting a spinning heel kick and then going for another Falcon Arrow but BUSHI would escape and shove Hayabusa into referee Nikkan Lee and then spit black mist in his eyes and go up to the top and hit his MX finisher to get the win at 12 minutes, 15 seconds for another Hayabusa loss. There was not much down time here so it wasn't bad, but Hayabusa pretty much was in control the whole match and BUSHI really barely did anything until the finish. BUSHI would sarcastically ask to form a team with Hayabusa with Hayabusa taking the request serious and rejecting the offer. Click here for highlights of Hayabusa vs. BUSHI 4/3/26

Hayabusa would return to NOAH for the semi-finals of the Universal Cup on April 6, 2026, at the Shinjuku FACE. His opponent would be Naomichi Marufuji, who would knock Hayabusa down with a shoulder tackle early on, with Hayabusa kipping up and delivering a dropkick, sending Marufuji out of the ring, as Hayabusa would nail him with a tope con hilo to the outside.

They would get back in the ring, with Hayabusa delivering a dropkick, sending Marufuji back to the outside, but Marufuji would grab Hayabusa's legs as he would try for an Asai Moonsault, and then deliver a brainbuster on the outside. They would get back in the ring, with Marufuji working over Hayabusa's neck, before Hayabusa would come back with a spinning heel kick, and then hit the Swanton Dive/Asai Moonsault, and then place Marufuji in the Texas Cloverleaf, with Marufuji making it to the ropes.

Hayabusa would look for a Tiger Driver, but Marufuji would escape that and deliver a dropkick, and nail Hayabusa with a lariat. Marufuji would then look to set up a brainbuster, but Hayabusa would manage to turn it into a suplex of his own, but Marufuji would manage to lift his shoulders up for a cover, with Hayabusa kicking out at two in a creative spot by Marufuji.

They would both get up, with Hayabusa delivering a kick to Marufuji and another spinning heel kick, before successfully hitting the Tiger Driver for the two count. Hayabusa would then go up to the top and try for a moonsault, with Marufuji getting his knees up. Marufuji would then try for the Shiranui, but Hayabusa would counter that and turn it into a Falcon Arrow, followed by a traditional Falcon Arrow, for a two count. Hayabusa would then go up to the top and try for a Firebird Splash, with Marufuji moving out of the way. Marufuji would then nail Hayabusa with a kick and a knee to the face for a two count. Marufuji would then nail Hayabusa with the Shiranui, with Hayabusa kicking out.

They would get up and begin exchanging chops and strikes, with Marufuji nailing Hayabusa with several high kicks and covering, with Hayabusa kicking out, before placing Hayabusa in a neck lock, with Hayabusa tapping out at 14 minutes, 52 seconds for Marufuji to advance.

This was the first time that anyone under the Hayabusa gimmick had tapped out or submitted, which I hated, as that didn't need to be the finish, but the match overall was really good and the best of the series of Hayabusa losses this year. Hayabusa and Marufuji would shake hands, as Marufuji would raise up Hayabusa's hand. Marufuji would go on to defeat Sanshiro Takagi in the finals of the tournament to win the Universal Cup. Hayabusa afterwards would state this loss to him mean he needs to move away from Ezaki's Hayabusa and focus on him being his own Hayabusa.

It's completely different as Hayabusa when starting in FMW in 1995 was suppose to be the unquestioned ace of the promotion the first year and ended up getting injured and missing four months of his first year due to injury. Just comparing the losses in their first years Hayabusa in FMW lost in singles matches to Atsushi Onita, The Gladiator twice, Super Leather, and then to Gladiator in a tag, Hisakatsu Oya in a tag, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a tag, and Terry Funk in a tag. That's 4 single losses and four tag losses so eight overall. This Hayabusa has now lost to Kaito Kiyomiya, Masato Tanaka, Junya Matsunaga, Katsuhiko Nakajima, BUSHI, and Naomichi Marufuji with one tag pinfall loss to Junya Matsunaga which is 6 single losses and 1 tag loss so seven overall which considering he didn't lose the first 6 months at all, he has made up some ground recently with all the losses and it doesn't look likely he will end up defeating Atticus Cogar for the GCW Heavyweight Title in Las Vegas either.

ZERO1 and 2AW would co-promote a show on April 11, 2026 at the Chiba 2AW Square with the final four matches being ZERO1 vs. 2AW with Hayabusa teaming up with Chris Vice to take on the 2AW team of Ayato Yoshida and Kotaro Yoshino. Hayabusa and Yoshida had gone back and forth on X with Yoshida before the match and during the match it would be Hayabusa pin Yoshino at 11 minutes, 51 seconds with a Firebird Splash. Hayabusa afterwards would talk about Ayato Yoshida being nosier than expected but would typo his first name with Yoshida coming back and calling him an idiot for misspelling his name. Hayabusa would apologize with Yoshida stating that Hayabusa was the one that was naggy and noisy. Ricky Fuji was not on this show due to wrestling on the WUW Mexico show that day, but I do hope one of these 2AW shows leads to Hayabusa against Ricky as I would like for Hayabusa to face off against the active FMW wrestlers at least one time including Ricky, Kuroda, and Onryo.

ZERO1 announced their Fire Festival participants as the tournament will start on June 13th at Shin-Kiba and finish at Korakuen Hall on August 7th as they continue to just be in a state where they can book Korakuen Hall once a year and have decided that the finals of the tournament where it will be this year compared to last year where they did a stand alone show in November. They are also choosing to do it instead of their 25th Anniversary, but I would imagine they felt that November to April was too close to run it again. The participants will be Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, Junya Matsunaga, Chris Vice, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Shuji Ishikawa, Kuroshio Tokyo Japan, Tsugataka Sato, Daichi Hashimoto, Koji Doi, Kuma Arashi, and Ryunosuke Nagai. The blocks have not been determined yet.

Atsushi Onita would participate for the IMPACT promotion on March 29, 2026 at the Chiba Kimitsu City Citizens Gym as the show would be put together by Hiroshi Yamato who is a council member in Kimitsu City, in collaboration with Takahiro Tamaba with the aim of revitalizing Kimitsu City. The main event would see Atsushi Onita, Naoshi Sano, and Monster Leather against Hiroshi Yamato, Gajo, and Takahiro Tamaba in a Barbed wire Board Guitar Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match.

Onita would be thrown into the barbed wire board by Gajo in the early portions of the match. This ignited Onita as he would smash a guitar over Gajo's head which would bust open Gajo. Onita would continue the rampage by grabbing Yamato and delivering a double-arm suplex to him followed by a figure-four leglock. The ending sequence would see Yamato deliver a missile kick from the top rope to Monster Leather, followed by a fisherman's suplex for the three count on him to get the win at 9 minutes, 53 seconds for the Yamato team win.

After the match, Tamaba and Yamato pleaded with Onita stating, "In 2030, the Chiba Lotte Marines' farm team is scheduled to be built here in Kimitsu. Onita-san! Please take advantage of this and hold a exploding barbed wire match in Kimitsu!" as Onita at first would give a dismissive reply, but by the end, Onita would declare, "In 2030, we will hold a exploding barbed wire match here in Kimitsu!" which would get a big pop from the crowd to end the show. Onita would be 72 years old at the start of 2030.

Atsushi Onita will compete in an explosion death match in back to back May 5ths for the first time in his career since May 5, 1994 and May 5, 1995. This is actually a Dream Project show but will be using the FMW-E name as it will take place at the Osaka Sakai City Ohama Sumo Arena with the main event of Atsushi Onita, JADE, and Hiroaki Taniguchi against Raijin Yaguchi, Hideaki Sumi, and Knadai Koyama in a "explosion" match which at the very least means it will be an exploding barbed wire baseball bat death match. I would have to say that it is disappointing that CIMA will not be in the main event after he approached Onita about being on this show back in February. CIMA will instead be in a Jr. Heavyweight Mach on the show. This show will be released on DVD.

FMW-E will then run outside right outside Kawasaki Stadium in a nearby park called Fujimi Park on May 30, 2026 as 312 seats will be setup for the show. The Great Sasuke will also be appearing on this show but no card has been announced yet.

FREEDOMS would return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on March 12, 2026 drawing an announced 133 fans for the show. The main event would be the finals of a four team Next Challenger Tag Team Tournament going back to February 21st as Takashi Sasaki and Daiju Wakamatsu would take on Hyakuroku Mogami and Kyu Mogami in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match as Hyakuroku would end up going to the top rope to get Sasaki with a Tornado DDT with Kyu picking up Sasaki, but Sasaki managing to escape and suplex Kyu on the stack of light tubes.

Both Hyakuroku and Kyu would be on the outside when Wakamatsu would hit a dive over the top onto both of them. Hyakuroku would get back in the ring with Sasaki and setup a stack of light tubes and go for a right kick, but Sasaki would move out of the way and grab the light tubes and toss them at Hyakuroku and kick them breaking the light tubes over him. Wakamatsu would then grab Kyu as Sasaki would hit a lariat and Wakamatsu would hit a Dragon Suplex and Mogami would go up to the top rope and hit a Diving Bakachinga Elbow Drop to get the win over Kyu at 18 minutes, 7 seconds to the win the Next Challenger Tag Team Tournament and earn a match against the champions Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase for March 26th at Korakuen Hall. Kasai and Wakamatsu would come to the ring after the match and state that they could decide any kind of format of a match that they want for their Korakuen Hall match.

The semi-main event would see Violento Jack, Jun Kasai, and Mizuki Watase taking on Masashi Takeda, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and PURE-J's Crea in a Hardcore Match with the Takeda team jumping the Kasai to start the match. Takeda would slam Kasai and toss him a chair as they would do a swinging duel chair with Kasai knocking Takeda's chair away but Takeda would spear Kasai and bring out his scissors that he would use to slice Kasai.

Crea would face off against Violento Jack as it looks like she will be FREEDOMS replacement for Rina Yamashita who is now working full time for STARDOM as she would knock Jack down but Jack would get up and chop her and push the ladder against her but each members team would help the other with the Kasai pushing the Takeda into the corner with Sakuda coming off the top rope and drop kicking the Kasai team while landing on the ladder. Kasai would end up facing off against Crea and getting her into the corner and biting her forehead and placing the ladder over her head and smashing the ladder with a chair followed by suplexing her on a chair. Kasai would charge at Crea in the corner but she would move out of the way and give Kasai a boot to the face and tag in Takeda who would deliver a running dropkick to Kasai and then spear both Jack and Watase followed by an exploder on Jack. Kasai and Takeda would face off with Takeda giving Kasai a headbutt but when going for a kick, Kasai would grab Takeda and suplex him and tag in Watase.

Watase would place the ladder over Takeda and dive onto it and then smash Takeda in the back with a chair. Kasai and Crea would get back in with Kasai delivering a lariat to Crea and then hitting her with a suplex and climb up the ladder but Takeda would come over and climb the ladder and suplex Kasai off of it with Crea covering him and then hitting him with a German Suplex with Jack making the save. Crea would then try to German Suplex Kasai but he would counter and punch her and then nail her with a Reverse Tiger Driver with Takeda and Sakuda making the save. Kasai and Watase would then suplex Crea on the ladder and cover her with Crea managing to kick out. Kasai would then place chairs on Crea as Watase would hit a diving foot stomp on her and Kasai would hit a Pearl Harbor Splash to get the pin at 18 minutes, 44 seconds for the win.

Mammoth Sasaki and Tomoya Hirata would team up to take on the team of Daisuke Sekimoto and Takayuki Ueki with Sekimoto trying to deliver a brainbuster to Hirata but Hirata would counter and deliver it to Sekimoto instead. Ueki would come in to help Sekimoto as he would spear Hirata while Sekimoto would deliver a lariat to Hirata followed by a Sekimoto splash and a Ueki diving headbutt to cover with Mammoth making the save. Mammoth would come at both Sekimoto and Ueki with a lariat but would not phase either one of them, but Hirata would then also come in with a lariat and knock both of them down as Hirata would hit Ueki with a German Suplex to get the win at 13 minutes, 17 seconds as a singles match between Sekimoto and Hirata would be made for Korakuen Hall between the two.

Gaia Hox and Rekka would team up against Kengo and Yuya Susumu with Hox going for a knee to Hox, but it getting blocked and Kengo nailing Hox with a lariat. Susumu would tag in and deliver a DDT to Hox with Hox jumping right up and nailing him with a spinning leg kick. Kengo and Rekka would come in with Kengo delivering a kick to Rekka's chest and nailing Rekka with a Brianbuster for the win at 8 minutes, 57 seconds as Kengo would nominate Gaia Hox as the next challenger for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title for Korakuen Hall on March 26th.

Brahman Shu would defeat Kota Sekifuda and Brahman Kei in a Three Way Match with Shu would get the win at 7 minutes, 52 seconds with a Zombie Kick over his brother Kei. Ali Najima would defeat Reiya Igarashi at 8 minutes, 47 seconds with the Crab Hold to get the win in the opening match. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 3/12/26 show

FREEDOMS would return to Korakuen Hall on March 26, 2026 and announce a crowd of 525 fans. I would say that although I can't consider that a good number, it would be way better than what was expected as it seemed like the ICW group being on the show helped create a vibe for this show the early in the year Korakuen Hall shows especially this past February show lacked. Last years March show drew 452 fans for the show so this one outdid it. This one though has the misfortune though of not being carried by Samurai TV as it I think it's more of a result of the lack of interest in the February show that drew 363 fans and was carried by Samurai. I asked the commercial video company that produces FREEDOMS DVDs and they stated they would not be releasing a DVD of this show either meaning it will be the third Korakuen Hall show not to air anywhere as the previous two shows were in November 2023 and November 2025. I could write a whole piece on Samurai TV's decline over these last couple of years, but their decline has resulted in them being way pickier when it comes to choosing what they bother to air and they probably do not want to deal with lower end shows from a smaller promotion like FREEDOMS anymore. The DVD company is even pickier in what they air as it seems like they are only going to produce DVDs for the July, August, and December Korakuen Hall shows and the Yokohama Budokan show going forward.

The main event would be King of Freedom Tag Team Titles Fluorescent Light Tubes Knives and Light Tubes Boards Death Match. Kasai would end up going to the for a Pearl Harbor Splash but Wakamatsu would end up superplexing him off the top followed by Sasaki hitting Kasai with a lariat as Wakamatsu would deliver a German Suplex for a two count. Wakamatsu would then then for another suplex but Wakamatsu would smash a stack of light tubes across Wakamatsu's head as Kasai wold hit a Reverse Tiger Driver followed by a Watase diving foot stomp and a Pearl Harbor Splash from Kasai but as he would try to cover him, it would be Wakamatsu that would roll him up for a two count. Watase would then smash a stack of light tubes over Wakamatsu's head and then deliver a dive to the outside on Sasaki as Kasai would hit two Cross Arm Stimulation Drivers on Wakamatsu to get the pin at 21 minutes, 54 seconds to defend the titles for the third time. Kasai and Takashi would end up inviting Wakamatsu who has been working Big Japan Death Matches to begin working death matches in FREEDOMS.

Daisuke Sekimoto would take on Tomoya Hirata in the semi-main event with Hirata missing a lariat and Sekimoto hitting him with a German Suplex with Hirata getting up and nailing Sekimoto with a clothesline. Hirata would then nail Sekimoto with a German Suplex for a two count as they would exchange clotheslines before Sekimoto would charge at Hirata and he would deliver a hurricanrana to Sekimoto with Sekimoto getting up and nailing Hirata with a lariat and then finish Hirata at 20 minutes, 1 second with the Big Bang Catastrophe in a match that was well received by the audience and a shame it will most likely not be aired anywhere. Hirata would state he wants a rematch with Sekimoto afterwards.

Violento Jack and Masashi Takeda would team up to take on Bear Bronson and Eric Ryan in a Scramble Tornado Weapons Death Match in Bronson's Korakuen Hall debut. They would start by breaking a flowerpot with Ryan slamming Takeda down onto it followed by Bronson picking up Takeda but Takeda would counter by pulling out his scissors and stabbing Bronson with them. Ryan would come in and send Takeda outside the ring as Bear would lift Ryan up and throw him onto Takeda outside the ring as Bronson would then hit a tope onto both Jack and Takeda on the outside. Bear would continue to use Ryan as a weapon as he would powerbomb him onto Takeda and then deliver a diving elbow to Takeda. Bronson would then bring an gusset board but Takeda would end up delivering an Olympic Slam to him on it and tag in Jack. Jack would come in and hit a tope con hilo and then a Swanton Bomb followed by Takeda delivering an Atomico onto the gusset board. Both Takeda and Bronson would be covered in blood as Bronson would catch Takeda and deliver a chokebomb to Takeda but Jack would come in and deliver a suplex to Bronson and then finish Ryan off with a Jack Pack on a barbed wire board and get the win over Ryan at 12 minutes, 15 seconds in a match considered short but very impressive.

Kengo would defend the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Jr. Heavyweight Title against Gaia Hox as Kengo would nail Hox with a diving footstomp and then a brainbuster followed by strikes to Hox with Hox coming back with a strike of his own and then a superkick and then follow that up with Susumu's Front Crash and Jun Masaoka's Ambitions before getting the win at 12 minutes, 36 seconds with the Vanishing Shift to win the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title.

Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei would defeat the team of Hyakuroku Mogami and Kyu Mogami when Kei would pin Hyakuroku at 7 minutes, 42 seconds with the Nobody's Perfect in a booking decision that would not make sense with where they would decide go next with. FREEDOMS would take on ICW in a Tornado Hardcore Match with John Wayne Murdoch, Danny Demento, Neil Diamond Cutter, and Vixsin would defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Daisuke Masaoka, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Crea when Murdoch would pin Crea at 8 minutes, 22 seconds with a Brainbuster. The opening match would see Yuya Susumu, Gabby Forza, and Rekka defeat Takayuki Ueki, Yusaku Ito, and Kota Sekifuda when Forza would pin Ito at 6 minutes, 51 seconds with a Fire Thunder on a chair as 2026 has been a very rough year for Yusaku Ito after being the Big Japan Death Match Heavyweight Champion last year. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 3/26/26 Korakuen Hall show

The semi-main event would see Kamui make his return to the ring for the first time in nearly three years as his last match was on May 25, 2023 while recovering from a neck injury. Kamui would come out with a new look, new mask, and new theme replacing his old WMF theme music. Kamui would team up with Daisuke Masaoka against Mammoth Sasaki and Kengo in a Hardcore Match.

Kamui would square off against Mammoth to a loud Kamui chants with Mammoth wanting the fans to chant his name as well. Mammoth and Kamui would start off with chopping and striking one another with Mammoth trying to choke slam Mammoth but Kamui would manage to send Mammoth out of the ring and hit a triangle jump moonsault off the turnbuckle to the outside. Kamui would setup a table and foolishly try to pick up Mammoth who would be too big and instead choke slam Kamui sending him flying into the table. Mammoth and Kamui would get back in the ring with Mammoth place a ladder against Kamui's crotch and acting like he was going to smash it with a ladder but instead just kicking it. Kengo would come in and try to suplex Kamui, but he would manage to reverse it and tag in Masaoka.

Masaoka would nail Kengo with a Tornado DDT followed by a Moonsault as Masaoka would grab a chair but Kengo would come up from behind and deliver a German Suplex to him and tag back in Mammoth who would place chair down and try for a powerbomb but Masaoka would manage to flip him over onto the chairs instead and tag in Kamui. Kamui would grab a chair and throw it at Mammoth's head and then deliver a drop toe hold sending Mammoth face first into the chair before dropkicking the chair against Mammoth's face. Masaoka would then drop down with the ladder on Mammoth and both Masaoka and Kamui would send Mammoth into the ropes who would come back and clothesline both of them and then place the ladder over his head and smash it against both Kamui and Masaoka before looking to suplex Kamui into the ladder with Kamui escaping and then place a chair over Mammoth's head and sending the ladder flying into the ladder across Mammoth's neck. Kamui would then climb up the ladder and deliver a Swanton Bomb and cover with Kengo making the save.

Kamui would then go up to the top but Kengo would come over and grab him allowing Mammoth to send Kamui flying off the top as Kengo would deliver a diving foot stomp and Mammoth and Kengo would hit Kamui with a Mammoth Home Run with Masaoka making the save. Mammoth would then send Kamui into the ropes and he would try for a Gannosuke Clutch but Mammoth would actually get Kamui's shoulders down on the mat instead and then hit a lariat and then hit Kamui with a Falcon Arrow and finish him off with a 29 Years Old on a stack of chairs for the win at 19 minutes, 24 seconds with Mammoth and Kamui hugging and then all four raising each others arms afterwards.

Kamui would promote his return to the ring on April 5, 2026 at the Osaka Hirano Wad Citizen Hall drawing an announced 291 fans for the show. The main event would see Jun Kasai, Toru Sugiura, and Tomoya Hirata taking on Violento Jack, Masashi Takeda, and Toshiyuki Sakuda in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match.

Sugiura would grab a stack of light tubes and swing them at Sakuda but Sakuda would knock them out of his hands and set them up in a chair in the corner and try to send Sugiura in it but instead he would end up hitting a hurricanrana on Sugiura sending him out of the ring as all six men would begin brawling around ringside with Kasai taking the light tube in the chair and headbutting it against Jack. Hirata and Takeda would get in the ring and smash a light tubes over each others head. Takeda would grab another stack of them but Hirata would shoulder tackle them into Takeda and grab another stack with Takeda coming over and delivering a running dropkick breaking them across Hirata. Takeda would then begin stabbing Hirata with the broken light tube before pulling out his scissors and slice Hirata's forehead with them. Jack would come in and he and Hirata would exchange chops before Jack would slam Hirata on another set of light tubes before Takeda would come back and place a light tube across Hirata's mouth and break it with Jack coming back in and placing Hirata in the Mexican Stretch into a cover with Hirata kicking out.

Sakuda would come in and just toss a chair at Hirata's head before throwing a chair with multiple light tubes at his head as well. Sakuda would then charge at Hirata and Hirata would apparently not be phased by all the light tubes as he would catch Sakuda and slam him and tag in Sugiura who would drop kick both Takeda and Jack as everyone would go to the outside and Sugiura would hit a tope con hilo onto everyone. Kasai would come in and nail Sakuda with a lariat and then place a stack of light tubes and place Sakuda on his shoulders but Sakuda would escape and then send Kasai into the light tubes and tag in Takeda. Takeda would grab a light tube and rush into Kasai with it before taking a stack of light tubes and faceplant Kasai into the light tubes and place a chair over his head and smash it with another chair. Kasai would get up and begin exchanging headbutts with Kasai knocking Takeda down and hitting him with a Reverse Tiger Driver and tag in Hirata who would charge at Takeda with a stack of light tubes and then place a stack of light tubes over him and deliver a Vader Bomb on the stack of light tubes and get a two count.

Hirata would then place another stack of light tubes on the mat and look to powerslam Takeda, but Takeda would escape and drop Hirata onto the light tubes but as he would charge at Hirata he would be met with a German Suplex that he would get up right away and deliver a knee to Hirata. Both Takeda and Hirata would grab a stack of light tubes and run into each other as they would tag in Jack and Sugiura who would begin exchanging strikes with one another with Jack grabbing a stack of light tubes and swinging them at Sugiura with him breaking them across Jack with an elbow and then deliver a swinging DDT to Jack. Sugiura and Hirata would then suplex Jack as Kasai would come off the top with a Pearl Harbor Splash as Sugiura would come in and hit the Swift Driver on Jack. Sugiura would then look to hit a running elbow against a light tube to Jack but instead Jack would catch him and slam him onto the light tube as Sakuda would deliver a Swanton, Takeda would hit a frog splash, and Jack would hit another Swanton before Jack would hit a powerbomb on a stack of light tubes followed by a Jack Pack on another stack of light tubes to get the win at 18 minutes, 42 seconds in a good match.

Afterwards Kamui would come to the ring to thank the fans for coming with Sugiura attacking him and slamming him on the glass in the ring, followed by Hirata, Jack, Takeda, Sakuda and finally Kasai would grab a stack of light tubes and slam Kamui on it with his back bleeding with the crowd chanting Kamui's name. Kamui would end up having to pull out of his scheduled April 10th show after feeling soreness and to be on the safe side.

Other matches on the show would see Yuko Miyamoto and Takayuki Ueki defeat Gunso and Dyna Mido in a Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match when Ueki would pin Mido at 12 minutes, 16 seconds with a Facebuster on a barbed wire bat. Shigehiro Irie, Captain Grace, and Kazuaki Mihara would defeat Yuya Susumu, HIROYA, and Reiya Igarashi when Irie would pin Igarashi at 9 minutes, 44 seconds with a Muscle Buster. Gaia Hox and Tsuyoshi Michibata would defeat Donguri Fujie and Shinji Kamakura when Hox would pin Kamaura at 11 minutes, 17 seconds with the F-DRIVE. The opening match would see Takashi Sasaki and Idea defeat Brahman Shu and Brhaman Kei when Idea would pin Kei at 9 minutes, 37 seconds with the Placenta.

FREEDOMS would return to the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring and announce a crowd of 111 fans for the show which is their lowest in the building since November 2025 as the main event would see Takashi Sasaki, Tomoya Hirata, and Daiju Wakamatsu take on Violento Jack, Masashi Takeda, and Takayuki Ueki in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match.

Wakamatsu would face off against Takeda and smash a light tube over his head with Takeda coming back and smashing a light tube over his head. Wakamatsu would grab a stack of light tubes but Takeda would charge and dropkick Wakamatsu breaking the light tubes and then begin stabbing Wakamatsu with his scissors. Hirata would end up coming in and deliver a German Suplex to Takeda and grab a stack of light tubes with both of them headbutting the light tubes as they would both tag out. Wakamatsu would face off against Jack with Jack grabbing a stack of light tubes and Wakamatsu delivering a dropkick breaking them across Jack's body. Sasaki would try to clothesline Jack but Jack would duck and Sasaki would accidentally hit Wakamatsu instead as both Takeda and then Jack would hit dives on Wakamatsu followed by them tossing Ueki on Wakamatsu's body.

Wakamatsu would fight back and deliver a low blow to Jack and then headbutt a stack of light tubes across Jack although he would try to deliver a hurricanrana to Jack and be met with a sit down powerbomb on a stack of light tubes. Ueki would attack Wakamatsu with a fluorescent light tube and then a salute headbutt with Wakamatsu fighting back and delivering a headbutt, a lariat, and then a German Suplex to Ueki. Sasaki would then come hit and hit Ueki with a lariat as Wakamatsu would hit him with a German Suplex as Hirata would come in and hit a tope onto both Jack and Takeda keeping them out of the match. Wakamatsu would then toss a stack of light tubes at Ueki and then finish Ueki with the Backchinga Elbow Drop to get the win at 17 minutes, 13 seconds with Wakamatsu hugging Sasaki in celebration. Hirata would seem conflicted with how affection Sasaki was showing Wakamatsu. Jack would then nominate Wakamatsu for the King of Freedom World Championship for the FREEDOMS May 1st Korakuen Hall show.

The semi-main event would see Daisuke Sekimoto take on Yuya Susumu with Susumu focusing on Sekimoto's arm at first before Sekimoto would end up nailing Susumu with a neckbreaker followed by a camel clutch. Sekimoto would look to hit Susumu with a Northern Lights Suplex, but it would turn into a neck chancery before Susumu would counter a lariat and put Sekimoto into a crossface before trying to roll him up for a pinfall with Sekimoto counting out. Sekimoto would then lift Susumu up and place him on his shoulder and slam him face down before hitting Susumu with a German Suplex for the win at 16 minutes, 14 seconds as afterwards Susumu would call out Takashi Sasaki and ask to become a member of FREEDOMS once again with Sasaki accepting.

The whole thing with Susumu seemed weird as he found his home with FREEDOMS 2015 while also continuing to work tons of indies until he would begin working NOAH as well in 2020 and by 2021 it was obvious that NOAH was his main focus that I remember making the prediction that he would end up leaving FREEDOMS to go to NOAH full time which he in fact would do in March 2022 as he would have his last match with FREEDOMS and receive his goodbyes to go work full time which he would do until suffering a cervical sprain in September 2022. He would never work for NOAH again after that injury as something happened behind the scenes and he would end up coming back to FREEDOMS in February 2023 this time as a heel with Jun Masaoka and Gaia Hox and forming F-SWAG. He pretty much has gone back to his original schedule he working with FREEDOMS but also working other promotions including getting a stint recently with All Japan but this makes it official that he is back for good with FREEDOMS.

Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea in a non-title Hardcore Match with Watase hitting Crea with a Vertical Brainbuster off the top on a chair for the win at 15 minutes, 8 seconds but instead of Watase's music playing it would be Kyu and Hyukuroku Mogami's theme playing as it would be revealed that Kyu and Hyakuroku were up in the sound stage of Shin-Kiba playing their music instead as Kasai and Watase would offer a title match to them for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles for May 1st at Korakuen Hall with them accepting.

Hyakuroku Mogami and Kyu Mogami would defeat Mammoth Sasaki and Tatsuhito Takaiwa who was replacing Kamui on this show as Kyu would get the win over Takaiwa at 10 minutes, 5 seconds with a Kikane Clutch for the win. Gaia Hox and Rekka would defeat Kengo and Kota Sekifuda when Hox would get the win at 12 minutes, 11 seconds with the Butterfly Effect on Sekifuda. The opening match would see JTO's Takobutsu defeat Reiya Igarashi at 5 minutes, 27 seconds with a brainbuster.

It would be announced that Jun Kasai would be participating for the New Japan Best of the Super Juniors Tournament starting on May 14, 2026 at Korakuen Hall and finishing on June 7, 2026 at the Ota City General Gym. This would be Kasai's first time wrestling on a non sub-brand New Japan as he has been entered into the A Block where he will face off against DOUKO, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Francesco Akira, Robbie X, Nick Wayne, Titan, Valiente Jr., and Koseui Fujita.

The WUW Mexico group would run a show on April 11, 2026 at the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square. This was a Mexican version of an underground pro-wrestling show to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Fugofugo Yumeji. This was announced as a sell out although no attendance was announced so most likely a little over 100 people were in attendance.

This was Koji Nakawa's first match since December 17, 2023 for FMW-E and the first time he had wrestled as GOEMON and teamed with Onryo since May 8, 2021 for the TTT promotion. GOEMON and Onryo would team up with the Mexican wrestler Kaien as they would defeat Nanjyo Hayato going by his Miracle Man gimmick, Akechi, and Aurion when Onryo would pin Aurion with the Onryo Clutch. Also, on the show would be Hayabustico who I believe is a Mexican wrestler but have not heard of him before this other than I know he has been in Japan for at least the last month. He has a Hayabusa based mask and the E wing tattoo that Eiji Ezaki had on his chest although it was noted that he did not do any Hayabusa spots during the match as he would also team with Dr. Karonte, Super Crazy and Ricky Marvin as this was Marvin's first time in Japan since August 2018 as Marvin would get the win for his team with the Santa Maria.

It was announced on March 10, 2026 that the Shinjuku FACE would be closing down after September 30, 2026. It was announced that their fixed-term building lease was up after September 30th and it was decided that the Humax Pavilion Shinjuku building complex would be closing permanently due to its aging infrastructure.

Although it was a building that did not become a full time venue to hold wrestling events until 2005 it still was able to have some FMW history take place in it.

The building was completed in October 1971 and then in 1994 the 7th floor would open up as a concert hall called the Shinjuku Liquid Room. That concert hall would decide to rent out to a wrestling promotion for the first time on June 16, 1997 for the FMW promotion. The show would be broadcasted on Samurai TV with the main event of Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa, and Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeating the Funk Masters of Wrestling team of Hisakatsu Oya, Mr. Gannosuke, and Flying Kid Ichihara followed by a Battle Royal.

The building was smaller both size wise and height wise than the promotion was use to as Hayabusa would even state he felt like he was about to touch the ceiling when he climbed the top rope in the ring. JWP would end up running one show in the Liquid Hall as well on January 25, 1998 but those are the only two documented shows to take place in the Liquid Room.

The Liquid Room would get renovated and re-launched as Shinjuku FACE in 2005 with the first show taking place on July 29, 2005 as it would become the first building for shows that were expected to be lesser than a Korakuen Hall level show, but bigger than a Shin-Kiba 1st Ring level show which was also a brand new building having just opened up a year earlier.

The Apache Army promotion would hold their first and only show at the Shinjuku FACE on November 5, 2005 with the original Apache Army veterans of Kintaro Kanemura, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Mammoth Sasaki, and Hido defeating the newer Apache Army team of Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, Hi69, Daisuke Sekimoto, and MIYAWAKI in a Two out of Three Falls Match.

The next show with FMW connections for the building would take place on May 5, 2006 with an FMW main event of Tarzan Goto and Mr. Gannosuke against Masato Tanaka and Gosaku in a Street Fight which would see Gannosuke brawl outside and get thrown into a wall that would end up smashing. Shinjuku FACE would end up billing Gannosuke $1,000 dollars for smashing through their wall. It was also the building where Gannosuke would take on Masato Tanaka in a singles match for ZERO1 on December 17, 2008 although sadly the match would not be taped. Gannosuke would also end up having his final match in the building on April 15, 2018 as he would team up with Michio Kageyama before losing to Tatsumi Fujinami and Hiro Saito with Gannosuke tapping out to the Dragon Sleeper.

Chocoball Mukai would also have his retirement match there on December 17, 2006 as Mukai would team up with fellow former FMW wrestler Mammoth Sasaki as they would lose to the Battlarts team of Yuki Ishikawa and Ryuji Walter when Ishikawa would KO Mukai for the final time. Hayabusa would come out afterwards and congratulate Mukai on the career he had managed to have.

Hayabusa would also end up promoting his one and only show on January 24, 2009 as the team of Hayabusa Kid (Dragon Kid), H (BxB Hulk), and Darkside Hayabusa (PAC) would defeat NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA, and Toryu in the main event in a show.

Atsushi Onita's popular resurgence would begin at the Shinjuku FACE as he would start promoting his own shows on February 24, 2012 with Onita putting on a Tiger Mask on and challenging his long time Jr. Heavyweight from the 80s rival Satoru Sayama with the match taking place on May 11, 2012 at the Shinjuku FACE with the team of Onita, Ichiro Yaguchi, and Hideki Hosaka defeating The Original Tiger Mask, The Great Sasuke, and Gran Hamada with Onita pinning Sayama in a Barbed wire Board Street Fight Death Match.

Onita would then begin feuds with Akebono and Yoshihiro Takayama where he would hold 6 man street fights at the Shinjuku FACE before the Super Battle FMW promotion would be created in 2015 with the Shinjuku FACE being used as the home building for the promotion every month starting in May 2015 until it would move up to running Korakuen Hall shows in 2016. The promotion would run one last show in the building on June 8, 2017 with Onita teaming up with Kendo Kashin and Hideki Hosaka against the team of Suwama, Atsushi Aoki, and Super Tiger in a Falls Counts Anywhere Street Fight Tornado Bunkhouse Death Match.

Kintaro Kanemura would also promote his one and only show after retiring at the Shinjuku FACE for his new upstart ING promotion on July 20, 2018 with the main event of Jun Kasai and Yuji Hino defeating Mammoth Sasaki and Hideki Hosaka in a Hardcore Match. The final connection between Shinjuku FACE and FMW would take place on November 12, 2025 when Taiji Ishimori would promote his own show and bring in many of the former FMW wrestlers including Ricky Fuji, Jado, Gedo, Masato Tanaka, TAKA Michinoku, Mammoth Sasaki, Onryo, and Yasu Urano in a Royal Rumble with Tanaka getting the win.

I have been to the building several times although it was mostly for TAJIRI's promotions first the SMASH promotion where I got to see Syuri defeat Kana in the main event for my first show at the building and then later seeing WNC promotion where Ryuji Ito and Shinya Ishikawa defeated Ryuji Yamakawa and TAJIRI with AKIRA turning heel on TAJIRI afterwards. I also went to the Onita promoted show on June 21, 2013 which had Onita, Tanaka, and Ichiro Yaguchi defeat Akebono, Ryota Hama, and Takuya Sugawara in a Scramble Bunkhouse Tornado Death Match which was a fun brawl.

Yuka Ogawa the manager of Shinjuku FACE has indicated she wants to start up a new venue as a successor to the Shinjuku FACE after it closes. Ogawa stated it was just not possible to continue running in that building any longer. She did stated there is a critical need for a building that holds about 500 people and that she is appealing to the company about a new building feeling it's a necessity. She stated that although nothing is official, she wants to start looking into reopening as soon as possible after the closure at the end of September. She stated she wants the new building in somewhere like Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, or Shibuya and if they were to find a building in Shinjuku she would like for it to be called Shinjuku FACE again.

I have completed documenting with translations through the magazines for Hayabusa's career from May 1999 to May 2000 which includes his time as H. This covers all the noteworthy matches of his time during the year as well as his interviews from the start of the angle where Fuyuki forces him to drop the Hayabusa mask and he is upset about it talking about possibly leaving FMW to then just two months later admitting that he was going to need to stop being Hayabusa or his body was going to break down to the point that he didn't know if he could wrestle anymore after two years (sadly it was two years later) because of the Hayabusa gimmick taking such a toll on his body. Then he does an interview as H where he kind of bashes the Hayabusa gimmick for not really accomplishing that much as he already knew in real life he was going to have to switch back to Hayabusa because H wasn't drawing well and the reporters mentioned that him wrestling as Hayabusa for the May 5, 2000 show seemed more like something that was pushed upon than something he actually wanted to do. You can check everything out at http://fmwwrestling.us/Hayabusa9900.html as I have two more of this project after this.

Megumi Kudo and Junya Matsunaga appeared on Samurai TV's News Suplex to promote the ZERO1 show with Samurai showing clips of Kudo's early AJW days. They asked her about her upcoming 40th anniversary Yoyogi National Stadium # 2 show on October 17, 2026. Kudo stated it would be a mixed gender show as she wants this show to represent her 40 years. She would be asked if she would be competing on the show and she would state that she would not be but she wants to do something during the show. It was also announced that Kudo would be appearing in Las Vegas for the MDK Fight Club show on April 16th where she will be introduced for the Death Match Hall of Fame. She will also be appearing at Wrestle Con from April 16th to the 18th. This is Kudo's first time in America since May 1992 with FMW. I will be going to both MDK Fight Club on April 16th and Spring Break on April 18th that will have Hayabusa on the shows as well as attending WrestleCon to see Kudo and Tanaka as well as meet Hayabusa for the first time. Click here to watch Megumi Kudo's segment on News Suplex with English subtitles

Added: 2/24

Hayabusa would enter into ZERO1's Strongest One Day Tournament on January 17, 2026 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring where they would announce 201 fans for the show. It would be a random drawing with Hayabusa getting Tanaka in another rematch between the two. Hayabusa would start off on the mat for the first couple of minutes with Tanaka putting Hayabusa in a headlock before Hayabusa would send Tanaka to the ropes and he would come back with a shoulder tackle. Hayabusa though would do a kip up and deliver a dropkick to Tanaka sending him to the outside as Hayabusa would deliver a tope con hilo onto him. Hayabusa would charge at Tanaka with Tanaka moving out of the way and Hayabusa coming just short of the turnbuckle as Tanaka would go for a clothesline with Hayabusa moving out of the way and Tanaka hitting the turnbuckle followed by ramming Tanaka's shoulder into the turnbuckle. Hayabusa would bring Tanaka back in the ring and work on his shoulder with Tanaka in pain delivering a hard elbow to Hayabusa's face which in return would get a kick to his shoulder.

Hayabusa would send Tanaka into the corner but get kicked in the face and Tanaka would deliver a Tornado DDT and then follow with a DDT planting Hayabusa's head right into the mat. Tanaka would then deliver a lariat to Hayabusa and Hayabusa would get up and the two would begin exchanging strikes until Tanaka would level up and nail Hayabusa with an elbow knocking him straight out. Tanaka would then for another clothesline but this time Hayabusa would duck it and drop kick him out of the ring and deliver an Asai Moonsault with Tanaka moving out of the way as Hayabusa would land right into some empty chairs looking like it hurt a lot. Tanaka would show no mercy and begin hitting Hayabusa's knee with one of the chairs as Tanaka would continue to work on Hayabusa's knee. Tanaka would then place Hayabusa's legs against the turnbuckle and then grab his stick and smash it across Hayabusa's knee.

Tanaka would bring Hayabusa back in the ring and put Hayabusa in a figure four with Hayabusa expressing great pain before managing to grab the rope. Hayabusa would try striking Tanaka but there would not be much to it with Tanaka striking Hayabusa with him falling back in the corner as Tanaka would charge at him with Hayabusa moving out of the way and delivering a spinning heel kick to Tanaka. Hayabusa would then hit a Fisherman's Suplex with Tanaka kicking out before hitting a Swanton/Asai Moonsault combo with Tanaka kicking out again as Hayabusa would be holding his knee in pain. Hayabusa would go up to the top but Tanaka would go up as well and superplex Hayabusa and then charge at him but Hayabusa would deliver a hurricanrana and then take Tanaka to the top and hit another hurricanrana off the top followed by a Tiger Driver that Tanaka would get up right away from and hit Hayabusa with a Sliding D. Tanaka would then try to pick Hayabusa up for a brainbuster but Hayabusa would turn it into a Falcon Arrow as the fans would be chanting Hayabusa's name.

Hayabusa would then go up to the top and try for a Fire Bird Splash but Tanaka would move out of the way. Tanaka would then go up to the top himself and go for a Frog Splash with Hayabusa getting his knees up. Hayabusa would charge at Tanaka but Tanaka would roll him to the ground and hit Hayabusa with another Sliding D with Hayabusa grabbing the rope as Tanaka would cover him. Tanaka would go up to the top again and hit a splash on Hayabusa and cover him for two. Tanaka would then try for another Sliding D with Hayabusa ducking it and hitting Tanaka with two Falcon Arrows but Tanaka would still manage to kick out.

Hayabusa would then go up to the top and this time hit the Fire Bird Splash with Tanaka again kicking out. Hayabusa would then try for a Phoenix Splash but Tanaka would move out of the way and hit a Sliding D from the back with Hayabusa kicking out. Tanaka would then nail Hayabusa with an elbow knocking him down hard. Tanaka would setup for another Sliding D but Hayabusa would jump at him looking to hurricanrana him when Tanaka would counter and hit him with a powerbomb and then hit another Sliding D with Hayabusa again kicking out. Tanaka would then go for the kill and hit another Sliding D and finally put Hayabusa away at 21 minutes, 11 seconds for the win and advance to the semi-finals of the one day tournament. This was a good match, although it did not get to the level of their thirty minute limit draw back in August although it looked more brutal for Hayabusa with the elbow shots he took the face as well as missing the Asai Moonsault and landing on the chairs in the crowd. This would be the first time in 7 matches that Tanaka would finally put Hayabusa after previously going 0-5 against Eiji Ezaki's Hayabusa and 0-1-1 against this Hayabusa.

Tanaka's second round opponent would be Junya Matsunaga who would be much fresher than Tanaka as he would make short work of Tanaka and hit him with the Bee Sting and get the win in just 1 minutes, 59 seconds before defeating Chris Vice in the finals of the tournament to win the ZERO1 Strongest One Day Tournament. Click here to watch highlights of Hayabusa vs. Masato Tanaka from 1/17/26

Hayabusa would make his NOAH debut as a surprise for NOAH's Monday Magic show on January 26, 2026 at the Shinjuku FACE. Hayabusa would team up with Dragon Kid and Alejandro against HAYATA, MAZADA, and Shuji Kondo. This would be the first time that Hayabusa and Dragon Kid would team up with Eiji Ezaki and Yoshiyuki Nakamura had a close friendship that saw Dragon Kid actually come in and referee and count the pinfall for the Onita vs. Hayabusa match on May 5, 1995 at Kawasaki Stadium. Hayabusa and Dragon Kid would reconnect again after Hayabusa's injury with Hayabusa working a lot for Dragon Gate and even doing a collaboration CD with Dragon Kid in 2007 for Dragon Gate Records.

Hayabusa would face off against HAYATA with HAYATA knocking Hayabusa down and Hayabusa doing a kip up and dropkick HAYATA before tagging out and eventually coming to help Dragon Kid with MAZADA before HAYATA would come back in as they would charge at Hayabusa and Dragon Kid and be met with double dropkicks from them sending them out of the ring before Hayabusa would hit the Swanton Bomb/Asai Moonsault combo on HAYATA before hitting him with a Tiger Driver for a two count. Hayabusa would then place HAYATA in a Texas Cloverleaf before Kondo would make the save and delivering a clothesline to Hayabusa. HAYATA would then deliver a dropkick from behind to Hayabusa sending him flying into a MAZADA DDT followed by a MAZADA clothesline. Alejandro would end up hitting MAZADA with a DDT allowing Hayabusa to hit him with a Falcon Arrow before dropkicking Kondo out of the ring and delivering a tope con hilo on both Dragon Kid and Kondo before Alejandro would hit MAZADA with a Sky Twisting Press he called Zero Gravity to get the win at 17 minutes, 18 seconds as the mask men would would pose together before leaving. Click here to watch highlights of Hayabusa/Dragon Kid/Alejandro vs. HAYATA/MAZADA/Shuji Kondo from 1/26/26

Hayabusa took on former All Japan Triple Crown Champion Shuji Ishikawa on February 7, 2026 at the Tokyo Itabashi Tokyo Square. They would do the early spot of Ishikawa doing a shoulder tackle and Hayabusa doing a kip up and delivering a drop kick but Ishikawa would no sell the kick and just shoulder tackle Hayabusa again and Hayabusa would go to the outside. Ishikawa would chop Hayabusa knocking him down and then go up to the apron and doing a diving footstomp on Hayabusa's chest and then just stand on Hayabusa's chest. They would get back in the ring and Ishikawa would continue to dominate Hayabusa including doing another footstomp on Hayabusa's chest followed by another one coming off the turnbuckle. Ishikawa would throw Hayabusa to the ropes and he would finally get something in by dropkicking Ishikawa's knee and then delivering kicks to Ishikawa's knee before another dropkick to it that would see Ishikawa go to the outside and Hayabusa hit a tope con hilo onto him. Hayabusa would throw him back in the ring with Hayabusa delivering the swanton and the Asai Moonsault specifically focusing on landing on Ishikawa's knees before placing Ishikawa in a knee lock.

Hayabusa would dive at Ishikawa but get caught and placed against the turnbuckle where Ishikawa would hit Hayabusa with a running knee. Ishikawa would then go for the Splash Mountain but Hayabusa would escape and deliver a spinning heel kick as both would fall to the mat. They would both get up and begin striking one another with Ishikawa getting the bigger strike. Ishikawa would then tease an Awesome Bomb off the turnbuckle but Hayabusa would fight back and suplex Ishikawa off the turnbuckle. Hayabusa would then look for a Falcon Arrow but instead get met with an Ishikawa Fire Thunder. Ishikawa would then deliver a German Suplex and then a running knee to Hayabusa with Hayabusa kicking out. Ishikawa would go for a kick but Hayabusa would move out of the way and deliver a high kick to Ishikawa's head and cover for two before hitting Ishikawa with a Falcon Arrow for two.

Hayabusa would then go up to the top and miss a Fire Bird Splash as Ishikawa would knee Hayabusa in the chest before another running knee and pick up Hayabusa for the Splash Mountain with Hayabusa reversing it into a hurricanrana for a two count. Hayabusa would again dive at Ishikawa but get caught for an awkward looking Fire Thunder for two. Ishikawa would then pick up Hayabusa again and this time successfully hit him with a Splash Mountain to get the win at 14 minutes, 21 seconds over Hayabusa. This match was okay although there were some clunky moments and it never did seem like Hayabusa really ever had a chance in it. They worked a match that was at the Itabashi Tokyo Square and the atmosphere of the crowd reflected that. Ishikawa got on the mic and stated he loved FMW growing up and that he was the "Japanese Gladiator" and called  out Masato Tanaka wanting a shot at the World Heavyweight Title. A match would be made for Tanaka vs. Ishikawa on March 20th at  Shin-Kiba but as of right now it's not for the World Heavyweight Title. Click here to watch highlights of Hayabusa vs. Shuji Ishikawa 2/7/26

Hayabusa would make a comment through ZERO1's X account stating that he had heard about Katsuhiko Nakajima holding his own promoted show in Osaka and that Nakajima was looking for an opponent for the main event and that Hayabusa wanted to have the match as he has been wanting a singles match with Nakajima who has won numerous titles through out many promotions since his debut as Hayabusa last year. He finished by stating he was interesting in facing Nakajima and looking forward to his reaction. The next day on February 10th, Nakajima would visit the ZERO1 Dojo asking if he wanted to face him on May 31st at his promoted show with Hayabusa stating of course he did. This would cause Junya Matsunaga who was also there to get in Nakajima's face and state he won the strongest tournament he should face against Nakajima. Nakajima would respond he wanted the match with Hayabusa with Matsunaga stating that he wanted to have a singles match with Nakajima on February 28th at the Itabashi Tokyo Square. This would upset Hayabusa who would begin shoving with Matsunaga. Nakajima would tell Hayabusa "Lets do it" before looking at Matsunaga and going "Who the hell are you?" to Junya Mastunaga before walking off. It will probably be made official after the Nakajima vs. Matsunaga match on February 28th but it's almost a lock that it will be Nakajima vs. Hayabusa for Nakajima's promoted show on May 31, 2026 in Osaka. Click here to watch the Hayabusa/Katsuhiko Nakajima/Junya Matsunaga interaction from 2/10/26 with English subtitles

ZERO1 would then hold a show on February 15, 2026 at the Kumamoto Castle Hall Civic Hall and would get in contact with Mr. Gannosuke to appear on the show. Gannosuke would come out with Megumi Kudo and talk with the crowd before watching the main event of the show in person. Hayabusa and Junya Matsunaga would team up against Masato Tanaka and Van Vert Jack revising his Jack the Respect Hayabusa gimmick for the show. Hayabusa and Jack would both enter the ring at the same time doing Hayabusa's signature jump over the rope. Hayabusa and Jack who worked well together back in December due to Jack's speed and lightness worked well with another again before Hayabusa would end up defeating Jack at 18 minutes, 49 seconds with the Fire Bird Splash for the win. Afterwards, Mr. Gannosuke would enter the ring and end up shaking Hayabusa's hand as a way of publicly endorsing Hayabusa. Mr. Gannosuke would do a video talking about the show and stating he met with Hayabusa prior to the show for the first time. Gannosuke who had been critical of Hayabusa over the summer after putting up the Hayabusa mask after just having it for three months when it wasn't something he had earned the right to do, it was Eiji Ezaki that had made that mask mean something so for him to just put it up right away was a slap in the face to Eiji Ezaki's Hayabusa according to Gannosuke. Gannosuke stated that Hayabusa stated he understood and apologized to Gannosuke and Gannosuke came off thinking very highly of him after feeling very negative about him previously.

Gannosuke felt that the current Hayabusa has a soft demeanor and is a kind, good guy and feels he's a good fit for Hayabusa. He did state he's shorter than Hayabusa, and he's a bit more muscular, but that he looks similar and has similar movements. Gannosuke felt it actually did remind him of Hayabusa in FMW back then. Hayabusa stayed in Kumamoto after the show and went to the Kumamoto Beer MAN Hall which is the pub that Eiji Ezaki and Masashi Honda went to as college students all the time since the owner was a big wrestling fan. Hayabusa had a beer with Mr. Gannosuke out of respect, but Gannosuke found out that this Hayabusa was not a drinker. Click here to watch the entire Mr. Gannosuke video segment about meeting Hayabusa and attending the ZERO1 2/15/26 Kumamoto show with English subtitles

Hayabusa and Megumi Kudo stayed over in Kumamoto along with Mr. Gannosuke and Eiji Ezaki's brother Takanori went to the grave of Eiji Ezaki where both Megumi Kudo and Hayabusa prayed for Eiji Ezaki's soul. This was the first time I have been made aware that Ezaki had a grave as when I asked Gannosuke about it years ago, he told me there was no grave as Ezaki's mother had his urn in her inn where she lived and had a shrine to Ezaki and that was the only thing at that time. Since then though Ezaki's mother had developed health issues that resulted in her having to move out and live in assisted living and since then it seems that Ezaki's brother Takanori has taken over all the responsibilities and I would be lead to believe that's when it was decided to create a grave for Eiji Ezaki after several years.

Hayabusa has also entered into NOAH's Universe Cup Tournament with his first round match taking placing on March 9, 2026 at the Shinjuku FACE as he will face off against Yumehito Imanari. The winner of that will move on to the semi-finals of the tournament which will be held on April 6, 2026 at the Shinjuku FACE where the winner will face the winner of Naomichi Marufuji and Kuroshio Tokyo Japan. Logic booking would state that Hayabusa will defeat Imanari and then face off against Marufuji and then lose there. The only thing is although this is a NOAH tournament and Marufuji is the only NOAH wrestler in the tournament, he's 46 years old, and him winning this tournament will be just very status quo where as Hayabusa winning would at least create something different but I would still guess it ends up being Marufuji winning it.

Hayabusa has also been booked to appear in the US for the first time as he will appear at Joey Janela's Spring Break show in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Horse Shoe Casino on April 17, 2026. Masato Tanaka will also be appearing in Las Vegas as well for other shows. Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka have both been booked for the WrestleCon convention although the dates have not  been made official of when they will be appearing just yet. I will be in Las Vegas from the night of April 16th to April 18th so I will be attending the Spring Break show and going to one of the WrestleCon conventions. There will also be a Death Match show promoted by El Desperado on April 16th the night I get in which will include Jun Kasai and Masashi Takeda although I would be getting into Las Vegas while that show is going on, so if I were to make thatit would probably only be for the main event.

Atsushi Onita wrestled his first match of the year on January 11, 2026 at the Ice Ribbon Dojo in Warabi City, Saitama for the SEVEN TWO Pro-Wrestling promotion which is ran by the SEVEN TWO bar in Saitama. Onita has declared with this year being the year that he will turn 69 years old he was declaring his aim to have an explosion death match when he turns 70 years old in August 2027.

Onita would team up with former ZEN disciple Tetsuhiro Kuroda as they would face off against Mr. Pogo and Keizo Matsuda in a Street Fight which would be the main event of the show. Onita and Pogo would brawl early before getting back in the ring with Pogo would bring in a barbed wire board and place it in the corner and throw Onita into it. Pogo would then break a broomstick and begin stabbing Onita's back with it before both Pogo and Matsuda would strangle Kuroda with a chain. Onita would manage to fight back and hit Pogo and Matsuda with a sign. Pogo would end up grabbing a hold of Onita but he would end up spitting green mist in Matsuda's face and then hit him over the head with a guitar before Onita and Kuroda would hit a double lariat on Matsuda with Onita covering Matsuda for the win at 9 minutes, 54 seconds for the Onita victory.

Onita would get on the mic and say Happy New Year to the fans and mention that he was invited to Las Vegas this April, but he was already booked for a match in Yamaguchi during that time so he could no but he wanted the fans to know that hardcore wrestling still exists all over the world. Onita would conclude with chanting Happy New Year, everyone! 1,2,3, fire!

The Hiroshima Pro Wrestling Festival would be held on January 18, 2026 at the Hiroshima Industrial Hall East Hall with the main event of Atsushi Onita, Raijin Yaguchi, and Kazutaka Hasegawa against Mr. Pogo, Tsuyoshi Okada, and Onryo in a Scramble Bunkhouse Barbed wire Hell Death Match. Barbed wire boards would be setup in the aisles of the arena and filled with weapons all around as all six wrestlers would start the match by brawling. Onita would throw Pogo in a barbed wire board propped up against a ladder with Pogo throwing Onita in a barbed wire board in return causing the barbed wire to break all over the place.

Midway through the match, Devil Magician who retired last year at this event came to Onita's aid, but he would end up getting attacked by the heels and he along with Onita would end up getting thrown into the barbed wire spiderweb outside the ring. Onita would manage to get out of the barbed wire and then grab Onryo and go to setup a piledriver through the table, but the table legs would end up bending diagonally and Onita would end up falling headfirst and was unable to move for awhile, holding his head, causing a brief uproar among the crowd. Onita would manage to get up and slam a guitar over Pogo's head and then he and Devil the Magician would both spray mist at Onryo and Okada followed by Onita and Yaguchi both slamming Okada onto the barbed wire board with Yaguchi covering Okada and getting the win at 17 minutes, 44 seconds as Onita would apologize saying "I'm sorry I fell headfirst and was unable to move for awhile." before mentioning that he was not going to quit wrestling as long as he has fans like this supporting him to make everyone forget that he had retired seven times already before doing the Fire chant with the crowd.

After the match, Onita's neck pain would worsened and he would go to the hospital the next day where he would be diagnosed with a cervical spine injury. He was told he would expect a recovery in two weeks which worked out as he did not have another match booked for over a month after this anyway. Onita posted on X afterwards with the hashtag "#SorryForWorrying" and would state "I screwed up! I stepped on the table and it was slippery, and I slipped." Onita mentioned that when he fell he lost consciousness and panicked, thinking, "This is bad!" but nothing ended up being broken but he could not turn his neck and would be resting for awhile and apologized again for causing any concern.

Atsushi Onita would hold a talk event on February 22, 2026 at the Nagoya Hirokoji Fushimi Nakakoma Building with the theme of the event talking about the Terry Funk Kawasaki Stadium match as well as the 2024 Kawasaki Stadium match against Dory Funk, Jr. and Osamu Nishimura. The event would actually show pictures of Onita's more famous matches including against Masashi Aoyagi from October 10, 1989 at Korakuen, against Terry at Kawasaki Stadium on May 5, 1993, against Mr. Pogo in Nagoya on May 4, 1995, against Hayabusa at Kawasaki Stadium on May 5, 1995, against Kensuke Sasaki at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 1999, and teaming with Raijin Yaguchi against Dory Funk, Jr. and Osamu Nishimura at Kawasaki Stadium on August 24, 2024 with Onita making comments about all the matches.

Atsushi Onita would return to the ring on February 23, 2026 for Dream Project's Sakai Pro-Wrestling event at the Osaka Sun Square Sakai. They did not announce a crowd number, but they did announce that all seats were sold out and the event was considered a huge success. The main event would be called "the longest barbed wire in history match" as the barbed wire would stretch out 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) as barbed wire was used both inside and outside the ring. CIMA who is from Osaka would appear and state he had rode his bike here to the show and he wanted to fight Onita in a an explosion match at the next FMW-E show on May 5th in Osaka. CIMA who has been out since November with a shoulder injury was told by Onita stating he would heal his shoulder injury with an explosion to it.

The main event would see Raijin Yaguchi, Hideaki Sumi, and Hirakata-san defeat Atsushi Onita, BADMAX Fujinaga, and Naoki Tanizaki when Sumi pinning Fujinaga at 17 minutes, 38 seconds with a Barbed wire Buzzsaw kick. Sumi who was doing a Sandman gimmick for the match with the same t-shirt and cain would agree to fight against one another as well on May 5th.

FREEDOMS would run their first show of the year on January 3, 2026 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring where they would announce a crowd of 241 fans for the show. The main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase take on Toru Sugiura and Yusaku Ito in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Tornado Death Match.

The teams would fight over light tubes to start the match with Kasai and Watase smashing the light tubes across Ito and Sugiura. Sugiura and Kasai would face off with Sugiura placing light tubes over Kasai in the corner, but Kasai would grab the light tubes and charge at Kasai with Sugiura breaking them across him with an elbow. Sugiura would go up to the top and dive at Kasai who would move out of the way with Sugiura landing across Ito followed by Watase hitting a flying dropkick on Sugiura sending him outside the ring. Ito and Watase would face off with Watase hitting Ito with a German Suplex as Watase would try for a chair shot, but Ito would block it and smash it over Watase's head who would no sell it and headbutt and hit Ito with a brain buster for a two count. Watase would grab a stack of light tubes but Ito would head butt him and deliver a flying dropkick but Ito would end up breaking the light tubes across his back.

Watase would grab a stack of light tubes with Ito spitting black ink at Watase's face as he would try his best to block it with the light tubes but still get it covered all over his face before breaking the light tubes across Ito's head and Kasai would nail Ito with a lariat as Watase would deliver a tope con hilo to the outside on Sugiura and Kasai would nail Ito with a Reverse Tiger Driver with Ito kicking out as Kasai would then hit him with a Stimulation Driver on a stack of light tubes to get the win at 17 minutes, 11 seconds over Ito while giving Takeda who was ringside the finger. Kasai would then challenge Takeda and Ito for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles for the next Shin-Kiba show with Takeda accepting.

The semi-main event would see Jun Masaoka defeat fellow F-SWAG team member Gaia Hox at 13 minutes, 3 seconds with his Ambitions finisher which as of right now has been Jun Masaoka's final match in FREEDOMS as he become a regular for NOAH since. Daisuke Masaoka would defeat the departing Crazy King at 6 minutes, 9 seconds after rolling him up with a Tornado Clutch.

The official ERE disbanding match would place as Violento Jack, Masashi Takeda, and Kenji Fukimoto would take on Takayuki Ueki, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Kyu Mogami in a former ERE vs. current ERE match. ERE was done as a result of Jun Kasai's Unchain group pretty much becoming a stale babyface group over the years and to spice things up Masashi Takeda would leave Unchain and form ERE on January 21, 2021 along with Toshiyuki Sakuda and Takayuki Ueki. Violento Jack would turn on Mammoth Sasaki on March 4, 2021 and join the group and a year later Kenji Fukimoto as Brown Rat Fukki would join in May 2022 followed by Drew Parker in June 2022. Parker would be brought in to replace Masashi Takeda as the leader as Takeda would have to take a leave in January 2022 due to his wife's sudden passing and when coming back in June 2022 he could not be a heel anymore. The new ERE really didn't click and Parker became his own person more than the leader of ERE before leaving FREEDOMS in June 2023. Jack and Fukimoto would end up leaving ERE in March 2024 and the group would mostly just be Toshiyuki Sakuda's group along with Ueki and Kyu Mogami as midcarders before finally doing away with the group to create more fresh teams.

This would be a Barbed wire Board Death Match with both teams brawling around ringside with Takeda stabbing Ueki with scissors. Fukimoto and Sakuda would square off with chairs with Fukimoto getting the better end of it and smashing a chair over Sakuda's back but Mogami would come over and he and Sakuda would throw Fukimoto into the barbed wire board. Ueki would come in and deliver a diving headbutt into the barbed wire while Takeda would end up suplexing both Sakuda and Mogami followed by Jack and Fukimoto both hitting Package Piledrivers as Takeda would place barbed wire over Ueki and Jack and Takeda would both hit Swanton Bombs on Ueki followed by Fukimoto smashing the board across Ueki and Jack hitting the Jack Pack to get the win at 12 minutes, 38 seconds over Ueki with the barbed wire all around Jack for the win. Sakuda, Ueki, and Mogami would throw their ERE shirts in the middle of the ring to symbolize the end of the group.

This would be the last match for awhile for Kenji Fukimoto who is taking time off to heal his body as it has started to break down over the last couple of years due to the hardcore style he has been doing since 1998.

Kengo, Yuya Susumu, and Dragon Libre would defeat Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki, and GENTARO when Kengo would pin GENTARO at 8 minutes, 4 seconds with an Aussie Suplex. The opening match would see Tomoya Hirata defeat the newest member of FREEDOMS in Reiya Igarashi at 11 minutes, 10 seconds with a Crab Hold.

FREEDOMS would return to the Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center on January 11, 2026 announcing a crowd of 188 fans for the show. The main event would see a Weapons Death Match with the Big Japan Tag Team Champions Toru Sugiura and Kazumi Kikuta teaming up with Tomoya Hirata as they would defeat former Big Japan Death Match Heavyweight Champion Yusaku Ito along with Masashi Takeda and Daisuke Masaoka as Sugiura would get the win at 18 minutes, 19 seconds with a Soul Driver over Masaoka. Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase would defeat Violento Jack and Takayuki Ueki in a Hardcore Match as Kasai would pin Ueki at 14 minutes, 3 seconds following a Watase Diving Double Stomp. Gaia Hox would pin Takashi Sasaki at 8 minutes, 17 seconds with a cradle as they look to push Hox more going forward. The Nagoya team of Michio Kageyama, Takaya Shibayam, and Konaka Pale One would defeat the FREEDOMS team of Mammoth Sasaki, GENTARO, and Dragon Libre when Konaka would pin GENTARO at 8 minutes, 28 seconds with a European Clutch. Toru Sugiura and Kengo Takai would defeat Ali Najima and Reiya Igarashi when Takai would make Igarashi tap at 10 minutes, 14 seconds with a Crab Hold. The opening dark match would see Captain Grace, Shigehiro Irie, and Princess Pistachio defeat Yuya Susumu, Basara's Masato Kamino, and HIROYA when Irie would pin HIROYA at 8 minutes with a cradle for the win.

FREEDOMS would return to Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on January 23, 2026 and announce a crowd of 148 fans for the show. The main event would see Masashi Takeda and Yusaku Ito defend their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase in a Hellbridge Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match.

Takeda and Ito would go after Watase with Ito headbutting him and throwing him down into the fluorescent light tubes on the mat followed by Takeda taking a light tube placing it over Watase's head and smashing it with a chair with Ito bringing Watase up on the hellbridge but Kasai would come over and both he and Watase would end up legsweeping Ito off the hellbridge onto a stack of light tubes on the mat. Kasai would then place light tubes over Ito and hit a Pearl Harbor Splash followed by Watase hitting a foot stomp off the hellbridge. Ito would end up spitting black ink in Watase's face and hitting him over the head with a stack of light tubes and hit a Code Destroyer on a chair but Watase would then roll up Ito with a Jack knife to get the win at 21 minutes, 24 seconds to win the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles.

The semi-main event would be a Barbed wire Board Death Match between Tomoya Hirata and Kyu Mogami which would see Mogami throw Hirata into the barbed wire board but he would charge at Hirata and get caught with a German and then hit with another German Suplex to get the win at 11 minutes, 15 seconds with Hirata getting on the mic talking about being extremely frustrated and would call out Jack to the ring and challenge him to a King of Freedom World Championship Match at the February 12th Korakuen Hall show with Jack accepting.

Toru Sugiura, Kazumi Kikuta, and Toshiyuki Sakuda would defeat Violento Jack, Takashi Sasaki, and Mammoth Sasaki when Sugiura would end up pinning Takashi at 13 minutes, 7 seconds with a Swift Driver. Gaia Hox would end up defeating Dragon Libre at 8 minutes, 31 seconds after getting the pin on him. Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei would defeat Kengo and Yuya Susumu when Shu would pin Kengo at 8 minutes, 22 seconds with a Zombie King to setup a King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title Match at Korakuen. The opening match would see GENTARO defeat Reiya Igarashi at 8 minutes, 28 seconds after making him submit to the Achilles Tendon Hold. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 1/23/26 show

FREEDOMS would return to the Itabashi Tokyo Square on February 1, 2026 announcing a crowd of 89 fans for the show. The main event would see Violento Jack would teaming up with Takashi Sasaki and Mammoth Sasaki against Jun Kasai, Mizuki Watase, and Tomoya Hirata in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Weapons Death Match.

Hirata and Jack would face off while Mammoth and Kasai would begin fighting on the outside with Mammoth grabbing a light tube and smashing it over Kasai's head. The glass would end up creating a massive cut to Kasai's temple as he would have to get his head bandaged because of the amount of blood he was losing. Mammoth would begin working over Hirata by breaking light tubes over him. Hirata would eventually make the tag to Kasai who would come in all bandaged up. Kasai and Mammoth would begin squaring off before Mammoth would hit him with a choke bomb followed by Jack coming in with light tubes but Kasai would grab them from him and smash them over Jack's head.

Watase would get tagged in and go up to the top but Jack would get up and throw a chair at him. Hirata would come in and Jack would begin exchanging strikes to one another with Hirata hitting a clothesline as Takashi would come in and begin clotheslining Hirata and place a stack of light tubes against Hirata and kick them breaking across Hirata before trying to slam him but Hirata would overpower Takashi and powerslam him followed by Kasai hitting a Pearl Harbor Splash, Watase hitting a Diving Footstomp on a stack of chairs followed by Hirata hitting Takashi with a running clothesline before Hirata would hit Takashi with a German Suplex to get the win at 18 minutes, 21 seconds to setup his Korakuen match against Jack. Afterwards, Daisuke Masaoka would hit the ring and challenge Kasai and Watase for the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles with Mammoth as his partner with Kasai accepting.

The semi-main event would see Daisuke Masaoka defeat Dragon Libre at 12 minutes, 5 seconds with a Fire Thunder, Masashi Takeda and Toshiyuki Sakuda would defeat Toru Sugiura and Reiya Igarashi when Takeda would make Igarashi tap out at 12 minutes, 41 seconds with an Ankle Hold. Yasu Urano would show up out of nowhere and get the win over Takayuki Ueki at 12 minutes, 19 seconds after getting a pin on him and the opening match would see Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei defeat Gaia Hox and Rekka when Shu would pin Rekka at 7 minutes, 29 seconds with a Lariat.

FREEDOMS would hold their first Korakuen Hall show of the year on February 12, 2026 announcing a crowd of 363 fans for the show. February is usually one of the lowest attended Korakuen shows of the year but this is the first show to dip below 400 since November 16, 2023 (which they had just done a bigger show in Nagoya earlier that month) and it is the lowest Korakuen number since May 25, 2023 which was Hirata vs. Sakuda that did 328 fans which that was the second Korakuen Hall show they had held that month.

The main event would see Violento Jack defending his King of Freedom World Championship in a Octagonal Fluorescent Light Tubes Ring Death Match. This was a call back to March 23, 2023 where Tomoya Hirata defeated Violento Jack for the King of Freedom World Championship. Hirata's reign did not really do that well and was ended due a catastrophic leg injury that caused him to be out of action for a year. It has finally took him awhile to get better in the ring again, but the interest in him has not been recaptured since his injury.

Jack early on would grab a stack of light tubes with Hirata shoulder tackling himself into them breaking them across Jack. Hirata would try to send Jack into the turnbuckles against the ropes but Jack would reverse it and send Hirata into them instead. Jack would then start to cut open Hirata with a broken light tube before trying to suplex Hirata with Hirata turning into a brainbuster on a stack of light tubes. Hirata would then knock Jack out of the ring and deliver a tope to him before getting back in the ring and delivering a flying dropkick. Hirata would then run into Jack with a stack of light tubes before delivering a Vader Bomb on him another stack of light tubes. Jack would fight back and staple a piece of paper to Hirata's cheek and forehead followed by a Swanton Bomb.

Jack would just take a stack of light tubes and just toss them down on Hirata's body and go up to the top but Hirata would get up and smash a light tube over Jack's head and go up to the top and slam Jack down onto another stack of light tubes. They would then begin striking one another on the apron before Jack would deliver a Kamikaze off the apron onto a stack of light tubes. Jack would bring Hirata back in the ring and try rolling him up with Hirata kicking out. They would both get up and charge at one another with clotheslines before Hirata would deliver a Frankensteiner to Jack. Hirata would go for a German Suplex but Jack would pull out his stapler and staple Hirata's hand then place him in the Mexican Stretch and begin stapling Hirata before Jack would roll Hirata up with Hirata kicking out.

Hirata would get up and nail Jack with a clothesline and then bring out a bucket of salt where he would dump most of it over Jack's bloody back and then dump the rest over his own head before nailing Jack with a lariat. Hirata would then nail Jack with a German Suplex and try to lift him up but Jack would counter and slam Hirata on a stack of light tubes before powerbombing him on more light tubes. Jack would then bring out the tequila bottle and smash it over Hirata's head followed by a chair shot to the head and then light tubes across the back before slamming him on more light tubes and then finishing him with the Jack Pack on a stack light tubes to get the win at 24 minutes, 12 seconds to defend the title for the fourth time. The match suffered from a lack from crowd heat due to just being so empty but also too much emphasis on the light tubes was not a positive here. 

The semi-main event would see Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defend the King of Freedom Tag Team Titles against Mammoth Sasaki and Daisuke Masaoka in a TLC Extreme Hardcore Style Barbed wire Board Death Match as Kasai and Mammoth would face off with Mammoth superplexing Kasai and then shoving Kasai right into the barbed wire board in the corner. Mammoth would take some of the barbed wire and begin cutting open Kasai with it followed by using a barbed wire bat to get the cut deeper. Masaoka would come in the ring and deliver a reverse splash senton on the barbed wire board on Kasai before Mammoth would come back in and smash the ladder against Kasai's crotch and smash the ladder with a chair. Masaoka would then take a ladder and drop it on Kasai. Mammoth would then look to piledrive Kasai on a stack of chairs but Kasai would reverse and be handed a guitar and smash it over Mammoth's head.

Kasai would tag in Watase who would put on a glove and then grab some barbed wire and scrape it across Mammoth's forehead. Watase would look to slam Mammoth but he would be overpowered and Mammoth would slam Watase instead on a stack of chairs and tag in Masaoka. Masaoka would bring in a table and go up to the top but Watase would fight back and stand on the table and deliver a Fire Thunder sending Masaoka through the table. Kasai would come in and deliver a lariat to Masaoka and then both would grab Mammoth but Mammoth would instead suplex both Kasai and Watase. Mammoth would then place a chair over Kasai's head and both Mammoth and Masaoka would hit a Mammoth Home Run on Kasai.

Masaoka would then take some of the barbed wire and begin choking Kasai with it before placing him in a Crossface and again wrapping the barbed wire around Kasai's throat with Watase making the save. Masaoka would then go up to the top try for a Rokkura Kai but Kasai would move out of the way and Watase would hit a flying legdrop as Kasai would smash a guitar over Masaoka's head. Mammoth would come in and be met with a double suplex as Kasai would go up to the top of the ladder and deliver a Pearl Harbor Splash followed by Watase hitting a double foot stomp off the ladder with Mammoth making the save.

Watase would try for a chair shot to Mammoth but he would just grab the chair and smash it over Watase's head and try for a choke bomb but Watase would reverse it and send Mammoth out of the ring and try for a tope con hilo on Mammoth mostly missing Mammoth. Masaoka would then deliver a headbutt and roll up Kasai with a Tornado Clutch and a La Magistral with Kasai kicking out and hitting Masaoka with a Reverse Tiger Driver before delivering a Cross Arm Stimulation Driver on the guitar to get the win over Masaoka at 16 minutes, 13 seconds to defend the titles for the first time. This was a better match than the main event as everyone seem motivated, but the lack of crowd just would not allow the match to go up to another level.

Kengo would defend his King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Brahman Shu and would come prepared as he would wear a rain coat and goggles so when Shu would try to spit water in his face right away it would have no effect on him and Kengo would have the early adva ntage in the match but he would take the goggles off and get water spit in his face by Kei standing on ringside. They would place Kengo outside the ring as Shu would end up rolling his bowling ball in Kengo's groin but as they would get back in the ring Shu would look to spit his Indian ink in Kengo with Kengo hitting him causing the ink to be swallowed by Shu. Kei would then try and spit his ink in Kengo's face but Kengo would move out of the way and Shu would get sprayed instead. Kengo would then throw powder in Shu's face and hit Shu with a Brainbuster to get the win at 12 minutes, 15 seconds to defend the title for the third time.

Toru Sugiura, Kazumi Kikuta, and Daiju Wakamatsu would defeat Masashi Takeda, Toshiyuki Sakuda, and Kyu Mogami when Wakamatsu would pin Mogami at 11 minutes, 53 seconds with a Death Valley Bomb in a Weapons Death Match.

Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Gaia Hox would defeat Yuya Susumu and Dragon Libre when Hox would pin Libre at 10 minutes, 47 seconds with the Butterfly Effect. Dragon Libre would announce that he was taking a break from wrestling after this match due to recently getting divorced and him getting custody of his special needs son that he will need to take care. Libre promised he would come back though.

FREEDOMS vs. Ganbare Pro would see Takashi Sasaki and Reiya Igarashi defeat Shuichiro Katsumura and Sentaro Motojima when Sasaki would make Motojima tap out at 11 minutes, 18 seconds with a Crab Hold for the win.

The Barefoot King Championship Match would be the opening dark match as Kota Sekifuda would end up defeating Takayuki Ueki at 7 minutes, 39 seconds in a Barefoot Toy Block Death Match with his Iron Man to get the win over Ueki to become the new Barefoot King Champion. Click here to watch highlights of the FREEDOMS 2/12/26 Korakuen Hall show

FREEDOMS would return to the Yokohama Radiant Hall on February 21, 2026 and announce a crowd of 158 fans for the show. The top two matches would be tournament matches to see the next challengers for the King of Freedom Tag Team Championship. The main event would see Takashi Sasaki and 2AW's Daiju Wakamatsu defeat Daisuke Sekimoto and Takayuki Ueki when Sasaki would pin Ueki at 17 minutes, 22 seconds with a Right Leg Kick to advance to the finals. The semi-main event would also be a tournament match as Kyu Mogami's mystery partner would be Toru Sugiura having the exact same hair style as Mogami and his mannerisms going by Hyakuroku Mogami as they would defeat Toshiyuki Sakuda and Crea when Kyu would pin Crea at 12 minutes, 55 seconds to advance to the tournament finals.

Non-tournament matches would see Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei originally defeat the tag team champions of Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase when Kasai would end up getting counted at 2 minutes, 9 seconds. Kasai and Watase would ask for a rematch and put up their King of Freedom Tag Team Titles on the line with the Brahman Brothers accepting as Watase would end up pinning Kei at 11 minutes, 11 seconds with an elbow for the win. Daisuke Masaoka, Gaia Hox, and Kota Sekifuda would defeat Masashi Takeda, Kengo, and Yuya Susumu when Hox would pin Susumu with a Jackknife roll up at 11 minutes, 19 seconds for the win as he would challenge Kengo for the King of Freedom Jr. Heavyweight Title. Mammoth Sasaki would defeat Reiya Igarashi at 9 minutes, 36 seconds with a Camel Clutch and the opening match would see Violento Jack and Tomoya Hirata defeat Toru Sugiura and HIROYA when Hirata would pin HIROYA at 12 minutes, 13 seconds with a Lariat for the win.

Masayoshi Takeuchi, known as the "God of Barbed Wire," who supported the professional wrestling world behind the scenes, passed away on February 22, 2026 at the age of 77 years old due to a cerebral infarction.

Takeuchi was born in 1948 in Okutama, Tokyo after his father returned home from the war. Takeuchi grew up always buildings thing to play with as a kid such bow and arrows, bamboo dragonflies, and chanbara (swords) so he could play with his friends and one day would day work on creating a small knife and cut his hand in the process and learn the pain of working with sharp objects. He would end up getting a job as a bus driver for a swimming school before the school would end up closing down and he was looking for a new job in May 1993. By chance he would hear that a person in his apartment complex was in need of a new bus driver for the bus transportation company he owned. Takeuchi would meet with the man and be offered the job to start the next day on May 30, 1993 to begin driving the heel bus for FMW.

Takeuchi did not know anything about FMW so he was told to drive to the hotel where the wrestlers were staying at and meet with a man named Go Ito who would explain to him everything he needed to know. Takeuchi would walk into the hotel not knowing who anyone was and would walk up to the first wrestler he saw and ask him if he was Go Ito. That man was actually Ricky Fuji who would explain he was not Go Ito and be able to joke with Takeuchi years later with one another about the mix up.

Takeuchi after dropping off the heels on the bus to the venue would have to just sit around and wait for the end of the show to end so he would just sit around and watch the shows at the venue that's where he noticed the ring crew needing help setting up the ring for the No Ropes Barbed wire Death Matches and would begin helping the crew remove the barbed wire after the show. FMW staff members would notice Takeuchi helping the crew removing the barbed wire at a faster pace and would assign him another job which was to handle the barbed wire death matches starting on June 15, 1993 in Hyogo. Takeuchi would learn the faster more efficient wave of woving the barbed wire for the main death matches and eventually he would begin creating weapons using barbed wires. He would wrap the barbed wire around bats, helmets and shin guards. Onita would be very impressed with Takeuchi's work and the two would develop a friendship due to seeing how much passion that they were showing with Takeuchi's work with the weapons and Onita's passion in the ring. Takeuchi called Onita the "General of FMW" and always wanted to impress him.

It probably helped that Takeuchi was driving the FMW heel bus and so he never was driving Onita around for their friendship. Ricky "I'm not Go Ito" Fuji told a story about how Takeuchi was driving on the Osaka highway and took the wrong exit and pulled over to the shoulder and then got back on the highway and stated reversing the bus which freaked the wrestlers out including The Sheik who began praying to Allah. Hideki Hosaka told a story about he woke up one night on the bus with all the wrestlers sleeping and saw Takeuchi hitting himself with a club he brought and went over and asked why he was doing it with Takeuchi saying he was doing it to keep himself away. Sabu told a story that the bus did not have a restroom but whenever The Sheik would ask Takeuchi if he could stop to use the rest room, he would agree and find the nearest place to stop so he could go to the restroom. Sabu whenever he would ask Takeuchi if he could stop to go to the restroom would just get a "NO" response. Sabu would joke that he thought Takeuchi was a piece of shit for that, but would state that he used the best and most expensive barbed wire although that meant the barbed wire hurt the most.

Takeuchi would end up leaving FMW following Onita's retirement in 1995 and go back to working as a taxi driver before becoming the All Japan foreign bus driver in 2000 with Motoko Baba in charge. He would end up attending a Atsushi Onita promoted show in May 2012 at the Shinjuku FACE and would see Onita after the show. Onita would ask if he could go back to setting up the barbed wire for his August 2012 match against Akebono with Takeuchi agreeing. Takeuchi would then end up being hired in 2015 by the Super Battle FMW promotion that he would do until 2017.  Takeuchi would end up writing a book in 2016 entitled "The 'God' Entangled in Barbed Wire." and following his passing Onita made the statement "He understood my passion for the ring and used his ingenuity to create all kinds of lethal weapons. Takeuchi was an indispensable member of FMW. I'm truly grateful for all he's done for me."

I did not know who he was at the time, but I actually got to meet Takeuchi in 2013. I attended a Happy Share With event ran by Megumi Kudo which included Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka. Following the show, as most people were leaving, I saw an older couple as well about two others staying by outside the building just waiting around so I figured I would go back and stay around with them and see what would happen. The older couple was Takeuchi and his wife and we tried to small talk as much as you could (I believe I was showing them my FMW 1997 program that I had in hand) while knowing two different languages. Then Megumi Kudo came out and took pictures with those that had stayed around after and so Takeuchi was one of the reasons I got to take one of my favorite pictures along with Megumi Kudo. Three years later at Korakuen Hall, I saw him setting up the barbed wire for the Super Battle FMW show I was at recognizing him as the older man that I had waited out with before learning exactly who he was and what role he played in FMW back in the early 90s.

I finished the next installment of documenting Hayabusa's career year by year as this installment covers his April 1998 and winning the FMW Double Titles against Mr. Gannosuke to May 3, 1999 with him and Kodo Fuyuki losing the finals of the FMW Tag Team Tournament. This includes talk about Atsushi Onita wanting to team up with him before leaving FMW, his starting up his own faction Phoenix, winning the All Asian Tag Team Titles, and several interviews he conducted during this one year span. You can find it at http://fmwwrestling.us/Hayabusa9899.html - I have three more of these to do before this part is completed. 1999-2000, 2000-2001, and 2001-2016.

I recently finished translating Death Matches of that day and time! - 120 indie death matches from the 90s by Irie Irie (I think he only wants to go by his last name and just added his last name twice) and it was a really good read as Irie puts you in the perspective of a fan in the early 1990s pre-internet and gives you a perspective of attending all these death match shows life and has a really good memory of his teenage years and early adult hood when death matches were at their peak. You can tell there's a shift for the later end of the 90s as he gets older as 1996 alone gets the same amount of pages as 1997 through 1999 combined. I very much recommended getting this book. Another enjoyable book I recently finished translating was The Men who created FMW which was written by Kazuhiro Kojima back in 2022. He goes over the early FMW days from the creation of it to the first Kawasaki Stadium show on September 23, 1991 as he interviewed everyone still alive that had a hand in helping out the early years of FMW other than Atsushi Onita. Kojima is a great writer and another book I recommend reading if you are a fan of the early years of FMW. I will try and translate more books here soon as I got out of doing them for the second half of the year, they just are very long projects that take up a lot of time, but I do feel these are great documents of history for Japanese that not too many people are willing to do for so many books. You can find out more about purchasing the books at my book page by clicking http://fmwwrestling.us/Books.html

Speaking of things I have taken a break from I also recently completed FMW Stories Episode 7 going over the New Hayabusa. This was the first episode I have done in over two and a half years as doing another project like this was just something I could not put my heart into for the longest time after a bunch of stuff happened in my personal life. I was able to complete it and go over everything related to ZERO1 and having to start over and coming up with the return of the Hayabusa gimmick and how it has gone so far up to January 2026. I have gotten positive reviews for it as I also want to get back into making these as I look to start on making a Atsushi Onita vs. Sad Genius episode next. Click here to watch the New Hayabusa episode

Every first update of the year I try to include something of my collection that I would like to show off. These two Hayabusa Naughty Boys are some of the best quality Hayabusa masks ever made by the person that made the Hayabusa masks personally for Eiji Ezaki after his accident. I will probably end up getting some more down the line but for now I have these two. Last year I mentioned about doing a video showing off my VHS collection for my YouTube channel and I still want to do something like that, maybe more show off the entire collection of stuff I have across the house. I would just need to get the house cleaned up as all my stuff is spaced out across the house as it's slowly turning into an FMW museum.

FREEDOMS/FMW-E/FMW Misc./Production Shows News 2025 (January - December 2025)

FREEDOMS/FMW-E/FMW Misc./Production Shows News 2024 (January - December 2024)

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)