TAKE-OFF 1st
On August 7, 1991, the World Martial Arts Association W*ING was launched at
Korakuen Hall. W*ING was an organization formed by four FMW anti-Onita factions
such as Kazuyoshi Osako, Kiyoshi Ibaragi, Mr. Pogo, and Victor Quiñones. Mr.
Ibaragi who got into public relations gathered foreign players such as Dos Caras,
TNT, Gypsy Joe, The Headhunters, Great Wojo, The Killer, Fishman, and invited
the martial arts wrestlers through Mr. Osako, making use of his suspicious
network. That included Mitsuteru Tokuda, Koichiro Kimura, Akitoshi Saito (Shinshin
Kaikan). There was also Ryo Miyake, Yukihiro Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka, Hiroshi
Shimada, Masayoshi Motegi, Jet Jaguar, Mongolian Mauler. Saito worked as a
quasi-civil servant at the facility at the Aichi National Athletic Meet after
making his debut in Pioneer Senshi, as after joining the Pioneer Senshi, he
decided to resign as a professional wrestler.
When Saito first reported to the Aoyagi, he said, "Saito, why did you quit (to
become quasi-civil servant)?" When he contacted Ryuma Go, Go was just about to
go to the United States, and Pioneer Senshi was not running anymore shows. Saito
then decided to do it. Then it was Mr. Kazuyoshi Osako who invited Saito to
W*ING. Saito was delighted to hear that W*ING was going to do martial arts, but
it was Mr. Pogo who he fought in his W*ING debut match.
The problem was thought that the four people who were united by their anti-Onita
faction were not in line with one another. All four of them had no idea how to
create a professional wrestling organization to compete with the success of FMW.
Most of the major wrestlers said that they didn't like it because the guarantee
was cheap, and the death match wrestlers would hurt and scar their foreheads,
even though they were not popular. They thought they should do what they used to
do when they were amateurs because that was easier for them.
W*ING started as both death matches and martial arts, but after all,
professional wrestlers were not good and you only have B-class martial art
fighters. Even if you have one death match, a "Caribbean Bunk house Death
Match", a completely half-finished card lineup has appeared. With this, you can
not compete with FMW and Atsushi Onita on an equal footing.
Of course, The World Martial Arts Association W*ING collapsed after just three
months. At that time, I went up to New Japan Pro-Wrestling and did a tour in
Kyushu for a week, but the only match that I was booked for was one show where I
had a singles match with Aoyagi. I was experiencing the bottom of poverty and
this match the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium would be my final one.
I didn't have the money to eat every month. For two and a half months, I had no
income and suffered.
I had a part-time job in Hijikata at a building construction site and didn't
eat. At the time, I worked with my blonde hair hidden in a helmet, but many
people realized that it was Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, a professional wrestler, and
the words and errands of the craftsmen are rough. At this time, I felt like a
prisoner.
I was exhausted from work and went home, so I lived a life where I couldn't even
train. It was Director Aoyagi, who was close to Mr. Ibaragi at the time, who
recommended me to go up to W*ING, but I was still considered myself with New
Japan Pro-Wrestling, even though I had a financial trouble with them.
I didn't intend to go up to a New Japan ring until the problem was resolved.
Also, Hidekazu Tanaka, a ring announcer from New Japan, gave me an idea, "Why
don't you get your hair back in black and team up with Director Aoyagi?", but I
liked my blonde hair and I don't feel like going back. After that, time passed
without being able to talk with New Japan, and my life was getting harder
because I didn't even feel like calling out to New Japan.
Then I heard that W*ING would perform at the local Nagoya Congress Center, so I
arrived as Saito's second. I agreed after that show to begin working for W*ING.
Birth of a New W*ING
My first time booked for W*ING was on September 19, 1991 at the Katsushika
Sports Center in Tokyo. However, I couldn't reach the venue because of the power
of nature. A typhoon had stopped the Shinkansen. Eventually, the next day, I
participated in the Takasaki Gym # 2 in Gunma, and my conflict with TNT began.
It was rumored that it would be three months, but shortly after my participation
in the war, rumors of division in the promotion began.
The World Martial Arts Union W*ING is divided into the Ibaragi W*ING promotion
and the Kazuyoshi Osako group to the World Martial Arts Union also called WMA.
I wasn't sure why this happened. On December 10th, at Korakuen Hall, there was a
W*ING box office "Sky High Again" sponsored by Mr. Ibaragi, and Mr. Osako
declared that the wrestlers who participated on the show would never be booked
for his WMA.
Saito, who was an Osako faction, was told by Director Aoyagi to participate in
the WMA group, and everyone associated with Aoyagi joined Osako's WMA which
ended up being disbanded before ever launching. On the other hand, Kanemura and
I insisted that we had nothing to do with Director Aoyagi and announced that we
would participate in the New W*ING.
On February 9, 1992, Korakuen Hall "Be Dreamers" would be the de facto first
New W*ING show. I couldn't wait for the opening of W*ING with GWF's Joe Pedicino
as chair man, Kiyoshi Ibaragi as first vice chairman, and Victor Quinones as the
second vice chairman. However, I was greatly disappointed that my name was not
included in the main event or semi-main event of the New W*ING. The main event
was Mr. Pogo and Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Gypsy Joe and The Iceman. The semi-main
event was Dick Murdoch vs. Mitsuteru Tokuda. At the time, Ibaragi was high on
Tokuda becoming one of the top names in the promotion and I was not expected to
do anything at all. However, there was one man in the W*ING front office that
saw my something in me and that was Takuji Daiho the ring announcer. He kept
pushing my name to Ibaragi every meeting "Mr. Matsunaga, Mr. Matsunaga" to where
Ibaragi agreed to change and put me in the main event and moved Iceman to the
undercard. Actually, I was thinking of doing a death match with Daiho-kun but
that never ended up happening.
I thought "How can I impact the main event?" with that in mind, I noticed that
out of the ring brawls were escalating in the indies at the time. It was not
uncommon for both FMW and W*ING run up to the balcony on the second floor of
Korakuen Hall and fight in a brawl. It doesn't make sense if you don't do more
than that.
The main event is a Bunkhouse Tag Death Match. When I was in the brawl, I saw an obstacle, and I went up to the balcony, then smashed Perez, and made a delay dive and fell 6 meters (20 feet) towards the Headhunters underneath. At the time, cheers were loud in the venue, and a big chant of "Matsunaga! Matsunaga!" from the fans who danced frenziedly and did not stop. From this day on, I became known as "Mr. Danger."
In the early days of W*ING, I would get asked "Why don't you do a blow up
landmine death match?" however, when death matches such as electric blasts and
land mine blasts were frequently used in FMW, I want to have a match that was
more impactful than electric blasts. I thought electric blasts were interesting
to see, but I didn't think they were amazing. In W*ING I wanted to try and do a
great death match that would surprise the audience some day. I wondered why I
had this personality.
As a person who I have a relationship with knows, I can laugh until all day
about death matches. Sometimes it is said I am a masochist, but I don't have
such a hobby at all, so please think about it. There will be many men with such
hobbies in the world, but in most cases, it will be a condition that the other
party is a woman. After that, every time I devise a new death match, people
around me say "It's dangerous, so you should stop." but I can't stop thinking
about it.
It is said that glass is dangerous if it gets inside your body, such as when
fighting a light bulb match or a glass match, but if you get such a thing stuck
in you, you just take it out. It's a mystery why I have such a personality. I
can assure you I am the only one in the professional wrestling world.
Rival Akitoshi Saito
When I joined W*ING I actually had two options. The other option I had was join
New Japan and stay as the Number 2 in Seishin Kaikan. The conflict between
Seishin Kaikan and New Japan was a trivial mess that took place in the dressing
room of New Japan on December 11, 1991. As a result, Kuniaki Kobayashi got angry
and got in a fight with Shokei Matsui of Seishan Kaikan and made a big mess
between New Japan and Seishan Kaikan. Saito got hot because he was looking to
join New Japan and Director Aoyagi had to calm him down.
On December 23, 1991 at a a voluntary performance of Seishan Kaikan, "Karate
vs. Tae Kwan Do" was held at Korakuen Hall which was put on by former FMW
fighter Lee Gak Soo. On this day, Universal professional wrestlers Sakigake
Gantetsu (Dick Togo), Coolie SZ (Jado), Bulldog KT (Gedo), and Kaoru Maeda
(KAORU) brought a bouquet to the ring for Seishin Kaikan. It was a 5 vs. 5
Karate vs. Tae Kwan Do series with Yukihiro Kanemura who was a professional
wrestler as a member of the karate team.
This event was Seishin Kaikan trying to make a name for themselves in the battle
against New Japan. Kanemura and I turned our backs on Seishin Kaikan after this
event. We participated in this voluntary performance and then said goodbye to
Seishin Kaikan and chose the path of full time participation in W*ING. Our goal
in professional wrestling was different than New Japan. However, Director Aoyagi
said "You have to come back!" and I was invited back, but I can't keep silent.
"No, even if I go to New Japan, I won't be used for such a long time, I want to
stay with W*ING. Even if W*ING closes down soon."
The real reason Kanemura and I really gave up on Seishin Kaikan was after
watching a recorded video of Fighting Champs Forum where Karate vs. Tai Kwan Do
was broadcasted. Kanemura asked me, "I got the video of Champs Forum. Why don't
you come over and watch it?" and we held a screening at Kanemura's house. The
video was an uncut version of when it aired live as Director Aoyagi and Ted
Tanabe as the guests. They would show the video and Director Aoyagi did not know
that everything he was saying while the fights were airing was being recorded.
He started talking during my fight "This is the ace of W*ING?" after I lost my
fight by DQ as Aoyagi would begin swearing at me and then said "He's stupid for
not going to New Japan" and when I saw that I refused Aoyagi's invitation. I was
ridiculed by him and I don't want to go to New Japan.
I wanted to go to the New Japan with Saito when I was in the Piranha Army, but
in the end I couldn't go, so I was now choosing W*ING. I would be lying if I did
not say it didn't make my heart shake. Saito would end up going up to New Japan
which was a dream of his. I thought about wanting to go wild with Saito in the
New Japan ring.
It calls me back to my youth where Saito and I were class mates at the same Chukyo High School where I first met Saito. I belonged to the sumo club and wanted to be a professional wrestler from that time, but there was a person in the swimming pool who was thinking about the same thing.
That was Akitoshi Saito, who was so talented that he ranked third in the
nation in swimming when he was in junior high school. In addition he used "Flame
Fighter" as his entry theme for a swimming competition and he wrote Inoki's
"Fighting Spirit" on his kick board. He has been a murderous guy since high
school and he's a guy who loves to fight and doesn't move. He went into Chukyo
High School and started fights with the highest ranked students and made a name
for himself. In the sumo club, he suddenly defeated a guy with a body slam.
Saito was a celebrity in high school. I thought it would be better to not be
involved with this guy, but when I met him, he helped teach me karate and that's
why I was able to join Kyokushin education while in high school.
Saito had been screaming at me to learn karate earlier. I often quarreled with
Saito. I had a fight when I was in my second year of high school, and I had
broken the other person's teeth and was suspended from school. Saito was
watching the fight and in a interview Saito gave for a book he stated I head
locked the kid so hard his teeth bent inward and came out, but in reality I
struck him with my fist to his face while head locking him.
Saito told me he started a Shinsengumi (special police force) with about 10
people and became the president of it. Saito asked me, "Why don't you join
Shinsengumi?" so I said okay and I was given a Shinsegumi batch as proof I had
passed "Shinsegumi".
At that time, I often quarreled with other students at other schools in Nagoya
at a park called Central Park in Sake, Nagoya, but "Shinsengumi" was feared as
the strongest quarrel group at Chukyo High School with Saito and Matsunaga. When
he was in high school, Saito hit a fellow swimmer at another high school, and
the parent of that student was a member of the yakuza, so he told him "go back"
to that high school. He decided to gather a number people to bring with him.
However, Saito gathered 1,000 students at our school who were going to gather
together in the fight, but our school was notified and canceled school that day.
So the next time Saito decided to just gather 10 students so he would not get
caught. It was still just my second year in high school, so I was not among
those 10 students. A teacher found out about it though, and the fight was
canceled again. We tried to set the fight up at Central Park instead, but a park
guard reported it and several police officers showed up during the fight. All
the students began to run away all at once, of all the students running in all
different directions, the police man began to chase in my direction. I was heavy
because I was in the sumo club, so when the police man was coming in my
direction, I thought "Oh, I can't run anymore. I will be the first to get
caught."
So I came up with a plan where I took the bag I had and placed it over my
shoulder and mixed in with the general public and casually walked toward the
police man. He came up to me and I told him "Oh he went over there" and it
succeeded successfully. Thanks to that, Saito said "Matsunaga has always been
good at being a quick thinker."
The current Chukyo High School does not look like it use to, but at that time it
was a high school anyone could enter. When I was a junior in high school, I
didn't study at all, so my grades should have been bad, but even so, I had the
best grades once I entered Chukyo High School. Many of the students also cause
problems, and there are dropouts for a class that should have 50 students and
seats become more and more vacant.
The classroom which was tightly packed when I entered the school, was quite
large by the time I graduated. However, it seems that the time when I and Saito
were there was quite a story even at Chukyo High School. It was an amazing time,
and there were amazing memories.
Also, this is a digression, but there was also Director Aoyagi who was among the
seniors at Chukyo High School.
Make a mark with Seishin Kaikan
When it was decided to publish this book, I wanted to write down my thoughts on
Seishin Kaikan as it is.
Because of Seishin Kaikan, I became a professional wrestler. I think that
Director Aoyagi really helped me. However, there were some things that the
director did that I did not like, and I wrote down everything I wanted to say to
him. I don't know what Aoyagi thought after he read that, but the next time I
met him he said "Go to W*ING."
I thought I was saved when The Director said that to me. I don't want to quarrel
with him. If I become a professional wrestler, there are students who yearn for
me when I return to the Chita Branch. So I bowed in front of Aoyagi. I will
start over. I will do it with W*ING!
I intended to make up with The Director. However, soon after that, trouble
occurred. There was a show called "THE KENKA" (June 9, 1992) a independent
performance of Seishin Kaikan, where a singles between Director Aoyagi and Shiro
Koshinaka took place. The chairman of the Seishin Kaikan Supports Association
asked, "What happened to Matsunaga, director?"
I had bowed to Aoyagi and thought our conflict was over. But at a later date, I
had the opportunity to meet chairman who at that time was Mr. Kai. He told me
exactly what Director Aoyagi said about me.
"Matsunaga signed a contract with a dojo and a training gym. However, all the
equipment there was taken care of by me, I paid all the money and he did not pay
me back any of it, so I fired him."
So the chairman came to me to confirm the situation. What kind of money did The
Director intend to collect from me? Most of the gym equipment I paid for was
borrowed by the bank.
I paid back 10,000 yen ($100) on a monthly installment, but there were certainly
some months that I couldn't return the money back because of the financial pain
I was in. At that time, it was really bad, but it's a lie that I didn't pay back
at all. If I had just borrowed all the money for all the equipment from the bank
without asking Aoyagi for any of it, none of this would have happened.
With that in mind, I thought I had done something completely stupid. I didn't
cover it up with the chairman and told him everything. "I didn't pay Director
Aoyagi 100,000yen ($1,000) at the end. But that was because I had to pay the
part time job fee for the students of the Chita branch who were driven out to
the Seishin Kaikan "THE KENKA" independent show, so I thought the money problem
between Aoyagi and I was over.
The chairman stated "That's right...." and he became an ally and even protested
to Director Aoyagi, telling him "Director Aoyagi, the story is completely
different!"
I felt like I was done with everything I had done with Seishin Kaiken and told
the students of the Chita branch to close the dojo. Then one of the students
seemed to contact Aoyagi, and he hurriedly said "Matsunaga, lets talk. Lets talk
because it's okay."
But I thought there was no room for discussion anymore. I didn't like following
The Director anymore. At that time, i decided to leave Seishin Kaikan and live
in Tokyo.
Mystery of Seishin Kaikan
On January 4, 1992 the members of Seishin Kaikan smashed into the New Japan
Pro-Wrestling Tokyo Dome show. At the event, Saito read a open challenge letter
to Kuniaki Kobayashi, for a Mixed Martial Arts Match the Ota Ward Gymnasium of
New Japan Pro-Wrestling for January 30, 1992, which would result inSaito getting
on the cover of "Weekly Pro", which I thought was a distant dream.
When I saw "Weekly Pro" with Saito on the cover at the bookstore, I was shocked as if my head had been hit with a huge hammer, because I was over taken by my best friend and my biggest rival. In response to that, I became sick. I thought that I shouldn't think about it, but I also thought, "If I went to New Japan, I would have been on the cover..."
However, when I thought about it, I was really defeated. Furthermore, on the day before the Balcony Dive (February 8, 1992), Saito took on Michiyoshi Ohara at the Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and it was a sea of blood after a fierce martial arts match which also made the next week's front cover of Weekly Pro and that made the cover over the balcony dive. I felt my heart sink.
I couldn't afford to lose to Saito. I'm glad I came to W*ING, and the feeling
that I didn't want to lose to Saito made me fly from the balcony. The balcony
dive didn't appear on the cover, it was on page 15 with color of "Weekly Pro".
The week after that, photos were used at the beginning of the magazine, where I
dived off the wire mesh cage in a match between Gypsy Joe and Pogo.
I couldn't get the cover even with the special occurrence like the balcony dive,
but when it comes to the cover a magazine, a wrestler whose home is New Japan is
going to make it over a wrestler whose home just recently became W*ING, but I
did something that attracts so much attention for an indie, I should have been
on the cover.
Later on, I got on the cover for the fire death match, but at that time I was more impressed with the balcony dive. Saito received the highest evaluation in the Seishin Kaikan when the full-scale competition with New Japan Pro-Wrestling began, but in reality, even if he belongs to the Seishin Kaikan, he is not a fighter directly raised by Director Aoyagi.
Director Aoyagi wrote that he was not good at raising disciples, but he was particularly bad at raising his strong students. Shigekazu Tajiri and Kenmei Shimizu, who stood at the forefront of the rivalry for Seishin Kaikan, were also karate fighters, but in reality they were not raised in Seishin Kaikan.
The Director, who suffered from a shortage of pieces during the battle
against New Japan, had to gather fighters for the battle. Some of them were JAC
(Japan Action Club) actors. When Seishin Kaikan went to the Aichi Prefectural
Gym as a group and read the challenge letter at the Tokyo Dome, Saito was still
the only person actually in Seishin Kaikan. Therefore, they were forced to have
people that were just blue belt in the group from Chita branch and give them
black belts to wear for the events. In fact, before the Tokyo Dome event, a
student from the Chita branch called me, "Mr. Matsunaga, what should I do? Is it
okay to do this?"
Many of the karate fighters were doing it without knowing anything about
professional wrestling, so I was mean and said, "What if Kim Duk suddenly comes
out and hits you out of nowhere?" He responded that he did not know. After that,
I thought "maybe it was my fault that they were scared. At that time, it was a
mystery of professional wrestling fans on why Matsui, who started the conflict
between New Japan and Seishin Kaikan, did not appear at the events.
In fact, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Matsui were both only in the 5th grade in
karate, so they could not be at the forefront of the conflict over the
professional wrestlers. No way, can the final battle be between Matsui and
Kuniaki Kobayashi, who are just in the 5th grade of karate. However, because OF
them just being 5th grade karate fighters seriously offended professional
wrestlers, a conflict between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Seishin Kaikan
occurred, and the Anti-Wrestlers association alliance was born, which lead to
Heisei Ishingun being formed, so for just 5th grade karate fighters, I don't
think what they did was small.
Death Match struggle, challenge from FMW
In the end, Saito showed me more than I expected from him in New Japan
Pro-Wrestling. I couldn't afford to lose to Saito in the W*ING ring. After that,
W*ING went on a radical route, and the World Martial Arts Union W *ING era was
completely buried.
Mr. Pogo, who was eager, responded to the extreme. The birth of the most radical
professional wrestling organization in the world was created. At this point,
Jason, Leatherface, Freddy, etc. all joined and overwhelmed FMW who was in a
slump.
The Death Match line, which began when FMW brought the barbed wire to the ring in 1989, had FMW welcoming its biggest rival when I joined W*ING.
The catchphrase of the W*ING became "I don't know what will happen" became the identity that W*ING received. After the departure of Director Aoyagi, Masanobu Kurisu, Shoji Akiyoshi and others, FMW obtained more overseas Japanese wrestlers that were free at the time, wrestlers such as Ricky Fuji, Dragon Master (currently Kendo Nagasaki), and Mr. Pogo went up to the FMW.
When the death match line with Tarzan Goto became the the top heel, a
conclusion was put on the martial arts aspect of FMW that started from Onita's
match against Aoyagi, and on August 4, 1990, the first no-rope exploding barbed
wire match in history took place at the Rail City Shiodome. Jado professional
wrestling was started from that barbed wire explosion match. In this situation,
the box office war between W*ING and FMW intensified with excessive competition
from the pulling out of foreign wrestlers such as Dick Murdoch, Jimmy Backlund,
and Kevin Sullivan. W*ING won the first battle with those foreign wrestlers
leaving FMW to join W*ING.
Mr. Onita's explosion match attracts the five senses of human eyes, ears, nose,
tongue, and skin. It was a death match that stimulated the audience, but I was
confident that I could do a more real death match without using such flashy gun
powder. W*ING fought to surpass FMW.
On March 8, 1992, I had a battle with Mr. Pogo called "WHOS THE DANGER" as all
rules were allowed except the use of firearms and the use of the weapons only
permitted by the office. The prepared weapon was a new type of weapon with
barbed wire wrapped around a bat. This barbed wire bat, which later became a
symbol of W*ING.
It was Yukihiro Kanemura who thought about it. I broke the barbed wire bat in
half with my knees, wrapped the barbed wire around around Pogo's body, hit a
missile drop kick from the corner as Pogo had barbed wire wrapped around him.
Pogo had an expression of agony as the barbed wire digged into his body.
However, Pogo's counterattack was terrible. When I was about to return to the
ring near the apron, it was gasoline that Pogo poured over my head down to my
stomach. Pogo then didn't give me any time to move. At that moment, a bright red
flame covered me. Pogo's flame thrower blew fire at me. The flame ignited the
gasoline and continued to burn for a few seconds from my head to my back. At 11
minute and 51 seconds, I lost due to referee stoppage.
If only it was burns that I had came away from the match, as I instead suffered
a fracture of the right shin bone during the match and would be injured for 6
months, and was forced to miss for a long time. Also, Hideo Takayama (currently
Hido) and Hiroyoshi Kotsubo (Tsubo Genjin) were watching this match as
spectators. I was told later that they decided to join W*ING after watching this
match.
Even while I was absent, W*ING was different than what FMW was. It was more than
FMW. We searched for new death match ideas. The only way W*ING was going to
survive was to do death matches that FMW couldn't do. On March 13, 1992 at the
Shizuoka Industrial Hall, a battle between Iceman and Miguel Perez installed a
construction crane at a height of 7 meters (23 feet) above the ring, and the one
who fell out of of it into the ring loses. Iceman won this death match.
April 5, 1992 at Korakuen Hall, Yukihiro Kanemura and Mitsuteru Tokuda formed a
tag team for fill my missing hole and challenged Mr. Pogo and Super Invader in a
Caribbean Barbed wire Tag Death Match.
May 7, 1992 at Korakuen Hall, Jason the Terrible came to Japan for the firs
time. He battled in an Undertaker Death Match using a casket. Mr. Pogo was about
to be cremated, but he escaped with the help from the Puerto Rican Army.
July 14, 1992 at the Shizuoka Hamamatsu City Gym, I returned after four and a
half months in a "Dangerous Warning" match. Then I won the Fire Tournament to
decide the opponent of who will fight Mr. Pogo in a Fire Death Match. I won the
right to face off against Mr. Pogo at the Funabashi Auto Race Parking Lot in a
Fire Death Match.
A Fire Death Match was held on May 6th that year for FMW in Hyogo at the Nichii
Mita Store Parking Lot Special Ring. Onita and Goto vs. Sheik and Sabu in a No
Ropes Barbed wire Tornado Fire Tag Death Match. The amount of kerosene was
increased from the time of the two experiments, and the ring became oxygen
deficient due to the burning flame, and all the wrestlers escaped under the
ring.
As a result of the fact, the match could not be continued. FMW realized that it
could not compete in the extreme competition, and Onita refused to compete in a
extreme death match, saying "W*ING is gross, FMW is humanism!"
But was that really the case? The promotion that was based around Death Matches
refused to fight for the extremeness of death matches, so it can be said that
this victory is a victory for W*ING.
After all, W*ING is the group that Onita was most afraid of. There was no
organization other than W*ING that exceeded FMW. However, there was a pitfall
behind the W*ING break through. W*ING was destined to die from the inside.
Light and Shadow of W*ING
The Fire Death Match held at the Funabashi Auto Race Parking Lot in Chiba on
August 2nd was called "Human Yakiniku Death Match". Thick clouds rushed over the
outdoor ring, and it looked like it was about to fall. When I was worried about
the crowd coming, the front desk, who has sales experience at FMW, said, "It's
okay. Advanced tickets are better than the Shiodome exploding barbed wire death
match"
Then the tickets on the day of the show were sold out, and it was a great
success at the box office, as more tickets were opened for standing room only.
However, I had a bad feeling. It wasn't because burner's flames burned to the
top rope in the pre-match burning test, but because I was worried about Pogo's
appearance.
This battle was setup as the final battle with the Puerto Rican Army. It was an
important match, whether I would win and end the rivalry with the Puerto Rican
army with a complete victory, or Pogo would win and conquer W*ING.
However, when Pogo was late arriving that day and had the smell of alcohol on
him. I learned later that Pogo didn't like that I was becoming the ace of W*ING.
It seems that he was drinking liquor while being frustrated until that morning.
Apart from that, it's fine, but a person who is dealing with a hangover for a
big match which will influence the future of W*ING is disqualified as a
professional.
Six months after the de facto launch, it really is incredible to have such a big
match so quickly. The wrestlers will literally burn today, so please continue to
support W*ING. "The W*ING version of the Fire Death Match uses eight burners,
the temperature of the flame is about the desired degree, and the temperature of
the iron plate near the burner is about what I was told it would be. In
addition, two fireworks were set up on the four corner posts, and the were set
to be fired five times toward the center of the ring at two minute intervals.
Please be careful when it ends."
When the gong at the start of the match rang, the burner was lit, the flames
blew up and a tremendous amount of hot air ran over the ring. I was enthusiastic
for the match. The next moment, sparks rose all at once from the corner posts on
all sides, and I faced Pogo in the sparks. Pro-Wrestling can only be a good
match when both people are motivated to fight each other. However, Pogo felt
jealously in my popularity from the beginning of the match, and continued to
fight unmotivated from the beginning to the end, ruining this important match.
Even after 12 minutes had passed, he was still stalling and I became impatient.
"It's an important match that attracts an overcrowded audience, but what the
hell is this lazy match! What is old man Pogo doing?"
At the end, Pogo's lariat accidentally exploded Quiñones, I rolled Pogo with a
small package hold, and I won. However, I didn't think that the match would be
decided by that move. I thought Pogo would come back, but after the match, Pogo
and Quiñones fought fiercely, and when the Headhunters broke in, Pogo was
slammed and the Puerto Rican army was banished.
First of all, Mr. Tarzan Yamamoto, who was the editor of "Pro-Wrestling Weekly"
at that time, criticized the match and said "W*ING has built itself up to a good
place, but it came off as just a FMW impersonator on their biggest show." "The
finish of Death Match was a small package," was written in "Pro-Wrestling
Weekly" and the tone of W*ING gradually declined.
I discovered that Pogo had been drinking until the morning of the show, from a
clerk at the professional wrestling shop "Oyama American", who had worked with
W*ING at the time. He saw Pogo drinking in Ikebukuro until dawn.
I was proud of my dream of becoming the ace of a promotion. Pogo doesn't have to care about my dream, but he not only dragged me down, he dragged W*ING's legs down as well. My distrust of Pogo increased after the Fire Death Match. Even though W*ING had surpassed FMW with radical death matches, there was only so far we could go with radical death matches.
I marketed that W*ING was "Super Jado", as went we beyond evil, and as a
matter of course, I aggressively marketed it to a TV station to surpass Atsushi
Onita, but they came back saying, "The W*ING shows are not terrible, but this
can't be aired in a living room," said the TV station. Certainly, when I was a
kid, when I saw a scene where a person was burned or murdered on a TV program
that was a decisive moment, the image was shocked me and stuck with me. What's
more, that's exactly the same thing happened with W*ING. An elementary school
boy who actually lives in Gifu Prefecture was shocked to see a W*ING show and
was absent from school for a week. After all, extremeness alone did not win. In
addition, even though style had a lot enthusiastic fans, it was also something
that could be not shown to young children.
Just the most extreme alone did not mean success.
The beginning of the W*ING collapse
If you think calmly, you will understand that there is nothing that we can do to
continue going long term. We are indie, which is not broadcasted on TV, and that
is structurally unreasonable as a business. There is enormous expenses such as
foreign wrestlers guarantees, airplane fee, Japanese wrestlers guarantee, front
office salary, office rent, hotel fee, bus, ring, venue usage fee, etc. and
those are all covered by ticket income and a small amount of goods income.
In local entertainment, the fact that there are only 20 ticket agencies is rough
for any indie group, so despite the apparent success, it gradually puts pressure
on management. Moreover, FMW was able to make up for the loss of the box office
with Mr. Onita's entertainment income, but we were not like FMW because there
were no generally well known stars in W*ING. In addition, we were danger of
W*ING collapsing in less than two years.
Tokuda also announced his intention to join Pogo's group while announcing he
wanted to have a mixed martial arts competition with former professional IBF
Japan Lightweight champion Jun Kikawada.
"I will definitely win by adding my experience in W*ING to the judo that I have
been doing since I was in elementary school. I want to make a break, so I want
to suspend joining the Pogo's group until I beat Kikawada. If I win, I'll do it
with Mr. Pogo, but if I lose...I will have to retreat."
Tokuda then began to be absent from W*ING starting on March 16, 1993 at the
Nagaoka Welfare Hall without permission and then missed the March 18th show at
the Ota Ward Gymnasium where he was suppose to have the fight with Jun Kikawada.
W*ING fired him after that.
Even after Tokuda disappeared, Pogo's selfishness continued. I told Pogo about
Tokuda being fired. He seemed lonely when I gave him the news. Pogo went to the
media and stated "Tokuda will be brought back!" I went up to Pogo on the bus and
began to make a fuss about his public comments. "Why don't you support Kanemura
or myself the way you do Tokuda?" Pogo got up and was angry about my comments
and we got into a fight while the bus was moving. I screamed at Pogo "It's your
fault W*ING has fallen the way it has! You and Tokuda! I think you two wanted
W*ING to fall like this!"
Four days later on March 22, 1993, there was a singles match between Mr. Pogo
and Leatherface at the Osaka Prefectural Seaside Sports Center where Pogo lost
via referee stoppage. Pogo afterwards told Mr. Ibaragi that he wanted become the
Vice President of W*ING going forward.
This would give him match making authority, as he did not want extra money for
the job title. Ibaragi was naive and gave Pogo the position of Vice President,
but W*ING was heavy in debt at this point as Ibaragi was already no longer
receiving money, so that he not could continue to help pay everyone else.
Naturally, after becoming Vice President, Mr. Pogo's guaranteed salary
stopped a month later. Pogo was upset, "why did I lose my guarantee salary?" In
the end, Pogo's guaranteed pay was split, as he was paid what he needed, when he
needed it, but Pogo decided to just leave W*ING and return to FMW in June 1993.
On June 18, Pogo appeared for FMW at the Niigata City Gymnasium, he broke into
the main event tag match and attacked Mr. Onita.
On June 23rd at the Omiya Skating Center, he joined Team Canada led by Ricky
Fuji, wrapped Mr. Onita with barbed wire, trapped him in an iron cage, and hit
him with a flamethrower. Mr. Onita was sent to the hospital after suffering
severe burns on his face and upper limbs and burns on his right eye. In this
way, Pogo's participation in FMW became decisive. At that time, people said,
"Because Pogo has left, W*ING will collapse."
However, for the WING parties, "Pogo and Tokuda had been causing so many issues,
so everyone was actually relieved. However, when Pogo went up to the FMW ring, I
felt that W*ING front office were disappointed, and I couldn't keep silent.
I ended up going to the apartment where Pogo lived, and I banged on his door and
shouted, "Pogo, come out!", There was no response at all. Pogo is a man who can
do anything in the match, but when he gets out of the ring, he is a small
person. So I thought he was shaking in his room, but if I did it any more, it
would be a nuisance to the neighborhood, so I wrote "I'll be back Pogo-san" on a
piece of paper, stuck it on the door, and went home that day. That night, when I
returned to my apartment and thought calmly, "Pogo has a personal a life," and I
felt like I was overdoing it, no matter how disgusted I was. I thought about it
and wanted to apologize.
I made a phone call to the answering machine and apologized for the
disrespectfulness on the record recording, "I'm sorry for doing that today.
Also, if we have a chance, let's drink together." However, due to this, the
story developed in an unexpected direction. After that, I got a call from Pogo.
Pogo said, "Why don't you join FMW with me?"
Farewell, Kiyoshi Ibaragi
At that time, in addition to the deterioration of W*ING's management, I myself
had reached the limit of delinquent tax and incentive repayment during my
college days, and my life was no longer possible. The total amount of student
loans was overwhelming, and the days had passed without me sending any of
repayment, so I received a reminder and was told, "Please repay all the student
loans in one lump sum." I couldn't, because I didn't have that kind of money,
and my uncle was the guarantor of the student loan, so I was quite impatient.
In addition, the tax that Mr. Ibaragi was supposed to have filed was not
actually filed, so the tax was not paid on the books of the tax office.
Naturally, a reminder came to me from the tax office. Therefore, by the time I
left W*ING, I was in a squeeze on the economic side. Daiho was also worried
about me, so I decided to gather with several W*ING staff members at Mr.
Ibaragi's condominium in Ikebukuro.
If this situation continues, it is impossible to continue activities at W*ING. I
can't stay in W*ING the way it is now ... ". I talked to Mr. Ibaragi about all
the student loans and taxes.
I was only getting paid 250,000 yen ($2,500) a month and an extra 10,000 ($100)
bonus for being the ace. I asked for an extra 100,000 ($1000) for whenever I did
a dangerous death match, but Ibaragi just shook his head no at me. I always
thought I would stay with W*ING, and I felt like W*ING would collapse if I left
it for FMW.
Mr. Ibaragi was a person who did not seriously listen to my stories about
financial issues that I was going through though. So I called Mr. Pogo back on
the phone. "I'll do it."
I greeted other wrestlers and went around the locker room. Everyone said, "I
won't stop watching you Matsunaga-san. Please do your best even if you go to
FMW."
I can't write about irresponsible things about W*ING after that. However, I was
full of feeling sorry for them. After transferring to FMW, I happened to meet
Mr. Ibaragi for a while. Mr. Ibaragi first said, "Now you can live in an
apartment with a bath." At that time, I was living an apartment without a bath
while being interviewed for "Weekly Pro" during the W*ING era, but when I
transferred to FMW and was able to move into a nice apartment with a bath.
In the case of Ibaragi-san, he's not malicious and he's not really a bad person.
Since there was a delay in the guarantee from the early W*ING, he didn't pay
which was rather annoying because I didn't have money. But there is an episode
that demonstrates Mr. Ibaragi's personality.
It was when I injured in my knee and was admitted to a hospital in Aichi
Prefecture after a battle with Pogo. While I was in the hospital, Mr. Ibaraki
did not pay the hospitalization fee at all, no matter how much I contacted him.
At the end, I was impatient and said, "I don't have a hospitalization fee, so
please pay. Please do something about it."
However, he still didn't deposit. So, my parents were poor, but I borrowed from
my parents and paid them, and sent a receipt for the hospitalization fee to Mr.
Ibaragi. Then he goes "You never sent me receipt? I never received it. I haven't
seen it."
I couldn't walk because of the surgery on my knees, so as soon as my knees were
healed, I went to the W*ING office in Tokyo and searched for it.
His office was a complete mess, but I ended up finding it among stacks of papers
that were everywhere, and he paid me back. Ibaragi-san was such a sloppy person
as a manager, and after awhile he was not suitable to be president.