Question: When was Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling established?

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling



Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling  (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their first show on October 6, 1989. In the late 1990s, FMW had a brief working agreement with Extreme Championship Wrestling, and as well had 14 DVDs released in the U.S. by Tokyopop. On March 4, 2015, FMW was resurrected under the name Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW.
History
FMW under Atsushi Onita (1989–1995)
In August 1990, Onita wrestled in the first ever exploding barbed wire match with Tarzan Goto. This match started a revolution amongst the small "garbage wrestling" organizations of Japan. From there, Onita recruited some of hardcore wrestling's most notable names, like Mr. Pogo, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Super Leather (Leatherface) and Kintaro Kanemura. In October 1990, they held Japan's first mixed tag team match. In 1995, Onita wrestled his retirement match with young talent Hayabusa in an exploding ring, barbed wire steel cage match. Hayabusa became the central star of the promotion winning its belt several times and battling most of the FMW roster. FMW also had a thriving women's wrestling division, led by Megumi Kudo who was one of FMW's biggest stars in her heyday. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling talent feared them so much that they rarely had inter-promotional matches against each other, but the FMW women were successful in other feuds with LLPW and JWP. During this time FMW signed a contract to hold a major event every May 5 in the Kawasaki Stadium.
FMW under Shoichi Arai and Hiromichi Fuyuki (1995–2002)
Under new FMW president Shoichi Arai, the promotion began to falter. Arai brought in former International Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and Super World of Sports jobber Kodo Fuyuki as the new booker and in 1998 he brought an end to the garbage/death matches in favor of an entertainment-oriented style based on that of the WWE. Although this saved the roster from further potential injury, it called into question the essence of FMW's wrestling. Onita began withdrawing further into the background, eventually leaving the promotion altogether to create his own death match ventures and to go back to high school to earn his diploma.
On October 22, 2001, in a match against Mammoth Sasaki, Hayabusa attempted a springboard moonsault—one of his signature moves—but slipped on the ropes and fell directly on his neck, breaking it and paralyzing him. He retired, but actually regained some control over his legs a year later. By the end of 2001, Arai owed about a million dollars to influential organizations in Japan, rumored to be connected to the Yakuza (or Japanese Mafia). Realizing that the promotion was going nowhere, he decided to finally close its doors. FMW came to an end with a final show on February 4, 2002 and Shoichi Arai declared FMW bankrupt on February 15, 2002. On May 16, 2002, Arai hanged himself by his tie in a Tokyo park to collect life insurance for his family to pay off his debt to the Yakuza.
Closure and aftermath
The talent divided into two promotions: Kodo Fuyuki's World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW), the name of FMW's title governing body since 1999, and Mr. Gannosuke's Wrestling Marvelous Future (WMF). Some of the talent also made appearances on Onita's special shows. Following Fuyuki's death in 2003, most of the WEW talent formed a successor promotion, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army.
Revival (2015–present)
On April 3, 2015, Hideki Takahashi, Hayabusa and Choden Senshi Battle Ranger held a press conference, announcing they were reviving FMW under the new name "Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW". Takahashi would serve as the president and Hayabusa as the executive producer of the promotion, which would also feature participation from Atsushi Onita. The promotion held its first event on April 21.[1][2] On October 30, 2015, they announced that they were reviving the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, as they set a match to determine new champions on December 22.
In 2016, two tragedies had befallen FMW. On February 17, 2016, Ray announced that she had inoperable stage three brain cancer after being diagnosed with a tumor in December 2015 and undergoing a biopsy on January 21, 2016. She succumbed to the disease in 2018. Over two weeks later on March 3, 2016, Hayabusa died at his home from a brain aneurysm, at the age of 47.
On October 31, 2017, FMW founder Atsushi Onita retired after 43 years in the ring. The promotion is still in operation.
Current FMW roster
FMW Seikigun
Ricky Fuji (K-Dojo)
Masato Tanaka (Zero1)
Hideki Hosaka
Gosaku Goshogawara
Choden Senshi Battle Ranger
Tomohiko Hashimoto
Mammoth Sasaki
FMW Joshi Seikigun
Miss Mongol (WPA)
W*ING Monster-gun
Nosawa Rongai (freelancer)
Kazunari Murakami
Monster Leather
Monster Freddie
Super Shooter
UWF Seikigun
Masakatsu Funaki
Mitsuya Nagai
Yoshihiro Takayama
FMW alumni











Aja Kong
Atsushi Onita
Badboy Hido
Bad Nurse Nakamura
Balls Mahoney
Big Titan
The Boogie Man
Chigusa Nagayo
Chocoball Mukai
Chris Jericho
Combat Toyoda
Crusher Maedomari
Crypt the Keeper
Daisuke Ikeda
Damián 666
Dragon Winger
Eddie Fatu
Freddie Kruger
Mr. Gannosuke
Gedo
Genichiro Tenryu
The Gladiator
The Great Sasuke
Grigory Verichev
Hayabusa
Haystacks Calhoun Jr.
The Headhunters
Hisakatsu Oya
Homeless Jimmy
Horace Boulder
Jado
Jason Ray
Jason the Terrible (Rafel Moreno Jr.)
Jimmy Backlund
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka
Jinsei Shinzaki
Kaori Nakayama
Katsuji Ueda
Kintaro Kanemura
Kodo Fuyuki
Koji Nakagawa
Kyoko Inoue
Lance Storm
Leon Spinks
Dr. Luther
Masato Tanaka
 Matty Smalls
Megumi Kudo
Mick Foley
Miss Mongol (Aki Kambayashi)
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
Miwa Sato
Nanjyo Hayato
Onryo
Pat Tanaka
Mr. Pogo
The Rock 'n' Roll Express
Sabu
Sambo Asako
Shark Tsuchiya
 The Sheik
Shinjuku Shark
Shinobu Kandori
 Super Leather
Supreme
Svetlana Gundarenko
TAKA Michinoku
Tarzan Goto
Terry Funk
Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Tiger Jeet Singh
Vic Grimes
Willie Williams
Yone Genjin
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Championships and accomplishments
Current

Defunct

Tournaments

Events
Primary events


FMW Anniversary Show
Summer Spectacular
Fall Spectacular
Year End Spectacular
Interpromotional events
ECW/FMW Supershow (with ECW)
FMW/WWA in Los Angeles (with WWA)
FMW/MPW (with MPW)
FMW/LLPW/AJW (with LLPW and AJW)
Super Extreme Wrestling War (with ECW)
See also

List of FMW supercards and pay-per-view events
List of Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling tournaments
Professional wrestling in Japan
List of professional wrestling promotions in Japan
All Japan Pro Wrestling
W*ING
Apache Pro-Wrestling Army