Frontier Martial - Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial - Arts Wrestling ( FMW ) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28 , 1989 by Atsushi Onita that specialized in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire . They held their first show on October 6 , 1989 . In the late 90 ' s , FMW had a short lived working agreement with Extreme Championship Wrestling , and as well had fourteen DVDs released in the U . S . by Tokyopop . History . 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 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 . 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 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 . In 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 in a Tokyo park using his tie to collect life insurance for his money to pay off the Yakuza . The talent divided into two promotions : Kodo Fuyuki ' s WEW ( World Entertainment Wrestling ) , the name of FMW ' s title governing body since 1999 , and Mr . Gannosuke ' s WMF ( Wrestling Marvelous Future ) . Some of the talent also made appearances on Onita ' s special shows .