Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion

**FMW Co., Ltd.** (FMW株式会社 FMW Kabushiki-Kaisha), operating as **Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion** (フロンティア・マーシャルアーツ・レスリング-エクスプロージョン Furontia Māsharuātsu Resuringu-Ekusupurōjon) referred to as **FMW-E** or simply **FMW**, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as **Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling** (フロンティア・マーシャルアーツ・レスリング, *Furontia Māsharuātsu Resuringu*) (**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 its current name but the promotion would be inactive until May 2021 when the promotion's founder Atsushi Onita announced that revival of the promotion.

## 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 W\*ING 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 deathmatch 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. 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 suicide 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 talents 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. 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 would still be in operations but it would remain inactive for three years. On May 6, 2021 after years of inactivity the founder of the promotion Atsushi Onita announced the revival of the promotion under a new name Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion with the return event taking place on July 4 2021 at Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetable Market in Yokohama with would also feature the participation of Onita himself. On June 10, 2021 Onita has annouced his intentions to hold a show in the United States by the end of 2021 after the promotion's return in July.

## Current FMW roster

* Ricky Fuji
* Atsushi Onita
* Buatsushi Futonita
* Yuichi Taniguchi
* Naoshi Sano
* Monster Leather
* Mr. Atomic
* Toshiya Kawarai
* Devil Magician
* Drew Parker
* Minoru Fujita
* Miss Mongol

## FMW alumni

* BADBOY Hido
* Bad Nurse Nakamura
* Balls Mahoney
* Big Titan
* The Boogie Man
* Chigusa Nagayo
* Chocoball Mukai
* Chris Jericho
* Choden Senshi Battle Ranger
* Combat Toyoda
* Crusher Maedomari
* Crypt the Keeper
* Daisuke Ikeda
* Damián 666
* Dragon Winger
* Eddie Fatu
* Mr. Gannosuke
* Gedo
* Genichiro Tenryu
* The Gladiator
* The Great Sasuke
* Grigory Verichev
* Gosaku Goshogawara
* Hayabusa
* Haystacks Calhoun Jr.
* The Headhunters
* Hisakatsu Oya
* Homeless Jimmy
* Hideki Hosaka
* Horace Boulder
* Jado
* Jason Ray
* Jason the Terrible (Rafel Moreno Jr.)
* Jimmy Backlund
* 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
* Mammoth Sasaki
* Nosawa Rongai
* Monster Freddie
* Masakatsu Funaki
* Mitsuya Nagai
* Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
* 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
* Super Shooter
* Tomohiko Hashimoto
* Kazunari Murakami
* Taka Michinoku
* Tarzan Goto
* Tetsuhiro Kuroda
* Tiger Jeet Singh
* Vic Grimes
* Willie Williams
* Yone Genjin
* Yoshiaki Fujiwara
* Yoshihiro Takayama

## 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)