Whats up guys!
Hanka reporting from the land of the rising sun.
I hope you like blood, I hope you like guts, I hope you like WRESTLING!!!
The year was 2000, I went to a friends house and he told me about this VHS tape he had called “Stranglemania”. Being a huge fan of ICP I was into anything they did, but at the time I had no idea they had a VHS tape out that involved wrestling.
As I watched the tape, I was slowly introduced to a whole new world of wrestling. Of course I grew up watching the “say your vitamins and eat your prayers” Hulk Hogan and Brutus the barber Beefcake happy go friendly wrestling but this was a new style. This was something completely different and new to anything I had ever seen.
As I sat at the end of my friends bed, I saw him… Cactus Jack (Mick Foley to most but in this rendition and with ICP’s oh so clever comedy they have dubbed him Cactus Sac) There he is taking on a Japanese wrestler who I have never seen before, in a match style I’ve never seen before.
Barbwire boards, exploding rings, etc… it was all new to me…
As ICP normally does they added comedic value to the match by not getting the Japanese wrestlers name correct. Later in life I found out his real name was Shoji Nakamaki, but to everyone watching this tape his name was “Lama Nama Numi”.
At this point I had fallen in love with stranglemania and realized that even though it was two guys having a good time watching wrestling from a country that they had never been to, they opened my eyes to a new style of wrestling. Deathmatch wrestling as it was called.
One of the matches featured a man only known to me as “Asshole Andy Armageddon” and another man who they had dubbed “Sweet Baby Bitch” now later in my life I began becoming more enamored with Japanese deathmatch wrestling that I looked up their actual names, The man who they would call AAA went by the name of Mr. Pogo in Japan, and Sweet Baby Bitch went by the name of Atsushi Onita.
I wanted to know more so I would use the internet and buy tapes from japan to see more. Eventually in my life’s story, I learned some Japanese, bought the tickets and I came to Japan.
Once I settled in here permanently I set out to meet, and do what I love doing… taking photos of deathmatch wrestling.
I took a shot in the dark, I found the contact information to a company called FMW-E (Atsushi Onita ran FMW from the 1990’s this is what was featured on stranglemania and this is a revival of sorts)
I messaged them, showed them my work, and to my surprise they allowed me to take photos at the revival show. This show was being run by the man who all those years earlier I had only known by the comedic commentary of stranglemania so this was a full circle story for me.
I got my wife to come with me, because my Japanese is somewhat limited outside of asking for beer, eating food or flirting with women before I was married.
We got there, secured my press pass and went inside.
This show was to feature 5 matches.
first match: opening single match 20 mins 1 fall ” FAKE explosion match”
Buatushi Hutonita VS Yumehito Imanari
Second match: 6 men tag match, 30mins 1 fall
Yuichi Taniuchi, HASEGAWA, Naoshi Sano
VS
Monster Lether, Mr. Atomic, Toshiya Kawarai
Third match: tag match, 30mins 1 fall
Kikutaro, Gabai Jichan VS The Brahman Brothers
Fourth match: Gender less 3WAY Tornado Throwing Money Bunkhouse Death Match
Miss Mongol VS Nene ∞D.A.I VS X
Fifth match main event: Barbed wire rope explosion +Barbed wire barricade landmines explosion+Barbed wire baseball bat explosion+the Table
explosion”Death match of Hell” No time limit 1 fall
With the final match being a highly anticipated match featuring the return of the Exploding landmines, boards, bats, and all the signatures that Atsushi Onita was known for.
When you walked in the room, even if you didn’t speak one word of Japanese you could feel the electricity in the air, the hair on your neck was standing up because you knew you were about to witness some history being made.
July 4th Yokohama Tsurumi Fruit Market 2021 will forever be the day that Atsushi Onita brought back the exploding deathmatch and it is here to stay!
The first match was a fun time, the two combatants come out dressed as different renditions of Atsushi Onita using fake props of weapons that Onita has used in the past, the ropes were entwined with silver streamers to give off the illusion of explosions while fans in the front row were given noise poppers to make it sound like and explosion albeit on a very small level.
The match was fun, and set the pace for the rest of the show because you knew you were in for some fun.
The 2nd match was very hard hitting, strong men, doing strong match work. I applaud them for all their hard work especially in such hot and humid conditions out side even with rain cooling it down it was still in the 80-90 degree range that day.
The 3rd match was an absolute treat.
Comedy style wrestling, lots of fun as Kikutaro chan with his partner who was a grandpa walking with a cane came to take on two men “The Brahman Brothers” who came out spraying hand sanatizer in everyones faces and acting as if they were better and cleaner than everyone because they were being sanitary.
4th match was a treat to see.
Miss Mongol VS Nene ∞D.A.I VS X.
The match had a stipulation where the viewers at home watching on the internet could donate money to have new weapons given to the competitors periodically throughout the match.
Miss Mongol, and Nene got in the ring and were looking for their third opponent and when they searched the crowd they found him.
Noticing the green hair under the baseball hat one of the girls in the ring recognized that the foreigner on english commentary just happened to be the 2021 Ikkitosen winner Drew Parker. They called him out and he quickly removed his hat and shirt and got in the ring. Lots of hardcore weapons used in this, barbwire baseball bats, barbwire boards, spike bats, some kind of pink dust? It was fantastic to watch and if you haven’t watched it yet you need to go check out the match.
The 5th match…. the Main event.
Barbed wire rope explosion +Barbed wire barricade landmines explosion+Barbed wire baseball bat explosion+the Table
explosion”Death match of Hell”
The return of the man, the one I saw all those years ago on Stranglemania.
Atsushi Onita made his return to the ring to a crazy applause. He got in the ring and doused himself with some water because I’m sure he knew the dangers of the match that was going to take place.
This match had everything, when they hit the ropes it was earth-shattering. The sound from the explosion was so intense that I would jarred. I managed to snap photos of the explosion.
Once they hit the ropes Abdualla Kobayashi (juggalos may recognize the name because he is the student of Abdullah the Butcher a juggalo fan favorite) brought Onita to the ropes above the barbwire board, and the two fought on the ring apron until out of nowhere Onita delivered a DDT of sorts, dropping Kobayashi on the exploding landmine barbwire board.
When I say this was louder than the last explosion I need you to realize…. It was so loud that it shook the entire area we were in. In fact it shook the neighbors of the building to their core so much that they called the police, and the fire department.
Once Kobayashi had regained his composure, himself as well as Yuuko Miamoto managed to get Atsushi Onita in the middle of the ring where they both donned exploding barbwire bats. They got Onita up, and sandwiched him between both bats and as they connected; another explosion! Absolutely insane the amount of damage these men took!
As the match went on, Onita brought out a table with explosions strapped to the bottom of the table and he managed to get the strength up to put one of his opponents through the table as a final explosion would ring out… thick with smoke from the 5-6 explosions that happened and in the middle Onita made the cover. 1…2….3 the match was over and Onita and his team had come out the victors!
It was a great thing to see in person, and as a juggalo it was a very cool moment to see someone who all those years ago helped me get into the Japanese deathmatch scene.
After the match when the smoke had cleared Onita was talking on the microphone when a man from the audience emerged with a microphone.
It was Shadow WX. He proceeded to call out Onita, and said the only reason they’ve never wrestled each other was because it was “Too Dangerous”. Onita agreed, and as the stare down started, Shadow WX climbed up on the ring apron to deliver what would be the start of a new feud in FMW-E. I watched as Shadow WX blew fire and engulfed Onita in flames.
This was something I had never seen in person before. I was shocked but I couldn’t look away. As everyone rushed to douse the flames with water Shadow WX told Onita he would see him in Osaka.
The next event will be held on August 15th.
Check out https://www.fmw-e.com For information on ordering the show and streaming it in America as well as all your FMW-E news.
I want to give a huge thank you to Atsushi Onita for allowing me to be one of the photographers of the event, as well as calling me after the show and expressing his thanks and admiration of the photos I took.
ありがとございいます Onita San.
I will be in Osaka for the next event titled “Burnout” be on the look out for more photos and reviews.
Check out all the photos from FMW-E Explosion on my website https://ift.tt/3z3kL2G
Thank you for reading!
-Hanka
from Faygoluvers https://ift.tt/3z8PHi9
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