Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion ( FMW-E ) 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 the name Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW (超戦闘プロレスFMW, Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW). With the resurrected FMW not holding any events since 2018, Onita announced in 2021 that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) in which the promotion would specialize in exploding death matches .
41-420: FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship Details Promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Date established January 7, 1990 Date retired August 25, 1999 Other name(s) WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship Statistics First champion(s) Beast
82-548: A Caribbean Barbed wire Thumbtacks Death Match. It would also end up being the very last show for Super FMW, although another show was originally scheduled for November 10, 2019, but due to poor ticket sales, it was rescheduled to March 29, 2020. Unfortunately, the show would be canceled due to COVID-19 and Super FMW quietly folded. Goto was married to Despina Montagas , and they have three sons. He had since remarried in December 2016. On May 29, 2022, Goto died from liver cancer at
123-455: A Pro-Wrestling A-Tean (Apache Army's successor promotion) event. After this he would come back as a wrestler having matches with Combat Zone Wrestling , Big Japan Pro-Wrestling , World Wonder Ring Stardom and DDT Pro-Wrestling . In 2021, Onita announced that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion , a promotion under the FMW name that specialized in exploding death matches,
164-465: A Western audience as FMW could now be seen officially on VHS and DVD in the United States . They would go on to release 12 programs which were old FMW cards shortened down to feature the best matches or they were compilations of specific talent like Hayabusa. They also featured dubbed commentary from Eric Gellar and John Watanabe. Later releases would feature Dan Lovranski replacing Eric Gellar. As
205-399: A changing of the guard as Onita would retire and Hayabusa would step up and be the face of FMW. Onita would go on and sell the company to FMW ring announcer, Shoichi Arai . The Shoichi Arai era of FMW would end up issuing changes to the promotion and gave the promotion a new look and feel. Arai would slowly phase out the deathmatches that Atsushi Onita would help popularize and what put
246-434: A match type in which Onita became famous for. The new promotion will have Hidetaka Kajiki serving as president. Onita stated he got the idea for the promotion after All Elite Wrestling 's 2021 Revolution PPV in which the event held an exploding barbed wire death match and seeing that there was still a market for these types of matches internationally in the pro wrestling world and with the popularity of online media streaming
287-548: A nasty gash on his arm. Onita would take it one step further as he would go on to have the first ever exploding barbed wire match in August of 1990, as he challenged his rival, Tarzan Goto . As the years would progress further, we would see an influx of American & Foreign talent begin to appear in FMW with talent ranging from Chris Jericho , Lance Storm , The Original Sheik , Sabu , Damián 666 , Dr. Luther , Leon Spinks , Tiger Jeet Singh and so forth. During these years,
328-491: A successor promotion, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army , which continued the WEW titles until 2016 when Kanemura retired and closed the promotion. Today the WEW titles are administered by Tomohiko Hashimoto 's Pro-Wrestling A-Team promotion. 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
369-493: A tumor in December 2015. She would succumb to the disease in 2018, she was 36 years old. On March 3, 2016, Haybusa would pass away at his home from a brain aneurysm, he was 47 years old. On October 31, 2017, FMW founder Atsushi Onita retired after 43 years in the ring. The promotion held its most recent event as Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW in 2018. Although not officially closing once again the revival seemed to have been forgotten about. In 2018, Onita would come out of retirement at
410-794: The FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship . Title history [ edit ] Names [ edit ] Name Years WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship January 7, 1990–February 27, 1991 WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship February 27, 1991–August 28, 1993 FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship August 28, 1993–December 12, 1996 FMW Double Championship December 12, 1996–May 18, 1999 FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship May 18, 1999–August 25, 1999 Reigns [ edit ] Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for
451-490: The Heat Wave event , defeating Axl Rotten both nights. Goto also worked for International Wrestling Association of Japan from 1995 to 1999. Goto returned to one-night returns to AJPW in 2001 and 2002. In 1995, he formed Super FMW, which lasted from 1995 to 1998 in its first run and from 2009 to 2018 in its second run. His last match to date was on December 9, 2018, teaming with Reina Ayukawa and defeating Taro Ramen and Sase in
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#1732858878570492-413: The booker , he would put forth his vision on how FMW should be run as Arai would sign the checks and book the arenas for the promotion. During this time, Onita would return to professional wrestling and start a faction that would rival FMW and they were known simply as ZEN . This group was loosely based on World Championship Wrestling 's group known as The New World Order . Onita would run shows under
533-481: The Barbarian Final champion(s) Hayabusa Most reigns Atsushi Onita (7 reigns) Longest reign The Gladiator (490 days) Shortest reign Hayabusa (<1 days) The FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship was world heavyweight championship in the wrestling promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). It was one of the two premier championships in FMW, alongside
574-2344: The Barbarian Atsushi Onita Grigory Verichev Big Titan Tarzan Goto Leon Spinks The Sheik Tiger Jeet Singh Mr. Pogo Hayabusa The Gladiator Super Leather Masato Tanaka Mr. Gannosuke Kodo Fuyuki Yukihiro Kanemura v t e Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Championships World heavyweight WWA World Martial Arts / Brass Knuckles Heavyweight (1990–1999) Independent Heavyweight (1996–1999) WEW Single / World Heavyweight (1999–2002) Junior heavyweight AWA World Light Heavyweight / WWA World Martial Arts Junior Heavyweight (1989–1993) Independent World Junior Heavyweight (1993–1999) Tag team WWA World Martial Arts Tag Team / Brass Knuckles Tag Team (1991–1999) World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team (1996–1998; 2015–2016) WEW World Tag Team (1999–2002) WEW 6-Man Tag Team (1999–2002) WEW Hardcore Tag Team (2000–2002) World Street Fight 8-Man Tag Team (2016–2017) Other Women's (1990–1998) Hardcore (1999–2001) Related articles Events FMW Productions Onita Atsushi FMW Tournaments Key people Atsushi Onita Tarzan Goto Hayabusa Kodo Fuyuki Shoichi Arai Ricky Fuji Megumi Kudo Partnerships All Japan Pro Wrestling All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Big Japan Pro Wrestling Dramatic Dream Team Extreme Championship Wrestling IWA Japan Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling Michinoku Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling Noah Super World of Sports WAR W*ING World Wrestling Association Xtreme Pro Wrestling Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FMW_Brass_Knuckles_Heavyweight_Championship&oldid=1259159487 " Categories : Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling championships World heavyweight wrestling championships Heavyweight wrestling championships Hardcore wrestling championships Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling The promotion
615-1527: The Barbarian 1 10 Footnotes [ edit ] ^ The exact date when The Sheik rewarded the title to Tiger Jeet Singh is uncertain, which means that the championship reign lasted between 37 and 67 days. ^ The exact date when The Sheik rewarded the title to Tiger Jeet Singh is uncertain, which means that Singh's championship reign lasted between 19 and 49 days. References [ edit ] ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Japan: WWA Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories . Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 . ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Japan: FMW Brass Knuckles Title". Wrestling Title Histories . Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 . ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Japan: WWA Martial Arts Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories . Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 . ^ Hoops, Brian (January 15, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/15): Big John Studd wins 1989 Royal Rumble" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved January 18, 2019 . External links [ edit ] Title History at solie.org v t e FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champions Beast
656-565: The United States, he married female wrestler Despina Montagas. In 1988, he wrestled for World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. In 1989, he wrestled in Florida for Professional Wrestling Federation . In 1989, Goto returned to Japan after being proposed by the founder of the pioneering hardcore wrestling promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling , Atsushi Onita . In August 1990, Goto had
697-516: The ZEN label and these shows would feature FMW talent. Hayabusa would continue to be featured as the ace of FMW and would go on to feud with the likes of Mr. Gannosuke , Kintaro Kanemura , and, Tetsuhiro Kuroda . As the booker of FMW, Kodo Fuyuki also continued to wrestle and he would go on to help form the top heel faction known as Team No Respect . In 2000, FMW would sign a distribution deal with Tokyopop which would help get their product out to
738-621: The company on the map and would bring in a more "sports entertainment" look and feel for the promotion that would be almost similar to that of the WWE . In a nod to the WWE, the old Brass Knuckles and Independent championships were abandoned and replaced with new titles, the World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) championships. Arai would enlist the help of professional wrestler , Kodo Fuyuki as both men would usher in this new era. Having Fuyuki as
779-511: The crowds continued to decrease, the amount of debt became too much for Arai, as he finally decided to announce that he has filed for bankruptcy and FMW would go on to have their final show on February 4, 2002. As 2001 came to a close, it was stated that Arai owed the sum of what would be the equivalent of one million US dollars to yakuza due to the money he would constantly borrow but never pay back. Running out of options, on May 16, 2002, Shoichi Arai would commit suicide so his family could collect
820-465: The finals of a Grand Slam Tournament . — Vacated January 5, 1996 House show Tokyo — — The Gladiator vacated the title due to injury. 19 Super Leather February 23, 1996 House show Tokyo 1 94 Leather defeated Hisakatsu Oya for the vacant title. 20 The Gladiator May 27, 1996 House show Fukuoka , Fukuoka 2 489 Gladiator unified
861-614: The first FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion. 13 Mr. Pogo January 6, 1994 House show Tokyo 1 244 14 Atsushi Onita September 7, 1994 House show Sapporo , Hokkaido 6 136 15 Mr. Pogo January 21, 1995 House show Sendai , Miyagi 2 103 16 Atsushi Onita May 4, 1995 House show Sendai , Miyagi 7 1 — Vacated May 5, 1995 6th Anniversary Show Kawasaki, Kanagawa — — Atsushi Onita vacated
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#1732858878570902-566: The first-ever FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions in the finals of a ten-team tournament defeating Gregory Veritchev and Koba Krutanize. He had several death matches for the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship against his former AJPW comrade, Atsushi Onita. On January 30, 1992, Goto captured the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship after defeating Big Titan . Due to the wind conditions, Goto's and Onita's fire deathmatch versus The Sheik and Sabu
943-530: The first-ever exploding barbed wire match with Onita, which started a revolution between the small "garbage wrestling" organizations of Japan . Two months later, Goto and his wife Despina Montagas teamed up in Japan's first mixed tag team match, defeating Ricky Fuji and Megumi Kudo . He wrestled in many matches for FMW even one that he lost in which he tagged with Onita and lost to Sabu and Horace Boulder . In 1991, he and tag team partner Atsushi Onita became
984-418: The life insurance to pay back the money owed to the yakuza. 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 Wrestlings 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 under Kintaro Kanemura formed
1025-417: The new promotion was formed. The promotion, however, held its last card to date on December 19, 2021, after which Onita went freelance yet again. In October 2022, FMW-E started back up promoting cards. Deceased individuals are indicated with a dagger (†). Tarzan Goto Seiji Goto ( 後藤政二 , Gotō Seiji , August 16, 1963 – May 29, 2022) , better known by his ring name Tarzan Goto ( ターザン後藤 ) ,
1066-586: 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 would announce that she had inoperable stage three brain cancer after being diagnosed with
1107-401: The promotion for his high flying style and it was known that Hayabusa was the "ace" of FMW. Onita was fixing to retire once again from professional wrestling and his retirement match was held at the annual May 5th, Kawasaki Stadium show. This was FMW's biggest show of the year and Onita would take on Hayabusa in an exploding barbed wire cage, timebomb deathmatch. This match now signified
1148-541: The specific champion Days Number of days held No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days 1 Beast the Barbarian January 7, 1990 Battle Resistance - 1st Open Tournament Tokyo 1 10 Recognized as first champion. 2 Atsushi Onita January 17, 1990 House show Tokyo 1 406 The title
1189-460: The title due to his retirement. 17 Hayabusa June 27, 1995 House show Tokyo 1 <1 Hayabusa defeated Hisakatsu Oya for the vacant title. — Vacated June 27, 1995 House show Tokyo — — Hayabusa vacated the title due to injury. 18 The Gladiator September 26, 1995 Grand Slam tour Tokyo 1 101 Gladiator defeated Hayabusa in
1230-541: The title due to injury and awarded it to Kanemura. As a result, the title was split from the Independent Heavyweight Championship, reverted to being Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. 26 Hayabusa August 23, 1999 Goodbye Hayabusa II: Hayabusa Graduation Ceremony Tokyo 3 2 — Deactivated August 25, 1999 Goodbye Hayabusa II: Last Match Sapporo , Hokkaido — — The title
1271-526: The title to Tiger Jeet Singh for helping him in beating Atsushi Onita for the title. 11 Atsushi Onita September 19, 1992 3rd Anniversary Show Yokohama , Kanagawa 4 337 Title replaced by the FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. 12 Atsushi Onita August 22, 1993 Summer Spectacular Osaka 5 137 Onita defeated Mr. Pogo to become
FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-929: The title with the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship by defeating W*ING Kanemura on December 11, 1996 and the title was renamed to Double Championship. This was the longest reign of the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. 21 Masato Tanaka September 28, 1997 Fall Spectacular Kawasaki, Kanagawa 1 100 22 Mr. Gannosuke January 6, 1998 New Year Generation tour Tokyo 1 114 23 Hayabusa April 30, 1998 9th Anniversary Show Yokohama , Kanagawa 2 204 24 Kodo Fuyuki November 20, 1998 Scramble Survivor tour Yokohama , Kanagawa 1 179 25 Yukihiro Kanemura May 18, 1999 House show Tokyo 1 97 Kodo Fuyuki relinquished
1353-430: The years progressed with FMW, Onita decided to phase out the martial arts aspect of the company and focus strictly on professional wrestling . Onita would go on to have violent and bloody matches like the first ever barbed wire match in the company where he would team with Tarzan Goto as they took on the team of Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Jerry Flynn . Onita would use real barbed wire which resulted in him receiving
1394-423: The years progressed, the audiences for the live shows began to decrease and Arai would slowly sink further and further into debt. Tragedy struck the promotion on October 22, 2001, during a match with Hayabusa and Mammoth Sasaki. Hayabusa attempted a springboard moonsault —one of his signature moves—but he accidentally slipped on the ropes and fell directly on his neck, breaking it and paralyzing him. As
1435-455: The young Eiji Ezaki started to slowly work his way through the ranks. He was known as a prodigy in the world of wrestling and like a-lot of promotions in Japan do, send him on excursion away from the company as they will learn and develop. Ezaki would go on excursion to Mexico and wrestle for a couple of different promotions and developed the character of Hayabusa . Hayabusa became a fan favorite in
1476-847: Was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). In 1979, Goto joined a sumo stable , Kokonoe , but shortly afterwards he retired from sumo. Sanshō key: F =Fighting spirit; O =Outstanding performance; T =Technique Also shown: ★ = Kinboshi ; P = Playoff (s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Goto debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling on February 19, 1981, against Shiro Koshinaka . While in AJPW, he
1517-704: Was called off. He later became a two-time tag team champion with Gregory Veritchev. In February 1995, Goto formed Lethal Weapon with Hisakatsu Oya and Ricky Fuji . However, upset about possibly losing to Onita in his retirement match, Goto announced that he was leaving FMW in April 1995, just two days after no-showing an event in Korakuen Hall. After leaving FMW, Goto wrestled throughout the Japanese indies. He also contested two matches for Extreme Championship Wrestling in July 1996 at
1558-645: Was highlighted in the third season of the Vice TV 's pro wrestling docuseries Dark Side of the Ring in September 2021. The Atsushi Onita era of FMW originally consisted of a promotion that featured not only professional wrestling but the best martial arts fighters in the world. Onita would bring in American talent that were known in Japan like Jos LeDuc and Dick Murdoch , as well female talent and midget wrestlers. As
1599-909: Was renamed WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship on February 27, 1991. 3 Grigory Verichev February 27, 1991 House show Tokyo 1 91 4 Atsushi Onita May 29, 1991 House show Tokyo 2 231 5 Big Titan January 15, 1992 House show Kobe , Hyogo 1 15 6 Tarzan Goto January 30, 1992 House show Tokyo 1 55 7 Leon Spinks March 25, 1992 House show Tokyo 1 60 8 Atsushi Onita May 24, 1992 House show Tokyo 3 32 9 The Sheik June 25, 1992 House show Sapporo , Hokkaido 1 10 Tiger Jeet Singh August 1992 House show Sapporo , Hokkaido 1 The Sheik rewarded
1640-792: Was retired and replaced with WEW Heavyweight Championship . Combined reigns [ edit ] Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined days 1 Atsushi Onita 7 1,280 2 The Gladiator 2 590 3 Mr. Pogo 2 347 4 Hayabusa 3 206 5 Kodo Fuyuki 1 179 6 Mr. Gannosuke 1 114 7 Masato Tanaka 1 100 8 Yukihiro Kanemura 1 97 9 Super Leather 1 94 10 Grigory Verichev 1 90 11 Leon Spinks 1 60 12 Tarzan Goto 1 55 13 Tiger Jeet Singh 1 49 14 The Sheik 1 37 15 Big Titan 1 15 16 Beast
1681-726: Was student of Jumbo Tsuruta . In 1983, he won the Rookie of the Year award at Tokyo Sports' Pro Wrestling Awards. In November 1985, Goto went to the United States to wrestle. His first stop on his excursion was in Kansas City for the NWA Central States Wrestling . He'd also wrestle for Jim Crockett Promotions on shows within the area. In June 1986, Goto moved to Memphis, wrestling for Continental Wrestling Association , where he teamed with Akio Sato and managed by Tojo Yamamoto . While in