Forever Forward Fridays

Hayabusa/Masato Tanaka/Koji Nakagawa vs WING Kanemura/Mitsuhiro Matsunaga/Bad Boy Hido - FMW No Rope Barbed Wire Spider Net Double Hell DeathMatch 1/10/1996

JJZ: Before I even start talking about the match, shout out to Bret FMW for making this insane top 100 FMW matches playlist that we're sharing this from. Now Chris, if I had to describe this match to you in only a few words it would be a car crash. This match is crazy man. All over the place to the point if you blink you're gonna miss something. The way they are filming so far out makes it seem a little less brutal, but the match is the definition of brutal. I can not tell you the last time I watched a Matsunaga match and you know how much I loved him back in the day. Poor Tanaka man. He took some rough bumps. Blows my mind he still works at a high level to this day. Everyone added to this match honestly. Looks like they were building to a rematch that I'd love to see one day...

CJD: So this is taking us far from our Forever Forward Fridays themes here. But I know where I'm going to take this little detour next, and it's going to loop right back into the highway my friend. And as far as FFF pays tribute to the independent spirit of pro wrestling, well this is sure fucking it right here. What they're doing for this size crowd, with this level of bells and whistles, you can really see how FMW had that brief moment of blazing glory. In a strange way this reminded me of our Funks tag last Tuesday, in how it never stopped building and stuck the landing. Every spot added purpose and a feeling of escalation. Nakagawa wrestled like half the match wrapped in barbed wire!! Hayabusa had such a hero aura about him and it was awesome seeing such opposite sides of his career with these two matches of his. Bret is good people indeed, he's done amazing work chronicling the history of FMW over the years and I never would have seen this absolute gem of a match without him. Thank you BAHU!!

Forever Forward Fridays

Kyoko Inoue VS H - FMW 3/27/2000

CJD: File under: matches I never knew happened, exhibit A. I know maskless Hayabusa is not something we seek out. And I know this match puts you in a really awkward position to stick with our Friday themes. But this was so in the spirit of Forever Forward, especially for 2000 Japan, that I couldn't pass this up. If we have to hold up the imaginary FFF Championship and start from scratch, so be it. Inoue controls a crowd so beautifully. Dare I say she carried H for sections of this. Hayabusa is trying to get revenge for a loss to Kyoko in a tag match so he's really bringing the stank. I would've liked just a little more at the end but considering I never dreamed this match happened, I'll take what I got. What a strange time the year 2000 was.

JJZ: This was a very unexpected surprise babycakes. My first thoughts about this match was that I was happy that H didn't entirely wrestle as Hyabusa. Obviously some moves yes. But it wasn't a carbon copy. Inoue seems so pissed off during this match. You could tell she had something to prove. This was a really heated battle. I loved the aggressive nature of the bout. I know this was a intergender match but it never felt like that. It had the feels of two people wanting to beat the hell out of each other. I don't think I knew that Hayabusa worked maskless! Love play it forward for times like this.

Best. Entrance Song. Ever.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6izoct

Hayabusa VS Great Sasuke - FMW 12/11/1996

CJD: There's no way we both haven't seen this match before and own it on some terrible VQ Aerial Assault or Best of '96 VHS tape buried in a closet somewhere. That said, I remember nothing about this match or that it even happened. High flyer VS high flyer is actually a very difficult dynamic to pull off, in the majority of the great junior singles matches and feuds one wrestler acts as more of a base. Here both guys get their chances to fly and everything is done masterfully.

JJZ: So this match is a greatest hits of both wrestlers imo. Every move I wanted them to do they did. The slow build of the match with the high risk highspots is the exact way I remember these 90s matches playing out. Love it. What I didn't love was once again having to sit through the most uninterested announcing ever. I always hated that about FMW, they would put out announcers that sometimes would kill the match for me. This match was strong enough to overcome it though. Now I get to choose a Sasuke match. Man do I have options open here.

Takayamamania Runnin' Wild On PIF

Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki (c) VS Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori - AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship 6/4/1999

JJZ: After recently watching Hayabusa in one of the greatest deathmatches of all time with you Chris, it's eye opening to see Hayabusa's depth as a wrestler. This is a classic All Japan style tag match built brick by brick. Omori is catching my eye and I'm realizing I need to seek his matches out more. Takayama with the dark locks is interesting. I just have a set image of him in my head. Shinzaki is such a solid worker which brings a great base to this match. I'd love to really dive into Hayabusa's and Shinzaki's AJPW run. I've seen stuff here and there but never went all in on it. After all these years of watching 90s AJPW it feels like this vault will never end.

CJD: You know I've been on a tag team wrestling binge lately and this match is such good fundamental tag wrestling. I don't think Shinzaki & Hayabusa's run in AJPW was extensive but they were a welcome breath of fresh air when they were booked.  I loved the way both teams worked this match, great cut offs and counters and tandem offense. Late 90s was definitely when the halcyon days of AJPW were waning but the fact that a match like this happened under the radar just goes to show the decade that promotion had will probably never be touched by anyone else.