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DIR Return to: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week
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#Post#: 26534--------------------------------------------------
Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; The Angels with Dirty Faces
By: SheriffLonestar Date: May 10, 2014, 12:34 am
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So last time in this very spot we looked at Chigusau Nagayo's
“That's Joshi” show from March of this year. This week we look
back in time to her guest slot in one of the most incendiary
moments in pro wrestling history and the women's division of the
Japanese blood and guts group FMW.
FMW was the home promotion of Atsushi Ohnita, and its often
thought of as a one man show. His striking charisma is certainly
the reason why they filled arenas and stadia all over Japan in
the mid nineties, but it wasn't all about the top of the card.
There were some great things happening in the company from top
to bottom. They tried to be innovative in that period and were
the first company to give men and women equal billing in Japan.
The fact that there is only one company that does that now (Zero
1) shows what a trail blazing organisation they were for their
time and the way the showed their differences from other
companies other than the amount of barb wire they bought whole
sale. This video begins in late 1995, at the height of Joshi's
popularity in Japan. AJW had just produced the biggest women's
card of all time with Big Egg Universe which I looked at here;
HTML http://www.tnafanforum.com/sheriff-lonestar's-ppv-of-the-week/sheriff-lonestars-ppv-of-the-week-hard-boiled-egg-t/
FMW women's division at the time essentially evolved around
three women and their respective groups of supporters. Lead face
and cornerstone of the division Combat Toyoda, the beauty queen
and seller of many posters Megumi Kudo, and Mad Dog Military
leader Shark Tsuchiya. These three women were the leaders of the
FMW Women's narrative and the stars of the promotion. At the
beginning of this commercial tape rip, Kudo and Toyoda had spent
the best part of the year defending the honour of the company
from the invading hoard of AJW, wrestling Manami Toyota and
Toshio Yamada, the greatest women's tag team of all time, in a
series of matches that echoed the efforts Toyota and Yamada
where having with Mayumi Ozaki and Dyanmite Kansai from JWP. The
feud over the belts would garner FMW a reputation as a serious
wrestling company and show that they were not just about blood
and destruction. If they could hang with Yamada and Toyota, and
the really could, they just had to be good. Though not quite at
their level, it pushed their popularity higher and endorsed the
division as some of the best women's wrestling in the country,
and therefore the world. Shark Tsuchiya was the companies lead
heel, and in this portion of time was beginning to develop her
character, the face paint and the shades and the axe wielding
entourage building up her presence, she was quite the
charismatic foe for Kudo and Toyoda.
What makes this period stand out is the women they brought into
the company just as much as the divisions itself. The first to
turn up is Chigusau Nagayo. After a barb wire board handicap
match between Toyoda and Kudo versus the key members of Mad Dog
Military, Bad Nurse Nakamura and long time friend of Kudo's Miwa
Sato who turned her back on Kudo to join MDM. Nagayo joins this
not so happy ensemble to call out the women of FMW, Toyoda
somewhat bewildered as she has just gone through hell doesn't
realise what is happening as Kudo picks her partner for this up
coming inter promotional war; Shark Tsuchiya. This somewhat
shocking turn of events was due to Kudo's respect for her
enemies never ending will and willingness to break the rules,
she felt she needed it defend the honour of FMW. Toyoda is
disgusted after all they had been through and splits with Kudo
over the event, going on to team up with Nagayo. Shark Tsuchiya
leaves Mad Dog Military for a while to team with Kudo, but shows
she can't be trusted in a tag match with Nakamura and Sato,
reforming the MDM and building the feud with Kudo which had
already played out the year before and now had added impetus. In
short a lot going on.
Unlike other promotions of the time, FMW never forgot its heel
face dynamic. AJW, while it built its reputation on dream
matches, had a tendency to blur or ignore the lines from week to
week. Aja Kong would be battling Manami Toyota one week and then
be tagging with her the next against her own regular partner
Bull Nakano. It was a company who had the biggest female stars
in the world and could endlessly rotate its women around for the
best effect. FMW needed that dynamic to shift tickets, and to
develop their roster's skill sets and hide their lack of depth
(relatively, they still had more women than most wrestling
companies do today).
The Shark heel turn would be perhaps the most spectacular thing
on this tape as you can see here;
HTML http://fmwwrestling.us/KudoShark9261995.jpg
It built momentum towards some serious firsts for the company;
its first women only show (with the help of GAEA to fill out the
roster), its first female headlining match Shark vs Kudo in a
Barb Wire board match, and the on going development of the Shark
Nagayo story. Shark would eventually turn her back Misa Sato,
destroying her and re-involving Kudo building even more heat
towards this main event.
It's not like Combat wasn't busy either though. At the beginning
of her world title shot against Shark, she is interrupted by Aja
Kong and long thought retired Bison Kimura, the two long time
friends and founders of AJW's Jungle Jack stable where there to
challenge Toyoda and Kudo, which ended up in an interesting
face on face series which highlighted the fact that FMW women
could brawl without slicing and dicing each other to hospital.
This video is a wonderful slice of history and story telling, I
would also warn you it has its grim moments. When Shark aligned
herself with Mr. Pogo of the men's division and started wielding
her own sharp bladed medieval axe things got ugly quick. The
finale to this release being a good example; in a street fight
with, Crusher Maedomari and Miwa Sato against Megumi Kudo,
Kaori Nakayama, and Aki Kambayashi she takes the axe to younger
pair's foreheads with alarming glee causing gushers on both
women. While not as violent as other tapes, it does show the
ever evolving story lines that were in place in the company in
this period. Kudo herself goes through three persona to get her
revenge in Shark, including her mist spitting RIE persona which
she went to when she had to go dark to beat an impressive foe.
Combat is the tough matriarchal figure, over seeing and
eventually forgiving Kudo for her wayward ways with Shark and
realising her mistake. Then there is Shark herself, pure evil
done very well indeed.
Enjoy the show;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwyntXOBMmM
#Post#: 26592--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; The Angels with Dirty Fa
ces
By: tnagirl Date: May 13, 2014, 6:24 am
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I that real fire ?
#Post#: 26599--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; The Angels with Dirty Fa
ces
By: SheriffLonestar Date: May 13, 2014, 11:55 am
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Yup that is real fire. Which while shocking was about standard
for a Shark Attack post match. She was in Mr. Pogo's stable
whose trademark was spitting fire at opponents.
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