Last Updated: 18th June 1997

6 September 1989 - Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling holds its first card in Nagoya.

4 August 1990 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita beats Tarzan Goto in a no-rope exploding barbed wire match. This was the first of his famous death matches.

August 1991 - Wrestling's International New Generation (W*ING) is founded.

6 May 1992 - (FMW) In a no-rope barbed wire fire match, the 68-year old Sheik suffers heat-induced injuries which subsequently see him slip into a coma.

11 November > 7th December 1992 - The FMW Street Fight Tag Team tournament is won by Atsushi Onita & Gregory Veritchev.

December 1992 - (W*ING) Leatherface runs a chainsaw over Mitsuhiro Matsunaga's forehead after their Spike Nail Death match.

16 February 1993 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita almost suffers a fatal injury, when his throat got caught in a strand of barbed wire.

Early 1993 - (FMW) After scoring a victory over Sabu in a Barbed Wire match, Atsushi Onita jumps into a contaminated river. The polluted water gets into his gaping wounds and results in major internal problems.

5 May 1993 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita defeats Terry Funk in a no-rope exploding barbed wire match with the ring primed to erupt at the 15 minute mark.

15 September 1993 - Mitsuhiro Matsunaga makes his FMW debut, teaming with former enemy Mr Pogo to duel with Atsushi Onita & Mr Gannosuke. FMW then propose that Matsunaga & Onita duel on December 8th in a Wonder Crush Death Match, in which the ring is surrounded by a Cage made out of glass.

8 December 1993 - Atsushi Onita beats Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a no-rope exploding barbed wire match. The glass cage idea was dropped. Matsunaga suffers a serious knee injury during the match.

31 October 1993 - (W*ING) Jado powerbombs Yukihiro Kanemura on flames in a Scramble Fire Death match, which removes 75% of the tissue from his shoulders and upper back.

7 January > 19th January 1994 - The FMW Barbed Wire Tag Team tournament is won by Gladiator & Big Titan.

February 1994 - W*ING folds. It's last card sees the return of Yukihiro Kanemura. He defeats Hidoh, with his back still in a terrible condition.

5 May 1994 - (FMW) Genichiro Tenryu beats Atsushi Onita in a no-rope exploding barbed wire cage match.

23 May 1994 - The International Wrestling Association (IWA) stages its first card in Kourakuen Hall.

28 August 1994 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita requires 111 stitches in his back after beating Masashi Aoyagi in a no-rope electrified explosive barbed wire barricade double hell match.

2 April 1995 - Both FMW & IWA Japan take part in the 'Weekly Pro at Tokyo Dome' show, an inter-promotional card which also featured JWP, AJW, UWFI, RINGS, New Japan, All Japan, etc. For the IWA, Terry Funk, Shoji Nakamaki & Leatherface beat Cactus Jack & The Headhunters in a barbed wire barricade barbed wire baseball bat tornado death match. For FMW, The Great Nita beat King Pogo in an no-rope exploding barbed wire match.

20 August 1995 - IWA Japan hold the speciality-match infested 'Kawasaki Dream' card, to determine the King of Death Matches. Cactus Jack won by beating Terry Funk in a no-rope exploding barbed wire barbed wire board time bomb death match.

5 May 1995 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita retires, beating Hayabusa in an emotional no-rope exploding barbed wire cage time bomb match. Hayabusa goes on to become the top star of the promotion.

22 August > 26 September 1995 1995 - The Gladiator wins the FMW Brass Knux Title tournament.

5 May 1996 - FMW draws a very respectable crowd of 33,000 to the Kawasaki Baseball Staduim for it's first annual show without Atsushi Onita. Terry Funk & Mr Pogo beat Masato Tanaka & Hayabusa in the main event, in a no-rope exploding barbed wire double hell landmine timebomb match. The event also featured the first women's no-rope exploding barbed wire match.

22 May 1996 - Big Japan run a show at Korakuen Hall, topped off with an exploding balloon thumbtacks match, where six balloons are suspended above the ring, and at the 7:30 mark, they explode, dropping 30,000 thumbtacks into the ring. In the match, Kendo Nagasaki & Seiji Yamakawa beat Shoji Nakamaki & Axl Rotten.

1 August 1996 - Mr Pogo suffers a serious neck injury after landing on a barbed wire spidernet glass crush platform neck first. Pogo is ordered to take bed rest until September 9th, at which point doctors can tell whether he'll be able to walk again. However, he only takes 10 days of bed rest, before returning for the 'Mr Pogo is Back' tour. But doctors finally convince him to retire or face full blown paralysis.

9 September 1996 - (W*ING) W*ing Kanemura faces Hayabusa. In the match, Hayabusa prepares to do a spike DDT on Kanemura, but he screws up, and the move turns into a suplex, and results in Kanemura landing on fire. He's not as hurt as the 1993 incident, but needs that 'mattress' on his back.

October 1996 - Nikkan Sports Newspaper reports that, after the defection of Tarzan Goto, Mr Gannosuke & Flying Kid Ichihara, the IWA would close after it's October tour, running from the 6th - 12th.

October 1996 - Mitsuhiro Matsunaga refuses to cooperate with New Japan because they don't allow Big Japan to do a death match and bring any weapons to the ring in an interpromotional match.

October 1996 - Hido breaks his neck.

16 November 1996 - (FMW) Oya and The Head Hunters win the 6 man tag team titles, defeating Masato Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa & Tesuhiro Kuroda.

11 December 1996 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita comes out of retirement to team up with Mr Pogo, Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda to beat the team of Terry Funk, The Headhunters & Kisakatsu Oya at the Komazawa Stadium. Mr Pogo retires after the match.

15 December 1996 - (FMW) Mr Pogo gets married.

16 January 1997 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita has a meeting with All Japan president, Shohei Baba, to discuss the possibility of talent trading between the two groups. Baba agrees, and makes All Japan history by opening his promotions doors to another group for the first time in twenty-five years.

24 January 1997 - IWA Japan make their return. On their return card, they hold a six man tag match against Tokyo Pro. During the match, IWA head Ishikawa gets suplexed into glass, which make several, extremely deep, puncture wounds in his body. Some of the glass is imbedded so deep that doctors fear the bleeding won't stop if they remove the glass. IWA Japan won the match.

19 February 1997 - (FMW) Gasaku Goshogawara starts using Mr Pogo's gimmick.

4 March 1997 - Team IWA Japan (Great Kabuki, Masao Orihara & Keisuke Yamada) beat Team Fuyuki Promotion (Fuyuki, Gedo & Jado) when Yamada pinns Gedo.

14 March 1997 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita makes his full-time return to the ring, teaming with Koji Nakagawa, Masato Tanaka & Kuroda to beat The Gladiator, Oya & The Head Hunters.

March/April 1997 - (FMW) Ricky Morton signs with FMW. Robert Gibson is supposed to come with him, but doesn't. Morton teams with Ricky Fuji in 'The New Rock 'n Roll Express'.

2 April 1997 - (FMW) Hayabusa makes his debut for All Japan, teaming with the Masked Tornado (Richard Acelinger). The two beat Kentaro Shiga & Maunakea Mossman, in a match which lasts over sixteen minutes.

18 April 1997 - (FMW) Megumi Kudo beats Ozaki in a brutal Barbed Wire match at Korakuen Hall.

29 April 1997 - At Yokohama Stadium, in front of 17,000 fans, Megumi Kudo beats Shark Tsuchiya in a no-rope Exploding Barbed Wire Barricade Double Hell Glass Crush match. Following the match, the WWA/Independent titles are forfeited. Also at that show, Cactus Jack makes a return.

2 May 1997 - W*ing Kanemura wrestles at an ECW show, beating Kevin Quinn.

8 May 1997 - (FMW) Atsushi Onita's 'Great Nita' gimmick is brought back to life for the first time since 1 May 1995. He teams up with Hido and W*ing Kanemura, to beat the team of Fuyuki, Gedo and Jado. Half of his face is painted red, and the other half black, with 'ja' and 'doh' written on it. 'Jadoh' means 'evil'. He is completely in Nita character, running around the arena like a maniac. After the match has met it's conclusion, he utters strange, animal-like sounds.

13 May 1997 - Megumi Kudo receives a formal retirement ceremony at Korakuen Hall.

25 May 1997 - Atsushi Onita, W*ing Kanemura & Hido beat Masato Tanaka, Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa at Hakata Star Lanes in Fukuoka in front of 2,800 fans.

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