[1996-05-05-FMW-7th Anniversary Show] Terry Funk & Mr Pogo vs Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Onita has the heart of a chicken, according to Funk's pre-match promo. The match looks like a movie scene most of the time. There is an awesome visual at one point of Masato Tanaka doing the spinning toehold on Funk while a siren goes off in the background, and the shots of everyone laying around after the explosion are great. The explosions are so over the top that it's hard for me to be too horrified at all of it. Toyota/Kudo was better, but this was fine.

[rzombie1988]

I really loved this match. It felt like a match held on trenches from WW2. I loved the explosions and Hayabusa finding ways to fly without ropes. The total destruction of Hayabusa and the feeling like someone is going to die made this match great.

[Tim Evans]

On one hand, I feel bad for Funk having to do these matches after watching all those All Japan matches from the 80's. On the other hand after reading his book, He seemed to enjoy these and I really want to see Funk/Onita. Pogo's sickle still scares me to this day. Good match that had some nice visuals.

[PeteF3]

Funk's promo is sort of rambling and is a quasi-babyface promo to start, which is odd standing next to Pogo and Quinones--then he says Onita has the "heart of a chicken" and all is right. He went from kindly old grampa Terry to a psychotic to a disingenuous shit all in one interview.

 

Pogo does the all-time worst dramatic avoid-the-barbed-wire acting I have ever seen. He stands with his feet planted on the mat, flailing his arms like a jazz-hands routine in a pathetic attempt to look "off balance." Then Tanaka eats the barbed wire explosion instead. Funk brutalizes Hayabusa's leg with a chair before slapping on the spinning toe hold. Incongruous spinning toe holds in weird settings will never not be entertaining to me.

 

Oh, wait, Pogo after using his sickle is handed a BUTCHER'S KNIFE and he starts sawing Tanaka's back. You know what, fuck this shit. Pogo is such a horrible load that he can't even make me care about someone coming back to give him a taste of his own medicine, because it never fucking happens. Next chapter.

[soup23]

Pogo was the worst here but this was a damn good match too and overall this may be FMW strongest card with three different, distinct death matches on top and it is amazing to think that Onita wasn't a participate in any of these matches although he was critical to getting over Kudo vs. Toyodo and this match. This had some great visuals mixed in and Hayabusa took some hellacious damage. I loved his spot of him flying over the ring and the exploding pit. The spinning toe hold spot mentioned above was also memorable. A great capper to a great card. ****

[tim]

I didn't think too much of this match at first. The tornado tag structure with them not being able to use the outside or even run the ropes made for a confined, disorganized match. But once the countdown hit 5 minutes it really took off. The action got a lot more intense and focused with the teams looking for the finish before the explosion. The spots for the explosion pads on the outside were good, as was Hayabusa's dive over one of them. I thought the big explosion came off well and the post-explosion selling was good.

[MLB]

What a violent blockbuster of a match. In the opening promo, Funk and Pogo made it abundantly clear that it's all about Onita; Hayabusa (or "Haya-bussy" as Funk calls him ), Tanaka and FMW in general are merely collateral damage aimed at destroying him. The barbwire, sirens and smoke truly gave this a hellish atmosphere. From the trenches of WW2 is an amazing metaphor for this match. I see once again Mr. Pogo being smeared in the previous comments, but anytime he's got a lit match and a bottle of kerosene in his hand I feel like he's going to burn the place down. Hayabusa managed to falcon arrow Pogo at one point (kinda). A seriously dangerous powerbomb ended it. Pogo hacking away at Hayabusa's mask is another epic visual. Despite a couple of nice moments, Hayabusa and Tanaka got treated like Onita's stepkids for the finish and aftermath.  

The post-match fallout is absolutely crazy by itself. Immediately following the match, they cut to later on backstage with a bleeding Terry Funk, Mr. Pogo and Quinones holding stacks of cash while continuing to taunt the "retired" Onita. Next, we go to a sobbing and unmasked Hayabusa sitting on the floor in front of the Japanese wrestling media. A very emotional scene, I mean tears were flowing from Hayabusa. Onita walked in like a stern and angry father, at first refusing to even look at Hayabusa from the shame. Onita looks up and begins to death glare at Hayabusa crying on the floor in the hallway and yells at him for dishonoring FMW and Onita personally. Finally, Onita goes over to console Hayabusa who continues to cry into Onita's crotch as cameras are going off around them. 

In Onita's Dark Side episode, it is discussed that Onita did not like Hayabusa or ever considered him a worthy successor. I can understand to a degree because Hayabusa looked like a beaten toddler and it probably wasn't good optics for a future star in a hardcore promotion like FMW. Still, the whole scene and match was riveting.