[1997-08-02-FMW] Masato Tanaka vs W*ING Kanemura (No Rope Explosive Electrified Barbed Wire Death)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I liked this. Give them credit for working a sound wrestling match (with limb work!) in the middle of all of this. Very reminiscent of the simple and effective Onita matches earlier in the decade. This relied a lot more on psychology and intensity than the explosions.

[Kevin Ridge]

Agreed. There is enough psychology between the two and plenty of wrestling moves through out the match. These two are carrying the promotion at this point. Some big kicks out of moves. These guys are the clear of FMW right now.

[soup23]

Here is the big singles for some of the multi mans we have seen so far. Interested to see how Tanaka performs on this big singles stage. The atmosphere for this match was really cool with seeing some headlights from cars and the sightlines in the pitch dark arena. I really liked the work to this and the build up to the first electrified spot and Wing taking it for the first time. Good finish too that was dramatic. Probably my favorite FMW match of 1997 so far not involving females.

[PeteF3]

I had high expectations for these two to come through in a singles match after their work dominating 6-mans, and they didn't disappoint. They smartly worked around the explosions and made you wait for them, and they gave us a ton of dramatic kickouts but never crossed the line into self-indulgence. Tanaka doesn't have Onita's presence and charisma, but he's not far off in terms of fired-up comebacks and has way more athletic talent at this stage--it's a fairly even trade-off.