[1998-03-13-FMW-Winning Road] Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

Really hyped to watch this based on the FMW I have watched before and after this. Match starts off hot with a flurry ending in Tanaka clotheslining Busa on the outside. The template for this match is really set as both guys willing to take chances. Tanaka gets thrown to the outside and Haybusa follows up with a beautiful moonsault. Just as a type that, the match slows down with some mat work that is well done. Busa's leg hets targeted and it will be interesting to see if that hinders his flying. Busa targets Tanaka's arm so they are both going after each other's biggest weapons. I really love the work Busa does to the arm including a springboard dropkick. Another run through, and this time we get a springboard forearm targeting that arm. Tanaka sees his opening and goes after the leg again. Great moment as Tanaka goes for the surfboard and cant extend his injured arm so he gives it up. Really nice figure four spot that shows a lot of struggle. Turnbuckle tornado ddt looks absolutely vicious. Tanaka does go back to the elbow but I give them the benefit of the doubt in this regard because Hayabusa essentially no sells it and gets back on the attack. Busa runs through his finishing sequence throwing all sorts of stuff at Tanaka with him barely hanging on. I do like how Hayabusa adds a few seconds of selling behind each move to put over the match. Tanaka is able to catch him coming off the top rope with an elbow and both men are down. I was beginning to wonder if a rope a dope strategy was implemented as now Tanaka looks fresher. Just as a type that, we get a fluke hurricanarana from Busa but it is stunted with a lariat by Tanaka. Frog splash is just narrowly escaped by Busa. Powerbomb is another close call and this one should be over soon. The big elbow is blocked by Busa and he hits a release tiger suplex. This is followed by a dragon suplex that Tanaka escapes from. 450 splash.... 1..... 2...... NO. Busa has a look of defeat on his face and body even though he has firm control of the match. Tanaka catches him up top and gives a unique powerbomb. One running DVD and powerbomb give an extremely close nearfall. Reversals and elbow smash get a nearfall. Tanaka hits a running DVD again for a 2.999 count. Ok, time to go home guys. Another sequence ending in a Tanaka elbow gets another close count. I have been fooled about 7 times now. Release german suplex is hit but Tanaka gets an elbow smash to even things up. Both men stand up at a 9 count and slug it out. Busa puts him away with a falcon arrow.

 

This match had a lot going for it but more than Kobashi vs. Misawa from October, I have a bad feeling that this was the true origin of the head dropping, big move finishing stretch that would plaque the next decade of so. They went for an epic feeling match and I did like a lot of parts of it especially on first watch but going back and looking at the little things within the match, it felt bloated. (***)

[Zenjo]

Going in I wasn't sure if I was going to like this or not. I have mixed feelings about the abilities of both wrestlers. The opening couple of minutes reminded me of those Marufuji-Kenta matches from the mid 00's. I can only describe it as 'every move has a counter you don't expect'. It's complete BS and they'd do endless sequences of this rubbish. Fortunately it didn't last long here as they settled into a period of body part work. Hayabusa on the arm, Tanaka the leg. It wasn't that it had to lead anywhere, that wasn't important. They just needed a fundamentally solid base to build off. The stretch was lengthy and wouldn't have looked at all out of place in 2008. Being ahead of your time isn't always a positive. Plenty of big movez and near falls. Outstayed its welcome a little, yet had some exciting moments and definitely wasn't lacking ambition. It was a good effort from both men.

[Loss]

I loved this match and thought it was pretty great. I liked how this was laid out -- a hot start before settling into some really good matwork, then bringing it back up again near the end when they went balls out with highspots and nearfalls. I think they may have overdone stuff near the end, but I still respect what they set out to do. I'll freely admit that I might just be starved for great matches in 1998, but I don't think the excess that was admittedly here was enough to bring this down too much. This had to be one of the first examples of FMW working a major match that went this long that included no weapons shots or outside brawling. I know they existed for years before this actually, but I mean in the new post-Onita vision of FMW as more of a traditional wrestling company. "Ambitious" is a good word to describe this, but I'd also call this something that is endearing even when it's flawed. It's cool to see these guys thinking big and trying to deliver an epic at a time when it didn't seem like anyone else in wrestling had that in mind. Those who want something efficient probably won't like this, but I loved the spirit of it all.

[Childs]

They definitely went for something big, but this wasn't a good match. It was just a bunch of stuff thrown together in meaningless order. I don't enjoy Hayabusa as a singles wrestler. I don't think he had any idea what to do other than throw out the next big move.

[Migs]

I'm with Childs on this one. I liked the effort, but the ending sequence just kept going and going, and there was no logic to why it ended when it did - it wasn't like Hayabusa used a significantly bigger move than the ones that had failed to end the match before.

[PeteF3]

Probably closest to Chad on this. This did feel bloated and 2.9-ish, and I was ready to write this off completely, but some of those near-falls off the elbow smashes were pretty darn great and fooled me, and it was enough to get me invested into the match. I'm not sure if I like this match-up stylistically--Hayabusa is talented but this makes multiple singles matches where he's failed to get me emotionally invested in who wins and loses. I love Tanaka to death, but I think both guys might come across better with a strong heel opponent like Gannosuke, Kanemura, or Awesome. Against each other, the match feels more like an athletic exhibition. And the finish is pretty darn arbitrary--I don't know why Hayabusa had to go with the Falcon Arrow again when it seemed like he consciously left some big moves in his holster, which would make sense in a match like this so you could bust out something like the Stardust Press to finally put Tanaka down. All the points in the world for effort and the NJPW Juniors-style layout didn't bother me in and of itself, but this needed to be either trimmed down OR just totally balls-to-the-wall by the end, with tables, chairs, or massive highspots instead of guys just trading elbows and suplexes.

[TravJ1979]

I'm middle of the road on this one. Parts were good, and parts left me saying, 'Why?" Something I'll have to revisit.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka - FMW 3/13/98

 

Never seen a Hayabusa match or an FMW match. I recognize this is not the prototypical FMW Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match, but having seen a bunch of Masato Tanaka in ECW, thought it was a good as time as any to try to dip my toe in the FMW waters. I really want to like Hayabusa because I think he looks really fucking cool and I love the 450 splash.

 

Pretty underwhelmed by this. This felt like the New Japan Juniors had a baby with the modern WWE style. The beginning 15 minutes or so was fine. Tanaka sold the arm really well when Hayabusa was working the arm. Tanaka worked the leg really well, loved those figure-4s on the kneecrusher before doing a really figure-4. It was rally cool seeing Tanaka wrestle in a non-Mike Awesome match. He looked really good doing pro wrestling. I thought the match was slow at times. Like the way they went through that chaining sequence was positively sluggish and the way Hayabusa threw himself into those corner bumps was pathetic. Still, they were off to a fine start and laid the ground work for any interesting finish stretch. If you JIP'd to the Tornado DDT, you would have never even known the first 15 minutes of the match existed! I hate when that happens.

 

So now lets talk the modern WWE main event style. This would have been so over today. They would have gotten at least two "This is awesome!" chants. Lots of MOVEZ~!, no progression and lots of kickouts. Kickouts have taken the place of actual struggle in wrestling. I will say this is a bit better than modern WWE style because wrestlers did at least string a combination of moves together before switching to the opponent and there were real transitions so I will give them credit for that. When it becomes a match that is about the spots instead of the psychology well then your spots better be fucking cool. The Falcon Arrow just isn't cool. Three of them isn't better. Hayabusa has some impressive flips but there was just no sense of urgency. The 450 splash was by far the coolest move. Masato Tanaka did take some nasty head drops.

 

It is a good match because there is enough good in here. There was just no sense of intra-segment struggle. When a wrestler was in control the other wrestler just played ragdoll for him. The good was the dueling limb work and selling was good. There were good spots at then and there was some drama with Tanaka's elbows. It was just a match about moves that forgot about energy, urgency and struggle. ***