Dark Side of the Ring

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Is there a really good FMW comp floating around out there?  I feel like I should see more of it.

[kas]

Really fascinating looks into a promotion I am basically completely blind on. Sabu is even crazier than I thought.

[Robert S]

8 hours ago, El-P said:

Also, struck me how Jericho really is the last of this generation, his career is quite incredible when you really think about it, having worked matches in the FMW, WAR (including the J-Cup), SMW, ECW, going through the Monday Night Wars, the WWE peaking, the Cena years, the Roman years, NJPW's latest peak and now AEW. He can tell stories about pretty much every topic from the last 30 years.

Plus his work in CMLL (he even had a couple of matches in UWA and cagematch also lists one AAA match). Just considering when he was active, the only thing missing in his CV is a tournament or two in Germany or Austria and and a post-2000 indy-run. His longevity, his skill to reinvent himself and going everywhere is a bit like Terry Funk. Let's see if Jericho will work a WWE PPV main event at age 61.

[sek69]

6 hours ago, kas said:

Really fascinating looks into a promotion I am basically completely blind on. Sabu is even crazier than I thought.

I loved his response to being asked about what it's like to work with barbed wired (it sucks!), it was like maybe this guy isn't as crazy as we thought, then everything else was like "nah, he def is as crazy as we thought he he was". 

[NintendoLogic]

2 hours ago, Robert S said:

Just considering when he was active, the only thing missing in his CV is a tournament or two in Germany or Austria and and a post-2000 indy-run.

He wrestled in a Hamburg tournament for Rene Lasartesse in 1993.

[BAHU]

15 hours ago, El-P said:

 

I have no idea when this was shot, but Terry looked ok then. He's just the greatest. I legit cracked up at his mention of the idiots buying first row ticket for exploding deathmatches. 

 

Terry was filmed in late summer 2020.

[Flyin' Brian]

So are these interviews going to be one long defense of why it’s ok for them to show their penis to whoever they please? https://rajah.com/node/brock-lesnar-ric-flair-appear-guests-joe-rogans-podcast

[Robert S]

11 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

He wrestled in a Hamburg tournament for Rene Lasartesse in 1993.

I don't know how I forgot that considering the stories Jericho wrote about his Germany experience in his first book.

[El-P]

7 hours ago, BAHU said:

Terry was filmed in late summer 2020.

Thanks ! Not that bad.

I actually thought about what you'd think of this episode.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

8 hours ago, Flyin' Brian said:

So are these interviews going to be one long defense of why it’s ok for them to show their penis to whoever they please? https://rajah.com/node/brock-lesnar-ric-flair-appear-guests-joe-rogans-podcast

Or, the more likely thing is that Brock just comes on to talk about hunting and Flair just does his usual Flair bullshit while Rogan says "whoa, that's crazy" and asks if Ric has ever fucked with DMT.

[NintendoLogic]

I've never cared about FMW or anyone in it, but the footage of Hayabusa walking to the ring after his injury hit me right in the feels. Also, I was taken aback by how casual Onita's tone was when discussing Arai's debts. He sounded like a man who's had to bullshit his way out of sticky situations with the yakuza on many an occasion.

[BAHU]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Thanks ! Not that bad.

I actually thought about what you'd think of this episode.

I was the creative consult for the episode. They came over and interviewed me for three hours. Evan wrote the questions, and I answered everything in great detail. 75% of the questions were about Onita with it FFing through Hayabusa and Arai and that's how the episode went. So in Evan's words "this was my story of FMW" it was just condensed to 45 minutes. I also got them Arai's daughter, Hayabusa's daughter, and Ricky for the interviews which I think helped the show. They had already interviewed Terry and Mick before me and my stuff was a year ago, so that's how I know the time frames.

Good shows overall and I am glad it's getting mostly praise. Terry was great. Onita was Onita. He was saying stuff that wasn't true (he wanting to be a heel is bullshit), and the Arai stuff is tricky for him because that's like asking someone about your dead ex spouse that you were an asshole to, and as a result they were talking shit about you and exposing you for being that asshole to them to everyone before they died. 

[El-P]

19 minutes ago, BAHU said:

I was the creative consult for the episode. They came over and interviewed me for three hours. Evan wrote the questions, and I answered everything in great detail. 75% of the questions were about Onita with it FFing through Hayabusa and Arai and that's how the episode went. So in Evan's words "this was my story of FMW" it was just condensed to 45 minutes. I also got them Arai's daughter, Hayabusa's daughter, and Ricky for the interviews which I think helped the show.

Hey good for you ! I did not watch the credits (was focused on Onita putting himself over like crazy ) and did not know your last name anyway, so I would not have noticed. Awesome that you got the daughters involved, that was really interesting and cool to have them here. Got a chuckle at Ricky Fuji looking... well, like Ricky Fuji would in 2021.

19 minutes ago, BAHU said:

Onita was Onita. He was saying stuff that wasn't true (he wanting to be a heel is bullshit), and the Arai stuff is tricky for him because that's like asking someone about your dead ex spouse that you were an asshole to, and as a result they were talking shit about you and exposing you for being that asshole to them to everyone before they died. 

I mean, he's not Mr. Liar for nothing.  But yeah, those most familiar with FMW could see through some holes, but that's always what you deal with with Dark Side, you're gonna get some bullshit from wrestling people. Yeah, loved the episode (just would have wanted more mention of Kudo, but it really wasn't about her, plus she happily retired before all of the disasters). Terry is just the best, but Foley & Sabu were excellent too.

[BAHU]

On 10/1/2021 at 6:45 PM, sek69 said:

Probably, but it's a weird cultural thing in Japan where everyone acknowledges the Yakuza exists but it's a huge no-no to talk about them having their hands in "legit" business. They were all over pro wrestling and MMA in Japan in the 90s (you can see smartly dressed Yakuza folks in the front row at New Japan shows around that time often), and the embarrassment of being in debt to the mob was almost certainly the reason Arai took his life.  So you most likely weren't going to get any of the Japanese folks to talk about it beyond what was already in the show.

Plus there really wouldn't be that much to say. FMW could maybe have kept going without Onita, but losing Hayabusa was too much of a blow to overcome when the creative wasn't really any good (and they told Onita to GFTO already). Not to mention ECW showed us the other possible timeline for FMW, that kind of wrestling just has a short shelf life due to the toll it takes on the wrestlers as well as getting to the point where all the ultraviolence wasn't providing the shock factor needed to continue drawing. 

Yeah, the interview was originally suppose to air, but they let me know that they were going to cut me out of the episode prior to airing. They pretty much had Jericho be a celebrity fill in for me, which I get. Vice didn't really want to do the episode to begin with, not feeling it was mainstream enough, so they wanted to get it as much mainstream as possible, and me in the Meltzer role of the show is not mainstream at all. They said they wanted to show my stuff next year when they do a look back with Conrad, but we will see. 

[Al]

I thought this was a fun show. Almost not even a Dark Side type show, just a promotion that had its moment in the sun. It was nice to see Hayabusa and Arai's daughters on the show, that people can emerge from tragedy. 

Mick Foley has told the story of (I assume) Megumi Kudo's burn. Is there a source for the story apart from Foley?

[sek69]

I suppose one thing I would have liked to see gone into is just how Arai ended up the new owner. Like everyone's reaction to finding out the news was "what, really? the announcer guy?" and he seemed in over his head from the start. Did Onita work him into thinking he could run the company or did Arai actually think he could move into the boss's chair and then quickly get slapped in the face by reality?

[The Thread Killer]

If you guys want to learn more about any of this FMW history or even see highlights and clips of the angles and matches, I cannot recommend @BAHU‘s History of FMW Podcast enough.

Bret covers all of that stuff, the burn, the sale of FMW and everything else.  He might be able to tell you guys which episodes cover the specific areas you were asking about, but if you have time I recommend the YouTube version and see them all.

 When I first watched this episode of Darkside of the Ring I was actually pissed off that they did not interview Bret for the show considering he is pretty much the authority on all things FMW. Once I saw on Twitter that he was a creative consultant for the episode I was mollified somewhat, but the point is, if you have any curiosity about FMW you owe it to yourself to check out his podcast. It tells you everything you could ever possibly want to know about FMW.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Wow, what an incredible resource.

[BAHU]

15 hours ago, sek69 said:

I suppose one thing I would have liked to see gone into is just how Arai ended up the new owner. Like everyone's reaction to finding out the news was "what, really? the announcer guy?" and he seemed in over his head from the start. Did Onita work him into thinking he could run the company or did Arai actually think he could move into the boss's chair and then quickly get slapped in the face by reality?

Arai actually had not been ring announcer (December 1993) for well over a year by the time Onita retired (May 1995). He was apart of the office and FMW videos have even credited him as Vice President before. Onita said he was going to retire and shut FMW down, but his step dad who owned a good portion of the company said it would be a bad look if he shut FMW down and everyone lost their jobs because of him. So he said okay, he would sell it to Hideki Takahashi who would go onto to become Super Battle FMW's president in 2015. Takahashi said no. Onita goes up to Arai and says "Arai, if you don't take it, FMW will shut down." with Arai agreeing not wanting to lose his job and everyone else's job. Where Onita did Arai dirty was "I will lend you money to buy all the stuff that comes with FMW so that you could buy it from me, then have to pay me back everything you borrowed from me as well." Possibly with interest, I don't remember that part. Onita wanted Arai to buy his FMW from him as well, but it was such in debt that Arai decided to just start up a new company for FMW even as Onita saw every chance he could get to try and make as much money from Arai when Onita like he had said had made millions, was taking all the money from the May 5, 1995 Kawasaki Stadium show, so that this new FMW would start in debt right away with money owed to Onita. Then when Onita came back in December 1996, even though he had made all that money off Arai for Arai to own FMW and make the decisions, Onita was acting like he was the owner again making all the decisions, but also not wanting to work a full schedule, not as over, taking a huge percentage of the gate when he wasn't helping the gate as much as the percentage he was taking and Arai allowed it to happen for two years to where the entire locker room wanted Onita out.

[El-P]

I have no idea what they were thinking with that Johnny K9 episode. Basically 10-15 minutes about a pro-wrestler who was a footnote in the business, who also happened to be a criminal. And then 30 minutes of the criminal stuff and his ex-wife saying how much in love she was with him, and why am I supposed to care ? Well, I did not. Worst episode by far, unless you're fascinated by some random criminal stuff by a biker gang member who worked in SMW for less than a year. Apart from interviews by D'Amore and Lance Storm, you'd not even think this was a Dark Side of the *Ring* episode for most of it. Same time allotted to this as to FMW or Owen Hart ? Really ? Total miss. 

[sek69]

I just remember him always showing up doing job duties on Prime Time Wrestling since they always seemed to show matches from Hamilton/Toronto shows.   Certainly has an interesting story, but not really much of it involves wrestling. 

It was mentioned before that Vice had concerns FMW wasn't "mainstream" enough for an episode despite it being one of the more influential promotions in history (they inspired ECW, which in turn ended up shaping what pro wrestling looked like in the 90s in the US) but somehow this dude gets one?

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I literally didn’t even know who that was so I didn’t even bother watching it.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I loved this one. It was the most Canadian True Crime Story of all time. "Satan's Choice" sounds like a fancy Latte at an unbearable coffee shop in Vancouver, not a Biker Gang. 
 

[Johnny Sorrow]

......and he bombed a fucking police station. Accidentally. 

[Shrike02]

16 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

I loved this one. It was the most Canadian True Crime Story of all time. "Satan's Choice" sounds like a fancy Latte at an unbearable coffee shop in Vancouver, not a Biker Gang. 
 

Clearly I need to start drinking there, but I only go to bearable coffee shops.