Rating: 
Summary: Probably the best FMW DVD out there..
Review: First off this isn't the famous IWA Deathmatch tournament that had Cactus Jack Vs. Terry Funk in the finals, but from the FMW 7th Anniversy show from 96 (I think..). Except for the last 3, all the matches are MAJORLY and HORRIBLY clipped (about half the match) and the commentary is awful. Still the last 3 matches are some of the best Death matches you can find on DVD..
1. Bonus Match: Taka Michinoku Vs. Koji Nakagawa - Now were talking I.. Hey! Wha tha? They clipped everything?!! The Clipping totally messed up the pace of the match, more like a highlight reel - (DUD)
2. Jason da Terrible Vs. Nanjyo Hayato - Pretty neat spots early but it quickly becomes a typicaly quick RAW match (*1/2)
3. Mad Dog Nagayo Vs. Shark Tsuchiya - Womens Hardcore match, basically it's like seeing Mr. Pogo Vs. Cactus Jack in women's form. Typical bloody Garbage match but still OK. (**)
4. Mike Awesome, Horace Hogan & Hiskatsu Vs. The Headhunters & Leatherface - Kind of a letdown considering Awesome and the Headhunters (One of my favorite tag teams, imagine 2 Abdullah the Butchers doing moonsalts outside of the ring :-) are in it. (*1/2)
5. Cactus Jack Vs. W*ing Kanemura (Barbwire, Broken glass match) - Now the REAL DVD starts. Barbwired-Ropes on 2 sides of the ring, other sides have no ropes and boards of barbedwire/broken glass laying on the outside to fall on. Ouch! Kanemura shows he can hang with Cactus by taking some outlandish punishment and cactus, like always, seems to bring some fun originallity to a death match. (****1/2)
6. Megumi Kudo Vs. Combat Toyoda - (Women's Electrified Barbed Wire match) Best match on the DVD. This is Toyoda's retirment match against her ex-teammate/(and lover?) Kudo. The ropes are lined with barbedwire AND electrified. The last two moves are two of the NASTIEST! moves you'll ever see. With the storyline, match, aftermath AND seeing Onita cry it gets my only perfect Deathmatch rating ever :-) (*****)
7. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka Vs. Terry Funk & "that crazy [...]" Mr. Pogo (Electricfied Barbedwire / Exploding Ring Deathmatch) - Terry Funk and Pogo don't think Hayabusa/Tanaka have the "heart" (balls) to represnt FMW so they challenge them to a ridiculouly crazy deathmatch. The ropes are electrified with more boards of barbed wire outside the ring. And of course Mr. Pogo and Terry Funk bring there own toys along. Oh, and the ring with explode in 15 min. Kind of a let down, but you definitly gets to see everything you'd thought you would, Fire, Blood, Knives, Terry Funk swinging and slipping around the ring... (****)
Rating: 
Summary: FMW, original hardcore wrestling
Review: FMW: King of the Deathmatch isn't actually a tournament, it's a show back in 1996. It gives everybody in the U.S. a chance to see real hardcore wrestling. It's got all the FMW mainstays along with Cactus Jack and Terry Funk.Pros: *Deathmatches are amazing! *the women are actually decent wrestlers, the Toyoda/Kudo match set a new standard for women's wrestling *Hayabusa, he's a jaw dropping performer even though his match on this video didn't show what he can do Cons: *The anouncers really suck Overall, this video is amazing. FMW wanted to show people that they are the best at hardcore wrestling and they accomplished their goal.
Rating:
Summary: king of the death match maybe so
Review: i just got the dvd for king of the death match and i must say iwas impressed with what i say but it was not a spectacular as what i thought it would be. i do feel that any hardcore wrestling should have this in the library!
Rating:
Summary: A good purchase for all fans of puroresu
Review: I must admit, seeing this on DVD totally surprised me. You must understand, as wonderful as puroresu is, it seems that it has little chance of becoming popular in the states--probably due to the lack of disqualifications and no-contests we see in the American variety. Anyhow, I must admit that I've seen better from FMW--just not on any DVD's you can find at a store. If you are a fan of any American wrestling, I would recommend that you see this if for no other reason than to see what's happening in the Nippon. Puroresu has been, and always will be, more enjoyable and more atheletic than any WWF or WCW ...-athon. Specifically, this DVD is quite good, with some of the better matches in FMW history being featured. I was disappointed that Atsushi Onita was not included, but I suppose this can be overlooked by anyone who is not familiar with the FMW. On this DVD American fans will see: Mike Awesome, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Masato Tanaka, Taka Michinoku and Hulk Hogan's nephew, Horace Boulder amongst others. The match between Combat Toyota and Megumi Kudo could be called one of the greatest matches FMW; and for that matter, wrestling in general, has ever put out. Really, if you're a fan of the FMW, All Japan, or simply a casual, American viewer, you cannot go wrong with this purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: If you like ECW or WWF, you'll be bored by this
Review: I was really looking forward to my first glimpse of the gamed Japanese hardcore wrestling, especially since this DVD has Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) and Terry Funk on it. Well, I was bitterly dissappointed. First off, if you are an ECW fan, I don't think this will excite you. Other than seeing fireworks go off a few times during a match, these matches are way less exciting than your average ECW match. If you are a WWF fan, you'll find these matches slow, boring, and extremely lacking in actual wrestling (with a few exceptions). These matches have zero "match psychology". They basically amount to the guys punching and kicking each other until everyone has had a turn in the bed of barbed wire, or the exploding fence or whatever the gimmick is. There are some non-hardcore matches on here, which are also pretty lame, with the exception of the bonus match, featuring TAKA Mitchunoku (who you might know from Kaentai in the WWF). I guess the rule is that you either have exploding barbed wired or wrestling, but not both. Additionally, the commentating is HORRENDOUS. These guys are terrible, and maybe that contributes the crappy quality of the match (a wrestling match DOES include commentary, folks), but they don't have much to work with. What really gets me is that there is a special feature focusing on Hayabusa, and it shows very brief clips of him in some great looking matchups. High flying moves and real wrestling. Unfortunately, the match he's in on this DVD is a stupid exploding ring electrified barbed-wire "deathmatch" and he gets punched and kicked a lot and then thrown into said gimmick items. I give it a 2 instead of a 1 simply because you don't see exploding ring matches a lot, and it was interesting, but not worth the price of the DVD by a long shot.
Rating:
Summary: If you like ECW or WWF, you'll be bored by this
Review: I was really looking forward to my first glimpse of the gamed Japanese hardcore wrestling, especially since this DVD has Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) and Terry Funk on it. Well, I was bitterly dissappointed. First off, if you are an ECW fan, I don't think this will excite you. Other than seeing fireworks go off a few times during a match, these matches are way less exciting than your average ECW match. If you are a WWF fan, you'll find these matches slow, boring, and extremely lacking in actual wrestling (with a few exceptions). These matches have zero "match psychology". They basically amount to the guys punching and kicking each other until everyone has had a turn in the bed of barbed wire, or the exploding fence or whatever the gimmick is. There are some non-hardcore matches on here, which are also pretty lame, with the exception of the bonus match, featuring TAKA Mitchunoku (who you might know from Kaentai in the WWF). I guess the rule is that you either have exploding barbed wired or wrestling, but not both. Additionally, the commentating is HORRENDOUS. These guys are terrible, and maybe that contributes the crappy quality of the match (a wrestling match DOES include commentary, folks), but they don't have much to work with. What really gets me is that there is a special feature focusing on Hayabusa, and it shows very brief clips of him in some great looking matchups. High flying moves and real wrestling. Unfortunately, the match he's in on this DVD is a stupid exploding ring electrified barbed-wire "deathmatch" and he gets punched and kicked a lot and then thrown into said gimmick items. I give it a 2 instead of a 1 simply because you don't see exploding ring matches a lot, and it was interesting, but not worth the price of the DVD by a long shot.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad DVD, but I expected more.
Review: I was really surprised to see this and immediately bought it. Some of the wrestlers included in this DVD are Cactus Jack (Mick Foley), Hayabusa, Terry Funk, Masato Tanaka, Wing Kanemura and Super Leather (Leatherface).This DVD includes 7 matches, one being a bonus match found in the "extras" section, the best being the Hayabusa & Tanaka vs Terry Funk & Mr.Pogo in a electric barbed wire match with weapons. Three of the matches unfortunetly are very boring in my opinion, two of them being women's matches and the other being the opening match between Nanjyo and Jason the Terrible which only lasts about 5 minutes. The english commentary hurts this DVD as well, the announcers frankly stink and try to hard to be funny. But, all in all, its not a bad DVD but could have been a lot better. Pick it up if you're interested in seeing some good wrestling action but if you already have a bunch of FMW tapes I would recommend saving your money.
Rating:
Summary: Bitterly Disappointing
Review: I'm from the Uk and i'm an avid ECW fan, and with all the FMV stars such as Tanaka, Awesome, Team No respect etc etc that made the crossover to the states, i thought why not get hold of some FMV footage. No i cannot say that all FMV stuff is this bad because this is the only stuff i've seen, but this DVD is terrible. The cover trys to use the Cactus Jack match with Kanemura as its main selling point, and this in its self is a terrible match. I must admit though i was Pleasantly surprised with the Women's Electrifed barbwire match, this for me was the highlight of the DVD and a exceptional match between "the mother in law" and Megumi Kudo. Besides that the DVD doesn't hold many other selling points and even the main match up at the end between Terry Funk-Mr.Pogo vs Hayabusa and Tanaka was very poor. I'm sure there are better FMV DVD's than this, so stay clear.
Rating:
Summary: Japanese Hardcore Wrestling 101
Review: If you're more than a casual WWF or WCW fan and want to watch some wrestling action that's a bit different, then this tape is worth picking up. I know that I've only given the tape 3 stars, but with the clipping of the matches and the horrible commentary, I can't give it 4 stars. The first two matches are decent, for what they are - the first a squash match and the second a women's garbage match - but the rest of the DVD is quite good. I actually liked the Megumi Kudo/Combat Toyoda match, which surprised me, as I can't get into womens wrestling. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka vs. Terry Funk & Mr. Pogo was pretty cool, but since this is showing off the deathmatch show, Hayabusa isn't able to work towards his strengths. Mick Foley has a great match as Cactus Jack takes on Kanemura. Also, there's a bonus match of TAKA Michinoku vs. Koji Nakagawa that looked like it would've been really good, but they only give you 7 minutes or so out of the 19 minutes that the match lasted. If you want to see a good overview of what FMW is all about and get a decent introduction to the wrestlers and whatnot, then pick this DVD up. And set the audio to the original Japanese commentary. Even if you don't understand what is being said, it's more interesting than what the American commentators have to say. I'd always thought that the commentators should know the names of the moves that the wrestlers use...
Rating:
Summary: An alternative to "Monday night" wrestling...
Review: If you're more than a casual WWF or WCW fan and want to watch some wrestling action that's a bit different, then this tape is worth picking up. I know that I've only given the tape 3 stars, but with the clipping of the matches and the horrible commentary, I can't give it 4 stars. The first two matches are decent, for what they are - the first a squash match and the second a women's garbage match - but the rest of the DVD is quite good. I actually liked the Megumi Kudo/Combat Toyoda match, which surprised me, as I can't get into womens wrestling. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka vs. Terry Funk & Mr. Pogo was pretty cool, but since this is showing off the deathmatch show, Hayabusa isn't able to work towards his strengths. Mick Foley has a great match as Cactus Jack takes on Kanemura. Also, there's a bonus match of TAKA Michinoku vs. Koji Nakagawa that looked like it would've been really good, but they only give you 7 minutes or so out of the 19 minutes that the match lasted. If you want to see a good overview of what FMW is all about and get a decent introduction to the wrestlers and whatnot, then pick this DVD up. And set the audio to the original Japanese commentary. Even if you don't understand what is being said, it's more interesting than what the American commentators have to say. I'd always thought that the commentators should know the names of the moves that the wrestlers use...
|
