Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring - Atsushi Onita's FMW
Pro Wrestling can sometimes get very extreme. When people think of the word extreme, ECW is often talked about. One promotion that really started hardcore wrestling was Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), which was started by pro wrestler Atsushi Onita. Dark Side of the Ring did an episode on the promotion, and it was super crazy and tragic.
10. How Atsushi Onita and Terry Funk Became Best Friends
Atsushi Onita and Terry Funk met in the Dominican Republic for a show, and got along well. Onita had refused with the promoters there and got beat up by other wrestlers. He was in a bad place, and met Terry at a ranch, taking Onita under his wing. While they barely understood each other, they still connected, and grew a relationship. Funk bought Onita a used car, got him a new job, and sent him on the road. If it wasn't for Terry Funk, Atsushi Onita may have never been big in pro wrestling.
Onita was still close with Funk, and was devastated when Terry passed in 2023. There's even a photo of Onita going to Funk's grace, and he's sitting next to it, honoring him.
9. Why Onita Transitioned Into Hardcore Wrestling
Onita has always been known as a legendary hardcore wrestler, but his transition into the style is interesting. Onita originally wrestled a high-flying style, but that all ended the moment he got injured in a freak accident. There's a video of the injury too, and when he landed on the floor and his kneecap shattered. His injury was so bad that the kneecap popped out of his knee, through his skin. As a result, Onita decided to dive deeper into the hardcore style, and FMW was created.
8. That Fire Match Sabu Had
FMW was pulling off some insane gimmick matches. The one that went too far was the Fire match involving Sabu and The Sheik vs Atsushi Onita and Tarzan. The WWE version of an inferno match is controlled, but in FMW, this was not. The longer the match kept going, the more the flames would rise. That match was so hot and dangerous that the logo in the middle of the ring was melting. The Sheik was badly injured in that match, and 60% of his body was burned. Sabu was dumping water on The Sheik, but it did more harm than good, as the skin was peeling off his back. They're lucky the whole building wasn't on fire.
7. Yakuza Owned The Arenas & Sponsorships
Onita was getting rich from the popularity of the FMW promotion. He had multiple cars, and houses, and was making 2 million a year at his peak. However, FMW had to make a deal with the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia). The Yakuza had gigantic ownership in the arenas in the country, and were big sponsors of the promotion. Jericho even called it a "money laundering scheme".
Mick Foley told a story of the sponsors missing pinky fingers, and it made him uncomfortable. Imagine a guy like Mick Foley being uncomfortable around somebody. Sabu even mentioned that they were told to stay away from certain sections, as the Yakuza would be sitting there.
6. The Exploding Ring Match
This is the match that FMW is most known for. Atsushi Onita vs Terry Funk in an exploding ring match. This inspired Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley to try one in AEW Revolution in 2021. That AEW match had a terrible ending.
This was a match where the ring would explode after 15 minutes. Onita won the match, but realized Funk couldn't get out of the ring. With the time counting down, Onita had to choose whether or not to save Funk. Well, Onita goes back in the ring and tries to save him, but decides to shield him as the ring explodes. It was a very emotional match, and made Onita into a much bigger star. It's just unfortunate that the match was the peak of the FMW promotion.
5. Shoichi Arai Had No Experience Running a Promotion
Onita decided to retire and do other ventures. With him gone, FMW needed a new leader to step up. The person who did that was the ring announcer Shoichi Arai. The documentary had his daughter Shell on, and she admits that she never understood why he got into the company in that role.
She isn't wrong, as almost everyone interviewed knew Arai had no idea how to run a professional wrestling company. It stunned everyone, that out of everyone in the room, Arai was the one who took over. It's no surprise that business was bad under his watch. FMW was in smaller arenas, less attendance, and even the product sucked.
4. Arai No Longer Wanted Death Matches In FMW
With Arai in charge, he made a ton of changes to the FMW brand. One of the big changes was moving away from death matches. This was a terrible idea, because that was what made them stand out.
The plan was to focus on a more entertainment-style pro wrestling promotion. Arai hired Hiromichi Fuyuaki to help him with the company. It was Fuyuaki's idea to include segments of wrestlers urinating on others, eating gross food, and putting firecrackers in wrestlers' behinds. It's stunning that Vince McMahon didn't want to hire him, knowing Vince's love for toilet humor.
3. Hayabusa's Career-Ending Injury
FMW was declining in attendance, but there was one star whose fans always came to see Hayabusa. He was the future and face of the promotion, and absolutely would have been a tremendous star in the Japanese scene. Unfortunately, that all changed on October 22nd, 2001.
Hayabusa was having a match with Mammoth Sasaki. In that match, Hayabusa was attempting a springboard moonsault from the 2nd rope, but he slipped and landed on his forehead. It's one of the worst injuries ever filmed, and it instantly paralyzed him. With Hayabusa's injury, it was a massive blow to FMW's future and present, and Arai knew it.
2. Shoichi Arai's Tragic Death
Arai immediately knew he was in deep trouble. He lost his big star attraction and had no way to make money. Arai was starting to use the family money to pay what he could in FMW, which ultimately led to his divorce. FMW declared bankruptcy, and the Yakuza was starting to come to Arai for unpaid debt.
The wrestlers were asking for pay, but Arai never had it. The next day Arai committed suicide and triggered a life insurance policy to help pay the debt. The Yakuza finding out did not stop, and pro wrestler Sabu said “When you borrow money from the Japanese mafia, even if you kill yourself, they will get the money from your family.”.
1.How Arai's Death Impacted His Family
Arai's death did trigger a life insurance policy and it was used to pay off a portion of the debt to the Yakuza. It was not enough, and as a result, the Yakuza seized his family house and all of their stuff in it. Arai's family was homeless as a result.
Onita talks about Arai's death and states
“I don’t want to talk ill of the dead, but Arai failed in business. I am still here. I survived somehow.” I don’t think it was the Yakuza or loan sharks. You can get away from debt. Tell them you can’t pay. It was more of an emotional thing for Arai.”
It's difficult to tell a group like the Yakuza that you can't pay debts. After all, like Sabu said, no matter what they're going to get their money one way or another.
My Thoughts On The Documentary
Coming into this episode I did not know a lot about FMW. All I knew was the exploding ring match Onita had with Terry Funk. FMW was one of the first promotions to capitalize off of hardcore wrestling.
What happened to Hayabusa was tragic. Hayabusa is another one of the greatest what-ifs in professional wrestling. He would have been a bigger star if he never had that injury.
What happened with Shoichi Arai was tragic as well. With how much debt he had, he felt he had no choice but to commit suicide to trigger a Life Insurance policy to help pay for it.
Onita came off very well in this episode. He seems like a really interesting character, and it would be cool to meet the guy one day.
The one thing that I wish got covered in this documentary, is Atsushi Onita's political career, specifically his exit. His exit from politics was on really bad terms due to his involvement in a sex scandal. Onita used government money and accommodation to host a "party" with an adult female actress, and a female employee in the government. Yeah, not a great look for Onita, and When that news hit his political career was pretty much over.
Overall it was a fascinating and tragic watch. My warning is to watch the Hayabusa injury because that was tough to watch including all the crazy stuff FMW did.