FMWE “Battle Royal” on 9/12/21 Review (Joshi Matches)

FMWE Battle Royal Poster

Event: FMWE “Battle Royal”
Date: September 12th, 2021
Location: Tsurumi Fruit and Vegetable Market in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Announced Attendance: 400
Broadcast: Streamed on zaiko.io

Before I was ever a fan of Joshi, or had even seen a single match, I was a big fan of hardcore “deathmatch” wrestling. Old school FMW, newer garbage feds, whatever I could find. I never got into Big Japan but anything with fire and/or explosions I was interested. So as you can imagine, I was really excited when Onita started a new promotion literally called FMW Explosion. As you can guess, lots of matches on their events have explosions, either from bats or barbed wire boards. Onita further got on my good side by using Joshi wrestlers in his new promotion, and they announced a “Joshi Current Blast Princess Tournament” that began on this event. So, I am going to review the Joshi matches on the show, there were supposed to be three but Thekla’s match with Akane Fujita was cancelled due to Akane not appearing. Here are the matches I’ll be watching:

This will be a quick review but I had to give attention to this amazing promotion. All Joshi wrestlers on the event have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it.

An Chamu vs. Miss Mongol
An Chamu vs. Miss Mongol
Joshi Current Blast Princess Tournament

One great thing about small odd promotions like this is you get random matches that you’d never see anywhere else. An Chamu is 23 years old and roams around various smaller promotions, her technical home is Shinsyu Girls but she also wrestles in Ice Ribbon as well as other places. She isn’t ranked very high anywhere she goes, but does have a following as she is quirky. She is against the super veteran Miss Mongol, who wrestled in the original FMW from 1995 to 1998 and has floated around since then mostly in indies. Miss Mongol clearly has the experience edge here and is a FMW alum so she goes in as the favorite by a significant margin.

Chamu attacks Miss Mongol first and elbows her into the ropes, dropkick by Chamu and she hits two more, but Miss Mongol stays up. Chamu dropkicks Miss Mongol down in the corner and already hits the button to turn on the Demon Stick, she gets the barbed wire bat but Miss Mongol turns it back off. Irish whip by Chamu to the corner but Miss Mongol blocks it and throws Chamu to the mat. Stomps by Miss Mongol and she throws Chamu into the corner, Miss Mongol charges Chamu and jumps down on top of her. Vertical suplex by Miss Mongol, and she covers Chamu for a two count. Miss Mongol elbows Chamu in the butt a few times, she gets a chain and drives Chamu’s head into it repeatedly. Chamu rolls out of the ring to re-group as multiple wrestlers check on her, but Miss Mongol gets tired of waiting and goes out to supervise. She eventually grabs Chamu and leads her around the ring, throwing her into the ring post. Back in the ring, Miss Mongol gets a barbed wire bat and pushes it into Chamu’s bleeding head. Miss Mongol sits on Chamu’s back and rakes her face with the barbed wire bat some more, scoop slam by Miss Mongol and she hits an elbow drop for a two count. Miss Mongol pushes Chamu’s head into the barbed wire bat some more until Chamu rolls out of the ring, holding her head. She returns after a moment on her own, snapmare by Miss Mongol and she applies a crab hold. Chamu gets to the ropes for the break, Miss Mongol gets Chamu on her shoulders but Chamu slides around and puts Miss Mongol in a sleeper hold.

Miss Mongol drives Chamu back into the corner to get out of the hold, and squishes the referee too in the process. A ref bump in a no DQ deathmatch, good times. Miss Mongol takes the opportunity to wrap her chain over Chamu’s neck and hang her over the top rope, the referee recovers and manages to get her to stop. Scoop slam by Miss Mongol, she puts the chain on Chamu’s chest and hits a running senton for two. Miss Mongol picks up Chamu but Chamu quickly applies a roll-up for two. Miss Mongol fires back with a lariat, she wraps the chain around her fist but Chamu blocks the punch and hits a DDT. Irish whip by Chamu and she hits a jumping crossbody, but that gets a two as well. Chamu then goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a diving crossbody, but Miss Mongol kicks out. Chamu pushes the button to turn on the explosive barbed wire bat, she picks it up but Miss Mongol blocks her from using it. High kick by Chamu and she hits a running knee for a two count, she grabs the bat again but Miss Mongol ducks her swing and hits a backdrop suplex. Miss Mongol gets Chamu on her shoulders but Chamu slides off, high kicks by Chamu but Miss Mongol hits her with the regular barbed wire bat. She then picks up the explosive barbed wire bat and hits Chamu in the ribs with it, setting off the big explosion! Cover by Miss Mongol, and she picks up the three count. Miss Mongol wins and advances in the tournament!

This match was definitely something. I can’t tell if An Chamu is a great seller or didn’t know what she was getting herself into, as she was reacting very strongly (and sometimes in non-traditional way) to some of the hardcore spots. I think the barbed wire bat explosion legitimately hurt her and a few times wrestlers at ringside appeared to be checking on her more than you’d expect. But it fit the theme of the match anyway, with the experienced veteran controlling the younger wrestler that was out of her element. The match was mostly about the explosion, which didn’t disappoint, and I enjoyed Chamu’s unique take. Miss Mongol is very limited so there was a definite ceiling on how good this match could be, but it was fascinating in its own way and kept me hooked even if the action itself was generally lackluster.  Mildly Recommended

Abdullah Kobayashi & Risa Sera vs. Isami Kodaka
Abdullah Kobayashi and Risa Sera vs.
Kodaka and Suzu Suzuki
Dangerous Demon Stick Current Blast Match

This isn’t a tournament match but it is the continuation of Suzu Suzuki’s trek to being the best Joshi deathmatch wrestler. Needless to say, it is incredibly rare for a young and successful Joshi wrestler to strive to be a deathmatch wrestler, but so far in 2021 that is exactly what Suzu is doing. She competed in a series of deathmatch matches this year against some of the best (male) hardcore/deathmatch wrestlers on the scene, and has said in interviews that this is what she really wants to do which is pretty awesome. She is still one of the top young wrestlers of Ice Ribbon, I can’t help but feel that at some point she is going to have to choose but for now I am enjoying both versions of Suzu. She teams with Isami Kodaka, a 20 year veteran of hardcore matches best known for his long career in Big Japan. On the other side, they face Risa Sera, also an Ice Ribbon wrestler known for her hardcore style, and Kobayashi who is a limited but respected hardcore wrestler also best known for his work in Big Japan. I don’t know if this match will be “good” but with a Dangerous Demon Stick I am still excited.

Suzu and Kodaka attack before the match starts and the action immediately spills out of the ring. Kodaka gets a trashcan full of weapons and gives it to Suzu in the ring before he throws Abdullah into the ring post. Risa joins Suzu in the ring and gets her barbed wire kendo stick, but Suzu ducks her swing and delivers a dropkick. Suzu rolls out of the ring with Risa while the guys get in the ring, Abdullah and Kodaka trade strikes but Kodaka sidesteps when Abdullah goes for a jumping chop. Kodaka finds a guitar and hits Abdullah in the head with it, while outside the ring Risa controls Suzu with her kendo stick. Kodaka knocks Abdullah out of the ring and goes out after him, as all four are back on the floor. Abdullah tries to hit Kodaka with a spinning fan but Kodaka blocks it, meanwhile on the other side Risa rubs her barbed wire kendo stick into Suzu’s bleeding head. Kodaka and Abdullah get back in the ring, Kodaka gets a regular barbed wire bat and scrapes Abdullah across the face with it. Abdullah takes it from him but accidentally ends up hitting himself and they end up on the floor again. Risa and Suzu are in the same situation, but Risa comes over and hits Kodaka with her barbed wire kendo stick to help her partner. Kodaka and Risa return to the ring as Risa hits Kodaka again with the kendo stick, she picks up Kodaka but Kodaka blocks the suplex attempt. Risa eventually connects with it while outside we see Suzu hit Abdullah low with a kendo stick. Suzu and Abdullah get in the ring so now all four are in, while Risa pokes Kodaka with the barbed wire kendo stick.

DDT by Abdullah on Suzu, she picks her up but Kodaka comes over to help. He doesn’t help much as Abdullah levels Kodaka with a lariat, Suzu charges in but Abdullah punches her to the mat. Risa turns on the explosive barbed wire bat by hitting the BIG BUTTON, she grabs the bat but Kodaka turns it off before she can use it. Frankensteiner by Kodaka to Abdullah, and Suzu dropkicks Abdullah out of the ring. Kodaka grabs Risa but Risa elbows him off, fireman’s carry slam by Risa and she gets the trashcan. Kodaka takes it from her and hits Risa repeatedly with the trash can, he puts the trashcan over Risa’s head and goes to the top turnbuckle. Risa takes it off before he can jump and hits Kodaka with it, she puts the trash can in the middle of the ring and throws Kodaka onto it from the turnbuckle. Suzu drops Risa with a missile dropkick but Risa ducks her kick and powerbombs her into the corner. She puts the barbed wire kendo stick on Suzu before nailing a running double knee strike, she gets Suzu over her shoulder but Suzu slides away and hits a jumping kick. German suplex by Suzu, she grabs the explosive barbed wire bat and turns it on. She faces Risa but Abdullah pushes the button and turns the bat back off, double Irish whip to Abdullah but he breaks through a double lariat and thrusts both Suzu and Kodaka in the throat. Double elbow drop by Abdullah, while Risa hits the button and grabs the explosive bat. Abdullah holds Kodaka and Suzu for Risa, while Risa takes a swing and hits both Suzu and Kodaka in the stomach with the explosive barbed wire bat. BIG EXPLOSION. Suzu and Kodaka writhe around in pain, Risa covers Suzu and she picks up the three count! Risa Sera and Abdullah Kobayashi are the winners!

Well at least we got that big explosion which is the important thing. The bulk of this match was pretty uninspired and it was slow to get going, but once all four were involved towards the end it got better. The outside-the-ring walk and brawl isn’t my favorite type of wrestling and they did a fair amount of that, and with Abdullah’s limitations whatever he was doing tended to not be overly exciting. When Suzu briefly got a chance to get a good exchange going with Risa Sera, the match picked up, and while the teases with the explosive bat were predictable its a necessarily element in these matches to build some drama. As always, I came away from the match impressed with Suzu and whatever she was doing, and I did enjoy the big explosion at the end, but I just wish the rest of the match had a little more to it so I could recommend it more highly.  Mildly Recommended

Final Thoughts:
1.5

 

In a way, this event delivered exactly what it promised – explosions. I mean its literally in the name of the promotion so they really just have one job. The action wasn’t “good” which isn’t a surprise considering some of the participants, and much of both matches was a bit dull. But I enjoyed An Chamu’s unique take on deathmatch wrestling, and both Suzu and Risa looked good when they got a chance to do so. And, there were explosions. If you are like me and you care as much about explosions as good in-ring wrestling, this is the event for you, but if you don’t care about explosions then I’d recommend staying away from this one.