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00:02With death-defying stunts and relentless bloodshed,
00:06Japan's frontier martial arts wrestling burst into life in 1989,
00:11led by revolutionary pioneer Atsushi Onida.
00:14Onida and his promotion, they were pioneers in the late 1980s.
00:19The WWE was very homogenized.
00:22WCW could get a little wild, but FMW took it to a whole different level.
00:29You get Onida, it will bleed to death.
00:32Every night, he bleeds to death.
00:35Other wrestlers have more good moves or a nice body or something,
00:41but only does something inside, like fighting spirit.
00:48By putting himself and his roster of wrestlers in increasingly dangerous situations,
00:53Onida filled stadiums with die-hard fans
00:56and became a global icon of hardcore wrestling.
01:00As much as they were known for the brutality,
01:02it was really the imagination that made that company click.
01:07A no-rope barbed wire match.
01:09And then they go to the exploding barbed wire,
01:11then they go to the exploding ring,
01:12and then the electrified pool.
01:15It just got crazier and crazier and crazier.
01:20You've got to be just nuttier than a fruitcake to get into one of those matches.
01:26It got too hot and everybody ran into the middle.
01:28And everybody's thinking,
01:29Get out of here, get out of here, get out of here.
01:31The promotion's meteoric rise was followed by an equally spectacular crash
01:36that left its pop star paralyzed and its new CEO dead.
01:42Some placed the blame for FMW's tragic downfall on its founder,
01:46who sacrificed everything for fame and fortune.
01:49Some of my dad's fans say that he killed my father.
01:56Did he run over some people? I'm sure he did.
01:59But it was necessary to be at Sushi Onida.
02:05Superstar.
02:16I am, Sushi Onida.
02:21Yeah.
02:22Uh,
02:24hajime Mashtay.
02:27That's why Pa Pa's book,
02:30Giant Tai Fu,
02:51Japan's vibrant wrestling culture was popularized by Giant Baba's All Japan Pro Wrestling and Antonio Enoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling.
03:00Both championed an authentic, hard-hitting style.
03:04When Texan brawlers Terry and Dory Funk came over to perform,
03:09their over-the-top Western personas instantly captivated Japanese audiences.
03:14For some reason, the people took to me in Japan.
03:31Meaner than a rattlesnake.
03:34Tougher than shoe leather.
03:36More dangerous than a hollow-eyed scorpine.
03:41Middle-aged and crazy.
03:43Crazy like a fox.
03:45You know who that is?
03:47That is me.
03:50The best there ever was.
03:52Oh my God!
03:54And the best there ever will be.
03:57You got a new champion!
03:59Terry Funk.
04:00All right, ask me some questions.
04:04And Terry Funk is one of the most universally loved performers in Japanese history.
04:09And he worked All Japan.
04:10He worked New Japan.
04:11He'd be known as an all-time great.
04:14My name is Chris Jericho, and I worked for two tours in FMW.
04:20Onida was a guy that started out in, I think it was All Japan, and he was kind of a
04:24high flyer.
04:24A young disciple of Giant Baba, Onida rose through the ranks of All Japan's dojo system before being sent to
04:32America to further his craft and learn from the styles of the West.
04:37Japanese wrestlers would be sent to the different wrestling territories to further learn their trade.
04:43It was almost like an apprenticeship.
04:45My name is Mick Foley.
04:47I'm known as the King of the Deathmatch.
04:51But for a few years, I was the American Onida.
04:55And that was a huge, huge compliment.
04:59Well, Terry had told me that Onida was sent to Amarillo.
05:03Onida was very drawn to Terry's style.
05:06He had watched me in barbed wire matches, and he really idolized me.
05:11That's why he came to Amarillo.
05:12Be like Terry Funk, you know?
05:15And what a horrible thing to want to be.
05:19He wanted to be an idiot, too.
05:23There was a communication between the wrestlers.
05:25There was a communication between the wrestlers.
05:27And I was the most trusted to Terry Funk.
05:33A mighty fine tractor ride here out on a double-cross ranch.
05:36When Onida arrived in Amarillo, he was recovering from recent injuries suffered in the Dominican Republic.
05:44After refusing to lose to an opponent he deemed inferior, Onida was taught a painful lesson by the promoter.
05:51He didn't agree with what they wanted to do with him, and they beat him up.
05:56But it wasn't one guy, it was all of them.
05:59Rat-packed him.
06:07What was your first impression of him when you first met him?
06:11Nuts.
06:14I spoke Japanese like he spoke English.
06:17He spoke English like I spoke Japanese.
06:21We both were lost.
06:24But we got along.
06:26I was there for him, I really was.
06:29And I bought him a huge car.
06:31And I got him a job and sent him on the road.
06:36The Japanese team of Mr. Onida and Masafuchi.
06:40After Onida recovers from his injuries, he and fellow protege Masafuchi travel to Memphis, Tennessee to battle in the infamous
06:47Tupelo concession stand brawl.
06:50The end of the concession stand after tearing down the partition.
06:54I think the main point is Tennessee.
07:01The main point is Tennessee.
07:02Onida is totally covered there by that big fan.
07:05Onida is totally covered there by that big fan.
07:09Onida is pulling himself over the counter.
07:12It's better.
07:15I never have a huge fan of an anti-counter brand, so I get a hit.
07:21The fighters have to carry me on my head in high heels.
07:26The moment I tip theyo up, it's like the l-d-d-d-d-d-d-d.
07:36I thought it was hard-core, and I thought it was really fun to be a human.
07:45With an improved skill set and a willingness to inject thrilling violence into his matches,
07:56Onida makes a return to All Japan Pro Wrestling.
07:59On the cusp of main event stardom, a freak accident results in a devastating injury.
08:10On the feet of my feet, my bones broke my skin and broke my skin.
08:19It became a big mess.
08:22I said it was impossible to breathe.
08:31The injury permanently hinders Onida's athleticism, instantly ending his dreams of becoming a high-flying star.
08:39He was limited as an athlete. He realized that his future in wrestling lie in the powers of perseverance and
08:49imagination.
08:50What do you do when you're in your late 20s, early 30s, and your whole career is gone?
08:54Well, he created something that had never been done before.
08:56After years of working odd jobs, Onida's thirst for stardom drives him to devise a bold stunt.
09:04He publicly challenges real-life karate champion Masashi Oyagi to compete in a groundbreaking series of brutal matches,
09:12pitting wrestler against martial artists.
09:14Oh yes!
09:14Who can call this one at?
09:19I'm sorry!
09:26All people who actually call this party,
09:27It's not a party, it's just their match,
09:30,
09:34and it's interesting to me.
09:38Building upon the violence Onida was exposed to in America,
09:42Their rivalry makes headlines and draws massive crowds.
09:55By the time Onida claims victory in their final bout,
09:59his Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling promotion is officially born.
10:05And FMW had a really good thing going because they gave you a full course meal.
10:11You know, you got your technical wrestling, flying wrestling, incredible women.
10:15But the hallmark was always the blood and guts.
10:18It was like a buffet of brutality.
10:31The thinking that goes behind replacing ring ropes with barbed wire is the audience comes first.
10:37We care about them far more than the safety of the people doing this.
10:42And real injuries are not a bad thing.
10:45They're encouraged.
10:47And they are impossible to avoid.
10:53The感覺 that was behind the scenes that were incompatible.
10:58I was scared when I was a kid.
11:02I was scared of the abuse-tetsen.
11:04But it was the impression that abuse-tetsen is also afraid of the abuse-tetsen.
11:08quite. How would you describe a typical FMW hardcore match? What are the things you see in it?
11:15A lot of guys that would go to no end, to self-annihilation of the bodies
11:28to have a better match than what the opposition did.
11:35Okay, the barbed wire isn't enough. We're going to have to rig up like electrical shocks to it.
11:42Like this was, this was, this was insane.
11:46To compete with Japan's two major promotions,
12:00FMW matches feature increasingly dangerous stunts that result in legitimate bloodshed.
12:07I was at an FMW show where one of the female wrestlers got hit with a fireball.
12:13And her outfit, it burned the fabric into her skin. And I'm getting ready to do my match,
12:21I just hear these almost otherworldly sounds of suffering. Tears streaming down her face,
12:27sobs like I had never heard before. And it's like, we talk about a price that's really, really steep.
12:32And I had to block that out of my mind and go about with my main event match.
12:41Onida's FMW roster includes like-minded performers Tarzan Goto, Mr. Pogo, Masato Tanaka,
12:49the gladiator, a.k.a. Mike Awesome, as well as up-and-coming talent with North American experience.
13:16We had a connection with a guy called Ricky Fuji who had spent time in Calgary that was able to
13:23bring some guys over to FMW.
13:25My first match ever in FMW was the main event, which is hilarious to me.
13:29Think about a 20-year-old Chris Jericho in the main event against a karate expert who was just beating
13:34the shit out of me.
13:35They would be in there kicking you as hard as they could, because that's all they knew how to do.
13:39I was like, what the hell am I doing here? So I was never invited. I was never invited.
13:43It was completely luck.
13:46I'm Sabu. I was in FMW for three years, New Japan for a year, and an independent the rest of
13:52my life.
13:52There it goes, Sabu. What's it? Oh, did you see that?
13:55With a lot of guns.
13:59My uncle was the Sheik, and he was a great guy. He was a mean guy, and he was a
14:05nice guy.
14:07Onida and Tarzan Goto, they were young boys when the Sheik and Abdul the Butcher was in Japan in the
14:12early 70s and 80s.
14:14Every time they came to town, they took care of those two guys.
14:16So 20 years later, Onida starts a company, and he calls up the Sheik and says, we're going to have
14:22a tag team tournament.
14:23You can come there. Come and bring anybody you want.
14:25He goes, I'll bring my nephew.
14:27And he could have chose anybody, but he chose me.
14:30What's it like to work with barbed wire?
14:33Oh, it sucks. It sucks.
14:34The first barbed wire match, I got hurt.
14:37They took me to the hospital.
14:38I was in there all night long getting stitches.
14:41After that, I never went to the hospital. It took too long.
14:43So I started crazy-gluing my cuts and then taping them.
14:47I basically taped and glued up to all the boys, too.
14:51A single barb can do a lot of damage in a hurry, and it has.
14:56There are some gaping wounds.
14:58You know, Sabu really paid the price, you know, with a road map of scars.
15:03Makes me look like a, you know, like a preschooler.
15:09FMW's wrestlers sacrifice their bodies on a nightly basis,
15:13but none can connect with the audience quite like the promotion's founder and star, Atsushi Onida.
15:19Onida had an ability to allow people to feel his pain and see themselves in him.
15:27Some people can't connect with a larger-than-life superhero.
15:32They can connect with somebody who looks like they do,
15:35who is limited physically, but not limited of will.
15:53You know, there's man against man, man against himself,
15:57and now you enter man against the wire, man against flames,
16:02where you're making a living, putting on a show,
16:05you're doing what you love, but you're also facing fear on a nightly basis.
16:10And you have to tackle it, and you have to earn their respect,
16:14and you have to embrace it wholeheartedly.
16:22The whole end of his match would be basically crying in front of the fans.
16:30The meaning was he had given it his all, and he was crying.
16:35Because the fans had stood behind him.
16:37And they played Joan Jett's version of Wild Thing.
16:41And everybody would get up out of their seats and crowd around the ringside
16:44as he poured water on his head and cried.
16:48And, dude, it got over so huge.
16:55Atsushi Onida!
16:56He did some big show and stadium, arena.
17:00Right after, he's going to the ambulance.
17:02Wee-oh, wee-oh, wee-oh.
17:04In the ambulance, he thinks himself,
17:07Oh, okay, what's next?
17:10That's what I heard, yeah.
17:30So if he could think it, he was going to do it, and I think there was a reasonably good
17:36chance that he was going to die in that ring.
17:41In Onida's pursuit to consistently top himself,
17:44a tag team match with Tarzan Goto versus Sabu and his 65-year-old uncle, the Sheik, goes terribly wrong.
17:52Where did the idea for this fire match come from?
17:54I don't know.
17:55I assumed Puerto Rico because they had one before, and Onida wanted to top it.
18:00I didn't care.
18:02I figured they know what they're doing.
18:03They know it would be safe.
18:06Wow.
18:07That's taking things outside of your own hands and trusting the environment someone else has created for you.
18:13I'm not comfortable with that, and I've seen a lot of people get burned, literally.
18:18It got too hot, way too fast.
18:21If it was a building, I would have jumped off it.
18:34There's an FMW logo in the middle.
18:37It melted in our hands.
18:38It melted in our elbows, hands, and knees.
18:40You couldn't hear nothing.
18:42You couldn't breathe.
18:42It was a roar.
18:46I jumped out, and immediately turned around through a bucket of water.
19:12But he went out the other side.
19:14I didn't see that.
19:15He got burned by the fire pretty bad.
19:22My uncle carried on wrestling Onida outside the ring, and I was trying to throw water on my uncle because
19:27he had his back burned up.
19:28I threw a bucket of water on him, and the skin on his back came off.
19:33It was a big deal.
19:36Were you angry at all with Onida or anybody else about how dangerous that was?
19:40I was angry at anybody.
19:41I was angry that it was bad.
19:43You know, and the plan was bad.
19:44I can't be angry at Onida.
19:46He gave me life.
19:54Riding high with an expanding fan base and sold-out shows, Onida revels in the trappings of his newfound stardom.
20:01He may have started as a scrappy underdog, and he became the king, and was treated as such.
20:11And he had a sticky fingers.
20:13He took all the money.
20:15As a result of my becoming.
20:22He changed the life.
20:25Yes...
20:27And he also had a full-time effect.
20:28The growth of the change was that, and he became a big head.
20:29I'm also improved my family with 4LDK.
20:37He also changed my family.
20:42Yes...
20:43And the whole family with a small company.
20:44So, I took my family.
20:56Onida's fortune is not only gained from the violence he presents in the ring, but from ties with the nefarious
21:03underworld.
21:05So, the Yakuza, the Japanese mob, how much were they a part of wrestling promotions in Japan at the time?
21:12They were in control of the arenas.
21:19So, the Yakuza were, they were definitely there.
21:23It's kind of almost like a money laundering scheme, holding shows that the mafia will kind of sponsor and put
21:29on.
21:31We would go out to dinner sometimes with sponsors, and I would just check out their pinkies.
21:38And by and large, a lot of the sponsors were missing their pinkies because of the line of business they
21:45were in, where sections of the pinkies would be eliminated.
21:49I wasn't comfortable with it, but I accepted that that was part of what made the scene possible.
21:59Well, they told us to stay away from a certain section, and I go, well, there's not many people in
22:04that section, who cares?
22:06It was because that was the mafia section, and like, they had like 10 people there with 50 chairs empty
22:11because nobody was scared to sit by them.
22:14I started biting over there anyways, and they wouldn't move for us. Usually people move. He's a mafia boss, we
22:19don't know that.
22:20But then, later on, we're in the dressing room getting bang, bang, bang on the door. They're looking for us.
22:26I run down this hallway, and I got trapped. And a bunch of these Japanese guys would knock me down.
22:36And when I was down, I was getting boot fucked, kicked.
22:42And then all of a sudden, Mike Awesome was there.
22:46Mike Awesome, you know, the huge monster heel.
22:54Mike Awesome started throwing guys off and saved my life. I loved him after that.
23:06In four short years, Onida overcame his injury to build a promotion to rival his competitors.
23:13To celebrate, Onida invites his mentor from America to participate in FMW's most spectacular stunt to date.
23:24So they had an exploding ring death match, and they were really smart in bringing in Terry Funk.
23:32For him to come to FMW, it changed the perception of this company. Terry's here.
23:37Terry Funk, when I came to FMW, when I first came to FMW,
23:43Why did I succeed?
23:45To prove that I was successful, it wasn't money.
23:49It wasn't money. It wasn't money.
23:51It wasn't money. It was a lot of people who said,
23:53Oh, Onida was successful.
23:58It was a stadium pool.
24:00About thirty, forty thousand.
24:02And they don't charge fifty cents a ticket over there either.
24:08There's the idiots.
24:09There's the front row people.
24:11We're gonna have an exploding ring match tonight.
24:14I want a front row ticket.
24:17Bullshit.
24:18Did they show you where the explosives were gonna be and stuff?
24:22Why hell no.
24:24I had no idea.
24:29I just went out to the damn ring.
24:32I'm a glutton for a crowd being into a match, you know.
24:38I was just out there ready to capture that crowd.
24:42And we did.
24:50How was it?
24:52What are you doing?
24:53I got to go to the hospital.
25:00I got to go to the hospital.
25:03I got to go to the hospital.
25:07I was the doctor.
25:09I was just out there.
25:09I got to go to the hospital.
25:12When I got to go to the hospital,
25:13So the siren starts going off.
25:19And at the end of this time clock, the ring would explode.
25:23And finally, Onida gets the win, and he leaves the ring.
25:29And this thing is going down 45 seconds, 30 seconds.
25:32And Onida realizes that his hero, almost the god of Japanese for wrestling,
25:37is going to be exploded in this ring.
25:41So he goes back inside the ring, and he tries to wake Funker up,
25:45and he can't wake him up, and now it's 10 seconds.
25:47He can't wake him up, so what does he do?
25:49He shields Terry Funk with his body.
25:55And it's a bunch of like, boom, boom, boom, concussion bombs and fireworks,
25:58and just by the time it's done, you can't see anything.
26:01It was the greatest babyface thing I've ever seen in my life.
26:04He covered Terry Funk to save him from the explosion after he pinned him.
26:10That's Onida.
26:13What FMW did the best was create a spectacle.
26:16You know, Funk survived thanks to Onida,
26:18and they were kind of like carrying each other, crying once again.
26:21And Funk was great at it too, crying, crying, crying.
26:24To me, it's a five-star match because it had the drama
26:27and hooked you into it to where you care.
26:30And that's the real secret of what wrestling is,
26:32that that's what Onida really knew how to do.
26:35He was a genius at it.
26:38Do you remember being satisfied with what you were paid on that match?
26:44Well, hell no, I wasn't satisfied.
26:47I never saw it all needed after a match either
26:51until I came back the next time.
26:54I think he ran and hid.
27:00FMW was at least the number three promotion in the country,
27:03if not number two,
27:04depending on what was going on with the two big ones at the time.
27:07He legit was one of the most popular performers in the country,
27:11and not just in wrestling.
27:12He was doing game shows.
27:13TV drama, or singing the show, or something like a talk show.
27:19Almost every day, like, turned the TV on,
27:22Onida was there.
27:23There all the time, yeah.
27:25He'd become such a big part of the culture.
27:27I think Onida had bigger plans.
27:30In just five short years after creating FMW,
27:33Onida announces his retirement,
27:35which comes as a shock to his fans.
27:37He didn't want to do it anymore.
27:39He had enough.
27:41And you can fail and not have any money at all.
27:44Or you can go out like he did
27:46with several million dollars, I'm sure.
27:55Onida continues to headline shows for another full year
27:59while the promotion grooms a young wrestler
28:01to become his future headlining successor.
28:06Hayabusa!
28:10Hayabusa was the heir apparent to Onida.
28:14He was, the word that's coming is elegant,
28:17but he was also willing to do the extreme stuff.
28:22E.G. Izaki is his name.
28:24We later became Hayabusa.
28:25We worked together quite a bit.
28:27My second tour at Kawasaki Stadium
28:29was against Izaki.
28:32And at the time, the big move that he did
28:33was a moonsault, which nobody did.
28:36I was, the guy was a man.
28:40What the heck?
28:42And I didn't get into it.
28:44I was not a man.
28:46I wasn't a man.
28:46I hadn't felt a man.
28:47I Ms. Leonardo
28:47That's like a man.
28:48I was a guy named Ayaune.
28:49And Hayabusa, how was he?
28:52I'm a man who was a man.
28:52He was a man.
28:53He was a man who was a fighter or pretarker.
28:57So I was a man of a man who was Angstroma.
29:02At FMW's 6th anniversary show, Onida's retirement match features the special effects and extreme gore that made him an icon,
29:11but his opponent is out of his element.
29:13So it's bad for Hayabusa. I don't want to say anything, but I didn't think he was going to be
29:19a death match.
29:25When I was in the middle of the day, I was constantly thinking about how to make a death match.
29:37When I was in the middle of the day, I would regret.
29:46I was in the middle of the day, and I had to.
29:56Let's go to the ring.
29:58It's a shame.
30:27I'm not sure if you want to see it.
30:28Don't go!
30:29Don't go!
30:31Oneida leaving FMW, that would create a huge hole that I think would be next to impossible
30:36to fill, just because of how synonymous with that company he was.
30:42And vice versa, it would be hard to see Oneida anywhere else other than thinking FMW.
30:47They're one and the same.
31:00An unlikely successor emerges to take the reins of FMW, the promotion's ring announcer,
31:06Shoichi Arai.
31:19And he's kind of like a chubby guy, and kind of wore a tuxedo that was a little bit too
31:24small form.
31:29But then you hear, like, Arai's the new, like, general manager.
31:34Like, really?
31:35Like, wow.
31:36Like, well, why not?
31:37Like, he was probably at every show.
31:42Oneida retire, then after, okay, you are the president.
31:46What?
31:49He don't know what to do.
31:52My dad was a really nice person.
31:54He was really pure.
31:56So, I didn't know why he was trying to get into that company.
32:01I still don't understand.
32:03My name is Shell, and Shoichi Arai is my dad.
32:09Oneida suddenly says that, okay, I'm going to give this company to you.
32:14You can do whatever you want.
32:16But he has no knowledge at all.
32:18Excuse my language, but he gave jack shit to the ring announcer.
32:25He didn't give nothing to him.
32:28I'll promise you that.
32:30I'll swear to it.
32:31Before, like, Oneida was there in the FMW.
32:35Everywhere, always packed the arena.
32:39Many people.
32:41New FMW started, then they're just...
32:49Little people.
32:57Without Oneida's star power, FMW's popularity wanes.
33:06After just one starring film role, Oneida realizes his appeal is limited when he's not wrestling.
33:12Less than a year after his retirement, he unexpectedly returns to FMW to work for his former ring announcer.
33:18When I came back, I thought I'd be able to return to the heel.
33:24As a person, I would be able to return to the heel.
33:28I would be able to return to the new FMW to the new FMW.
33:32If you'd like to come back to the new FMW, it's fun.
33:35If you'd like to come back to Tokyo, everyone's cheering.
33:41I'm trying to reach the heel.
33:42But when when it's in the village, it'll be different.
33:44There's all different things that happen.
33:47If someone wants to sign someone for the new ex-menids,
33:51I might ask him to start crying.
33:54I like to then walk and dance.
33:55But the other thing, it was more joyous.
34:01That's why I became jewelry.
34:03That's why I made the reason I had sex,
34:04and I tried to start crying.
34:10When Arai was running the company, he kind of wanted to move away from death matches, right?
34:16Yes, because they wouldn't air our stuff only on specials because it was too violent.
34:21To take FMW in a new direction, Arai hires veteran Japanese star Hiromichi Fuyuki
34:27to handle the company's creative direction.
34:30That's why, like, something changed.
34:34Arai always, like, ask Fuyuki, ask Fuyuki.
34:38Then Fuyuki said, do this, do this, do this.
34:41Fuyuki wants to do some, like, entertainment style.
34:45He had a belt called World Entertainment Wrestling, like WWE, but World Entertainment Wrestling.
34:51And they stopped having death matches.
35:08The tug-of-war between Onida's vision for FMW and Fuyuki's new direction
35:14forces a ride to arrange a meeting with his top talent.
35:43Alay said, please, leave FMW.
35:48We've got to do this, and I want to open Hayabusa's side.
35:57We've got to do this.
35:59We've got to do this.
36:03We've got to do this.
36:05We've got to do this.
36:08We've got to do this.
36:09We've got to do this.
36:10While Hayabusa struggled to draw the crowds of his predecessor,
36:14his athletic style was winning new fans and realizing success for FMW.
36:21until tragedy struck on October 22nd, 2001.
36:26He did a second rope moonsault and his foot slipped
36:28and he went backwards and landed on his forehead.
36:37Before, he missed something.
36:40He always get up.
36:41By the time they're watching, he never get up.
36:48Hayabusa! Hayabusa!
36:51Hayabusa! Hayabusa!
36:52Hayabusa! Hayabusa!
36:56I stepped in the ring.
37:00Hayabusa, he's like my brother.
37:05He can't talk, but he can't move.
37:10He didn't die. It was worse. He was paralyzed.
37:12I'd rather have died.
37:18It's terrible, terrible injury to happen to just a great guy,
37:22a great, great performer, and a legit kind of future legend.
37:28All the boxes that need to be checked, he had it.
37:43His career was cut short in his prime, and I think with his career went the future of FMW.
37:52They never really found somebody to replace Hayabusa.
37:57Beyond being a serious emotional blow to FMW and his fans,
38:01Hayabusa's injury also sets in motion a financial disaster.
38:05Without their star attraction,
38:07Arai struggles to keep his fledgling company afloat.
38:10I said, wait, please wait, please wait.
38:14I'll never get paid.
38:17I remember that my mom say,
38:20don't steal house money or something.
38:23And what do you think that meant?
38:24Was he using the money from the family to help pay for the business?
38:29Oh, yes.
38:43He owed money from the Yakuza, and he couldn't pay them back.
38:48His phone was ringing all the time.
38:52My mom was like, panic, and she screamed.
38:55So I thought it's not a good thing.
39:00My mom and dad, like, they divorced.
39:03And I think he was really suffering.
39:06And I didn't realize because I was too young.
39:09And then my last match there, we didn't get paid.
39:11He said he'd send it to me, and then he killed himself the next day.
39:18Hung himself in a schoolyard.
39:22When you borrow money from the Japanese mafia,
39:25even if you kill yourself, they're going to get their money from your family.
39:28So that wasn't the end of the story.
39:30They were saying he was selfish for doing that.
39:32A coward.
39:32Because now his family owes that money.
39:35And they'll get it.
39:42A rise death triggers a life insurance payment, but it's sadly not enough to cover his family's newly inherited debt.
39:49They came to my home suddenly, and they changed the key, and they changed everything.
39:54And we couldn't get in our house anymore.
39:57My picture, my video, my memories was all in that house, but it's all gone.
40:03That's why I don't have anything.
40:18I feel a little bit that Onita used my dad.
40:25A lot of people say that he was too kind and too pure.
40:30That's why he's gone.
40:35That's why he's gone.
40:53That's why he's gone.
41:00I don't have anything.
41:01I don't know.
41:04I think I never had to go through my heart.
41:05I'm hearing physical pain.
41:07I don't know.
41:14I'm hearing physical pain.
41:23But less than a year later, tragedy strikes again when Hayabusa collapses in his home and dies at the age
41:31of 47.
41:58He did walk again.
42:00I mean, it's one of the most gut-wrenching things you see when he's surrounded by members of wrestling royalty
42:07from several different promotions.
42:09And it's one of the most emotional moments you will ever see when Hayabusa walks to the ring.
42:30FMW was the wild, wild west of professional wrestling.
42:34I mean, it was in the east geographically, but it was this lawless, wild frontier.
42:39If you could think it, you could do it.
42:43The spectacle always came first.
42:47And it was a big part of wrestling history and something that's still borrowed from to this day.
42:53On the contrary, I think I made hardcore.
43:00I think I made it to all over the world.
43:04What I learned in FMW, of course, I took it to ECW.
43:09ECW was formed from FMW.
43:12Onida basically built a promotion around himself.
43:18An undersized underdog wrestler and made it a huge success.
43:26If you could say anything to him right now, what would you say?
43:32Is there any reason that you want to flick him up?
43:35No, hell no. I love him.
43:40I love him.
43:42Well, there's no reason for Hulk Hogan.
43:46I mean, Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan.
43:48Anthony Enoch is Anthony Enoch.
43:50Giant Baba, Giant Baba.
43:53Onida Atsushi is Onida Atsushi.
43:55It is much less than one day.
43:57I think it would be any less than one day.
43:57Well, I love him.
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