#onita atsushi fmw

[obscurevideogames]

Onita Atsushi FMW (Marionette - Super Famicom - 1993)  

[jasvvy]

[ponchaka]

Atsushi Onita

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[phonyhulkamania]

[wheredoisign]

[principiumindividuationis777]

[ringthedamnbell]

The Original Sheik, Wrestling's Fireball Throwing Madman

The Original Sheik, Wrestling's Fireball Throwing Madman

Robert Segedy If one would look up the term “heel” in the encyclopedia of  Professional Wrestling terms, there should be a photograph of the fire ball tossing, Arabian madman known as The Sheik. His real name was Ed Farhat, and he had a career that spanned five decades ,but the truth behind the real man’s identity was something that was fiercely guarded. The Sheik never gave a single interview…

[scholarofgloom]

[blowflyfag]

Wrestling World presents Wrestling Maniacs: JUNE 1999

Sabu: THE SILENT KILLER! 

Alongside Terry Funk, Mick Foley, and maybe Sandman, Sabu is a hardcore wrestling legend. He has always been ECW’s most well-rounded performer, willing and able to make not only himself but any opponent look good.

By Chris Faust

[If you want to see hardcore wrestling, then Sabu is your man!]

EXTREME Championship Wrestling (ECW) has a variety of reputations. Some describe it as a slaughterhouse, a kind of Ultimate Fighting organization minus the sportsmanship.  Others are quick to note the technical, high-flying aspect to many ECW wrestlers’ styles. Unquestionably, ECW is violent, bloody, and bruising. But the acrobatic, high-impact, death-defying talents throughout the promotion are just as prevalent. One longtime ECW star has always performed with both of these objectives in mind. That man is Sabu, one of the most influential, mysterious, and entertaining wrestlers ever to compete in any federation.

Covered with scars from barbed wire death matches (his specialty during his early days), standing a modest 6-foot tall, and never weighing in over 225 pounds, Sabu looks like a man who has taken more punishment than he has handed out. He never speaks on camera, but communicates to the fans with his trademark index finger pointed into the air. He wrestles all the time and has a reputation for overbooking himself–some say for the money, but less cynical fans realize that very few men have surrendered themselves to the sport like Sabu.

Sabu’s wrestling style is better seen than described. He walks the line between fearlessness and complete psychosis. He is equally known for his vast arsenal of moonsaults, flips, and other top-rope maneuvers as he is for his various barbed wire, table, and chair stunts. He inflicts pain mercilessly, yet gracefully. At his ECW debut in 1993, he pinned Taz (then known as Tasmaniac) twice in one night, setting off a feud that still resurfaces periodically. His threshold for withstanding pain goes to an even greater extreme. Legend has it that once during a match against Chris Benoit, Sabu actually had his neck broken, yet still managed to finish the match.

[Sabu is one of the most downright brutal competitors ever to perform…and yes, those scars are real!]

The story behind Sabu’s rise in the American wrestling scene sounds like the stuff of legend as well. He was born in Bombay, India, the nephew of The Sheik. In 1984, after giving his nephew some training in mat technique, The Sheik announced that Sabu would compete against a mystery opponent in order to prove himself. The opponent was later revealed as The Sheik himself, but Sabu managed to pass his test one way or another. 

Sabu’s professional debut  came in 1985 when he defeated the Canadian Road Warrior. He then spent several years traveling the American independent circuit, making a name for himself as one of the most feared men in wrestling. He worked himself as much as possible, often wrestling six days a week, occasionally as much as three times in one day! In 1992 Uncle Sheik again helped further Sabu’s career, helping him make the jump to Japan’s FMW promotion. Sabu earned his first gold teamed with Horace Boulder (the same who now wrestles in WCW), when the two won the tag belts from Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto. At this point, Sabu’s growing reputation earned him a contract offer from the WWF, which he declined in favor of his interests in the Japanese scene, which included winning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title.

Strangely enough, less than a year later, in October of 1993, Sabu made his ECW debut. Within less than a month, he had defeated Shane Douglas to become ECW World Champion. Weeks later, Sabu staked his belt against Terry Funk’s ECW Television title, defeating Funk and claiming both belts. Ironically, Sabu lost the World title to none other than Funk in December. Sabu held the TV title a bit longer, losing it to the Tasmaniac in March of 1994.

Taz and Sabu actually managed to reconcile their differences amiably, and formed a tag team. They won the belts in early 1995 from The Public Enemy, losing them a few weeks later to Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. THe feud between the two reignited, culminating in a much-anticipated match between the two reignited, culminating in a much-anticipated match between the two at the first-ever ECW pay-per-view, “Barely Legal,” in early 1997. Sabu’s nose was broken early in the match, but this didn’t prevent the two from putting on the most grueling, strenuous match of the card. Taz, at that time managed by Bill Alfonso, won the match by choking Sabu unconscious. After the match, Taz extended a hand to a revived Sabu, but Alfonso ruined the moment by selling Taz out and instead offering his services to Sabu.

“Under new management, as the saying goes, Sabu once again claimed the ECW World title, again defeating Terry Funk. This time, in August of 1997, it was in a barbed wire match in Philadelphia, one of the most legendary matches in ECW history, so bloody and gruesome (even by ECW standards) that it has never aired on TV.The match ended with Sabu wrapping himself in barbed wire and using himself as a lethal weapon. He and Funk were so entangled in barbed wire that after the match they had to literally be pulled apart. Less than a week later, Sabu defended the belt in a three-way dance (against Shane Douglas and Terry Funk) at the second-ever ECW pay-per-view, “Hardcore Heaven.” The Sandman interfered, and Sabu was the first to be eliminated, with Douglas going on to pin Funk and win the title.

[Sabu is known for his vast arsenal of moonsaults, flips and other top-rope maneuvers!

Manager Bill Alfonso helped Sabu capture the ECW World title!]

More recently, Sabu has paired with Rob Van Dam to form one of the greatest tag teams ECW’s ranks have known. They defeated Chris Candido and Lance Storm for the tag team titles during the timer of 1998, before the ever-present tag threat of Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley won them in November at a Cleveland event. Since the loss, the two have regained the tag titles, and Sabu has set his sights on a third reign as ECW World Champion. His title shot was scheduled for January at ECW’s “Guilty as Charged” pay-per-view, a shot he earned by pinning current champion Shane Douglas in a non-title-six-man tag match at “November to Remember.” The two faced each other in Pittsburgh recently, where a bloodied Douglas retained his title when the match was declared a draw.

Some love him, some hate him, but no fan will deny Sabu’s influence on wrestling today. When he first hit the U.S. scene in the mid-’80s, promoters were more interested in cartoonish, buffoonish wrestlers like Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. A wrestler like Sabu was too real, too violent, and too dangerous for mainstream audiences. So he remained in the ugly underground scene before breaking into ECW.

[Sabu walks the line between fearlessness and psychosis…and proves it with every brutal ring outing!]

Unlike many wrestlers who simply imitate their own heroes’ maneuvers, Sabu originated many of the complex moonsaults and flips in his repertoire. He brought chairs, tables, and barbed wire into ECW, and he was the first to use the chair as a springboard (like Al Snow) instead of a weapon (which is not to say he doesn’t use it as a weapon too–I saw him give One Man Gang a top rope legdrop on the face while holding a chair under the leg in question!)

Many of ECW’s top stars have recently left the promotion in favor of the big two (Bigelow, Candido, Whipwreck, Sandman), with more rumored to be on their way out (Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer). Nevertheless, some tough competition remains for Sabu in ECW, in the form of Douglas and Masato Tanaka. Tanaka’s pain threshold approaches (if not equals) Sabu’s, as evidenced by the battle on the chairs with Balls Mahoney. Come to think of it, a tag team of Sabu and Tanaka could be unstoppable (in ECW or the WWF), should Van Dam decide to leave ECW.

[Unlike many wrestlers who simply imitate their hero’s maneuvers, Sabu originated many of the moonsaults and flips in his repertoire!]

Much like Kanyon, Jericho, and even Austin, Sabu is among the performers who always put on a good match, regardless of the occasion or opponent. By the time you read this, Sabu could very well have given Douglas a lesson in violence at “Guilty as Charged,” and won the ECW Championship for a third time. He deserves it, and if he doesn't win it, he should consider going after the WWF’s Intercontinental title. Alongside Funk, Mick Foley, and mauve Sandman, Sabu is a hardcore wrestling legend. He has always been ECW’s most well-rounded performer, willing and able to make not only himself but any opponent look good. All fans should point to the sky when they hear “Huka Blues” and Alfonso’s whistle going off, out of respect. Who knows which of the Sabu legends are true, whether Benoit really broke his neck, whether Alfonso really superglued him back together after the barbed wire match with Funk, but one thing is for sure, the fact that these legends even exist makes Sabu one of the most intriguing, mesmerizing, and downright brutal competitors ever to perform. And yes, those scars are real.

[kopw]

top watches for september

from this month:

will ospreay vs naomichi marufuji, noah naomichi marufuji debut 25th anniversary show 09/17 — not only my favorite match of the month but my most anticipated one as well! i think it's always interesting to see ospreay be taken out of his usual pace and perform with more breathing room between spots (even if his snappier sequences are what drew me in initially). there are a lot of quiet moments in this match, mixed with that devoted eagerness that ospreay had while he was a junior. it's also a match that is able to tap into something very special thanks to the emotional padding behind it that i think ospreay's other big match from this month (vs yota tsuji) is unable to match

syuri vs mayu iwatani, stardom 5star grand prix day 14 09/03 — syuri is my favorite joshi to watch currently! she wrestles such a loud, hard-hitting style that still feels fresh in the technical scene and she has great in-ring chemistry with mayu here. mayu's reversal of the syu-sekai though... gah! a relatively short match and one of my favorites from the entire gp

bryan danielson vs ricky starks, no disqualification strap match, aew all out 09/03 — the singular non-puro match on this list, which should already give you an idea of how truly great it is. ricky has been a highlight on collision pretty much since it began airing, and the natural charisma that shined through there is ever-present in his recent matches. bloody, brutal, and better than the follow-up texas death rematch in terms of cohesion

zack sabre jr. vs ryohei oiwa, njpw road to destruction 09/08 — i was ecstatic to have boltin oleg in a high-profile match! ...and then it didn't happen. but worry not! oiwa stole the show. it definitely didn't feel as one-sided as it would've if it was oiwa pre-excursion pitted against zack. excited to see more from him

takayuki ueki vs baliyan akki, baka gaijin + friends vol. 8 09/20 — the mad doctor takes on akki, returning superstar of the show, after mecha mummy fails to drill a hole through harashima and is subsequently defeated. it's as silly as it sounds

back catalogue:

shinsuke nakamura vs the great muta, noah the new year 2023 — positively overwhelming presentation in terms of the entrances. misting as a metaphor for relatedness rather than corruption. unstoppable force meets immovable object, up until the object embraces the force. a sentimental finish that stuck with me

katsuyori shibata vs kazuchika okada, njpw sakura genesis 2017 — a holistically tactile bout full of sweaty contact and undying resolve. okada finds himself in the rare predicament of not being the fan favorite! practically impossible to look away during this one

pheromones (danshoku dieno & yuki iino) & shunma katsumata vs akito, kazuki hirata & yuya koroku, ddt sweet dreams! 2023 tour in shinjuku ~ fire! ~ — a typical pheromones match in that it contains loads of their trademark spots (synchronized striptease routines, dramatic jockstrap reveals, "accidental" ass to mouth action) however! this time shunma is there to act as their pup (which he is very much into). a must-watch for fans of public kink in wrestling

atsushi onita vs hayabusa, no ropes barbed wire current mine explosion time bomb deathmatch, fmw 6th anniversary show 1995 — hayabusa comes off as a trapped animal within onita’s environment, only delaying the inevitable with each move. feels and looks like a horror movie, with the counter droning on in the first half and the smoke wafting through the cage of barbed wire in the second. explosions galore!

shotaro ashino vs koji doi, wrestle-1 grand prix 2018 finals — this was my first exposure to ashino and let me tell you... he's so good. his entrance is fuel by metallica, he's cocky, he goes hard in the ring. i'm genuinely shocked he's not a bigger name internationally. nothing too extravagant aside from a few high-impact spots but worth a watch

[obscurevideogames]

psyching out the opponent -

Onita Atsushi FMW (Marionette - Super Famicom - 1993)  

[jasvvy]

throwing a fireball in a match where THE ENTIRE RING IS ENGULFED IN FLAME is badass. 

[codchrist]

Before there was Jon Moxley's Wild Thing there was Atsushi Onita ECW Theme 'Wild Thing (FMW Version)

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[phonyhulkamania]

Atsushi Onita Halloween costume.