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Mick Foley Has the Longest Day of His Life

Posted: Mar 25th 2024 By: Javier Ojst

On his flight home, a woman passenger preferred to downgrade her first-class seat and sit in coach rather than be next to a battered Mick Foley.

When arriving home, his wife Colette wondered, "What’s burning?" and so her husband (after several failed attempts at hiding his burnt arm) had to admit that it was his arm causing the stench in the house.

Stateside, the summer of 1995 was an era in American professional wrestling that saw the continuation of the "New Generation" of wrestlers in the WWF, such as Diesel, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. Hulk Hogan was already in WCW, and on September 4th, 1995, Monday Nitro was launched to go head-to-head against the WWF’s flagship show Monday Night Raw.

The Monday Night Wars were about to get heated stateside as the “big two” battled for dominance, but wrestling was also going through significant changes on the other side of the world.

In Japan, AJPW and NJPW were still emblematic of what Japan’s wrestling (Puroresu) was all about. Both promotions were full of tradition, pageantry, and the unforgiving hard-hitting strong style that characterized its performers. But the previous years had been an eye-opener, for a feisty promotion called FMW refused to go away quietly and was indeed rocking the boat.

In the process, it had inadvertently helped spawn several deathmatch promotions vying for the spotlight. Puroresu would never be the same again.

FMW After Atsushi Onita

After former FMW owner and deathmatch superstar Atsushi Onita’s temporary retirement from wrestling and the company’s selling to Shoichi Arai, FMW struggled to draw fans to their events mostly because, previously, the shows were primarily focused around Onita.

There was no established star under the new administration for several months that people wanted to pay money to see.

Did you know? When in Japan wrestling for FMW, Sabu and The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) got into it with the Yakuza (Japanese mafia), The Original Sheik almost died in a match after the ring caught on fire, and there was an angle where Atsushi Onita got ‘stabbed’ by José González (killer of Bruiser Brody)? Read more in our highly recommended article, FMW – Rise To Prominence Led by Deathmatch Superstar, Atsushi Onita.

In May of 1995, the promotion began to build around Hayabusa, a budding, high-flying star in the making that would go to great lengths to try and please the fans, but in their eyes, he was no Onita.

The masked wrestler with a captivating personality eventually helped carry the promotion upon his shoulders, but that was still months away for that to commence.

Even worse, Onita faced Hayabusa in his retirement match on May 5th, 1995, but decided against putting him over. So Hayabusa’s struggle to get the fan’s respect after Onita’s retirement became an uphill battle because most saw him as weaker than the former owner.

Surprisingly, resilient woman wrestler Megumi Kudo became a better draw than Hayabusa.

Still, their house shows attracted less than 1000 fans, and most only stuck around for Kudo’s match. If you take Kudo out of the equation, this actually dropped attendance numbers to around 250 per show.

Fortunately, FMW’s attendance numbers improved after better booking and roster changes. Fans began appreciating Hayabusa’s spectacular high-flying and high-risk offensive arsenal in matches against The Gladiator (Mike Awesome), where he showed a lot of heart.

But their rival IWA was paying close attention and realized that the numbers were not even close to when Onita was leading the promotion, and this was their moment to strike hard.

The IWA and The Kawasaki Dream

IWA (International Wrestling Association), led by Victor Quiñones and other former members of FMW’s previous deathmatch rival: W*ING (Wrestling International New Generations), felt that this was the opportune time to land a knockout blow to the struggling FMW and prove that they were the premier deathmatch promotion in Japan.

With Terry Funk, Mick Foley performing as Cactus Jack, and former FMW star Tarzan Goto, the IWA felt confident that they could organize a successful stadium show and draw thousands of people, which FMW at the time with the recently departed Onita could not.

Six months earlier, "in front of an estimated 150 people in a cold little gym," Cactus Jack and Terry Funk put the small IWA promotion on the map after an extremely bloody and violent match that Foley to this day calls "the match I’m proudest of."

The IWA was poised and chomping at the bit to showcase this blood feud on a much bigger stage. They’d soon make it a reality.

On August 20th, 1995, Kawasaki Stadium hosted the first-ever eight-man single-elimination deathmatch tournament that determined what is known amongst fans as the "King Of The Deathmatch."

The quality of the matches leading up to the fondly remembered confrontation between Cactus Jack and Terry Funk varies widely depending on the fan that you ask.

But to be fair, deathmatches are hardly ever pretty affairs or matches that focus on technical skills and precise execution of maneuvers because they are not meant to be that.

Brawling, blood, violence, crazy high spots, and more violence are the norm and expected by the fans. If shock value is what the entertainment-starved Japanese fans came for, the IWA with this tournament, planned to deliver it to them in bucketfuls.

On a side note, the tournament was the raison d ‘être of this Kawasaki Stadium event, but there were also other notable matches on the card between interludes.

We saw NWA champion Dan "The Beast" Severn (who also displayed his UFC #5 championship belt) successfully defend his title against Jumbo Tsuruta’s student, the fierce Tarzan Goto.

A tag team featuring the corpulent and homicidal Headhunters who were twin brothers vs. Los Cowboys (El Texano and Silver King), Takashi Okano (The Winger) winning the WWA (Puerto Rico) International Light Heavyweight Championship, against “Flying Kid” Ichihara, and lastly, a Lucha-style bout between Iceman and Kamikazee.

A ceremony even honored hardcore pioneer Gypsy Joe (Gilberto Meléndez). A hardened Puerto Rican competitor renowned for his very physical in-ring style and who honed his craft and bled the reddest of blood in many countries.