FMW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
From 11th-13th May 2000, the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) convention occurred at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Among organisations in attendance included TOKYOPOP, who showcased a number of new Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) DVDs. To promote this game, professional wrestlers from FMW competed in matches at the convention.
Background
In the early 2000s, TOKYOPOP were responsible for releasing English-language DVDs of various films and television in Japan, including FMW wrestling.[1] To promote a new of upcoming FMW DVDs, TOKOYOPOP decided to make a presentation at E3 2000, which is the largest annual computing game trade event,[2] but is also a convention that showcases other new media. Similar with Acclaim presenting various ECW matches to promote ECW Anarchy Rulz, the organisation had FMW talent compete in various matches throughout the convention.[3]
According to IGN, around ten FMW wrestlers competed in matches throughout the event.[3] This would be the first time that FMW wrestlers competed in California since 1992.[4] Based on information from Socal Uncensored, the fights included Kodo Fuyuki and Koji Nakagawa facing Ricky Fuji and Flying Kid Ichihara, while Hayabusa, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Hisakatsu Oya faced Mr. Gannosuke, Hideki Hosaka, and Yoshinori Sasaki in six-man tag team action.[5] For Hayabusa, this would not only allow him to promote the new DVDs, but to also film a scene in Los Angeles for Backyard Dogs.[6] This would ultimately mark Hayabusa's final performance in the United States, as he would end up paralysed during a match against Mammoth Sasaki on 22nd October 2001 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.[5][7]
Availability
A few highlights of the E3 2000 matches were included as part of the Story of the F - Stage IV DVD collection.[8] Based on a comment from Botchamania's Maffew regarding TOKYOPOP's FMW DVDs, the footage may have been interrupted by multiple replays.[9] However, the uncut matches remain scarce. The uncut Hayabusa six-man tag team match would be uploaded to YouTube by Web of Hair on 4th March 2006. According to the YouTuber, he recorded another FMW match at the event, the final day of the convention, and promised to upload it as well. However, seeing as the video is no long available on the channel, it has likely since been taken down. Analysis of the clip indicates that a TOKYOPOP or FMW cameraman was on-hand to capture footage, but this tape of the match has never been publicly released outside of the few highlights.
No footage or screenshots are available of the uncut Fuyuki and Nakagawa match, nor of any other matches that might have taken place on the other days of the event. It is possible that TOKYOPOP or FMW had ownership of the footage, but if was the latter, finding the footage may prove more difficult as the original FMW folded on 15th February 2002, in part due to the loss of their most popular wrestler in Hayabusa.[6]
Gallery
Video
See Also
- AJ Styles vs Kenny Omega (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2006)
- Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs John Cena (partially found master tape footage of untelevised Hell in a Cell match; 2011)
- Awesome Kong vs Melissa Anderson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2009)
- Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
- Blood Circus (partially found Santo Gold film; 1985)
- Braden Walker's "Knock Knock" promo (lost original pre-tapes of WWE backstage segment; 2008)
- Bradshaw vs Christian (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2001)
- Bret Hart-Hulk Hogan photoshoot (lost professional wrestling promotional photos; 1993)
- Bret Hart vs Tom Magee (found untelevised professional wrestling match; 1986)
- Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (lost early BBC televised professional wrestling matches; 1938-1939; 1946-1947)
- Celebrity Wrestling (partially found ITV professional wrestling reality show; 2005)
- Chowdaheads (partially found unaired professional wrestling cartoon show; 1999)
- Collision in Korea (found professional wrestling event in North Korea; 1995)
- Collision in Korea wrestler sketches (lost North Korean pencil sketch portraits of professional wrestlers; 1995)
- Cultaholic (found debut video of professional wrestling YouTube channel; 2017)
- ECW Anarchy Rulz (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 port of professional wrestling game; existence unconfirmed; 2000)
- ECW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- ECW Hardcore TV final episodes (lost episodes of Professional Wrestling Show; 2001)
- The Game (partially found Disturbed cover of professional wrestling theme song; mid 2000s)
- GFW Amped (partially found unaired professional wrestling show; 2015)
- The Giant's moonsault (lost footage of professional wrestling move; existence unconfirmed; 1990s)
- Girls Gone Wild: Live from Spring Break (found WWE/Girls Gone Wild crossover special; 2003)
- GLOW (lost unfinished final season of Netflix comedy-drama series; 2019-2020)
- Goldberg's pre-television debut matches (lost footage of professional wrestling dark matches; 1997)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1908)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1911)
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts DDTs Hulk Hogan (lost Snake Pit segment; 1986)
- Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream (lost footage of alternate finish to professional wrestling match; 2019)
- Kurt Angle vs Owen Hart (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1999)
- The Last Battle of Atlanta (found untelevised professional wrestling steel cage match; 1983)
- Lita's training matches (partially found training videos of professional wrestler; late 1990s-2000)
- Low Ki & Mercury vs Ric Blade & TCK (partially lost footage of hardcore wrestling tag team match; 2000)
- Mark Jindrak in Evolution (partially found unaired vignettes of professional wrestling stable; 2003)
- Pat Tanaka vs Rocco Rock (lost footage of "Body Count" professional wrestling match; 1993)
- "Plane Ride From Hell" (lost photographs of drunk wrestler incidents; 2002)
- Radio WWF (lost professional wrestling radio show; 1993-1994; late 1990s-2000)
- Screwed: The Bret Hart Story (lost unfinished wrestling documentary film; 2005)
- Sex University (lost WWE webshow; 2006)
- Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (lost build of unreleased Virtual Boy wrestling game; 1995)
- Strange Kentucky People (lost recording of Chris Jericho "tribute"; 1994)
- TNA Impact! 2 (lost build of unfinished professional wrestling game; 2009)
- WCW 2000 (lost work on unfinished PlayStation 2 game; 2000)
- WCW All Nighter (partially lost professional wrestling compilation show; 1994-1995)
- WCW Classics (partially found professional wrestling compilation show; 2000-2001)
- WCW Internet-only Special Events and PPVs (lost audio streams; 1997-1998)
- WCW/nWo Live (lost build of cancelled PlayStation professional wrestling game; 1998)
- WWE 24x7 (lost professional wrestling compilation show; 2007)
- WWE Brawl (lost build of cancelled fighting game based on professional wrestling; 2012)
- WWE Crush Hour (lost build of cancelled Xbox port of vehicular combat game; 2002)
- WWE SmackDown vs Raw Online (lost build of cancelled online professional wrestling PC game; 2010-2011)
- WWE Wrestlemania 36 (lost footage of alternate finishes to professional wrestling matches; 2020)
- WWF Attitude (lost professional wrestling recap show; 2001-2002)
- WWF Backlash (non-existent unfinished Nintendo 64 professional wrestling game; 2001)
- WWF Excess (partially found professional wrestling talk show; 2001-2002)
- WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (partially found untelevised professional wrestling matches; 1996)
- WWF Livewire (partially found professional wrestling recap and talk show; 1996-2001)
- WWF No Mercy (lost Game Boy Color games based on Nintendo 64 wrestling game; 2000)
- WWF Shotgun (partially found July to December season of syndicated wrestling show; 1997)
- WWF Xperience (found pay-per-view event footage; 1996)
References
- ↑ Shoot Angle detailing some FMW DVDs TOKYOPOP released. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ Archived E3 Expo About E3 page. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 IGN reporting on the FMW matches occurring during E3 2000. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ FMW Wrestling noting this was the first FMW event in California for eight years. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 SoCal Uncensored detailing the E3 2000 matches and noting this was Hayabusa's final match in the United States. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 FMW Wrestling detailing Hayabusa's motivation for competing at the show and how his accident would contribute towards FMW declaring bankruptcy. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ Archived SunSentinel reporting on Hayabusa being paralysed during a match. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ Story of the F - Stage IV containing highlights of the matches. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21
- ↑ Twitter post from Maffew criticising TOKYOPOP's FMW DVDs, which were continually interrupted by replays that could affect the length of the E3 2000 matches being shown. Retrieved 22nd Dec '21