Funk Masters of Wrestling

Funk Masters of Wrestling
File:Terry Funk September 2013.jpg Terry Funk File:MrGannosuke.JPG Mr. Gannosuke File:MikeAwesome1999cropped.png The Gladiator File:Magnitude Kishiwada.JPG Toryu
Stable
Members	Terry Funk Victor Quiñones Mr. Gannosuke The Gladiator Horace Boulder Hisakatsu Oya Super Leather Toryu Miguel Perez Shoji Nakamaki Crypt Keeper Flying Kid Ichihara Katsutoshi Niiyama The Headhunters
Name(s)	Funk Masters of Wrestling Puerto Rican Army
Former member(s)	Mr. Pogo
Debut	February 23, 1996
Disbanded	October 21, 1997

Funk Masters of Wrestling was a Japanese professional wrestling stable in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) between 1996 and 1997. The group was formed by Victor Quiñones in early 1996 and named after Terry Funk, who was the focal point of the group. The faction replaced Lethal Weapon as the top villainous group in FMW and dominated the company between 1996 and 1997.

History

Puerto Rican Army

Victor Quiñones made his surprise return to FMW on February 23, 1996, after FMW's team of Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Koji Nakagawa defeated W*ING Alliance members W*ING Kanemura, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Hido in the first WarGames match in FMW. Quiñones had left FMW in 1991 and worked with W*ING and IWA Japan. He brought in The Headhunters to FMW and formed a Hispanic group called Puerto Rican Army. The group quickly became the top villainous group and began feuding with FMW and W*ING Alliance and gained Mr. Pogo in the group. The Headhunters were supposed to make their in-ring debut on March 15, but Headhunter B was injured, so Shoji Nakamaki replaced him as a member of the group against Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa in a street fight. Atsushi Onita returned to FMW after retiring and rescued Tanaka and Nakagawa from a post-match assault by Puerto Rican Army, and he encouraged his FMW wrestlers to challenge Puerto Rican Army at the 7th Anniversary Show in May. On March 30, Headhunters defeated W*ING members The Faces of Dead (Super Leather and Jason the Terrible) to win the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship after Leather turned on Jason to leave W*ING and join the Puerto Rican Army. As a result, the group also gained the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship, which was held by Super Leather at the time. After the match, Puerto Rican Army attacked W*ING members, and FMW wrestlers made the rescue. Masato Tanaka and the returning Hayabusa would join forces and challenged Mr. Pogo and a mystery partner in the main event of the 7th Anniversary Show. Terry Funk was brought in as Pogo's partner and joined Puerto Rican Army. His first match as part of the group took place on April 29, in which he defeated Lethal Weapon member Hisakatsu Oya. At the 7th Anniversary Show, Toryu and Miguel Perez joined the group as they teamed with Shoji Nakamaki against Hideki Hosaka, Hido and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a losing effort. Nakamaki left FMW after the match, while this was Perez's one-off appearance and Toryu continued to make appearances with FMW. Later at the event, Super Leather and Headhunters defeated Horace Boulder, Hisakatsu Oya and The Gladiator to become the first World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Champions. As a result, Puerto Rican Army held all the top men's titles of FMW. In the main event, Funk and Pogo defeated Hayabusa and Tanaka in a no-rope explosive barbed wire time bomb land mine double hell death match with the winning team receiving 1 million yens at the 7th Anniversary Show. As a result, Puerto Rican Army won the one million yens.

On May 27, Super Leather lost the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship to The Gladiator. Later that night, Mr. Pogo lost to Masato Tanaka in the quarter-final round of a tournament for the new Independent Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Quiñones slapped Pogo for losing, and Pogo took it as an insult and grabbed his manager, but Headhunters attacked Pogo. Pogo quit Puerto Rican Army and turned into a fan favorite by blowing a fireball at the group's newest member Freddy Krueger, allowing Tanaka to pin him. On June 17, Super Leather defeated Hido in the Independent Heavyweight Championship tournament quarter-final match. On June 28, Puerto Rican Army lost the World Street Fight Six-Man Tag Team Championship to Masato Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Super Leather lost to W*ING Kanemura in the semi-final of the Independent Heavyweight Championship tournament on July 21. Puerto Rican Army would continue their feud with Mr. Pogo as Terry Funk returned to the company in July and the two headlined the Summer Spectacular event by competing in a no-rope barbed wire landmine match on August 1, which Funk won by knockout. On September 15, Puerto Rican Army strengthened in numbers after Hisakatsu Oya joined the group and Lethal Weapon dissolved after The Gladiator and Horace Boulder turned on Ricky Fuji to join Puerto Rican Army. Later that night, in the main event, Oya, Super Leather and The Headhunters lost to Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa, Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in a twenty million yen on a pole match to regain the yens for FMW which FMW had lost to the Puerto Rican Army at the 7th Anniversary Show. Gladiator's affiliation with Puerto Rican Army also brought the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship back to the group, making it the strongest villainous group in opposition to FMW.

Funk Masters of Wrestling

On September 24, Terry Funk and The Gladiator defeated Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka. After the match, the Puerto Rican Army brought the American flag and attacked Hayabusa and then laid the American flag over him, and Funk took over as the leader of the group, naming it Funk Masters of Wrestling, calling it the real FMW. Funk constantly challenged Atsushi Onita to a match as Onita had been avoiding Funk's challenges. On November 16, Funk Masters of Wrestling regained the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship by defeating Masato Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. At Year End Spectacular, Gladiator defeated Independent Heavyweight Champion W*ING Kanemura in a title unification match to unify the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship and began defending it as the Double Championship. At the same event, Onita came out of retirement to team with longtime rival Mr. Pogo, Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda against Terry Funk, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters, with Onita's team winning the match. This was Pogo's retirement match.

On January 5, 1997, Mr. Gannosuke returned to FMW after The Headhunters defeated Hayabusa and Flying Kid Ichihara and insulted Hayabusa for not leaving FMW with him for IWA Japan and began a long-lasting rivalry with Hayabusa. He joined Funk Masters of Wrestling on February 18 by teaming with Hisakatsu Oya to score a tag team victory over Hayabusa and Ricky Fuji. Flying Kid Ichihara also joined the group in February, and the Funk Masters of Wrestling continued its dominance in the company. Onita made his full-time return to FMW to feud with Funk Masters of Wrestling on March 14 by teaming with Masato Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda to defeat The Gladiator, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters. On March 21, Funk Masters of Wrestling lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship as Fuyuki-Gun (Kodo Fuyuki, Jado and Gedo) defeated Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters for the titles. Funk Masters of Wrestling lost in five out of six matches in which they competed at 8th Anniversary Show. Flying Kid Ichihara and Crypt Keeper picked up the only win for the group by defeating Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hayato Nanjyo in a tag team match, while Katsutoshi Niiyama lost to Koji Nakagawa, Super Leather lost to Jinsei Shinzaki, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters defeated Fuyuki-Gun, Mr. Gannosuke lost to Hayabusa in a hair vs. mask match, and Terry Funk, Cactus Jack and The Gladiator lost to Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka and W*ING Kanemura in a Texas Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch.

Dissolution

After their huge failure at the 8th Anniversary Show, Funk Masters of Wrestling began to cripple as the company's main focus was Hayabusa, Fuyuki-Gun and the returning Atsushi Onita. The Headhunters lost the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to W*ING Kanemura and Hido after a year-long reign on April 25. On August 5, The Gladiator, Hisakatsu Oya and Mr. Gannosuke defeated Fuyuki-Gun to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Gannosuke and Oya would also bring the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship back to Funk Masters of Wrestling by defeating Kanemura and Hido for the tag titles on August 21. As a result, Funk Masters of Wrestling once again held all the major titles of the company, but it was short-lived as Gladiator, Oya and Gannosuke lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa on August 31. At Fall Spectacular, Gannosuke and Oya successfully defended the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship against Jado and Gedo, and Terry Funk defeated Kodo Fuyuki in a loser leaves FMW match, with the help of The Headhunters. Gladiator ended up losing the Double Championship to Masato Tanaka, after holding on to the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship for sixteen months.

Funk Masters of Wrestling would slowly begin phasing out of FMW as Funk took a hiatus from wrestling after the event and Atsushi Onita formed a new group called ZEN. Only four members were left in the group, and those were Mr. Gannosuke, Hisakatsu Oya, Super Leather and The Gladiator. On October 19, Gannosuke and Oya dropped the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to ZEN's Atsushi Onita and Yukihiro Kanemura. After losing the title, Gannosuke and Oya left Funk Masters of Wrestling and joined ZEN. On October 21, Oya and Gannosuke defeated the remaining members of the group, Leather and Gladiator, after a miscommunication occurred between both men and Gladiator delivered an Awesome Bomb to Leather, allowing Oya to pin him for the win. Following the match, Gladiator officially ended Funk Masters of Wrestling and confirmed the end of the group by joining ZEN later in the show.

Aftermath

Terry Funk had left FMW to compete exclusively for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and returned to FMW as an ECW wrestler, just two months after the dissolution of Funk Masters of Wrestling, to participate in the Super Extreme Wrestling War, an interpromotional tour hosted by FMW between FMW and ECW wrestlers, which marked the beginning of a working partnership between ECW and FMW. On the December 20 show, Funk teamed with his ECW colleagues The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer against his former Funk Masters of Wrestling members Mr. Gannosuke, The Gladiator and Hisakatsu Oya, which ended with Gannosuke pinning his former leader for the win. Funk vanished from FMW after the tour ended and then returned for one last time at the 10th Anniversary Show with his brother Dory Funk, Jr. to defeat Yoshinori Sasaki and Naohiko Yamazaki.

The Gladiator remained in ZEN until the group disbanded in 1998, and he ultimately left the promotion after suffering an injury in the summer of 1998 and returned to the United States to work for ECW, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Mike Awesome. Other members of the group continued to compete until the group's dissolution.

Championships and accomplishments

• Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
  • FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship (2 times) - Super Leather (1), The Gladiator (1)
  • FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship (2 times) - The Headhunters (1), and Mr. Gannosuke and Hisakatsu Oya (1)
  • FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship (1 time) - The Gladiator
  • FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (3 times) - Super Leather and The Headhunters (1, inaugural), Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters (1), The Gladiator, Hisakatsu Oya and Mr. Gannosuke (1)

External links

• Funk Masters of Wrestling at Cagematch.net

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