Super Extreme Wrestling War was a series of professional wrestling events produced by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in 1997. These events marked the first time that FMW began a partnership with American counterpart Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and a working relationship began between the two companies as ECW wrestlers competed at these events and it marked the beginning of interpromotional matches and events between ECW and FMW. These events would create a huge impact in FMW's storylines as they concluded with the breakup of ZEN when Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido attacked their leader Atsushi Onita out of jealousy after Hayabusa pinned Onita in a WarGames match. They merged with Fuyuki-Gun to form Team No Respect, which would dominate FMW until 2000.
The tour marked the beginning of a talent exchange working agreement between ECW and FMW which would last throughout the existence of both promotions. The theme of the tour was that ECW wrestlers would work matches on all of the shows on the tour. The tour also featured the return of FMW wrestlers, who were part of ECW roster at the time, Terry Funk and Sabu as ECW wrestlers. Funk had been the leader of Funk Masters of Wrestling and was returning the company for the first time since beating Kodo Fuyuki at Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular and Sabu was returning since losing to Hayabusa at Summer Spectacular in 1994.[2][3]
Storylines
At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Atsushi Onita defeated W*ING Kanemura in a no rope barbed wire electrified dynamite land mine time bomb death match which stipulated that if Onita lost, he would retire and if Kanemura lost, then W*ING Alliance must disband.[2] After the match, W*ING Alliance members Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka and Hido were concerned because no group in FMW would accept them. Onita became upset at FMW's team of Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa for being rude to Kanemura, Hosaka and Hido and then he met Kanemura in his ambulance to conduct a meeting with the former W*ING members. On September 30, Onita held a press conference in which he turnedvillain for the first time in his FMW career by denouncing himself as a FMW wrestler and formed ZEN with the former W*ING Alliance and FMW's upstart Tetsuhiro Kuroda. A rivalry blossomed between FMW and ZEN and the Funk Masters of Wrestling was quickly phased out after Mr. Gannosuke, Hisakatsu Oya and The Gladiator ended it due to the group's leader Terry Funk leaving FMW and they joined ZEN.[4] On November 20, Masato Tanaka, Ricky Fuji and Mr. Pogo #2 defeated ZEN's Atsushi Onita, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hido in a six-man tag team match when Tanaka pinned Onita,[5][6] leading to a match between the two on the first show of the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour on December 19.
At 8th Anniversary Show, Hayabusa defeated Mr. Gannosuke in a mask vs. hair match and then attempted to reconcile with Gannosuke but Gannosuke attacked him and attempted to blow fire on him until Hayabusa's ally Jinsei Shinzaki made the save, thus forming an alliance with Hayabusa and beginning to feud with Gannosuke.[7] On June 21, Gannosuke attacked Shinzaki under a Hayabusa disguise during Shinzaki's entrance before a match at a Michinoku Pro Wrestling show.[8] On July 19, Gannosuke, Hisakatsu Oya and The Gladiator defeated Hayabusa, Shinzaki and Koji Nakagawa in a six-man tag team match.[9] On August 25, Gannosuke, Gladiator and Super Leather defeated the team of Shinzaki, Ricky Fuji and Ricky Morton in a barbed wire tornado deathmatch.[10] On October 14, Gannosuke attacked Shinzaki from behind before a match between the two and then easily defeated him by making him bleed.[11] On October 19, Gannosuke, along with Hisakatsu Oya left Funk Masters of Wrestling and joined ZEN after losing the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to ZEN's Atsushi Onita and Yukihiro Kanemura.[12] The title would be vacated due to Onita's inactivity. On November 28, Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura defeated Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka to win the vacant title.[13] On December 5, Gannosuke stole Shinzaki's clothes and wore them during a tag team match pitting him and Hideki Hosaka against Shinzaki and Ricky Fuji, which Gannosuke and Hosaka won.[14] This set up a title defense for Gannosuke and Kanemura against Hayabusa and Shinzaki on the December 19 show of the tour.
Other important changes in the FMW roster took place in December as Hisakatsu Oya quit ZEN after losing to Hayabusa on December 5 and Koji Nakagawa walked out on FMW after feeling betrayed by Shoichi Arai for not been given major opportunities which had been promised to him in the past.[4]
Koji Nakagawa was added into ZEN for helping Atsushi Onita to fend off the attack of Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura and ZEN ended their feud with FMW and focused on feuding with the new freelance trio of Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido.[4] On January 6, 1998, Gannosuke defeated Masato Tanaka to win the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship.[19] The following night, ZEN promoted its first show, modeled after nWo Souled Out, which was headlined by ZEN's Onita, Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeating Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido.[20] After the match, Gannoskue, Kanemura and Hido attacked ZEN and Fuyuki-Gun joined them in the assault and the two groups merged to form Team No Respect, which became the lead heelstable in FMW. Hayabusa won a tournament to become the #1 contender for the Double Championship and defeated Gannosuke for the title at the 9th Anniversary Show while Onita lost to TNR member Kodo Fuyuki.[21]
