FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship

The FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship contested in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). It was one of the top two titles in the company, along with the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. The title belt was created for Atsushi Onita to use in his retirement match at 6th Anniversary Show in 1995 but could not be shipped to FMW at that time and the title was finally shipped to FMW in 1996 and FMW used it as the alternative top title to the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. Both titles were unified later that year and were collectively referred to as "FMW Double Championship".[1] The titles were separated in 1999 and deactivated later that year in favor of the new WEW Single Championship.[2]

FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
Date establishedMay 27, 1996
Date retiredAugust 25, 1999
Other name(s)
FMW Double Championship (1996–1999)
Statistics
First champion(s)W*ING Kanemura
Final champion(s)Masato Tanaka
Most reignsMr. Gannosuke and Masato Tanaka
(2 reigns)
Longest reignThe Gladiator
(291 days)
Shortest reignMasato Tanaka
(5 days)

History
W*ING Kanemura was the inaugural Independent Heavyweight Champion.

FMW requested a new customized FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship belt for Atsushi Onita to defend it against Hayabusa in the former's retirement match at 6th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1995 but the title could not be created at that time. The title was shipped a year later to FMW in 1996 when Onita had already retired from in-ring competition and FMW would have two Brass Knuckles Championship belts. FMW used the second title belt as a new alternative world heavyweight championship naming it the "FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship" and an eight-man single-elimination tournament was conducted to determine the inaugural champion and the tournament took place during a period of three months.[1] W*ING Kanemura defeated Masato Tanaka in the finals of the tournament to become the inaugural champion at Summer Spectacular on August 1, 1996.[3][4] The title would then be unified with the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship after Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion The Gladiator defeated the Independent Heavyweight Champion W*ING Kanemura in a title unification match at Year End Spectacular on December 11.[5][6] Both titles would then be defended collectively as the "Double Titles Championship" or simply the "Double Championship" for the next two and a half years.[1]

On May 18, 1999, the FMW Commissioner Kodo Fuyuki vacated and split the Double Championship and split the Indepdendent Heavyweight Championship from the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship as separate titles, awarding the Independent Heavyweight Championship to Mr. Gannosuke, making him the first two-time champion.[7] During this time, Fuyuki decided to change the promotion's name from FMW to World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) but FMW President Shoichi Arai rejected the request and allowed him to change the name of the FMW titles to WEW titles instead.[2] On August 25, the Independent Heavyweight Championship and the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship were retired at the Goodbye Hayabusa II: Last Match event, where both titles were defended for the final time. Champion Masato Tanaka defeated Yukihiro Kanemura at the event to retain the title in the final defense of the Independent Heavyweight Championship to become the final Independent Heavyweight Champion.[2][8] The title belts were auctioned and a new WEW World Heavyweight Championship was created instead as the sole world championship of FMW.[2]

Inaugural tournament
 
Quarter finalsSemi finalsFinal
 
          
 
May 27
 
 
Masato TanakaPin
 
July 21
 
Mr. Pogo20:42
 
Masato TanakaPin
 
June 27
 
Hisakatsu Oya20:31
 
Hisakatsu OyaReferee stoppage
 
Summer Spectacular
 
Horace Boulder13:21
 
Masato TanakaPin
 
June 17
 
W*ING Kanemura14:51
 
HidoPin
 
July 21
 
Super Leather19:18
 
Super LeatherPin
 
June 27
 
W*ING Kanemura15:59
 
Koji NakagawaPin
 
 
W*ING Kanemura15:51
 

Title history

Names
Name Years
FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship August 1, 1996–December 12, 1996
FMW Double Championship December 12, 1996–May 18, 1999
FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship May 18, 1999–August 25, 1999

Reigns
No: Wrestler: Reigns: Date: Days held: Location: Event: Notes:
1 W*ING Kanemura 1 August 1, 1996 132 Tokyo, Japan Summer Spectacular Kanemura defeated Masato Tanaka in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion.
2 The Gladiator 1 December 11, 1996 291 Tokyo, Japan Year End Spectacular Gladiator defeated Kanemura to unify the Independent Heavyweight Championship with the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the title was renamed FMW Double Championship.
3 Masato Tanaka 1 September 28, 1997 100 Kawasaki, Kanagawa Fall Spectacular
4 Mr. Gannosuke 1 January 6, 1998 114 Tokyo, Japan New Year Generation Tour
5 Hayabusa 1 April 30, 1998 204 Yokohama, Kanagawa 9th Anniversary Show
6 Kodo Fuyuki 1 November 20, 1998 179 Yokohama, Kanagawa Scramble Survivor Tour
7 Mr. Gannosuke 2 May 18, 1999 94 Tokyo, Japan FMW Kodo Fuyuki relinquished the title due to injury and awarded it to Gannosuke. The title was separated from the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and continued to be defended as the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship.
8 Masato Tanaka 2 August 20, 1999 5 Tokyo, Japan Goodbye Hayabusa II: Haunted House
— Retired — August 25, 1999 — Sapporo, Hokkaido Goodbye Hayabusa II: Last Match The title, along with the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship were abandoned and replaced with a new WEW Single Championship.

Combined reigns
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined days
1 The Gladiator 2 291
2 Mr. Gannosuke 2 208
3 Hayabusa 1 204
4 Kodo Fuyuki 1 179
5 Kintaro Kanemura 1 132
6 Masato Tanaka 2 105

See also

References
  1. "FMW History Part 2". FMW Wrestling. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  2. "FMW History Part 3". FMW Wrestling. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  3. Stuart. "FMW Shiodome Commercial Tape, 8/1/96". Puroresu Central. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  4. "Summer Spectacular 1996". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  5. Stuart. "FMW Review - Mr. Pogo Retirement Show". Puroresu Central. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  6. "Year End Spectacular 1996". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  7. "FMW Independent Heavyweight Title History". FMW Wrestling. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  8. "Goodbye Hayabusa II: Last Match". Cagematch. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
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