FMW's 5th Anniversary Show established May 5 as a landmark date for the promotion, featuring a high-profile retirement-stipulation deathmatch between Onita and Tenryu.
Key Facts
- Event Date
- May 5, 1994
- Venue
- Kawasaki Stadium, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
- Anniversary Edition
- 5th (third time at Kawasaki Stadium)
- Main Event Type
- No rope exploding barbed wire deathmatch
- Main Event Winner
- Genichiro Tenryu via Powerbomb
- Retirement Stipulation
- Deferred to 6th Anniversary Show (1995)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling held annual anniversary events to mark the company's founding. By its fifth year, FMW had established Kawasaki Stadium as its signature venue, and May 5 was becoming an important calendar date for the promotion, mirroring the significance of January 4 for NJPW.
On May 5, 1994, FMW presented its 5th Anniversary Show at Kawasaki Stadium. The main event pitted FMW's top star Atsushi Onita against WAR's Genichiro Tenryu in an interpromotional no rope exploding barbed wire deathmatch. Tenryu won the bout with a Powerbomb under a stipulation that threatened Onita with forced retirement.
Although Onita lost, he revealed the retirement stipulation was postponed to the following year's 6th Anniversary Show, where he ultimately did retire. The event reinforced May 5 as FMW's defining annual date and helped cement the company's reputation for extreme deathmatch-style professional wrestling.