7 Episodes Confirmed For Vice's Dark Side Of The Ring Season 3

By Michael Hamflett / January 20, 2021

4. FMW

FMW

Legendary Japanese deathmatch promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling was the home of exploding barbed wire matches, barbed wire steel cages and countless other bloodbaths, all built on the success of Atsushi Onita iconically violent style.

A change of ownership in 1995 saw the company struggling financially and rumours of relationships between president Shoichi Arai and Japanese mafia. Arai took his own life in 2002, shortly after declaring FWM bankrupt.

At the same time over on the other side of the world, another organisation were dabbling in their own brand of ultra-violence...

Authored by Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.

Posted On: 20th Jan 2021

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brian pillman Dark Side of the Ring