MOTW 52: Gladiator Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka

“M.O.T.W. #52: 'The Gladiator' Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka” - ink & digital illustration

Hi pals! We made it!! Yes, this week officially commemorates a FULL YEAR of our ‘Match of the Week’ illustration series & I’ve chosen what I feel is a bloody doozy to cap it off!

This 'balls to the wall', action-movie thrill ride of a match took place in Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling on September 28th, 1997, at their massive ‘FMW Over The Legend Kawasaki’ event at the big event home of FMW, Kawasaki Stadium, before 50,012 fans! With the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight & Independent Heavyweight ‘Double-Championship’ on the line!

So this was actually the ‘main event’ of this past weeks’ 'Wrestling-Club with Chris Things' at The Scratch & is a match that I LOVE!

Growing up as a VHS collecting wrestling-nerd, I absolutely adored the wild, freak-show energy of FMW. It was just so the opposite of the sanitised product of the big American companies & had a rebel spirit that I was all about. And the Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome feud encapsulated that wild energy perfectly. I also absolutely LOVED the matches they would go onto have stateside in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

This one in particular feels to me like the most epic of the series - both due to the grand stage & the epic escalation of the match itself from start to finish. The build up of Tanaka trying for that Powerbomb & incredible payoff is just something else! This also marked Tanaka finally conquering the Gladiator & getting his first win in this all-timer of a rivalry.

Everything about this rules. It’s not subtle in the slightest, but like any good B-Grade action/thriller, it’s just SO MUCH FUN! Highly recommended!!

Artist’s note: As this marks the end of a full year of our M.O.T.W. Series, I’m pleased to announce that there’s no end in sight for this thing & I’m planning to keep this going for a little while longer yet.

ENJOY!

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