My Good Times With FMW Wrestling's High-Flying Assassin, Hayabusa!

I am thankful to God and to wrestling fans that, to this day, I am still well-known (via videotapes, DVDs and television screens) around the nation and in parts of the world as the on-camera host & play-by-play announcer for Tokyopop's English language presentation of the influential hardcore wrestling promotion in Japan known as FMW (Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling), which influenced ECW and other promotions that have presented a hardcore-style of wrestling. A big high five to The Fight Network in Canada, who showed these FMW Wrestling episodes for several years. A big part of FMW was the wrestler named Eiji Ezaki, aka "The Flying Assassin", "the bird that never dies", Hayabusa!

Along with calling the amazing high-flying moves of Hayabusa on several FMW Wrestling episodes distributed by Tokyopop, it was a pleasure for me to talk with Hayabusa, when he came to Los Angeles on a few occasions. Eiji/Hayabusa was a nice, laid-back guy with a gentle voice (yes, he spoke English), who was at his "loudest" and most excitable in the ring.

My most vivid memory of Hayabusa, both behind the scenes and in the ring, was at an E3 Convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Tokyopop had a wrestling ring set up there, and with a microphone in hand, I was Tokyopop's "hype man", promoting Tokyopop, Tokyopop's anime products, and Tokyopop's upcoming videotapes of FMW Wrestling, coming soon to video stores across North America. As a side note, Tokyopop founder Stu Levy commended me after this event, saying that I "was the star of the show". I was also a ring announcer that day...the FMW wrestlers came out to wrestle three sets of matches during this E3 convention, so Hayabusa came out and wrestled three times. Each time, Hayabusa did his various daredevil, high-risk moves in the ring, while taking cigarette smoke breaks in between. In between bouts, Eiji/Hayabusa took the time to explain different things about the FMW wrestlers, moves and in-ring angles to me. While a few on wrestling message boards may have questioned if he really had substance behind his style (fancy "high spots"), I can say as someone who talked with him that he came across as a worker who knew his stuff, who understood psychology in the ring (not only what he did in the ring, but when, why and how...some may say that he didn't convey psychology inside the ring as well as others, but for a guy wearing a mask, I thought he did it well), as well as a nice guy overall.

Talking on different occasions with Eiji Ezaki, the man behind the mask of Hayabusa, were certainly times I look back on with fond memories. At the end of the day, though, above the highs and lows of this world, above Hayabusa's high flying moves, and even higher than my great memories of working in the wrestling business (which had its time and season), I will always look to my God Most High, as my everlasting foundation for truth and true life...as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him" (Psalm 103:11). "My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him" (Psalm 62:1).