Spike Chunsoft has been working on Fire Pro Wrestling World for eight years now -- and it's got the longest-running lifespan of any entry in the nearly forty-year series so far. It was the first entry to get an official promotional license since the Super Famicom's All-Star Dream Slam and the only one with licenses from two promotions as New Japan Pro Wrestling DLC led to STARDOM DLC later on. Its greatest extra content came from its commitment to help former Japanese pro wrestling and MMA star Yoshihiro Takayama, of the "Frye-Takayama exchange" from PRIDE that became such a legendary moment that it's been referred to in movies as just that alongside being a staple in pro wrestling matches since it debuted in 2002.
Takayama was known for taking obscene amounts of punishment and neither he nor Frye were the same after that fight, but each did a great job across Japan in the pro wrestling world and in Japan especially, the different genres of pro wrestling and MMA are more linked together in part due to Antonio Inoki doing "mixed matches" decades before the debut of UFC including his legendary match with Muhammad Ali that...
