left FMW due to being unhappy with his spot in the company. Big Japan Pro Wrestling (1996–2001) Matsunaga debuted for the new rising deathmatch promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) on July 19, 1996 by teaming with Shoji Nakamaki to defeat Kendo Nagasaki and Seiji Yamakawa in a No Ropes Barbed Wire, Scaffold, Table and Barbed Wire Boards Elimination Deathmatch to begin feuding with Nagasaki. Matsunaga defeated Nagasaki in a singles match on August 5. At Summer Night Dream, Matsunaga competed against Nagasaki in a high-profile Yokohama Amazon River Piranha and Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch, which Nagasaki won. The match earned critical acclaim and would become very popular in Japan and considered to be a pioneer in the popularity and success of deathmatch wrestling in Japan. It was considered by many to be the best deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history. Daniel Massey of Bleacher Report commented "The piranhas took a chunk out of Matsunaga’s chest and he looked in terrible pain when he left the arena. I don’t wish that on anyone, but he chose to wrestle there and in Japan—had they have been fobbed off with a rubbish ending, there would have been a riot. That does not mean I condone the actions, but that’s what makes it great. The final reason this match was the greatest Death Match of all time was because the wrestlers were so good. Matsunaga was already synonymous with the Death Match format and was considered a veteran, so this new concept of piranhas made it more exciting, as even he hadn’t encountered anything like it before. The two wrestlers had a certain chemistry in the ring, and to hold an audience for 20 minutes with a tank of piranhas in the middle of the ring is no easy feat." Ryan Byers of 411mania commented "This probably seemed like a fairly revolutionary little match when it first occurred, and the stipulation upon which the match was built is something that has rarely if ever been duplicated. However, if you take away the piranha, there’s nothing that separates it from five hundred other deathmatches that we have seen throughout the years", with "The match is still well worth watching for curiosity’s sake, but I can’t imagine going out of your way to watch it if you’re interesting in seeing a top of the line deathmatch." Matsunaga competed in a variety of deathmatches during the early