The Call of the Underground #1

 Fugofugo Yumeji & BUKI vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Johta, EXIT 7/14/2018

Now this… this is a damn MATCHUP!! Fugofugo going toe to toe with Ishikawa is a weird fever dream of this blog… and in this match, holy fuck they go toe to toe! Everything you can ask for from a match in a tiny ring with chains instead of ropes held in a Tokyo merch store. You get Fugofugo and Ishikawa brutalizing each other (including Fugo almost shattering Yukis face with pretty much the most god awful headbutt in the history of the world EVER), but you also get plenty of neat Ishikawa matwork. BUKI and Johta are really fun complementing characters, BUKIs super stiff mini Great Kabuki act is so cool, and while Johta was slower compared to his CAPTURE days he was willing to hit and get hit which is all I ask for. This went +20 minutes and had a really nice ebb and flow structure to it. The finish was between BUKI and Johta and while maybe that wasn‘t the epic Fugo/Ishikawa showdown you hoped for it was primitve and violent. Besides both the old guys were probably on the verge of brain damage at this point. Really extremely well done stiff quasi-shootstyle brawl, felt like one of the better Japanese tags of the 2010s.