Kenji Fukimoto

[6.0] "An inspiring story that if you decide to maim yourself for 20 years in front of small crowds, things will work out for you. Fukimoto has been a mainstay in FREEDOMS for many years and in 2024 is having, in my opinion, the best run of matches in his career. An underground success story."

[10.0] "Fukimoto is really a wrestler of two halves. The half most people know is FREEDOMS era Fukimoto, who I personally have always enjoyed a lot. He may not be going for the higher workrate style of deathmatch wrestling a lot of people crave from FREEDOMS, but instead, Fukimoto is a very reliable hand as a hardcore plunder type wrestler, doing really enjoyable work even if he may not reach the peaks that other guys like Kasai or Takeda hit. Plus, he's had one of the coolest looks in wrestling for a while, looking like the shitty bassist of a local black metal band. It's one of the most fitting appearances for a deathmatch guy ever. However, the other half of Fukimoto's career is an absolute revelation. Before being the schlubby facepaint guy in FREEDOMS, Fukimoto was an Onita/Muto hybrid wrestler who blazed a trail of glory through the sleaziest indies in Japanese wrestling history. His work in FU*CK! especially is something to behold, with Fukimoto regularly maiming himself for the love of the game and pulling great matches out of the most unlikely opponents. Honestly, if more people knew about his 2000s indie work, I think general perception of Fukimoto would be a lot higher than it is. God bless him for everything he's put himself through for the business, and I hope he's able to collect the easiest paychecks possible as a weird rat masked guy going forward."