A few more (near-complete) matches from some DVDs. First up, a trios from August 19th, pitting Sasuke, SATO and TAKA against Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa and Jinsei Shinzaki. This had a nice opening exchange between Naniwa and SATO - they match up well, especially where Naniwa is taking impressive looking bumps off of SATO really quick takedowns. There was a short rudo section and I've got to say that TAKA isn't really impressing me in that role, and his selling of the beating is lacklustre at best. They do some comedy - the arm-wringer spot and the fake defection by Naniwa - and everyones trademark dives. I was hoping for a little more Sasuke vs. Shinzaki, but they just skirmished early on.
The August 20th show had a title match between Sasuke vs. Shinigami. This was very by numbers. The opening few minutes stuck to the mat - there's a definite distinction between workers like SATO, whose opening sequences are usually quick, more lucha-inspired and based around takedowns and kipups, and workers like Sasuke whose matwork is slower, more technical and based around submissions or holds. Delfin adapts well to both styles. They blow that off soon enough and, probably due to some clipping, the match felt rather like one of those 'The best ten moves of Sasuke' YouTube videos, and Shinigami, whoever he is, did not come off as a threat.
Finally, there were two SATO and partners vs. Delfin and Super Boy tags, the first from August 11th with Gran Hamada, and the second from August 20th with Piloto Suicida. I've seen SATO and Super Boy match up a few times now, and they have some really fun spots. I particularly like the monkey flip spot where SATO lands on his feet - Super Boy looks away, only for Delfin to tell him to look back, where upon he does this completely over-the-top sell of his surprise where he falls over into the ropes. It's much as if SATO didn't just land on his feet, but in the process, he also morphed into Rikidozan.
Weird thing about these two matches was I liked Hamada a lot more than Piloto, who is a second-rate luchadore at best and whose moveset mainly seems to consist of raising his arms in triumph, but the Piloto match was probably better (or at least, more enjoyable), as it gets a lot more time to build up. I guess it felt like a houseshow match as it was heavily into crowd pleasing, with a few short rudo sections. The Hamada match did have just some really slick matwork at the beginning. Above I mentioned the different types of opening exchanges within the promotion - Hamada is definitely a technical holds kind of a guy, but he moves more interestingly from holds and exploits little bits of leverage in a way only old Mexicans do. Final point, I don't want to undersell how much I've been enjoying Delfin during this time-period, but it is Super Boy who is the most fun to watch bounce around the ring. Consider me a fan.
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