[1980-04-13-UWA] Satoru Sayama & Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo & Babyface

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-04-13
UWA
Gran Hamada & Satoru Sayama vs. Babe Face & Perro Aguayo
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos, Naucalpan de Juarez, Estado de Mexico, Mexico
Card
★★★

I loved that we got to see more of Hamada’s rough edges here. Right at the beginning we saw him trying to work Aguayo who was having none of it. He strolled to the outside ignoring Hamada, who was trying to goad him back in. Eventually Hamada just spat at Aguayo, which is something I was sure I’d never see from him.
Sayama sure had some moves and they were flashy, but he felt out of sync with the other three, who all seemed very comfortable with what they were doing in the match. Two examples would be the finish to the first fall where Hamada got the pin on Baby Face and Sayama came off the top to finish off Aguayo, however he missed the roll up and then awkwardly took an age to lock on the submission and it all came across a bit weird. The second would be when he hit his patented backflip move in the corner against Baby Face after a series of other flashy moves and we got a strong reaction from the crowd. He tagged in Hamada, who then goes and effortlessly one-ups him by pulling off a brilliant sequence with both Baby Face and Aguayo simultaneously which lasted at least 5-6 moves. Yes, that also had some flash, but it also felt organic.
Both Hamada and Baby Face built upon their impressive showings in Japan earlier in the year with awesome performances here. I was so blown away by their versatility even within this one match. Both guys had a great sequence together here where they were exchanging arm drags and flying around, but throughout the match, especially when matched up against Sayama, Baby Face was bringing the heat. His strikes were very stiff and it was a straight up beatdown. For Hamada, he was trying to keep things kosher for the most part until the third fall where he blew his gasket and he just went off on Aguayo. His headbutts were nasty and he really brought the intensity as well. When I think of Hamada I don’t think of brawling, but he proved that he could do it here no doubt.

[tcg91]

This was really fun to watch, but it had a couple of weird moments (like Sayama's timing at the end of the first fall). Sayama throws kicks like there is no tomorrow and it mostly rules, but then he predictably plays the part of the young boy and the rudos beat him down, showing a lot of chemistry between each other. The major focus of the match is Hamada vs Perro and Perro has a clear advantage, as Babe Face continuously interferes and they end up busting Hamada's forehead open. Cool non-finish when Perro kicks Hamada low just to stop his comeback and momentum right when the tecnicos got the upper hand, it fits the story. A fun spectacle.
***1/2