[2000-06-18-Osaka Pro] Super Delphin vs Takehiro Murahama

[soup23]

I’m ready to put this right up there with Brock vs Goldberg as the greatest sub five minute match of all time. The pace is incredible and never lets up and it tells a classic story of striker vs grappler. Murahama charges in and gets leg locked immediately for one of his breaks. Delphin tries to shoot in constantly but that does open him up to the deadly strike game of Murahama. Halfway through the second round, Delphin locks on an insanely tight arm lock and Murahama is forced to tap giving him his first loss of his career in amazingly dramatic fashion. After the match, Murahama gets put over huge and the roster members come out to give him the recognition he deserved. This was an unexpectedly great emotional moment and capper to the overall arc of Murahama debuting in Osaka Pro. I love this promotion right now. ****1/4 (8.7)

[Tim Evans]

So was this under RINGS rules with the rope breaks being counted against the wrestler? This was great as Chad said it's fast and told a good story. Who would have though Delphin would out shoot the shoot wrestler?

[ohtani's jacket]

Deflin continues his spectacular 2000 run and Murahama continues to be the biggest prick in Japanese wrestling. What's not to like here? Delfin has been a revelation o on the mat. He's blowing up in my eyes. I look at him now and I think I'm watching El Hijo del Santo. The finish was unreal -- a funk Dos Caras submission with a shoot style twist. Deflin is my new hero.

[Edwin]

This was pretty great, however its too short to be compared to their previous match which was also much better than this. I think what irks me mot about this match is that its a lot more one sided than their previous match. In the previous match they split a round each before heading into the third. Here its mostly Super Delfin shooting for his beautiful double legs and working the match, which isn't a bad thing, however I would have liked seeing them work more on the feet with Murahama having landed more strikes in the standing exchanges.

 

***1/4

[drew wardlaw]

Awesome match, and a great continuation and payoff from the previous match, where we know that Murahama can win with his KO strikes, so Delphin has to go after holds to try to end it early. The armbar thing he uses is one of the better ones Ive ever seen, and like chad said, this has been a really cool story from his debut until now and a great way to get Murahama over in the promotion.

[superkix]

This was short with sweet, with Murahama missing most of his big kick attempts and Delphin capitalizing with great double leg takedowns. Delphin was much more dominant on the mat, getting Murahama in a reverse knee bar or crab hold, but always sending him to the ropes. Murahama is only able to knock him down once after a quick flurry at the round one but after a beautiful snap belly-to-belly, Delphin's able to work his way into a triangle to tap Murahama.

[Laney]

Short match but a lot of fun.  Delphin has the advantage for most of this match as he constantly grounds Murahama and tries to gain the submission victory.  This is clearly a story of the striker vs the grappler with Murahama constantly going for flurries of strikes to try to gain the KO.  Very nice matwork from Delphin.  ***1/2

[Calvin]

What a performance from Super Delphin. He came in with a gameplan and executed it as perfectly as anyone could've. Murahama's striking is completely neutralized as Delphin gives him no space to operate and pressures him at all angles. His offensive flurries quickly went from impressive striking displays to something more resembling wild desperation as Delphin evaded or blocked all of them, consistently took him to the ground, and targeted the leg with surgical precision.

There's a moment in the second round where Murahama clips Delphin with a punch and staggers him that serves as a reminder to us that Murahama is: (a) the champion; (b) an undefeated champion, mind you; and (c) is coming off a knockout win versus Delphin just last month. He's dangerous, and even though we see Delphin dominate him, that sense of danger never truly dissipates. It sustains the drama of the whole match. Isn't that how you want all undefeated streaks to end? In a match that not only elevates the winner, but manages to elevate the first-time loser as well?

****