Big multiman tags like this were a real signature selling point for Michinoku Pro. A trios match like this especially harkens back to the major influence that lucha libre has on the in-house style of the company. In fact, despite eschewing the two out of three falls lucha rules, this match still shares a lot of structural similarities with a traditional lucha trios.
There’s still a nice lengthy babyface shine, a period of heel control, and then everything starts to break down into a more back and forth finishing stretch where everyone unloads their arsenals. While the transitions between segments isn’t always perfect, I do really appreciate how everyone colors within the lines during each section. All the rudos do great to let the babyfaces have their shine, basing and bumping for all the fancy and quick offense. There’s always a mindfulness for the idea that the rudos must inevitably be the butt of the joke in the match.
Super Delfin really does handle that tonal balance wonderfully. Given his history with SATO, those two get paired up regularly in this match. Their first interactions involve a lot of high speed exchanges that demonstrate Delfin can athletically keep up with anyone in the ring. But more often than not, he still ends up being the loser of an exchange. His only real moment of true shine is nailing a wicked backbreaker on Sasuke which leads to the pose he strikes in the featured photo you see.
A much better highlight for Delfin is how he stooges for the faces. My god, is he good at it. Two instances stand out in particular. One is an extended sequence where SATO runs circles around all three rudos, basically using his cleverness and finesse to make all the rudos bump into each other. The other is Delfin proudly standing on the apron dishing out arm wringers, unaware that he’s harming his own partner in Gran Naniwa instead. Just classic lucha tag stoogery that adds a lot of color to an already strong match. It’s those character touches that really highlight what I’ve been enjoying so far from Delfin as a rudo–knowing exactly that his best moments should about his own failure.
