Satoru Sayama y Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo y Baby Face (4/13/80)

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I always try to give the much maligned Sayama a chance to be good, and he does alright here. To be fair, when his shit hits, there's few more beautiful sights in wrestling. The speed is still dazzling to this day. But then he makes a mess of that first fall. Oh well. Hamada is leaps and bounds better anyway, and this match is all about the war between he and Perro, with the highlight being the Perro senton for the second fall. Shit gets good towards the end, with the blood and the ball shot. Feels like a good match to set the bar for what's to come.

[Lee B.]

I don't have much to add, other than I also liked this match.  I thought the rope-running sequence between Hamada and Baby to open the second fall, with all the great arm drags, was quite sweet.  I also dug Hamada's head-butts in the third fall.  I don't think Sayama was all that painful to watch here.

[SLL]

I'd have to revisit some stuff, but on first blush, this felt like the best set opener we've had yet. The ass-kicking rudos were the stars here, and Hamada ruled it, too, fighting back hard and busting out some nifty spots. Yet, despite being the least guy in this, I kinda feel like the story of this match was Sayama. Yeah, he bungled the finish of the first fall a bit, but everything else he did looked really sharp and stood in stark contrast to his laughably bad Tiger Mask run. In fact, there's one sequence in the first fall where he runs off a string of spots that would become Tiger Mask staples - including that big flipping armdrag - and they all looked completely on-point and spectacular. Two years later, those same spots would become running jokes, as he'd consistently try and hilariously fail to do things that he seems to do effortlessly here. Then he'd split for the UWF, and he'd end up being really good again. He'll, I've seen the guy give strong performances as recently as a few years ago. It's weird how wrong we got Sayama in hindsight. It's not just that Tiger Mask wasn't as good as we used to think he was. It's that for years, his early 80's Tiger Mask run was seen as the only part of his career worth looking at, when it was actually his career low-point as a worker.

[Curt McGirt]

One thing that needs to be noted: don't get used to the camerawork on display here cause that shit is right out the window when we get a Spanish announce team. It's almost a treat going back and watching this after trying to make out who is who in a tag on the fourth disc. I say "almost" because those matches still kick ass. Initially Baby Face kind of wants to wrestle (busts out a cool STO too) but the will of evil Perro compells him to kick Sayama right in the ribs with a resounding *THWACK*. It is really funny hearing Perro yell "AYE YAI YAI YAI YAI... BABEEEEEE! BABEEEEE!" after Sayama crushes his leg at 100 MPH. This is a great showcase for Sayama and Hamada who get to show off all their tricks instead of having to do matwork. They are also really good at getting beat up by rudos as the second and third falls show. The cops literally swarm whenever Perro goes into the first row which is weird. God, the foule in this is so brutal, then Perro tries some kind of sugar hold on Hamada until the refs peel him off. He keeps coming back to choke him against the rope and stomp him and it looks like the start of a blood feud. Speaking of blood, this is only the first match and we get three bladejobs -- not huge ones, but it's enough. Damn good start to the set. 

[goc]

Aguayo has such a smug prick face. Babyface is anything but that, what a little prick. He has some great short punches & uppercuts. Aguayo has some really nice knees and kicks. Hamada looks really great at his counters & exchanges. I don't know if Aguayo  & Babyface regularly team together but they work pretty well together as dickheads in this match. I guess both partners have to be pinned or submitted for each fall which is kind of odd. Sayama & Hamada get overwhelmed by double teaming to lose the second fall. Aguayo keeps kicking Hamada's ass between falls and then Babyface continues winning me over with a sneak attack on Sayama right at the start to the 3rd fall. Aguayo kicks Hamada's ass outside the ring while Babyface fish hooks Sayama inside. What a fucking dick. Sayama starts a comeback with some kicks and Babyface bails. Hamada & Aguayo end up in the ring against each other & Hamada has a cut over the eye. Aguayo is DQ'd for a low blow and then has to be pulled off of Hamada by the two refs. And that's it? Kind of a weird finish since the other 2 falls had both members of the team being beat and only Aguayo got DQ'd but I don't know. I DO know that I really loved the team of Perro Aguayo & Babyface. A wrestler named Babyface being a little sneak attacking prick just tickles me. This was definitely a fun watch.