6/28/98 Fukushima Sunshine Namie from Michinoku Lucha TV #10
Delfin was always a guy that needed to be carried to have a very good or better match. He finally assumed the role of the veteran today, carrying Hoshikawa to the best singles match I've ever seen him in. Hoshikawa has improved a lot, and he's been having good matches of late. However, Delfin brought to the table the ring smarts that the much better working Masato Yakushiji (who had a ***1/4 match with Hoshikawa on the same TV show) doesn't possess at this point.
This started slowly, and in that regard was somewhat disappointing because with a strong opening this could have been a match of the year candidate, but turned into a great match with practically 10 minutes of near falls back and forth. The vast majority of the offense was convincing, but Hoshikawa still falls prey to weak execution from time to time. They did some nice Lucha early, but the first big spot was terrible, as Delfin was knocked down from a Hoshikawa kick that didn't really connect. Hoshikawa used kicks as his primary weapon as always, and the others were much better than the aforementioned. Delfin made a comeback and controlled Hoshikawa with submissions and suplexes. While there was nothing wrong with the first 14 minutes, they weren't particularly eventful and they didn't really establish a storyline.
"I have a hard time agreeing with **** for this match. The last nine or so minutes of near falls were great, but neither guy did anything to the other in the first 14 minutes that would warrant enough damage to put the other away. Thus, most of the near falls weren't believable (which you alluded to by saying that they really didn't establish a storyline). Based on the early portion, if they went home before the 19-minute-mark it would not have been believable unless it was a flash pin," wrote Michael.
From
the 14-minute mark, the match was great with near falls back and forth at a
rapid pace. The work during this portion was great, as were the spots. Hoshikawa
got a 2 count after his enzuigiri, and was so disgusted that he didn't score
the big upset there that he pushed referee Ted Tanabe. Hoshikawa came just as
close to winning with his Northern Lights suplex. Delfin came back and tried
his swinging DDT, but Hoshikawa Northern Light suplexed him for an even nearer
fall. Delfin continued kicking out really late, which made the match dramatic.
Finally, after Hoshikawa hit his diving brainkick,
Delfin didn't kick out. What Hoshikawa didn't immediately realize though, was
that Delfin's foot was on the rope. Hoshikawa stopped Delfin's diving move by
dropkicking him in midair then got another
near fall with his diving brainkick.
He delivered a stiff lariat, but again Delfin kicked out at 2 9/10. Delfin made
a comeback with his upper blow, and used various DDT's for near falls. Finally,
Delfin put Hoshikawa away his Delfin stunner
(fisherman DDT?).
Hoshikawa came incredibly close to scoring the big upset, and looked really good in the process. A large part of the reason he looked so good was that Delfin held the match together. Obviously Delfin going the extra mile to make Hoshikawa look good by taking his best moves and nearly getting pinned by them helped a lot too. 23:34 (23:10 aired). ****