I hope you don’t mind, but I slowed the gif down because that is a FANTASTIC move.
The sword clearly cuts his wrist and waist. I mean he took the guys sword away, sure, but also fucked up his own ability to fight at the same time. It’d be one thing if he was wearing armor, but this is like a dueling thing.
I think you give too much credence to a Sword’s ability to cut. This is from the manual I practice, “Il Fior di Battaglia,” “The Flower of Battle,” by Fiore dei Liberi. I have performed this maneuver, and I’ve gotta say, when done right, it feels good.
Point being, if you do it right, when you pivot around your guard and bring the pommel around the blade, your wrist does come into contact with the edge, but there is no sliding motion, and it’s that sliding motion that causes a blade to slice. You pivot, pull against the blade, and it goes flying as your wrist pulls away from the edge.
I’ve never made a blade go flying so far as the guys in this video, but even if I did, the blade doesn’t have the right kind of leverage and power behind it to cut into his waist there. It would strike him, and he might feel it, but I doubt it would even scratch his clothes.
