Hey that's interesting. Seems to make sense. Like American muscle cars vs the cars the young people are driving today. Lower rpm & huge displacement vs very high rpm in a little engine. The big displacement engines - high torque on the driveshaft - would push a heavy muscle car as fast or faster than the light high end European sports cars with high-rev engines.
So high torque engines could spin more blades at a slower speed to get the same thrust.
Another factor was clearance to the deck. Like the Corsair using a four blade prop to keep the diameter smaller.