Right, that was my point about the hypothesis already having been generated. This particular study is really nothing more than a question-poser, and the questions have already been posed, and some answers produced, as you note.
I do think sometimes a bit more specificity is called for when people say "permissive hypotension." Does this mean no fluid at all? Delayed fluid recussitation until in-hospital? Targeted fluids to some SBP/MAP/clinical assessment level? What level?
I get the impression that usually we mean "aiming for a MAP of 65 or 70", and that doesn't really strike me as "hypotensive" per se. That said, there is even dispute over what "normotension" is, and there is some evidence that, at least in blunt trauma, the hypertensive line may begin at a systolic of 110 (as opposed to the 90 that was apparently quoted in PHTLS):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19077604
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17693826
My impression is that there is no great evidence for truly hypotensive recussitation in humans, although there is a lot of animal data supporting it.