[1980-01-28-Joint Promotions] Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[GSR]

This is a return contest from the previous December where Grey came out on top. They open up quickly with Saint catching Grey in an armlock, who does all he can to try and escape; he biels him off the ropes, holds on to referee Peter Szakacs to flip over, tries using the top rope all whilst Saint maintains hold of the armlock. With the round closing out Grey finally works out an escape and frees himself. On to the second and the two exchange holds, each trying to gain the advantage but with Saint mainly having the upper hand. He moves back to working on Grey's arm and similarly to the first Saint holds on to the move despite everything that Grey tries to escape. Head mares are having no luck and eventually he rolls backwards, forwards and throws a grounded kick to the chest to release himself. Saint moves to working on a hammerlock as the bell sounds to close out he second. Again Saint concentrates on the arm and with a back hammer in place looks for a pinfall, but a series of reversals sees Saint spin Grey out of a folding press. Grey grabs the arm and wrenches Saint as he finally starts to get some ascendancy in the bout. He turns his attention to Saint's left arm, but Saint flips out of the hold and again moves back to holding the advantage. Hip toss takedown and pin attempt from Grey for a two count, double arm stretch by Saint and Grey repeatedly kicks Saint gently in the jaw to force the escape. Dropkick from Grey and Saint comes off the ropes with a sunset flip for a near fall. Saint takes a bump over the rope early in the fourth after being spun out of a Grey hold. A series of pin attempts by both and then Grey runs off the ropes, Saint leaps over him and immediately drops down into a ball. Saint offers the hand, Grey takes it, Saint flips him over and covers him for the first fall. Saint opens the next round with an abdominal stretch as he looks to take the contest in two straight. Grey briefly makes a come back, but Saint goes back to working for the submission. A single leg crab is followed by a full boston crab that Grey ends up powering out of, over the knee backbreaker, side surfboard and a version of the torture rack backbreaker all by Saint as he tries for that second fall.

Before Round Six starts, Kent Walton says that Johnny Czeslaw hasn't been well and sends him his best wishes whilst quipping about not putting any half nelsons on the nurses! At this point Walton stops calling the action and mentions how Steve Logan has recently had to retire due to injury and both Johnny Yearsley and Gwyn Davies are out of action recovering from injuries. He then talks about the 'clever boys' who write for 'sleazy newspapers' who say that the wrestlers don't really get hurt, and how he wishes they could get in the ring with one of these two. Back to the action and Grey has a back hammer on Saint that he flips over the back of. Grey misses a dropkick, Saint shoots him into the ropes looking for a hip toss take down but Grey reverses it into a backslide for the equalizing fall. With the bout all even Grey is back to working on Saint's arm, but he escapes and turns the tables starting on Grey's ankle in an attempt to try and slow him down. Monkey climb escape from Grey, Saint lands on his feet and looks to try and post Grey in the corner but he reverses it. Saint blocks the posting and ducks under Grey who goes over the top and down the back for a double leg nelson, folding press by Saint and Grey spins him out. Saint drops down and tries to schoolboy Grey but he turns on the move and tries for another pin attempt. Double leg nelson by Saint this time, folding press by Grey and he has the legs trapped and shoulder's down for the decisive fall. After the bout Saint says that as Grey has now beaten him twice, it's only fair that Grey now gets a shot at his World Lightweight title.

This was a great match that was fought at a tremendous pace from the onset. Often these matches will start out slow and they will move things up as the match progresses but that was not the case here. I hated the way that Saint got his fall, but this bout is a really good advert for him as a lot of his 'kooky stuff is kept to a minimum and wasn't really on show here. It'd be interesting to find out what led to Walton going off on one as it was so out of the blue and unexpected. I'd rank this a notch below Grey's bout with Jon Cortez but still one that is well worth checking out.

[Jetlag]

Johnny Saint is the World Champion here. Steve Grey has beaten him the year before, can he do it again? Something I love about old european wrestling: the weight classes that protected these lighter guys.

 

This is an utterly incredible match. Easily the best Johnny Saint match ever. Part of why the match is great is the high speed, super athletic, tricked out technical stuff they do, but how they build it into an intense contest is magnificient. This is not the smiling, funny Johnny Saint who does jokes and tricks, it's Johnny Saint as the focussed, skillful champ against the most determined guy in the world. Walton puts over how impressive it is that Grey can even throw Johnny. They also map out the action beautifully, with some spots teased early on that get played off later, repeated sequences leading into transitions etc. Always with the focus on the challenger trying to topple the champ. Then you also have all these insane fast and intricate rope running exchanges.

 

Another thing I like about this bout is that it's not nice. It's an all technical match with no strikes, but they were punishing eachother here. Each hold or takedown would be really wrenched in, Grey was constantly trying to snap Johnny's wrist. Grey would also claw his hand in Saint's face, Saint would smash his shoulder into the mat, elbow on the face when trying a pin, etc. I also really liked the use of the arm wringer bump or missed dropkick, these simple bumps look great in World of Sport and were timed perfectly.

 

Grey is a crazy good babyface. He is great at putting over how fierce the bout is and how he was pushing himself to the limit to beat Saint. His selling was fantastic: He would slump over exhausted but then get up, or get Saint in a basic hold so he could regenerate his injured leg. Saint was less expressive but perfect for his role.

 

 

All time great match. May be a serious GOAT contender even. But that's up to how much one can enjoy this kind of face vs. face technical match. For what it is I can't recall many instances where it's been done better.

[Microstatistics]

In terms of story and execution, this match might be the closest pro wrestling has come to resembling a traditional sporting event. Grey upset Saint in December but the general feeling was that it might have been a fluke. The first fall only reinforced that notion since Saint outwrestled Grey to take the 1-0 lead. Saint’s control continued into the second fall, especially as Grey hurt his leg. But Grey soldiered on and when opportunities presented themselves, he capitalized not once but twice to complete an impressive come from behind 1-2 victory and prove the doubters wrong. A respectful yet competitive feel, tricked out wrestling with compelling offense from Saint and world-class selling by Grey and a nice perseverance narrative. ****3/8
 

[Makai Club #1]

The early portion of the match was mostly all Saint and his tight wrist lock/arm bar variation. Grey has some nifty counters, which come more and more frequent as the match progresses, for the wrist lock before inevitably being locked back in the hold. In Round Three, the match really turns from a Saint showcase to Grey proving he can step toe to toe with Saint by not only locking him in a few holds of his own but setting traps and telegraphing what Saint does after he hits the ropes and locking on a hold. And by the end of the Third Round, Saint turns around and handshakes Grey in a sign of respect. Saint ups the intensity of his holds by getting more aggressive and being rewarded with a pin. Grey responded by wrenching on the arm and picks Saint up using the singular arm before slamming him down which looked great. Saint brings out much more complex moves such as the boston crab, crossbow surfboard and a neat looking tortcher rack variation with Saint also holding the knee joints in Grey’s leg. Grey starts throwing out big drop kicks and then a backslide to get a pin over Saint making it 1-1!!! Grey beat Saint, which stuns me, after a beautiful exchange of pin/reversal/pin in Round Seven and Saint responds by offering Grey a title match for the British Lightweight Title. 

Great way to finish off a really fun match. I really enjoyed everything they did. Some of the counters were unworldly and I always enjoy a match built around attacking the arm. I thought Grey getting more and more comfortable in the match was very well done and it added a great sense of struggle in the last half of the match. Great stuff. ****1/2
 

[cactus]

The first round is dominated by one arm lock and they somehow keep things exciting for the entire five minutes. Grey has to find ways to escape Saint's hold, but Saint isn't going to give up his hold without a fight. Both guys are faces, but Saint works this one as the more seasoned quasi-heel and Grey is fighting from underneath for the most part. Grey beat Saint before and wants to prove that match was no fluke. On top of all the sublime story-telling, this had great limbwork, crafty counters, and a constant barrage of excitement. ★★★★¾

[SAMS]

Saint is the World Light Heavyweight Champion and Grey is the British Lightweight Champion and apparently Grey has a recent victory over Saint so the formbook is in his favour.
I’ll admit that there was just too much going on to give a blow by blow account of the action, but essentially Saint had an arm/wrist hold for the majority and no matter the intricate reversals or escapes that Grey attempted, Saint was always able to maintain that hold. They maintained a relentless pace basically from bell to bell, with counter following counter and any time they stayed in a hold it was being worked for what it was worth.
Saint grabbed the first fall, he baited Grey into false security by curling up into a ball in the centre of the ring, and from then on Grey was desperately trying to make up for the lost ground. His attacks became more high risk and this got him in hot water as he missed a knee drop and Saint immediately targeted his leg.
At this point I was really caught up in the match. I truly didn’t think Grey could make it back from 1-0 down, his leg was being ravaged and a 2-0 clean sweep by Saint just seemed a foregone conclusion. Grey began to look more and more worn down however miraculously he managed to sneak pinfalls of his own in consecutive rounds in the 6th and 7th. His victory now sets up a title match the next time they meet.

★★★★ ½

[tcg91]

This was ridiculously good. The match has the best looking and quickest armdrag/armbar sequences you could ever find, of course Saint was the one mastering the moves, while Grey was selling huge for him and getting a lot of sympathy from the crowd (to the point that Saint was booed by some fans, like a 2005 John Cena!). The control of the pace was nothing but excellent, as the match never dragged because Grey refused to stay down and his quick comebacks were always a treat. Grey's offence got more risky when we headed to the penultimate round and he managed to find two brave pinfalls on Saint, to win a match that seemed impossible for him to fix at that point
****1/4