[1971-11-29-Joint Promotions] Roy & Tony St. Clair vs Vic Faulkner & Bert Royal

[Jetlag]

The Saints vs. The Royals. A technical sprint! Compare this to the tags from japan or the US from the 70s and it'll look like it's from another planet. They go all out with the tricked out technical stuff. There wasn't much usual tag psychology, but they worked a highly competitive match. Walton kept bringing up the size difference, giving the bout a nice feel of an uphill battle with the Royals having to be as slick as possible. They work their butts off taking all these awesome bumps and sprinting across the ring lightning fast. Some of the best criss cross running spots I've ever seen, and it felt bordering on dangerous especially Faulkner who seemed always close to causing a crash with how reckless he was. My favourite guy in the match may have been Bert as he did all these crazy lucha-ish submissions. They do a bunch of really great nearfalls - british wrestling isn't nearfall heavy, but having watched a bunch of it I knew a fall could end with any move, and they do so many teases that had me and the crowd by the balls the whole time. Because getting a pinfall in WoS is treated as catching and containing the other guy rather than knocking him silly and then lying on top of him for the 3 count, the match never felt excessive. Great, intricate bout that flew by.

[cheapshot]

This match is absolutely phenomenal and doesn't drag at any point. Vic Faulkner is someone who I can't take my eyes off when he's working, someone who I always enjoy.

I love the vibe of the match as well, with four blue eyes all being tickled by their opponents antics, but in a way where it didn't detract from the goal of winning the match. ****1/2

[GSR]

This is a great match by today's standards, but try imagine watching this in 1971 and it must've blown folks minds.  At times it's fought at a breakneck pace with rapid counters, reversals, awesome ingenuitive escapes, all mixed in with Faulkner's usual array of tricks while he hares the ropes as if he's Usain Bolt.  The Saints have got the size advantage and while Tony is someone who I've never been full a fan of, he and Roy (who was tremendous) kept up with their opponents in the technical grappling and intricacy stakes.  There are some quality near falls in there, especially one towards the end where Royal leaps up over the incoming Roy and rolls him up but St. Clair is able to use his momentum to roll through and escape.  It's a treat when they hook you in like that, you think you know what's coming, but no, not just yet.  This is now on YouTube in full (it was previously in three separate ten minute videos) and it's thirty minutes that absolutely flies by.  I'd say this is must see and receives the highest of recommendations.

[Kadaveri]

What a lovely match this is. The pace and intensity at which the run the ropes is astounding to me, it just looks so forceful even if this isn't meant to be a particularly violent match it still makes more modern stuff look soft in comparison. Also what a spectacular bump out of the ring this is.

****1/4

[Mr JMML]

A technical 2 out of 3 falls masterpiece, it's the first Roy St Clair match I ever watched, I've seen his brother Tony many times before because of his legendary status among WoS enthusiast. The pace of this match is astounding, how they can move so fast and still make their offense look strong. Amazing match overall, not at the level of Inoki vs Jack Brisco but good enough to be considered among the best of 1971.