[1980-08-05-Joint Promotions] Pat Roach vs Tony St Clair

[SAMS]

1980-08-05
Joint Promotions
Pat Roach vs Tony St Clair
Bedworth, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Rating: ★★★

St Clair was the British Heavyweight Champion, but he was outweighed by the far larger Roach by nearly 5 stones. Despite this he was able to go toe to toe with the big man and the first few rounds were pretty scientific. They teased some more hard hitting spots, including a shoulder charge collision which they called back to repeatedly throughout, which gave the impression that St Clair wasn’t going to be steamrolled.
Eventually Roach looked like he was going to make some headway using his power as he sent St Clair into the turnbuckle with such force he almost disintegrated. A huge shoulder check and a second whip into the corner made it feel like a pin was inevitable, and it was, but it was St Clair, able to use Roach’s momentum against him, who rolled him up for the first fall of the match.
Things were nip and tuck over the next few rounds but St Clair pulled out some more power moves of his own, hitting a few European Uppercuts, and meeting a shoulder charge from Roach at its apex and nailing him in the face. It felt like a 2-0 victory was more certain than Roach levelling things up. It wasn’t to be however as they got tangled up in the ropes and St Clair ended up twisting his leg, having it caught between the bottom two ropes, and he was unable to continue, handing the win to Roach.
The finish was a bit of a wet blanket but Roach’s trainer, Dave Dynamite, carrying St Clair to the back like a little baby was quite amusing. These injury finishes are quite common in WoS, so they don’t feel too much of a let down as they are part of the fabric of the style. St Clair comes across as technically competent but I’ve found him pretty bland so far. His work doesn’t have enough flash to overcome his lack of charisma as well. Roach is a guy I increasingly wish they just booked like Brock Lesnar, or at least Big Daddy. He’s such a big guy and looks like he could legitimately smash his opponents into dust, but they are very restrained and I’m yearning to see him let off the lead a little and annihilate someone. Here he did some excellent timbeeeeeer selling of some St Clair dropkicks to the face that really put over the impact of the moves.