John Miller was born on June 29, 1941 in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, England. Miller was trained as a wrestler by Billy Robinson and George Kidd. Miller made his professional wrestling debut in June 1958 under the name Johnny Saint.

On November 3, 1976, Johnny Saint started his run as World Lightweight Champion after beating Jim Breaks in the final of a tournament that was held after Saint’s mentor, George Kidd, had vacated the title upon his retirement. Saint held the title for a long time in spite of Steve Grey proving to be an amazingly tough challenger who even beat Saint in two non-title matches. Saint would end up holding the World Lightweight Title on ten occasions during his career.

Johnny Saint was a great technician who always seemed to have a counter for every counter, and his matches are great examples of excellent displays of the British wrestling style during his prime years (the 1970s and 1980s). After Saint had appeared numerous times on World of Sport Wrestling on ITV, which was a show that broadcasted the top bouts from Britain (mainly from the Joint Promotions league), Saint also started appearing on Reslo TV in 1982. Reslo was a TV show mainly broadcast in Welsh that featured wrestling matches promoted by Orig Williams in Wales. Saint returned several times to the Reslo TV shows, and was a perfect fit, since during the early days of Reslo, the style was oftentimes quite similar to the classic WOS Wrestling style (depending on which matches you’re watching, of course).  

Johnny Saint had been an important part of the high quality of the in-ring product shown on the World of Sport Wrestling program shown in ITV in the United Kingdom. However, by the mid 1980s, a decline in popularity of the sport was noticeable. The decline of British wrestling in the mid 1980s had been a result of Joint Promotions overly relying on their aging stars. Also, more and more people had learned that pro wrestling was predetermined, which put them off. And WWF had started becoming popular internationally, which was another threat for the old fashioned British product. By the end of the mid 1980s, Joint Promotions matches were rotated with All Star Wrestling matches and WWF matches. Wrestling’s decline wasn’t the only reason that the World of Sport program, which also showed sports like soccer (known as football in the UK), ended up being cancelled, as ITV simply felt it should focus more on live sports. By the way, in 1989, Sky Television started broadcasting WWF, and that was truly the start of the WWF’s big popularity in the United Kingdom, and another nail in the coffin for British wrestling.

Johnny Saint was a great technical wrestler who uplifted the match quality of each match he was involved in. If he was facing a top-notch opponent (for example, Steve Grey or Ken Joyce), he would be able to give the crowd a match that featured some of the most awesome technical wrestling they’d ever seen. If he was facing a more character-driven wrestler (for example, Jim Breaks or Mick McManus) or a simply a lesser known wrestler with less credentials, Saint would be able to uplift the quality of those matches by giving the crowd always something worthwhile in spite of the opponent not being quite on the highest level. Saint’s amazing display of intense counter wrestling (which featured seemingly a counter for every counter), in combination with a certain level of urgency and his ability to put over the idea that he was trying his best to be the best wrestler he could be, made him truly an all-time great professional wrestler.

Johnny Saint spent most of his career wrestling in the United Kingdom. Saint finally made his Japanese wrestling debut in July 1996 when he wrestled on a tour for Michinoku Pro. Saint retired from professional wrestling on 10/10/96 after wrestling Noahiro Hoshikawa at Michinoku Pro’s ‘These Days’ show, which was a show in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan that featured the final match of another legendary English wrestler, The Dynamite Kid. However, like most wrestling retirement matches, it wasn’t his actual final match.

Johnny Saint would eventually come out of retirement to return to the ring to wrestle several matches, including a match against Johnny Kidd in 2007. Saint made his American wrestling debut in 2009 when he appeared in CHIKARA. His actual final wrestling match took place in 2015. Saint currently lives in Rhyl, Wales.

Many people have claimed to be a man of 1,000 (or even 1,004) holds, but if one man truly deserves the name ‘The Man of a 1,000 Holds,’it’s Johnny Saint. This man knew a counter for every counter, and he knew how to confuse and outdo his opponents through his dazzling display of technical wrestling. That’s why he almost never needed to break the rules (I believe he only received a warning once during his entire career). He was a relatively small wrestler, at approximately 5’7” and 154 lbs., but his tremendous wrestling ability and high workrate helped him turn the lightweight division into arguably the most entertaining division to watch during his prime, no matter whether he was the champion or the challenger.

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/2/72 Nottingham, England: Johnny Saint & Steve Best vs. Ian Gilmour & Jeff Kaye 10:55, 6:05, 3:00. This is pretty much the earliest really great World of Sport Wrestling-type match available as of this writing, and it’s a perfect example of what British wrestling was able to present around this time. Lots of technical wrestling moments in front of an engaged crowd. This was entertaining, yet it also had the vibe of a serious athletic contest. This is one the earliest matches available of the legendary Johnny Saint. This match also leaves the type of viewer interested in pro wrestling history wondering what great classics have been lost in time from the years in and around this time period. *****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/3/73 Walthamstow, England, British Lightweight Title: Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint. Jim Breaks tries to play rough and cheat as much as he can. Johnny Saint tries to overcome this through his display of clean technical wrestling. While he’s definitely acting like a cowardly crybaby heel, this is one of the best Breaks matches out there because of him not overly focusing on character work and instead trying to wrestle like a champ and control Saint with wrestling holds. The referee ended the bout after Saint juiced. Very good. ***¾  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 4/18/74 Walthamstow, England: Johnny Saint & Steve Best vs. Mick McManus & Steve Logan. Mick McManus was up to no good, and he tried to play dirty. Once he was on the receiving-end of a lot of high-energy offense from Johnny Saint, McManus cowardly got out of the ring as soon as possible. Steve Logan is like a slightyle less skilled version of Mick McManus, while Steve Best was kinda like a poor man’s version of Saint. Best didn’t have the technical prowess of Saint, but he did have similar babyface energy. Saint & Best were known as The Elite, and they worked well together. The match was enjoyable, but the heels weren’t very skilled technically, so we didn’t get to see as much of the interesting offense from the faces as preferred. Instead, the faces kept things simple and kinda decided to fight fire with fire. Towards the end, things started to speed up a bit more, and The Elite were in the mood for an exciting dropkick party. However, in the end, McManus beat Saint after a big forearm smash. While it was a bit disappointing due to the heels not showing a lot of skill, it was interesting to see that Saint would adapt very well and didn’t necessarily enforce Saint-style stuff on the match. Instead, Saint did what was best for business and for the flow of the match. Good match. ***

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/11/74 Preston, England: Johnny Saint vs. Terry Jowett. Terry Jowett was trying to match Saint’s technical wrestling, and Saint tried to outsmart Jowett. While Jowett was clearly a good technical worker, Saint always seemed to be a step or two ahead of him. Still, this was fun to watch, because both men agreed to battle each other in a clean and technical way. Johnny Saint escaped a headscissors in a very Saint-esque way. Commentator Kent Walton mentioned Saint was trained by Billy Robinson as an amateur and that you can’t get any better training than that. Saint’s countering and escaping was enjoyable. Very good match. ***½   

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 10/22/75 Sheffield: Johnny Saint vs. Keith Martinelli. Johnny Saint was announced as John Saint during the ring introductions. The highly-skilled Saint wasn’t really challenged much by Keith Martinelli, who seemed to be a rather generic wrestler without extraordinary skills. Saint was always a step or three ahead of his opponent here. So, while it was an enjoyable display of technical wrestling, it really felt just like it was the Saint show and not enough of a competitive match. And even when Martinelli was on offense, it was just not very exciting until Saint escaped or countered. Martinelli had a size and power advantage, so he managed to score a pinfall over Saint. It looked like Martinelli was going to win this rather undeservingly, but Saint immediately scored a quick equalizing fall, just before the time limit expired. While Saint didn’t get to win the match like he deserved, at least he prevented a last-minute defeat. Good match. ***

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/30/76 Solihull, England: Johnny Saint vs. Mick McManus. While competitive enough to be considered a good bout, Mick McManus’ poor selling, poorly-executed offense, and overacting prevented this from being taken too seriously as a contest. McManus kinda reminds me of a slightly more skilled version of Jerry Lawler. McManus was more a TV character than he was a competitive wrestler here. Johnny Saint did some cool Johnny Saint things, though, including cool-looking escapes. Good match. ***¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/11/77 Southend, England: Johnny Saint vs. Kader Hassouni. Commentator Kent Walton mentioned that “nobody from this country has seen Kader Hassouni fight before.” Hassouni was billed as the Moroccan Lightweight Champion from North Africa. Walton mentioned that “not every country recognizes lightweight wrestlers at all, including the United States of America.” Hassouni didn’t do anything remarkable in this match, though. Johnny Saint did typical Johnny Saint things. This felt like an extended squash, because it never felt Saint was in any real trouble at any time. Somehow, in a very unconvincing manner, Saint got pinned. Ridiculous. Laughable booking. Okay match. ** 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 10/1/78 Hemel Hempstead, England: Johnny Saint vs. Vic Faulkner. There were some entertaining Johnny Saint type sequences with typically unique escapes and counters. Other than that, it was rather standard technical British style wrestling. The main issue with this match was that it initially felt a bit too exhibitionistic, too much like a playful and friendly contest and not enough like a competitive fight. However, as the match progressed, the typical British-style counter wrestling started being executed in a more intense manner, which improved the overall match quality. One of the cooler moments of the match saw Saint try to escape a hold, but Faulkner anticipated the escape and got Saint back into a hold. Very good match. ***½  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 8/2/78 Huddersfield, England: Johnny Saint vs. Jim Breaks. Jim Breaks was screaming a lot in pain. Johnny Saint outsmarted Breaks with Saint-style counters. Whatever Breaks did, Saint would end up landing on his feet, and Breaks would end up with the short end of the stick, so to speak. Breaks would gradually start getting more whiny as the match went on. After Saint had won the first fall, Breaks realized he had to play rougher to still have a chance at winning. After working over Saint’s arm for a while, Breaks finally scored a submission to win the second fall. Saint’s second threw in the towel out of concern for Saint’s well being, as his arm was in rough shape. That meant Breaks was the winner in this non-title bout. Very good match. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/9/78 Rotherham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Jackie Robinson. This was joined in progress at the start of round 3. Saint ended up winning 2 falls to 0. Jackie showed some good resistance, which forced Saint to go for some great counter wrestling. It looked like a really fun match, judging from the eight minutes shown. Very good match. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 3/14/79 Rotherham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Sid Cooper. Three minutes available. Saint totally outclassed and outsmarted Sid Cooper, who ended up looking like a fool.

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/19/79 Blackburn, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. Joined in progress in round six. Steve Grey pinned Johnny Saint. Less than five minutes shown, unfortunately.

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/28/80 Reading, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. This match was scheduled for eight five-minute rounds. Steve Grey tried his best to escape, but Johnny Saint kept holding on. Grey kept getting more desparately trying to find ways to outmaneuver Saint. However, Saint kept holding on to Grey’s arm. Finally, Grey managed to escape at some point, after not giving up to keep trying. In round two, they kept displaying cool and unique counters and escapes. In round three, Grey started getting the upper hand more. In round four, After lots of countering, Saint won the first fall. In round six, Grey scored a pinfall to equalize. In round seven, Grey pinned Saint! This was now the 2nd time in a row that Grey won a match over Saint. They were constantly doing something. It was a very competitive match featuring exciting grappling. They kept trying to outdo each other. Great match. *****  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 3/25/80 Guildford, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. Unfortunately, this was joined in progress in round ten. What was shown was great, though. Grey was leading one fall to none. In round eleven, Saint scored the equalizing fall. Saint did a springboard plancha at some point. In round 13, Saint pinned Grey. Excellent match. ****¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/13/80 Croydon, England: Johnny Saint vs. Zoltan Boscik. Zoltan Boscik was a wrestler from Hungary. Both men displayed their technical ability and tried to out wrestle each other. Boscik tried to outsmart Saint, but Saint always remained calm and tried to anticipate what Boscik was up to. Boscik was well aware of Saint’s reputation, though, and he was also able to avoid some of Saint’s attempted moves. Boscik was certainly not an easy opponent for Saint, and was able to give Saint a run for his money. At the end of round four, Johnny Saint scored the equalizer by making Boscik submit to a surfboard. However, Boscik decided he wasn’t able to continue, which gave Saint the win. Very good match. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/26/80 Walthamstow, England: Johnny Saint vs. Bob Anthony. Joined in progress. In round 3, Johnny Saint scored the first fall. In round 4, Bob Anthony scored the equalizer. Saint showed his usual uniquely great arsenal of escapes and technical offense. Anthony gave a good effort, but in round 5, Saint scored the expected win. Good match. ***¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/13/81 Wolverhampton, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey 10:00. This was part of a little four-man knockout tournament. Johnny Saint had defeated Jackie Robinson in a quick bout, and Steve Grey had defeated Bobby Ryan in a quick bout. Saint was a better wrestler than Grey overall, but Grey was certainly THE ideal opponent for Saint, as their styles and level of speed really complement each other’s work. Because of it being part of this tournament, this match had a 10-minute limit. Referee Jeff Kaye had the tough choice to decide the winner since this was a draw. It was a very close bout, but it was Grey who was declared the winner. Excellent match. ****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 2/11/81 Bury, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. A tremendous display of technical wrestling! They were moving at an incredibly fast pace. Sometimes they’d go along with each other’s moves in order to avoid injury, and sometimes they did so simply to hope to be able to counter. Both workers displayed a tremendous display of great sportsmanship, respecting each other’s ability, and even enjoying each other’s excellence. It was a very competitive match. Great match. ****½

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 6/24/81 Shrewsbury, England: Johnny Saint vs. Ken Joyce. Ken Joyce, who came back out of retirement once again, is a brilliant wrestler. Not many people can give Johnny Saint a real run for their money, but Joyce is certainly one of them. These two showed some of the best counter wrestling you’ll ever see in your life. Even though Saint wins two falls to nil, the wily veteran Joyce gave a termendous effort and was competitive all the way through. Great match. ****¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 7/15/81 Morecambe, England: Johnny Saint vs. Johnny Kidd. Johnny Kidd only had two or three years of experience at the time. This was only his second bout shown on the ‘small screen’ (TV). He was a protege of the one and only Ken Joyce. He definitely showed a lot of potential working the classic WOS Wrestling style. Of course, while showing potential, Kidd didn’t have an easy time, as Saint was usually one step ahead of Kidd or simply able to counter Kidd’s offense. This definitely wasn’t a squash match, though. It was a competitive battle between a veteran and a youngster. Commentator Kent Walton mentioned that the crowd was filled with “a mass of wrestling purists here loving the really good fast-action stuff.” Even though this was relatively competitive, at times Kidd was a bit lost as he didn’t know which side Saint was coming from, as Saint was eventually able to use his experience to out wrestle the youngster. In the end, it was obviously Saint who scored the expected victory. Good match. ***¼  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 9/9/81 Nottingham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Tony Costas. This was joined in progress in round two. Johnny Saint found an amazing way to escape a headscissors applied by Tony Costas, a wrestler from Cyprus. Saint was definitely showing some high-end wrestling techniques, but he was able to do so thanks to Costas, who appeared to be quite the technician, being quite competitive. Saint scored the first fall. In round six, Costas scored the equalizer. In round seven, Saint won the match. Very good match. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/18/81 Oldham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Vic Faulkner. Johnny Saint did a lot of smiling, clearly enjoying his wrestling. Vic Faulkner was quite a good technician, though not an exceptionally great technician. There were still many upsides to his work, though. His main strength was his ability to react quickly. These two wrestled a clean and technical bout. They both like to keep things moving, which is always a plus. These two worked very well together. Faulkner was in a weight bracket higher (middleweight) than Saint (lightweight), and Faulkner proved to be quite the test for Saint. In round five, Saint scored the equalizer. They eventually went to a draw after six rounds. Excellent match. ****  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 2/17/82 London, England Royal Albert Hall: Johnny Saint vs. Jan Curtis. Five minutes shown. A rather easy match for Johnny Saint. Not very competitive.

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV 8/11/82 Llandudno, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Jackie Robinson. Reslo was a TV show on Welsh TV in Welsh (‘Reslo’ means ‘wrestling’ in Welsh), which is quite the unique language to say the least. At this point, the wrestling shown on Reslo still was very similar to the style of wrestling shown on WOS Wrestling, especially with a Johnny Saint in his prime showing up. This was an exciting match with plenty of good grappling that featured intense submission attempts and counter moves. Saint was the one who carried and elevated the match, but Jackie Robinson deserves credit for being able to play his part quite well. Very good match. ***¾  

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV 7/12/83 Rhyl, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Chic Cullen. ‘Dynamite’ Frankie Cullen (a.k.a. Chic Cullen/Robbie Stewart) was a wrestler from Scotland. This was a very enjoyable and competitive match. It was wrestled in the World of Sport Wrestling style, as the Reslo TV show in Wales still featured wrestling in that traditional British style during the early 1980s. I believe the league that was being broadcast on Reslo at the time was Orig William’s BWF (British Wrestling Federation), but I could be mistaken. The crowd marked hard for one of Johnny Saint’s typically unique escapes. The match featured plenty of excellent technical wrestling, and this match showed what Chic Cullen was truly capable of, as he gave one of his best performances here. And it was awesome to see Saint perform at the high level he’s capable of performing at, displaying his tremendous technical skills. There was never a dull moment in this match. Excellent match. ****¼

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV ?/84 Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Mike Jordan. Joined in progress in the third round. This was a battle between two English wrestlers who were both from the Manchester area. Mike ‘Flash’Jordan had been wrestling since 1973. The legendary Johnny Saint had been wrestling since 1958. Good match. ***¼  

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV ?/85 Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Jim Breaks. Johnny Saint did his usual display of technical wrestling wizardry. Jim Breaks was his usual crybaby self. He relied mainly on character work, but his familiarity with Saint’s work made him still and interesting for Saint in spite of Breaks relying on character work so much. Decent match. **¾ 

All Star Wrestling 11/25/86 Catford, England: Johnny Saint vs. Mark Rocco. Joined in progress in round 2. By this point, Joint Promotions wasn’t the main league in the United Kingdom anymore. All Star Wrestling had taken over. Ironically, these two greats who had been featured prominently in Joint Promotions now finally wrestled each other in ASW after never having a televised bout against each other in Joint Promotions (as far as I know). They wrestled more of a Mark Rocco-style match than a Saint-style match with more of a focus on them leaping at each other, and not too much chain wrestling. Very good match. ***¾  

All Star Wrestling 1/13/87 Croydon, England, World Lightweight Title: Johnny Saint vs. Mike Jordan. ‘The Master of 1,000 Holds’ Johnny Saint defended his title against Mike ‘Flash’ Jordan. Both wrestlers were originally from the Manchester area in Northern England. Jordan is quite a decent technical wrestler, but he’s also a rather dull wrestler. At this point in his career, Saint knew that it wasn’t always going to be about him anymore, so he was rather polite, knowing that Jordan was a worker ASW wanted to push, and didn’t attempt to out wrestle his opponent too much. Saint retained the title. Good match. ***¼  

All Star Wrestling 4/28/87 Catford, England: Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside. Robbie Brookside was a wrestler from Liverpool, England who had been wrestling since 1983. He was only 21 years old at the time. Some may remember him as one half of the Liverpool Lads tag team with Ian ‘Doc’ Dean. Those not familiar with British wrestling may remember Brookside from his NJPW BOSJ IV tour in 1997. He also has a daughter, Xia Brookside, who has toured Japan for STARDOM a few times. In this match against the legendary Johnny Saint, Robbie Brookside showed lots of potential and passion. He executed some wicked stiff European uppercuts and moved well. However, he wasn’t able to really challenge Saint when it came to technical wrestling. In the end,  Saint won this bout 2 falls to 1 in the sixth and final round. Very good match. ***½ 

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV 5/2/87 Amlwch, Isle of Anglesey, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Kung Fu. This wasn’t the Mexican luchador Kung Fu (and it wasn’t the Japanese one either), but this was the Northern Irish wrestler Kung Fu. This was joined in progress towards the end of round 2. This was a match with some solid British-style wrestling, but it was never truly exceptional. While not exactly a squash match, it didn’t seem very hard for Johnny Saint to win this bout. Good match. ***

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV ?/87 Caernarfon, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. John Kenny. ‘Gypsy’John Kenny was a wrestler from the Liverpool area in England who had been wrestling since 1973. He was basically out-wrestled by Johnny Saint in this match. Okay match. **¼ 

CWA 6/87 Hamburg, Germany: Johnny Saint vs. Indio Guajaro. Indio Guajaro was a wrestler from Colombia who had been wrestling since 1960. This was a rather slow and uneventful bout due to Guajaro not really doing many useful things other than a lot of stalling and basic poorly-executed offense. The guy barely moved and his selling was rather comical as well. Saint just politely went along with it all and did what he could. Pretty bad match. *

CWA 9/18/87 Hamburg, Germany: Johnny Saint vs. Col. Brody. Col. Brody was a wrestler from England. He was a very basic and uneventful wrestler. Pretty bad match. *¼   

CWA ?/87 Hamburg, Germany: Johnny Saint vs. Rene Lasartesse. It’s only in these CWA matches that the great Johnny Saint seemed to think something along the lines of not even going to try to worry too much since even he can’t carry this crap. This is very rare for Saint, but when you look at these awful opponents Saint was given, one can hardly blame him. Rene Lasartesse was a wrestler from Switzerland who was 58 years old at the time, but wrestled like he was 88 years old. Lasartesse did a lot of slow and sluggish brawling. Saint politely sold for his opponent’s offense. Due to Lasartesse being so bad, this is probably the worst Saint match available on video at the moment. Pretty bad match. *  

CWA 10/1/87 Hamburg, Germany: Johnny Saint vs. Rolo Brasil. Rolo Brasil was a wrestler from Peru. He was not quite as bad as the other opponents Saint faced in CWA. Mediocre match. *½  

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV ?/88 Porthmadog, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Kung Fu. This was joined in progress. This was a competitive match in which they tried to out trick each other. This was a fun match, but it was neither exceptional nor essential. Good match. ***

All Star Wrestling 1/5/88 Croydon, England: Johnny Saint vs. Dave ‘Fit’ Finlay. The international heavy-middleweight superstar from Northern Ireland, Fit Finlay, battled a man who was a lot lighter than him, the lightweight legend Johnny Saint. Finlay wrestled a slow and methodical style. Saint used his quickness and technique to overcome Finlay’s power. This was an entertaining match. Good match. ***¼ 

All Star Wrestling 3/16/88 Dewsbury, England, World Lightweight Title: Mike Jordan vs. Johnny Saint. This was kind of a slow bout with Mike Jordan not showing too much of his ‘Flash’. Decent match. **½ 

Joint Promotions 6/15/88 Radcliffe, England: Johnny Saint vs. Karl McGrath. Even though he had been a wrestler since 1972, this was Karl McGrath’s first appearance on TV. He was just on time, because British wrestling would soon be gone from national TV. This was a good grappling bout. McGrath was a bit of a basic grappler. There were some good counters, mostly by Johnny Saint, but it never really felt like Saint was ever in real danger of losing this bout. Decent match. **¾ 

Joint Promotions 9/28/88 Keighley, England: Johnny Saint vs. Pete LaPaque. ‘Rocker’ Peter LaPaque was a wrestler from Leicester, England. Kent Walton mentioned that Johnny Saint has been the greatest lightweight in the world since 1976. LaPaque was not a lightweight, so this was a catchweight contest. LaPaque was a lot heavier and less flexible than Saint. This was a bit of a clash of styles, and it wasn’t helpful that LaPaque was a rather simplistic worker. 

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV 3/15/89 Denbigh, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Danny Boy Collins. Solid match. Not a lot of urgency, though. It was all kinda showy. Danny Collins was kinda lost at times, having a rough time trying to keep up with the technical master Johnny Saint. Okay match. **¼ 

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV 4/7/90 Corwen, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Barry Douglas. Barry Douglas was a wrestler from Leeds, England. He was the son of George de Relwyskow and brother of George de Relwyskow Jr. He was born in 1940 and had been wrestling since 1959. Okay match. **

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV 2/5/91 Machynlleth, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Kid McCoy. The young Kid McCoy was surprisingly competitive. Just like Johnny Saint, Kid McCoy was an English wrestler. Good match. ***

Ffederasiwn Reslo Cymru Reslo TV 2/6/91 Llantrissant, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Chic Cullen. Solid match, but not an essential match. Decent match. **¾ 

Michinoku Pro 10/10/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Johnny Saint vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa. Johnny Saint was no longer in his prime by 1996. Of course, he was a legendary wrestler who was about to retire. As a matter of fact, this was his original retirement match. Japan was never a country he was featured in until July 1996 when he was preparing for this retirement match. Also on this show, another legendary English wrestler, Dynamite Kid, had his final match. While Saint had a longer and more illustrious career in the United Kingdom, Dynamite Kid had a far more illustrious career internationally, as he was famous in Japan, Canada and the United States. Naohiro Hoshikawa was a promising wrestler who had been wrestling since July 1993. This was quite a fun match, but it felt merely like an exhibition, as Saint wasn’t the magical wrestler he once was, and Hoshikawa wasn’t quite capable of matching Saint’s technical expertise. Decent match. **½ 

wXw/CHIKARA 11/8/08 Oberhausen, Germany, World of Sports Wrestling Rules: Johnny Saint vs. Mike Quackenbush 17:04. Johnny Saint kept holding on to the arm of Mike Quackenbush. Quack eventually escaped and went for the Jim Breaks special, but Saint was able to avoid it, since he was obviously quite familiar with the move. It was a fun match, but it felt a bit like it was simply a tribute to Saint’s wrestling career. Saint was certainly still the master of 1,000 holds, and he showed some cool escapes, but it felt like everything in this match was merely done to put on some sort of exhibition of Saint’s awesome ‘World of Sports Wrestling’ style. Quack, who also claims to be a master of 1,000 holds, is a big mark for Saint, so he was obviously doing everything he could to make this as memorable as possible. Saint was 67 years old at the time, and he obviously didn’t show the same intensity he used to show in the 1970s, but he was pretty damn impressive for a 67-year old man, as he was still in pretty good shape and able to wrestle a match that at least resembled the type of matches he used to wrestle in his prime. Also, it’s nice to see that this style is getting some exposure in front of a modern crowd. With all of that in mind, we’ll be a little bit more generous with the rating. Decent match. **¾       

1958-1971: n/a (hoping to find footage)

1972: Great

1973: Great

1974: Great

1975: Great

1976: Great

1977: Great

1978: Great

1979: All-Time Great

1980: All-Time Great

1981: All-Time Great

1982: All-Time Great

1983: All-Time Great

1984: Great

1985: Great

1986: Great

1987: Excellent

1988: Excellent

1989: Excellent

1990: Excellent

1991: Excellent

Based on the footage available, Johnny Saint’s five best years were 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983, which was when he was already in his late 30s/early 40s. By this point, he had really perfected his role as THE lightweight champion, and he had perfected his role as the veteran who knew a counter for every counter.

After watching more than 40 matches of Johnny Saint’s career, it can be safely said that he’s arguably the second-best British wrestler in the history of pro wrestling, second only to Dynamite Kid (and Mark Rocco would be a close third). If we purely look at wrestling from Great Britain and ignore any wrestling outside of Great Britain (Japan, Canada, United States, etc.), then we can safely say that Johnny Saint is the best wrestler in the history of British pro wrestling, as no wrestler during the heyday of (available) British wrestling TV was such a consistently high-quality in-ring performer as Saint was.

Even though Saint mainly wrestled in the United Kingdom for the majority of his career, and even though he mainly wrestled in a typical ‘World of Sports Wrestling’ style, his great display of technical wrestling against a variety of opponents made him a wrestler who was truly enjoyable to watch for many years. 

Saint would enhance the in-ring quality of the product shown on World of Sports Wrestling TV, and he would help World of Sports Wrestling to maintain a certain standard of excellence. After Steve Grey had his series of matches with Saint, Grey’s overall in-ring work improved significantly. When Saint started wrestling in Wales in the early/mid 1980s, he also enhanced the in-ring quality of the product shown on Reslo TV.

No matter who he was facing, Saint’s work would always elevate the quality of the match. Of course, sometimes his opponents were better than other times, and sometimes they fit his style better than other times, but he’d always make the effort to have the best match possible under the circumstances.

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/28/80 Reading, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. *****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/2/72 Nottingham, England: Johnny Saint & Steve Best vs. Ian Gilmour & Jeff Kaye 10:55, 6:05, 3:00. *****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 6/24/81 Shrewsbury, England: Johnny Saint vs. Ken Joyce. ****¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 2/11/81 Bury, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. ****½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 3/25/80 Guildford, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey. ****¼ 

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV 7/12/83 Rhyl, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Chic Cullen. ****¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/13/81 Wolverhampton, England: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey 10:00. ****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/18/81 Oldham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Vic Faulkner. ****

British Wrestling Federation Reslo TV 8/11/82 Llandudno, Wales: Johnny Saint vs. Jackie Robinson. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 9/9/81 Nottingham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Tony Costas. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/3/73 Walthamstow, England, British Lightweight Title: Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 8/2/78 Huddersfield, England: Johnny Saint vs. Jim Breaks. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 10/1/78 Hemel Hempstead, England: Johnny Saint vs. Vic Faulkner. ***½ 

All Star Wrestling 4/28/87 Catford, England: Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/9/78 Rotherham, England: Johnny Saint vs. Jackie Robinson. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/11/74 Preston, England: Johnny Saint vs. Terry Jowett. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/13/80 Croydon, England: Johnny Saint vs. Zoltan Boscik. ***½ 

Johnny Saint Hall Of Talent

Hall Of Talent YouTube Playlist