Your Kiss Is On My List

Fit Finlay VS Johnny Saint - Joint Promotions 1/5/1988

JJZ:  I've watched several Fit Finlay matches that weren't bad but I was left disappointed. Matches against Jackie Turpin, Doink the Clown and Eddie Guerrero. All of them very different but each ended with me saying to myself I can play forward something better than this. After watching Johnny versus Fit I said, I can't wait to play this forward. Listen baby. This was pure entertainment. Saint and Finaly really play their roles to a level that needs to be studied. Fit and Paula have a tremendous little soap opera going on between rounds that actually had me laughing to myself. Johnny is so good man. I really never know what he is gonna do. Really hope you enjoy this one.

CJD: Man, that collection of Finlay matches you watched sounds like a trip. That's fun research even if you didn't unearth anything amazing. This match was actually one of the first Saint matches I ever saw, on a comp of his I got to better educate myself on 80s British wrestling. I was disappointed with this match at the time but I think it was because I didn't understand what a big deal catchweight matches were in the territory and what a disadvantage it was seen as. I also hadn't seen a lot of Finlay's more dastardly heel work and was hoping for more of the Bellfast Bruiser. Watching it again decades later I actually much prefer this version of Finlay's heel schtick to begging off, crossing his heart Dave Finlay. Princess Paula is fantastic here. This match accomplishes a lot without doing too too much. It endears Saint to the fans even more (when the one older woman helps pick him up is such classic British wrestling), it gets some of Finlay's offense over huge, and it really builds anticipation for what happens next for both guys. They didn't run a lot of angles or story driven feuds but this does leave you with a sense of "what now??" Really effective pro wrestling that I was just not quite ready for when I first watched. But I just might have some technical wizardry more along the lines of what I was expecting up the sleeve of my robe for you next week!