I've finally started going through some of this, although I haven't really been writing about any of it so far. I'll tell you what though - it's fucking good.
This was amazing. It wasn't just that they were working outrageous state-of-the-art exchanges at insane speed -- it was the build up to that point in the match where they were going all out, with the groundwork by Saulnier wearing the Prince down, that gave those last few minutes in particular a real sense of escalation and meaning. Some of the hold-working was incredible. I probably should've watched their other matches before this to see if they played off anything or made any callbacks, even just to get a feel for how they work together, but it's not at all hard to follow the trail they're leading us down. Best possible 1960s Dean Malenko v Rey Jr. is a very apt description of this (and one I've stolen). Somehow though this might be even more inventive and ahead of its time than 1996 Rey Misterio Jr. It was worked with Saulnier as Malenko grounding our little Prince for about 15-20 minutes, first using an armbar, then moving on to use a headlock. It was paced pretty much perfectly in that nothing was stationary, no holds were applied without a struggle, then every thirty seconds or so they'd bring it up for air and Prince would flip or scramble or roll his way out, sometimes into a rapid quick rope-running sequence, yet Saulnier would inevitably do something to drag him back down to earth. Some of the sequences were absolutely gorgeous and damn near preposterous in their level of difficulty, but they were hitting everything on the money and moving between each step with crazy precision. My favourite part of that 20-minute period was when they wound up in a criss-cross rope-running spot that felt totally organic and Saulnier managed to yank the Prince into another headlock takeover, this time about planting him on the top of his skull. The headlock stuff actually reminded me of the Wild Pegasus/Black Tiger match from '96 where Benoit did not want Eddie up and running about and pulling any of that shit, and like in that match the crowd started getting on Sauliner's case big time. The second parallel is the awesome little bit of selling from Prince when he finally manages to create some daylight, grabbing the ropes for a second to show that even if he's shaken Saulnier he hasn't quite shaken the cobwebs just yet. The Prince's spin kick to the jaw towards the end was a thing of beauty and even if you'd usually want a decisive finish, you can't really complain about 30 minutes of these two just killing it.
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