WWE Announces Johnny Saint as General Manager of WWE United Kingdom Brand

It was announced on Thursday that WWE has appointed British wrestling legend Johnny Saint as the General Manager of the company’s United Kingdom brand. As we covered yesterday, WWE is taping two nights of their WWE UK brand shows in over a week and then the broadcasts air a week after that.

Saint commented on his new role to WWE.com: “For the guys who are in the wrestling scene here in the U.K., the worldwide exposure is a wonderful thing. It’s something that we never really had before, so the new product is going to be tremendous for them.”

Here’s more info on Saint from WWE.com:

As first reported by the Daily Star, Saint will lead the charge as WWE grows its U.K. division, including the back-to-back United Kingdom Championship Tournament events being held later this month at London’s world-famous Royal Albert Hall.

Beginning in the 1950s, Saint’s remarkable in-ring career spanned more than five decades. A protégé of the legendary Billy Robinson, Saint is considered a pioneering force in the U.K. scene, and he is widely hailed as one of the most technically gifted grapplers of all time.

In a 2013 interview with WWE.com, Daniel Bryan cited Saint as a true “wrestlers’ wrestler.” Though perhaps best known for his elaborate and aesthetically pleasing counter-wrestling, Saint also brought a hard edge to the ring, according to Bryan.

“Johnny Saint is somebody who does fancy reversals, but what made him a wrestlers’ wrestler is when he’d get gritty with his wrestling,” Bryan said. “He entertained people through wrestling. He knew a million different holds. He’d go out there and always have fantastic matches. I wrestled him when he was 60-something years old and was still absolutely phenomenal in the ring. He was so good at what he did, technique-wise.”

Once his wrestling career ended, Saint turned his attention to tutoring the next generation of British grapplers. In 2017, he spent six months as a coach at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., where he shared his knowledge with NXT Superstars and other WWE recruits.

Here’s a clip of Saint from his time at WWE’s Performance Center last year.

TJR Thoughts: I think it’s a nice step forward to have an on screen man in charge that is respected in the United Kingdom. I don’t know that much about Saint because he was before my time in a country that I’m not from, but he has credibility in the UK and that’s important for this role for him.