was it a 'hard lever' ? he said 'crushing the lever' i thought that meant you had to be all the way into the bar to get it to disengage. if it's a 'resistance' type feel it's definitely slave (probable) or master (doubtful)
but you did say there was a broken friction right? it's not all for naught - and you learned a good skill
p.s. you didn't need to remove snap ring on pressure plate - the throwout stays with the pressure plate. but you get to inspect it at least..