This Week In Wrestling 10/16/16

[shoe]

http://placetobenation.com/this-week-in-wrestling-101616/

 

Fall 1

Johnny picks about the worst match in the NWA on Demand service. The Big Uhmm vs Twin Devil. Then Pete talks about the current ROH show. Hint he loved O'Reilly and Shibata. Pete and Johnny discuss how and why no selling can work dramatically. They talk about how it can be over used.

Fall 2

Timothy joins Pete to talk the current episode of Lucha Underground. Come hear what we thought of the show. Then they shift over over to CWF Mid-Atlantic. Both guys rave about Trevor Lee vs Arik Royal. Find out who Pete compares Trevor Lee to. Then they breakdown the latest Progress shows. We give thoughts and star ratings on all the matches. The guys talk about how Progress from 6 months ago seems like 6 years ago. Is Progress evolving into something else? Is it getting too big?

Fall 3

We talk about all stuff WWE. We defend Samoa Joe as a character, but have differing opinions on in ring work. Some fun Goldberg-Lesnar talk. Gush over Miz, and throw some love at the Spirit Squad. Johnny and Pete show their softer side and defend the women on Raw.

00:00:30 Fall 1

00:00:48 NWA on demand The Big Um v The Red/Twin Devil

00:09:45 ROH TV

00:19:25 Fall 2 WON HOF talk

00:37:06 Lucha Underground

00:54:00 CWF-Mid-Atlantic Worldwild

01:02:25 Progress Chapter 36: We're Gonna Need A Bigger Room...Again

01:46:33 Fall 3 NXT

02:04:53 RAW

02:46:48 SD! Live

[Johnny Sorrow]

It's Big 'Un. How dare you?

[cpst]

Nikki Cross from Sanity in NXT was previously Nikki Storm on the indies, not Crazy Mary Dobson.

[shoe]

Thanks.

[Luchaundead]

It's Big 'Un. How dare you?

[Woof]

Pete and Tim, have either of you gone back and watched the insanely long Trevor Lee/Roy Wilkins match from early in the year where Lee won the title? Lee's whole title reign being built off of that one match and the idea that his title defenses have no time limit is fascinating to me. I know the idea from a booking standpoint is just because you CAN go long doesn't mean you should (and I would generally agree with that), but in this case it's a kayfabe thing where Lee the Champion is doing precisely that; extending his matches intentionally as a way of proving no matter what an opponent throws at him, he can wait them out. He had a 45 minute match with Jesse Adler back in April that was interesting because Adler is essentially still a rookie who had no business going that long with the champ, but Lee made it work by wrestling as if to say, "I'm gonna give you every chance to beat me, kid, it's up to you to do it" before finally putting him away. I feel like all his defenses have had that element of "I'm gonnna let you get your best shots in before I beat you", which is just such a unique approach to a title reign. Thoughts?

[shoe]

We both have watched the match and reviewed it at one point. Their is that element you speak of. I tend to think of him as a modern day Ricky Steamboat. Where both guys thought they were the best conditioned, had their signature spots for example Lee's PK to Steamer's arm drag, both were fantastic fighting underneath, both are masters of working a body part. I feel this was how Steamer would defend a title in the Carolinas in the 70's.

[Luchaundead]

I haven't rewatched the Lee v Wilkins match since it originally came out but I think I should to add some context but, yes it's very true that the match set the tone for Lee's title run in CWF. Again it's very interesting as it shows Trevor's skill as a multifaceted worker because he doesn't get the same time or tell the same stories in any other company. Trevor is a special case in wrestling and I knew it the moment I first saw him live as I had be slightly familiar with him seeing stuff pop up on youtube here and there but where he took the PWG crowd from chanting "who are you?" to being strongly behind him in the course of one match I could tell he wasn't just a moves guy.

It does make me think of Valentine, Flair, or even Steamboat that Trevor uses the length of the match almost as part of his offense but in a way I see it as more than that. Match length in Trevor Lee title defenses aren't just part of Trevor's game plan it is a character is the story of Trevor Lee as champion. I expect it to pay off in the end that we see that Trevor's true toughest opponent and the one that will ultimately dethrone him is ring time.

[Woof]

 

It does make me think of Valentine, Flair, or even Steamboat that Trevor uses the length of the match almost as part of his offense but in a way I see it as more than that. Match length in Trevor Lee title defenses aren't just part of Trevor's game plan it is a character is the story of Trevor Lee as champion. I expect it to pay off in the end that we see that Trevor's true toughest opponent and the one that will ultimately dethrone him is ring time.

 

That's kind of what I was getting at. Since there is no time limit to his defenses it's not like he's necessarily using his superior stamina to outlast his opponents until the time limit expires (like a heel Flair might have done), but rather he's saying "if you want to get this title off of me you're going to have to earn it because I'm in no hurry here so unless you hit me with something sudden, this is gonna take awhile". It's both an in-ring strategy (I'm going to use my conditioning to wear you down) and a character proclamation (I'm going to leave no room for doubt about my greatness). He's had moments in his defenses where he could have picked up an early win and backed off, as if to say, "unh unh, I want you to push me harder than this before I put you out of your misery and if you happen to get me before then, so be it". It's such a fascinating story because he has to toe the line of being a heel at times to keep it going, but it's never outright cockiness. Instead its this very real sense of "this is the promotion where I got my start and where I call home and I finally won the belt, so before I go off and become a big star nationally I want to get everything I can out of this reign". Just killer character work.