Every once in a while, two top guys engage in a lengthy war for the gold. One of professional wrestling’s special qualities is that it’s based in the battle of good vs evil. If you enjoy the moments of the underdog winning the big one or watching those dastardly villains get their comeuppance, then pro wrestling is definitely for you. This particular story is much closer to the latter.
This chapter in the rivalry of Trevor Lee vs Roy Wilkins first began in 2014. Late that year, Trevor and Wilkins were fighting for the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Title. Out of the two, the fans clearly chose to root for Trevor. Trevor isn’t your typical white meat babyface. In fact, for the majority of his career he practically got booed out of the building. Trevor earned the fan’s admiration with his incredible talent for putting on fantastic matches and stealing the show every time.
On the other hand , you have Roy Wilkins. In his earliest days in CWF, Roy was absolutely adored by the fans. Roy was also the star pupil of the head trainer, Coach Gemini. Coach had taught Roy everything he knew, good and bad.
This includes the infamous “work smarter, not harder ” philosophy that Roy and the rest of the All Stars implement in their matches. In Roy’s case, he had a knack for using the ropes to get the W. Well, that didn’t sit to well with Trevor. In order to eliminate the champ’s unfair advantage, Trevor challenged him to a No Ropes match. In addition to the ropes being twisted off, the methods of victory are vastly limited. You either make your opponent submit or you beat him or her into unconsciousness. In a way, this match type brings an MMA vibe to CWF.
The first ropeless battle was in November 2014. At first, the match was somewhat slow. I believe this was a way to help explain the stipulation to fans. Trevor and Roy accomplished this by doing little things like shoving each other against the post, throwing each other out of the ring, and using the ring apron for submissions while the opponent was on the floor.
As the match went on , it transformed into a fast- paced, bomb throwing war. Unfortunately for the challenger, he hurt his knee with a double stomp from the apron midway through the match.After the injury, the story became clear, either Roy was going to make Trevor tap or Trevor was knocking the champ out. In the end, Trevor fought his heart out, but his knee just couldn’t handle Roy and his Sabre-esque submission mastery. Roy was simply the better man that night.
Fast forward 3 and a half years, and Trevor is the defending champ. Not only is he the champ, but he is also a man possessed and obsessed with revenge! Roy stole his belt after choking him out with ropes. The All Stars would have hell to pay.
The match itself was structured very similarly to its predecessor. However, It did feel like a more traditional wrestling match because of the All Star’s villainous antics and Roy fighting much dirtier. He attacked Trevor’s groin with several groin shots to the post and a particularly gruesome looking low blow .
To his credit, Trevor was also vicious in his own right. The champ’s strategy was centered around relentlessly targeting Roy’s neck. Throughout the match, Trevor assaulted Roy’s neck with a nasty looking apron backdrop driver, a series of wicked brainbusters and a devastating STF/Regal Stretch combination. Somehow, the challenger stayed alive.
Towards the end, Trevor turned up the heat and unleashed a tombstone piledriver that would make The Undertaker stay down! He followed by twisting Roy’s neck ala Mr. Perfect. Finally, Trevor let out his inner Shibata, Danielson, and Riddle with painful penalty kicks and scary ground and pound.
After nearly an hour, Trevor retained his title. I have slightly mixed feelings about this match. From a pure wrestling standpoint, I would say it was slightly better than the first No Ropes match. However, I feel like the first match did a better job of incorporating the stipulation into the match. In my opinion, The first bout was a great No Ropes match. To me, this match somewhat felt like a fantastic match that just happened to not have ropes. Even though my words might sound harsh, I really enjoyed both matches and highly recommend checking both of them out.