2013 ended with a bang for Arik Royal and a whimper for Trevor Lee. Would Royal keep momentum? Would Lee bounce back from that huge loss? The short answer is yes. The first six months of 2014 were fantastic for both Arik and Trevor. Arik had a series of successful title defenses against Marcellus King, Donnie Dollars, and Nick Richards. Trevor became the king of the high flying Ultra J Division by besting long-time foe Andrew Everett in an amazing 2/3 falls match.
Not long after 2014’s midway point, both Royal and Lee lost their gold. Lance Lude dethroned Trevor Lee in an exciting No Limits, No Holds Barred match. Roy Wilkins and The Coach stole Arik’s Heavyweight Championship in what was essentially a 4-on 1 handicap match with a crooked referee. Because Roy Wilkins had the Golden Ticket, he could create any match with any stipulations he desired. He capitalized on the situation to win the big belt! Trevor and Arik were looking to regain momentum and use the 2014 Weaver Cup to shoot to the top. As fate would have it, They would have to go through each other in the second round.
When these two wrestled in the 2012 Weaver Cup, Trevor had the clear advantage in striking while Arik had power on his side. The same can be said for this match. Trevor and Arik wrestled this match at a somewhat slower pace. It’s almost as if, they now have respect for each other’s ability. After feeling each other out, Arik used his power to shift the tide in his favor. This would always work for a few minutes until Trevor used his striking to disorient his larger opponent. Neither competitor had control for too long. The bout would come to an unfortunate end when Roy Wilkins interfered and inadvertently helped the man he stole the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Championship from.
Roy’s action’s would lead to a Title Match between Trevor and Roy that ultimately ended in a time limit draw. The next month, Roy defended his belt against both Arik and Roy in a triple threat match. Roy retained when he pinned Trevor using the ropes. This led to Trevor challenging Roy to CWF’s first ever No Ropes match. The then 21 year old prodigy fought valiantly, but he didn’t leave with the gold.
In my opinion, this match was the first match in CWF that truly showcased Trevor’s potential as a face. Around this time, Trevor was starting to make a big name for himself in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Trevor had also participated in many classic matches in the Sportatorium at this point. Fans now started to view him as a sort of hometown hero. This new found adelation was cemented when he, Brad Attitude, and Arik Royal successfully defended CWF from the Evolution Pro Wrestling invaders. Former enemies were united by a common goal.
The following month was BattleCade 2014. Trevor and Chet solidified their place as CWF’s top team by besting Zane Dawson and Nick Richards for the Mid Atlantic Tag Team Championship. That same show, Arik Royal officially earned the title of CWF’s Ace by dethroning long-time CWF Legend, Ric Converse.
Tag Team wrestling was a pivotal part of both wrestlers’ 2015. Trevor and Chet were the Tag champs for 11 out of 12 months They were an excellent team. Chet can take a beating and Trevor is excellent at cleaning house. Arik’s partner was none other than the man he dethroned to win the Heavyweight Championship, Ray Kandrack. Royal and Kandrack had a smash mouth style reminiscent of Dr. Death Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, the Miracle Violence Connection. Because of the similarity, I like to think of Royal and Kandrack as the Mid Atlantic Violence Connection.
Trevor and Chet ran through several great teams in 2015. Top notch tag teams like Nick Richards and Zane Dawson, The Dawson Brothers, and Ethan Case and Elijah Evans IV all failed in their attempts to win the gold. The champs looked invincible until they ran into a brick wall, or should I say, two brick walls. Those brick walls go by Arik Royal and Ray Kandrack.
You can see the new friendship between Arik and Trevor in the early stages of the match. The two are even goofing off to a degree. At the same time, there’s still that competitive spirit between them. Once everything settles down, fans are in for a treat. In my mind, these two teams are arguably the best in CWF history. Arik and Kandrack won, so, in my eyes, they’re the best team in CWF history. Once again, Arik bests Trevor.
In February 2016, Trevor fulfills his destiny by dethroning Roy Wilkins in a 105 minute classic for the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. I would argue that he even outclassed Roy in that match. Roy only had a chance at victory when the All Stars interfered. Arik was even one of the people to come to Trevor’s aid against the All Stars. He was also in the ring with Trevor to celebrate his victory.
Shortly after Trevor began his reign, Arik’s demeanor started to change. He developed a new edge along with heightened aggression. His new attitude almost said “Come fight me bro, come mess with me, I dare you!” Some fans bestowed the moniker of Ace upon Trevor after he won his belt. That didn’t sit well with the official Ace. Along with Cain Justice, Arik is one of the CWF wrestlers I see most frequently due to his work in ACTION. Every conversation I have with him, I feel his passion, his competitiveness. He carries the weight of being the Ace with such pride. So, I think it really offended and angered him when Trevor was being viewed as the Ace.
One of the Mid Atlantic Violence Connection’s last title defenses was against CWF’s two biggest hometown heroes, Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett. This would turn out to be one of my favorite CWF tag matches ever. It’s a classic example of Power vs Speed. The challengers put up a damn fight, but the raw power of the Ace and Kandrack was just too much.
The next month, Arik and Ray lost their gold to two of the only men in CWF history to tower over them, the Sandwich Squad. After the match, Kandrack shook the new champs’ hands and raised their arms. Arik stormed out in anger. For the first time in his CWF career, Arik was on the dark side. He really cemented his change in persona during his run in the 2016 Weaver Cup. First, he submitted youngster Jesse Adler with the Gorilla Clutch and refused to let go. Next, he literally beat Smith Garrett into unconsciousness. Finally, he put his hands on Commissioner William L. Cross after Nick Richards defeated him in the finals. Fun fact, that match with Nick Richards is my favorite CWF match of all time.
In September 2016, Arik made a statement by attacking the Heavyweight champ and leaving him laying. During the attack, you can hear Arik shout to Trevor that CWF is his planet, his house, and that’s his belt. Arik would receive an opportunity to make the last statement true when he wrestled Trevor for the belt at the 2016 Rumble.
This new version of Arik was much smarter and aggressive. Sometimes, when Arik and Trevor wrestled in the past, Arik allowed Trevor to dictate the pace of the match. This time, the challenger would come out guns blazing. In the opening minutes, he rocked the champ and nearly dethroned him with a buckle bomb and a sick kick. Minutes later, the challenger was almost caught with the Collision Course moonsault powerslam. Within 5 minutes, both competitors almost came away with the victory.
Arik took control by weakening Trevor with a series of powerbombs on the ring apron and to the ring post. Once the defending champion was weakened, the larger challenger was in the driver’s seat for the majority of the match. I noticed that whenever Arik hurt Trevor, he always used really strong pinfall attempts. Arik was always very strategic with his placement of weight. At the same time, Trevor is really great at weak kickouts. A lot of times, you see wrestlers get hit with finisher after finisher without struggling to get their shoulders up. Trevor uses weak kickouts as an excellent method of selling and a way to help keep the crowd invested.
Honestly, Trevor took a lot of abuse in this match. Several years ago, Trevor always used his striking to gain the upper hand on Arik. That’s not Trevor’s style anymore. Instead, Trevor prefers to systematically pick apart the arms of his challengers with a variety of stomps, kicks, and submissions. 30 minutes in, both competitors were feeling the effects of the grueling contest. Trevor and Arik were each trying to hit a knockout blow. Trevor went for a running boot, Arik attempted to counter into a three-quarter nelson but was caught in one himself for a surprise three count! I really love the finish because it’s a nod to their match from BattleCade 2013 and it also shows that Trevor learned from his mistake.
For the next few months, Arik, Brad Attitude, and Lee Valiant feuded with Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, and Chet Sterling. The two trios battled in a three part Triathlon match at Ultimate Survivor 2016. The first round saw Arik defeat Chet Sterling after Lee Valiant spiked him with an illegal, banned piledriver. This maneuver took Chet out of the match entirely. Lee and Everett got revenge on Royal and Valiant by defeating them in a tag team match in round 2. Round 3 was cut short when Brad Attitude immediately punted Trevor in the pills. After the match, Royal, Attitude, and Valiant continued beating their foes down and ended the show by smashing a beer bottle over Everett’s head. Arik would defeat Everett the next month at BattleCade 2016.
Trevor and Arik wouldn’t majorly come into contact again until August 2017. Trevor just successfully defended his belt against the monstrous Mecha Mercenary. At the time, Arik held the record for the longest Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Championship reign. Trevor was coming extremely close to surpassing his record. In order to take away the thing Arik takes the most pride in, the prodigy must go through the Ace! Fun fact, when Arik was challenging Trevor to another match, he used lyrics to Lupe Fiasco’s Superstar to dare him. One of Trevor’s earliest entrance themes was Superstar. Excellent subtle usage of history for mind games from Arik.
September 2017, the two biggest dogs in CWF history battled for the right to own the aforementioned longevity record. The Arik that challenged Trevor a year before is not the same man looking across from him in the ring. Arik still has all of his explosive power and quickness. The main difference is that he’s now an All Star and has Coach in his ear. Coach can tell Arik when to use his explosiveness and when to slow down the pace. Coach is also known for having countless tricks up his sleeve.
This match was very similar to the October 2016 match in the sense that Arik was always successful when using his power. Trevor was also successful at breaking Arik down methodically using his technical prowess. The key difference between this match and the match from the previous October was the Coach. Coach used a plethora of tricks to attempt to stack the deck against the champ. Sometimes, his antics would backfire. For instance, Arik held Trevor for the Coach to brain him with his baseball helmet. Arik even hummed Take Me Out To The Ball Game. Unfortunately, Trevor ducked and Arik fell victim to friendly fire.
Other times, Coach was very beneficial to Arik. He blinded Trevor with powder. In his state of blindness, Trevor inadvertently popped fingers on both of the referees hands. This rendered him unable to make counts on pin attempts. The good news, Arik can’t lose. The bad news is he can’t win either.
The finish saw Coach slide brass knuckles into the ring. As Arik began putting them on, Trevor rolled him into an ankle lock. At this point, the referee saw the brass knuckles. If Arik used them, he would get disqualified. After a struggle, Trevor transitioned into a Regal Stretch/STF combination to get the duke.
After the loss, Arik’s main goal began to help fellow All Star, Roy Wilkins recapture the gold. Arik was a loyal soldier in the 2017 Rumble for the Championship, the First Blood match at BattleCade, and the second No Ropes match from this February. Roy has had two one on one opportunities to dethrone Trevor with the Coach by his side. This upcoming match at BattleCade will be Arik’s second shot at Trevor with Coach in his corner.
I’d argue that dethroning Trevor would solidify Arik as the official MVP of the All Stars. I have to wonder if Arik believes this too. Coming into BattleCade, I predict we will see an extra motivated Arik Royal. He has something to prove, not to the fans, not to himself. Due to his competitive nature, Arik probably wants to prove to Coach he’s the number one athlete.
In October, Arik won the Golden Ticket. The Golden Ticket allows Arik to make any stipulations for any match of his choosing. He’s using the Golden Ticket for this match with Trevor. Part of me wonders if he’ll do to Trevor what Roy and Coach did to him. Regardless, I’m having a hard time picking against Arik. He’s motivated, and can literally do anything with the Golden Ticket. Long story short, I predict that come BattleCade 2018, the Ace will reign supreme once again!