One hundred and five minutes. That's a long time for anything. Insanely long for a wrestling match. Almost impossibly long for a great wrestling match. But incredibly two guys completed this feat. And this wasn't between two Japanese pros in Korakuen Hall or between two indy darlings in front of diehard wrestling fanatics. It was in a small local arena between TNA's Trevor Lee and the pretty much unknown Champion Roy Wilkins. To put the length of the match into perspective, just think of your average three hour Raw and count up how much of that you actually spend watching wrestling. It shouldn't work, but it does and does so fantastically.
Both Lee and Wilkins go to war for the entire length of the match. The match painted a perfect story of slow deliberate technical wrestling, focusing on particular body parts and really cranking and grinding those holds in. What struck me is that Trevor Lee, the babyface, was in control for the majority of the match. If your going to have a hundred and five minute match, common sense would be to have the heel beat down the babyface and have the good guy crawl his way back into it. Although this match did have an element of this, Lee was the man in control and seemed to enjoy dishing out the punishment to Wilkins. And it worked. The fans were all over seeing the heel, who had cheated his way to the title and keep hold of it, get twisted, slapped and kicked in every corner of the arena.
The comeback from Lee came after a series of interferences from a group of heels. Lee got beat down, tried a comeback, failed and got beat down more. A group of faces then showed up to even the odds. Classic storytelling. There's even time for a lights off, lights on, man-appears-in-ring gimmick. Even through I don't follow the product and don't know who any of these guys are, Lee and Wilkins have set the foundation for these interferences. Lee, in what I think is the moment of the match, has an almighty comeback, taking out all the heels with a series of moves. The fans quite rightfully go crazy for this. Up until now, the match had been holds and strikes but this was all a build up to Lee busting out all of his favourite moves such as the standing double stomp and the flip crossbody. After a few ref bumps It looks like Wilkins may steal the match, this fails so Wilkins hits a sick Flip Piledriver. I thought that was it but Lee rallies and wins with a big supekick.
Lee's performance can only be praised more when you realise he is only 22 years old. His performance was one of a veteran, expertly plotting out the story of the match-up. Everything about Lee in this match showed that he knows exactly what he was doing. He was excellent in the pacing of the early goings of the match, how he locked in innovative submissions using the ropes and found counters constantly to whatever Wilkins had up his sleeve. It was the small things that Lee did that really impressed, the slap of he thigh while in a hold or a knee applied to the neck to add more pressure. He had the crowd in the palm of this hands throughout. That's without even mentioning the chair spot.
The crowd cannot go unnoticed for their contribution to this classic. The fans in attendance there weren't die hard wrestling fans, I'm sure they are not used to anything like this in length or style. But hell, did they make a noise from the first strike to the moment the video went off air. I've never seen an atmosphere like it in such a small arena. Throughout the entire match there was not one silent period and the CWF Mid-Atlantic fans should be applauded for this.
And let us not discount the commentators. They built up the match perfectly by telling us the story of the bout: how Lee has won every title but this one, how this was his last chance or he would have to leave the company, how and why the stipulations were made. They even went into physical details of affect of stamina and sweat has on as the match wore on. The two were the perfect guides to the match but they were more than that, it felt like you were watching the match with them. When you bit on a near fall so did they, when you lost your mind when Lee made an epic comeback the commentators were shouting even louder than you. It was like you were watching it with a group of friends. Truly great commentary.
So what else is there to say? Well considering the match was a hundred and five minutes long there is plenty to say. What I will finish on harks back to a comment I made in the first paragraph. This match was by CWF Mid-Atlantic. Not WWE, TNA, ROH, PWG, Evolve, Lucha Underground or NJPW. A small promotion that I (and likely many others who have watched this bout) had never heard of. Isn't it fantastic and a true wonder, that in the 21st Century due to the availability of modern technology that we can share and watch this match. Not too long ago promotions like CWF Mid-Atlantic wouldn't be able to film or record their shows, let alone broadcast it for anyone around the World to watch it. This match would have been only been seen for those lucky enough to be in attendance. We would have missed out on this classic and I'm so glad we didn't.
