CWF Mid-Atlantic End of An Era 2019: Cain Justice vs. Trevor Lee
I first saw Trevor Lee when he made his PWG debut at Mystery Vortex II
in 2014. Throughout his first two years in PWG, I remember thinking he
had some solid matches against the likes of Chris Hero, Kevin Steen,
Roderick Strong & that debut 3-way vs. Everett & Cedric
Alexander, but he never really stood out in any of his performances
though, and he just felt like a yet another solid, yet forgettable indy
wrestler. Now let's fast forward to 2016; I had heard some reports about
him having a ridiculously long match, the longest match in modern era,
in his home promotion, but never really got that interested in it. After
all, Trevor was never one of my favorites in PWG or anything. THEN fast
forward a couple of months. My favorite wrestler of all-time, Daniel
Bryan had retired in February, and I didn't really have a new favorite
wrestler, because who the hell could replace someone who I think is THE
greatest?! Spoiler: no one did replace him by the end, but Bryan's part
in my love for Trevor Lee is pivotal. Around May of 2016, I was reading
some reviews of 2016 indy wrestling, and this person who was writing
these reviews followed CWF Mid-Atlantic. He wrote in his review of
Trevor's 104-minute match vs. Roy Wilkins, and I quote; "Trevor
continually goes to the arm for the first hour or so, and it's such a
great performance that I'd call it Danielsonesque, but he's doing stuff
even Bryan and Nigel didn't think of" - that certainly sparked my
interest, as Daniel Bryan was & is indeed my favorite of all-time,
and Nigel is right up there with him, so that added to it even more. I
read more of his reviews, and in one of his other ones for Trevor's CWF
work, he says something along the lines of: "Trevor does the Danielson
cosplay-shtick better than other guys who try to do it like Scurll, ZSJ,
Thatcher" - couldn't find the actual review where it's from, so the
quote isn't 100% accurate, but it was something with the same idea as
that one, and that really sealed the deal for me. I went & watched
Trevor's Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title defense vs. Andrew Everett. I
was blown away by the classic that the match turned out to be, and
Trevor's performance was the key to that; I had never seen him wrestle
like THAT before & like I said, I was simply blown away by the whole
thing. It in many ways reminded me of Bryan's wars for the ROH World
Championship vs. Roderick Strong, and let me tell ya, that's a VERY high
compliment. I actually tweeted right after watching it; "Trevor Lee's
performance in that CWF match vs. Everett was something else. Reminded
me of a classic Bryan Danielson 2006 title defense". I knew I needed to
dig in deeper & watch more of Trevor Lee's work in the promotion -
it could've been a one match random "fluke" great performance by the
man, but after watching that monstrously long, 104-minute match vs. Roy
Wilkins, I was certain it wasn't. 104 minutes is very close to 2 hours,
and I am a someone who very often thinks 30 minute matches are way too
long (what's good New Japan), so I went into with with a skeptic mind,
but boy oh boy, those 104 minutes flew by as the work by both men, but
especially Trevor, sucked me in completely. From then on I was all in on
Trevor hypetrain, and I made sure to watch all of his title defenses
for the rest of the year & then 2017. Amazing battles vs. Brad
Attitude, Arik Royal, Michael Elgin, Alex Daniels, Chip Day, Nick
Richards, Otto Schwanz, Mecha Mercenary - the list goes on & on, but
Trevor truly created a body of work & a match catalog for the ages
with his title reign. 1085 days of excellence.
And now, enter this match. His final CWF Mid-Atlantic date vs. none other than Cain Justice. I discovered Cain Justice by watching his match vs. Dominic Garrini from early 2017, and the match was absolutely lovely. After watching a few more of his matches, and then his performance vs. Trevor from the 2017 CWF Mid-Atlantic Rumble, I was pretty certain I wanted Cain to be the one to end Trevor's epic reign as the Heavyweight Champ. Fast forward to January of 2019, and they are meeting for the first time in 1-on-1 action. I loved the match, and thought it set up the re-match perfectly. Then the 6-pack challenge happened for the title a few weeks later, and that built to their re-match even more. All signs pointed to Cain Justice being THE ONE.
I woke up, and immediately as I started scrolling my phone, I went to twitter & checked the match result. Trevor retained in a 75 minute battle. Now the next thing to do was opening my laptop & actually watching the thing.
The match was amazing, unsurprisingly. Even though Trevor has more than proven himself to be the master of putting on super lengthy matches, I still always have my doubts when I see a match going to such monster minutes as this one, but as was the theme of his title reign, he completely sucked me into the battle that was done inside that squared circle. The 75 minutes flew by as if they were 15; it built & built & built & BUILT, and by the end, the drama was just so perfect I got them goosebumps. Trevor pretty much completely ate Cain alive in their first meeting back in January, and that was the case for much of this one, too; Trevor straight up dominates, with him stretching Cain all over the place, with his, always oh-so-great looking holds. Cain makes some brief comebacks, but every single time the champ shut him down very quickly. I interpreted the storytelling very much as Trevor making Cain go from a boy he trained to a MAN who's ready to be the forefront of the company - Cain proved he had a lot of heart in the 75 minutes, as he survived Trevor's brutal onslaught on him, and as the match went on, he got more & more into those comebacks of his; the last 20 to 25 minutes are crazy amazing w/ it's drama - the nearfalls & especially the drama revolving around their submission finishers in the Twist Ending & STF is top notch stuff, and while I probably would've let Cain win, I loved the finish. Trevor was absolutely BRUTAL with those Danielson stomps, which instantly brought me back to 2016 & the reason why I wanted to watch his match vs. Andrew Everett in the first place. Trevor Lee leaves his territory with one of his greatest masterpieces. Like I said, I would've let Cain actually win the title, but if there's one man in independent wrestling history who deserves to go to the big leagues without actually losing his title, it's Trevor.
I watched the whole post-match farewell as well, which lasted for an hour, and it was just magic. Trevor thanking everyone, sharing stories about his fellow CWF Mid-Atlantic wrestlers, and them sharing stories & thanking him. It's all very wholesome stuff, and it's now in one of my favorite indy farewells ever.
So ends a special time period in my pro wrestling fandom. Pro Wrestling is about telling stories, and to me, there are not many better stories than the one told by Trevor Lee in his 1085 days as the 34th CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. The way the magic translated to my shitty laptop screen is just unbelievable, and I gotta say there aren't many wrestling events I wish I had been there for live more than any of Trevor's big title defenses in the Sportatorium.
And now, enter this match. His final CWF Mid-Atlantic date vs. none other than Cain Justice. I discovered Cain Justice by watching his match vs. Dominic Garrini from early 2017, and the match was absolutely lovely. After watching a few more of his matches, and then his performance vs. Trevor from the 2017 CWF Mid-Atlantic Rumble, I was pretty certain I wanted Cain to be the one to end Trevor's epic reign as the Heavyweight Champ. Fast forward to January of 2019, and they are meeting for the first time in 1-on-1 action. I loved the match, and thought it set up the re-match perfectly. Then the 6-pack challenge happened for the title a few weeks later, and that built to their re-match even more. All signs pointed to Cain Justice being THE ONE.
I woke up, and immediately as I started scrolling my phone, I went to twitter & checked the match result. Trevor retained in a 75 minute battle. Now the next thing to do was opening my laptop & actually watching the thing.
The match was amazing, unsurprisingly. Even though Trevor has more than proven himself to be the master of putting on super lengthy matches, I still always have my doubts when I see a match going to such monster minutes as this one, but as was the theme of his title reign, he completely sucked me into the battle that was done inside that squared circle. The 75 minutes flew by as if they were 15; it built & built & built & BUILT, and by the end, the drama was just so perfect I got them goosebumps. Trevor pretty much completely ate Cain alive in their first meeting back in January, and that was the case for much of this one, too; Trevor straight up dominates, with him stretching Cain all over the place, with his, always oh-so-great looking holds. Cain makes some brief comebacks, but every single time the champ shut him down very quickly. I interpreted the storytelling very much as Trevor making Cain go from a boy he trained to a MAN who's ready to be the forefront of the company - Cain proved he had a lot of heart in the 75 minutes, as he survived Trevor's brutal onslaught on him, and as the match went on, he got more & more into those comebacks of his; the last 20 to 25 minutes are crazy amazing w/ it's drama - the nearfalls & especially the drama revolving around their submission finishers in the Twist Ending & STF is top notch stuff, and while I probably would've let Cain win, I loved the finish. Trevor was absolutely BRUTAL with those Danielson stomps, which instantly brought me back to 2016 & the reason why I wanted to watch his match vs. Andrew Everett in the first place. Trevor Lee leaves his territory with one of his greatest masterpieces. Like I said, I would've let Cain actually win the title, but if there's one man in independent wrestling history who deserves to go to the big leagues without actually losing his title, it's Trevor.
I watched the whole post-match farewell as well, which lasted for an hour, and it was just magic. Trevor thanking everyone, sharing stories about his fellow CWF Mid-Atlantic wrestlers, and them sharing stories & thanking him. It's all very wholesome stuff, and it's now in one of my favorite indy farewells ever.
So ends a special time period in my pro wrestling fandom. Pro Wrestling is about telling stories, and to me, there are not many better stories than the one told by Trevor Lee in his 1085 days as the 34th CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. The way the magic translated to my shitty laptop screen is just unbelievable, and I gotta say there aren't many wrestling events I wish I had been there for live more than any of Trevor's big title defenses in the Sportatorium.
One more time for the Caroline Caveman before he goes and takes over the BIG LEAGUES. ****3/4
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