I don’t usually love matches who’s story can be
purely and simply boiled down to “two people who’ll do anything to win,”
because I feel you can imply and take that kind of story from any random match
you find. Personally, more enjoyment arises out of more character focused
layers that explore why these
characters will go so far to win this particular match, and test the boundries
of how far they’ll go. Trent Seven vs Zack Sabre Jr from a recent Revolution
Pro Wrestling show I saw on their pivot share service, despite some definite
layers focusing on the resilience of Trent Seven’s character, can essentially
be boiled down to the simple premise I outlined above. Despite this, it’s one
of my favourite matches of the year to have taken place on British soil. Let me
try to explain why.
Throughout the match, the commentary team, who I
have a ton of experience listening to despite a rather rude lack of knowledge
of their identity, put over a mixture of storytelling layers. First of all they
mention the very clear clash of styles a match of this nature would provide,
with Zack Sabre Jr favourite the flashy, technical style he himself had a huge
part in popularising and Trent Seven representing what he calls “British
strong-style.” Trent’s style, going back to its Japanese inspiration focuses on
the mantra of taking damage to deal damage, and often manifests itself with
hard hitting strikes and dangerous head drops. It also has a rather unique way
of presenting its defensive wrestling, focusing very highly on the concept of “fighting
spirit” and taking a ton of punishment throughout a match and trying to use
your adrenaline to fight through it until your body can take no more and it
wears you down.
Fair play to Trent Seven he would fit in wrestling
any of the Japanese-proponents of the style and his fighting spirit-selling was
excellent in this match. But we’ll get back to that, I’d like to continue my
train of thought on the style battle mentioned earlier. It’s clear at the outset
that this could take the framework of one of those classic striker/grappler
encounters that the industry in many countries has been based around for
decades. It does fit into that structure somewhat and it definitely benefits
from that because it keeps the build organised and means there was absolutely
no filler to my reckoning in this clash, which some British matches (and
matches in many other countries to be fair) have the tendency to indulge in. It
also helps to layer the match in a genuine culture that takes less-built
matches from good to great. What I mean by this is it feels these two are
representing and battling for their culture in professional wrestling, a true
battle of styles.
Another theme the comms put over during this match
is Trent Seven getting his big opportunity, they specifically said that “Trent
Seven has spent his entire Revolution Pro Wrestling career preparing for Zack
Sabre Jr.” I should mention that this was a match for the highest title in the
company, and Zack Sabre Jr is for all intents and purposes the Ace. So you’ve
got a variant of the ace story in here (the Trent Seven is Japanese plot
thickens) too, which is played to perfection during the heat sequences. Like I
said earlier, Trent’s fighting spirit is particular pleasing, taking Zack’s
brutally destructive offense all match long and genuinely looking like it’s
tearing his body apart as he rips himself to his feet and asks for some more.
As the match plays out you start to realise just how
much this match means to the character of Trent Seven. The comms were right, he
has spent his entire time in Rev Pro getting here, preparing for this specific
encounter, and it is that work, that preparation and that drive that means he
simply cannot lose. Every time he gets knocked down, or his neck gets further targeted
by the technical wizard, his body tells him it’s time, it’s over, he’s lost.
The referee is constantly asking if Trent can continue, Zack’s offense gets
more and more brutal as he closes in for a stoppage win. But Trent will not
die. Because this is it, this is his
time, and he’s worked too hard for it to end via stoppage, he is going to force
Zack Sabre Jr to fight to a real finish and he is going to force Zack Sabre Jr
to respect him, because that’s the least he can achieve after working this
hard.
The work is crisp and tight, all the sequences come
off without a hitch, and both guys know their style so well. Sabre’s offence
is, as usual, a treat to watch as he finds ways to viciously contort the body
of Trent Seven, and as all good heel-leaning grapplefuck, it looks overly
aggressive, highly painful at all times, and evokes sympathy for Seven. Seven’s
strikes are also great, he lays in his chops during the striking session in the
middle of the match and they look brutal. Sabre does his part here, too, I
should mention, selling the “I’ve seen way worse” motif while responding with
the type of strikes you’d expect from a well-travelled vet such as he. The
sequences towards the end where they almost devolve into a bomb-trading session
are also executed just fine, and like I’ve mentioned before with the
Wilkins-Lee 100+minute match from earlier this year, I excuse these kinds of
finishing sequences where the emotional groundwork was laid and the sequence
escalates in a sensible manner, as this one does.
Overall, a legit great match from somewhere I wasn’t
exactly expecting to find one, which kinda speaks to the problem with RevPro in
general. They have the big guns pushed to high positions on the card on their
big shows and otherwise run touring matches done better elsewhere, and then
they’re got something like this (which is only really surpassed by Sabre/Styles
in recent RPW history in my opinion) on a show only a handful of even the
regular RevPro fans are actually going to see. But away from the negative, this
match was genuinely blow away stuff that I would put against any of the best
matches from the British scene this year in a heartbeat, and inspired me enough
to come on here and write about it! Would love to see more high profile
opportunities like this from Trent Seven because he impressed big time.
Rating:
****1/4
Trent Seven vs Zack Sabre Jr
Revolution Pro Wrestling
Live at the Cockpit 11
