That is an eye-grabbing headline, huh? Timothy Thatcher vs Zack Sabre Jr. Two of the best Anglo technicians of the current day going at it in Gabe Sapolsky’s EVOLVE Wrestling. But when you put it into context, you’ll realize it’s better to temper your expectations. Zack Sabre Jr was still Zack Sabre Jr in 2014 but he wasn’t yet with New Japan, he hadn’t yet been Zacky Three Belts, he wasn’t yet a definitive star. Thatcher had just come into the company, and though he did win that Style Battle (he and Biff Busick ended with 2–1, and since Thatcher beat Busick he was named winner) those were mostly opening matches. Basically, he wasn’t a hot product, but he was definitely getting there.
I say all this to say that this didn’t really move out of second gear, and it got there late in this roughly 20 minute contest. The why of it not hitting harder is an interesting question, though, and I found myself thinking of two interrelated points.
The first point is that submissions in pro wrestling are too fake. The second is that it’s important that someone be losing at some point in a pro wrestling match.
First point first. What could I mean by “too fake”? If you watch submission wrestling or jiu jitsu or MMA, you’ll notice one thing for every submission attempt: the opponent defends. If the opponent doesn’t defend, they will lose. End of story. Yes, there are times that a person can not have a hold on completely and they fight, but that’s exactly the point: they fight. They present the urgency that if they don’t fight, they will immediately lose. That makes it important that you watch these moments that might be on the ground, might not have the flashiest parts going. You know that it could end right now.
I’m vividly remembering a bit in this match where Tim Thatcher has Zack Sabre Jr’s arm fully extended in an armbar and Zack doesn’t tap. He’s in the move, he’s caught, and then he escapes. That turns the submission hold into too much performance, and because we’re being told that this is performance, it’s easier to lose one’s investment as a viewer.
Pro wrestling holds can end a match via a few paths (I know this might sound a bit odd to say, but stick with me). They can be an immediate limb snap, like the cross arm breaker, and this is pretty much always defended these days. They can immobilize their opponent, and this is anything from the rear naked choke to the Boston crab. Or they can deal damage close enough to a knockout, and this is mostly when people get their submission from strikes.
A move like the Walls of Jericho is sold like it’s the pain that does it, but if you think about it mechanically, the reason that the Walls of Jericho wins matches is because it prevents the opponent from getting to the ropes and escaping. That’s the majority of pro wrestling holds. If it was simply a pain thing, then all Jericho would have to do is lock it in for a second and it’d be over. Whatever part the pain has to play is in convincing the victim that they can’t escape the hold, it’s not about reaching a pain threshold like someone being tortured. Even in the third path, where you’re laying in strikes, the message is much more “you can’t hold on, you’ll be knocked out” than “you will squeal in pain”.
I’m clarifying that point because I want to emphasize that most wrestling holds, as they’re currently handled, really have no drama in them unless they’re of the first kind. Trading holds is a meaningless exercise. The only thing that matters in trading holds is the effect that it has on their opponent. To say it another way, hooking and throwing a suplex has an innate drama in the impact and the sure knowledge that the suplex must have really hurt. With a Boston crab or an armwringer, conveying the idea that it actually hurts is really not innate, it has to be sold to the viewers.
So I move onto the second point: someone has to be losing at some point. In this match, neither Timothy Thatcher nor Zack Sabre Jr were ever losing. Obviously, there were parts were Thatcher was in control, parts where Sabre was in control, parts where they were teeing off and battling for that ascendancy. But at no point did I say to myself “damn Thatcher really has to battle back from this”. Sure, his arm got hurt and he sold the arm effectively, but it did not put him on the backfoot. So what point did Thatcher having a hurt arm really serve? The only thing it did was provide Zack Sabre a focus, but I don’t find “having a focus” to be a compelling dramatic feature on its own. It can lead to good drama but that happens when the focus manifests itself in a way that’s meaningful.
These two ideas interact when you consider that what is missing from most holds — drama — is also central to that idea of someone being on the bad end of a match. What will really make most holds have some purchase is if the result of those holds is that the victim is actually in trouble. That means that the holds in some way need to continually threaten them, either putting them open for pinfalls or nearly getting that snap submission, and preventing them from getting a leg up at all. It’s not just about selling the limb while continuing to work the match. Even if the bad limb hurts you in a small way, like preventing you from doing a lift, if it doesn’t actually help the other person have a considerable advantage then it’s just flavor. Sometimes that’s all you want, and just doing things for flavor is not always bad, but if you add flavor to a meal that’s no good to begin with, you’re only going to come out with something forgettable.
And that’s basically what this contest was. A decent little match. Things picked up around where Thatcher hit a trio of gutwrench suplexes, and there was a bit where Zack ran up out of nowhere and PK’d Thatcher right in the arm that had me howling. ZSJ in the Style Battle would have been interesting because he’s probably the slickest technician out of anyone in EVOLVE, whereas Thatcher is really an anti-slick wrestler; ZSJ counters you as you’re coming in, Thatcher can prise himself out of any hold. The finish came after Zack locked up Thatcher’s arms and booted him in the skull until he gave it up.
Technique B
Intensity B
Drama C
Excitement C
Okay Match
