Not Through With You Yet

For three weeks in the fall of 2006 Devin Driscoll was the Ohio Valley Wrestling Television Champion. The 6'4" (or 6'5", depending on the source) fitness trainer caught the WWE's eye the previous summer and set him up at OVW for training, back when it was a developmental promotion for WWE. He made an impression early on, as in this match against British bear-heel Paul Burchill. His short reign as TV champ precipitated his early retirement from pro wrestling in February 2007. A couple of years ago, Devin launched his own promotion, Next Level Wrestling, in Knoxville.

His early match against Burchill (from the commentators' banter I gather Devin was making his television debut at this time) is a good example of one of the wrestling angles or plot points I particularly enjoy, in which a big brute, in this case Burchill, 6'4", 245#, has one or more clear shots at pinning his hapless opponent for an easy victory but insists on rolling the guy over or lifting his shoulders from the mat because he wants to drag out the jobber's painful demolition. It's a sadistic form of showing off, so naturally I'd be impressed. Often, the arrogance of such a strategy proves to be the heel's undoing because the underdog rallies and gives the bully the beatdown he so richly deserves. Just as often, though, as here, the heel gets in a few more humiliating licks--like a cat toying with its victim--to ensure that his finisher literally does finish the guy.