That's very weird. I've never heard of anybody calling the entire crust a shell and just the outer crust the crust. Maybe among people who frequently make pizza instead of just consume it.
Also the book I follow for this dough calls these empty par-baked pizza doughs "shells", but you're right
That's how you test for gluten development. But you don't bake bread at that thickness. And certainly not pizza.
This is a par-baked crust. So it only had a small amount of sauce to keep the dough from bubbling up while par-baking. I then froze it to hold for later.
Crust is the thicker bit on the perimeter. You wanted to reference the base of the pizza.
The thicker part on the perimeter is the Cornicione.
In the US, the word crust is often incorrectly used to describe the edge of the pizza. The crust is the whole bread part of the pizza, not only the edge.
Add pepperoni and 'nduja to that next time. Then garnish it with rocket leaves and cracked black pepper maybe also truffle oil if you have it.
"How much dough would you likf to eat with your air this afternoon?"
"Just enough for the crust to look like some kind of fucked up stained glass window when I put it to the light"
"Say no more"