Tag: Evolve

July 16, 2016 in Queens, NY

La Boom is packed with another big crowd. Lenny Lenard opens up thanking the WWE for allowing Evolve to host CWC spotlight matches, but is interrupted by Stokely Hathaway who says one of them is off as TJP isn’t wrestling tonight so he can rest up for tomorrow’s potential title match.

The other promised spotlight match is first, with Johnny Gargano  vs. Cedric Alexander. In a nice touch this was presented the same way as the CWC matches, with the prematch rules confirmation and handshake, and the post match MMA style winner announcement. This was phenomenal and the very definition of a hot opener. All night the CWC competitors all looked like they had taken things up a notch since last I saw them just a few months ago. Alexander looked great here and kept up with Gargano, who’s on the roll of his life. Brilliant choice to start the show with.

After Alexander leaves Drew Galloway ambushes Gargano and grabs a chair. Ethan Page comes out to protect Johnny and takes the beating in his place. Drew Gulak comes out to attack Galloway and presumably start their match as Gargano and Page are helped out, but he’s ambushed by  a returning Chuck Taylor!!!

Catch Point saves and “Dustin” is introduced by Galloway as someone else who resents Evolve and having to carry Johnny Gargano. They challenge Gulak and Williams to put the tag belts up later on and we have a new main event. Of note: Matt Riddle did not come out to save fellow Catch Point members from the vicious heels, but uberheels TJP and Hathaway did.

Next was a Four-way Fray, with Chris Dickinson (replacing Tracy Williams) vs. Fred Yehi vs. Tony Nese vs. Darby Allin. Allin gets tossed over the tope rope into a summersault splat on the floor, hitting his legs on the barricade on the way down. Couldn’t see Allin on the floor from my vantage by the other competitors, particularly Neese, were reacting in shock. When Allin later eventually pull himself up and join the match it was a hero’s ovation from the crowd. He later did a trust fall from the top to the outside onto Dickinson and Yehi. This stuff is getting him over, but seems a bit too reckless.

Fun, faced paced match with strong performances from all four, with Allin as the crazy underdog, Dickinson throwing everyone around with power moves, and Neese and Yehi picking their spots to take prime advantage of openings as they appeared. Neese in particular was hitting on all cylinders here, and got the win with an opportune 450 on a laid out Allin while Dickinson recovered from hitting the youngster with a Razor’s Edge off the top. Everyone shook hands and showed respect to Allin after the match.

Ethan Page came out selling effects from his earlier beating to face tryout seminar participant Wheeler Yuta. It’s a good role for Page, allowing him to rack up wins in between big matches while using his experience to help develop the new roster hopefuls. Fired up from Galloway’s actions earlier, Page shows his aggressive side and dismantles Yuta, ending with the package piledriver. Afterwards Page cuts a strong promo directed at Gargano explaining that Johnny’s a man without any support in Evolve and needs to forgive Page and accept him as backup. I dread where I think this ends up, but Page has been killing this angle so far.

 

Jigsaw  made a surprise return and gets TJP’s abandoned spot against Zach Sabre Jr. He looks to have gotten even better is his time away, and kept up with Sabre well with some great back and forth submission wrestling during which they twisted each other in ways the human body isn’t meant to go. Like Gargano, Sabre’s just in the zone right now. Great little match despite being the epitome of foregone conclusion.

Matt Riddle is just way too charismatic and talented for the crowd to boo, particularly in NYC where we love our villains, so he gets big cheers as he mockingly comes out wearing Thatcher’s Evolve Title. He faces another heel traditionally cheered in NY in the returning Roderick Strong, who gets a huge ovation. Despite his skills Roderick usually doesn’t click with me for some reason, but he had a great match here with Riddle. The two cocky competitors taunting each other, Strong’s aggressive approach to the match, and Riddle’s continued… well, evolution as a young wrestler all came together nicely. Big submission victory for Riddle to keep him rolling over everyone on his way to a no-holds-barred title shot against Thatcher in August. Show of respect handshake after the match, which again shouldn’t be happening with Riddle.

Riddle grabbed a mic and taunts Thatcher after the match, which brought out the champ. Recent booking of Thatcher and his methodical style are starting to turn the crowd against him, and combined with the latter’s aforementioned charisma the crowd actually cheers when Riddle rubs the title belt on his crotch in disrespect. Hathaway interrupts their confrontation to question Riddle about where he was while the rest of Catch Point was “defending the company” earlier, demand Riddle shine the belt up for TJP’s eventual victory tomorrow (more crotch rubbing from Riddle to big laughs/applause), and challenge him to a match in September against TJP. Riddle is clearly a heel getting cheered because of how good he is, but the rest of Catch Point are playing half face/half heel characters that drive me crazy. I don’t mind the group having both, but Hathaway and TJP in particular are legitimately over as heels now and having Hathaway talk about “defending the company” is so ridiculously counter-productive.

Riddle accepts the challenge, reminds everyone that Thatcher promised to hurt anyone who touches the title, then throws it to Hathaway. Thatcher pretends to understand it wasn’t Hathaway’s intention/fault, but then grabs his hand and “breaks his finger” to Riddle’s amusement on the outside. However as Riddle starts to head back music hits and out comes the night’s challenger for the Evolve title, Marty Scurll. Great triple face off considering Scurll wrestles Riddle the next day. Scurll’s look is awesome, coming out with small sunglasses, an umbrella, and a white fur coat. Riddle sneaks back in the ring because he “forgot what’s his” and leaves with the belt, prompting an odd stare from the challenger and an amused one from Thatcher.

“Hush little Tatcher, don’t say a thing. I’m gonna hurt you with my chick-en wing.” Like Riddle, Marty Scrull is way too charismatic to be booed in NYC and the crowd is firmly behind the Villain in this match, with Timothy Thatcher getting all the boos. One heckler in the front row got particularly annoying shouting out variations telling Thatcher he sucks every other minute. Your valiant champion running a gauntlet of heels to prove he deserves his title should not be getting that kind of reaction if booked properly. While this wasn’t quite what it could have been, I enjoyed it. Scurll targeted the arm to set up his trademark finish that beat Thatcher last time they faced, and Thatcher weathered the storm for another successful defense (to tremendous boos when Scurll tapped).

TJP rushed the ring afterward but the rest of Catch Point holds him off, while Riddle just perches on a corner and chuckles. Gulak gets in Thatcher’s face, but appears to want to be sportsman like about their mutual hatred. This dynamic of Gulak, Yehi, and Williams being driven faces in a group with antagonistic, in-it-for-themselves heels TJP and Riddle would be really awesome if Gulak and Williams had explicitly turned face at some point and if there weren’t weird things like Hathaway’s earlier comments. TJP eventually gets by his stablemates to cheap shot Thatcher with a kick that drops the champ. Gulak looks annoyed with TJP and Riddle smiles wider.

Drew Galloway and Dustin come out as Thatcher leaves for their match for the Evolve Tag Team Titles against Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams (c). Galloway is playing a great resentful heel trying to bring down Evolve from within and Dustin slid right into the role beside him perfectly. This was the serious, chip-on-his-shoulder heel Chuckie T we all wanted to see during his feud with Gargano a few years back. Interesting to see former Gentlemen’s Club partners Dustin and Gulak go at it. Solid main event that as expected once the surprise challenge was laid out saw new Tag Champions crowned. Galloway and Dustin just shred it on the mic afterwards, talking about how Galloway was going to rip the heart out of Evolve the next night by defeating Gargano and in August they’d be at full strength with them, Chris Hero, Cody Rhodes, and ECIII. Dustin asked where all the fans where when he was left off shows. “Chuck Taylor is dead, you morons killed him.”

Overall

Despite my criticisms of the approach to some of the booking, the stories being told are compelling overall and as usual Evolve delivered plenty of fantastic in ring action. This was a great card top to bottom with diverse matches and a big surprise return that lead to intriguing developments heading into the rest of the summer shows. The pace was kept up nicely as angles intertwined and matches led directly into other match. Fun show definitely worth catching the replay for.

Can’t wait to see Riddle vs Scurll on the next one.

March 20, 2016 in Brooklyn, NY

1) “All Ego” Ethan Page vs Fred Yehi **

On the short side, basically establishing Yehi as a threat to the larger opponent for a while then moving into endgame. Page’s moral journey continues as he offers a handshake several times mid-match to cops in response. Another win though for Page with the package piledriver as his quest for redemption starts to get some traction. Respect show after the match but Nese attacks Page (and then gets cheered for his crack about Page’s weight). He does turn up the heel heat after that. Konley out to send Nese home and with Andrea not there Konley will apparently be going alone later tonight in his title match.

 

2) TJ Perkins vs Tomaso Ciampa ***1/2

Tomaso Ciampa is replacing “Speedball” Mike Bailey, who had travel issues that ended up with him barred from the US for 5 years. Nice reception for Ciampa. Perkins is in his normal gear, with nothing tying himself to Catch Point. He gets big cheers and chants to open. Lenny does a good job of trying to smooth it over on commentary, but Perkins (and really all of Catch Point) needs to play the heel better. On the subject, the whole angle / stable would benefit from being more consistent about supporting each other as a ringside entourage. TJP (and later Riddle) being out alone is odd given the gimmick.

Ciampa knows how to work and pop a crowd. His sequence of destroying TJP’s cap was great. Just the right amount of comedy then back then back to action. Good back and forth as the match goes on, and it’s nice to see some extended offense from Ciampa. These two have good chemistry and I enjoyed this much more than other recent TJP matches.  Insane spot from Ciampa where he catches TJP on his back with one arm, climbs the turnbuckles, and hits an Air Raid Crash. Project Ciampa near the end for two, which seemed unnecessary and undercuts his finisher. TJ Clutch for the submission win as TJP’s push continues. He gets a hero’s ovation for the win. Ugh. Good match though.

 

3) Matt Riddle vs Chris Hero ****1/2

Odd this is on so early – could have easily been the semi-main. Crowd’s firmly on Hero’s side. Show of respect to start. Double ugh. Why the hell is the cocky, back-stabbing, detested Riddle shaking hands?

Like the previous night night the crowd is completely obsessed  with Riddle’s lack of footwear. Hero eventually attacks the exposed foot and makes it the focus of his offense to the crowd’s delight. Riddle’s coming along extremely well in a short period of time and does a great job looking like a legitimate threat to the larger man.

That said, as the match goes on Hero puts him in the most trouble he’s seen so far in Evolve. Hero’s strikes are incredible and look absolutely brutal. It makes Riddle get more and more serious as they progress, including pulling out a sweet fisherman buster. Riddle’s lip is bloody from Hero’s elbows. Hero regains control and Riddle looks to be out after a pile driver, but Hero goes for Death by Elbow. Riddle kicks out, shocking the crowd. Gotch Piledriver attempt is beautifully countered into a triangle, then converted into a vicious arm bar for the victory! Riddle still needs to work on late match selling of early legwork, but overall he’s great from his experience level. Excellent match, and a big win for Riddle that’s properly driven home by the commentary.

Galloway’s delayed this time, so the tag title match will be on later. Konley jumps Gargano then demands Thatcher comes out immediately for his championship match. As Thatcher complies, Callihan lays him out from behind. Way too few actual faces in this promotion.

 

4) Evolve Title Match: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Caleb Konley ***1/4

Konley tries a quick pin to steal the title after Callihan’s attack. Thatcher fights back despite the cheap shot and we go back and forth for a while. Konley tries to go toe to toe with Thatcher in holds, leading to several great, innovative counters from Thatcher. He escapes the O-Face with kicks to the head. “Take it home” chants from a few unappreciative fans. I adore Thatcher style personally, but he is polarizing and has trouble engaging portions of the fanbase.

Late in the match Thatcher’s shoved into the ref after they fight on the top rope. Surprising no one, Andrea is indeed here and runs out to help. She hits a kick and Konley follows with a double jump moonsault, teasing the finish that worked the night before. Thatcher kicks out and is PISSED. Konley distracts the ref and Andrea slaps Thatcher, only to eat a headbutt. Fujiwara armbar, goodnight Konley. Fine match with an awesome show of fortitude from Thatcher, but the shenanigans detracted a bit.

Riddle’s out to challenge Thatcher to a rematch in Dallas. “You’re trash bro, just like the rest of these people.” Thatcher accepts, then after claiming to be upstanding and above cheap shots, nails Thatcher with one in the form of a jumping knee, knocking him out. NOW he’s acting like a heel. Bravo.

 

5) Sami Callihan vs Tracy Williams ***

Aggressive start for Williams, which sets the stage nicely. Callihan tries to slow things down, but Williams gets the better of the grappling. Williams begins to get on a roll so Callihan bailing to stall makes sense, but he does it too much and really disrupts the flow of his matches. Once things settle down Williams gets a long offensive advantage targeting Callihan’s arm. Williams has looked great recently and I enjoy his work.

Nearing the end, and the Cuerno Killer gets one(?!). I understand this makes Williams look like a beast, but I have an issue with using any sort of “spike” tombstone piledriver for a nearfall. It’s a move that should be treated like a career threatening experience. Williams with a nice counter to the stretch muffler for a nearfall, but Callihan hits the Cinder Block for the victory. He needed the win desperately given his building feud with Thatcher, but I was pulling for Williams.

 

6) Best in the World Challenge Series: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Drew Gulak ****

“This is awesome” chant from the crowd in anticipation of the lockup. Evenly matched in the early going, fluidly trading fantastic holds and counters. As I mentioned before, one thing I love about Sabre’s style (and Thatcher’s) is that he’s ALWAYS fighting and gives the impression he’s trying to win every second he’s in there. Gulak matches that feel well here and it’s impressive to watch them go hold for hold throughout the match, peppered with equally impressive strikes and throws.

Sabre’s ankle in trouble later on and Gulak completely picks it apart. One simply but incredibly effective sequence saw Gulak slam Sabre repeatedly making sure his injured ankle hit the ropes each time. Sabre trying to keep Gulak at bay and away from the ankle with palm strikes. They go into a series of rollups and reversals, which ends with Gulak in a seat position with Sabre essentially sitting on his neck facing the opposite direction. Zach gets a wild look, grabs Gulak’s arms and leans back into a crazy submission hold for the win. I find Gulak hit or miss, but he was totally on tonight and had a great contest with Sabre here.

Hero comes out to taunt Sabre. He name drops several people who’ve been called the Best in the World, and says he beat them all. Says he’s beyond that, and is instead the Greatest of All Time. “You haven’t beat me.” “You’re right. But I’ll see you in Dallas.” Gulak gets in Hero’s face after Sabre leaves and tells him he should be more worried about his unfinished business with Catch Point. Face promo from Gulak and the crowd chants for him appropriately. Forgive my harping, but CATCH POINT ARE HEELS. Sigh.

 

7) Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway (c) vs Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Bill Carr) ***1/4

Heel tendencies showing from Galloway, as he ends a pre-match promo joking about just making it on time and changing in the back of the cab with a cheap shot on Dan Barry to jumpstart the match. Team Tremendous won the Second Chance portion of the tag title tournament, resulting in this opportunity. Odd choice, as they aren’t Evolve regulars, lost their match the previous night, and weren’t scheduled for the subsequent Wrestlemania weekend shows in Dallas. They’re a good team that are well loved by the crowd, and Evolve at least tried to cover by stating they be added to the Dallas shows if they won the titles, but this has a total foregone conclusion feel. Shame Galloway’s delay made it the main event.

That said they put up a nice fight against the super-team of Gargano and Galloway. They have great chemistry as a team and displayed some innovative double teams. Things wrap up when Galloway nails Barry with a kick to interrupt a springboard moonsault in midair then scoops him up for the Futureshock DDT. Decent main event, but Team Tremendous never felt like serious threats to Gargano and Galloway’s reign and it never quite reached the levels it felt like it could have.

 

Overall

I’m growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of good face/heel definition in Evolve, leading to muddled angles and very few people to really get behind to cheer. But the ideas behind the rivalries are good and the action is top-notch as always. This show was great despite its missteps and Hero vs Riddle is easily Riddle’s best match so far and well worth seeking out.

April 1, 2016 in Dallas, TX

Given the sheer amount of wrestling going on this weekend I’m going to try to write thoughts as/shortly after I watch live instead of the more detailed reviews I do when I have time to rewatch ippvs on demand.

A lot of interesting things on this card, including Ospreay’s debut, the return of Heroes Eventually Die, and a huge rematch for the Evolve Title.

Gargano and Galloway are out first to fire up the crowd big time. Guessing an interview, and indeed that’s what we get. Strong, energetic promo from Galloway. “This is wrestling week!” Gargano takes over and introduces their special corner man: KOTA IBUSHI! Nice surprise to use him in a non-wrestling role tonight. And it looks like we’re going right into their match to start.

Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway (c) The PAB (Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley). PAB can’t team again if these lose. Big match to start out with. SoCal Val and Andrea are in the PAB’s corner. Champs beating the PAB all over ringside early. PAB a bit too methodical when on offense, but good double teams and showing shades of their performance in their match against Team Tremendous at Evolve 56.

… and the feed goes out until this match is over. Announcers don’t even recap for those who missed it. Read from live report that champs retained and PAB is done. This ippv live thoughts experiment isn’t off to the greatest start.

Riddle’s out to interrupt the introductions for the next match and the Evolve Title match is on second?! Well this won’t end decisively. Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Matt Riddle starts with Thatcher dominating, showing the promised aggression he said he owed Riddle after their last encounter. I was at that one live and it was fantastic until the abrupt finish. Same deal here, as they trade vicious holds and reversals until Riddle violently wrenches back on Thatcher’s elbow at five instead of breaking with Thatcher in the ropes. Ref throws it out. Great while it lasted. These two have great chemistry as opponents, and I hope this is all building to a definitive battle between the two.

Marty Scurll vs. Fred Yehi picked things up nicely after the previous flat finish. This is my first time seeing Scurll, and he makes an immediate impression with great charisma and presence. Yehi looked better here to me than in previous outings, and this was a fun match providing a strong debut for Scurll.

Another wrestler who keeps getting better is “All Ego” Ethan Page. He looked quite good trading blows with Sami Callihan, even in defeat. Needed win for Callihan going into his title match with Thatcher tomorrow.

The difference in Ricochet between the early Evolve volumes and now is incredible, and it was wonderful to see him back against TJ Perkins. Perkins isn’t a favorite of mine, but he can rise to the level of his opponents when motivated and they had a good match here. Perkins remembered to act like a heel about halfway through the match, which helped. Crowd was crazy for Ricochet. The People’s Moonsault needs to be a permanent part of his arsenal. Perkins with a rather shocking upset, singling big plans for him. The post match new manager just for him yet still in Catch Point was confusing, but we’ll see where it goes.

Best In The World Challenge Series – The Flyer: Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Jr. was the semi-main, surprisingly. Ospreay’s another debut tonight and another new to me wrestler, so I was interested to see what all the hype was about. Neither my memory nor words will do this justice. Sabre is on the roll of his life and Ospreay is everything advertised and more. Amazing stuff from start to finish and this really should have gone on last.

 

Hero comes out for the main event before Zach leaves, and congratulates him on his victories so far. But then reminds him Hero is the Greatest of All Time. “That changes tomorrow.” Great line that very simply builds up tension for their match.

 

I didn’t envy Heroes Eventually Die (Chris Hero & Tommy End) and Catch Point (Drew Gullak &Tracy Williams) having to follow Sabre vs Ospreay, but they did a good job of reviving the crowd by the end. It went a little long, but built well and all four men are experts at their respective styles. Extremely happy to see End back. His strikes look absolutely BRUTAL. HED’s double team knee strike into the release suplex was insane. HED is my favorite team in wrestling right now, but Catch Point’s victory was the right call going into their title match tomorrow. Hero goes to the back without End. Wonder if that might be foreshadowing. TJP taunts End in the ring about their match tomorrow.

 

Overall

There were a couple of hiccups (including the technical problems and the mind boggling decision not to put Sabre vs Ospreay last), but this show provided the usual high quality wrestling Evolve is known for and overall started off WWN’s weekend on a high note. Definitely catch the replay.

March 19, 2016 in Queens, NY

Evolve was back in Queens with a big show headlined by the undefeated Matt Riddle challenging Timothy Thatcher for the Evolve title. Shortly before the event a special appearance by William Regal was added for the live crowd. Regal is a long time favorite of mine and it was an honor to meet him. He opened the show announcing that the US qualifiers for WWE’s upcoming cruiserweight tournament would happen in Evolve. Good news and a nice moment / appearance from Regal.

La Boom is a great little venue and it was absolutely packed, with I think the largest crowd I’ve seen them draw. Sami Callihan vs. TJ Perkins was a decent opener that started strong then fell off a bit when both wrestlers ignored major leg work their opponent had been doing all match. TJP in particular often forgets to sell at certain points which takes me out of his matches. Good otherwise though. Odd booking, as Callihan really shouldn’t be dropping matches given his building feud with Thatcher.

Unfortunately “Speedball” Mike Bailey couldn’t make it this weekend, so Jack Gallow took his place against “All Ego” Ethan Page. Bailey was impressive in previous appearances so his absence was disappointing, but Gallow was fine and Page looked good in what was almost a squash to establish Page’s new outlook is starting to work.

 

Drew Gulak vs. Fred Yehi felt a bit slow to me, but was well worked overall. I’m not sold on Yehi yet. He’s not bad but there just seems to be something missing from his matches. Nothing wrong here, but nothing great either.

The show picked up in a big way with Chris Hero vs Tracy Williams. Hero quite honestly came out looking huge, but he’s lost none of his speed or mobility so all it really did was make his sentons and William’s power moves look more impressive.

Hero is crazy over and Williams desperately trying to prove he could hang made for a great in ring story (although perhaps not the best position to put a heel in). They built this into a frenzy and topped it all off with and insane exchange of piledrivers. This was neck and neck for best match of the night with Sabre vs Gargano.

Next up was The PAB (Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley) vs Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Car). Nese and Konley looked better than they have in a while, clicking on all cylinders and keeping the pace brisk without sacrificing their heel heat. Andrea was great in SoCal Val’s usual role on the outside cheering them on and objecting to everything the faces did.

 

Team Tremendous looked good too put on a fun match with the PAB. More questionable booking though. Team Tremendous are around 50-50 in their short stay in Evolve and don’t seem like a credible threat to Gargano and Galloway going into their title match tomorrow. If they do upset the champs it will feel like a fluke. On top of that the last time we saw Konley he said tag matches don’t matter and he was focused on the Evolve singles title. More on that later. Just weird all around. Sometimes the obvious result is the right one.

Best In The World Challenge Series – The WWN Icon: Johnny Gargano vs Zack Sabre Jr.

The more I talk with other fans the more I notice a divide on Sabre’s work. Most like it, but there are a fair number within that who don’t quite “get” the style and are waiting for his matches to “hit another gear.” They don’t always build into a frenzy of high impact moves like others (Hero’s for example). They get more intense in brutality of the holds being applied and the single minded will to win on display. Personally I love it and Sabre vs Thatcher was one of my favorite matches last year.

This match had similar qualities, and the story revolved around Zach RELENTLESSLY going after Gargano’s arm until the centerpiece of Evolve just couldn’t escape and couldn’t take anymore pain. The counter wrestling on display was glorious, and I loved every minute of this. The crowd was pretty loud and into it, but again I think some fans are still adjusting to Sabre’s style. Huge win for him to start out his “challenge series.”

After the match Sabre left and Gargano was attacked by the PAB during a promo. It was “just a reminder that we’re still coming for the tag titles.”  With Galloway absent Ethan Page made the save with a chair to continue his redemption / unasked for aid to Gargano story.

The Page part works fine, but after building Konley’s frustration up regarding it taking so long for his singles title shot, having him previously state he doesn’t care about tag victories, and with his Evolve Title shot the NEXT NIGHT,  him taking a night off from his obsession to suddenly care about tag team wrestling again knocks a lot of steam out of his quest.

Evolve Title Match: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Matt Riddle

I adore Timothy Thatcher’s style and was looking forward to this battle with the undefeated Matt Riddle. Riddle is extremely over as a heel and the crowd was chomping at the bit to see Thatcher finally get his hands on the upstart in a one-on-one environment.

This was incredible while it lasted. Riddle kept countering Thatcher’s grappling enough to get on top and then pounded away with forearms and elbows until Thatcher could turn things around again. He’d then suddenly switch to suplexes and throws to try to wear Thatcher out. Thatcher in turn just kept going straight at Riddle like a pit bull.

The drawback here was just as they really seemed to get going the match ended. The finish was so abrupt several fans around me (including myself) thought Riddle had legitimately been knocked loopy off the headbutt Thatcher delivered. Reading results from people watching it on ippv it seems there was actually some sort of (inadvertent?) low blow involved in the finish, which would better explain Gulak getting in Thatcher’s face and calling him a disgrace after the match. No one in my general area caught the low blow so there was a lot of confusion about the finish. Likely (and understandably) done to protect Riddle, but something clearer and more of a match before that ending would have been appreciated.

While Catch Point was arguing with Thatcher after the match Sami Callihan came in for another attack on the champ from behind. Williams then returned the favor on Callihan sending a message for their match the next day. I like the competitive spirit aspect, and I understand the crowd will always cheer for their favorites, but the mix of heel mannerisms and “face me like a man” sportsmanship ramblings several roster members use makes it hard to get into the overarching angles.

 

 

Overall

Evolve consistently puts on some the best displays of professional wrestling available anywhere in the world. Nothing is ever outright bad and the highs of each card are always raising the bar. The various stories are interesting, but there are issues with the booking that make it hard to get caught up in those stories sometimes. Still I always feel like I get my money’s worth (an often more) from Evolve’s shows, and I highly recommend checking this one out for a pair of excellent matches and an unique if short main event.

August 15, 2015 in Queens, NY

In addition to a great looking card, this was the first Evolve show I’ve been able to see live in quite a while, so I was quite excited for it. With the venue not too far into Queens and a two minute walk from the subway it would have been fairly convenient … if not for a combined hour and a half train delays getting into the city and then out to Queens. Sigh. The gamble that is public transportation. Hopefully better luck next time.

So I unfortunately missed the first two contests. On the lucky side I walked in right for the start of one of the matches I was most interested in.

Chris Hero vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey 

Hero treating Bailey like a little kid during the handshake gave Bailey cause for a fiery start of brutal kicks that immediately captivated the crowd. Hero responded with equally vicious shots and the two just beat the hell out of each other in glorious fashion for the entire match.

Bailey going strike for strike with Hero (rightfully) impressed the crowd and the in-match story of him fighting back against the mocking veteran was done to perfection and brought the crowd to life in support of him in measure equal to Hero (who is just so good every crowd I’ve seen refuses to boo him).

Fantastic, hard hitting match that was perfectly paced and had a great story. This tied the main event for match of the night for me, which is extremely impressive for my first look at Mike Bailey. Hope to see him return to Evolve regularly.

Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley vs Trent Baretta & Rey Horus

Rey Horus and Trent Baretta came out for their scheduled match, but Baretta’s former comrades came out to enjoy watching them beat on each other. Baretta making mocking hand motions to speed things up and checking his imaginary watch as Val went on and on was highly amusing. Baretta got on the mic when she finished and insulted Val until he successfully goaded Konley into accepting a tag matchof the PAB vs him and his “new best friend” Rey Horus (complete with hug to signify their impromptu partnership and “new best friends” chant from the crowd).

While the PAB is a bit too methodical on offense, to the point of losing the crowd, this started hot and picked back up towards the end. Horus had a couple of awkward spots, but overall looked good in my first exposure to him and I’d actually like to see him team with Baretta again sometime.

Baretta was the highlight inside the ring for me. His mannerisms are fantastic and add a lot to his performances, and his ringwork is high octane and fun to watch. Outside the ring Val stole the show. Her reactions to what her team is doing (or suffering) at any given moment are pitch perfect and significantly help fire up the crowd against them.

Johnny Gargano vs Ethan Page

The latest confrontation in Gargano’s war with his former protege took the form of an anything goes match that spilled all over the venue. They spent very little time in the ring before brawling to the floor and into the crowd. On the one hand it was cool that they essentially did a circle around the ring and went through all areas of fans. On the other that meant I couldn’t see what was happening when there weren’t near me, which was close to three quarters of the match. What I did see was decent and they came up with some unique spots on the outside.

The end sequence was up and down. Gargano came up short on what seemed to be a lawn dart attempt across the ring sending Page into a chair wedged in the opposite corner and dropped him a few feet away. They picked things back up with a chair duel that broke pieces off of the plastic chair they were smashing together. Rich Swann came out to “protect” Gargano from taking anymore chair shots and completely unsurprisingly turned on him and helped Page put him down for the count. This was good, but felt like it was missing something that kept it from being great.

Page and Swann adequately explained the turn (and revealed Swann as Gargano’s mystery opponent for the next show), but the promo ran a bit too long and Swann needed to show more anger and resentment. It was too mocking/gloating for someone supposedly fed up with being in Gargano’s shadow. They’re also going to have to do something special with this going forward, because even with the face/heel dynamic reversed Gargano/Swann really feels “been there, done that.” We’ll see how it goes.

Evolve Title Match: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.

This is the match I went to see. Thatcher is my favorite wrestler at the moment and what I’ve seen of Sabre so far has been extremely impressive, so to say I was psyched for this match would be a vast understatement.

I think the term “wrestling clinic” is thrown around too much, but if ever it was appropriate it’s here. Thatcher and Sabre spent the entire match fighting over holds and reversals trying to get an advantage. And that was the key: they FOUGHT for everything. Nothing looked like a “sequence,” it always looked like two guys desperately trying to gain an advantage over one another and win the match.

It’s extremely difficult to keep an entirely grappling based match gripping throughout and never lose the crowd, especially in the main event of a card that featured high flying, strikefests, and no-DQ savagery. It’s an accomplishment that speaks volumes about the skills of both men. I remember a particularly great stretch that featured an exchange of strangleholds for several minutes, and there were tons of innovative reversals and holds that had the fans oohing and aahing.

Sabre added some stiff kicks late in the match and Thatcher some suplexes, but it came back down to the grappling with Sabre focusing on Thatcher’s arm and Thatcher going after Sabre’s legs. In the end Thatcher reversed into a heel hook Sabre couldn’t get out of. Phenomenal match I’m ecstatic I got to see live.

Overall

Despite missing the opening I still more than got my money’s worth from Evolve’s latest show. Loved two matches and the other two were very good at worst. The roster is filled with exceptional talent wrestling diverse styles and as a whole things are clicking nicely. Thatcher is a fantastic champion and I hope his reign is a long one.