EVOLVEing Teams

EVOLVE 38 featured one tag team match. Team Tremendous, consisting of Dan Barry and Bill Carr, took on Earl Cooter and Jody Kristofferson, managed by Larry Dallas. Both teams were new to EVOLVE. During the match the commentators made a point of referencing the current slenderness of the promotion's doubles scene, albeit with the euphemistic "transitional phase" line to imply that fresh teams are coming.

The low number of teams in EVOLVE has been an issue for a while. At the start of 2014 the Young Bucks made their final appearance for the company, bringing their rivalry with the Bravado brothers to an abrupt close. Lancelot and Harlem inherited the spot of top team by default. There were simply no other tandems available. They spent the majority of the rest of the year working with The Colony and fellow heels the Premier Athlete Brand.

I thought (still think, in fact) the Bravados were underrated in EVOLVE. They weren't the best tag team ever but they were reliable and had a good range of double team moves. Their losing effort against Uhaa Nation and AR Fox at EVOLVE 36 was a good example of the level they could perform at (and how far they've come since their days as perennial losers in Ring of Honor). They were also clearly dedicated to being a unit. With so many guys thrown together to work as teams these days that was particularly nice to see.

Sadly it seems that the Bravados are gone from EVOLVE. They and Moose lost a Losing Faction Must Split match to the reformed Ronin at EVOLVE 37 and were neither booked for or mentioned at EVOLVE 38. They haven't been announced for any of the WWN shows over WrestleMania weekend either. Which leaves EVOLVE without their most consistent team.

Finding relevant pictures of EVOLVE performers is tough.

In fact if we discount the two teams that debuted at the most recent show EVOLVE has exactly one tag team: the Premier Athlete Brand combo of Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. They're a good pairing who work well together, complement one another's styles, and who seem to be keener on becoming a proper team than I would have guessed when they first won the Open the United Gate straps back in September of last year. But they can't make a division by themselves. They need opponents. Even if Team Tremendous join Kristofferson and Cooter in getting regular EVOLVE gigs three teams are not enough to make a compelling, layered division. Last year taught us that.  

The good news is that there are teams available to EVOLVE. Davey Richards' short notice appearance and Austin Aries' upcoming WWN Supershow match tell us TNA talent are able to appear on the company's iPPVs. Roderick Strong's work with the group tells us that select ROH guys are able to negotiate more flexible contracts should they have the desire (although this is presumably something only open to those who are considered important enough to be kept happy). Plus there are notable teams that work elsewhere who don't work for EVOLVE at all.

The Colony would be ideal, for example. They proved reliable and popular during their appearances last year. The Super Smash Brothers were semi-regulars in the early years of the promotion. They wouldn't make the worst additions in the world. For that matter Ethan Page and Josh Alexander's Monster Mafia were enjoyable in their appearances for the promotion last year. And all three teams have the added bonus of being babyfaces. That makes them ever so slightly easier to utilise than heel pairings.

There's potential on the current roster too. Rich Swann and Chuck Taylor could be used as a regular pairing as part of Ronin's comeback. Alternatively Swann could be teamed with Ricochet as the Inner City Machine Guns. Their styles mesh better but there's the problem of 'ochet being pulled from shows at short notice by Lucha Underground (they get priority on Ricochet's booking and can pull him in at short notice for television tapings). It's a pity that Uhaa Nation's NXT bound, he and Fox have worked well together in their sporadic appearances as a team.

Biff Busick and Drew Gulak have potential as a tag team (as noted in my EVOLVE 38 review). Having them form a team would be another way to raise their profiles and their style would make for a different sort of tag team match. It would be interesting to see how they work together and what they could do in a tag environment. There are even two obvious portmanteau names for them: Team Bulak and Team Gusick. That in itself is reason enough to pair them up!

The financial boat could really be pushed out and The Wolves could be pencilled in for a stretch of shows. Richards went down well as a singles performer on March 8, there's nothing to indicate he'd be any less popular alongside Eddie Edwards. Having them win the Open the United Gate championship, even for a couple of weeks or months, could really elevate the titles. The same goes for bringing in Austin Aries to work more frequently as Generation Next with Roderick Strong.

The potential is there for EVOLVE to have a good tag team division. If they're going to bother having tag team titles they might as well aspire to having a good division too. Some of the fixes are cheaper and easier than others but whichever approach was chosen the result would almost certainly be worthwhile. Creating a decent tag division would make the seemingly inevitable renaming of the Open the United Gate championship to the EVOLVE tag team championship have a greater chance of meaning something.

EVOLVE 37 review

Despite being accidentally kicked in the head by Drew Galloway at the end of the previous evening’s show Heather Lynn was in the ring when the EVOLVE 37 stream started up. She introduced the show before coming over all woozy and in need of a sit down. Joanna Rose replaced her to handle the intros of the first match. If she wasn’t able to speak why did Lynn bother to turn up? I mean, yes, obviously it was to get over the kick she’d taken from Galloway, which in turn reminded everyone that Roderick Strong is a bit of a cad, but in real life terms why did she attend the show?  

Shane Strickland was in the opening match for the second night in a row. Also for the second night in a row he was wrestling a champion. This time it was a non-title contest with Open the United Gate champion Anthony Nese. Before the match Nese introduced the new Director of PR for the Premier Athlete Brand, So Cal Val. Then he demoted Su Yung to Val's assistant. Because that’s how business works in wrestling. Val would immediately start issuing order to Su and they would bicker throughout the match. I wonder if this development will lead to a match or feuding factions or anything...

Strickland and Nese had a good opening match. As was the case the night before Strickland was given plenty to do to make him look competitive. Nese won after flattening Strickland with a pump handle bomb and applying the single leg crab. At Val’s request Su Yung took a picture of the rest of the gang after the match. 

Timothy Thatcher v Roderick Strong was preceded by Strong being disingenuous with a microphone. He apologised to Heather Lynn for what Drew Galloway did to her the night before, failing to acknowledge it was his fault. But he’s a heel, that’s what they do. He said he wasn't going to kick Galloway around the building again but that he'd give Thatcher a kicking. Lenny Leonard explained that Strong and Galloway had been told they’d face heavy fines if they interacted in any way during the show.

Thatcher took Strong down to the mat and worked over his arm at the start of the match. Strong took Thatcher down and targeted his leg. They worked through pinning situations and submission holds, ending with a Strong dragon suplex which thatcher bridged out of and turned into an armbar. Roddy escaped that and took a breather at ringside.

Thatcher swatted aside a drop kick and connected with uppercuts before they went back down to the mat. Strong elbowed and kneed Thatcher, trying again and again to get a pin in place for the three count but not managing it. Thatcher tried a cross armbreaker but Strong quickly slipped out and ran Thatcher into a corner. Thatcher fought out and worked Strong down to the mat with armbar applied. Strong used the ropes to get a break then left the ring again. Thatcher followed and got run into a ring post.

A drop kick welcomed Thatcher back to the ring. He fired back with chops and uppercuts but another drop kick floored him for a two count. Strong went for the Stronghold but couldn't turn Thatcher over so he cornered him and hit him with a running knee and a forearm instead. Thatcher got up and went back to his forearms before dropping Roddy with a suplex. Strong slipped out of a Tower of London attempt and got a German suplex. Thatcher got back to his feet and hit more uppercuts before Strong floored him with a roundhouse.

Thatcher absorbed chops in the corner, hit an enziguri, then hit a superplex. Back on their feet Roddy battered Thatcher with punches before being spun down to the mat with an arm bar, which he floated through to apply the Stronghold. When Roddy turned Thatcher onto his back to drag him away from the ropes Thatcher kicked him off, rolling him up in a small package as he bounced off the ropes for a two count. That was a great false finish.

Roddy hit a high knee and reversed out of a suplex attempt to hit a rolling elbow. Thatcher hit a head butt, yet more uppercuts, and knees then blasted Strong with a butterfly suplex. Strong kicked out but he was immediately trapped in a Fujiwara armbar. Unable to make it to the ropes and trapped in a painful hold Strong could do nothing but tap out. It was a big win for Thatcher and was talked up as such by Leonard and Niemi on commentary.

After the match Thatcher reminded everyone that he won the style battle tournament last time he was in Florida for WWN. He asked for a match with Chris Hero, who’d kicked him in the head the same night he won the tournament. Hero wasn’t there to respond but I imagine we’ll be seeing that match.

Match three pitted Trevor Lee against AR Fox. They had a lightning quick two minute exchange before the match was called to a halt when Fox took a nasty fall outside the ring and started bleeding from the eye. It's a shame it didn't get to go longer based on the first few minutes but it was a legitimate injury so they did the right thing calling the match off (it was announced prior to the main event that Fox was fine). A rematch on one of the 'Mania weekend cards would be nice to see.

On paper Biff Busick v Uhaa Nation looked like an unappealing clash of styles. It practice it was a lively, enjoyable encounter. They began with Uhaa getting the best of some lockups and then beating Busick in a test of strength (which Busick had foolishly instigated). They traded the advantage throughout the match, building towards a marvellous final few minutes.

Uhaa hit a Death Valley driver and started the Uhaa Combination. He made it all the way through the sequence but was met with Busick’s knees as he performed the standing shooting star press. Busick rolled him up for a very convincing two count. Uhaa was immediately locked in the rear naked choke as he kicked out. Uhaa staggered to his feet with Busickstill clutching at him and threw up over his body to break the hold.

A pop-up power bomb and a second, regular, power bomb got Uhaa a two count. Busick rolled onto the apron and got caught with a deadlift second rope suplex, hooking Uhaa for another pin as they landed. Uhaa again kicked out and levelled Busick with a bicycle kick. Busick slipped out of a gorilla press and pulled Uhaa down to the mat in a rear naked choke for a submission victory. The result, like many across the weekend, did Busick a lot of good. That’s what happens when wrestling shows don’t casually dismiss the importance of winning and losing. Take note WWE and TNA.

They shook hands after the match. The crowd changed "We will miss you!" at Busick, acknowledging the rumours that he’s heading to WWE. Busick downplayed the chant and announced that he had a problem with Timothy Thatcher calling out Chris Hero. His beef seemed to be that he’s proven he can beat Thatcher so Thatcher should be concerned with him, not Hero. He challenged Hero to a match at WWN Live in San Jose. Something tells me that will be accepted.

A non-title victory over EVOLVE champion Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 33 had earned Ricochet a title shot. He got it here, kicking the match off with a bang as he super kicked Galloway during the ring introductions. Galloway floored him with a big boot seconds later, just as he had done to Strong the night before.

They went out into the crowd, fighting beyond the guard rail and over to the wall of the arena. There they did a fun little spot with Galloway back dropping Ricochet only for Ricochet to hold onto to a basketball hoop, spin around, and hurricanrana the champ. Continuing the flashiness Ricochet ran up the wall for a body block on Galloway. But Galloway caught him and smacked him into the wall. Sooner or later the EVOLVE roster will pick up on the fact that Galloway is larger than all of them and they’ll stop trying to brawl with him.

Back in the ring Ricochet kicked Galloway’s hand, which had been injured the night before, and then started targeting it with stomps, heelish twisting and a shooting star press. Taunting earned Ricochet a series of forearms and lariats. Galloway blocked a Regalplex and German suplexed ricochet into a turnbuckle. Ricochet came back with a roundhouse kick, the Regalplex and a running SSP for a two count.

Galloway was pulled into position for a top rope shooting star press but he got to his feet and crotched ricochet on the top rope before he could hit it. He belly-to-belly suplexed Ricochet down into the ring before hitting him with an inverted Alabama Slam. Ricochet countered the double arm DDT into the floatover northern lights suplex, followed by a brainbuster, but it wasn't enough to earn him a three count.

Galloway avoided another attempt at the top tope SSP, blocked a Benadryller and then backhanded Ricochet with his splinted finger. He screamed at the referee that it wasn't intentional before very much intentionally booting the challenger in the head and giving him a double arm DDT for the win. The champion tried to check on Ricochet after the match but Ricochet shrugged him off. Galloway clearly wasn't that cut up because he immediately started posing with his belt and started yelling into the camera.

The Bravado brothers and Moose v Ronin was the main event. The stipulation was that the losing team would never ever get to team again (like, for total realsies). It was a peculiar ruling to have. The Ronin trio hadn't teamed (on a WWN show at least) in years and the Bravados and Moose aren't really known for being a trio. It lessened the impact the stipulation could have had, unless of course it was meant that no combination of the losing team could team could compete as a double or triple act. But that wasn’t made clear, which was probably a deliberate booking choice.

The match started with all six men brawling around ringside. The highlight of this portion was Moose power bombing Swann at Gargano and Taylor. The match was disappointingly light on moments that got over Moose’s power.

Swann was the first man to get isolated. A good decision considering his ability to draw people into his performances and make them believe he’s hurt. Once he tagged out the pace quickened and the tag aspect of the bout was quietly dropped for a bit so that everyone could work in their “cool” spots. Again the highlight of this part of the match involved Moose: he gave Gargano a Samoan drop at the same time as giving Swann a fall away slam.

The beginning of the end came when Harlem tagged himself in as Moose ran the ropes for a dive onto Ronin. ‘The Offensive Line’ stared at his charge, they had a few words, and then Harlem lashed out with a slap. Moose Death Valley bombed him onto Ronin, who were still chilling at ringside, then took out both Bravados with a dive from the ring. It wasn't made clear whether Ronin had moved or if Moose had been aiming for the Bravados. This set up Harlem to take a double stomp onto an assisted DDT, followed by a Hurts Donut from Gargano and a match-winning frog splash from Swann.

After the Bravados had limped backstage Gargano announced they'd never be allowed to team again. Again, this wasn’t made clear before the match so I’m fully expecting a Grandma Bravado mention that results in Harlem and Lancelot being allowed to continue teaming. Then he retracted his statement from the night before that he was the face of WWN. Apparently in the time since that statement he’d realised that every member of the roster and every fan is the face of the company. The Open the Freedom Gate champ finished up by saying he'd do everything he could to make his prize the most meaningful in wrestling. 

That caught the attention of Drew Galloway, who sauntered out to the ring to join Ronin. He announced that he shared Gargano's sentiment about the faces of WWN but disagreed about the title situation. He said DGUSA was dead and his belt was more important. The two champions held their belts up and glared at one another. Then they stopped. Then they took turns holding their belts up and got in one another's faces. Champion versus champion seems like a safe bet at this point.

Despite only having two shows to work with a lot was packed into the weekend and several threads were left dangling, ready to be picked up again in San Jose during WrestleMania weekend. The talk of there being a face of WWN felt like it could go somewhere, with Galloway, Gargano and Ricochet all having been established across the weekend as men who could stake a claim to the title. As part of that I’d expect the san Jose shows to feature Galloway and gargano in a champion versus champion match.

The behaviour of Drew Galloway across the two shows and the situations he found himself in felt like the start of a textbook Gabe Sapolsky storyline. I hope it gets to play out and isn't hindered by Galloway's debut for TNA. Whether it’s going in the direction of Galloway turning bad or being thought of as a fluke champion or somewhere else entirely I’d like to see it play out in full.

Stuff with Busick, Thatcher and Hero was also set up for the San Jose shows. Plus there’s the question of what the Bravados will do after their split-enforcing loss and where the Premier Athlete Brand will go with So Cal Val and Su Yung at one another’s throats. With only two shows to play with to set up a big block of shows I think Gabe Sapolsky outdid himself. And I think the roster did well with everything they were given. As they almost always do.

***

Results summary:

Anthony Nese defeated Shane Strickland
Timothy Thatcher defeated Roderick Strong
Trevor Lee defeated AR Fox via referee stoppage
Biff Busick defeated Uhaa Nation
Drew Galloway defeated Ricochet to retain the EVOLVE championship
Ronin defeated Moose and the Bravado brothers

EVOLVE 36 review

EVOLVE kicked off the year with what has become an annual visit to Florida. The first of the weekend’s two shows kicked off with Joanna Rose welcoming us to the Orpheum (WWN’s preferred Florida location) and introducing “new” Open the Freedom Gate champion, Johnny Gargano. She said new even though Gargano had had the title for around a month and a half at this point. Once Gargano arrived she simply handed the microphone over and left the ring. She didn’t even bother interviewing him. I found myself wondering, not for the first time, what she’s paid for.

Gargano wanted to be the guy to kick things off for WWN in 2015 and had asked to be the first man to the ring. He said that as the champion he’s the face of WWN and as such he wanted to be the one to thank everyone in the world that had supported the group in 2014. It was basically a spot of crowd-pleasing platitudes. A nice message but dull to get through.

Gargano’s second topic was more interesting and significant for future EVOLVE shows. EVOLVE, Gragano felt, she be a company young guys go to to prove themselves and earn their way to the top in the ring. He outlined a very Sapolsky-esque sponsorship idea. Basically existing roster members will recommend outside talent to be brought into the company.

Rich Swann came out. After joking about how Gargano's previous title reign sent him loopy (because mental illness is so lol, right?) he referred back to 2010 when he, Gargano and Chuck Taylor formed Ronin because they felt they were being held down. It was a nice touch, highlighting that the sponsorship initiative is not at all out of character for Gargano. Swann said Gargano was meant to defend the Open the Freedom Gate championship against Caleb Konley but he wouldn't because of an injury to Konley’s arm. Then he brought out Shane Strickland as a guy he was endorsing and suggested Gargano wrestle him instead.

Gargano said Ronin was born out of frustration because they didn't get what they felt they were entitled to. He offered Strickland a title shot because of this. Naturally Strickland accepted.

They started out with some mat wrestling, the champion getting the better of the challenger. Strickland’s first notable move was a drop kick, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t that notable at all. Still, it was enough to send Gargano rolling to the outside where he avoided a Strickland dive. Strickland, because he’s a super cool high-flyin’ babyface, landed on his feet and returned to the ring with a frog cross body on ‘The Whole Shebang’.

Strickland tried a springboard but got super kicked by Gargano as he was on the second rope. Then he was hit with a backstabber. The champion applied a modified Haas of Pain. After a few seconds he released the hold and started twisting Strickland’s fingers about instead. After that he hauled him back to his feet and gave him some chops.

Then it was time for that staple of Johnny Gargano matches: the duelling suplexes spot. After that they traded some elbows and Strickland scored an Ace Crusher. Gargano came back with a double stomp to back of head. Strickland scored with a pop-up into a pair of knees. He used his knees again Gargano attempted a belly-to-back suplex, countering out of the move and sending the champ to the outside. Strickland attempted a moonsault off the apron. He landed on his feet when Gargano moved, but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid a super kick or a suicide dive.

Back in the ring Strickland did manage to catch Gargano's DDT, hoisting him up and hitting a twisting brainbuster for a near fall. They traded forearms before Strickland wiped out Gargano with a bicycle kick. Enziguri to Strickland. Roundhouse to Gargano. Strickland charged Gargano in corner and got hit with a knee. He responded with a super kick, a DDT and a phoenix splash for two.

The challenger returned back to the top rope but got knocked down to the apron by Gargano. He springboarded back into ring but was met by a super kick, a lawn dart and the Gargano Escape. He submitted within seconds to end a very strong opener. It was a loss but one that did Strickland a lot of good.

Champion and challenger shook hands after the match. Strickland and Swann(who had remained at ringside) left together before Moose showed up and speared Gargano. Swann returned to make the save. The Bravados appeared and called Moose off. They told Gargano they had a problem with him calling them jerks in China (which happened but was a very minor thing, as you’d expect). They said they were fighting words and they intended to make Gargano pay for them.

Trevor Lee versus a very over Biff Busick was match number two. They had a very competitive, surely designed as something to get Lee over in defeat as he withstood a battering from ‘The Manliest Man’. Lee got plenty of offence in, being given the chance to show what he could do. Busick won via submission with a rough takeover into the rear naked choke. They shook hands afteards.

The Bravado brothers, with Moose, were out next. Both Harlem and Lancelot did lots of slightly uncomfortable close talking into the camera as they wandered around the ring. Harlem reminds me a bit of Miz in his mannerisms. It's hard to argue that that's a good thing.

Their opponents were AR Fox and Uhaa Nation. There was a comedy spot early on with Lancelot trying to barge Uhaa to his feet. He was unable to do it so he did some press-ups instead. Uhaa did some too, moving to the side without missing a bit when Lancelot tried to elbow drop then clapping his hands to avoid arm swipes.

The Bravados took control when Moose distracted the referee. Lancelot threw Fox off the top rope onto the apron then punched him out on the floor. From there it was Fox's turn to be worked over. He took a double suplex and a Bandwagon elbow, a double team move that’s so underwhelming it’s good. Fox managed to connect with a desperation Ace crusher and then tag out.

Uhaa clotheslined Lancelot and hit a few German suplexes on Harlem. He avoided the brother’s assisted enziguri, resulting in the Bravados hitting one another. Uhaa hit an amazing release German suplex on Harlem before following up with a moonsault off the apron onto both brothers. ‘The Whole Foxin’ Show’ got in on the action with Low Mein Rain. Just because.

In the ring Fox hit a Swanton and Uhaa hit a frog splash on Lancelot. He kicked out and gave Uhaa a jumping knee and a release German suplex. Another impressive kick out came seconds later when Harlem survived a double team from the faces: a Gory special by Uhaa with Fox coming off the ropes, rolling across his partner and dropping down to the mat with a DDT.

A lariat and a yakuza kick floored Harlem. Uhaa whipped Fox towards Harlem as he was slumped in the corner. But instead of the predictable collision Fox leapt over the turnbuckle and took out Lancelot (and some lighting equipment) at ringside instead. Fox returned to the ring to join Uhaa in hitting a double team lung blower on Harlem. He kicked out as Lancelot made the save.

Harlem grabbed Uhaa and gave him an exploder into the corner, where he landed on an already dazed Fox. The buckle bomb-enziguri connected on Fox, then Lancelot power bombed Fox onto Uhaa in the corner. The crowd, already excitement, went crazy when Uhaa kicked out of Harlem’s pin attempt.

On his feet Uhaa gorilla pressed Lancelot to begin the Uhaa Combination but got a boot in his face from Harlem. Uhaa gave him a Death Valley driver and a moonsault. Fox followed up with a 450 splash and Uhaa finished things off with a standing shooting star press for the win. It was a cracking match. The Bravados lost but they did plenty to show that they’ve come a long way since their early days in ROH. They’ve become a reliable heel act.

After the match Fox was KOed by moose. A faceoff between ‘The Offensive Line’ and Uhaa allowed the Bravados to sneak in an attack from behind. Moose looked on vacantly as the Bravados gave moose the Gentlemen's Agreement.

Ricochet v Timothy Thatcher was up next. Thatcher was sporting his usual scarf and no kneepads. Ricochet was sporting some rather fetching pink tights. They had a good match pitting Ricochet's speed against Thatcher’s strikes. Thatcher controlled the first several minutes with mat-based offence. He worked over Ricochet’s arm, an odd choice considering Ricochet’s usual ring style. Thatcher’s tactics here can be some up with three words: stomping and stretching. That'd make a good T-shirt for him. Just saying.

Ricochet turned the tables after a Regalplex, a leaping roundhouse and his floatover northern lights suplex. Although he was trapped in the Fujiwara armbar and blasted with various other moves (there was a lovely spot where Thatcher rolled out from under a shooting star press and applied the Fujiwara) Ricochet was pretty much constantly building steam from then on, getting the win with a roundhouse kick and a successful SSP.

Afterwards Ricochet said it was a hell of a fight and the pair shook hands. Thatcher left as Ricochet cut a promo taking issue with Gargano saying he's the face of WWN. His feeling was that he is the face of WWN. He said he’d prove it the following night by winning the EVOLVE championship and becoming the first man to hold that title and the Open the Freedom Gate title (though not at the same time, obvs).

The penultimate offering was a ten minute flash match, which is exactly the same as an iron man match that lasts ten minutes but it has a name that reflects its shorter than average length. The contestants were Anthony Nese and Rich Swann, who had hazily defined issues with one another that may or may not have had something to do with Swann fancying Su Yung, Nese’ secretary (it was never made entirely clear if his feeligns for Su were genuine or a work to rile Nese).

Speaking of Su Yung she accompanied Nese to ringside along with a besuited, sling-sporting Caleb Konley. They were followed out by So Cal Val. She told Nese that his Premier Athlete Brand needed a better quality of assistance and offered her managerial services. Nese took her card. Su Yung was displeased.

Swann was alone for the match. That seemed a bit off considering that he’d sponsored Shane Strickland earlier on the show and hung out at ringside for his championship match. Not that it mattered though: Swann got a pinfall inside the first minute after an axe kick, tumbling splash and a flash (hence the name of the match) rollup.

Nese reeled from that, taking a pasting both in and out of the ring. He eventually turned the tide when he reversed a dragon sleeper into an Emerald Flowsion. He gave Swann a battering but he kept kicking out. Nese grabbed a couple of chair from ringside and hit a Conchairto on Swann's leg. That got him disqualified and put Swann two falls up but also gave Nese a distinct advantage in the closing moment. Nese's plan was to rack up wins on an injured Swann. He got one with a single leg crab but he didn’t make it much further.

Swann fired up and then withstood Nese’s offence until the close of the match. As the clock ticked down Swann went for a Lethal Injection but got caught and buckle bombed by Nese, then trapped in a single leg crab. The time limit expired within seconds, Swann holding on and earning himself a 2-1 victory. It was a good match.

The time limit gave it a different feel to most EVOLVE bouts. I wouldn’t mind seeing it used again. It would be interesting to see what Busick and Thatcher do with the gimmick, for example.

After the match Nese and Yung had words as the Bravados appeared in the ring with Moose. The Brand, outnumbered, backed off. The Bravados teased attacking Swann but were run off by Johnny Gargano. Moose took three chair shots from Gargano and got put down with an Ace crusher on the chair. 

Gargano said they should settle their issue the next night. Swann said he'd fly in Chuck Taylor (with frequent flyer miles he earned from his trip to China) for a six man match. Harlem reminded everyone that he and Lancelot had run the Young Bucks out of WWN (which is definitely true and nothing at all to do with the Bucks being a pricey hire) and said they'd do the same to a reformed Ronin. He proposed a losing team must split stip. Gargano's only response was "Ronin is back!" So, for the record, he didn’t actually agree to the splitting up stipulation.

The main event was a non-title match between Drew Galloway and Roderick Strong. It was a rematch from EVOLVE 35, where Strong jumped Galloway and heeled it up before losing their match. Before the bell Roddy said he'd behaved out of character and offered an apology. He wanted Drew to shake his hand and then have a “technical masterpiece” with him. It was classic inflammatory Roddy. Galloway didn't go for it and he was right not to: Strong charged him at the bell. Galloway dropped him with a lariat.

They had a wild, energetic brawl around the building, taking in the bar, the merch stands, and the stage, before heading out onto the street. It reminded me of the late 90s hardcore matches between guys like Road Dogg, Al Snow and Hardcore Holly. Galloway and Roddy are probably the right age to remember those. Maybe it was an intentional homage.

They headed back into the building after a minute or two and worked their way over to the bar. They chopped each other on the bar itself and glugged some drinks. Galloway spat some whiskey (I assume it was whiskey, recognising drinks isn’t really my thing) while Roddy just drank his. Frat boy gimmick, y'know?

It was around ten minutes before they were back in the vicinity of the ring. They didn't get back in though. Oh no. They had to continue their Attitude Era madness with a back drop on the apron. When they did finally enter the ring it was to have a duel with chairs. At that point the referee threw the match out. They carried on brawling though because why not?

Heather Lynn (stupidly) entered the ring to announce the decision. Roddy clutched at her and then threw her into the path of the irate Scotsman as he aimed a boot at Roddy. Lynn took it instead. And she took it like a pro (giggity). Galloway carried her backstage and then returned to the ring to attack Strong. Referees and what Lenny described as "young boys" (really, Lenny?) broke them up. Strong ran out of the building.

Galloway took a microphone and demanded Strong return to finish their fight. Roddy reappeared but only to troll him. Galloway pulled him a pussy then cut a show-closing promo to bring a good card to a close. EVOLVE started the year in exactly the right way.

***

Results summary:

Johnny Gargano defeated Shane Strickland to retain the Open the Freedom Gate championship
Biff Busick defeated Trevor Lee
AR Fox and Uhaa Nation defeated The Bravado Brothers
Ricochet defeated Timothy Thatcher
Rich Swann defeated Anthony Nese 2-1 in a ten minute flash match
Drew Galloway and Roderick Strong wrestled to a no contest

WWN Live in Beijing review

The reported attendance for the final night of the WWN’s tour of China was 10,500.Even if that was inflated (and this is wrestling so there’s a very good chance it was) that’s a far cry from the average turn out for an EVOLVE, Shine or FIP card. Even on WrestleMania weekends the company comes nowhere close to attracting even half of that number. So in terms of opening up a fresh market and getting a good attendance number the WWN tour’s final offering was a success.

Pleasingly it was also a success in the ring. The show kicked off with new FIP champion Rich Swann defending against his buddy AR Fox. Well, it kicked off with that after the ridiculously long entrances were done and dusted. Even Fox seemed to get a lengthier entrance than usual. The show had fifteen minutes on the clock before the two even locked up.

Swann got in the first major move when he turned Fox upside down with a drop kick. The challenger came back with a springboard drop kick to Swann and followed up with a nice tope and a split-legged senton. Swann fought out of a sleeper (hey, it was a pacey exchange and they needed a breather) only to be floored with a cross between a Flatliner and a DDT that Fox should think about introducing as a regular move. It was far more impressive than Low Mein Pain.

Fox leapt to the top rope to try something but ended up taking a hurricanrana from the champ. After a brief exchange of right hands Swann scored with an scissor kick and a rolling senton. Fox came back with the twirling brainbuster. Swann got a Lethal Injection and went for a frog splash. Fox rolled out of the way and clambered to the top rope to go for a Swanton bomb. That was also avoided and Swann took another stab at hitting his frog splash. It worked out better for him on the second attempt: he connected and got the three count for his first successful FIP title defence.

As Swann and Fox posed together they were attacked by the Bravado brothers. They gave Fox a Gentlemen's Agreement and did some posing of their own before Johnny Gargano turned up to chase them off. He shook hands with Fox and shared a little nod of respect with Swann before being thanked for his help by Lacey and the Chinese host. Gargano told them the Bravados were jerks (strong words, right?) and said that he’d “had” to help. More importantly he said he was focused on winning the Open the Freedom Gate title in the main event (as well as the infinitely less important Beijing Cup).

Match number two pitted Valkyrie teammates Su Yung and Allysin Kay against each other. Being the smaller, and therefore more sympathetic, of the pair Su Yung played the valiant underdog babyface while Kay played the bullying heel.

Yung ducked in and out of the ring at the start of the match but was caught soon enough. Kay then spent the majority of the match very convincingly pulverising her. In the closing moments Su began getting her act together but was haulted when Kay suffered an eye injury. That turned out to be a swerve when Kay got her in a schoolboy rollup to win.

Jody Kristofferson v Chuck Taylor came next. It was another loss for Kristofferson, again by count out. Despite the losses he suffered on every one of the supershows I enjoyed Kristofferson's work. And he was portrayed as someone who could handle some of EVOLVE's bigger names but who wasn't experienced enough get the win over them. I’d like to see more of him on EVOLVE cards. For the record Earl Cooter took another pasting after the match.

In an odd move Biff Busick and Timothy Thatcher faced off again. They'd last done so four nights earlier on the Chengdu show. In theory there's nothing wrong with the two facing off twice on the same tour but it did feel a little off. I think it’s because there were no other repeat matches.

As was the case in Chengdu they didn't get the length of time I'd expected. They did put on another very good match though. And it was notably different to their previous encounters, with the top rope being used and the two men swapping around the body parts they were concentrating on. Busick ended up tapping to Thatcher's armbar. They shook hands after the match.

Ivelisse Velez's Shine championship defence against Mia Yim followed that. After a feeling out process in which the two swapped the advantage and showed how evenly matched they were the challenger got the first big move with a top rope arm drag. Velez responded with a super kick, a top rope hurricanrana, a kick to the face from the apron and a tornado DDT.

Yim got in some kicks and applied a leg lock. Velez reversed into an Indian death lock and then a Haas of Pain (which was nice to see). She released that quickly, creating a moment that would have benefited from a commentator acknowledging how tough the hold is to keep applied.

After taking an Exploder suplex Yim German suplexed Velez into a turnbuckle and then applied a bow and arrow. That too was released fairly quickly, with Velez taking the opportunity to catch Yim in The Undertaker’s version of the gogoplata. Yim gradually worked her way up to her feet before ramming the champion into a buckle.

They exchanged chops and then got roundhouses at the same time. Back on their feet Velez bulldogged Yim before Yim recovered and knocked her down with kicks to the face and a drop kick. Velez managed to throw her out of the ring and hit a hurricanrana from the apron. When made it back into the ring she was immediately hit with a spinning instep kick for two.

When Velez went to the top Yim cut her off, back dropping her to the mat and scoring an iffy-looking 450 (which hit Velez’s knees and was sold as though it had been a lot more impactful) for a two count. Velez escaped the package piledriver and got in some slaps. An attempted top rope move from Velez backfired when Yim grabbed her and successfully hit the package piledriver to win the Shine championship.

Fittingly this was the best women's match of the tour. The audience seemed to enjoy it well enough but Velez and Yim still deserved more from them. After the match the two shook hands and hugged. A bit of bad grace surfaced in the former champ when she tried grabbing the title belt and leaving with it. Yim told Lacey and the Serious Chinese Host that it was special to be champion. She said she'd be back (presumably in China) to defend the gold.

The penultimate match of the night saw the Bravado brothers and The Colony challenging the Premier Athlete Brand for the Open the United Gate championships in a three-way elimination match. It was a natural tag match to end on as both challenging teams had had title shots on previous shows, but it did slightly devalue the belts to be defended against the same assortment of guys across four shows.

The first fall was fought between The Colony and the Bravado boys. Fire Ant hit a crisp tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a a tornado DDT on Harlem and both Ants got suicide dives but it wasn’t enough to get them the first pinfall. Harlem caught Fire Ant on the top rope and gave him a sit out power bomb. That was followed by Gentlemen's Agreement to send The Colony backstage.

As they had two nights earlier The Brand played the faces opposite the challengers. After an initial flurry Barreta was isolated and worked over with such villainous moves as back rakes, rope chokes, and the dreaded Bandwagon double elbow. He once again impressed with his ability to sell convincingly.

After a blown spot where the referee forgot he was meant to be distracted by Konley to allow the Bravados to drag Barreta back to their corner Konley tagged in. He got a solid reaction from the crowd as he fired through the heels. The four repeated their spot from a few nights earlier with the Bravados double suplexing Konley and Barreta slipping in at the last second to power bomb them. It got a bigger reaction here, but it was still a little cheeky of them to recycle a spot on back-to-back pay-per-views.

Once everyone was back on their feet Barreta went for the Murray knee but got clotheslined. Konley ate an enziguri and a German suplex and the Bravados signalled for the Gentlemen's Agreement. ‘The Obsession’ fought them off, back dropped Lancelot out of the ring, shoved Harlem into Barreta's Gobstopper, and then pinned him with the double jump moonsault. The closing moments really elevated the quality of the match. I’d like Konley and Barreta to get more chances to team.

The tour culminated with Ricochet defending the Open the Freedom Gate championship against Johnny Gargano in a rematch from April’s Open the Ultimate Gate. For the record Ricochet won there, capturing the gold and ending Gargano's twenty-eight-plus month title reign. Oh, this match was for the Beijing cup too. That's a real prize right there.

They took a while to get going, milking the crowd and going through some basic exchanges before Ricochet got a headscissors and a drop kick. They avoided one another’s moves outside the ring and on the apron before Gargano got his spear through the ropes. He followed up with a snapmare, something Ricochet would do back to him a few minutes later.

As Ricochet turned the tables it became clear he was playing the antagonist in the match, choking Gargano on the ropes and shouting at people in the audience. After performing a standing moonsault (and the snapmare receipt mentioned above) Ricochet started punching Gargano with closed fists and then dropped him with a springboard clothesline.

They did Gargano’s duelling suplex attempt spot (which I personally find boring, although the crowds in China seemed to adore them) before ‘The Whole Shebang’ ran through Ricochet with clotheslines and gave him a pop-up power bomb for two. Ricochet rolled to the apron to recover but got kicked off by Gargano, then hit with a suicide dive. A lad in the audience loved that, giving Gargano a cheery thumbs up as he celebrated.

Back in the ring Gargano got a DDT on Ricochet then went for the lawn dart. Ricochet slipped out that and performed a fantastic Pele kick followed by his float over northern lights suplex. When Gargano kicked out Ricochet gave him a loud slap to the face before heading out to the ring apron. The challenger tried to hit a super kick but Ricochet blocked it and gave Gargano a Death Valley driver instead, sending him slumping down to the ringside mats.

Gargano made his way back into the ring at nine. Presumably he forgot he had a twenty count. ‘The Future of Flight’ leathered him with kicks and spat in his face (which seemed a bit much after Swann and Barreta had done the same thing in the main event of the previous show). Gargano psyched himself up and smashed the champion with elbows and an enziguri. Ricochet managed to grab him for a Benadryller but Gargano escaped, only to be dropped with a Superman punch.

Ricochet went to the top and hit a Shooting Star press. Gargano kicked out. Ricochet hoisted Gargano onto his shoulders and went to the second rope. Gargano elbowed out and tried for a hurricanrana. Ricochet blocked it. When Gargano tried the move again he got it but nimble ol’ Ricochet landed on his feet.

Gargano scored with a super kick. Ricochet scored with his own. Ricochet went for a kick to the mid-section (that’s real wrestling lingo there, “mid-section”) but Gargano caught his foot and flipped him over on to his knees. There he gave him another super kick before pulling him back to his feet to finally hit the lawn dart, which surprisingly earned him the victory and the championship.

It was a very good match, topping off a very good event and a very good tour. The fact that WWN were able to put on four such enjoyable and worthwhile shows with a relatively small roster at their disposal is a testament to the hard-working nature of the talent and Gabe Sapolsky’s ability as a booker. The news that China tours will become an annual event for the league is very welcome.

***

Results summary:

Rich Swann def AR Fox
Allysin Kay def Su Yung
Chuck Taylor def Jody Kristofferson by count out
Timothy Thatcher def Biff Busick
Mia Yim def Ivelisse Velez to win the Shine championship
The Premier Athlete Brand def The Bravado Brothers and The Colony
Johnny Gargano def Ricochet to win the Open the Freedom Gate championship

WWN Live in Chengdu review

WWN’s second Chinese supershow kicked off with the ring announcer introducing Johnny Gargano to the ring with a series of yips. More wrestling shows should start in this way. For that matter more EVOLVE shows should feature the talents of Jody Kristofferson, Gargano’s opening match opponent on this show. His Stan Hansen tribute act is just the right level of bad to be entertaining.

The match was relatively short. Gargano was a gent and gave Kristofferson plenty of offence before he got the inevitable victory with a small package. Kristofferson was left looking strong in defeat thanks to Gargano’s generosity and a finish that made it clear that he was getting desperate against the modern day Stan Hansen.

Match two saw newcomer Tracy Williams face Earl Cooter, Larry Dallas’s other client. Williams took it to Cooter straight away, drop kicking him into a corner before striking him with elbows and slapping on a cravat. Luckily for Cooter he had Dallas at ringside to cause a distraction that allowed him to take control. Because that’s what heel managers do.

Colter made the villainous decision to lower his knee pad, exposing his bare knee for extra damage on knee drops. Then he went one further and pulled a chain from his trunks and used it to choke Williams as Dallas did more distracting. Williams made a comeback from nowhere with an elevated DDT and then applied a crossface for the victory.

After the match Cooter attacked Williams from behind and gave him a pair of piledrivers. It was an odd development. Williams seems like the sort of wrestler Gabe Sapolsky wants to feature prominently in EVOLVE and Cooter’s look and ability scream lower card jobber heel. The post-match assault protected the wrong guy.

Match three was Su Yung v Mia Yim. They shook hands at the start but Su, being a massive heel, turned it into a sneaky attack. That put her in control and she stayed there for most of the match. The early going saw her using such tried and tested tactics as pulling hair, taking cheap shots, standing on Yim’s hands, and doing the one foot on the chest pin attempt. More substantially she hit a drop kick to Yim as she was hung in a tree of woe, used the Billy Goat’s Curse, and struck Yim with a solid-looking palm strike.

Towards the end of the match Yim made her winning comeback. After some drop kicks she floored Yung with a stalling suplexi and got a match-winning 450 splash. After the match Yim declared that she was one step closer to the SHINE championship. Her title shot against Velez was rumbling closer.

The Biff Busick v Timothy Thatcher match was surprisingly short, considering the standing of both men within EVOLVE and the fact that it was a grudge match from the Style Battle tournament. Busick won a gritty, mat-based match via tapout with a side headlock. After the match the ring announcer chanted “Strong!” at Busick. It was a bit odd. Busick was asked for a comment. He said his rivalry had come to China and he'd win. It was an entirely accurate statement.

Beverly Hills Cop hit the speakers, signalling the arrival of the Bravado brothers. They were getting a tag title shot at Caleb Konley and Trent Barreta, who did an Impact Players pose in the entranceway because that's totes their deal now. That and wearing a knee pad with Bill Murray on it. Just deal with it, you square.

Being an all heels affair one of the teams had to switch things up and play face for the night. Barreta and Konley did the honours. That was a smart considering Barreta had the experience edge, was the most over, and was the most confident working as a face and playing to the crowd. After a slow start things picked up when the Bravados did the classic "we're taking the belts that aren't even ours and leaving" routine, igniting a brief ringside skirmish and a lengthy stretch where the brothers worked over Barreta in the ring.

When Konley eventually tagged in he steamed through both Bravados. Harlem took a Death Valley bomb. An attempted top rope move went wrong when the brothers grabbed hold of him and gave him a double suplex (although it wasn’t all bad for Team PAB, Barreta snuck in and power bombed the Bravados as they hit the suplex). Harlem connected with a lariat on Barreta and then got a near fall off a German suplex on Konley. The finish came from nowhere, Konley hitting the double jump moonsault on Harlem to retain.

The match was good but it wasn't the spectacle it would have been with a little more work. After the match the Bravados again jumped champs and Konley again took a Gentlemen's Agreement. Because heels, am I right?

Allysin Kay v Ivellise Velez for the Shine championship took the semi-main event spot. Kay attacked Velez before the bell. It didn't help her though. Velez ducked a big boot and hit a drop kick then reversed a double handed choke bomb into a hurricanrana. A super kick from the corner staggered Kay but she fired back with a choke bomb, some mounted punches and a lariat. She was then trapped in a strait jacket sleeper, impressively escaping by working her way to a crouching position and hitting a Pele kick.

The pair exchanged chops before Kay put the champ down with a lariat. Kay continued her onslaught with a running Samoan drop and a Gory Special into a Dominator type move. Velez got a tornado DDT and an enziguri on the challenger. Her attempt at a wheel kick was less successful, Kay side-stepping it and flooring her with a bicycle kick.

Kay tried her Gory Special again but Velez rolled through and got a three count to win. It was a good match, no more and no less.

In the evening's main event utility player Chuck Taylor teamed with Silver Ant and Fire Ant to face Rich Swann, AR Fox and Open the Freedom Gate champion Ricochet. Swann again received his extra-long entrance. This crowd seemed more into it than the crowd in Grand Epoch had two nights prior.

Taylor again went heel. The Colony joined in. It was weird to see them playing the antagonists as they’re such natural, and perennial, faces. There was plenty of comedy at the start, mostly from Taylor and the supremely over Swann. Things got more serious once Fire Ant and Ricochet tagged in and had a good fast exchange based around counters and counters to counters.

This was a far more satisfying main event than Ricochet versus Taylor had been for the first show. It went a lot longer and was structured and treated more like a main event by everyone involved. That said it still wasn’t the best thing on the card. That honour went to Busick v Thatcher. Fox and The Inner City Machine Guns won after the Guns both got enziguris on Fire Ant and Fox polished him off with a Lo Mein Pain. After the match Fox and Ricochet made belt motions at one another to remind everyone that they had a title match coming two days later.

This show wasn’t as good as the first had been. The main event and both title matches felt like they could have been better than they were had just a little more effort gone into their planning. Busick v Thatcher and Gargano v Kristofferson were well both very good bits of wrestling, but that wasn’t quite enough. Thankfully things would get back on track with the tour’s third show…

Results summary

Johnny Gargano def Jody Kristofferson
Tracy Williams def Earl Cooter
Mia Yim def Su Yung
Biff Busick def Timothy Thatcher
The Premier Athlete Brand def The Bravado Brothers
Ivelisse Velez def Allysin Kay
The Inner City Machine Guns and AR Fox def The Colony and Chuck Taylor

WWN Live in Grand Epoch City review

I don’t think it would be unfair to say that the WWN venture struggled to remain relevant in 2014. Visa issues brought an end to Dragon Gate USA, which had initially been the streaming service’s jewel in the crown, and while EVOLVE never failed to produce a show that was good it was also a promotion that spent much of the year looking noticeably smaller than other companies operating on a similar level (most obviously ROH and CZW). Meanwhile FIP and Shine, the other major new content providers, remained regional promotions running shows once every few months. Things just didn’t come together for them.

Until, that is, November came around. In partnership with Great Wall International Sports Media a tour of China was organised, smartly marketed under the WWN name as opposed to EVOLVE, DG USA or something else entirely. Doing so gave the shows a natural reason to feature a variety of different titles and talents without overly worrying about rosters or promotion specifics. It was a good way for WWN to fill the void left by the Dragon Gate shows, pooling their resources for a string of supershows in front of larger than average crowds. Most importantly it put the World Wrestling Network name at the forefront of things. That will be a smart move in the long term as the service is continuing to expand.

The first show was held in the Golden Sport Hall in Yichang, Hebei. A cheerleader routine kicked off the show. Because cheerleaders and wrestling are such a natural pairing, obvs. They were followed by a Chinese event host hitting the ring and talking for several minutes. This would be a running theme across the shows. I assume it’s because Chinese audiences are more patient than western audiences, who generally just want a wrestler in the ring doing something as soon as a show begins. Either that or a poor editing choice.

The waiting continued when it was revealed that Rich Swann and AR Fox would be the first men out to the ring. Swann spent several minutes singing Lionel Richie’s All Night Long in its entirety and feverishly trying to work the audience up. They got into the song eventually but it took some doing, and it clearly wasn’t what Swann had wanted. It was a textbook example of Swann being far too happy to try tiring out an audience for his own gratification. The Bravado brothers had a shorter and more traditional ring entrance. It was appreciated.

They had a match probably best described as fun. Fox and Swann encouraged the crowd to be more vocal and peppered the match with aerial moves, designed to elicit oohs and ahhs. They also concentrated on playing to the audience, presumably to get them into the habit of making noise. Meanwhile the Bravados concentrated on running through their finest cheap heat spots and isolating Swann. It all worked nicely.

The finish saw Swann accidentally wipe out Fox with a spinning instep kick, allowing the Bravados to hit the Gentlemen's Agreement on Fox for the victory. After the match the host (with Lacey drafted in to act as an interpreter) asked the Bravados something. Lancelot said something about the Open the United Gate championship. Presumably the former champs wanted the gold back.

That was followed by Jody Kristofferson  versus Timothy Thatcher. Kristofferson is the artist formerly known as Garrett Dylan in NXT. These shows were easily the biggest gig he’d had since leaving WWE in May of 2013, even though he’s been paired with Larry Dallas and Earl Cooter. For anyone familiar with Kristofferson’s work as Dylan it’s worth noting that he’s altered his look since then. He’s now very clearly channelling Stan Hansen in both look and wrestling style.

Kristofferson jumped Thatcher before he was in the ring and they fought around the ring. When they got into the ring Thatcher took charge and the match settled down into something more closely resembling his usual efforts as he began working over Kristofferson's arm for a submission. Kristofferson was interesting to watch. He’s going for a rough and ready style that isn’t seen all that often on the US indies these days, what with every major name (understandably) being in such good shape and all. It was a nice change of pace to see a big lad hammering away at someone.

They had a good strong style match but the ending was unsatisfying: Kristofferson was disqualified after he wouldn't stop stomping Thatcher in a corner. Sadly these sorts of finishes would become a theme in Kristofferson matches across the tour. Post-match Kristofferson took a swing at the ref who ducked and ran off with Kristofferson and Dallas in pursuit. Cooter stayed behind to kick away at Thatcher but wound up taking an uppercut and a gut wrench suplex. That'll teach 'im.

Shine action followed that with Mia Yim taking on Allysin Kay. Yim controlled the early going with arm drags and hurricanranas before Kay turned the tide with a power bomb. Yim survived a double handed choke bomb, a running Samoan drop, and a modified Dominator before firing back with a tornado DDT and a German suplex for a two count. A series of kicks wobbled Kay before she lamped Yim with a big boot. A second rope suplex failed when Yim managed to shove her off and double stomp her from the top for the win.

After the match Yim was asked about her upcoming Shine championship match with Ivelisse Velez. She said she was friends with Ivelisse but that friendship didn’t stop stop her wanting the title and wouldn’t make her hold back in the match. As promos go it did its job.

Johnny Gargano was up next, doing his best to energise the audience as he strode to the ring. He didn't do a bad job, to be fair. His opponent was 'Mr Hairy Chest' Biff Busick. It was an energetic encounter. They started off with lots of chops before Gargano channelled 90s Shawn Michaels for some jabs and an upside down bump off a whip into the corner.

Unimpressed with ‘The Whole Shebang’s’ wild bumps Busick hit an impressive leaping neck breaker for a two count. A duelling suplex spot, won by Gargano, followed that. To be honest I could have done without it: it’s a spot that’s very hard to make convincing. Busick ran into Gargano's spear through the ropes and then took a suicide dive outside the ring. Gargano celebrated his success by hugging some middle-aged men at ringside.  

Back in the ring Busick turned a Hurts Donut attempt into a reverse Exploder suplex. Gargano came back with a super kick, a lawn dart, and a successful Hurts Donut before applying the Gargano Escape to earn a submission victory and end an enjoyable match.

Gargano's post-match comments were about being honoured to compete in China for the World Wrestling Network. Good for him. Good for Johnny.

The second offering from Shine was a title match. Su Yung, in her role as a wrestler as opposed to a villainous secretary, challenged the league's singles champion Ivelisse Velez. They constructed a solid, well-paced match, never getting ahead of themselves and making the most of the time they had. Su Yung took charge of the action, grounding Velez with submission attempts and wear down holds. Ivelisse retained the title after rolling Su Yung up with sunset flip from the corner.

The show's penultimate offering was an Open the United Gate title match, The Colony challenging Trent Barreta and Caleb Konley of the Premier Athlete Brand. The Brand were without Anthony Nese, Su Yung and Mr A but they did have Barreta's FIP title belt with them. I think that was a decent enough replacement for the proven to be ineffective Mr A.

There were stereo suicide dives from the ants towards the beginning of the match, indicating that the match might turn into something special or noticeably energetic. It didn’t. For the most part it was just the PAB working over Silver Ant. He eventually hit the tag to Fire Ant, who wiped out both PAB lads and set up Barreta for a Silver Ant frog splash. That wasn't enough to get the win and the Brand turned the tables, Baretta stopping a double team top rope move, pulling Fire Ant and leaving Silver Ant to take Konley’s Double Jump moonsault. The match was good but it didn't have the most coherent story. It was the only occasion on the opening show when I missed having commentary to help the flow of a match.

As Barreta and Konley celebrated the Bravados reappeared. They attacked everyone and hit Konley with the Gentlemen's Agreement. Then they posed with the belts as the crowd half-heartedly booed them.

In the main event slot were Ricochet and Chuck Taylor, wrestling for Ricochet's Open the Freedom Gate championship. While the match wasn’t bad I don’t think it was a suitable main event offering. It was short in comparison to many of the night's other matches and as a result it felt incomplete and one-sided in favour of the champion, not something you usually get in the WWN leagues. I suspect this was due to the rest of the show running long or something along those lines as opposed to being a conscious decision. Ricochet won after a Superman punch, a roundhouse kick and a 630 splash.

Johnny Gargano showed up after the match and vowed to relieve Ricochet of the Open the Freedom Gate strap in Beijing. Ricochet didn’t respond verbally. He just held up his title then rolled out of the ring pretending he'd been exhausted by a sub ten minute match. Hey, he does his talking in the ring!

Overall the show was a good start to the tour. The right people won, generally in the right way, and there wasn’t a single match that was actually bad. As far as first impressions go, I think this must have been a good one.

***

Results summary

The Bravado Brothers def AR Fox and Rich Swann
Timothy Thatcher def Jody Kristofferson via DQ
Mia Yim def Allysin Kim
Johnny Gargano def Biff Busick
Ivalisse Velez def Su Yung
The Premier Athlete Brand def The Colony
Ricochet def Chuck Taylor

EVOLVE 35 review

It’s tough coming up with introductory paragraphs sometimes. This is one of those times. So let’s just go with the facts. EVOLVE 35 took place at the hub of culture that is the Brooklyn Lyceum on September 14. It took place the night after EVOLVE 34. It featured an unbroadcast (“dark” for those of us who love our “insider jargon”) in which Jesus De Leon beat Donovan Dijak and Shynron. And I’ve only heard of one of those three men before writing that sentence.

Phew! That’s the opening sorted. Let’s get on with the recap.

For the second night in a row babyface Johnny Gargano kicked things off. Also babyface (even though he heelishly attacked Chuck Taylor to break up The Gentlemen's Club) but slightly less popular Drew Gulak was his opponent. The match was a bit of a slow starter, mostly due to the pair's decision to do more mat wrestling than features in the average Gargano match, but it was an interesting change. Once they got going it was a rewarding watch and showed 'The Whole Shebang's' versatility (not that seeing that a wrestler can do things you didn’t know they could necessarily makes a match worth watching). Gargano got the submission win with the Regal stretch.

Su Yung and Mr A rocked up after that to tell Gargano his win over Anthony Nese the previous evening was a fluke. Oh, and that there would be consequences if Gargano helped Rich Swann out again. Gargano tapped out Mr A with the Gargano Escape before retreating as Konley and Nese appeared.

Newcomer Tracy Williams faced Timothy Thatcher in match number two. They matched up nicely, Williams seeming happy to go with Thatcher's blend of joint work and striking. Thatcher was clearly the more popular of the two but Williams made a good first impression. If the roster were to be further fleshed out with guys working the submission style he'd be a fine fit. Thatcher won with a butterfly suplex followed by a Fujiwara armbar.

Match three saw Roderick Strong take on EVOLVE champion Drew Galloway. Despite his promise to be a fighting champion Drew did not put the title on the line. He acknowledged this before the match (after being introduced as Drew McIntyre by Heather Lynn), saying that he respected Strong and wanted to defend the title against him. The referee told him he wasn't allowed to defend the title because it would mess with EVOLVE's new rankings system. It seemed pretty clear this was designed to irritate the crowd, and it worked.

The match started when Roddy jumped Drew to try and get an early win (which, for the record, is how Galloway’s bout the previous evening began). It didn't work, obvs, but it did give the match a much-appreciated brisk start. They brawled around the ring. Strong did some apron-assisted back breaker stuff. Galloway channelled Sheamus, most notably with the ten punched in the ropes spot (which I personally can’t stand). Strong took control with a belly-to-back suplex and began stretching the champ. Galloway surprised him with a Sick kick and a tilt-a-whirl back breaker, moves usually in the Roddy play book.

They exchanged strikes and no-sell techniques before Galloway scored a spinebuster power bomb. Strong came back from that to hit a superplex, running strikes in the corner and an Olympic slam. Galloway survived that and the gutbuster that followed, then grabbed the ropes when he was placed in the Stronghold.

Galloway powered out of the Gibson driver and blasted Strong with a buckle bomb and a lariat. The cradle Tombstone piledriver that he hit after that could, and probably should, have been the finish. Not because what followed was bad, but because the Tombstone is one of the most legitimate match-ending moves you can use. Instead Strong kicked out and got a second Sick kick and a Gibson driver. Galloway kicked out so Strong hit him with another. That was kicked out of too. After they’d exchanged some elbow strikes Galloway used the Sick kick again. Then he got his double arm DDT for the win.

After the match the two shook hands before Strong grabbed the title belt and smacked Galloway with it. It's possible it was the beginning of something significant but not definite. Roddy's character is pretty well established as a guy who does stuff like this from time to time. It doesn't have to mean anything so it probably doesn’t.

Biff Busick versus Zack Sabre Jr looked like something of an awkward prospect on paper. Sabre Jr wrestles a very junior heavyweight style and Busick goes in for the American strong style more than anything else. Happily they worked well with one another. They took the route of hold exchanges, submission holds and occasional strike flurries and high spots that we'd seen in the first two matches of the card but set a brisker pace doing it. Busick won after Sabre Jr passed out in the rear naked choke, but not before he'd managed to escape it a few times. Other highlights of the match were a wonderful high angle kimura and a would "soccer" kick from Sabre Jr and a particularly impressive snap dragon suplex from Busick.

An Open the United Gate championship match followed that. Harlem and Lancelot Bravado defended against AR Fox and Rich Swann and The Premier Athlete Brand unit of Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. Not that this was the advertised match. Fox cashed-in his "any title match at any time" clause to add himself added to the match alongside Swann. He said something about earning a shot at the Open the Freedom Gate title at a later date but I couldn't make out specifics because of the poor audio system. Just to make things worse Fox then broke the microphone.

It would be unfair to call the match a spot-fest because there was psychology on display. It was very heavy on big spots though. I’ll concentrate on them. Fox hit a series of dives onto all of his opponents. Swann tried to do the same but got caught by Moose, who power bombed him into Fox. Swann was isolated and worked over by heel teams. After a couple of minutes he fought them off with a pair of Lethal Injections. Moments after that he scored a Springboard Codebreaker before being given the buckle bomb-enziguri combo move by the Bravados.

Harlem tried to German suplex Nese but ‘The Premier Athlete’ landed on his feet and gave the champion a double stomp. The action moved to the apron, where Harlem recovered and gave Konley off the apron onto Nese. From there everyone brawled awkwardly to a spot beneath a gantry so that AR Fox could do a “balcony” dive. The audience loved it. I thought it was good, but I would like to point out that it’s not 1999 anymore. Guys shouldn’t be doing such risky moves in front of small crowds. If it’s going to be done do it on a bigger show.

The first team eliminated were the Bravados when Fox got a rollup as they tried to give him the Gentlemen’s Agreement (which I’m aware sounds filthy but whatevs). Naturally the brothers were unhappy with that turn of events so they attacked Fox and successfully gave him the Agreement, while the Brand gave Swann a kicking outside the ring. Moose stepped in the way of the Brand getting their hands on the Bravados but got smashed with a spinning heel kick by Mr A.

The Bravados finally left and Fox sold the “mugging” for a bit. Swann kicked out of Nese’s one arm buckle bomb and Konley's Death Valley bomb so they gave him a double team move: a pump handle (Nese) and neck breaker (Konley) at the same time. Obviously Swann had to kick out of that too. Because he’s just so darn resilient.

Su Yung chose that moment to provide a distraction, tottering up onto the apron and shouting at Swann. She ended up taking an enziguri intended for Nese.

Konley halted a Lo Mein Pain attempt on Nese and took out Fox with an insane Death Valley bomb onto the apron. Nese then got a 450 on Swann for the win and the titles, ending a great match.

The crowd chanted "EVOLVE" after the match. I thought that was a nice touch. It's not a promotion that gets the name chant treatment all too often.

The main event saw Ricochet defend the Open the Freedom Gate championship against Uhaa Nation. After some stalling and posing the match got underway with Uhaa quickly grabbing the initiative, the story being that he not only had the obvious size and strength advantage but also the speed advantage. He hit a very high back body drop, a belly-to-belly, and a gut wrench before slapping on a sleeper to tire ricochet out early. Ricochet avoided the moonsault to the outside and hit the challenger with a springboard Shooting Star Press then began targeting his leg.

Several minutes passed before Nation managed to fire back properly. After a clothesline and a big(ger) boot he flattened Ric' with a cross body from the second rope and then floored him with a spinebuster. He missed a corner splash allowing Ricochet to attempt a Benadryller. He wasn't strong enough so he gave Uhaa an Ace crusher and a standing 450 instead.

Moments later a Ricochet springboard attempt was halted by an enziguri. He followed that up by suplexing the champ from the apron back into the ring via the second rope. Because power!

Ricochet slipped out of gorilla press and went for the Regalplex. Uhaa escaped and German suplexed Ricochet, who landed on his feet and got a northern lights suplex and a brainbuster then a top rope SSP for two. He once again tried the Benadryller. This time he managed to pick Uhaa up but found the kick to the head blocked. Uhaa fired back with two power bombs, a pop-up and a sitdown, for two. Scooping Ricochet up he started the Uhaa combination but Ricochet pulled him down to the mat and applied a leg submission before he could finish the sequence. Uhaa got to the ropes and the pair returned to their feet to trade punches and uppercuts.

Ricochet faked a super kick, causing Uhaa to cover his head (something which tends to annoy me because guys never got to block super kicks). The created an opening for Ricochet to kick Uhaa's knee, but Uhaa stayed on his feet and grabbed Ricochet for a Tombstone. Uhaa went for a splash. Ricochet rolled away, dropped him with an enziguri and rushed to the top rope. There he hit a 630 splash to retain the championship.

After the match, which was a belter, Uhaa handed the title to Ricochet and they slapped hands. Ricochet cut a show-closing promo which was incredibly muffled. The gist seemed to be that we should carry on buying iPPVs and going to shows. Fair enough.

EVOLVE 35 (and 34 for that matter) continued the trend of rejigging, elevating new names and preparing things for future events. Of particular note on that last point was the conflict between The Premier Athlete Brand and Johnny Gargano, which I suspect will come to head at the WrestleMania weekend shows, perhaps in a tag title match pitting The Brand against Gargano and Swann. It will also be interesting to see where the whole thing with the referees being zealous about adhering to rankings system goes.

Overall, it was another successful weekend for EVOLVE.

***

Results summary:

Johnny Gargano def Drew Gulak
Timothy Thatcher def Tracy Williams
Drew Galloway def Roderick Strong
Biff Busick def Zack Sabre Jr
The Premier Athlete Brand def The Bravados and Rich Swann and AR Fox for the Open the United Gate championship
Ricochet def Uhaa Nation