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TNA is dying, albeit very slowly. It's been dying for a while now. Long enough for this not to be the first time I've started a post by talking about the promotion's fascinating spiral into history. Truth be told it's been dying for years. Easily since the time Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were signed (to unwarranted fanfare in retrospect) to big money contracts. Likely since years before then.

EC3 wins lol.

But what if it's actually not dying? What if TNA has a future? The company is furiously recording TV content while it can and although all the rumours under the sun assert that Destination America is going to cut ties with the fed as soon as they're contractually able (next month, apparently) company management are unlikely to simply shrug their collective (or should that be metaphorical?) shoulders and meekly accept their fate. They will actively look for a new home for Impact Wrestling, the most underwhelming weekly wrestling show known to humankind.

Which brings me to my point. One option open to TNA, should they be prepared to negotiate (and let's face it, they need to be prepared to negotiate), is to take Impact to the Gabe Sapolsky-fronted World Wrestling Network. Yes, I'm brushing over a lot of wrestling politics and grudges with the "negotiating" term there but it's not impossible. Representatives from WWN and TNA could all sit down in a room together and work something out. On the surface it may sound a ridiculous suggestion but it's impossible. It could happen.

Both companies would benefit from a working relationship. WWN would get a regular stream of fresh content to add to their website each week. Despite its many faults TNA still seems to have a loyal group of fans who will stick with it no matter what. They'd sign up to WWN in order to keep up with their wrestling promotion of choice, netting WWN some dosh and giving them a larger audience to market their other shows at.

There was talk a while ago of WWN offering subscriber deals. The current trouble with this seems to be the irregular schedules of their various leagues. You can't charge people a flat rate every month without giving them assurances on a minimum amount of new content. TNA could help fix this with a weekly episode of Impact and monthly or bi-monthly specials. If at least one weekend of EVOLVE shows could be guaranteed each month (and that doesn't seem too much of a stretch given the recent increased output) then you'd have a fair basis for some sort of subscription deal. If TNA's back catalogue could somehow be utilised so much the better. There are some gems from the first few years of TNA in particular that could help a streaming service attract viewers.

Meanwhile TNA would find the thing it needs most: a home. It would also give them access to new talent, something they'll always be in need of but are particularly desperate for right now. They'd almost certainly have to reformat their presentation to fit in with the umbrella style of WWN but that wouldn't be that bad a thing: TNA's needed an overhaul for years. The prospect of Gabe Sapolsky taking over as the company's lead creative force is a nice one but too ridiculous to get excited about, even for an article as farfetched as this one.

I know it's unrealistic. TNA bosses likely wouldn't want to take a step away from being on an actual television channel because of the negative connotations of such a move. TV means you're a success, only having an internet presence is small time. WWN quite possibly wouldn't be able to handle a weekly two hour show, live or not. If they could take care of it from a technological standpoint and they could attract audiences surely they'd be doing it already.

Which raises the subject of the value of the TNA brand name. Personally I don't think there's much worth to the TNA name at all. I've acknowledged there's a dedicated group (sect is probably a more fun word to use here) that would follow TNA anywhere but they only account for a small portion of the promotion's TV viewership, and that's not a massive number these days as it is. There's also WWN's unofficial status as WWE's indy feeder group of choice. They wouldn't want to risk that, especially for a company as toxic as TNA.

EVOLVE and OTFG champion Timothy Thatcher
could be a good addition to the TNA roster.

Realistically, the closest we'll come to seeing this suggestion play out is TNA moving to some other US channel barely anybody's heard of after Destination America dumps them and striking some sort of deal with WWN to do lengthy monthly or bi-monthly streams to replace the pay-per-views they can no longer afford to produce. For all Eric Bischoff's talk of the PPV model being outdated for modern wrestling it helps instil a necessary sense of pacing to a wrestling product and, when done right, creates a reliable source of income. It is, in other words, something TNA needs to give itself structure and a sense of momentum. Because it's a company that's always followed that rhythm. It's ingrained in everyone that works there and the people that watch it.

TNA never got the whole making money from pay-per-views thing right. WWN seems to make enough to tick over and keep everyone involved getting paid. Gaining exposure via a TNA that has Impact on some low rent TV channel or other would be good for WWN in the long term and would provide TNA with the platform it requires to implement the structure it needs. It seems like a natural pairing to me, despite the obvious political problems of the scenario.

But I know it won't happen.

EVOLVE 42 review

Twenty-four hours after hitting Shine stronghold Ybor City with EVOLVE 41, the EVOLVE crew hit up Orlando for EVOLVE 42. Coming off an enjoyable show in Ybor and a packed WrestleMania weekend offering this show had tough acts to follow. It got off to an underwhelming start and was set back by technical problems (something so common with iPPVs that I've stopped mentioning them, for the most part) but pulled things together in its final hour to be a satisfying event.

The show kicked off with Lenny Leonard and Ron Nemi joking about sandwiches on commentary and Santana defending the Shine championship against Andrea in the ring. This was more a platform for advancing the Su Yung and So Cal Val issues than anything else. This priority extended to the finish, where Yung grabbed Santana as she hit the ropes and held her for Andrea to cheap shot her. That backfired and Su was sent sailing off the apron, which caused a brief pause from Andrea that allowed Santana to apply a small package for the win.

The match as a whole was enjoyable but pretty basic. Andrea seemed really uncertain at points and definitely didn't seem to have the nasty streak which would make her role as the new monster on the Shine scene believable. 

After that match Val called Yung worthless and an idiot (but not a worthless idiot). Andrea gave Yung a Samoan driver. Then Val dumped water on her and got carried backstage by Andrea. Yung was also carried backstage, but by a lowly referee. This would all be revisited in the main event. While I think it's commendable that EVOLVE are telling a story focusing on women I find the specifics odd. Su Yung did a fake heel turn only last year, when she pretended to side with Rich Swann against the PAB. Val doesn't wrestle. And the majority of the feud will play out in Shine, a different company. I understand that the idea is to get more people buying Shine events to see how things play out but I' not convinced what we've seen so far will do that.

Match two, emphasised as being the official opener by Leonard, once again saw Martin Stone on job duty. This time it was Ethan Page getting the win over him with an Ace crusher and a Spinning Dwayne. It was another match as much about furthering an angle as providing good wrestling. In this case it was Leonard discussing Page's fresh rivalry with Johnny Gargano.

Match three saw stringy-haired ROH job lad Andrew Everett become a stringy-haired EVOLVE job lad to lose to Rey Horus. It was a fun match but one I expected to be quicker and have more highlights. Aside from Everett hitting a lovely Asai moonsault and turning a headscissors into a kip up and Horus's match-winning top rope hurricanrana there wasn't much to be dazzled by. But the crowd wasn't overly large so I understand them not taking too many risks, and they avoided being outright boring, so on the whole it wasn't bad.

TJ Perkins versus Timothy Thatcher was the first unquestioned hit of the evening. Their early mat wrestling was slick, engaging and logical, Thatcher working with even more ferocity than usual to convey his increased desire to win after his loss to Roderick Strong in the previous evening's main event. They traded the initiative back and forth, each focusing on the other's arm. That's standard for Thatcher, less so for TJP. It made sense given the grappling credentials (underrated in Perkins' case) of both men.

Particular highlights of the match were TJP turning a Thatcher headstand into a body scissors; Thatcher employing a rolling gut wrench; Thatcher countering a frog splash into a Fujiwara armbar; TJP hitting a GTS into a Pele kick; and the match-ending exchange of armbars which ended with Thatcher gaining the upper hand (no pun intended) to force a tap out from Perkins. After the match Thatcher, who we're told doesn't talk much but has had something to say on several recent shows, took a microphone and requested a match with the winner of the Galloway v Strong title match that will occur at the next batch of shows.

Biff Busick then took on EVOLVE's top heel, Roderick Strong. I make note of Roddy being the company's lead bad guy because he only got brought in as a regular in the back half of 2014. It's impressive how entrenched he is in the company after such a short time. Yes, he was a known quantity before he debuted but it's still impressive that it feels like he's been in the company for years and has become one of its focal points.

As is the case with the majority of Strong matches in EVOLVE this match began with him doing some heelish stalling. Unlike usual Biff managed to get his hands on Roddy and they immediately launched into an intense match, brawling at ringside and swapping big moves both in and out of the ring (including a nasty-looking backbreaker on the barricade from Strong). It was a welcome change of pace after the deliberate Thatcher v Perkins bout.

For the second night in a row the match ended on a judgement call from referee Brandon Tolle. This time he halted the match as Strong was trapped in the rear naked choke. Strong got in Tolle's face about the decision before storming backstage. Busick stayed in the ring to tell everyone that Tolle had finally made a good call, a reference to him losing because of Tolle the night before. Engaging heel mode he also declared that he was unappreciated by EVOVLE managements and fans. Thatcher returned to the ring and said Busick was pissing him off. They brawled and were separated by referees and FIP wrestlers. Thatcher staggered backstage afterwards, Lenny Leonard theorising that a slap to the ear and thrown off his equilibrium. Shoot or storyline? It's tough to know with EVOLVE.

Trevor Lee v Davey Richards took the semi-main event slot. Lee was impressive in his match against AR Fox at EVOLVE 37 in January and he was impressive again here. He's good at the en vogue style of martial arts kicks and knee strikes blended with more traditional suplexes and power bombs. Richards is a peculiar dude, which makes for an interesting in-ring character when he's on form, and also a very good wrestler. He meshed nicely with Lee and gave him a lot of time to show what he could do. He also had him kick out of a top rope double stomp, which created a great close two count. Lee lost after a roundhouse but his status was enhanced by looking competitive opposite Richards. He's definitely somebody that warrants further EVOLVE bookings.

The headline match was a street fight for the Open the United Gate championships, the Ronin team of Rich Swann and Johnny Gargano challenging Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. For the record this was the first time the titles had been defended in 2015. The last defence had been made by Konley and Trent Baretta against The Colony and the Bravado brothers during the WWN tour of China in November (interesting side note on that is that five of those six names are no longer associated with the company). This highlights just how little attention the EVOLVE tag division gets. They're at the point now where they should make a concerted effort to make their tag belts relevant again.

That said this match did give the titles a boost. Not just because Swann and Gargano are big deals in EVOLVE but because all four men wrestled like the championships meant something to them. Well, I say wrestled, but this match didn't actually feature much wrestling. They made good use of the street fight stip, using ladders, chairs and tables to put on a crazy brawl that should have satisfied anyone into this style of match. Highlights included a lawn dart into a rubbish bin (trash can, for North American readers), Konley bumping through a ladder propped between the ring and the barricade (sadly missed by the cameras), Su Yung misting So Cal Val before cross bodying Andrea, an amusing but slightly too long New Jack-esque weapons sequence, and a power bomb onto a ladder from Gargano to Nese followed by Swann's match-winning frog splash. It doesn't sit especially well with the general style in EVOLVE but it was good fun for what it was and worked well as a rarity.

After the match Ethan Page heckled Ronin from the commentary table (he'd called the match). Gargano said he didn't want to wrestle Page and called him a nobody. More shoot comments about Gargano being a big shot followed until Page got up and teased getting in the ring for a fight. He didn't though. Instead he wandered backstage, leaving Ronin to celebrate to All Night Long.

EVOLVEs 41 and 42 were a good pair of shows. There were a few skippable matches but nothing bad and different tastes were catered to, something illustrated nicely by the contrast in main events. Sapolsky continued building up "his guys" Caleb Konley, Timothy Thatcher and Ethan Page, showing they were the right selections for their larger roles. And you know what? I didn't miss AR Fox once.

***

Results summary:

Santana defeated Andrea to retain the Shine championship
Ethan Page defeated Martin Stone
Rey Horus defeated Andrew Everett
Timothy Thatcher defeated TJ Perkins
Biff Busick defeated Roderick Strong
Davey Richards defeated Trevor Lee
Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann defeated Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley to win the Open the United Gate championships

EVOLVE 41 review

One of the best things about EVOLVE is that shows rarely leave you feeling frustrated. After the average WWE show I'll have a list of things that could have been done differently, usually correlating with a list of things that make no sense. With EVOLVE there's usually nothing to comment on but the quality of the matches, which is rarely anything less good, and their streamlined nature means they never outstay their welcome. Gimmick matches are used sparingly and thus mean more, and everyone gets the chance to showcase their ability.

EVOLVE 41 was no exception to any of this. It was another satisfying show. Things kicked off with the "new" Premier Athlete Brand entering the ring for a chat.  Nese blamed Su Yung for the group's losses at the WWN Live Experience (even though neither he nor she were there). He told her she had one more chance or she'd be fired. He also promised that the Brand would end Ronin for good in the tag title street fight at EVOLVE 42. After that he beat loveable Londoner Martin Stone with a single leg crab. Yeah, Stone was in the enhancement role again but the match was long enough for him to look competitive and it took plenty of interference from Athena and Val for Nese to apply the single leg crab, so he didn't look overly weak.

Caleb Konley spoke up after that. He called out his opponent, the debuting Rey Horus. On the one hand the match was fairly predictable. Konley kept the pace slow at first before busting out the big bumps to make Horus look good as the pace sped up. On the other hand the match had a somewhat surprising result, with Konley pinning Horus following a Samoan driver from the second rope. Horus was good. His selection of flying moves, while no more dazzling than anyone else's, were crisp and on target. If AR Fox is done with EVOLVE, as has been claimed by both Sapolsky and Fox himself, Horus would be an ideal replacement.

As he'd be an ideal new singles star I'd expected Horus to win, getting his EVOLVE run off to a strong start. I'm fine with Konley going over though. As I've written before he's someone that Sapolsky seems to feel he can rely on and build up over time. Within EVOLVE it's not a slight to lose to 'The Obsession'.

The PAB continued talking after that. Su Yung announced that she'd secured a Shine championship match for herself at EVOLVE 42. Val cut in and said Athena would be in the match instead. Then she had Athena choke Su, ripped Su's shirt open, and made fun of her physique. Which came dangerously close to being in poor taste. What saved it was that it's clearly going somewhere and Su will presumably get her revenge at some point.

Match three was TJ Perkins versus Biff Busick. As is often the case with mat wrestling matches in EVOLVE this took a while to get going but was enjoyable was it did. While it was good I would have preferred TJP in a match against a flyer. He and Rey Horus could work well together. Perhaps that's something Sapolsky wants to build up to, giving Horus a few wins first so it means more when it rolls around.

Perkins won the match with a Fujiwara armbar and kicks to Busick's head. Busick told the referee and a cameraman that he didn't tap out after the match. It was hard to tell from the camera angle but it didn't look like he tapped out. This will presumably lead to another meeting between Busick and Perkins. My money would be on it having a submissions only stipulation.

Ethan Page v Rich Swann was not preceded by the standard issue Swann sing-song. Because this was a grudge match and Swann was being serious (plus it probably saved some money this way). Page had turned on Johnny Gargano at Mercury Rising as a way of openly making a name for himself at the expense of a bigger name. He had refused a match with Gargano, saying Gargano had to wait a year if he wanted the match, a call back to 'The Whole Shebang' making Ricochet wait a year for his Open the Freedom Gate match. So  Page had been booked against Gargano's Ronin teammate Swann instead. From a storytelling point of view this made sense. I'm wary of the feud being kept hot for a year though.

They didn't produce a masterpiece but that was fine. Being an amazing wrestler isn't Page's thing. He's more about character and trash-talking. That's rare in the current EVOLVE so it works nicely from Page. He's providing something nobody else does, even if it is something fairly basic. They did some extensive ringside brawling (including a piledriver on concrete to Swann) before running through finishers and signature moves in the ring. Page won with the Spinning Dwayne, his Rock Bottom variant.

TNA Superstar™ Davey Richards and EVOLVE standout Johnny Gargano followed that. Richards took the early lead when he proved a step quicker than 'Johnny Wrestling', countering a number of his moves and setting the pace of the match. He also took on the role of antagonist, which I liked because I find him far more entertaining in that role than when he's playing a bland good guy.

The match was very good. Each ran through their usual repertoire and their styles meshed nicely. After surviving a lawn dart and two Gargano Escapes it was Richards who went over after hitting the former two time Open the Freedom Gate champion with a rolling kick to the back of the head. After the match a despondent Gargano told Rob Naylor that he and Swann would go to war with the Premier Athlete Brand. Then he no-sold Ethan Page. That's hardly building anticipation is it?

The main event was a two-out-of-three falls match between Roderick Strong and Timothy Thatcher with the winner getting an EVOLVE title match against Drew Galloway. The first fall started with Roddy stalling and trying to get under Thatcher's skin. It didn't work. He was eventually caught and grounded by Thatcher. Despite this Roddy managed to win the first fall with a roll-up as Thatcher tried to apply a Fujiwara armbar, having targeted the arm since he caught hold of Strong.

Fall two saw Thatcher annoyed at Strong getting the first fall in a flash fashion and Roddy looking to soften up his foe for a similarly quick second pin. They brawled at ringside but would return to the ring fairly quickly to exchange strikes before Thatcher locked in the Fujiwara armbar successfully. Strong tapped immediately, saving himself from taking too much damage. This was sold as a veteran move but actually he could have made the ropes easily enough from where he was and retained his pin advantage.

The third fall was, appropriately, the shortest of the three. It worked nicely as an enjoyable, self-contained match that was all about the two men racing to get a victory. It was Strong who got it following a sick kick and a Gibson driver.

After the match Strong said he was going to embarrass Drew Galloway and take his championship at EVOLVE 44. Thatcher got in on the chat action (chat-tion?) by saying he'd work his way back up and challenge the winner. Then Biff Busick wandered out and said he'd been screwed earlier on the show. Strong said Busick sounded like a baby and told both guys they needed to learn to deal with being losers. Thatcher and Busick had a brief staredown in the ring. Then Biff went backstage. Thatcher's music played to end the show. And that was that. Not even a show-closing promo. Sometimes they're unnecessary, aren't they?

***

Results summary:

Anthony Nese defeated Martin Stone
Caleb Konley defeated Rey Horus
TJ Perkins defeated Biff Busick
Ethan Page defeated Rich Swann
Davey Richards defeated Johnny Gargano
Roderick Strong defeated Timothy Thatcher

The Age of Obsession

I'll start this off by flatly stating my point: Caleb Konley is an underrated wrestler. Over the last year he's become one of the most reliable performers on the EVOLVE roster. He's had a string of enjoyable matches against everyone from Rich Swann to AR Fox to Johnny Gargano to Ricochet. He wasn't a passenger in any of them, he carried his weight and kept the crowd invested. But his talent never gets the praise it deserves.

It's possible that part of the problem stems from the reason he's been pushed. He's very obviously had his profile raised because Gabe Sapolsky knows he can rely on being able to book him. He's not as celebrated as many of the other men on the roster and as such he's in less demand. Neither TNA or ROH seem to have any interest in using him and WWE definitely doesn't. Having someone that can go in the ring that isn't likely to go elsewhere is an attractive thing for a booker. Sapolsky saw that in Konley and started building him up.

But this doesn't mean 'The Obsession' doesn't deserve the position he's in. Since disbanding The Scene and doing the tried and tested "I'm getting serious" routine Konley has displayed a marked improvement. And not just in the matches listed above either, he had better than expected lower profile bouts against The Colony, Timothy Thatcher and the Bravados. He's gotten into better shape too, possibly a side effect of being teamed with gym freak Anthony Nese. Basically, he's proven he can wrestle well and he's started to look like someone who wrestles for a living (even though he's not).

Konley and Cage would have made a good long-term team.
Nese could have gone singles. Disappointing it didn't happen. Pity.

The WrestleMania Weekend shows were not the best advertisement for Konley. He was the designated jobber in the EVOLVE 39 six man tag (review here) because neither of his teammates were in a position to lose: both Brian Cage and TJ Perkins were making their returns to the promotion. Having them lose would have dulled their impact. after years away. Things weren't much better at EVOLVE 40 (review here). Although Konley and Cage got the win in their match against Swann and Gargano the match was cut short.

He was back to losing at Mercury Rising (another review here), falling to Ethan Page in the opener. That seemed like a massive step backwards at the start of the show but Page's turn on Gargano helped put the move in context: Page needed a win in a solid match so that his turn meant more later in the evening. Konley was chosen because it was known he'd give Page the match he needed.

Konley has earned his spot towards the top of EVOLVE. It would be nice if the tag team division was deeper so that he and Nese could have a reign memorable for its good matches instead of a lack of defences. Sadly that doesn't look to be on the cards, which is a disservice to a talented, dedicated wrestler. A disservice to a talented, dedicated roster for that matter. The Open the United Gate titles could mean more with just a couple more teams added to the roster, as I've written before.    

Long term I think it will be interesting to see how far Sapolsky is willing to go with Konley. As a guy who's likely to remain a fixture of EVOLVE for at least the next few years he's probably going to wind up as a headline guy. The ex- and future-WWE guys on the roster are going to need meaningful names to be pitted against and Konley will likely end up joining names like Fox, Swann and Gargano on that list. A reign as the EVOLVE champion may seem unattainable now but I think things could look different a year from now.

WWN Mercury Rising 2015 review

Mercury Rising 2015 was in every conceivable sense the WWN answer to WrestleMania. It played out in front of what will probably, outside of the China tour, be the biggest crowd the company attracts all year. It featured a variety of major matches, some of them grudge matches built up over months, and developments that changed the landscape of the company, impacting on its future. Most obviously it was held just one night before and a few miles away from WrestleMania 31.

But was it any good? Let's run through the show and then come back to that at the end. He'd been injured the night before at EVOLVE 40 but that didn't stop Rich Swann from opening the show with a several minutes long song and dance routine in which he called on several members of the audience to join in with his rendition of Lionel Richie's All Night Long over the microphone. The crowd as a whole, and most of the people Swann called on in particular, seemed self-conscious during this. I don't blame them. It's awkward.

Once the music cut Swann acknowledged his injury, as much to ensure the live crowd were up to speed as anything else, and challenged the Premier Athlete Brand to a tag title match at one of the April EVOLVE shows. The Brand came out and attacked Swann. Johnny Gargano and Ethan Page dashed out to make the save, which fed into the show's opening match of Page versus Caleb Konley.

They had a fun little match, the highlights of which were a Konley double stomp on the ring apron and Page using Gargano's lawn dart. Page survived a Lionsault, the One Night Stand fireman driver, and outside interference from the Brian Cage and Andrea to get the win with a schoolboy roll-up and a handful of tights. It's nice that Page got a win but it's a shame it had to come at the expense of Konley, a guy who went from the middle of the card to the top over the course of last year and who deserves to be treated more like a top guy.

After the match So Cal Val shouted that the loss wasn't part of her plan (well obviously not, Val) before Andrea swerve turned on Brian Cage with a low blow. He was to blame for Konley's loss apparently. This development was a pity. I thought Cage was a good fit with the Brand.

The traditional 'Mania weekend six man tag was on second, although this year it was a six woman tag presented by WWN affiliate Shine. Nicole Matthews (the SHIMMER champ), Portia Perez (collectively known as the Canadian Ninjas), and Nikki Storm were due to faced Shine champion Mia Yim and Shine tag team champions Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee (collectively known as the Kimber Bombs). Before the match began Andrea and SCV returned to the ring. Andrea attacked Nikki Storm and replaced her in the match. Presumably Storm's two matches in the chick fight tournament which had preceded this show played a part in this decision. Mia Yim, who's also wrestled two matches, contributed less to this match than I'd expected for the same reason.

As a successor to some of the Dragon Gate scorchers that have taken the six man spot in previous years this match didn't hold up. But that's an almost impossibly high standard to meet. Judged at a more realistic level (without the comparison) this was a good match. Everyone got a chance to - ahem - shine, Andrea was presented as a powerhouse, and there was a nice, albeit brief, sequence pitting the two singles champions against one another (something that a match like this really has to do). Mia Yim got the pin for her team when she rolled Perez up following a back and forth exchange of forearms.

After the match the Ninjas argued with Val and Andrea, setting up the return of Nikki Storm. She declared herself the "white chocolate cheesecake of sports entertainment" and challenged Andrea to a match at Shine 26. It set up matches for a show that will be all too easy to overlook, awkwardly falling a few days after the WrestleMania Weekend festivities as it does.

In a surprise move Drew Galloway sauntered out after that. The reason for this early arrival was that he'd been offered a booking back in Scotland the next day and wanted to take it so that he could defend the EVOLVE championship and a newly won Open the Freedom Gate championship there. Not one to disappoint, Gargano accepted the early call and walked down to the ring with Ethan Page for the much hyped title versus title match.

The opening minutes were characterised by Gargano using his speed against Galloway's strength. The action would spill to the outside where Galloway would tilt-a-whirl Gargano onto the apron. Not to be outdone Gargano would toss the former 3MBer into the first row and dive over the barricade onto him. After a lengthy brawl around the arena the pair returned to the ring and Galloway ate a Gargano spear. He fired back with an inverted concrete slam. Gargano responded with a lawn dart.

Moments later Gargano would manoeuvre the EVOLVE champ out to the floor and attempt a suicide dive. Galloway blocked it but failed to block the super kick that followed. Gargano got his suicide dive on the second attempt but wiped out the referee in the process.

Back in the ring Galloway scored with an exploder into the corner. His cover didn't get him a win because there was nobody to count the pin. The Open the Freedom Gate champion escaped a double arm DDT and floored Galloway with an enziguri as Page got up onto the apron to offer him some wrist tape. This was a call-back to Gargano choking out SHINGO at Open the Ultimate Gate 2013 (the first ever DG USA show I reviewed, fact fans), an act which signalled a heel turn at the time. Gargano accepted the tape but, after a brief pause, threw it out of the ring. I thought this really added a lot to the match. It made it clear that Gargano is back to being an honourable lad and sowed about Page.

Gargano turned around into a double arm DDT from Galloway. A second referee ran to the ring to count the fall but Gargano kicked out. The second ref didn't last: he'd fall victim to a misplaced sick kick seconds later. Galloway got caught in the Gargano Escape. He countered into pin for two then took a super kick. Gargano tried to skin the cat but got caught by the EVOLVE champion, who went for a Tombstone piledriver. Gargano reversed into a Gargano Escape. Galloway muscled his way back to his feet and got the Tombstone.

Gargano kicked out but was clearly worn out. Galloway hoisted him onto his shoulders and clambered to the top rope, leaping off for an Emerald Flowsion but finding it reversed into a DDT in mid-air. 'The Whole Shebang' staggered to his feet and super kicked a kneeling Galloway twice. Galloway staggered to his feet and absorbed two more before falling to his feet. Gargano went for a fifth but Galloway sidestepped it and hit him with two double arm DDTs.

Gargano kicked out to a great crowd response then spat in Galloway's face. That caused Galloway to snap. He grabbed Gargano, yanked him to his feet, and drilled him with a jumping tombstone piledriver for the victory.

I thought it was a very good match. There were elements of the Attitude Era to it with the extended crowd fight and the bevy of finishing moves (and the kick outs from them) but used sparingly I think that match can be very effective. It helped to make the match feel more like the big fight it was meant to be. I don't think Gargano and Galloway could have had a better match. It's a shame they didn't get to close the show and the weekend (for the WWN).

After both men had lain about making it clear they were exhausted from their match Galloway took the microphone to cut a promo. He declared that 'Mania 26, where he wrestled in a Money in the Bank ladder match, wasn't his WrestleMania moment, this match was. He put over Gargano and pandered to the fans by saying the ring belonged to everyone. He asked for and received a handshake from the former champion, passed him the microphone, and left. All Gargano managed to say was "thank you" before Ethan Page lamped him and gave him a good stomping. 'All Ego' revealed that he was taking his cue from Ronin, going after Gargano's spot and ending his WWN career.

The turn was an interesting twist which I hadn't expected. They'd been laying the respect on so heavily that I'd expected Page to officially join Ronin and perhaps go after the tag titles with Gargano. This was probably a better option. It introduces a much needed fresh rivalry to EVOLVE.

Tasked with the tough job of following that was a four-way match featuring TJ Perkins, Drew Gulak, Tommy End and Biff Busick. After overcoming some initial awkwardness they got into a good groove. The match didn't dazzle but it had its moments. I particularly liked the sequence where TJP trapped End in a deathlock and fought off Busick and Gulak with abdominal stretches and a northern lights suplex. Perkins got a flash win with the cross armbreaker on Gulak.

PJ Black versus AR Fox was good, though not as good as I'd expected. It was heavy on spots but they weren't quite flashy or bountiful enough to help the match live up to its heavy 'Darewolf' versus 'Daredevil' hype. Highlights included: Black avoiding an attack by moonsaulting from the apron to the floor; Black super kicking Fox in mid-air off a guardrail springboard; another Fox springboard being turned into a triangle choke; and a Death Valley driver from the top rope to the apron by Black, softening 'The Whole Foxin' Show' up for a springboard 450 splash.

The match likely would have benefited from being repositioned first or second on the card. Of course my lack of interest in Fox probably didn't help matters.

After some excessive plugging from some lad whose name I missed (he was the WWN "ambassador") we got Timothy Thatcher facing Chris Hero. The match took an age to begin as Hero spent what must have been a good three or four minutes milking duelling chants from the crowd in a storyline attempt to rattle Thatcher with his popularity. Thatcher simply stood stocky in the ring and looked unimpressed with the veteran's antics. It was good to see the crowd so hot so it made sense to make use of it.

Instead of going into a dynamic series of strikes and counter strikes they went with the Thatcher standard: mat wrestling and submission holds. This isn't a bad thing but it doesn't provide much variety and does run the risk of cooling audiences down. Thankfully that didn't happen here, although some fans did start singing, which may have been worse. I suspect a more unpredictable approach to the blending of styles would have been more warmly received. 

This match, more than any other I've seen him in, highlighted Thatcher's inability or unwillingness to change things up. He's very good at his style of match but doesn't seem interested in doing much else. Even against someone like Hero, who has plenty of experience and an ability to tap into plenty of different styles, we got the same sort of match we always get from Thatcher. This isn't the worst thing in the world as Thatcher's matches usually have something dynamic and engaging in them, especially in the closing stretches, but it would be nice if they weren't so predictable.

Hero blasted Thatcher with four rolling elbows (the last with the elbow pad removed) and left him limp on the mat. He went for a cover but Thatcher kicked out and slipped on a Fujiwara armbar for the tap out win. After the match Hero slapped Thatcher twice, getting one in return each time. This was a respect thing with no malice to it. They shook and Hero left Thatcher to bow to the crowd.

The main event was the much ballyhooed tag match pitting Uhaa Nation and Ricochet against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries, reuniting as Generation Next properly for the first time since 2011 in PWG (before that they hadn't been together since 2007 in the final match of their ROH run together). The match was notable for featuring representatives of ROH (Strong), TNA (Aries), Lucha Underground (Ricochet as Prince Puma) and soon-to-be WWE (Nation). It was quite the inter-promotional affair. The first half of the match was best described as serviceable, with nothing special happening and a safe pace being set.

Things picked up in the second half. Tags were surreptitiously abandoned and the four worked through some sick double team spots. Roddy and 'A Double' demonstrated that they coud, if given the opportunity, still be of benefit to a tag division. Strong won after avoiding a Ricochet Shooting Star Press before hitting him with a knee and an absolutely wild lumbar check. Ricochet managed a ridiculous number of rotations when he was thrown up to take the move.  

After the match Roddy took a mic and made some babyface comments about how Aries had made him the man and the wrestler he is. Then he swerve turned, cracking Aries and Uhaa with the microphone and grabbing the mic again to say that he'd destroyed Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 38 and was gunning for the newly won titles. Timothy Thatcher came out to run him off and end the show on a positive note by thanking the fans. On the subject of Roddy and the championships he said the road to them went through him.

Going back to the question I posed at the beginning of this review's second paragraph: yes, this show was good. The main event started off slowly but ended well, while Thatcher versus Hero and the title versus title match were good from start to finish and there were again no out-and-out bad matches on the card.

That said I don't think the show was the success that EVOLVE 39 was. On the reflection the first WWN offering of the weekend was the best. It was the most consistent and its big matchs were just as enjoyable as the big matches here. I think the level of spectacle was right for this Supershow but an injury and Black and Fox not clicking quite as well as might have been hoped hampered things just a bit.

Overall though it was a success. The Page turn on Gargano was set up well and should lead to interesting things over the next several shows. Galloway becoming a double champ was a mild surprise but deserved considering the passion and effort he's displayed in his time with the company so far. And the final turn from Roderick Strong reminded us that he's not meant to be likeable or trustworthy. He's been built up as a major challenge for Galloway. Now we get to sit back and watch Galloway overcome him.  

***

Results summary:

Ethan Page defeated Caleb Konley
Mia Yim, Kimber Lee and Cherry Bomb defeated Andrea, Nicole Matthews and Portia Perez
Drew Galloway defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the EVOLVE championship and win the Open the Freedom Gate championship
TJ Perkins defeated Biff Busick, Drew Gulak and Tommy End
PJ Black defeated AR Fox
Timothy Thatcher defeated Chris Hero
Generation Next defeated Uhaa Nation and Ricochet

EVOLVE 40 review

EVOLVE's second WrestleMania weekend offering of 2015 started off strong with the non-title match between EVOLVE champion Drew Galloway and the allegedly departing Uhaa Nation. This was a far better choice for the opening slot than the technical mat exchange between Gulak and Thatcher at EVOLVE 39. It's not that that match was bad, it just wasn't the exciting hook an opener tends to be.

Galloway and Nation spent the early minutes slugging away at one another (because big lads) before leaving the ring. There we got an early highlight as Galloway sidestepped an Uhaa moonsault from the apron and gave him a tilt-a-whirl back onto the ring's edge. Back in the ring Galloway went all Randy Orton and worked over Nation with stomps and a sleeper before 'The One Man Nation' managed to fire back with some clotheslines, rolling German suplexes and a splash from the top rope.

Galloway kicked out of the cover that followed and scored with a power bomb, a German suplex into a turnbuckle and Roderick Strong's sick kick. Uhaa kicked out of all that and the two exchanged a few right hands before Galloway got dropped with a power bomb.

Like the previous evening's Galloway match this one ended with a surprise double arm DDT. Galloway went for it and got it seemingly at random and got the win with it. Clearly this was done to get the move over for Galloway's unification match against Johnny Gargano at Mercury Rising, a match he addressed after his victory. He waffled on a lot but basically his message was that he and Gargano would have a great match at Mercury Rising, which I'm sure they will. He's a passionate, shouty promo is Galloway. That helps when he's repeating the same message two nights in a row.

Match two saw Tommy End, with Chris Hero in his corner, take on Timothy Thatcher. Both men were popular with the crowd but they were easily more into Thatcher. The crowd went wild for him, presumably because he's announced as being from Sacramento, California. We're also assured he's English.

The match was all about Thatcher's mat wrestling being deployed against End's striking. Thatcher's had success early on but End's striking came into play in the match's second half. He smacked Thatcher with a kick to the temple, flooring him until the count of eight. From there a dazed Thatcher was dominated by End's strikes, although End found himself in the frustrating position of being unable to finish Thatcher off. He unleashed his impressive bicycle knee strike but it wasn't enough: Thatcher caught him in a Fujiwara armbar for the tap out victory.

After the match Hero entered the ring and bad mouthed Thatcher. Thatcher ignored him and walked backstage. Hero kicked the bottom rope in frustration then left to allow End to soak up some well-deserved cheers. This was another good showing from End.

Drew Gulak (with five unnamed seconds) versus TJ Perkins followed that. The mat-based 'Legal Eagle' against the nippy flyer could have been a disaster but it wasn't. They went out of their way to keep things fast and avoided sticking with submission holds for too long. TJP's submission abilities helped too, he clearly knows how to blend his flashier moves with hold into counter hold exchanges. Gulak won with the ankle lock after a series of reversals. Nothing occurred with the five nameless lads Gulak brought to ringside. They were just there to get over Gulak's new serious competitor gimmick.

Ethan Page v AR Fox was an exhilarating affair. It was the usual flash and sizzle from Fox (a stark contrast to his maddeningly bland character) and Page kept up fine, which was the most that could be asked of him in this situation. Fox survived a spinebuster onto the apron, a back breaker on the floor, a lifting reverse DDT, and a Tower of London onto the apron before coming back with a springboard Codebreaker, a Lo Mein Pain and a 450 splash to win.

After the match Page talked about how he'd let Johnny Gargano (the man who'd endorsed him) down by losing, which brought Gargano out to the ring. The Open the Freedom Gate champ gave Page a pep talk before bringing up the EVOLVE title v DG USA title match. Again he promised that he'd win that match and leave a double champion, though this time there was a greater emphasis on his history in the company and his contributions getting it to its current state. He offered more reasons as to why we should believe he needs to win the match with this promo than he had at EVOLVE 39.

The Chris Hero v Biff Busick grudge match followed that. Their issues first surfaced at EVOLVE 33, where Biff Busick had talked about his efforts in the 2014 style battle tournament and mentioned Chris Hero as someone the current generation of wrestlers wish to surpass. It was intended as a compliment, an acknowledgement of Hero's accomplishments within wrestling. But Hero took offense and an argument erupted. A few more followed with the final one coming the night before this at EVOLVE 39 where Busick vowed to choke Hero out with the stranglehold.

They had the stiff battle that was to be expected. Busick stayed true to his promise and spent most of the match attempting to apply his stranglehold finisher for long enough to choke Hero into unconsciousness. He applied the hold several times but never managed to submit or blackout Hero. That brought about a shift in approach and he started blasting the former King of Wrestling with suplexes. Hero weathered the storm and then smashed Busick with half a dozen elbows and a Tombstone piledriver for the victory. This match just outdid the main event to nab match of the night honours for me.

The card's lone tag match followed that. It saw the recently (and fairly half-heartedly) reunited Ronin team of Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann take on the new look Premier Athlete Brand of Brian Cage and Caleb Konley. I was again impressed by how good Cage is and felt that it was another strong showing from Konley, who has improved a great deal over the last year.

Gargano was good but not at his best, quite possibly because he was saving himself for his showdown with Scotland's own Drew Galloway the following evening. Considering how much that match has been built up it was an understandable move by the Open the Freedom Gate champ. That left Swann to deliver the thrills and spills. He accomplished this but injured himself in the process, necessitating the match being called to a finish early. Confusingly Konley tapped to the Gargano Escape before the referee announced that he'd ruled the match in the PAB's favour due to Swann's injury.

Had this run its intended course I imagine it would have ended up an inoffensive and fun, though ultimately forgettable, tag bout. But instead it will be most remembered for the peculiar ending. Though, on the bright side, that could be used as part of a Ronin v Premier Athletes story in the future.

The main event saw former WWE Superstar™ PJ Black take on Ricochet in a battle of the high-flyers. They set a breakdown speed and stuffed the match with spots and kept the psychology and lining sequences light (which was to be expected). The story of the early going was basically that Ricochet was a little better than Black, countering or immediately recovering from whatever Black threw at him. This included a great mid-air recovery off a monkey flip, a kip up immediately after a shoulder block, and a drop kick counter to a cross body.

This forced Black to up his game and he started getting an increasing amount of offence in on 'The Future of Flight'. It wasn't enough to get him a victory though. Following a surprisingly vicious exchange of strikes Ricochet got a two count off a top rope reverse hurricanrana then finally put Black down with a nasty power bomb and the 630 splash.

Unfortunate and unavoidable incident in the tag match aside this was another very good offering from the EVOLVE crew. Of the two cards presented this weekend I think this was the stronger. 39 took a little longer to get going with the three more technical matches kicking things off. 40 started with a rowdy bout that drew you in and kept improving right up until the tag match hit (and, again, at least part of the reason that match disappointed was beyond anyone's control). Ricochet versus Black was a superior main event. Black showed he could have been an asset to WWE and Ricochet again proved he deserves all the success he's had.

***

Results summary:

Drew Galloway defeated Uhaa Nation
Timothy Thatcher defeated Tommy End
Drew Gulak defeated TJ Perkins
AR Fox defeated Ethan Page
Chris Hero defeated Biff Busick
The Premier Athlete Brand defeated Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann via referee stoppage
Ricochet defeated PJ Black

EVOLVE 39 review

EVOLVE 39 had the task of kicking off the WWN's schedule of WrestleMania Weekend shows. That's not an easy spot. The group of promotions push the boat out for 'Mania weekend every year and 2015 has been no exception. EVOLVE 40 will boast PJ Black v Ricochet, Ronin v the Premier Athlete Brand and Hero v Busick while Saturday's Mercury Rising event (dubbed a supershow, so you know it's serious) will feature Galloway v Gargano, the reunion of Generation Next, and Hero v Thatcher. There was also external competition with Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor IX.

It would have been easy to assume that EVOLVE 39 offered little, the bigger, better matches being held off for the cards later in the week. Happily this wasn't the case. The promotion's thirty-ninth show was an enjoyable experience with a solid list of match-ups on offer.

The show kicked off with Timothy Thatcher versus Drew Gulak, with Gulak talking about how he, Thatcher and Busick want to reinvigorate real wrestling before the match. That's something that he did at EVOLVE 38 and I imagien it's going to go somewhere soon, possily later this weekend. I enjoy these sorts of matches but they're tough to transcribe because so much of them is exchanges of amateur style holds which I can't name. That's why I generally skip to the finish of them, as I'll do here. Gulak won a tidy opener with a crucifix roll-up after a brisk exchange of submission hold attempts.

The debuting Tommy End was out next for his match opposite Biff Busick. He's a striker with a penchant for kicks. It was a much faster match than the opener and would have been better in that spot (though I understand the decision to kick off with two known quantities). End got the advantage early on and gave Busick a battering until he got walloped with an uppercut and a half Nelson suplex. End fired back with a bicycle kick but got put down with a lariat.

Back on their feet End put Busick down with an impressive bicycle knee strike. Busick rolled out of the way of the attempted top rope double stomp and returned to his feet to be struck with more kicks. After plenty more striking Busick rolled End down to the mat with his headlock takeover and applied the half stranglehold. End passed out and Busick won.

After the match Busick took a microphone and said he'd choked out Chris Hero's endorsement then promised to do the same to Hero at EVOLVE 40. This earned Busick a smattering of boos before he took a leaf from Hero's book and wandered off through the crowd. End was given a deserved round of applause as he headed to the back. It was a good match from him. He's definitely someone worth bringing back.

Match three pitted Chris Hero against Ethan Page. It was a fun match, featuring the usual Chris Hero blend of strikes and aggressive veteran tendencies. Page mixed in some humour towards the start for good measure. Neither man had the advantage for too long, which helped Page to look competitive against the far more established 'Knockout Artist'. Hero got the win with a rolling elbow.

After the match Hero took a microphone and talked about guys using his name (which was the starting point for his rivalry with Biff Busick). He said he wasn't scared of Busick or his choke hold. Busick returned to the ring and told Hero he'd choke him out at EVOLVE 40 then offered Hero a free shot to "prove" the elbow wasn't powerful enough to knock him out. Hero teased it before saying no because he was looking forward to beating Busick and he wouldn't be able to if he concussed him before their match. Hero went to leave but Busick pulled him back in. They had a tussle where Hero found his elbow reversed into the stranglehold, forcing him to slip out of the ring and retreat. As a segment to refresh everyone on the Hero-Busick issues this was good.

Match number four was the six man tag team match. The new-look Premier Athlete Brand of Caleb Konley (still half of the Open the United Gate champions, in case you'd forgotten), Brian Cage and TJ Perkins took on Rich Swann, Ricochet and Uhaa Nation. The PAB had So Cal Val and a stereotypical Amazonian bodyguard Andrea with them. Swann did his usual blow-up-the-crowd-so-they're-less-responsive-for-the-match routine, but it's over so that's acceptable apparently.

I'd expected the match to be a series of high spots. It was more than that. There was comedy early on (mostly dancing-based) and plenty of very fluid wrestling linking everything together. That said the six lads didn't disappoint on the high spots. Highlights included: a cruiserweight exchange between muscle boys Cage and Uhaa (including a 619 from Cage); duelling power spots between Uhaa and Cage, using their smaller opponents for delayed press slams and stalling suplexes; a sequence in which Ricochet wiped out both Konley and Perkins before being bounced to the mat by Cage; Nation catching Konley on a springboard dive and turning it into a Samoan drop; a great Gory special into the O Face by Konley to Swann; a trio of dives from the ring to the outside by Swann, Nation and Ricochet; a solo twirling tope by Ricochet to Cage; and the match winning sequence of a Swann 450 and an Uhaa Combination on Konley.

The match was very good. I'd expected it to be with Nation, Ricochet, Swann, Perkins and the underrated Konley involved. I hadn't expected much from Cage because he looks like a generic muscle guy but he proved to be very agile and solid on crowd interaction. If he improves his timing he could go somewhere.

Uhaa and Swann danced after the match before Andrea low blowed them both and Cage and Konley gave them a beating (including an always popular title belt shot from Konley). Because heels, am I right? TJP didn't join in with the attack and got a telling off from Val. His response was to walk out. The Brand left in a huff.

The penultimate match of the card was for the Open the Freedom Gate championship, Johnny Gargano defending against AR Fox. Gargano had Ethan Page with him at ringside, because Sapolsky adores the concept of young guys paying their dues as the understudies of established stars. After a nippy feeling out exchange the two progressed to the bigger stuff when Fox bicycle kicked the champ and they headed outside for the prerequisite ringside excursion.

Gargano took control when they returned to the ring. Fox turned the tide after a few minutes with a missile drop kick and a bicycle kick. The action spilled outside the ring again as Fox tried to hit topes. Gargano countered each attempt before hitting a senton from the apron. The slingshot DDT scored him a two count on the challenger.

Gargano tried the Hurts Donut but 'The Whole Foxin' Show' countered into a roll-up before leaping to the top rope to hit a Swanton bomb. When Gargano kicked out Fox attempted a 450 splash. Gargano moved so Fox landed on his feet. Because athleticism. Gargano hit a double stomp to the back of the head and a power bomb for two. After an exchange of elbows the two ran through super kicks, enziguris and other related strikes, the champion getting the last word when he put Fox down with a discuss clothesline.

Fox tried leg dropping Gargano on the apron. Gargano moved and hit Fox with a suicide dive which, in a scarily unplanned moment, sent the pair sprawling into the audience. Luckily everyone seemed to be fine. Fox countered a spear with a kick to the head, following up with a Canadian Destroyer for two. A Low Mein Pain attempt was broken by a shove, with 'The Whole Shebang' immediately hitting a buckle bomb and the lawn dart for a two count. Moments later Fox managed to get him with the LMP and a 450.

Gargano kicked out. After more super and yakuza kicks Gargano got a Hurts Donut on Fox from the top rope. The challenger kicked out of that but immediately found himself trapped in the Gargano Escape, tapping out to end a great match.

At that point Lacey made a surprise appearance to ask Gargano about his (potential, at this point) unification match at Mercury Rising. 'The Whole Shebang' promised he'd be the man to win both belts. Well, he would say that wouldn't he?

The main event was a match you would at one point have had to tune into Superstars to see: PJ Black v Drew Galloway for the EVOLVE championship. That this is something that can be said (that they were little more than job guys in WWE) was likely a deciding factor in making the match in the first place. I imagine it's also something that motivated both men. It was a chance for them to show exactly what WWE missed out on by not giving them more opportunities to just get in a ring and wrestle on TV.

They easily surpassed the standards set by the quality of Superstars matches. They told the story of Galloway's power against Black's speed as Lenny Leonard did a great job of talking up their shared history. Which, incidentally, isn't limited to WWE. They first met at an FWA training school in London in 2001. It was very likely the one advertised on the old TalkSport show which Alex Shane made a massive thing of pushing (understandably). Black survived big boots, power bombs and ringside brawling before falling victim to Galloway's double underhook DDT.

One word: height.

Lacey returned to the ring to discuss the title versus title match on Saturday. Galloway initially no-sold that to thank PJ Black for the match and put over the importance of WrestleMania Weekend, ultimately deciding to rename it Wrestle Week (yeah, that'll catch on). Much like DGUSA title holder Gargano, Galloway promised he'd be the one holding both titles at the end of Mercury Rising. Unlike Gargano he offered a little more than a mere promise as reasoning, stating that he didn't want his eight months of hard work establishing himself as a hard-working, talented wrestler to go to waste with a loss on such an important show.

Gargano rolled back out at that point, telling the EVOLVE champion that he'd been in the WWN for a lot longer than eight months and that he'd slogged to make the brand mean something. Galloway told Gargano that he was hungrier because he hadn't had the opportunity to do what he loved while in WWE and told the Gargano to leave the ring. They had a spirited verbal back-and-forth before things got physical and Ethan Page and Rich Swann left the locker room to break things up. All EVOLVE shows end with a promo of some description but this was one of the better ones. They did a great job of establishing the importance of the Mercury Rising unification bout. Definitely one to look forward to.

EVOLVE 39 was both a good show in its own right and a strong start to several days of wrestling from the WWN. There wasn't a single bad match all night and the final three offerings are all definitely recommended watches. Wrestle Week is off to a strong start!  

***

Results summary:

Drew Gulak defeated Timothy Thatcher
Biff Busick defeated Tommy End
Chris Hero defeated Ethan Page
Ricochet, Rich Swann and Uhaa Nation defeated The Premier Athlete Brand
Johnny Gargano defeated AR Fox to retain the Open the Freedom Gate championship
Drew Galloway defeated PJ Black to retain the EVOLVE championship

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 38 review

EVOLVE 38 was an odd one. It was initially slipped onto the World Wrestling Network schedule in mid-February, a surprising (but welcome) move just weeks before the big series of shows lined up for WrestleMania weekend. With only a few weeks to put a card together it looked like the show may not be up to the company's usual quality, despite the intriguing announcement of a Roderick Strong v Drew Galloway cage match. But it wasn't a lack of enticing matches that EVOLVE 38 with, it was a stream of talent announcements.

The initial talent list featured Trent Baretta of the Premier Athlete Brand. On February 27 it was announced he'd pulled himself (other accounts claim he was pulled) because he'd been offered a spot as Rocky Romero's new tag partner in Ring of Honor. Perhaps to rub salt in the wound he tweeted pictures from a concert the night before the EVOLVE show.

This left Gabe Sapolsky in a tough spot. Baretta had been one of his most reliable wrestlers (from an in-ring perspective at least) and had been announced as the opponent of AR Fox. Without Baretta one of Sapolsky's favourites was left with no one to wrestle. He came up trumps when he signed Davey Richards but that necessitated another line-up change because Richards' last EVOLVE match had been opposite 'The Whole Foxin' Show'. Fox was switched to a bout with Matt Cage and Richards was announced as the new opponent for Anthony Nese. Ironic, considering Richards was on the show to replace Nese's former PAB teammate.

One final wrinkle came when PJ Black was announced for the show on Saturday. Yes, one night before the show took place. Such a late addition was presumably out of Sapolsky's control and due to negotiations despite it matching his established booking style: he would have been foolish to turn down an earlier than expected debut from Black. But it was still yet another line-up change for the card. It would be the last. Caleb Konley v Biff Busick was cancelled to make way for Konley v Black, Busick being tucked into a fresh match against Martin Stone (a low key addition to the card).

It took a long time coming together but the final EVOLVE 38 show featured a good list of matches. It boasted all new pairings outside of the Strong v Galloway main event and that had its own unique appeal by being a cage match, the first in EVOLVE history. Pleasingly it was as good in practice as it looked on paper and provided the WWN crew with a nice lead-in to their busiest stretch of the year.

The show got underway with Martin Stone v Biff Busick. Other than the wearisome references made to London and England made by the commentary duo of Trevin Adams and Rob Naylor the match was perfectly serviceable. Stone did nothing to make it clear why he was booked but he didn't embarrass himself. The match ended quickly with a rear naked choke in order to protect Busick's number one ranking status. Looking competitive against a late addition like Stone could have undone some of the work that's been done building him up.

Match two pitted the debuting Bill Carr (a name so generic it was once a joke on I'm Alan Partridge) and Dan Barry, collectively known as Team Tremendous, against Larry Dallas's team of Earl Cooter and Jody Kristofferson. I was a fan of Dallas's lads on WWN's China shows so I was pleased to see them introduced to EVOLVE. It was another solid match. Carr, a big lad, had some cruiserweight spots to draw and Barry seemed proficient. Both teams had some strong double team moves too, Barry and Carr using an Electric Chair-Sliced Bread combo to get the surprise win. I'd expected Cooter and Kristofferson to go over as they had a history with the company. Presumably this means more Team Tremendous.

The debuts continued in match three. Newcomer Matt Cage entered wearing a track suit to some excellent music. First ever EVOLVE champion AR Fox entered wearing his weird Marty McFly-in-the-future-hat to his standard, non-excellent music. Within seconds of the match starting the two were exchanging dives out of the ring. They did that for several minutes before heading back into the ring, briefly slowing down for a breather, and going at one another with strikes, dives and double stomps.

Fox busted out an Ace Crusher only for Cage to kick out and respond with a butterfly power bomb and the katahajime. Fox fought out by running Cage back into a turnbuckle and got a long two count off a springboard 450 splash. Another springboard attempt backfired when Cage caught 'The Whole Foxin' Show' in mid-air with a Codebreaker. Fox survived that, blasted Cage with a corner yakuza kick, a couple of super kicks, Low Mein Pain and a 450 splash for the win. The bevy of moves used to put Cage away seemed designed to keep Cage looking strong in defeat (because Fox and Cage are old pals). Cage was the non-former-WWE newcomer to EVOLVE that I'd most like to see make a return visit.

A promo, rare in EVOLVE outside of the post-main event slot, followed that. Drew Gulak said modern wrestlers are more concerned with impressing people than figuring out how to win matches. He revealed his strategy for facing Hero (he'd break him down and pick him apart - insightful stuff) and then called him out to the ring. Hero, who's still sporting the chunky physique he picked up with his "bad back" last summer, entered in a distinctly face-like fashion, a departure from his last appearance at EVOLVE 33 where he went full on heel.

Having twenty minutes to play with they built the match slowly. After starting out with some mat-based locks Hero got frustrated and started striking. Gulak replied in kind. Elbows and knees became the norm from then on, both in and out of the ring. Things gradually escalated as various suplexes were dished out with increasing frequency before the two went back to striking in the form of hard slaps. The finish came out of nowhere: Hero simply picked a dazed Gulak up and Tombstoned him for the win.

After the match Hero put Gulak over as tough then went all bad guy and said him he was too out of it to know where he was. After reiterating that other wrestlers have to earn the right to say his name (the topic that got him so het up at EVOLVE 33) Hero found himself confronted by Biff Busick. Hero threw the injured Gulak into Busick then tried to cheap shot him. Busick fought him off and tried to apply the rear naked choke but Hero ran off through the crowd. Sadly he wasn't shown exiting through a random door. The use of Hero here was excellent.

Busick then helped Gulak to his feet and gave him a pally pat on the back. During the tag match Naylor and Adams had talked about the WWN tag division being in flux and requiring new teams. I suspect that's where Gulak and Busick are headed. To be honest far worse could be done with them.

Caleb Konley, sporting a new beard and a fresh haircut, was accompanied by Anthony Nese for his match opposite PJ Black (formerly WWE Superstar™ Justin Gabriel, obvs). They started out with some speedy rope running and headlock exchanges. It didn't take long to progress to more: they slipped out of the ring for Konley to take a tornado DDT before he took a super kick while performing the McGuinness corner headstand. After a trio of suicide dives from Black, Konley finally took the initiative when he hit the second mid-air Codebreaker of the night a Black springboarded into the ring. Back took a jumping yakuza kick, a back elbow and spinning back fist. Konley missed a springboard moonsault and Black responded by connecting with a top rope springboard moonsault.

Konley got a top rope hurricanrana. Black rolled through into a sunset flip-like pin for a two count. 'The Obsession' got a two count of his own with a fireman's carry into a Michinoku driver (once known as a One Night Stand) and a second with a version of the Liger bomb. Konley tried a superplex but Black fought him off and hung his opponent throat-first on the top rope. That stunned Konley and sent him sprawling down to the mat in position for a springboard 450 splash. PJ Black picked up his first EVOLVE win.

The Premier Athlete lads went to attack but Black escaped. Nese then cut a promo about how he has the best 450 splash in wrestling. Black stood in the aisle smiling then left as Nese called for Davey Richards. The crowd were pleased to see Richards, a significant difference to the hostility he received at EVOLVE 25 when he fell to AR Fox. I imagine this was a nice experience for Richards. I would have booed him had I been there though. Heckling Davey Richards is one of life's greatest pleasures.

They had a very, very good match. The early going saw Richards wrap up Nese with some submission holds and Nese heckling the crowd about his (admittedly impressive) abs. Outside the ring Nese took Richards' punt kick from the apron before managing to make him laugh by trying to escape into the crowd. The laughter continued when Richards did his knowingly terrible Rick Rude hip gyration. Nese survived a Haas of Pain then took Davey to the outside to give him a suicide dive, some loud chops, and throw him into crowd barricades and a girder.

Nese controlled the pace back in the ring until Richards got his knees up on a springboard moonsault attempt. Nese took a handspring enziguri and a super kick before attempting a superplex. Davey fought his way free of that but couldn't avoid being scooped into a fireman's carry and dropped into an Ace Crusher by Nese. That earned 'The Premier Athlete' a two count.

Richards went for a double stomp. Nese avoided then hit the move himself. Richards gave Nese some mid-section kicks, following up with an alarm clock and a lariat. Nese floored the Wolf with a drop kick before hitting his one arm buckle bomb. Richards avoided a 450 splash, scrabbling to his feet to boot Nese in the face and give him a top rope double stomp. Nese kicked out. Richards kicked him in the temple. Nese kicked out again. Richards locked in an over the head single leg crab for the tap out win just after the twenty-one minute mark. This was an ideal semi-main event: they put on a really good match but didn't overshadow the headlining acts.

Much has been made elsewhere of the technical issues presented by the cage. It took too long to set up. The door hung open. It wasn't fixed to the ring properly. I thought it was fine. It did the most important thing and stood up to two grown men being thrown into it. Watching on demand rather than streaming live I wasn't kept waiting long enough to become irritated. Would this have been different if I'd watched live? Possibly, although I understand that fixing a steel cage to a wrestling ring is not a quick process and I would have been happy to wait a fair old while.

I mention this because I want to make it clear that the use of a cage was a good thing. It's obviously not something that could or should be done by the league with any great degree of regularity but as an infrequent treat it's worth the wait. It really added something to the already vicious Strong versus Galloway feud. They made good use of what the cage allowed them to do. In addition to the usual assortment of backbreakers, big boots and stiffness usual from these two they implemented the regular cage-based offense before Galloway did a blade job and got battered by running knees against the cage.

This led to the finish, referee stoppage in favour of Strong. It was peculiar for what is essentially an anything goes, must-be-a-winner environment but it accomplished what it set out to, namely putting Roddy over and making Galloway and his championship reign look vulnerable for the first time in EVOLVE.

After the match PJ Black turned up to chase off Strong then challenged Galloway to make their match in San Jose a title match. Galloway accepted and then talked about how grateful he is for the opportunities he's had since being let go by WWE. He also did a lot of swearing and made the bold declaration that he only wants one championship in EVOLVE, throwing out the challenge for Johnny Gargano to face him in a unification match at WrestleMania weekend. WWN email updates since have intimated the unification bout will happen if Galloway and Gargano have their respective straps come the Mercury Rising supershow. The wording made it seem like a title change beforehand is possible, and that would be a very Sapolsky thing to do, but ultimately I think the unification match will happen.

All told EVOLVE 38 was a strong show. That it was so enjoyable without the involvement of stalwarts such as Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, Rich Swann, and Uhaa Nation (and, for that matter, Trent Baretta) shows that the group is more than a one star company, which is a very good thing in 2015. A strong roster is what modern pro wrestling fans want, not a weak card with two or three heavy hitters at the top (I'm looking at you, WWE). Based on what we saw here the WWN Live events at the end of the month (see here for details on them) should be real treats.

***

Results summary:

Biff Busick defeated Martin Stone
Team Tremendous defeated Earl Cooter and Jody Kristofferson
AR Fox defeated Matt Cage
Chris Hero defeated Drew Gulak
PJ Black defeated Caleb Konley
Davey Richards defeated Anthony Nese
Roderick Strong defeated Drew Galloway by referee stoppage