EVOLVE 33: Evolution's End review

The third and final show of EVOLVE’s August reboot weekend, subtitled Evolution’s End as a nod to the company’s new direction, was held in an open area behind a bar. Murals of various pop culture characters (including Ren and Stimpy, George Jetson, and the Koopa Kids) from yesteryear, a wasp, and Ganesha were daubed on the walls, and instead of the concrete of a rec centre or small arena the ground was dirt and stones. I say this not to belittle EVOLVE 33 but to try and paint the most accurate picture possible. It looked like the archetypal indy show.

That’s not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, and certainly not to say that it reflected the quality of the wrestling. What the show made up for in production values it made up for in solid wrestling. And as nobody watches these shows for their excellent production I think that’s fair enough.

Following a pair of short opening matches that saw Trevor Lee and Zane Riley defeat Jason Cade and Aaron Epic and The Juicy Product retain the FIP tag team titles against Dos Ben Dejoes the show proper got underway with Anthony Nese facing Lince Dorado. It was not especially substantial, Nese muscled Dorado around and got the quick win with single leg crab.

After the match Konley told everyone Su Yung was no longer with the Brand (he described her as “an incompetent slut”). Then he called out Chris Hero because he wanted to get their scheduled match out of the way so he and Nese could go partying. That’s how the Premier Athlete Brand rolls.

Hero controlled the match for a few minutes until a Nese distraction allowed Konley to take over with a drop kick. He targeted Hero's arm and gave him some jabs to the face, presumably to look like the disrespectful punk kid. Hero came back with some Misawa styled chops, his release suplex and some boots to the face on the apron. Because Hero loves a boot to the face.

Another Nese distraction allowed Konley to get a spinebuster and a Death Valley bomb. Hero kicked out. He kicked out again following Caleb’s double jump moonsault finisher. Hero then scored with a rolling boot, a rolling elbow, and two Death Blow elbows for the three. Changing things up form the previous two nights Hero headed backstage through the curtain instead of wandering out through the front door. That was presumably because he'd won.

After that the Style Battle Tournament wrapped up with the final two matches. The first was James Raideen and his power moves against Timothy Thatcher and his modern-flavoured British style. There were plenty of elbows on offer too. Raideen got his impressive lariat but couldn't manage the follow up power bomb because of the damage done throughout the bout to his arm. Thatcher countered a second lariat attempt into the Fujiwara armbar for the quick submission win. It was a good way of blending the styles together which, as noted in a previous review, was part of the point of the tournament.

The final round robin match was Biff Busick v Drew Gulak. The story going into the match was that if Gulak could win he’d draw level with Thatcher on points but win the tournament overall due to his victory over Thatcher at EVOLVE 31. Busick, having lost to Thatcher, could win the match but not the tournament, effectively casting him as the spoiler of the tourney for Gulak.

The pair put on a slow, “real fight” type match based around submission attempts and working over joints. It was very good and benefited from good placing on the show, the crowd having been warmed up enough to appreciate a more technical, less flashy contest. Busick won after a backslide after around twenty minutes.

That left Heather Lynn to announce that Busick had won the match but Thatcher had won overall because he'd beaten Busick head-to-head. Thatcher, who had watched from the entrance, celebrated. Busick looked annoyed. Luckily interviewer extraordinaire Joanna Rose was around to delve into the controversy. She told Thatcher he'd put in some tough battles and earned a style battle win. The crowd turned ugly, demanding a deciding match between Thatcher and Busick, which Busick was fully on board with.

Thatcher took measures to calm the crowd, telling them he’d happily have a deciding match at some point but that he wanted to thank people first. That was his opportunity to talk about the stars of EVOLVE’s past, as planned. Among the names he mentioned was Chris Hero. ‘The Knockout Artist’ took exception to this and stormed to the ring, where he told Thatcher he didn’t deserve to say his name because he hadn’t been around long enough. He then handed Thatcher a mic and booted him in the face. Then he shoved a referee and Death Blowed Gulak. Busick stood his crowd and, realising he couldn’t get the jump on him as he had with the other lads, Hero left. This time he walked out through a steel door in the wall that wasn’t shown before or after. The walking out through the front gimmick is excellent and something Hero should do all the time, especially if he can magically summon doors as he seemed to here.

I thought it was a good way of ending the tournament. It got over Thatcher and set up a number of matches for the future for him. It also further the Hero plot. Although he’s not been back to EVOLVE since it seems reasonable to assume he’ll return eventually. When he does he’ll have matches with Gulak and Thatcher waiting for him. Hero versus Thatcher could be particularly good.

EVOLVE champion Drew Galloway versus Open the Freedom Gate champion Ricochet was the semi-main event. They kicked things off with a variety of pinfall attempts and Galloway trying for his double arm DDT. Ricochet escaped that and worked the Scot’s injured leg, going so far as to bust out Jamie Noble’s old Trailer Hitch submission.

Galloway turned things around when he halted a headscissors attempt, slung Ricochet into the corner with a buckle bomb, and then hit a superplex. Ricochet came back with a 360 enziguri. His attempt to dive onto Galloway as Galloway recovered at ringside when he was caught and slung into a wall. Back in the ring ‘The Future of Flight’ slipped out of a supelx and blasted the EVOLVE champ with a Pele kick, a jab to the thigh, a weak-looking Superman punch, a Benadryller and a running Shooting Star press, a combo which only earned him a two count but would have worked as a credible finishing sequence.

Ricochet went for a springboard 450 to a standing Galloway (perhaps he wanted a 450 axe handle smash?) but got clotheslined. Outside the ring Galloway kicked ‘chet in the face and then threw him into a wall. Teasing a heelish attitude Galloway cleared punters out of their chairs and set Ricochet up for a power bomb from the apron. Naturally Ricochet fought out of that because there was no way he was taking a bump onto chairs piled on dirt and gravel. After kicking Drew back into the ring Ricochet connected with a 630 splash for the victory.

After the match Drew put Ricochet and the company over, thanking him for showing him how good he needs to be. Because Drew Galloway is a suck-up promo. That’s what we learned with this weekend of shows.

Then it was time for the Swann v Gargano grudge match. The story behind the feud: both Swann and Gargano were turned away by the DGUSA Japanese competitors when they asked about joining stables. So they, along with Chuck Taylor, formed Ronin and beat a lot of people. Gargano won the Open the Freedom Gate title and went mad during his reign, perceiving Swann as a weakness and turning on him.

The rules were… peculiar. Inside the ring they had to adhere to usual EVOLVE rules, releasing holds on rope breaks, not using weapons, and so. But outside the ring anything was legal. Which meant they could get disqualified for using a weapon in the ring but usually completely legally outside it. While these rules didn’t detract from the quality of the match they didn’t enhance it either. A regular street fight stipulation would have been far less confusing.

Even with the awkward rules it was a satisfying match. There were plenty of outside the ring spots to enjoy: a lawn dart into the wall; Gargano taking a ladder to the groin; Swann hitting Gargano with a bottle (which wasn’t a stunt bottle and came close to overstepping the mark for me, because Gargano could have been badly hurt); Swann lobbing chairs at Gargano; and ‘The Whole Shebang’ hitting a Tombstone piledriver off the commentary stage onto a chair.

In the ring the pair hit their signature spots and wrestled at a breakneck pace. But they were never in there for too long. The story they told was a good story. Gargano wasn't bothered about winning, he wanted to hurt Swann. Swann wanted to overcome Gargano to show he was the better man all along. It was simple and effective and played into their history with one another. Lenny Leonard deserves credit for doing a sterling job of explaining it all on commentary.

There was also a strong finishing sequence. Gargano grabbed a cinder block (this show took place around the time Seth Rollins developed a fondness for caving people’s heads in with crumbly cinder blocks in WWE) and tried to crush Swann’s skull on it with a chair. Swann escaped that and blasted Gargano with a Van Daminator and a piledriver on to the chair. Gargano was propped up on a ladder and Swann dove off the apron with a double stomp, then threw him into the ring and smashed him with a frog splash for the victory.

Su Yung, who had made her way to ringside during the second half of the fight, celebrated with Swann. They shared a kiss and then she swerved on him with a low blow! Yes, it was a setup all along! What a jezebel Su Yung is, bah gawd! The PAB ran out to the ring to beat Swann down. Gargano stood in the entrance, torn as to what to do, but ultimately decided to make the save. He helped send the PAB lads packing and then left.

Joanna  Rose got in the ring and asked Swann his thoughts. Which was probably the highlight of her stupidity across the weekend. The man had just been through a tough fight with a man he’d once been friends with and then betrayed by a woman he seemingly had feelings for. Obviously he wasn’t going to feel great after that. I know it’s not Rose’s fault that she was booked to interact with Swann at this point, but she could have found a better way of phrasing the question. Maybe by acknowledging everything he’d just been through?

Anyway, Swann said some stuff about Gargano I couldn't really make out before asking the audience if they thought he deserved an EVOLVE title shot. The crowd chanted “Swann!”, which I’d like to point out wasn’t technically a yes. Then he plugged the next show and left.

Minor niggles aside EVOLVE’s 31 to 33 weekend was top notch. There were a host of highlight matches across the shows and, pleasingly, the three main events were amongst them. It was nice to see newcomers being introduced in a strong fashion and matches being set up for the future too. Overall the weekend can be deemed nothing but a success. Good work on the relaunch, gang.

Results summary:

Trevor Lee and Zane Riley def Jason Cade and Aaron Epic

The Juicy Product def Dos Ben Dejoes

Anthony Nese def Lince Dorado

Chris Hero def Caleb Konley

Timothy Thatcher def James Raideen

Biff Busick def Drew Gulak

Ricochet def Drew Galloway

Rich Swann def Johnny Gargano

DG USA Mercury Rising 2014 review

Open the Ultimate Gate saw Gabe Sapolsky bring in Low Ki and Masato Tanaka to combat the absence of Dragon Gate performers. While said absence harmed the show’s legitimacy a little both Ki and Tanaka proved shrewd investments, turning in enjoyable performances in their respective matches.

For Mercury Rising Sapolsky added an additional approach to disguising his lack of access to the parent company’s heavy hitters. Falling back on his love of six man tag team matches he booked a six team four match trios tournament for the card. This not only kept his much loved tradition alive¹ it also made the show feel different to other recent DG USA offerings. The stipulation that the winning trio would get to book themselves in the matches of their choice also ensured that the series would add something to the company’s continuing plots and provided a reason for viewers to check out future offerings from the promotion. A shrewd move from Sapolsky.

Once again no time was wasted getting to the action. Chris Hero, Roderick Strong and Masato Tanaka versus Ricochet, Rich Swann and AR Fox opened the show. Noteworthy things about this match included: Strong and Swann being co-holders of the FIP tag team titles; Swann and Ricochet having competed as a team before (The Inner City Machine Guns); Hero having defeated Fox for his EVOLVE gold in February; and that Ricochet was wrestling his first match (though not his first defence, obvs) as the Open the Freedom Gate champion.

At half an hour long it was a satisfying opening contest. 'Ochet and his boys took pastings in the early going to highlight the striking abilities and experience advantage of their three opponents. Swann and Fox each took a turn being isolated by the hard hitters, weathering the storm until Ricochet could be tagged in. He took on both Hero and Strong, wiping them out with a series of one-against-two moves and flying offence. From there the bout evened out and all six men shifted in and out of the ring hitting signature moves and finishers. The finish saw Tanaka, Strong, Ricochet and Fox wiped out, leaving Swann to score the winning pin on Hero following a rollup.

Hero taunted his opponents with his title after the loss. It could have been the beginning or a heel turn but I doubt it.

Chuck Taylor came to the ring before match two. He had been scheduled to team with Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy but the group had been disbanded the previous night when Gulak attacked Taylor. Whatever Taylor said into the microphone couldn't be understood but it was presumably something about The Gentlemen's Club being no more. Maxwell Chicago joined him and spoke at length before a match between the two started.

The story was that Taylor's heart was not in the match. Basically he wrestled like Orange Cassidy, very slowly and lackadaisically. He was eventually drawn into the spirit of things but the match ended up going to a no contest when The Premier Athlete Brand ran in and beat up Chicago. Su Yung told Taylor that he had no friends so had to fight alone or forfeit the match. He chose to fight. Because he’s a spunky young babyface and that’s what they do.

Baretta stood around at ringside because he didn't want to take advantage of Taylor due to their friendship. It still left 'The Kentucky Gentleman' in a two on one situation against Konley and Nese. He fought them off for a while but eventually the numbers got the better of him. Luckily for Taylor Biff Busick showed up to be his partner. A few minutes later Larry Dallas introduced Teddy Hart to proceedings. He cleared the ring of The Brand and then brought his cat into the ring and teased that he'd be the third man on the team face team.

It wasn’t to be. Hart turned on Taylor and Busick then shouted about bringing wrestling to an end. The audience chanted "This is stupid!" as the Brand slunk back into the ring and scored a winning pinfall.

The third tournament match saw Lince Dorado team with Green Ant and Fire Ant against Moose and the Bravado brothers. It was the most consistently fast of all three first round matches and featured some pretty slick double team moves. Moose was used sparingly, because he's inexperienced, but he handled what he was given well. For the record that was mostly acting as a powerhouse, blocking punches, hitting big moves, and catching his opponents in mid-air. He also proved fond of spears.

After eliminating Moose and Harlem, Green Ant was left free to apply the Chikara Special on Lancelot for the submission win. Green said something crowd pleasing after the win. No idea what though (because of the mic problems DG USA seemed happy to leave unaddressed). Lenny Leonard helpfully filled in the blanks and told us The Colony had issued a challenge for the tag straps at Dragon Gate's May shows, and that the Bravados had accepted.

The show's second half opener with Mercedes Martinez challenging Ivelisse Velez for the SHINE championship. Martinez controlled the pace of much of the match although the champion managed to get in a number of offensive flurries. ‘The Huntress’ retained after a crucifix and then helped the challenger walk to the back. The story was that Martinez had given the match her all and it hadn't been enough, basically. The match was perfectly adequate but not something that anyone will remember.

Low Ki's second appearance of the weekend was up after that. He was facing Johnny Gargano, who received a standing ovation when he entered. Before the match started Gargano cut a promo about being a hero and gave the impression that he still felt he was the Open the Freedom Gate champion (he’d lost it the evening before). The fans chanted "Where's your title?" Low Ki said something that must have been hilarious because the audience cracked up. Then the match started.

A slow pace was established in the early portion of the match, the two men feeling each other out and Gargano spending some time stalling at ringside. When the match got going it was okay but I wouldn't say great. The audience were into it though and reacted to everything loudly. That helped the atmosphere. Each man took a turn holding the initiative, 'The Whole Shebang' going second and keeping it longer. As was the case the night before the finish came from nowhere: Low Ki connected with the Ki Krusher for the pinfall victory.

Which left only the main event: the three-way elimination trios match. For the record this match was Ricochet, AR Fox and Rich Swann v The Premier Athlete Brand v Lince Dorado and The Colony. The Brand jumped the two face teams at the bell to get the ball rolling.

You could probably have guessed beforehand the match would be wild. The favoured triple threat spot of a three-way submission hold was modified, eight guys getting involved applying holds to one another until Nese decided to break it up. Speaking of Nese he performed an impressive Gotch lift power bomb to the outside on Swann. Fire Ant was launched to the outside by his teammates, but the mass of bodies waiting for him caught him and held him in place instead of tumbling to the ground, so Green Ant and Dorado launched themselves off the turnbuckles to send everyone crashing to the floor. Konley became the first man to get an elimination when he performed a fireman driver from the top rope on Dorado.

The pace slowed a little after that as the heels grounded Swann, included a moment where Baretta rubbed the Velcro of his boot across Swann's face. Swann came back with a hurricanrana. AR Fox cannonballed onto the heels as they stood on the outside. Back in the ring Nese got a near fall from a great looking power bomb. 'The Whole Foxin' Show' got a near fall of his own off an Ace crusher. Swann joined in with a handspring Ace crusher seconds later. Ricochet hit his northern lights into a brainbuster on Konley and then hit a Code Red on Baretta. Nese took a Benadryller and a 450 from both Swann and Fox for a near fall broken by Konley. Fox gave Konley a Lo Mein Pain for interfering but took Baretta's running knee as he stood up afterwards. And it was that knee that gave The Premier Athlete Brand the victory in a match that lasted less than twenty minutes.

The audience booed and chanted "Fire Russo!" after the decision. The sentiment was clear: Nese, Baretta and Konley going over was not a popular decision. That was to be expected, what with The Brand being the company's lead heel stable. The result seemed clear enough in advance though. The match stipulation was that the winning team would earn the right to book themselves in any matches they wanted. The Colony and Lince were clearly not going to win because Lince's not a top line performer and isn’t ready to become one, and the Ants will soon be prioritising CHIKARA again. Ricochet's team could have won but it was unlikely what with him being the company’s (double) champion. Match making stipulations are always given to heels, unless there's an underdog babyface involved who's been battling for a title shot for months (see Daniel Bryan). That wasn't the case here so it made sense to give the stip to the heels. They can now use it to drive storylines by giving themselves unfair advantages on upcoming shows.

The event as a whole did not quite meet the standard set by the previous evening. Only the opener and the main event really delivered the thrills and there was nothing capable of competing with Hero v Tanaka or Gargano's loss of the Open the Freedom Gate gold. It wasn't a bad show, it just suffered having to follow a very good one. Taken as a whole the weekend's DG USA and EVOLVE shows were worth watching. The paid off long running stories (in the case of Ricochet's title win a yearlong story) and provided developments that should ensure some good matches and cards later in the year. On the whole I'd say the weekend was more hit than miss for the sister promotions.

***

¹ Sapolsky has a history of booking six man tags at WrestleMania weekend featuring Dragon Gate dating back to his time scripting Ring of Honor.

EVOLVE 27 review

EVOLVE 27 was the closing show of a three day weekend for the EVOLVE promotion (read about the first to here and here). As I noted when writing about EVOLVE 26 Gabe Sapolsky (the man in charge of putting these events together) prefers to build up to his bigger matches in these sorts of situations. In theory that should have meant EVOLVE 27 was the best of the three Florida events. Was it? Let’s find out.

Caleb Konley kicked the evening off with a promo. Instead of being a good employee and participating in his scheduled match (which he said was a six-way freestyle match) he demanded a one-on-one rematch from the previous evening with Lince Dorado.

This is a good point at which to acknowledge Lince's gimmick. He acts like a cat and wears gear with a distinctly feline feel to it. It's not as unique as it may sound: British wrestler Lion Kid does essentially the same thing. Dorado's better at it though, and the US fans give him more to work with. Balls of wool being thrown in place of streamers for example.

As an opener it was great. It was fun, fast, and split the offence between both men. Konley win with a roll up. If was pushed as a big moment for him. I don’t think it was but the thought was there at least.

Match two saw Maxwell Chicago team with Johnny Vandal to take on Dos Ben Dejos, Cruz and Rios. It was a mix of comedy stemming from Chicago's basic wrestling skills and ropey teamwork with Vandal and actual, impressive wrestling from Dos Ben Dejoes. It was enjoyable. The regular combo of Rios and Cruz won after a springboard 450 splash to Vandal.

Gabe Sapolsky favourite Jon Davis versus Rich Swann followed that. They started with a bit of power versus speed shtick. Davis got the better of that. The story of the match was that Davis could easily overpower his smaller foe but that Swann’s resilience kept him in the fight. This included the unsportsmanlike acts of rope-choking and wall-smashign. His more traditional offence included an impressive leaping pump kick to a mid-air Swann, a stiff lariat on the apron, a backpack neck breaker, and an elevated power bomb into a German suplex. Swann made numerous comebacks during the match, all but the last being cut off. That saw him leap off the top rope and immediately hit a Canadian Destroyer.

Swann should be praised for his selling. Too few wrestlers are capable of selling convincingly for an extended. That Swann did so made his various comeback attempts all the more compelling. His vulnerability was the story of the match, his win coming from increasing desperation and luck as opposed to a belief shattering super-comeback.

Match four saw Lance Bravado take on Nick Jackson as part of the brothers versus brothers feud. It didn't really last very long: within minutes Harlem Bravado was at ringside interfering. The referee called for the bell before Matt Jackson showed up at ringside and the two teams had a lengthy brawl all around the arena. This involved plenty of rail dives, not-at-all devastating use of stages and steel walls and, of course, chairs. Around the ten minute mark there was a brief and half-hearted "This is awesome!" chant. It wasn't, but it was an effective way to highlight the intense dislike the two teams have for each other.

The shenanigans ended when the Bucks performed a springboard spike Tombstone piledriver to Lance. That was a step too far: the move would have killed or paralysed Lance had it been real. It was complete excess. Showing no compassion for a man he may have just helped paralyse Matt grabbed a microphone and shouted that the Bucks would be taking back the belts in April. The segment started out as a logical bit of feud progression but ended up as overkill.

After intermission ("Fans we're going to take intermission, feel free to check out the merchandise stand," plugged Lenny Leonard as Lance was being attended to by medical staff at ringside) we were treated to one of the highlights of the weekend: Chris Hero v Chuck Taylor. This match showed why both men are so highly regarded. It was one of the best matches of the night and the three show weekend as a whole. 'The Knockout Artist' won with a cravat camel clutch.

AR Fox joined Hero in the ring afterwards, telling him he wanted to defend the EVOLVE championship against him. He suggest the February 23^rd Dragon Gate USA show in Brooklyn. Before Hero could accept Trent Baretta rocked up to continue his campaign against his fellow former NXT regular. He said he'd pinned Fox and so deserved a title shot ahead of Hero.

Anthony Nese and Su Yung strolled out as Hero left (he didn’t provide an answer but Lenny Leonard helpfully confirmed that Hero v Baretta would happen). 'The Premier PA' announced that 'Trentylocks' had officially joined The Premier Athlete Brand. Ricochet was the final man to enter for the scheduled tag bout. After some early dives to the outside the Brand boys got the advantage and isolated Fox in the ring. Nese and Baretta showed promise as a pair rule breakers during this stretch of the bout. They could be a nice addition to the Dragon Gate and EVOLVE tag division.

The pace picked up once Ricochet was tagged in as he and Fox took the initiative. The PAB regained the advantage minutes before things broke down and all four men were wrestling at the same time. The bad guys eventually got the win after Nese blocked a Lo Mein Pain and Baretta wiped out Fox with a running knee before Nese performed a 450 splash for the victory.

Chris Hero returned and congratulated The Premier Athlete Brand, specifically Trent, on the win then challenged him (or them, it wasn't clear) to deal with their issues in New Orleans. Baretta's response was to pose with his new tag partner. He didn't officially accept the challenge either. There will be matches involving Hero and Baretta either on February’s New York shows or April’s New Orleans shows but it’s not clear which.

The main event was originally meant to be Roderick Strong against Johnny Gargano. That had to be changed when Strong was injured at the January 4^th ROH TV taping. The solution was to award the winner of the EVOLVE 25 Fray! match the title opportunity. It was a good decision, giving Uhaa Nation something meaningful to do and creating a story to be followed across the three shows.

Uhaa was out first to his wonderfully seventies theme music. Gargano's music couldn't compete with that. Mostly because Uhaa's is awesome, but also because Gargano’s is a little bit nineties. Ain't nobody got time for that. The audience was split during the introductions. Both guys received more boos than cheers, which didn't bode well. Thankfully the crowd backed Nation once the bell rung.

The story of the first few minutes was that Uhaa was more powerful than Gargano. 'The Whole Shebang' spent his time bouncing around, taking time outs at ringside and making fruitless attempts to hurt his foe. He managed to turn the tide at the six minute mark when he apron bombed Uhaa off the stage (but not before the pair had botched a subset flip). Uhaa mounted a comeback of his own with a stream of clothesline and a trio of German suplexes. The top rope splash he followed up with gave him the first two count of the match.

Gargano hit his slingshot DDT. Uhaa came back with a lung blower, a DVD and a moonsault. Gargano got a top rope hurricanrana. Uhaa countered a spear into a series of power bombs. None of it was enough for either man to get a victory. Gargano avoided an Uhaa Combination, lawn darting the challenger into a ring post and slapping on the Gargano Escape. 'The One Man Nation' again nabbed the advantage when he gave Gargano a Death Valley Driver on the apron.

An errant boot from Uhaa sent the ref sprawling, freeing Gargano up to bring the ring bell into the match. Uhaa avoided the weapon and scored a Tomstone piledriver (maybe the most overused move of the weekend) for a two count. Moments later the Gargano Escape was applied again after the champ had slipped out of a military press. Uhaa survived for a few moments but ultimately had to tap out. Gargano remained the Open the Freedom Gate championship.

Post-match Gargano told the fans he loved them... except for a section that had been booing him. He said he'd bash their brains in. He also said by defeating the unstoppable Uhaa Nation he'd become the unstoppable Johnny Gargano. Ricochet interrupted him, natch. He asked the champ to sign a contract that would give him a title match with the winner of Gargano v Strong. Johnny refused and tried to leave but got stopped by Rich Swann (who is a human as opposed to a wealthy swan). He called Johnny a champion without heart (what a diss!) before Jon Davis waddled down to the ring.

Davis revealed that because he was making less money than the likes of 'chet and Swann he'd been taking extra money from Gargano to try and injure people (which he did to feed his family, natch). Gargano said he was lying. Davis said Gargano was on his own. With the odds against him Gargano was forced to sign. Swann laid him out with a super kick after he tried to stab Ricochet with the pen. Ricochet then promised to win the title in New Orleans to send everyone home happy.

One thing that leapt out at me about the three shows was how heavy on promos they were. I appreciate that this was because they existed in part to set up the far more important WrestleMania weekend shows but it did feel like too much at points. And they did at least achieve the goal of setting up matches for later. Hero versus Baretta, the Bucks versus the Bravados, and Ricochet versus Gargano all got attention here, which will make the relevant matches mean more when they roll around.

But that’s a minor complaint. EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA shows succeed or fail on the strength of the matches they offer, and the matches offered by EVOLVES 25, 26 and 27 was of a very high quality. Fittingly the best was saved until last. Uhaa Nation versus Johnny Gargano was the best match across all three shows. Hero v Taylor and The Premier Athlete Brand v AR Fox and Ricochet were both enjoyable too.

The three shows were a success. Everyone at EVOLVE should be proud.

EVOLVE 25 review

The last time I wrote about EVOLVE was during WrestleMania weekend last year. That was EVOLVE 19, which featured a tournament to crown the inaugural champion for the promotion. I remember enjoying the show as a whole and being puzzled afterwards by booker Gabe Sapolsky’s comments that it had been a disappointment to him. If that was bad what must good be like?

That was what I had in mind when I sat down to watch EVOLVE 25.

An FIP “world” championship match kicked off the evening. Champion and former WWE low carder Trent Baretta was defending against 'The Premier Athlete' Anthony Nese. The latter is basically an indies version of Chris Masters’ ‘Masterpiece’ gimmick, but done better. It was a match that had been, according to Lenny Leonard, talked about for weeks. I’m sure that is technically true. I’m less sure of the reverential tone that was implied to have accompanied these discussions.

Gabe Sapolsky’s love was ‘Trentylocks’ was as clear as ever during the match’s opening moments when the commentary team lauded him as “perhaps the greatest FIP champ ever.” This is exactly what WWE does with John Cena on a regular basis, but because more people watch WWE, Cena’s been on top longer, and Baretta wrestles a more indy-friendly style few people seem to notice the comparison.

Memorable spots included Baretta getting ripped off the middle turnbuckle and landing hard on the mat, a Death Valley Driver from Nese to Baretta on the apron, and a suplex from Baretta to Nese over the top rope, which saw Baretta go over the rope too. It was impressive and slickly performer but contradicted wrestling logic. There was no reason for Baretta to take the tumble too.

They pumped in a load of very enjoyable false finishes at the finish. Baretta got the win after around twenty-five minutes when he reversed an Okana roll. Being the length it was it was not a traditional opener, which added to the enjoyment of the match. The crowd reacted well to it too. The two shook hands after the match as Leonard put it over as the greatest FIP title match ever. I’ve not seen more than a few FIP title matches but I’d be dubious of that claim.

Baretta cut a promo about having known Nese for ten years and them being the original Dude Busters. He said the 'Premier Athlete' stuff was good but might be missing something. Whether this was hinting at something larger was left ambiguous, a state of affairs that wouldn't last long.

Match two was the five way Fray! match (Gabe loves weird match names) for an Open the Freedom Gate championship match at EVOLVE 27. The rules seemed to be partially inspired by the Royal Rumble. Two men started and the other entrants entered every two minutes, eliminations being made by pinfall, submission or DQ. Last man left in the match would win.

Lince Dorado and Chuck Taylor were the first guys in. They did some fast wrestling with a comedic twinge until Jon Davis entered at three and started using some power moves to slow things down. Entrant four was Caleb Konley. Within a minute of his entrance the spot of the match was performed as Dorado turned a power bomb to the putside from Davis into a moonsault and landing on Konley and Taylor. Davis continued to keep the match slow until Uhaa Nation came out. After a brief pause he clambered into the ring for a face-off with Davis. Before they could have what I assume was a highly anticipated exchange Chucky T slipped in and broke things up. After a flurry of high flying Davis was eliminated by both Dorado and ‘The Kentucky Gentleman’.

Dorado was the second man out after being dropped on his head by Taylor. Konley went out seconds later to an Uhaa Combination, leaving Taylor and Nation as the final two. 'The Kentucky Gentleman' didn't last long. He fell to multiple power bombs within a minute of Dorado dropping. The match was good but surprisingly short. Ultimately that helped it as it allowed for a mostly speedy pace to be maintained. It only dipped when Davis was controlling things. He seemed an odd man to have involved. Nothing else for him to do I suppose.

The Ricochet v Chris Hero dream match followed that. Breaking with the wrestling norm the commentators acknowledged that Hero and 'chet had wrestled once before but that it was long before they'd reached the level they're at now. Honesty on a wrestling show? That's a novelty.

The match started with a handshake and some rasslin' exchanges. There were a lot of takedowns. The point was to show that Ricochet could wrestle as well as fly but that Hero still had an advantage. Things picked up as Ricochet started showboating, provoking Hero to first punch him in the face and then deck him with a big boot. Hero slowed the pace, winding ricochet with jabs and wearing him down with blows and rest holds. The inevitable Ricochet comeback, provoked by some loud trash-talking from Hero, saw the pace pick up.

We got a jawbreaker followed by a spinning heel kick and springboard clothesline but his standing shooting star press was countered with a cravat and then a cravatplex by Hero. Moments later Ricochet found himself shoved off the top rope and into a steel girder holding up the building. Naturally he just made it back into the ring before the twenty count expired, and just as naturally he kicked out of the kick to the head Hero immediately hit him with. What sort of a babyface would go down to that?

Outside the ring Hero tried whipping Rico’ into some chairs but 'The Future of Flight' managed to leap up to the stage then back over to the ring apron where he blasted Hero with a kick. Back in the ring he still couldn't the advantage for long as ‘The Knockout Artist’ smacked him with an elbow for two. Seconds later he survived another. Hero survived a springboard 450 splash and a shooting star press but finally went down to a 630 splash. Hitting all three in succession was a good call. It gave Hero no time to recover, which is how high-fliers should get victories with high-flying moves. A series of heavy impacts that wind their foe.

After the match Ricochet said Johnny Gargano's been ducking him for a long time and challenged him to a title match in New Orleans. That's WrestleMania weekend, obvs.

Hero grabbed a microphone and talked about how he'd been in the ring or on shows with a lot of big names. The point? To remind everyone how much it meant when he said Ricochet is the best athlete he's ever wrestled. He then said that when Ricochet gets his match with Gargano there'll be a new champion crowned. Then he put over the entire locker room as a new generation of big names destined for big things (WWE, basically). That got cheers.

Just as I thought the talking had wrapped up Trent Baretta returned to the ring. He said he "kills it" (presumably speaking metaphorically) on every show he's on and that he won his match while Hero lost his. He also emphatically said he was not mad Hero hadn't mentioned his name when putting over the roster. But, y'know, he was.

Rich Swann and (sigh) The Young Bucks were out next for their six man tag outing against Johnny Gargano and Open the United Gate champions the Bravado Brothers. The first few minutes were slow but it became pretty frantic soon enough. An early stretch of ringside brawling helped there, getting all six guys in on the action and surprising viewers because it’s not something associated with any of them. Or EVOLVE in general for that matter.

This match, the best of the evening, was a perfect example of why ROH were fools to stop using the Bravado boys in 2012. They were good characters and decent wrestlers. They’ve improved, particularly with the wrestling side of things, since then. For the record it was also a good example of why the Bucks are so highly regarded (despite their continued no selling of psychology) and why DG USA is lucky to have exclusive broadcast access to Gargano and Swann. Gargano in particular. He's very good as the braggadocios, self-absorbed bad guy.

Swann and the Bucks won after More Bang for Your Buck on Lance. After the match the Bucks mouthed off about wrestling being their job (the implication being that the Bravados have to work day jobs, more a part of dues paying than anything else I'd have thought) and said they'd regain the Dragon Gate tag belts. Gargano then attacked Swann and the Bucks and Bravados brawled to the back. Roderick Strong then ran in through the crowd to run Gargano off. Uhaa Nation met the champ in the aisle, sending Gargano back into the ring to take some stiff chops and thrown out (again). Another challenge was issued, this one to Gargano from Roddy. You may have picked up on the fact that this was a show heavy on promos.

The fifth and final match was an EVOLVE championship match, AR Fox defending against Davey Richards. The story here was Richards’ history with the company. He was selected to be the centrepiece attraction of the group after Bryan Danielson joined WWE. For one reason or another relationship fell apart and Richards only appeared on one EVOLVE show. He says he was under contract to ROH. Sapolsky says Richards lied constantly about availability and was tricky to work with. Whatever the truth of the matter this understandably led to hostility between the two sides.

Lenny Leonard started by discussing this history. He acknowledged that EVOLVE and Richards both have their own version of what happens. For their part the crowd were split. The history added something to the match that made it feel like a big deal. It would have been good anyway, because Richards is a talented guy and a major name from outside the company, but the history of EVOLVE and 'The Lone Wolf' is one of those rare situations you get in wrestling where the behind the scenes stuff adds to what plays out in front of the cameras.

The match was very good. Fox hit an imploding shooting star, a combination of Sliced Bread Number Two and a moonsault off the apron, his leg drop on to the apron, and a nice array of cutters. Richards impressed with a knee lock in the ropes, stiff-even-by-his-standards kicks and lariats, a reversal into a Tombstone, and the standard selection of double stomps and leg submissions. The finishing sequence was a blizzard of top ropes moves and counters. It was ‘The Whole Foxin’ Show’ who came out on top when he hit Lo Mein Pain.

Richards kept the promo trend alive, grabbing the title belt and a microphone. He mentioned the wrestlers who'd work hard earlier on the show and Chris Hero referencing big names like Bryan, Punk and Joe before saying that those men, Hero, and the EVOLVE roster could all kiss his ass. Just to show that he was seeking boos he threw down the belt, a major heel tactic when Sapolsky’s running things.

‘The Lone Wolf’ then stormed out to strong boos. The sequence worked mainly because it was an inversion of what we've come to expect from wrestlers in these situations. Normally the big visiting star puts the company over. To have Richards trash it fit with the story of him walking out when the promotion was just getting set up. If he were coming back it probably wouldn't have happened. That Richards has signed with TNA turned out to be a positive.

With only five matches EVOLVE 25 may have looked weak beforehand but it turned out to be very good. There were enough men booked to appear for tweaks to have been made to get a six or seven match show but that’s not always what’s best. The Fray! and six man tag bouts were worthy additions to the show. It’s interesting to compare the approach here to the one made with EVOVLE 19. That was a show that featured eight matches. The man in charge disliked it. While I enjoyed that show I’d say this one was better. I’d hazard a guess that Sapolsky preferred this too. Less can be more.