RPW Summer Sizzler 2015 review

I've seen and reviewed enough RPW shows now to feel comfortable saying that Alex Shane's influence on booker Andy Quildan is clear for all to see. Shane has stated in more than one interview over the years that his approach to booking a wrestling show is to offer something that will appeal to everyone in the audience. This show, like most RPW offerings, very firmly had that philosophy in mind. The show featured former WWE stars, current New Japan stars, big lads, a cruiserweight match, a strong style match, a comedy match, and a distinctly Attitude Era main event. Whatever your tastes in wrestling there was probably something at Summer Sizzler 2015 that would satisfy you.

The show kicked off with Josh Bodom versus Tommy End. The lack of Quildan in the ring to introduce the wrestlers makes me think this was a dark match. When you've got a lad like End in a match you're not intending to release you've got yourself a packed show. Sadly there was no bicycle knee kick, a move End makes look incredible, on offer here. Bodom got the upset win following a move not dissimilar to the package piledriver.

Quildan hit the ring after that, presumably signalling the official start of the show. His first act was to announce that Mark Haskins would not be at the show due to "personal problems." He was replaced in his tag team title defence by Jake McCluskey. This wasn't the first time McCluskey had made his way onto an RPW card as a last minutes replacement. Sooner or later his reliability will be rewarded and he'll net himself a more prominent role.

Just a couple of revolutionary lads.

The match, putting McCluskey and defending champ Joel Redman against Revolutionist members Sha Samuels and James Castle, wasn't especially good. McCluskey spammed moonsaults in the early going (because he's dubbed himself 'Mr Moonsault' at some point in the last year or two), which the crowd appreciated at first but soon tired of. Because, honestly, moonsaults haven't been impressive since the eighties, Jake. I did enjoy Jake and Joel hitting a 3D though. It was an unexpected addition.

The finish saw McCluskey go for a discus clothesline on Castle, only for Castle to duck it and kick him in the privates. Yep, a nut shot was enough to put McCluskey down for the three. Redman took exception to this and gave McCluskey a shove. McCluskey made it clear he'd been cheated but Redman was having none of that and walked off in a huff. Perhaps a match or two with Redman are heading Jake 'Reliability' McCluskey's way.

The third match of the night saw Big Damo beat New Japan's Tomohiro Ishii, a far bigger surprise than the opener had been. 'The Stone Pitbull' spent the opening stretch getting worked over by Damo, something I thought (wrongly, as it turned out) was designed to set him up for a comeback leading to a victory. It's not that the comebacks didn't come, they did, it's just that they weren't enough to put Damo away. Damo survived a dead lift German suplex, a superplex and numerous lariats, among other things, before slumping a worn Ishii in the corner and leaping off a corner to hit a Van Terminator-style drop kick. He followed up with a running senton to get what has to be the biggest win of his career.

The traditional announcement of the next major show followed that. This year's Uprising will take place on October 2 (a Friday) and will be a co-promotion with New Japan. The first match announced is Jushin Liger and Hiroshi Tanahashi against Gedo and Kazuchika Okada. I'm doubtful about Uprising being a full scale co-promotion but that match (and one that will be mentioned below) is very welcome. The more New Japan talent on RPW events, the better.

Speaking of which, the pre-intermission spot was taken by Shinsuke Nakamura versus Roderick Strong (substituting for Ricochet). Not for the first time I found myself questioning the placement of a New Japan performer on an RPW card. Along with Styles Nakamura was one of the two biggest names on the show. The bigger of the two would probably vary depending on who you asked. Judging by the number of shirts and the queue for his autograph at intermission I think Nak was a bigger draw for this crowd. This match would probably have been better received as the opener of the second half. But complaining about Rev Pro running orders is always going to be an act in futility.

Shinsuke Nakamura versus Roderick Strong.

Placing aside Nakamura versus Strong was excellent. The first five minutes saw Strong berated for wearing "Shitty, shitty, shitty little boots!", a chant carried over from his recent appearance for the other London-based wrestling group, Progress Wrestling. This included him storming up the entrance ramp and having Quildan tell the crowd that if the subject of his boots wasn't dropped he'd leave. Naturally that didn't work. Roddy would get in and out of the ring a few more times, at one point teasing that he'd take his boots off, before finally starting the match. Nakamura, for his part, seemed to find Roddy's shenanigans amusing. At point while Strong was bickering with a member of the group 'The King of Strong Style' walked into the centre of the ring and bowed, effortlessly making himself the centre of attention and popping the audience.

I thought this match was great and the best effort all night. While I enjoy Ricochet's work I don't think he was as natural opponent for Nakamura as Strong. This was a far better blending of styles than the striker versus flyer effort we would have had with 'ochet. Nakamura survived a handful of backbreakers, the Stronghold and the Sick kick before he polished Roddy off with two Boma Yes. This match alone is worth buying the event for.

After the match Nakamura was confronted by Big Damo, something which immediately examined Ishii's loss earlier in the evening. Damo told Nakamura that he wanted to knock his teeth down his throat. Nak responded with his weird face-on-belly taunt then took a microphone and agreed to a match, ending with a resounding "YeaaOh!" He then brushed past the big lad and sauntered to the back. Quildan confirmed the match for Uprising (funny how quickly he got that signed with New Japan, isn't it?) before throwing to a "brief" half hour intermission.

Will Ospreay, a proud RPW British cruiserweight champion.

Will Ospreay's two-out-of-three falls defence of the British cruiserweight championship against Matt Sydal opened up the second half. It took a while to pick up steam and once it did it was technically sound but something about the bulk of it didn't grab me. The root of the issue was probably my disinterest in Sydal as a character, although he played a New Day-esque super-positive heel here once it became clear the fans were behind Ospreay. That was a welcome change of pace.

Sydal got the first fall when he reversed Ospreay's handspring elbow attempt into a reverse hurricanrana and then leapt to the top rope for a Shooting Star press. Ospreay evened things up after he rolled through Sydal's pin off a Final Cut after a brisk sequence of high-flying counters and reversals. He took the false finish-stuffed third and deciding fall with a springboard cutter and a version of the Phoenix splash.

The third fall did draw me in. It provided more evidence that WWE missed out by not pushing Sydal and highlighted that Ospreay is one of the brightest talents in British wrestling. He'll definitely be one of the next guys to get a gig in Japan or on the US indies. The pair shared a handshake after the match, just to make it clear Sydal really is the super-cool guy he's gimmicked to be.

The semi-main event spot was given over to the comedy styling a of Colt Cabana. He was there to settle his feud with Gideon Grey and Rishi Ghosh. This had started when Gideon had made the (absurd) claim that Colt Cabana and Matt Classic were the same person. Cabana had agreed to a tag match with Grey and Ghosh to prove that this wasn't true. And prove it he did. After a bit of teasing Classic and Cabana appeared in the same place at the same time for the first time ever. Classic was met with chants for Grado, CM Punk and Super Dragon. The truth of his identity remains a mystery.

A woefully poor shot of Rishi Ghosh and Gideon Grey.

The match that followed was very much a Butlin's style comedy affair (not a bad thing). It's exactly what you want from a guy like Cabana and exactly the sort of thing the Grey and Ghosh characters are designed for (for the record they are an English lord and an Arabic prince respectively... Wrestling!). It's also worth pointing out that I was at the show with someone who's not a wrestling fan (Bea, she's great) and this was one of her favourite matches of the night. This type of comedy match was one of the things I was thinking of when I wrote about Alex Shane's approach offering something for everyone at the start of this review. I think it was the ridiculous characters and silliness of the action that Bea appreciated. Cabana got the win by making Grey tap out to the Billy Goat's Cutse while Classic held Ghosh in a sleeper.

The main event was Marty Scurll (the star of ITV's Take Me Out (no, I'll never get bored of this)) versus AJ Styles for Scurll's British heavyweight championship. They had a great main event style match that drew me in despite my lack of interest in Styles. I'm award I wrote this about Sydal too. Maybe I just have something against Christian wrestlers? Scurll put in a typically slick performance that showed why he's one of the most frequently booked men in British wrestling and why he'd had RPW's top prize for well over a year.

'The Phenomenal One' won the title following a Styles Clash. At first this was a surprise but thinking about it it shouldn't have been. With the title having been on Scurll since March 2014 it was time for a change and this allows RPW to present AJ Styles, a major name, as their champion come the New Japan co-promoted Uprising in October, which will make them look a bigger deal. Plus, there was no way Styles was going to lose clean to Scurll so switching the title allowed the sidestepping of a dissatisfying DQ finish.

This was the second best RPW show I've been to. There were two top notch matches in Nakamura v Strong and Styles v Scurll, enjoyable efforts from Bodom v End and Damo v Ishii, and a fun comedy match. It wasn't going to get any better. The best RPW remains Uprising 2013 for its stacked card and the opportunity it gave me to heckle Davey 'Nippy Weasel' Richards but I wouldn't be surprised if this year's show, boasting Nakamura, Tanahashi, Okada, Gedo and Styles, takes its crown. I look forward to finding out.

***

Results summary:

Josh Bodom defeated Tommy End
James Castle and Sha Samuels defeated Jake McCluskey and Joel Redman to win the RPW tag team championship
Big Damo defeated Tomohiro Ishii
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Roderick Strong
Will Ospreay defeated Matt Sydal two falls to one to retain the RPW cruiserweight championship
Colt Cabana and Matt Classic defeated Gideon Grey and Rishi Ghosh
AJ Styles defeated Marty Scurll to win the RPW British heavyweight championship

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