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
