WWNLive SuperShow: Mercury Rising 2016
Dallas, Texas 4/2/16
1.) Best In The World Challenge Series – Match # 5 - Chris Hero
vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: ****1/2
Zack Sabre Jr. came out and said that he wanted his match with
Chris Hero to take place right now, and that’s exactly what we got. This match
had a number of different tags on it, so to speak. Not only was it the fifth
and final match in Zack Sabre Jr.’s Best In The World Challenge Series, but
it’s also the tiebreaker match in the “USA vs. Europe Series”. I thought this
was an awesome match! While I think it did go a little long (and that’s
certainly a complaint one could have towards the match, and I really don’t
disagree with that particular complaint), this was still a great back &
forth match. These guys are two of the best wrestlers in the world, and this
match was further proof of that. It mixed in a lot of different elements as
well, from hard striking, to grappling, to submissions. Eventually, after a
series of elbows, Chris Hero is able to put away Zack Sabre Jr. for the
victory. This means that Zack Sabre Jr. ends his Best In The World Challenge
Series with a 3-2 record, and that Hero gives the win in the “USA vs. Europe
Series” to Team USA. The result also means that Chris Hero remains undefeated
against Zack Sabre Jr. in Evolve, as he previously had beaten him in singles
match at Evolve 48 and again in the
opening round of the Evolve Tag Team Tournament at Evolve 53. I really like that story they’re telling with Zack Sabre
Jr., despite being as great as he is, not being able to beat Chris Hero.
After the match, Chris Hero cut a promo mentioning that he has
to get to another show in town, and added that he’s not the “Best In The
World”; he’s the “Greatest of All Time”.
2.) Drew Gulak (with Catch Point) vs. Fred Yehi: ***1/2
These two had a match back at Evolve 56, which was one by Gulak. After that match, Gulak refused
to shake Yehi’s hand, he hadn’t earned it yet. I thought this match was easily
an improvement over that first encounter. This was pretty good. It was much
shorter compared to the opener, clocking in at just under ten minutes, but they
managed to pack in a good amount of action in here. Gulak looked solid, as he
always does, and Yehi was impressive once again. In the end, however, Gulak
would once again get the win over Yehi with a Dragon Sleeper.
After the match, Drew Gulak took the mic, and once again said
that Yehi had great potential. Then, in a surprise, Gulak offered Yehi a spot
in Catch Point! After mulling it over for a bit, Yehi accepts his offer, and
officially becomes the newest member of Catch Point! I’m a fan of this move for
Fred Yehi. It puts him in a prominent stable in Evolve, and gives him some
direction, which was nice to see, because he’s really talented. The only
complaint I have with this is that, if having Fred Yehi joining Catch Point was
the ultimate goal, then I think he should have gotten a win over the course of
this weekend, against either Chris Hero on Evolve
59 (which I know sounds crazy, but I think it could’ve worked) or here
against Drew Gulak. I think that would’ve worked a little better with this
whole situation.
3.) Matt Riddle vs. Tracy Williams: ****
Following that previous segment, Catch Point remained at
ringside, as they a battle between two of their own members. I think the story
here is that Tracy Williams requested this match, after having lost to Riddle
on two previous occasions (at Evolve 52
and at Evolve 55 in the Finals of the
2016 Style Battle Tournament). I thought this was a great match! It wasn’t as
amazing as their match from Evolve 55,
but it was better than their first match at Evolve
52. It was sort of in the middle. These two have really good chemistry, and
there was some very solid back & forth action throughout this match. As a
whole, it was a lot of fun to watch from start to finish. In a bit of an upset,
Tracy Williams was able to score the submission victory here over Riddle,
giving the former UFC fighter his first clean loss in Evolve. The two shook
hands after the match, which was very cool to see.
4.) Anything Goes Match – Anthony Nese vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page:
***1/2
So basically this match (and this whole feud) came about when
Anthony Nese called Ethan Page “fat”. I noticed that some people didn’t like
this match as much, but honestly, I really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because these
kinds of plunder matches can be a guilty pleasure of mine at times, but I found
this match to be really entertaining. It was certainly a little better than I
was initially expecting, going into it. They brawled in the ring and around
ringside, while chairs and a ladder were the main foreign objects used here.
Eventually, Ethan Page got the win after a powerbomb of a ladder lying across
two chairs, followed by a Package Piledriver. This was a very good win for
Ethan Page.
This show was also billed as “Terry Funk Appreciation Night” (of
something to that degree), so we got a segment where Terry Funk came out for an
interview. It was basically a “lifetime achievement” sort of thing. Sabu and a
girl who was dressed up as a genie came out to honor Funk as well. Then, in a
big surprise, Mick Foley came out to present his longtime friend Terry Funk
with some sort of Lifetime Achievement Award. This was really cool. Apparently
he got permission from WWE to miss their Hall of Fame Ceremony so he could be
here to pay tribute to his friend. This whole things was interrupted by Earl
Cooter and LARRY FUCKING DALLAS (why is this guy still here?!) and, of course,
this eventually led to a beat down of Earl Cooter & Larry Dallas by the
legends. Terry Funk & Sabu got to beat them up a little bit, and both got a
taste of Mr. Socko from Foley. This was a very long segment. It was nice to see
Terry Funk getting honored like this, and it was cool that Mick Foley showed
up, but having those two geeks made this segment longer than it needed to be.
Our next two matches are showcasing some of the other promotions
under the WWNLive banner. First up, we were originally going to see Ivelisse
challenging Taylor Made for the SHINE Title here, but she got injured. SoCal
Val (who leads a stable in SHINE called “Valifornia”, which Taylor Made &
Andrea are part of) then comes out with the aforementioned with SHINE Champion
Taylor Made & Andrea, and says that the title match is off, because of the
injury to Ivelisse. She’s interrupted by….Luscious Latasha, who is apparently
undefeated in SHINE. I’ll be honest here….I had no idea who she was, and I
don’t think the crowd knew either, as she came out to crickets. Andrea then
quickly took her out, and SoCal Val continued her promo. Nicole Matthews then
stepped up to the plate and it looks like we’ve got a title match.
5.) SHINE Title – Taylor Made (with SoCal Val & Andrea) vs.
Nicole Matthews: **1/4
Having Nicole Matthews filling in here for Ivelisse was very
weird. Although she’s a former SHIMMER Champion, Nicole Matthews really isn’t a
regular in SHINE. What was even weirder is that they sort of slotted Matthews
into this babyface role after she played a heel earlier in the day on SHIMMER 80. To add on to all of that,
the match itself wasn’t exactly that good. Interference from SoCal Val &
Andrea led to Taylor Made getting the win to retain her title. Easily the worst
match of the show, in my opinion.
6.) FIP World Heavyweight Title – Fatal Four-Way Match – Caleb
Konley (with SoCal Val & Andrea) vs. Gary Jay vs. Jason Cade vs. Maxwell
Chicago: ***1/2
Up next, we have another representative of “Valifornia”
defending a title, as Caleb Konley is defending his FIP World Heavyweight Title
in a Four-Corner Survival Match. This was very similar to the Anthony
Nese/Ethan Page Anything Goes Match from earlier. I wasn’t sure what to expect
going in, but it ended up exceeding my expectations. Additionally, this was
another match that didn’t get a ton of good reviews, but honestly, I really
enjoyed it. The live crowd liked it a lot, and it was pretty entertaining. All
four guys had a chance to shine here. Even Maxwell Chicago, who I haven’t liked
too much when I’ve seen him in the past, had some bright spots in here that
were legitimately funny. Eventually, Caleb Konley got the win, and retained his
FIP World Heavyweight Title.
7.) Evolve World Title – Timothy Thatcher vs. Sami Callihan: **
Thatcher came into this match still selling the arm/elbow that
got hurt at Evolve 58 against Matt
Riddle. Now while there have been a few matches on this card that ended up
exceeding my original expectations going into this show, this match completely
failed to deliver. This was easily one of Timothy Thatcher’s worst matches in
Evolve, and easily his worst match as Evolve Champion, up to this point. The
fact that this match took place on such a big weekend further magnifies what a
bad match this was. It was a very boring, dull match that the crowd was
completely dead for. The match wasn’t the longest match on the show (it went
about sixteen or seventeen minutes), but it felt like it just went on forever. Plus,
the fact that the finish came out of nowhere didn’t help much either.
After the match, Catch Point came down to the ring. Drew Gulak
put over the importance of the Evolve Title, before saying that Timothy
Thatcher was a disgrace as champion. Gulak makes it clear that he wants to be
Evolve Champion, which is very interesting since Gulak is undefeated against
Timothy Thatcher in Evolve. Thatcher then proclaims that he will defend the
title against every single member of Catch Point. In a strange move, Thatcher
just drops the title in the ring and leaves. It seemed like, in the moment, the
title might have been vacated, but it was later made clear that Thatcher wasn’t
actually going to hold the physical title until he ran though all of Catch
Point. A very strange segment, all things considered.
8.) “Days Of Future Past” Six-Man Tag – Johnny Gargano, Kota
Ibushi, & TJP (with Stokely Hathaway) vs. Marty Scurll, Tommy End, &
Will Ospreay: ****1/2
So this match is borrowing a tagline from a recent X-Men movie
of the same name. Basically the setup for this match is that one team consists
of three guys (Johnny Gargano, Kota Ibushi, & TJ Perkins) who were all on
the very first Evolve show in January of 2010, while the other team consists of
rising/current stars on the independent scene, all of whom are representing the
British/European independents. It’s a really cool concept, to be honest. As a
whole, I thought this was an incredible match, and it was an excellent
continuation of the tradition that has become a staple of WrestleMania Weekend (that, of course, being these crazy Six-Man
Tags). This match was just filled with crazy action from start to finish, both
inside of the ring and outside of it. One of highlights of the match saw Kota
Ibushi & Will Ospreay climb to the top of one of the western-style set
pieces inside Eddie Deen’s Ranch, and hit moonsaults to the floor onto the
other four guys. That was actually really cool. In the end, Ibushi would end up
pinning Ospreay to win the match for his team. Once again, this was an awesome
match!
After the match, Ibushi & Ospreay embraced. Then, Johnny
Gargano cut a promo talking about Drew Galloway turning on him at Evolve 59, and what Galloway said about
Evolve’s relationship with WWE. Gargano defends the relationship that Evolve
has with WWE, and mentions that he’s not sure what’s in store for the future.
He’s excited to find out, however. Gargano then mentions how it was awesome
that he got to team with two guys in the Main Event who were on the very first
Evolve show. The show then comes to a close as Gargano celebrates in the ring.
Overall: 8.25/10
I think it’s fair to say that this show was a rollercoaster from
start to finish. The first half had some really good to great matches, with
Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Matt Riddle vs. Tracy Williams being the
clear highlights. The show then got into a bit of lull, as we saw a long
segment with Terry Funk, an two very disappointing title matches in the form of
the Evolve Title Match and the SHINE Title Match. The FIP World Heavyweight
Title Match exceeded my expectations, but it was in the middle of that lull.
Thankfully, the show closed out on a high note in the form of that incredible
Six-Man Tag Team Main Event. The show was also incredibly long, which
definitely works against it. As a whole, however, I still think that the
negatives, however bad they were, were outweighed by the positives. Even though those negatives did drag down the show a little bit, I simply can't discount all of the good to great stuff that was on this show. There are matches
on here that you should absolutely check out, but most of that middle portion
of the show can be skipped.
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