Evolve 24 Review

They Broke The Ring!!!!

Evolve 24

Brooklyn, New York 9/22/13

1.) Four-Way Freestyle - Green Ant vs. "Psycho" Mike Rollins (with Larry Dallas) vs. "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti vs. Lince Dorado: **3/4

A decent opener here, but it was not as good as the two four ways from the previous show. Something was just missing. Lince Dorado got the win, though I think Green Ant should have won, and I think the crowd in Brooklyn would agree, as they would chant "Green Ant" several times for the rest of the night.

2.) Matt Jackson vs. Shane Strickland: ***

Matt has an open contract and the "King of Swerve" answers the challenge. A pretty solid match. Like a lot of matches this weekend, it got better down the stretch.

3.) Ivelisse vs. Su Yung (with Anthony Nese & Mr. A): *1/2

This is a Shine showcase match, because why not? A typical women's match. Nothing really special. Su Yung would pick up the win.

After the match, Anthony Nese talks about his open contract and calls out his opponent. Josh Alexander answers the call.

4.) Anthony Nese (with Su Yung & Mr. A) vs. Josh Alexander: ***

A fine match, but I feel like these two just didn't mesh as well as I hoped. Outside interference from Su Yung & Mr. A would lead to a Nese win.

5.) Trent Baretta vs. Maxwell Chicago: **

Another open contract match. It was a pretty fun comedy outing, as Maxwell Chicago AKA Seth Rogen's brother/twin prides himself on being an entertainer. Trent Baretta would get the win to the surprise of nobody.

Afterwords, Caleb Konley comes out and challenges Trent Baretta to a match, and he accepts.

6.) Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley: ***1/4

I gotta say, it looks pretty bad when the babyface who makes the challenges ends up losing said challenge. Anyway, the match was pretty good. Not much else to say.

7.) Young Bucks Tag Team Invitational - Four-Way Freestyle - Los Ben Dejos vs. The Bravado Brothers vs. The Gentlemen's Club (Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy) vs. Pieces of Hate (Jigsaw & The Shard): ***1/2

This match continued the trend of this weekend's shows of a slow match building up to eventually becoming great. I actually really enjoyed this. For me, I would have rated this slightly higher had the match not gone as long as it did. The Bravados would get a hard-fought win.

After the match, Matt Jackson comes out to congratulate the winners, but of course, Matt Jackson doesn't shake hands! The Bravados say they're coming for the Open The United Gate Titles.

8.) Style Battle Tournament Finals - Drew Gulak vs. Biff Busick: ****1/2

For some reason the entrances were cut off on the VOD but luckily the match had only just started. These two have had several great matches this year already. This was no exception. Awesome Match!! Cannot stress that enough. Gulak & Busick tour the house down with some intense, stiff, hard-hitting wrestling, but it would be Drew Gulak who would prevail. I also gotta say that Bryce Remsburg on commentary really added to this match. Lenny Leonard show never do commentary by himself (same goes with Kevin Kelly in ROH).

Afterwords, Drew Gulak makes a few comments. First, he puts over Biff Busick as a great competitor. Secondly, he wants rematch with Jon Davis. He ends by saying "I AM THE LAW!!"

9.) Open The Freedom Gate Title - Johnny Gargano vs. Rich Swann: ****

It was during this match (about midway through) that the ring breaks. It isn't fully broken yet, but you could tell it wasn't secure. Othen than that, Swann & Gargano put on a great match. I really enjoyed the finish and I thought Gargano plays his heel roll very well (By the way, I like how they changed the pitch of Gargano's Entrance Theme to reflect the heel turn. Very subtle but very cool). Pretty solid title match.

10.) Evolution's End No DQ Falls Count Anywhere - Ricochet vs. AR Fox: ****1/4

This, of course, was supposed to be the second ever Evolution's End, but with the ring broken it's pretty hard to do, so before the match, AR Fox takes the mic, and says "Fuck This Ring!". He asks that the match be made to a No DQ Falls Count Anywhere Match, which Ricochet agrees to. This ended up being really great. They were able to take a real negative with the ring breaking and turned it into a positive with an awesome brawl. I think the building they were in (The Brooklyn Lyceum) really played up the match stipulation very where, as they brawled everywhere, even to the top of the balcony! AR Fox would end this madness and pick up the decisive win over his rival.

After the match, Ricochet & AR Fox hug after the hard fought bout and officially end their feud. Ricochet first puts over AR Fox and then says that he's gunning for the Open The Freedom Gate Title. This brings out Su Yung who makes an offer to Ricochet to join the Premiere Athlete Brand. Ricochet rejects the offer, saying that would make Anthony Nese the 2nd best athlete in the group. This brings out Nese who attacks Ricochet and says that he made a big mistake by disrespecting the Premiere Athlete Brand.

Overall: 8.5/10

First of all, I have to mention the venue: The Brooklyn Lyceum. At first the building looked kind of trashy, but it grew on me as the show progressed, and showed it's worth in the Main Event. It has that Old School ECW feel which I think is kind of cool. As for the show itself, the undercard was pretty average, but everything from Baretta/Konley on ranges from good to great to fantastic. The three main events were all thrilling in their own unique way. Definitely one of the best Evolve Shows to date and worth checking in out on VOD (because lets be honest, the DVD with never come out).