Evolve 40
San Jose, California
3/27/15
1.) Non-Title Match –
Evolve World Champion Drew Galloway vs. Uhaa Nation: ***1/4
It’s a little weird seeing
Drew Galloway, the current Evolve World Champion, going from the Main Event the
night before, to the opening match on this show. Even though this was a
non-title match, Galloway still had a tough task ahead of him in the form of
Uhaa Nation. This was a pretty fun opener. Seeing two of the bigger men in
Evolve going at it was certainly a unique sight. Solid work from both guys
here. Galloway would eventually pick up the win.
After the match, Galloway
cuts a promo putting over Uhaa Nation and hyping up his Title Unification Match
with Johnny Gargano at Mercury Rising
2015.
2.) Tommy End (with Chris
Hero) vs. Timothy Thatcher: ****1/4
End had a solid debut
performance against Biff Busick at Evolve
39. On this show, he’s taking on Timothy Thatcher. Chris Hero, who
“endorsed” End, is in his corner at ringside, probably scouting Thatcher ahead
of their match at Mercury Rising 2015.
It was going to be interesting to see how this match played out, as you had the
grappler (Thatcher) vs. the striker (End). The first part of the match had a
lot of that grappling style, but then the heavy strikes were turned up in the
second half, which really helped this match. Great stuff from these two. I
think it’s been proven at this point that while the grappler vs. grappler
matches (Thatcher vs. Gulak, for example) get most of the negative buzz, when
it’s a grappler vs. a striker (guys like Thatcher & Gulak vs. guys like
Busick, Hero, & Tommy End), the matches are significantly better and more
exciting. Thatcher would get the victory over End via submission.
Afterwords, while End shows
respect to Thatcher, Hero gets into a confrontation with Thatcher, who
purposefully bumps into Hero as he exits.
3.) Drew Gulak vs. TJ
Perkins: ***3/4
I made have mentioned this
before, but it’s nice to see TJ Perkins back on the independents, especially in
a place like Evolve, which I think is a perfect fit for him. Here, he’s taking
on Drew Gulak. Perkins is a great example of a guy who makes this grappling
style entertaining. He & Zack Sabre Jr. are similar in that they’re just so
fluent & smooth in their holds, submissions, counters, and so on, that it
just makes their matches way more interesting. Both guys got to show a lot
here, as we saw plenty of counters and reversals. After some cool exchanges,
Gulak would pick up the win over Perkins, who suffers his 2nd loss
of the weekend.
4.) AR Fox vs. Ethan Page:
***1/2
As I mentioned in my review
of Evolve 39, Ethan Page was
“endorsed” by Johnny Gargano, and here he’s taking on the man who Gargano
defeated at Evolve 39 in AR Fox. This
match was a nice change of pace after two matches that were showcases of the
grappling style. A really good match here. Page is so charismatic, and AR Fox
was his usual crazy self. Not much else to say other than this was a fun match
to watch. AR Fox eventually picked up the win, giving Ethan Page his 2nd
loss of the weekend.
After the match, Page cut a
promo regarding his losses, seemingly upset at letting Gargano down. This leads
to Gargano coming out, and he says that he believes in Page, and that what
matters most is giving it your all. He then talks about his Title Unification
Match with Drew Galloway. If you think this is all a swerve, and that Page is
going to turn on Gargano, stay tuned…
5.) Chris Hero vs. Biff
Busick: ****1/2
This is one of the most
anticipated matches of the weekend. This rivalry kicked off when Hero went
after Biff Busick, Drew Gulak, & Timothy Thatcher at the end of the 2014
Style Battle Tournament at Evolve 33.
Hero defeated Gulak at Evolve 38, and
now, he’s taking on Busick. This match was as awesome as you would have
expected it to be. You really got the sense that these two just didn’t like
each other, and it translated into a really intense encounter. Amazing stuff
from both guys in this match. After a really hard-fought contest, Hero was able
to score the victory over Busick. One of the best matches of the weekend by
far!
6.) The Premiere Athlete
Brand (Open The United Gate Champion Caleb Konley & Brian Cage with SoCal
Val & Andrea) vs. Ronin (Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann): **1/4
Brian Cage is stepping in
for Anthony Nese for these shows. This is a non-title match, but Gargano &
Swann could potentially earn a future title shot with a victory here. The match
was going along fine until Rich Swann appeared to get hurt (I believe it was
some kind of rib injury). Gargano then locked in the GargaNo Escape on Konley,
who tapped out very quickly. It appeared as though Ronin had won the match, but
the referee announced that the match was stopped due to injury, and that The
Premiere Athlete Brand had won the match! This was a very odd ending. It would
later be confirmed that Swann was ok, which was good news.
7.) "The
Darewolf" PJ Black vs. Ricochet: ***3/4
This is a dream match of
sorts, as one of the best high flyers to come out of the WWE in recent years,
taking on “The Future of Flight”. I like the fact that these two are wearing
really colorful tights here. This was a really solid Main Event. A much better
effort from Black here, compared to the Main Event from the night before at Evolve 39 against Drew Galloway. This
was also by far the best match for Black thus far in Evolve, and it should be
no surprise that it was against another high-flyer like Ricochet. Entertaining
stuff from these two. Also, AR Fox was on commentary for this match (he faces
Black at Mercury Rising 2015), and it
was interesting, to say the least. In the end, Ricochet would get the win with
his 630 Senton.
After the match, both guys
cuts promos, complementing each other as the show comes to a close.
Overall: 8.75/10
Aside from the issues with
the semi-main event (mainly having to do with Rich Swann's injury and how they
did the finish), this was significantly better than Evolve 39. Chris Hero vs. Biff Busick was easily the best match on the show. You also had a great match in Timothy Thatcher vs. Tommy End, and a couple of other really good matches PJ Black vs. Ricochet and Drew Gulak vs. TJ Perkins. The only thing that really takes this show down a bit was the unfortunate injury to Rich Swann and the wonky finish of the Ronin/Premiere Athlete Brand tag team match. Other than that, this is a can't miss show.
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