Evolve 42
Orlando, Florida 4/18/15
1.) SHINE Title - Santana
Garrett vs. Andrea: *1/4
We kick off the show with a
match for the SHINE Title that was announced the previous night at Evolve 41. This was supposed to be Su
Yung challenging Santana Garrett, but SoCal Val took her shot and gave it to
Andrea. It’s pretty clear that the only reason this match happened was to
further facilitate Su Yung splitting from The Premiere Athlete Brand. It wasn’t
a good showcase for Santana Garrett, who in 2015, has become the female version
of Ultimo Dragon, holding several women’s wrestling titles. Finally, it really
was a bad idea to have this open the show. It just wasn’t a good match (I’d put
that mainly on Andrea). A botched interference attempt from Su Yung led to Santana
Garrett getting the win to retain her SHINE Title.
Afterwords, SoCal Val &
Andrea get into an argument with Su Yung over the loss. It looks like Su Yung
is finally going to fight back, but she gets taken out by Andrea before she has
the chance.
2.) "All Ego"
Ethan Page vs. Martin Stone: **1/4
The next match of the night
sees Ethan Page looking to go 2-0 on the weekend as he takes on Martin Stone.
This match was just ok. It was decent, but nothing more with that. The issue
is, after that first match, the second match needed to be better, and it
wasn’t. Stone has been fine in all of his Evolve outings up to this point, but
this was certainly his weakest. If there was a positive element to this match,
it’s that Page got the win, as he should have.
3.) Andrew Everett vs. Rey
Horus: ***1/4
Business is about to
finally pick up, as we have a battle of high-flyers in this match. Finally, we
have a match worth talking about on this show! A entertaining contest between
these two young high-flyers. Some really good action from both guys in this
contest. In the end, Horus would get the win over Everett with a top rope
Frankensteiner. Again, a pretty solid match. I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing
these two face off again.
4.) TJ Perkins vs. Timothy
Thatcher: ****
While TJ Perkins picked up
a big win over Biff Busick at Evolve 41,
Thatcher suffered a defeat against Roderick Strong. I thought this match was
great! Coming into this match, I was pretty excited to see how Thatcher’s style
would mesh with the style of TJ Perkins, and they ended up working really well
together. There was a ton of great action in this match. This is a perfect
example of the positive side of the grappling style that Evolve is putting more
attention on. Thatcher would pick up the win after getting TJ Perkins to tap
out. A really entertaining match between these two.
5.) Biff Busick vs.
Roderick Strong: ****
I feel like these two have
faced off before, but I can’t remember where. It could be a first-time ever
matchup, I’m just not sure. Anyway, this was another really great match! Of
course, you would expect a match between these two to be filled with lots of
strikes and a ton of hard-hitting action, and that’s exactly what we got here.
These two are just so good, and they worked really well together here. Eventually,
Busick would pick up a big win over Strong, who became the #1 Contender to the
Evolve World Title the night before at Evolve
41.
After the match, Busick cut
a promo about how much he hated Timothy Thatcher and how, in his mind, Evolve
officials have been screwing him over. This leads to Thatcher coming out, and
the two have a brawl that needs to be separated by security. What’s significant
about this incident is that Busick struck Thatcher really hard in one of his
ears during the brawl, which gave Thatcher a pretty serious ear injury that
forced him to miss the next set of Evolve shows.
6.) Davey Richards vs.
Trevor Lee: ***1/2
Up next we have a match
that, I believe, is a first-time ever encounter. I though this had to potential
to be as great as the two matches that preceded it, but it was hampered by two
things. Firstly, I think it needed a little more time to reach the level of
being a truly great match. Second, the fire alarm in the building went off
during the match, and that definitely detracted from the match. Richards would
pick up the victory in this match.
7.) Open The United Gate
Titles - Street Fight - The Premiere Athlete Brand (Anthony Nese & Caleb
Konley with SoCal Val & Andrea) vs. Ronin (Johnny Gargano & Rich
Swann): ***1/2
Back in January at Evolve 37, Ronin reunited in trios
action against The Bravado Brothers & Moose. While Ronin was a major part
of Dragon Gate USA, they were never able to capture the Open The United Gate
Titles. Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann look to check that off their list as
they face The Premiere Athlete Brand in a Street Fight. Ethan Page is on
commentary for this match, and as always, was pretty entertaining. The match
itself was pretty good. The early brawling in the crowd detracted a bit from
the match in that it was hard to see what was going on. Once they got back in
the ring, it was a pretty good match. I also like the fact that they four guys
actually wore street clothes to a Street Fight. Some might complain that this
runs contradictory to Evolve’s new direction, but in my opinion, you always
need some form of variety, as you don’t want every single match on the card
being the same thing. Su Yung would eventually get involved, blowing mist in
the face of SoCal Val, finally getting her revenge. In the end, Gargano &
Swann would pick up the win, and captured the Open The United Gate Titles! Not
the best match on the show, but a really solid Main Event.
After the match, Gargano
tries to cut a promo celebrating Ronin’s victory, but he gets into a verbal confrontation
with Ethan Page. Gargano called Page a nobody and said he didn’t deserve to
face him. Eventually, Page left, and Ronin celebrated they title win to close
the show.
Overall: 8.0/10
While this show wasn’t
quite as good as Evolve 41, it was
still pretty solid. The first two matches really hurt the show, in my opinion.
Fortunately, things picked up with Andrew Everett vs. Rey Horus. You then had
two great matches in a row with TJ Perkins vs. Timothy Thatcher & Biff
Busick vs. Roderick Strong. These two matches are definitely worth checking
out. Even though the two closing matches had their own respective issues, they
were still very solid matches. Ronin winning the Open The United Gate Titles in
the Main Event was a really cool moment. Despite various setbacks, this show
continued the string of solid Evolve outings in 2015.
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