Evolve
45
Ybor
City, Florida 7/10/15
The
big story surrounding this particular weekend is that a number of injuries
caused some significant alterations to the cards for both shows. Biff Busick
was originally announced, but had to pull out after suffering some sort of hand
injury (if I recall correctly). Then, Davey Richards suffered a concussion
wrestling on an independent show in West Virginia the day before this show,
forcing him to pull out. In light of these major injuries, let’s see how Evolve
was able to react…
1.) FIP World Heavyweight
Champion Caleb Konley (with The Premiere Athlete Brand) vs. Gary Jay: ***1/4
Gary Jay may be known by
most independent wrestling fans as a member of The Submission Squad from
CHIKARA, but he’s branched out in recent years and has done some more serious
work in other promotions. Konley comes into this match as the FIP World
Heavyweight Champion, winning it from Rich Swann the week before on a FIP show.
As far as this match goes, I thought it was a very solid opener. Konley is
quickly becoming one of my favorites, as far as his singles work goes, and Gary
Jay looked very impressive in his Evolve debut. While Konley would get the win
in this match, Gary Jay showed that he deserves more chances in Evolve.
2.) Trent Baretta (with The
Premiere Athlete Brand) vs. Rich Swann: ***1/2
Our next match features
Trent Baretta’s return to Evolve! He was seemingly done with the promotion
after becoming part of New Japan’s roster (and subsequently a semi-regular in
Ring of Honor), but now he’s back, and he’s taking on Rich Swann. I remember
really liking the matches these two have had in the past, and this was another
very good chapter in their rivalry. Some really good action throughout this
match, and both guys looked great. In the end, Baretta would pick up the win
with The Dudebuster. This makes The Premiere Athlete Brand undefeated on the
night thus far.
After the match, SoCal Val
is bragging about The Premiere Athlete Brand’s success so far tonight, but Andrew
Everett interrupts her, and it looks like our next match is ready to go!
3.) Anthony Nese (with The
Premiere Athlete Brand) vs. Andrew Everett: ***1/2
Andrew Everett made his
return to Evolve back at Evolve 42.
Another really good singles match. I may be a little bit higher on this match
than most, but I really enjoyed it. Everett is such an entertaining high-flyer,
and I think he worked well with Nese here. The Premiere Athlete Brand’s winning
streak would come to an end in this match, as Everett would get the win over
Nese, much to the dismay of SoCal Val.
After the match, Everett
taunted The Premiere Athlete Brand, and convinced Caleb Konley to put his FIP
World Heavyweight Title on the line in their match the next night.
4.) Chris Hero vs. Trevor
Lee: ****1/4
These two have had a number
of matches with each other, including PWG, and most recently, at Evolve 43. In all honestly, I thought this
was their best matchup yet! Some really exciting stuff throughout this match.
Great back & forth action. These two are just incredibly fun to watch.
There were a number of points in this match where Lee almost had Hero beat, but
he just couldn’t keep Hero down. In the end, Hero would score the win with his
Ripcord Elbow. Awesome match! Like I said, I think this is easily their best
match together (whether that be in Evolve or PWG). These two just work together
really well, and we’ve gotten great matches every time.
5.) Roderick Strong vs.
Zack Sabre Jr.: ****3/4
In all the chaos of the
various injuries, we were able to get this gem of a match. These two squared
off in an amazing match for the PWG World Title at Don’t Sweat The Technique back in April. I came into this wondering
whether they could equal their efforts from that PWG encounter, an boy did they
ever! This match was AMAZING!!!! Easily one of the best matches, anywhere, in
2015!! I haven’t seen as much Zack Sabre Jr. as some others may have, but he
wows me with he technical prowess. You can’t turn away when a Zack Sabre Jr.
match pops up. You just have to watch it. It has to be said also that, ever
since he started working more in North America, Roderick Strong is EASILY his best
opponent. They just mesh so well together. It was technical wrestling vs.
strikes and strength, and it played out so well. After an absolute war, Zack
Sabre Jr. finally gets Strong to tap out for the victory. This was simply an
incredible match.
Interestingly enough, this
would be Roderick Strong’s last match for Evolve, as he would go on to sign an
exclusive contract with ROH shortly after this show.
6.) Evolve World Title
& Open The Freedom Gate Title - Drew Galloway vs. Timothy Thatcher: ***3/4
So originally, this show as
going to feature a Main Event of Drew Galloway & Roderick Strong vs. The
Premiere Athlete Brand, but of course, the injuries to Biff Busick & Davey
Richards caused a number of changes to the card, and this was the Main Event.
This was supposed to be a non-title match, but Thatcher requests a shot at the
title, and Galloway, being the fighting champion that he is, agreed to it. I
thought these two had a really good match. It didn’t match the quality of the
previous two matches, but it was still very solid. We saw the usual submission
game from Thatcher, and Galloway fought back with his explosive offense.
Eventually, Galloway got caught by Thatcher and tapped out to a Fujiwara
Armbar!! Timothy Thatcher is the new Evolve World Champion & Open The
Freedom Gate Champion!! This was a really big moment. With Thatcher as the new
face of WWNLive, it shows that they’re going full-steam ahead with this new
grappling-based style. Some might criticize not building this up more, but I
think it actually works better that way, since Galloway won the Evolve Title in
a similar manner. Thatcher celebrates with his two titles to close the show.
Overall: 9.0/10
Despite all of the issues
with the injuries and the card needing to be reshuffled multiple times, Evolve
somehow pulled off one of their best shows of the year. Roderick Strong vs.
Zack Sabre Jr. was a legitimate Match of the Year Candidate and their 2nd
instant classic of 2015. Chris Hero vs. Trevor Lee was, in my opinion, the best
of their three matches thus far (they seem to keep getting better with each
match). The Premiere Athlete Brand wasn't as annoying as they usually are, and
all of their matches were good. The title change in the Main Event was a big
surprise, and while it may have come a bit early, it was understandable given
they were backed into a corner with injuries to Biff Busick & Davey
Richards. Easily one of the best independent shows of 2015.
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