Evolve 62
Ybor City, Florida 6/10/16
The show kicks off with Lenny Leonard & Rob Naylor in the
ring running down the card. I always enjoy this little blurbs at the start of
Evolve events. It helps to get you hyped up for the show.
1.) Fred Yehi vs. Anthony Nese: ***1/2
The last time we saw Yehi, he came up just short in a WWE
Cruiserweight Classic Qualifier against TJP. Now, he’s taking on Anthony Nese,
who really hasn’t had the best of luck, as of late. I thought this was a really
good opening match. It’s easy to forget, after he spent years as part of The
Premiere Athlete Brand, that Anthony Nese is an incredibly talented performer,
and this match was a good showcase for him. Yehi also looked very solid here as
well. It was a nice clash of styles as well, with the more technical style of
Yehi going against Nese, who is much more of a high-flyer/power guy. This was a
really entertaining match, and it culminated with a cool finish, as Yehi
avoided a 450 Splash and locked in the Koji Clutch for the victory! For Yehi,
this was his first major victory in Evolve. After being in the promotion for
months, it was nice to see Yehi FINALLY getting some wins, especially since
he’s now part of Catch Point.
After the match, Anthony Nese asked for the mic, and talked
about he wanted The Premiere Athlete Brand to be a group of the best athletes
in the world, but they turned into a bunch of assholes. He says that he wants
to revitalize his career, and the best way to do that was to be part of the WWE
Cruiserweight Classic. Nese would ask to be included in the Cruiserweight
Classic Flashpoint Match the next night at Evolve
63, and he was, on the condition that he had to win the match to qualify
for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.
2.) “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin: ***
Darby Allin made his debut back at Evolve 59 in Dallas, Texas during WrestleMania Weekend, and he got absolutely destroyed by Ethan
Page. Now, Allin is getting another shot against “All Ego”. This was a much
more competitive match than their original encounter, and for the most part, it
was pretty enjoyable. Their was a point in the match where Page just tossed
Allin to the floor, and he had a really hard landing (I think he might have hit
one of the pillars next to the ring on the way down, but I can’t definitely
remember), but Allin somehow managed to keep fighting. Ultimately, Ethan Page
got the victory with a package piledriver, but again, it was fun for what it
was, and it was cool that we got to see more from Darby Allin.
After the match, Ethan Page shakes hands with Darby Allin, and
the fans cheered him on as he left the ring.
3.) Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Riddle: ****
This is the Evolve debut for Cedric Alexander, who had recently
left ROH to participate in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic (I’m not sure if it
had been confirmed yet by this time, but it was pretty much a lock, if I
recall). He had a big task ahead of him coming into this match, as he was
taking on Matt Riddle. I thought this was a great match!! Both guys are
awesome, but I honestly didn’t expect this to be as good as it ended up being.
There was some very solid back & forth action throughout, and as a whole,
it was just so much fun to watch. Riddle was great, as he always is, and
Alexander looked good in his debut. When you get a match between two talents
like this, how could you not enjoy it? In the end, Riddle got the win with his
“Bromission” submission hold.
After the match, the two men shook hands, and the fans chanted
“Thank You, Cedric!”. It was really cool that we got to see Cedric Alexander a
couple of times in Evolve before he ultimately signed with WWE.
4.) Evolve Tag Team Titles – Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Tracy
Williams with TJP & Fred Yehi) vs. The Bravado Brothers: ***
The Bravado Brothers returned during the Evolve Tag Team Title
Tournament earlier in the year, and in the time since, have turned heel. Now
they’re getting a match against Catch Point for the Evolve Tag Team Titles.
While the match wasn’t necessarily bad, the big issue with it was its length.
This match went just over twenty-seven (27) minutes. Why? WHY?! This had no
right to go as long as it did. The first two-thirds of the match were
incredibly boring, to the point where I was dozing off at times when I first
watched it. The match just felt like it went on and on and on. Part of me
thinks that these two teams just aren’t a good pairing, but then again, the
last third of the match really saved it from being a total disaster. If this
match was just those last ten minutes, I probably would have rated it higher,
but as I’ve said already, the sheer length really hurt this match. Eventually,
Catch Point scored the victory to retain their Evolve Tag Team Titles.
After the match, Drew Gulak takes the mic and starts talking
about Catch Point. He mentions how the Evolve Title is sitting with their stuff
in the back, and says that if Timothy Thatcher was a real champion, he wouldn’t
have allowed this to happen. He demands that Thatcher give every member of
Catch Point a shot at the Evolve Title. Thatcher then comes out, and says that
they’d all get their title shots, but right now, he had a match with Chris Hero
coming up, and tells Catch Point to leave his ring. Hero then comes out, and
takes the mic, saying that it was time to put the “kids” (Catch Point) to bed,
while the men handled business. Gulak then said that, in the spirit of
competition, they would allow the match to occur.
5.) Evolve World Title – Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero:
****1/4
These two had a couple of encounters in 2015, which were both
won by Thatcher. I thought this was an awesome match! For me, it just beats out
the Alexander/Riddle match from earlier, with regards to Match of the Night.
When comparing this match to previous Hero/Thatcher matches, I would say this
was better than their match from Evolve
46 (which was their second encounter), but it wasn’t quite as good as their
match from Mercury Rising 2015 (which
was their first match). I don’t know what it is, but Chris Hero really seems to
bring out the best in Timothy Thatcher. This was a physical, hard-hitting
battle from start to finish, and it was great to watch. Thatcher was someone
who really needed this match to be great, because up to this point, his 2016 in
Evolve had been less than stellar, to say the least. I think it’s fair to say
that, up to this point, this was Thatcher’s best match of 2016 in Evolve, and
it should be no surprise that it came against Chris Hero. In the end, Thatcher
was able to get the submission win over Hero to retain his Evolve Title.
After the match, Catch Point comes out to confront Thatcher.
Tracy Williams takes the mic and says that Catch Point aren’t thieves, noting
that he likes to be face to face when he takes something from you (namely, a
championship). Williams demands a shot at the Evolve Title the next night at Evolve 63, and Thatcher accepts, adding
that he would hurt anyone who touched or disrespected his Evolve Title. This
included Stokely Hathaway, who quickly dropped the title as soon as he heard
this. Matt Riddle then takes the mic, saying that he beat Thatcher twice, and
calls him “trash”. The two then faced off with Riddle holding the Evolve Title.
I thought this was a nice continuation of the Catch Point/Timothy Thatcher
story.
6.) Unsanctioned Street Fight – Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter
III vs. Johnny Gargano & TJP (with Stokely Hathaway): ***1/2
This match came about after Ethan Carter III from TNA showed up
at the end of Evolve 61, attacking
Johnny Gargano, and aligning himself with Drew Galloway in this crusade against
Evolve’s relationship with WWE. From start to finish, this was just a wild,
out-of-control brawl, and honestly, it was a ton of fun! They brawled in the
ring, around the bar, an even in the streets of Ybor City, Florida. This really
felt like an unsanctioned match (EC3 even took out the referee as soon as the
match began), and again, it was incredibly entertaining, even though it wasn’t
necessarily the best match on the show. My descriptions can’t do this match
justice. You should definitely check it out, if you haven’t already. Towards
the end, TJP got put through a table, and when Drew Gulak came out to check on
him, Chris Hero shows up and attacks him! He then got in the ring and attacked
Gargano & TJP! This eventually led to Ethan Carter III & Drew Galloway
getting the win in this super fun street fight.
After the match, EC3 takes out another referee, while Galloway
takes the mic. He says that they’re right, and that Evolve is wrong. They
wanted to show that they didn’t need the backing of “the machine”, and
proclaimed that Chris Hero was now with them, making them unstoppable. Galloway
said that their numbers were growing, and hinted that Cody Rhodes would be
joining them, specifically mentioning a match between Johnny Gargano & Cody
Rhodes at the Evolve 66 on August 19th.
He then passed the mic off to EC3. Ethan Page tried to intervene, but he was
quickly taken out. EC3 said that he was going to drop the most controversial
statement in the history of wrestling, and starts plugging TNA Slammiversary with Lenny Leonard
screaming for the iPPV feed (and for EC3’s mic) to be cut as the show quickly
concluded.
Overall:
8.0/10
For the most part, I thought this was a very good show from
Evolve. Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero for the Evolve Title and Cedric
Alexander vs. Matt Riddle were easily the best matches on the show, with the
former being slightly better than the latter. You then had a really fun opening
match, and a extremely fun Main Event that continued the “Pro-WWE vs. Anti-WWE”
story. Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin was also entertaining for what it was. The
only true disappointment was Catch Point vs. The Bravado Brothers for the
Evolve Tag Team Titles, which went waaaaay too long. As a whole, while this
wasn’t the best Evolve show of 2016, it was still very entertaining to watch
from beginning to end.
No comments:
Post a Comment