Evolve 53
January 22nd,
2016 | The Orpheum in Ybor City, Florida
After catching a fair amount of Evolve last
year and enjoying, I made it a point to make sure I saw more in 2016. That
brings us here, to their first show of 2016. This is the first of a triple shot
weekend and I hope that I can review them all. It’s a historic show due to the
start of a tournament to determine the first ever Evolve Tag Team Champions. As
with my PWG Battle of Los Angeles reviews last year, I’m not 100% familiar with
everyone on the card.
Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher opened the
show to cut a promo since he would be unable to compete due to a staph
infection. He was scheduled to team with Zack Sabre Jr. as part of the
tournament. He promised that when he returned, he’d settle scores with numerous
wrestlers. The Premiere Athlete Brand (Caleb Konley, Anthony Nese, SoCal Val
and Andrea) interrupted. Caleb complained that he never got a title shot.
Thatcher said people are tired of them talking and wanted to see wrestling.
This brought out the Bravados to start the tourney.
Evolve Tag Team
Championship Tournament First Round
The Bravado
Brothers def. The Premiere Athlete Brand in 12:57
I love that the Premiere Athlete Brand are
introduced and we heard about their combined abs rather than their combined
weight. According to commentary, the Bravados, Lancelot and Harlem, haven’t
been in Ybor City in over a year. There was a point early o where they picked
up the pace and ended up getting stuck, leading to an awkward moment of
nothing. The Bravados were the more impressive duo, looking extra motivated to
be back. They did the only tope doomsday device I’ve ever seen. There were some
good close calls in the end, giving the Bravados a chance to show off some
sweet double team moves. A great gory special/STO combo won the match for the
brothers. Really solid opening contest. ***¼
Jason Cade def.
Joe Coleman in 3:47
Here are two guys that have apparently had some
tryouts recently and earned a match on this show. Jason Cade was clearly the more
popular guy, but props to Coleman for carrying around “brotein” with him. Cade
nearly killed himself at the start, with a tope dive that sent him into tons of
chairs. This was short and worked more as a showcase for Cade, who flew around
the ring. He won with the shooting star press. For what it was, this was a fine
sprint. **
Style Battle
Round Robin Challenge
Matt Riddle w/
Drew Gulak def. Peter Kaasa in 4:47
The Style Battle Tournament certainly sounds
intriguing to say the least. I’ve never seen Matt Riddle before but apparently
he’s a former MMA fighter. Peter Kaasa, from what I’ve heard, is a freakish
high flyer. He showed off some of that here, hitting some nice dives to combat
Riddle’s grappling style. It didn’t last very long and had one standout moment,
though not for the best reasons. Kaasa tried a spiral tap like move from the
over but horribly overshot it and just planted on the mat. Riddle made him tap
to a heel hook, earning the win. It was short and was fine until that miss.
Side note, Riddle has a really cool theme, though he loses points with me for
wrestling barefoot. **
PJ Black def.
Ethan Page in 9:59
I recently interviewed Ethan Page and I have to
say, he’s a pretty cool guy. PJ Black is the former Justin Gabriel. Page is
seemingly trying to redeem himself after a 2015 full of heelish antics. He
tried to be Johnny Gargano’s partner in the tournament, but Gargano declined so
Page asked for a series of matches to prove himself. This was worked at a
similar pace and style to a lot of Black’s WWE stuff. It featured relatively
fine work but seemed a bit uninspired. Like something was missing. There were
some nice spots, like a scary looking powerbomb from Page. Page hit the
Spinning Dwayne and scored the win, or so he thought. Black’s leg was under the
bottom rope. Page didn’t want to win that way and asked for a restart because
that’s what Johnny Gargano would do. Black rolled up him and stole it away. The
match itself was solid but the real success of this was as an angle, selling
the Page redemption story very well. **½
Evolve Tag Team
Championship Tournament First Round
Roppongi Vice
def. Team Tremendous in 15:33
Team Tremendous consists of Bill Carr and Dan
Barry, both of whom are completely new to me. Carr is sporting IRS like attire,
while Barry is rocking a Hawaiian shirt. I liked what these two teams id here.
Roppongi Vice is usually a pretty popular duo with the Evolve crowd and that’s
how it was early on. Team Tremendous looked good during that time but once
Roppongi Vice got in control, they showed off a pretty brash attitude. That
really helped the fans rally behind Team Tremendous. They did a good job of that
on their own with their fun style of offense. There were more than a few times
where I bought in Team Tremendous scoring the upset. Trent hit Barry with a low
blow and then Roppongi Vice advanced following Strong Zero. Really solid match
that told a good story of RPG Vice acting like heels. ***¼
Style Battle
Round Robin Challenge
Tracy Williams
def. Fred Yehi in 14:51
Tracy Williams’ nickname is “Hotsauce” like
he’s an AND1 baller from the early 2000’s. He’s also part of the same stable as
Matt Riddle it seems. I’ve never seen either guy coming into this, but consider
me a fan of both after this. This was a war. They began working the mat,
building to something bigger. Once things got to the physical part, this was
beautiful. Both guys hit each other with strikes that made the fans cringe at
times. It’s like they wanted to really hurt each other, which is something I
always appreciate. Neither guy wanted to budge, so Williams decided to go to
great lengths for the win. He reeled off a piledriver, Brainbuster and a choke
which mad Yehi submit. Maybe I gave it a higher score than most, but this is my
kind of match. ****
Drew Galloway shows up for the next match but
Johnny Gargano is not in the building yet. He worked NXT earlier in the day and
raced here. The main event tag is moved up to give Gargano time to arrive.
Evolve Tag Team
Championship Tournament First Round
Heroes
Eventually Die def. Sami Callihan and Zack Sabre Jr. in 28:13
Consider this show stolen. Heroes Eventually
Die is the name for the duo of Chris Hero and Tommy End. Originally, this was
to be Sabre and Thatcher teaming up but Callihan replaced the Evolve Champion.
That did nothing to negatively impact this as it was great. I’ve become a huge
Sabre fan and his match with Chris Hero last year in Evolve was great and
really showcased him having to fight from behind in a manner I had never seen
before. He was in a similar position here, taking a beating throughout the
match from both End and Hero. My only major issue with this match is that I
think Sabre could have played the face in peril a bit better. It also may have
gone a tad long but other than that, this ruled. Callihan fit right in,
matching Hero and End with hard strikes throughout. The finishing sequence in
this was spectacular and you’ll be hard pressed to find a better one in a tag
match this year. There were some great close calls before a sick knockout
combination on Sabre ended it. Fantastic stuff and an early contender for tag
match of the year. ****¼
The four men shake hands after the match and
help Zack Sabre Jr. to the back.
Evolve Tag Team
Championship Tournament First Round
Drew Galloway
and Johnny Gargano def. Drew Gulak and TJ Perkins in 15:31
Gulak and Perkins are members of Catch Point,
along with Riddle and Williams from earlier. Gargano still hadn’t made it to
the building, so Galloway was alone. Ethan Page came out and offered to be his
partner instead but Galloway told him to fuck off due to his past. Galloway was
great as the badass monster going it alone. He’s really good in that role,
which works on the indies because he is big compared to a lot of guys. This is
my second time seeing Drew Gulak and I’m still not sold. He just doesn’t click
with me. As Galloway looked to be in big trouble, Gargano made it to the apron.
The question and anticipation of his arrival added a fair amount of drama to
this thing. That sparked his team to victory and Galloway nailed multiple
Future Shock DDTs to seal it. A pretty good tag with the added benefit of the
Gargano drama. ***¼
Overall: 7.5/10.
I found this to be a very good show. A lot of the time, I see these one or two
night tournaments and it can eventually drag on. Evolve did a good job mixing
in other things, like the Style Battle stuff and the Ethan Page angle, which
seems to be going masterfully well. The Williams/Yehi match was dope and I
loved the Hero and End/Sami and Sabre tag match. A strong effort from Evolve,
who I’m definitely going to continue watching.
