wrestling / Columns

Csonka Looks at The Fallout From Evolve 51 & 52

November 9, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome one and all, Larry here to discuss some Evolve wrestling. We’re going to look back on the Evolve iPPV events from the weekend, just like I did after the last set of shows. I hope that this will become a regular thing, as long as I have the time. Evolve 51 & 52 were not only stellar events, but also the shows represented the best weekend that Evolve has ever put on. The shows featured some awesome wrestling, good pacing, things peaking at the ring time and some big angles that all came together while also introducing some new players. This was essential due to the recent departures of Swann and Busick. The shows featured quality undercards, and then they delivered big time in the last three matches of each show; it finally all came together for the promotion. So with all of that being said, today I will look at my big takeaways from the Evolve 51 and Evolve 52 iPPV events. My goal is for the column to be a nice companion to the reviews. I hope that you enjoy.

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The Pre-Shows Are Great At Universe Building But Shouldn’t Be An Excuse For Every Show Starting Late


During my last column on Evolve, I gave out praise for trying to connect the WWNlive universe. Last time around, they ran a match designed to promote the FIP Fallout Event, which I felt was a great idea. There have been times in the past where they have ran a SHINE feature match or an FIP Title match, but they have never done enough I thought. I also wrote this last month, “I think that when they run the Florida loop, you need to have one feature match on every show; so night one a SHINE feature and night two a FIP feature for an example.” So this time around, they took it a step further and ran kick off shows before each show, ACW on night one and FIP on night two. Now let me say, this is a great idea. You’re doing what I talked about last month, it’s good to give some free wrestling away, especially when you’re promotion the other companies that run on WWNLive. But the problem this weekend, and it is a problem that they have a lot of times, is that the iPPVs started late. Friday’s event wasn’t too bad, starting 17-mintes late, but the Saturday show’s start time was ridiculous. After the pre-show, the Evolve 52 show was set to start at 7PM ET, but started at 7:57PM ET. This comes off as completely ridiculous to me. I have things to do, I have a schedule and I try to stick to that as much as possible. Evolve shows tend to run around 2.5 hours, so with a 7PM start time, and even a late start, I am looking at investing three hours. I am fine with that, in at 7 out at 10. This show started nearly an hour late, and didn’t end until around 10:30 PM. It comes off as annoying, and to a point unprofessional when it happens so often. I understand that things happen, but the late start time seems to be a trademark of Evolve at this point and completely frustrates me as a reviewer and as a viewer. Evolve is currently doing a lot of things right, I just hope that they can fix this.

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The Evolve Tag Team Titles Are a Go For January


While I wasn’t the biggest supporter of the news of Evolve tag titles coming when I discussed it in my last column, they confirmed over the weekend that there would be tournament for the new Evolve tag titles. The tournament takes place January 22nd, 23rd and 24th, and confirmed for the tournament are Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Romero), Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway and the Premiere Athlete Brand (Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley). Those teams were announced over the weekend, and they also laid some groundwork for other teams. With Catch Point now being a four man stable (Gulak, Williams, Perkins and Riddle), I could see them having two teams in the tournament. I can also see Timothy Thatcher finding a teammate (someone like Chris Hero would be awesome) just to get into the tournament and get revenge on Catch Point. Ethan Page is a wildcard; he got turned down by Gargano over the weekend and is trying to prove himself as a new man. Another possibility I think could be that we see the Wolves in. Richards has done some Evolve shots, and these shows will take place before the TNA UK tour; a team like the Wolves could add some more legitimacy to the whole thing. They’ve created an interesting scenario so far; they’re making me think and I like that. Evolve returns to iPPV in January, three nights for Evolve 53, 54 and 55, and will crown tag team champions. I still think that they went about it in a very odd way; with the Dragon Gate relationship finished, the Open the United Gate titles were vacated (Swann and Gargano were the last champions). I was not a fan of how they dropped the titles, and I think that they should have done a Shane Douglas deal and proclaimed them the Evolve tag team titles and moved on. Instead they vacated them and left an unnecessary hole, which necessitated this tournament. I hope that the tournament delivers and that this will work out. The good news is that the people like tournaments, so if they can get a good talent line up announced, these shows could do very well for them.

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TJ Perkins Deserves More Credit Than He Receives


While not every guy can be a top star or be the champion, there are certain guys in wrestling that are having a great year and are honestly being overlooked. One of those guys is Matt Sydal, another is TJ Perkins. I hear that he’s an Independent spot monkey and that he’s been around for 15 years and hasn’t done anything or that they see him on TNA and he’s ok. If you believe all of these things, you’re not watching TJ Perkins in 2015. He may have had bad Independent traits in the past, especially during his Puma days, but Perkins has become a great hybrid wrestler, using highflying moves at times, but more content to be flashy with some lucha counters and to rely on a more grappling based style. For those that watch him in TNA and don’t think there is anything special there, in his defense it’s hard to show off your skills when prior to the world title tournament you get one three minute match on TV a month. The return of TJ Perkins to Evolve has been a spectacular one, he was a guy that they had hoped to build the company around in the early days (along with Danielson, Richards, Romero and others) and the style that the company is focusing on now is what those guys wanted to do back then. Along with Chris Hero and Timothy Thatcher, Perkins has been one of the top three workers in Evolve this year, consistently delivering great matches; he feels like a must see performer, and when he’s on the card the promotion has my attention. During the Evolve 51 and 52 weekend, Perkins was booked in matches with Caleb Konley and Tony Nese of the Premiere Athlete Brand. They had issues going back to Mania weekend, and Perkins was getting a chance for revenge on these shows. He went 1-1 in terms of wins and losses, but he delivered two of the best matches of the weekend. TJ Perkins may never be the top man/champion in Evolve or any promotion, but he is an asset to anyone that wants to use him. At a time when the company’s future is uncertain, Perkins is a guy that TNA should be using better and giving him time to work some great matches. For whatever reason they haven’t done that. But that’s fine, because when Perkins is booked for Evolve I know that I am in for a treat, because the guy delivers each and every time out. I just wish he got the credit he deserves for having such a good 2015.

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We Saw a Changing of The Guard and Possibly Gargano’s Finest Moment


To me the most important thing that happened over the weekend was that we saw a changing of the guard, and that we’re moving into a new era of the company. Early on, when the focus was DGUSA, it was mainly about the Japanese performers. The rise of Johnny Gargano and eventual title win and lengthy reign signaled that things had changed. Gargano had his dominant reign, the company used more US talent as the DG talent was downplayed and then all together gone. This weekend was the weekend where Evolve made another change, and that was from Gargano to Thatcher. Gargano had been the face of the promotion and had served them well, but if you don’t evolve you die, and the promotion made the big move and officially made Thatcher the man. Thatcher was a guy that really broke out over Mania weekend, and they have done well moving forward with him. This weekend was vital to the future of the company; they needed to really make it clear that Thatcher was their guy and that he (and the GrappleFuck) was here to stay. Thatcher’s victory over Gargano was not just a nod to fans that things were changing; it was an emphatic gesture to make sure everyone knew. The match, which was fantastic, was in Thatcher’s wheelhouse, he got to shine more often than not and in the end he made Gargano tap out. Johnny Wrestling, the man who had a miracle run as a fiery face, turned heel and redeemed himself, tapped out to the new man. The next night Thatcher defeated Drew Galloway, retaining the title once again. The win was huge for Thatcher, not only to cement him as the man, but to get a real win over Galloway, as the previous win had controversy when Galloway had a foot under the ropes.

But this couldn’t have been possible without the performances from Johnny Gargano. At Evolve 51 Gargano went into Thatcher’s wheelhouse and worked the grappling style, and not only did it well but really thrived at it. On that night they worked for almost 30-minutes in a true MOTY caliber effort, and at the end of the match, Gargano tapped out to Thatcher. There was no bullshit, there was no roll up/slip on a banana peel finish; Thatcher got his move, Gargano could not escape, and then Gargano had to quit. It was easy, it was clean and it was exactly what it needed to be. At Evolve 52, Gargano faced off with Drew Gulak, and once again Gargano did the honors in putting over another talent that is primed for bigger things. Gargano’s selling of the arm injury from the night before was beyond excellent, he worked Gulak’s style, and in the end he lost again, this time passing out to a Gulak submission. The pass out a fighting hero finish worked very well here for me, because you don’t want to completely devalue Gargano completely, tapping clean to the champion was essential, passing out to one of the champion’s top enemies also worked very well. Thatcher got set in stone as the man, Gulak is a viable threat, but Gargano shined in these performances. When the weekend was over we learned that Gargano is still a top-tier performer for the company, that he will no longer be the focus of Evolve and that he put in a pair of selfless efforts that delivered truly excellent matches.

When all was said and done, Evolve 51 and 52 were the best events in the company’s history, completing their best year to date, and giving them a ton of momentum heading into 2016.

– You can order Evolve on iPPV and VOD at this link.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”