Evolve 58 Thoughts: Don’t Read This Column, Watch Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay Instead

Evolve 58 was bookended by two tag team matches, neither of which I feel capable of giving a measured opinion on. Unfortunately, the opening bout between Drew Galloway/Johnny Gargano and the Premiere Athlete Brand was entirely derailed by streaming issues that brought viewers around the world together in a mass Twitter outpouring of frustration at all this stupid buffering. It had quite a nice community feel to it, actually. Happily, the issue was sorted in time for the second match and the rest of the show was unaffected by technical problems, aside from a mildly annoying hiss on the audio. EVOLVE also promised to compensate everyone who had bought the live show with a free VOD of the event so they could catch up with what they missed, and everyone who took up the live show and VOD option will get a free event from WWN’s back catalogue. I think that’s a more than adequate solution that restored any goodwill the company lost with the technical problems. Hopefully the rest of the weekend goes off problem free and we don’t have to be reminded what it was like streaming Ring of Honor iPPVs in 2011/2012.

The main event of the show saw Chris Hero and Tommy End battle it out with Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams in a hard fought, lengthy tag match. I don’t think I can offer a fair opinion on this one because I was so worn out, elated and emotional from the Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay match that preceded it that you could have offered me a match between Randy Savage and Jesus Christ and I’d have struggled to invest in it. Seriously, believe the hype- Sabre vs. Ospreay is the best match to have taken place on American soil this year (with the caveat that at time of writing I have no idea what happened at NXT Takeover: Dallas), and as someone who is British, a wrestling fan, and a British wrestling fan, it made me feel so so happy and more patriotic than I’ve ever felt in my life to see 1000 people going absolutely mad for two of the best talents we’ve ever produced. For so long after the demise of World of Sport, the British wrestling scene was little more than a series of companies offering shabby imitations of WWE, ECW or Ring of Honor, and so to see two of our own go to Evolve and absolutely steal the show from all the American wrestlers was just remarkable. Sabre Jr is as his nickname suggests, a technical wizard, and he looked as his most imaginative as he tied Ospreay up in knots with a no hands octopus stretch, a wheelbarrow tiger suplex, and that vile submission he has started to finish matches with where he levers both the arms and then just sits back on his opponent’s net until they’re unbearably contorted. He genuinely is one of the best pro wrestlers in the world. Will Ospreay isn’t quite at that level, primarily because his selling veers between ‘not going to bother’ or ‘going to make Shawn Michaels say “hey, chill out, don’t overdo it.”’ But of course, the fellow is just 22 years old, and as Sabre pointed out on Twitter after the match, is only going to get even better after his tour with New Japan. He’s still pretty great even now. He’s an utterly breathtaking high flyer, one of the greatest in the world, and wrestles with such uncontainable enthusiasm and energy and utter glee that it’s impossible not to like him. This is a man who completely adores what he does, and is doing it really, really well. You have to see his handsprings and corkscrews and shooting stars yourself to appreciate them, but it’s worth highlighting one spot in particular where he tried for a standing shooting star press, only for Sabre Jr to catch him in a Triangle Choke in one amazing, seamless motion. It was a spot that nearly brought me out of my seat watching at home, and was the precise moment where everyone realised this had gone beyond ‘pretty great’ and had become instead one of the best things anyone will see all year.

No match on the show could top that if they tried, though Ricochet vs. TJ Perkins was very, very good, with sequences that moved with the liquid fluidity you’d expect from both guys, and plenty of terrific athleticism on display as well. Sami Callihan and Ethan Page fought out a decent if not particularly memorable contest, while Marty Scurll had a fine debut against Fred Yehi. The hugely charismatic ‘Villain’ of the British indies rattled through all his signature spots, from the chicken wing to the vile finger snapping, and the Evolve crowd seemed largely impressed. Yehi is a terrific opponent for anyone on the roster, with a chameleon like ability to play to his opponent’s strengths, and the guy clearly has a glittering future ahead of him, especially when he’s able to fashion a clearer identity of his own.

Sadly, Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle disappointed for the second time in a row, with fifteen minutes or so of mostly monotonous action capped off by an infuriatingly inconclusive finish. Evolve is at its best when the storytelling is left to those in the ring, and the booker doesn’t try and impose his own ideas over the top of it. I can only imagine how maddening it would have been if Sabre-Ospreay had been marred by a self consciously creative ending, dictated to them from above. The other obvious fault in the booking of the show was putting Heroes Eventually Die vs. Catch Point on as the main event, rather than Zack and Will. In fairness, you can never predict when a match is going to be good as Sabre-Ospreay was on the night, but in hindsight it was unfair to make anything try and follow it. I’m going to give the main event a guesstimated star rating, but it’s a very rough assessment of it and could change wildly upon a rewatch.

STAR RATINGS
Drew Galloway & Johnny Gargano vs. The Premiere Athlete Brand- N/R
Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle- * ½
Marty Scurll vs. Fred Yehi- ***
Sami Callihan vs. Ethan Page- ** ¾
Ricochet vs. TJ Perkins- *** ¾
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay- **** ¾
Heroes Eventually Die vs. Catch Point- *** ¼

SHOW RATING- 7.5

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

There's no reason for anyone reading this not to make up their own minds, because to see Sabre Jr vs. Will Ospreay alone, Evolve 58 is absolutely worth purchasing. The rest of the card is not up to Evolve's highest standards, but when you're offered a match that good, it doesn't massively matter; this show made for a fine addition to Wrestlemania weekend, and should be all the more enjoyable on VOD, where you can actually watch the opening tag match...