Kevin’s Evolve 87 Review

Evolve 87
June 25th, 2017 | La Boom in Woodside, New York

Though the Orpheum is probably where Evolve runs their most shows, La Boom is where a lot of big events happen. On this night, Zack Sabre Jr. defends his Evolve Title against someone who has never had a shot, while Matt Riddle gives Keith Lee a shot at the WWN Title. On paper, I feel like is a card that could truly deliver.

ACH vs. Tracy Williams
No Stokely Hathaway tonight. Maybe he’s selling the end of Evolve 86. ACH impressed a ton during the BOTSJ, while Tracy has been a guy I consider highly underrated for about a year now. We got a fun opening exchange as ACH tried having a good time, while Tracy wanted to stay serious. It made for a solid clash of styles. Tracy targeted the neck and I like that he didn’t do it in traditional ways. No lengthy rest holds, just extra torque on his offense. ACH came back with some aerial based offense that the crowd ate up. Down the stretch, they traded offense, but ACH’s neck was too hurt. He failed on a brainbuster attempt (after getting hit with one) and Tracy followed that up with the crossface to win at 14:16. Great way to start the show. They wrestled a smart match where the neck work came into play without being something we’ve seen a million times. It was also a good way to continue Tracy’s momentum and ACH’s frustration. [***½]

After the match, ACH got on the microphone and said he was better than being in the first match.

Jason Kincaid vs. Timothy Thatcher w/ Stokely Hathaway
Forget what I said about Stokely. They billed this as a “clash of styles”. Though he’s a high flier, Kincaid once again showed that he could hold his own on the mat. Thatcher tends to just grapple in his matches, so Kincaid had to bring it here and he did. The crowd hated Thatcher, giving him shit for the entire duration. Kincaid doing so well on the mat seemed to anger Thatcher, who responded with some brutal slaps. Kincaid managed to apply Compassionate Release, which led to loud “tap” chants. The fans badly wanted to see Thatcher lose. Thatcher beat the hell out of Kincaid and slapped on the Fujiwara armbar for the victory at 12:35. Two for two in good matches. This told another story, as Kincaid proved he could hang. The hot crowd helped because their animosity towards Thatcher added a lot. [***¼]

Post-match, the frustrated Kincaid nearly freaked out. He offered a handshake that Thatcher declined. He left to “Kincaid” chants.

Evolve Tag Team Champion Chris Dickinson w/ Jaka vs. Fred Yehi
I’ve never gotten the appeal with Dickinson. This continued Yehi’s battle with his former Catch Point buddies. Dickinson offered the Catch Point handshake, but Yehi wanted no part of it. In yesterday’s match between Jaka and Yehi, you could tell Jaka was bringing aggression. That was more evident in Dickinson here. There was anger at Yehi for leaving the group and both guys brought a hard hitting style. They mixed it in with solid mat wrestling, playing to the strength of both guys. Near the end, it became Yehi’s unique offense against Chris’ power. There was an odd moment where Dickinson seemed to want a big suplex, only to slowly roll Yehi up instead. Not sure what happened there. They traded big suplexes late until Yehi locked in the Koji Clutch and won at 16:26. The finish felt rather abrupt, but they were having a good back and forth match up to that point. I’m intrigued by where Yehi goes next. Could he get an Evolve Title shot or will singles wins over the Tag Champions lead to something there? [***¼]

Jaka entered the ring and put over his partner, before asking fans if they thought he could win the Evolve Title tonight. They didn’t seem to believe and he was determined to prove everyone wrong.

Evolve Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Evolve Tag Team Champion Jaka w/ Chris Dickinson and Stokely Hathaway
It’s nice having a champion who I look forward to seeing. Commentary did a good job noting how Sabre might’ve overlooked this match considering the big battle with Matt Riddle last night. Jaka came out aggressively, looking to prove a point, so Sabre grounded him. He clearly watched Yehi/Jaka yesterday, utilizing Yehi’s strategy of attacking Jaka’s bare feet. That led to some great teases of Sabre submissions. Sabre showed he could be just as aggressive as Jaka, trading blows with him despite the size disadvantage. By this point, the crowd was surprisingly split. Sabre countered a choke bomb into one of his signature submissions. That looked like the end but Jaka found a way to the ropes. Jaka survived two PKs and they went back to slapping the shit out of each other. Jaka won out and nearly had it, but Sabre pulled him into the European clutch pin to retain at 14:46. Awesome match that felt like Jaka’s coming out party. He went toe to toe with the champion, won the crowd over and had the best match of his career. Like the Riddle match, this felt like something I’d see in the G1 Climax, which Sabre’s gearing up for. [****]

Stokely got in the ring and demanded that Sabre give Thatcher a rematch for the Evolve Title. Out came Thatcher and Darby Allin. Thatcher got the mic and said Allin considering himself a wrestler like himself or Sabre is a disgrace. He said Darby just does crazy stunts and once he stops that, the fans will stop caring. Thatcher turned his attention to Sabre, saying he wanted a No Holds Barred match, before headbutting him. He went after Allin, removed the cast and then put the Fujiwara arm bar in.

Ethan Page vs. Thomas Sharpe
Page against his former Gatekeeper. Though Sharpe is the bigger man, Page hit the first big move, powerbombing him on the apron. Sharpe came back with a chokeslam for a near fall, but missed a splash. They traded a bit of offense before Spinning Dwayne got Page the win at 5:41. A fine little sprint, but a strange booking move. Sharpe losing in five minutes kind of kills this. Unless they’re not using him going forward. [**¼]

Austin Theory vs. Trent Baretta
Trent needs to stop spelling his name differently everywhere he goes. Anyway, he’s had quite the impressive 2017 and this marked his return to Evolve. These two told a similar story to most of Theory’s run in Evolve. Theory is the unproven rookie who throws everything he has at the veteran guys, giving them a run for their money. It started out being basic, but then Trent hit a goddamn piledriver on the outside and it got kicked up a notch. Theory survived that a Gotch piledriver inside, leading Trent to ask, “Are you kidding me?” Theory responded with his own big offense, including an apron brainbuster. I did not expect to see this level of offense here. Theory also survived a super belly to belly and Busaiku Knee but couldn’t kick out of the Dudebuster, losing at 16:18. That was not at all what I expected. Another in a long line of quality Trent performances and Theory coming up just short. The extra violence from Theory was great as his frustration grows. He did everything he could and it just wasn’t enough. [***½]

Post-match, Priscilla Kelly came out and Austin Theory attacked Trent. He hit him with a TKO, cementing his heel turn. It worked well, especially given the aggression level of the last match and Kelly pulling the strings can work.

WWN Championship: Matt Riddle (c) vs. Keith Lee
In terms of being over and putting on top notch performances, these are probably the two hottest guys in Evolve. They met on a Beyond Wrestling show the day before this. The atmosphere was rather wild for this. They fist bumped out of respect, before going right into striking one another. Riddle quickly found himself in trouble as Lee tossed him around like nothing. He came back with an impressive gutwrench suplex, managing to best the one against Jeff Cobb last month in PROGRESS. The camera caught a Bro to Sleep that completely seemed to miss, though it at least led to a good near fall on a German. After taking moves like the Pounce (PERIOD), Riddle tried a guillotine choke to wear down Lee. He went to a bunch of sentons, until Lee caught one in mid-air and nailed the Spirit Bomb for a great near fall. Riddle hit the Bro to Sleep again, only for Lee to not go down. They traded bombs until Riddle hit a knee strike and Lee hit a headbutt. They both collapsed, with Riddle falling on top of Lee to win at 14:45. An incredible main event that beats out Riddle/KOR and Lee/Dijak for my favorite Evolve match this year. Two guys giving their all because their best might not be good enough against the other. Riddle survived and got lucky enough to fall on Lee in one of my favorite finishes this year. Probably my second favorite match in all of June. [****½]

Ethan Page arrived to shit on the fans’ moment and he big booted Riddle. He said they were the golden boys of Evolve and could somehow do no wrong. Page worked over Lee, while Tracy Williams and Stokely Hathaway came out. Tracy said he was unbeaten since the Catch Point split and challenged Riddle to a WWN Title match on August 12th. That seems like a long time from now. He held Riddle to Stokely could slap him. They left, allowing Page to continue beating on Lee. Lee and Riddle eventually got to their feet, so Page bailed.

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Just behind Evolve 84 as the best Evolve show of the year. There’s not a bad match on the card. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy a lot was Page/Sharpe, but it was kept short. The opener is damn good, they successfully continued the stories of ACH and Kincaid, while turning Theory heel. It was great to see Trent back, too. Sabre/Jaka was awesome and a real coming out party for Jaka. The main event is the best Evolve match this year and capped a fantastic show.