wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s Evolve 44 iPPV Review
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Evolve 44 Review 5.31.15
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Ethan Page defeated Johnny Gargano via submission [***¾]
– Trevor Lee defeated Rich Swann via pin [**½]
– Rey Horus defeated Tracey Williams via pin [NR]
– Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley defeated TJP & Rey Horus via pin [**]
– Biff Busick defeated Speedball Mike Bailey via submission [****]
– Davey Richards defeated Drew Gulak via pin [***¾]
– Evolve Title Match: Champion Drew Galloway defeated Roderick Strong via pin [***]
Ethan Page defeated Johnny Gargano: This all started over Mania weekend, where Page was brought in on the recommendation of Gargano and then Page turned on him to make a name for himself. The deal here was that Page made the challenge, if he loses he will leave Evolve, but if he won Gargano would have to shake his hand and show him respect. It broke down pretty quickly, which I appreciated as it fit the feud to this point and simply made sense. Gargano pulls good sympathy as a face and I liked the heel work by Page here. The finish involved a ref bump, and then Page low blowing Gargano, hitting a superkick and then using a rope to choke out Gargano is his own Gargano Escape for the win. I usually hate ref bumps, but this one allowed Page to take use a play from the Johnny Gargano heel days to get the tainted victory. Him them shaking the hand of an unconscious Gargano was a beautiful dick move. This was a great way to kick off the show, and I am turning the corner on Page. I wasn’t overly impressed, but the more I see, the more I am enjoying his work.
Trevor Lee defeated Rich Swann: This was not exactly the match I expected, and I felt that it suffered a bit due to that. These guys are great athletes and can do some amazing shit, so of course they did a lot of groundwork and grappling. It felt odd and didn’t fit either man in my opinion. They also had a few flubs down the stretch, which hurt things. Basically these guys had an off night, with Lee picking up the win. I hope they get another chance down the line; it wasn’t bad but they are too good to have matches like this.
Rey Horus defeated Tracey Williams: This was a short, nothing of a match that was designed to set up the following tag match. Horus won with a flash pin, the PAB attacked and Perkins made the save. Williams looked very secondary here; I wish that they just had booked the tag match coming out on the previous night as I feel that would have made more sense to me.
Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley defeated TJ Perkins & Rey Horus: The previous night Perkins and Horus won singles matches against Konley and Nese, Perkins was with them on Mania weekend but quickly separated after a loss. The PAB had issues the previous night due to the losses and looked to be headed towards a break up. The PAB got the heat on Horus, it was fine and then Perkins made a fun hot tag and pulled Val’s skirt down, but the PAB made the comeback and got the win to get back on the same page and get some momentum. This felt like a wacky Raw segment, it was fine but nothing special.
Biff Busick defeated Speedball Mike Bailey: TJ Perkins defeated Speedball Mike Bailey at Evolve 43, but while he lost Bailey made a big impression as he and Perkins had a great match. Bailey has been building a reputation and has been getting a lot of praise in 2015, and has now come to Evolve and had while he lost both matches, he was one hell of a first impression by having the best matches on both nights. Biff Busick has been a guy having good to great matches with everyone in Evolve, and he brought his beautiful technical brawling style to this match and abuses poor Mike Bailey. The simple, yet effective brutality of Biff Busick played perfectly off of the athleticism and speed of Bailey. They built a great piece of business, as they worked the layers and then just built to a well-placed climax and finish. Busick basically murdered Bailey with the half and half suplex onto the apron, another in the ring and then the sleeper for the win. This was a rebound victory for Busick, who lost to Galloway the night before. Again, Bailey loses both matches in this weekend, but left a great impression and I hope that he gets more booking with the promotion.
Davey Richards defeated Drew Gulak: Davey Richards is really on a role here in Evolve, getting to work long matches and also slowing things down (something years ago he wouldn’t have done); add in the fact that he’s working with a collection of talented guys, and it is a recipe for success. They did some good grappling here, with both guys showing off their technical wrestling chops. They did a good job of making this look like a grappling session, and not a rehearsed collection of holds, which is hard to do but appreciated when done right. Even though they did a ton of grappling, they kept the pace interesting and built very well to the eventual finish, similar to how Busick and Bailey did. This was clean grappling, with a nice intensity that kept building though out the contest. Richards scores the win by countering the ankle lock with a cradle, and continues his road to the title shot he asked for last night.
Champion Drew Galloway defeated Roderick Strong: Drew Galloway defeated Roderick Strong in the man event to retain the Evolve title. They have been feuding for a while and had produced some very good and intense matches, so I was looking forward to this. They had a rock solid, but unspectacular main event. Most of the match just felt there, like here’s a wrestling match that is fine, hang out and the last five minutes will be awesome we promise. And that’s about what happened. They worked, it was fine, and they knocked the volume up to 11 and then hit all of their big shit. Galloway got revenge on Strong and put him away after hitting 27 (ok, it was more like 5) of his future shock DDTs. I loved the ending as Galloway looked like he just had to prove to himself and everyone that he could put Strong away, and Strong looks like a monster needing that many finishes to make sure he was out. (BTW, Roderick Strong in 2015 has been great, you need to be watching his stuff). The PAB appeared for the attack on Galloway, with Val announcing that TRENT was returning in July to challenge for the title. Strong did make the save, but doesn’t respect Galloway at this time. The end of the match and post match stuff with Strong and Galloway were really good as a package, I had just personally hoped for more from the main event.
* End scene.
* Thanks for reading.
The stuff with the Premiere Athlete Brand feels disjointed to me. They have largely been losing and having issues with each other, and then they pull out the win on this show and seem to be fine. Add in the way that they got to the tag (and I feel devalued the newcomer Williams) team match instead of just announcing it after the previous night’s show, and that was the weakest part of the show for me.
Evolve 44 was a good show, that could have been great but just didn’t; quite get there. That’s not an insult, they all can’t be great and there was plenty here to enjoy. I feel Evolve 43 was the stronger show of the two, and if you’re tight on cash or only have time to watch one show, I’d go with that one. But overall it was another strong weekend of shows for the promotion.
