wrestling / Columns
Evolve 63 Review: Ethan Carter Attacks Referees, Referee Attacks Ethan Carter
Loading...Evolve 63 was the first show from the company all year which did not feature either of what I’d consider to be their two aces- Zack Sabre Jr and Chris Hero. The show sorely lacked their presence, which usually guarantees at least one **** match, and the Drew Galloway/Ethan Carter vs. Johnny Gargano and pals angle that was tasked with carrying the show is not quiiiiiite hot enough to do so. By their own lofty standards, Evolve 63 felt a bit of a B-show; but then, B-shows from Evolve are still a lot better than many other promotions’ A-shows.
Cedric Alexander and Fred Yehi opened the event with a nifty match, although it was a little slow in places and a notch or two below both men’s bouts from the night before. Both men impressed, though; it’s becoming more and more apparent that Fred Yehi gets more impact out of a simple stomp than many wrestlers can out of the fanciest bits of their offense. Alexander managed to secure the victory by virtue of having the Koji Clutch extremely well scouted. He evaded an attempt at it early in the match, and although Yehi briefly caught him off guard by locking in a funky standing version of it, Cedric figured out a simple but brutal counter- a running Death Valley Driver into the turnbuckles! From there, the Lumbar Check Backbreaker was enough to secure Alexander a valuable victory.
The Bravado Brothers vs. Darby Allin & Jason Cade was comfortably the least important match on the card, but there was enough energy and general cool stuff in it to make it worthwhile. As much as he’s trying too hard with his ‘maniac’ gimmick, Darby Allin is obviously brimming with potential. He was a sympathetic face in peril in this match, and his high flying offense is genuinely impressive. He gets remarkable height on some of his aerial escapades, he’s a very graceful competitor indeed. If he stopped being a low rent loose cannon and perhaps portrayed a more traditional fan favourite, he’d make a worthy addition to the roster on a regular basis. Having said all that, it was his tag partner Jason Cade that stole the show by leaping off the apron, hanging in mid air off a basketball hoop, and then dropping down to huracanrana a Bravado! They may have had the coolest spots, but Cade and Allin couldn’t secure the win, the Bravados putting them away with that move they do, the one that’s not the Gentlemen’s Agreement, the one who’s name escapes me. JOURNALISM.
Matt Riddle, the Prince of the Indies and one of the most exciting wrestlers in the whole world right now, unsurprisingly had another really good match. It does of course help that he is handed such talented, interesting opponents, such as his foe on this occasion, Trevor Lee. Lee was in a surly mood and tried to snap Riddle’s toes off his bare feet at one point- Riddle is not a naturally sympathetic wrestler, but it was easy to get behind him in this one, with Trevor’s aggression and Matt’s terrific, floppy selling. Maybe on the whole the bout was ever so slightly lesser than Riddle-Alexander from the night before, if only because its structure was so similar- a bit of technical stuff, and then a lot of bomb throwing. But that’s a great structure for a match, and I could watch a whole card of them! Riddle picked up a merited win with the Bro-Mission, and continues to make a strong case to be the next EVOLVE Champion.
Tracy Williams sent all of his Catch Point pals to the back before his EVOLVE Championship match with Timothy Thatcher, determined that there would be no asterisks on a potential victory for him. The match that followed was exactly what you’d expect it to be- “GrappleFuck,” as people quite unkindly have christened it. I’m still not certain how to review that kind of style because there aren’t conventional highlights to note, and if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, so a star rating will be of no value. I enjoy it in small doses and if anyone’s going to do it, I’d rather it be super talents like Thatcher and Williams. And in fact, the finishing stretch was much less subtle, with a faster pace, a bunch of impactful suplexes, and kick outs at 2.999! It never convinced you that Williams could cause a massive, massive upset, aside perhaps from a lengthy bodyscissors that for a moment seemed to have sucked all the life out of Thatcher, but it still will have given the match broader appeal. Fans of the style will have found plenty to like here, and Thatcher seems to have properly got his groove back. Post match, Matt Riddle continued his campaign to disrespect Thatcher’s championship belt, slinging it carelessly over the top rope, and then demanding a title shot ASAP. Stokely Hathaway hit the ring to claim that actually TJP should get the title shot, because he will be representing EVOLVE proudly in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and would be a fine figurehead for the company as a whole. Thatcher agreed to give TJP a title shot, and also allowed Riddle one- as long as it was No Holds Barred! Riddle seemed fine with that, and it should be a fascinating title bout.
I wasn’t immensely looking forward to the Cruiserweight Classic Flashpoint match. It featured Drew Gulak and four guys who are not amongst my favourites on the Evolve roster, it seemed destined to go on way too long, and it didn’t seem remotely necessary. It felt more like Evolve were attempting to milk their participation in the Classic for all it was worth. The latter point was somewhat addressed when it was confirmed that Tony Nese could enter the tournament proper if he won this match, but the Flashpoint still didn’t seem appealing. In the end, the match was far from actively irritating, which is what I feared it would be, and benefited from some provocative booking decisions, such as eliminating Johnny Gargano first. That turned out to be a conceit to allow Galloway and Carter to attack him in the aisle, and mock Evolve for fighting amongst themselves whilst they reaped the benefits. This was an exciting mini angle that leant the match a welcome sense of tension and uncertainty. The match continued apace once the invaders had departed, and TJP swiftly tapped out Lince Dorado, which was a shame because Dorado had been the most lively in the match to that point. That left us with Gulak, TJP and Nese, raising the intriguing question of whether Catch Point would work together to take Nese out and then decide the match themselves? Aware of this possibility, Nese tried to eliminate both men at once, German Suplexing Gulak and holding on for a bridging pin, while simultaneously holding Perkins’ shoulders down with a prawn hold in a really cool, inventive spot. It didn’t work, but then Perkins pinned Gulak with his Chickenwing Gutbuster, which was another surprising twist. Nese and TJP wrapped the match up in fine, fast paced fashion, but it perhaps lacked the urgency it should have had since Nese was fighting for a possibly career defining opportunity. Happily for him, he got it, pinning TJ with a 450 Splash! This was an up and down match; it was tightly booked throughout and had moments of real ambition, but there were also patches where it resembled a multi man match from any major independent since 2002. On the whole, better than I thought it would be, but this had been advertised as the centrepiece of Evolve 63, and it didn’t live up to that billing.
Drew Galloway and Ethan Page‘s Anything Goes match was good fun. Page is maybe the weakest link in the core EVOLVE roster but he always puts the effort in, and his puppy dog desperation to win over the Evolve fans is most endearing when he’s geting bashed from pillar to post with weaponry. He was thrown into a wall, smacked with a chair, had a trash can bounced off him, clattered against a ladder, and eventually it was hard not to root for him. The violence lacked a certain edge, considering the heated storyline leading into it- I feel like such a ghoul saying this, but it could have used some blood. Still, this was a likeable, brisk street fight. After Galloway won with a Future Shock on a chair, EC III came out to crow with him, and claim that his open challenge would have to be cancelled, as all potential opponents had been taken out over the course of the show.
The problem with open challenges is that I always get my hopes up for someone amazing and totally unexpected- I was daydreaming about, like, fucking Low Ki showing up or something. Instead, Johnny Gargano resurfaced to challenge EC III to a Last Man Standing match, which was a concern because Last Man Standing matches are often not so hot, necessitating as they do frequent stretches of standing around while you wait for your groggy opponent to stagger back to their feet. It was falling into that trap slightly before Carter did something unusual- he demanded the ring crew remove the top rope. I’m guessing this was to give Gargano less chance of hoisting himself back to his feet, although the underlying motive was to allow Carter to get his hands on the hook that was used to remove the ropes. The plan was to hack at Gargano with it, but Johnny dragged Carter into the Garga-No Escape, and jammed the hook in his mouth! This was the moment of genuine nastiness the match needed, and it got better from there. Drew Galloway charged out to make the save, and the two insurgents tried to powerbomb Gargano through a table, but Gulak and Perkins ran out to make the save. Things were starting to feel properly wild, and that feeling only increased when referee Brandon Toley jacked Carter with a Stone Cold Stunner, getting revenge for all the referees Carter had cheerfully punched in the face over the course of the weekend. Gargano capped the match off by superkicking Carter off the apron and onto the table, and the whole crowd joined in a fast ten count that won EVOLVE the match, and gave them the last laugh over the weekend. With an extra few minutes to build the drama, this could have been the top level match that the show needed, but it was still masses of fun and a great way to close the show.
RESULTS/RATINGS
Cedric Alexander d. Fred Yehi- ***
The Bravado Brothers d. Darby Allin & Jason Cade- ** 3/4
Matt Riddle d. Trevor Lee- *** 3/4
Timothy Thatcher d. Tracy Williams to retain the EVOLVE Championship- *** 1/2
Tony Nese d. Johnny Gargano, Lince Dorado, Drew Gulak and TJP to win the WWE Cruiserweight Classic Flashpoint- ***
Drew Galloway d. Ethan Page in an Anything Goes Match- ** 3/4
Johnny Gargano d. Ethan Carter III in a Last Man Standing Match- *** 1/2
