Csonka Reviews Free EVOLVE Matches With WALTER, Keith Lee, & More

Csonka Reviews Free EVOLVE Matches With WALTER, Keith Lee, & More
– From EVOLVE 81: Keith Lee defeated Donovan Dijak @ 12:06 via pin [****½]
– From EVOLVE 99: WALTER defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 18:05 via pin [****½]
– From EVOLVE 111: AR Fox defeated Champion Joey Janela, Austin Theory, & Darby Allin @ 9:05 via pin (no title change due to stipulation) [****]

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Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak: This is a battle of two big dudes who are also very agile; they worked a fun and athletic opening stretch, Lee countered a monkey flip, landing on his feet. Dijak did not know what to make of this, and Lee told him to bask in his glory; Lee hit the dropkick and sent Dijak to the floor. Lee then hit a corkscrew plancha, they brawled to the apron and Dijak hit the big chokeslam onto the apron to take control back. Dijak took a lot of time to celebrate, but then hit a corkscrew moonsault to wipe out lee on the floor. Back in and Dijak hit a springboard elbow drop for 2. Lee then caught a high cross, rolled through and looked for the powerbomb but Dijak back flipped out of that only to be killed by the POUNCE! Lee went high risk, missing the moonsault and leading to Dijak hitting the destroyer for a near fall. Lee fought off feast your eyes, but then hit a huge high angle spinebuster and then headed to the ropes again; but Dijak kipped up and hit a superkick and then snatched him off the ropes, and hit feast your eyes for the great near fall. Dijak looks for a senton to the floor, but Lee (after a big of a struggle, Dijak is a big boy) catches him and hits the apron bomb! Back in and Lee hits the moonsault but Dijak somehow survives! This is some real shit right here. Dijak flips out of the chokeslam and then Lee does the same, hits the spirit bomb and picks up the win. Keith Lee defeated Donovan Dijak @ 12:06 via pin [****½] This was absolutely fucking great, with big hoss daddies doing flippy boy things and also trying to kill each other. I loved this, I need to see more of this and feel that it was a must see match with a tremendous sense of urgency and great pacing; it never slowed in a bad way and felt like a big time match.

Non-Title Match: EVOLVE Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER: WALTER looks to use his size advantage to begin, but Sabre is able to escape. WALTER then starts to toss him around, making Sabre look like a highflier. WALTER starts working the arm, grounding Sabre. It’s all WALTER early. Sabre now works leg kicks, breaking WALTER down, but WALTER powers back and takes Sabre down. Sabre bridges up, and lays in uppercuts. WALTER just no sells those and takes Sabre down with chops. They start slapping each other; WALTER hits a big boot and chokes out Sabre in the ropes. WALTER tosses Sabre across the ring with a slam. Sabre now starts to work into his grappling game, but is quickly cut off with chops. WALTER is slowly starting to destroy Sabre with strikes and chops. Sabre again with leg kicks, pulls a knee bar, but WALTER makes the ropes. To the floor they go and WALTER dumps him on the apron and follows with more chops. Every time Sabre fires up, WALTER is there to cut him off. WALTER tosses him back into the ring, and continues to abuse Sabre. Sabre hits a desperation tornado DDT, but can’t follow up. Sabre manages to hit a PK, but WALTER cuts off the second, but Sabre locks on an octopus. WALTER escapes, but Sabre follows with running uppercuts. WALTER hits the shotgun dropkick to end that bullshit. Sabre slaps WALTER, but eats a big boot and WALTER follows with a German & butterfly suplex for 2. Sabre counters a powerbomb and looks for the octopus, and cranks back on the arm. WALTER escapes and then Sabre slips out, avoids the dropkick and hits the PK. Sabre attacks the arm with kicks, but WALTER kills him with a big palm strike. Sabre looks for the European clutch, but WALTER escapes and decapitates him with a lariat. Sabre counters a powerbomb into a guillotine, but WALTER hits a butterfly suplex to escape. Sabre lays in a series of kicks, but WALTER cuts him off with chops. Sabre keeps trying to fire up with strikes, but WALTER keeps dropping him with single shots. Sabre manages to roll into an arm bar, and then into a triangle choke. WALTER powers out into the powerbomb, hits another and Sabre kicks out! WALTER hits another powerbomb and finally pits Sabre away. WALTER defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 18:05 via pin [****½] This was an excellent co-main event match, and a great example of how to work a big man vs. little man match. The story was that Sabre was the superior grappler, but constantly got pulled into WALTER’s game. While Sabre was able to link together some great exchanges, WALTER was constantly able to cut him off with a singular move or strike, due to his power and size advantage. They have worked together before and know how to mix their styles very well, and while Sabre tends to dominate matches, it was refreshing to see his opponent take most of the match and make him fight from the bottom. The action was smooth, seamless, and at times very brutal. The match was simply excellent.

WWN Championship Triple Threat Match: WWN Champion Joey Janela vs. Austin Theory vs. AR Fox vs. Darby Allin: Ford, Kelly, & Ayla are all at ringside along with the Skulk. Janela has to be pinned or submitted to lose the championship. Darby Allin arrives and wants in and Janela accepts; Fox and Theory aren’t happy. The Skulk is sent to the back. Theory powders and this leads to a series of dives as we start off hot. Janela then hits a wild senton off the top and Allin follows with a coffin drop! Fox with an over the post dive and this is fucking nuts already. Back in and Fox works over Janela, but Allin and Theory return and it’s rapid-fire offense time. Theory now hits the rolling thunder dropkick and now he and Fox come face to face. It’s student vs. teacher here, Fox can’t pull the trigger and hits a dive onto Janela. It’s all action and near falls back in the ring, Theory hits a super three seconds around the world, Fox hits a 450 and the near falls continue. Fox hits a dive onto Allin as Janela hits Theory with an apron DVD. Back in and Janela hits a package piledriver on Fox for 2. Kelly and Ford brawl at ringside, Ayla returns and wipes them out with a suicide dive. Cutter by Fox on Janela, Allin and Theory back in and Kelly in to make the save. Theory buckle bombs Allin but he hits a stunner. It completely breaks down, Fox stops Theory from covering Janela, Theory begs off, and Fox lays in a flurry of kicks and hits Fox catcher for the win… but not the championship. AR Fox defeated Champion Joey Janela, Austin Theory, & Darby Allin @ 9:05 via pin (no title change) [****] This was an absolutely great balls to the wall sprint. It was different than anything else on the show and simply delivered; the crowd was insane for all of this as Theory was starting to grow more confident, Fox continued his long run of delivering, and Janela was bringing a much-needed new vibe and energy to EVOLVE at the time.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 101. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook look back at WrestleMania X7, the Raw the night after and then Kevin Pantoja joins to discuss ECW Guilty as Charged 2001. The show is approximately 138-mimues long.

* Intro
* WWE WrestleMania X7 Review: 7:30
* WWE Monday Night Raw Review 4.02.01: 53:55
* ECW Guilty as Charged 2001 Review: 1:23:27

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– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

9.0

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

This collection of EVOLVE matches clocks in at around 40-minutes and is an excellent, must-see collection.