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Csonka’s Evolve 57 Review 3.20.16
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Csonka’s Evolve 57 Review 3.20.16
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Ethan Page defeated Fred Yehi @ 5:12 via pin [**½]
– TJ Perkins defeated Tommaso Ciampa @ 14:30 via submission [***½]
– Matt Riddle defeated Chris Hero @ 15:30 via submission [****]
– Evolve Title Match: Champion Timothy Thatcher defeated Caleb Konley @ 25:05 via submission [**]
– Sami Callihan defeated Tracy Williams @ 19:59 via pin [***]
– Best In The World Challenge Series: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Drew Gulak @ 27:12 via submission [****½]
– Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Champions Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway defeated Team Tremendous @ 16:47 via pin [***¾]
– Evolve 56 was a was a very good show, lets see of they can follow up tonight.
– Evolve announced yesterday that Mike Bailey is off the weekend shows, due to “transportation issues.” Tommaso Ciampa is replacing him tonight.
Ethan Page vs. Fred Yehi: Yehi was all business early, grinding side headlocks and then chopping the hell out of Page. Page was doing some nice little things here, like selling the ear hurting after the headlocks. It seems very small and silly to a degree, but it puts over what Yehi was doing as painful and made it mean more. Yehi took most of the match, which was short. Page again resorted to the package piledriver and picked up the win. That was a fine, but short opener. I have no issue with matches going short and conditioning the audience to accept matches going short, but I felt as if it hurt Yehi’s momentum.
* Post match Anthony Nese attacked Page with the chair and laid him out. Nese then ranted about “fat guys like Page” in wrestling, which he doesn’t appreciate. Konley then said he would win the Evolve title tonight. The crowd hated these two and told them that they sucked dick. Konley said he’d win by himself tonight, and then Nese said they would also win the tag titles.
TJ Perkins vs. Tommaso Ciampa: The crowd chanted fuck TNA, and both guys laughed. They did some really nice back and forth early, with Perkins making Ciampa grapple more then he normally would. Perkins did his wacky hang in the ropes deal, which led to him eating a knee from Ciampa. Ciampa then channeled Ric Flair, grabbing Perkins’ hat and stomping on it, dropping the elbow and also giving it Project Ciampa. After kicking the ass of the hat, Ciampa took control on Perkins and worked him over on the floor. Ciampa worked the heat for a bit, but Perkins made the comeback and hit a missile dropkick to the knee of Ciampa. They went back and forth, Perkins would hit a reverse RANA and another dropkick to the knee. Perkins got the knee bar, but Ciampa got the ropes. V would survive the attack, and they went to the corner, where Ciampa scored with the air raid crash off of the second rope for a near fall. We got a big back and forth striking exchange, leading to Project Ciampa on Perkins and that only got a near fall; Ciampa was PISSED. Perkins escaped a second project Ciampa, got the knee bar, and Ciampa tapped. Back to back big wins for Perkins, which is great to see. I thought the match was good overall, and while they had some great near falls, they felt a bit anticlimactic as they weren’t built to as well as they could have.
Matt Riddle vs. Chris Hero: Hero has this great ability to be playful with his opponent, never completely dismissive of their skills, but it works. The opening four-minutes was a fun back and forth, with both guys working to their strengths, and the crowd begging Hero to stomp on Riddle’s bare feet. Hero eventually connected with a big boot, that took Riddle to the floor. After a back and forth on the floor, Hero DID attack the foot of Riddle with a knee drop, and then went to work on the lower leg. As previously mentioned, Riddle’s selling is already really good, and was on display here. Hero was completely manipulating the foot of Riddle, including biting it. Riddle again did a good job of adding more “basic pro wrestling” into his offense, which shows his continued growth. Hero ran wild with elbows and knee strikes, Riddle then went for a springboard something, but Hero wasn’t there. That felt like a huge miscue, even though commentary tried hard to cover it due to the way Hero did his up and over deal on the ropes. Riddle fought back with the fisherman’s buster, but it only got 2. Riddle countered the jump kick into a knee bar, but Hero got the ropes. Riddle unfortunately has forgotten about selling the leg here, which is unfortunate. He made his comeback and lit up Hero with strikes, and this time he hit the springboard knee strike he was looking for before, and got a near fall. Riddle looked a bit flustered late, not sure of himself for really the first time. Hero then a piledriver, and then death by elbow and Riddle kicked out, Hero did not believe that shit. Hero looked to go for the Gotch piledriver, but Riddle rolled into a triangle choke and then the belly down arm bar and Hero had to tap. This was a really good match overall, I have some issues with Riddle lack of selling down the stretch, but I really enjoyed this overall. Riddle continued to grow as a performer, and Chris Hero is one of the best guys not under a contract to anyone, just traveling the world and having four-star matches with everyone.
– They were set to announce the Evolve tag title match, but Gargano arrived and explained that Galloway wasn’t there. We got FUCK TNA chants again. Gargano said Galloway’s flight was airborne, and asked for some time. Konley then arrived and attacked him and said he wanted his title match. As Thatcher made his way to the ring, Sami Callihan attacked him and that allowed Konley to attack and the title match started.
Evolve Title Match: Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Caleb Konley: The pre-match shenanigans allowed Konley to get the heat right away. Konley tried to take the fight to the ground, which only seemed to piss off the grappler. Konley trying to work on the ground with Thatcher come s off as ill advised and also unbelievable. Konley locked into his PAB heat segment, fine but with no sense of urgency. The crowd did not care here, chanting for Gillberg and the Brooklyn Brawler. Thatcher managed to catch a throw and worked ground and pound on Konley for a bit. I appreciate Konley trying to go into Thatcher’s world, but not everyone is good at it. Gargano found success and came off well doing the style; Konley feels like a dude trying to do holds. They spilled to the floor, where Thatcher worked over Konley with uppercuts and forearm smashes. As they returned to the ring, the crowd was largely dead and I wasn’t feeling the match at all. Konley bit Thatcher’s face at one point, one dude chanted that this was awesome. Thatcher then did the try to break the fingers gimmick he’s used before, worked a kimura but Konley got the ropes. Konley made a comeback and didn’t sell the hand/arm/fingers at all. Caleb Konley just doing holds and such. Thatcher escaped the O Face, got the arm bar but Konley escaped. Konley hit a bridging Regal-plex for a near fall after that. Konley missed the moonsault, Thatcher worked for the arm bar; Konley fought, and delivered a cheap shot in the ropes to Thatcher. They battled up top; Thatcher got shoved off into the ref for the old ref bump. Andrea arrived and hit the bog kick on Thatcher. Konley basically botched the mero-sault (went too far) but Thatcher kicked out. Thatcher worked an ankle lock, Konley took the ref and Andrea got involved again and Thatcher head butted her. Thatcher then got the arm bar and Konley tapped. I like Timothy Thatcher, I like Timothy Thatcher matches, but this was a lot of what I dislike about wrestling. They went long to go long, worse than that it felt like it lasted an eternity, they worked a style that did not work to their strengths and they just had to do the ref bump and shenanigans. I was not a fan of this, and that makes back-to-back Thatcher matches that have disappointed overall.
– Post match Matt Riddle arrived, and congratulated Thatcher on not cheating to win. Riddle wants a rematch in Dallas following last night’s match. Thatcher agreed, so Riddle then laid him out with a jumping knee strike.
Sami Callihan vs. Tracy Williams: Williams attacked right away, playing off of the end to last night’s show where Williams choked out Callihan. Williams was working holds and trying to get chokes, Callihan eventually got pissed off and took Williams to the mat and beat the hell out of him. Williams was able to get back to his submission game, which caused Callihan to take a powder. They went back and forth, trading strikes and then Callihan posted himself. Williams then tried to work the arm to maintain control. They brawled to the floor, where Callihan missed a chop and hit the post. Back in the ring, Williams continued to work the arm with Callihan acting desperate for each rope break. The problem here is that while this was fine, that was all it was. I said it yesterday and will say it again here, I don’t think that Callihan does anything all that well to get sympathy when he has to fight from bottom. He’s not a sympathetic babyface, not has he been positioned as such in Evolve. The longer this is going the less the people are reacting, they would heckle and react to the big strikes a lot, but that was mostly it. Williams went back to working the arm, which Callihan had stopped selling minutes ago. Williams hit the spike DDT, Callihan kicked out so he went for the choke again. Williams hit a piledriver, but Callihan kicked out to a mild reaction. Williams continued to beat on Callihan to little reaction, Callihan then hit a powerbomb and kick to the head for a near fall. WHY is this going so long? Callihan hit his Cuerno killer piledriver, Williams kicked out at 1. They did a lot of counters, Callihan hit the cinder block and that was enough to finish it. This felt like a match that went long to say that they went long; unfortunately for these guys it was diminishing returns for them as the longer they went, they got less of a reaction overall. Also it started to feel very long by the end. It was a good match, but if you cut some time, tighten up the selling from Callihan and give the pacing a sense of urgency it would have come across much better.
Best In The World Challenge Series – The Technician: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drew Gulak: ZSJ is so damn good and makes everything look easy; Gulak is really underrated by a lot of fans because he’s so consistently good that he’s often taken for granted. Slick and effortless grappling from both men in the early portion, and quite honestly the opening six or so minutes flew bye. ZSJ’s work kept going back to the arm, Gulak was largely able to avoid this and he was targeting the leg to ground his opponent and to also soften him up for the Gu-Lock (ankle lock). It was a constant battle for position, Gulak was succeeding in not allowing ZSJ to work the arm but ZSJ was still doing damage. Gulak finally got an extended time of control, working the strangle hold and generally tying up ZSJ. Gulak plays the grapple game extremely well, but I think it’s the mix in of the basic pro wrestling moves/suplexes and such that works so well for him. ZSJ escaped and went right after the arm, but Gulak cut him off and worked a Gory special. ZSJ was again able to show off more of his aggressive side, lighting into Gulak with stiff stakes repeatedly. Gulak tried to take a powder on the floor, but when he returned he ate stiff uppercuts and got twisted up like a pretzel. Gulak was able to get a brief ankle lock, but the ropes saved ZSJ. Gulak again started to work the legs, this time opting for punishing moves (slamming the legs to the mat and such) instead of grappling. ZSJ actually took off his boot to sell the ankle, so Gulak slammed him to the ropes, making sure that the ankle hit the cables each time. ZSJ refused to allow the reef to stop the match, allowing Gulak to continue his assault. ZSJ eventually countered a slam into the hanging guillotine, scissored the body but Gulak escaped with a northern lights suplex. They traded slaps and strikes, which I felt as if I see way too much near the end, they then worked a series of pinning combos and ZSJ scored some crazy submission on Gulak to pick up the win. They did some tremendously beautiful things in this match, ZSJ was on point, Gulak was on point and showed again that grappling based bouts can be entertaining and have a great pace to them. The big difference between this match and the last two long matches are simple to me. The work/grappling was much better, it felt as if it had an end game/was part of the plan, the pacing was better, it never felt slow and it never felt as if it was going too long. The time never came into my thoughts during the match, and it was longer then both of those matches. In many ways this was what I expected it to be and what it needed to be, and those are good things.
– Post match Chris Hero congratulated Sabre for winning his matches this weekend. Hero says he’s the best in the world; when he thinks of that name he thinks of Danielson and Punk, and he beat them both. Hero wants to be the greatest of all time, and Sabre can’t be the best because he’s been knocked out twice and has never defeated Hero. Sabre says Hero is right, so he’ll see him in Dallas. Gulak then got the mic and told Hero to worry about Catch Point, calling Hero a “350 pound kung fu turkey.” Catch point is about seizing opportunity and Hero will get his.
– Galloway says it was a close call, between traffic and his travel plans. He change din the cab, the driver saw him naked, but he is here. Galloway says it was only fair after Gargano almost missed a show on him in Florida. Galloway was all fired up and attacked the challengers, much to the surprise of Gargano.
Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Champions Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway vs. Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr): They paired off early, with Carr and Galloway brawling on the floor and Gargano and Barry in the ring. Once everything settled down, Team Tremendous worked over Gargano for a bit. Galloway was able to tag in, worked over Barry and keeping the fired up mean streak that he started the match with. Gargano and Galloway destroyed Barry’s beautiful Hawaiian shirt, and were working more of a heel role here. Not overly obvious and cheating, just more aggressive and not giving any fucks as to how they act. The champions worked a good, aggressive heat on Barry here; not overly fast paced, but with a sense of urgency. Galloway and Barry worked up top, where Barry was able to get a tornado DDT and both men were down. Carr and Gargano in, with Carr taking Gargano down and doing the big stand off and brawl with Galloway. It broke down, Barry hit a dive on Galloway; we got superkicks and then a safe dive (due to lack of space) from Carr as he held onto the ropes as to not kill any spectators. Team Tremendous looked for Book em Danno, Gargano escaped and the champions hit a superkick into an air raid crash combo on Carr. The champions looked to finish Barry, but Carr pulled Gargano to the floor, Galloway hit a reverse Alabama slam into the Gargano escape and then Galloway got a submission on Carr at the same time. Barry escaped and saved Carr and then everyone was down. Barry ought off the champions by himself for a bit, got cut off but Carr returned and they hit Book em Danno on Galloway, but Gargano made the save. Galloway caught Barry with a big boot on the moonsault, and hit the Future Shock to retain. That was a fun and quality main event, it just never got great, even though they tried.
* You can order Evolve on iPPV or VOD at this link.
* End scene.
* Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
