YouTubular: Jim Evans

Based on a suggestion from Nori Fan 01, we have another classic jobber from late eighties WWF. Again, don’t know a lot about him and this time I can use the excuse that there are about 637 Jim Evans’ on Facebook. I do know this guy isn’t the former soccer player or major league baseball umpire.

Below clips are from “Superstars” between 1987-1988 with Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino and Jesse Ventura.

Jim Evans vs. “The Natural” Butch Reed with Slick
Video Length: 7:02
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Before Shelton Benjamin set the gold standard, there was the natural. A black guy with blonde hair calling himself the natural. No, that’s not racist at all, nor is his pimp manager.

Reed wins a locks up and poses. Superstar Billy Graham gets an insert promo about getting revenge on Reed for attacking him after the two had a pose down. Reed just mauls Evans. He gets a body slam and an elbow drop. Reed chokes Evans on the top rope. Evans is pitched to the floor and Reed follows to drive Evans back first into the ring post. Back in the ring, Reed drops Evans’ on his face with a press slam and pins him with one foot while posing. Reed was cocky and played the crowd well. This was one of those squashes that got the character over more than the wrestler himself, but it was effective in that way. ¼*

After the match, Reed growls for Graham to face him or something like that. It sounds like he’s taking drive thru orders at McDonald’s. Graham answers the challenge and clears the ring.

Jim Evans vs. Bad News Brown
Video Length: 2:03
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Brown just blitzes Evans with punches. He beats his head against the top turnbuckle and Evans does an abbreviated Flair Flop. Evans is hung out to dry on the top rope and then takes a big head butt. More beatings. The Ghetto Blaster wins it. Brown slaps Evans awake after the match. Too short to really do anything, but again it gets the character of Brown as an insane brawler over. ¼*

Jim Evans vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine with Jimmy Hart
Video Length: 3:45
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Valentine is wearing his Hammer Jammer shin guard. The storyline was that the guard would block Ronnie Garvin’s figure four. Don’t ask me why, but that was one of my favorite feuds as a kid. In a cool opening, Valentine fakes a lock up and goes to the mat for a drop toehold. He pulls Evans up from behind and gets an atomic drop. Valentine follows with a chop and a suplex. Valentine drops an elbow to the inner thigh. We get an insert bit with Ventura talking about an article on Valentine in the current WWF Magazine. A butterfly suplex sets up Valentine’s signature elbow drop, which sets up the figure four leglock. Evans submits almost immediately. Evans need helped off by officials. The idea was to get the shin guard over. ¼ *

Jim Evans and Brady Boone vs. Demolition with Mr. Fuji
Video Length: 5:21
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McMahon mentions Demolition recently attacked Boone after a match and how that drew out his cousin Billy Jack Haynes. Ventura says Boone is a dummy to come back for more punishment. Boone ducks a charge by Smash in the corner and back flips away. Smash walks into a dropkick. Smash catches Boone for a quick press slam, but then he rolls under a clothesline to tag Evans. Ax comes in and body slams Evans a couple times. He then works him over with axe handles. Haynes and Ken Patera cut an insert promo on how they are watching the match in the back. Tag to Smash. Big clothesline. Tag to Ax for the Demolition Decapitation. It’s over. ¼ * The match is just to set up the post match angle.

Boone comes in to check on his partner and is tossed to the floor. Evans takes a second Decapitation. Boone tries to save his partner again and is double teamed. The referee stops Ax from using Fuji’s cane long enough for Patera and Haynes to make the real save.

Jim Evans and Sonny Blaze vs. The Nasty Boys with Jimmy Hart
Video Length: 4:25
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This is from a 1991 with Honky Tonk Man and Roddy Piper on commentary with McMahon. McMahon says Sags’ name is “Scaggs,” Piper calls him “Scabs” and HTM calls him “Snags.” This the Nasties WWF debut.

Knobbs attacks Evans at the bell and rams his head into Sags’ boot. Sags comes in with a pump handle slam and throws Evans to the floor. We get an insert promo from Hart and the Nasty Boys. Evans crawls back into the ring and Sags throws him into his corner to tag Blaze. HTM gets the low down from somewhere and gets Sags’ name right and McMahon acts like he said it right all along. Tag to Knobbs for a double boot to the gut and double suplex. Knobbs body slams Blaze and just drops a bazillion elbows on him. Sags in. He whips Blaze to the far corner and then sling shots Knobbs into him. A Trip to Nastyville ends it. Just an introductory squash, but the commentary was funny. ¼*

We now shift gears to the AWA in the same time period. Below matches are from “AWA Championship Wrestling.”

Jim Evans vs. Nick Kiniski with Kevin Kelly and Medusa
Video Length: 5:58
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Rod Trongard and Verne Gagne are the commentators. Kiniski is the son of Gene and was a member of the 1984 Canadian Olympic wrestling team. Kiniski looks like a b-version of Dan Spivey and Kelly looks a b-version of Lex Luger. Kiniski stalls to start, but eventually asks for a test of strength. They lock up and Kiniski backs Evans into the corner. Kiniski backs off and apparently applauds himself for allowing a clean break. Kiniski works the arm and trips Evans. Kiniski almost botches a body slam. He goes for it again and Evans slips out for an O’Connor Roll, but Kiniski grabs the ropes and holds on. Kiniski follows with a backbreaker. Evans takes a big chop in the corner and is tossed to the floor. Naturally, Kelly works him over. Back in the ring, Kiniski hits a suplex and covers. He pulls Evans up and choke tosses him. Evans drops from the apron to the floor to choke Evans on the top rope. Back in, he hits a back elbow. A piledriver wins it. It was too slow for what it was and Kiniski didn’t impress me much, but at least the AWA gave their jobber matches some time to develop. ¼*

Jim Evans vs. Dirty Dick Slater with Curt Hennig
Video Length: 5:15
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This is Slater’s AWA debut. Larry Lozowski joins Trongard on commentary. Slater takes control immediately and throws Evans to the floor. Evans back in, Slater takes him down with a waistlock and works into a front chancery and then into a rear chinlock. Slater pulls Evans up for a swinging neckbreaker. Evans flops around after a hard elbow smash. Evans is tossed to the floor again. Slater stomps Evans from the apron. Evans comes back in to take some right hands. Evans shocks the hell out of me by turning a body slam try into a small package for a near fall. Evans reverses a whip, but whiffs on a dropkick. Slater hits an elbow off the second rope for the win. I liked the finish with Evans actually starting to look strong after a long beating. Slater is put over fine on his debut. ¼*

Jim Evans vs. Texas Hangman Psycho
Video Length: 5:28
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Pyscho is Rick Gantner, also known as Bull Pain. This is from 1990 with an introduction from Eric Bischoff. Lee Marshall and Ralph Strangis are the commentators. Psycho beats on Evans until he scores an arm wringer. They trade off on a hammerlock until Psycho breaks with a back elbow. He drapes Evans on the apron and drops an elbow on his throat. Killer works Evans over while Psycho distracts the referee. Psycho takes back over with a body slam, but Evans rolls out of the way of a couple elbow drop attempts. Evans kicks Psycho off and scores an arm drag takedown into an armbar. Psycho powers up and throws Evans into the ropes. He leap frogs over a backdrop try, but turns around into a kick to the gut. A swinging neckbreaker gets two. Psycho pulls Evans up after a power slam so he can finish with a DDT.

Jim Evans vs.”Illustrious” Johnnie Stewart
Video Length: 4:26
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I think to use a nickname like illustrious people should know who you are. Marshall and Strangis are on commentary. Stewart starts with a flurry of offense to the arm and works an armlock on the mat. He gets a flying back elbow. A body slam leads to an elbow drop for two. They trade chops until Evans just slaps the piss out of Stewart. Evans posts himself chest first on a blind charge. This allows Stewart time to load up his knee pad and a flying knee gets the win. DUD. Just way too short. Eric Bischoff interviews Stewart after the match about the team challenge series, but he’d rather talk about going after the light heavyweight title.

Jim Evans and Riki Ataki vs. Badd Company with Diamond Dallas Page
Video Length: 6:50
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We jump back to 1988. Trongard and Marshall are on commentary. DDP and Diamond Doll Tonya (I think) come out to introduce the tag champs. Paul Diamond starts out with Ataki. Diamond out wrestles Ataki to start and tags Pat Tanaka. Ataki scores an armdrag and Tanaka is beside himself. Tanaka chops Ataki on the ropes and then flips him over with a clothesline. Diamond back in for a hooking clothesline. Tanaka back in with a chop and savat kick. Tag to Diamond for a front suplex. Diamond misses an elbow drop and tags Evans. Evans is a house of fire with a couple boots. He gets part of one dropkick, but whiffs on another. Diamond comes back and Evans succumbs to the slingshot DDT. The crowd was hot and I liked the quick pace. Badd Company looked really smooth. ½*

The 411: Once again, we have a guy who was a master of getting his rear handed to him. I didn’t get the same spark with Evans as I did with Van Van Horne from the last column, but Evans proved himself a solid seller and adept at basic offense when given a chance. The AWA matches show more of his talents and Evans was certainly a serviceable journeyman.
Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]