Evolve 38
Deer Park, New York 3/8/15
Now this was a very interesting show. It was only announced
three weeks in advance, as was wedged between the January shows in Florida and
the big weekend in San Jose during WrestleMania
Weekend. I was critical of the fact that it was announced so late, but when the
card was announced, it looked pretty good on paper. There were some changes
going in, which included Trent Baretta being pulled following his move to New
Japan & ROH (as part of Roppongi Vice with Rocky Romero), PJ Black
(formerly Justin Gabriel in WWE, recently released) moving his debut up to this
show (he was originally scheduled to debut for Evolve in San Jose), and the
return of Davey Richards, who’s had an fascinating history with the promotion
over the years. Let’s see how things turned out…
1.) Biff Busick vs. Martin Stone: ***
For those of you who aren’t aware, Martin Stone was a former WWE
developmental talent in NXT (though he’s recently been brought back to NXT in
the last few months as a jobber). He’s from the UK, and he’s wrestled for
promotions such as Revolution Pro Wrestling. Here, Stone is wrestling Biff
Busick. This was a pretty solid opener. It didn’t go very long (it went just
over five minutes), but it was entertaining while it lasted. Busick would end
up getting the submission win with the Saka Otoshi.
Afterwords, Busick promised that he would defeat Chris Hero in
San Jose.
2.) Team Tremendous vs. Earl Cooter & Jody Kristofferson
(with Larry Dallas): **3/4
It’s nice to see Team Tremendous getting a shot in a promotion
like involved. They were advertised to take on a “Larry Dallas Mystery Team”
(by the way, wasn’t Larry Dallas “fired” in 2014?), who ended up being Earl
Cooter & Jody Kristofferson. These guys were actually together during the
WWNLive shows in China towards the end of 2014, so the pairing makes sense. The
match itself was fine. It was mostly a Team Tremendous showcase, and they
definitely looked good in this match. Dan Barry & Bill Carr would pick up
the victory, to the surprise of nobody.
3.) AR Fox vs. Matt Cage: ***3/4
This show continued the new concept of members of the Evolve
roster endorsing non-roster members. On this show, Matt Cage (who’s made a name
for himself in the Mid-West, primarily AAW) would be the recipient of this
opportunity, as he was endorsed by Uhaa Nation. Cage is taking on AR Fox, and
these two ended up having a really good match! There were a number of exciting
moments in this one. Matt Cage looked really impressive here, showing why he
deserves a spot on the Evolve roster. Even though AR Fox scored the victory,
Cage definitely won a lot of people over. I hope he gets more shots in Evolve.
4.) Drew Gulak vs. Chris Hero: ****
So back in August, Hero made an emphatic statement at the end of
the 2014 Style Battle Tournament, going after the participants in the
tournament, specifically Biff Busick, Drew Gulak, & Timothy Thatcher. While
Busick & Thatcher would have to wait until San Jose to face Hero, Drew
Gulak has his shot at this show. I thought this was a great match! Both guys
definitely brought it, and we saw a lot of hard-hitting action. These two
actually had a match the month before at PWG From Out Of Nowhere, and I would put this encounter slightly above
their match in PWG (I think it fits better in the environment of Evolve). In
the end, Hero would get the win after a series of hard elbow strikes and a
Tombstone Piledriver.
Following the match, Hero taunted Biff Busick, saying he had no
right to say his name. Busick came out, and the two started fighting before
Hero escaped to the back.
5.) Open The United Gate Champion Caleb Konley (with Anthony
Nese) vs. "Darewolf" PJ Black: ***1/4
This is the Evolve debut for PJ Black, formerly Justin Gabriel
in the WWE (who had left the company in January). He’s making his debut against
Caleb Konley. I thought this was a pretty solid match. At the time, PJ Black
was new to the independent scene, so I think the general consensus was that he
needed more time to settle in. Still, he had a pretty entertaining match with
Konley. The “Darewolf” would pick up the win with his trademark 450 Splash. As
a side note, AR Fox joined the commentary team for this match, and he was
hilarious! His commentary just needs to be heard. It was something else.
6.) Open The United Gate Champion Anthony Nese (with Caleb
Konley) vs. Davey Richards: ***1/2
To say that Davey Richards has had a tumultuous history with
Evolve would be an understatement. The last time he was in Evolve, he lost to
AR Fox in an Evolve Title, and spit on the title after the match. Now, he’s
back, seemingly on better terms, going against Anthony Nese. This was a pretty
good match. At this point, you know what you’re going to get with Davey
Richards, and he definitely brought in this match. Nese had a good showing as
well, definitely holding his own against Richards. In the end, however, “The
American Wolf” was too match, as Nese would fall to Richards.
Unfortunately, when this show happened live, there was an HOUR
LONG intermission while they set up the Steel Cage. That sucked. To top it all
off, the Steel Cage looked….pretty crappy, to say the least. Alas, it’s time
for the Main Event.
7.) Non-Title Steel Cage Match - Evolve Champion Drew Galloway vs.
Roderick Strong: ***1/2
This is the first Steel Cage Match in the history of Evolve.
Once again, Strong is facing Galloway in a non-title match, as he was either
not ranked in the Evolve Rankings, and if he was, he wasn’t high enough. These
two have really good chemistry, which at this point, is a surprise to nobody. I
don’t know what it was, but they just work together really well. The match was
pretty good. Both played their roles skillfully, and the action was fun to
watch. The only gripe I would have with this was the ending (similar to their
match at Evolve 36). At one point,
Galloway (who I believe was busted open) got caught between the ropes and the
Steel Cage, and Strong took advantage with several running kicks & elbows
to a defenseless Galloway. The referee soon stopped the match, and awarded the
victory to Strong via KO. I get what they were going for, and it wasn’t a bad
idea by any means, though I wasn’t expecting that to be the actual finish.
Still this was a pretty good Main Event. Strong getting the win here definitely
guarantees him a future Evolve Title Match.
After the match, as Drew Galloway as recovering, PJ Black came
out. He challenged Galloway to an Evolve Title Match in San Jose, and Galloway
accepted. Then, Galloway made it known that, during the big shows in San Jose,
he wants a title unification match against Johnny Gargano.
Overall: 8.0/10
Like I said in the beginning of this
review, I was critical of this show being announced as hastily as it was, only
a few weeks beforehand. Despite that, Evolve was able to put on a really solid
show. You had a lot of different things going on that made this show fun to
watch. Chris Hero vs. Drew Gulak was definitely the Match of the Night, while
Matt Cage had a breakout performance against AR Fox. Meanwhile, PJ Black made
his debut, while Davey Richards made his return, and both made statements by
defeating members of The Premiere Athlete Brand. Then there was the Main Event,
which was another hard-hitting chapter in the Galloway/Strong feud. This event
continues the trend of really solid shows from Evolve.
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