EVOLVE 73 Road Report

Wife and baby are out of town so I decide to meet my buddy Childs down at Joppa for an EVOLVE show.

Tracy Williams v. Tommy End

Tommy End is a guy that on paper I should like, he has cool looking tattoos, I watched a bunch of K1 in the 90s, always dug the dutch kickboxer v. Maeda matches in RINGS, but he has never done it for me. He is kind of like Killer Brooks, if you saw Killer Brooks in PWI you would think he was this cool looking Texas badass, and then you actually saw him in the ring.

This was a dark match only for the live audience. In my life I have seen four really classic matches which never ended up on tape. I saw Ultimo Dragon v. Eddie Guerrerro go 20+ in a WCW house show in Fairfax VA, Cham Pain and I called a great 2/3 falls lucha match in Monterey Mexico with Satanico/Blue Panther v. Solar/Super Astro, I saw El Hijo Del Santo and LA PARK bleed all over Atlanta GA, and saw Negro Navarro, Solar and Mike Quakenbush rock out a strip mall in Deleware. This was not my fifth hidden classic, Williams looked shockingly bad, there was this spot where he was dropping elbows on End's arm and he was missing the arm by 18 inches, it was one of the most business exposing things I have seen a trained wrestler do. End wins after about 7 minutes with a half crab. They weirdly gets a standing ovation, and then End gives this Ian Rotten style speech about how Tracy Williams is the future of the business like they just tore down the house.

Darby Allin v. Jaka

This are both guys I like and this was a fun semi squash. The Allin push is strange, Jaka isn't really in this fed and he just dominated All9n, with only a couple of hope spots. Jaka works stiff and Allen takes a big beating so I dug it, but I don't get why it was so one sided. Darby also does some really vocal Joshi screaming which is kind of distracting

Icarus v. Jason Kincaid

This was pretty good too, Icarus is working like a 1999 indy era fake Benoit, like Josh Daniels or Quiet Storm, lots of chops and snap suplexes. Kincaid has some amusing spots, there was a moment where it threatened to go off the rails, but it got reined in, and the finish was nutso with Kincaid hiting a diving blockbuster to the floor and them a double stomp after climbing a tall poll.

Ethan Page v. Chris Dickenson

I like Dickenson a fair amount, but have no idea why he is working face here, he is a disgusting creep and should always be working as one. I think Page might own 15% of EVOLVE or something, he is the worst guy on this show and getting this huge money markish push. He turned heel after a year long master plan like the worlds shittiest Ole Anderson, he gets two indy giant henchmen, gets these showcase matches, lots of mic time, and deserves none of it. This is a fed with Chris Hero main eventing, you can't work a match around elbow strikes when you throw pillows like this. Dickenson tried, but Page will Page.

Drew Gulak v. Zach Sabre Jr.

This was tremendous, no strikes, pretty much all grappling and really nasty grappling. Gulak is so great and finding interesting plausable counters and blocks for offense. He is a masterful mat counter puncher. Tons of nifty moments where ZSJ would attempt something, Gulak would twist a wrist or knee and Sabre would counter the counter. There was a whole section based around a ZSJ guillotine attempt which had a bunch of different cool escapes and attacks. There may have been one more restart then necessary, but the finish was awesome with Gulak getting the dragon sleeper out of a Sabre pin attempt and putting him down.

Chris Hero v. Matt Riddle

Worked pretty differently then their previous two matches, as this was more of a sprint brawl. Hero jumps Riddle before the bell and cracks him and they push the pace for the whole match. Not much matwork, all bombs. I did really like Hero constantly staying ahead of Riddle, it is weird booking that he went over, but it does make logical sense that a veteran would adjust to a rookie phenom and be able to be one step ahead. Finish was super decisive, with Hero wiping out Riddle's springboard knee attempt with a brutal elbow and hitting three straight piledriver variations to put him down. Finish felt a bit sudden but nobody should be kicking out of three piledrivers

Chris Hero/DUSTIN v. Drew Gulak/Tony Neese v. The Gatekeepers v. Tracy Williams/Fred Yehi

Various injuries lead to this dogs breakfast of a four way tag for the title. Gatekeepers look really dumb in their business casual slacks and colored dress suits, Big Bubba only worked because he was in a suit, not in temp job business casual. This never really got going, there was a moment or two, but it was mostly dull, and your big Tony Neese send off finish fell flat. I am happy that they got the belts off of DUSTIN so he doesn't stink up next months Dick Togo match, but this wasn't much especially for a main event

Post match Regal comes out to give a speech and offer Tony Neese a WWE contract. We bail on the emotional Tony Neese goodbye speech to get on the road.

Really liked the new Floslam EVOLVE, no intermission, fast moving card, whole thing had us in and out in a little more then two hours. Nothing blow away, but two pretty great matches and couple of fun undercard showcases. Fine way to spend a Sunday