On Wednesday, EVOLVE announced their talent lineups for their summer shows. While all of the matches aren’t officially set, there are a few put in place.
EVOLVE 64 Saturday, July 16th | Queens, NY | 4 PM EST (show will be over by time WWE at MSG begins)
– EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Marty Scurll
– EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams
– Johnny Gargano
– Drew Galloway
– Zack Sabre Jr.
– TJP with Stokely Hathaway
– Matt Riddle
– Ethan Page
– Fred Yehi
– Cedric Alexander
– Tony Nese…and more.
EVOLVE 65 Sunday, July 17th | Melrose, MA | 7 PM EST
– EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. TJP with Stokely Hathaway
– EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams
– Johnny Gargano
– Drew Galloway
– Zack Sabre Jr.
– Marty Scurll
– Matt Riddle
– Ethan Page
– Fred Yehi
– Cedric Alexander
– Tony Nese…and more.
EVOLVE 66 Saturday, August 19th | Joppa, MD | 8 PM EST
– EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle — no holds barred
– Cody Rhodes vs. Johnny Gargano
– EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams
– Zack Sabre Jr.
– Marty Scurll
– TJP with Stokely Hathaway
– Tony Nese
– Cedric Alexander
– Ethan Page
– Fred Yehi
– Peter Kaasa…and more.
EVOLVE 67 Saturday, August 20th | Brooklyn, NY | 3pm EDT (show will be over by the time NXT starts)
– EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak
– Tommy End vs. Matt Riddle
– Cody Rhodes
– Drew Galloway
– Chris Hero
– Tracy Williams
– Zack Sabre Jr.
– Marty Scurll
– TJP with Stokely Hathaway
– Cedric Alexander
– Ethan Page
– Fred Yehi
– Peter Kaasa…and more.
Here’s a video recap of their last two events if you’re not familiar with the product:
The show opened with the announcer telling us there were two changes: Tony Nese being added to the cruiserweight match to make it a 5 way elimination match and the non-title Hot Sauce v Tim Thatcher match would now be a title match.
– Dark Match: Joe Coffey def. Rory Gulak via submission
Gulak did some sort of a Tye Dillinger gimmick where he would evade a move and yell “amazing” or something similar. Coffey put him in a ridiculous standing boston crab and Gulak tapped instantly.
– Cedric Alexander def. Fred Yehi via pin
I thought this ended up being the best singles match on the show. It had the stiffest forearms/chops of the evening, and that is saying a lot. It looked like Cedric forearmed Yehi a little too hard and Yehi started to lay them in which looked pretty real to me. There was a dive spot where Alexander knocked the barricade back into the people in the first row. They went into the ring and started exchanging big moves, finally ending with a flurry from Cedric that gave him the victory. Yehi stayed in the ring in shock while Cedric celebrated, Cedric went down to the mat and they exchanged a very manly handshake.
– Bravado Brothers def. Jason Cade and Darby Allin via pin
After some standard tag work in the ring, Bravados took them outside and smashed them into the barricades a few times. Action went back into the ring where Cade threw one of the brothers out of the ring. He then went over the barricade into the crowd. The spot of the night happened when Cade leaped from the apron onto a basketball hoop that was left down in the gym, then hit a hurricanrana on one of the Brothers (I still don’t know which one is which). Action found its way back into the ring where Bravado brothers hit their finish and got the pin.
– Matt Riddle def. Trevor Lee via submission
Pretty blah match except for a spot where Riddle was thrown into one of the barricades and they broke apart, crashing into the people in the first row. Riddle tapped him with the Bro-Mission.
– Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher def. Hot Sauce Williams via submission
Hot Sauce sent the rest of Catch Point to the back because he didn’t want an asterisk next to his name when he won the title. Thatcher then entered with no title belt as Riddle had stole it from him. Thatcher was very technical and kicked out of a few moves that looked devastating. He ended up catching Hot Sauce in an armbar and tapped him.
After the match, Riddle entered with the belt and cut a promo on Thatcher saying he deserved a title shot. Stokely Hathaway then entered and told him his boy TJP earned a spot in the cruiserweight series and neither of the other two had one. He felt TJP deserved the next shot. Thatcher said he would give TJP the next shot, then it would be Riddle in a Last Man Standing match. Thatcher then exited the ring without trying to get his title belt from Riddle.
– Cruiserweight Elimination Match: Tony Nese pinned TJP in a match involved Drew Gulak, Lince Dorado, and Johnny Gargano
Tony Nese entered first and cut a promo on how all he wants is a shot to show to the world what he can do in the WWE cruiserweight tourney. They implied that if he won he would be in the series. All the other entrants came in one by one and cut similar promos. Gargano made some vague WWE references.
Very good match, non-stop action. Gargano was eliminated early via roll-up by Gulak. Lots of dive spots, the barricades were knocked silly this match. Dorado did a moonsault onto the 3 remaining competitors and right as he was setting it up, Drew Galloway and EC3 entered and beat up Gargano. They cut a promo but the mic wasn’t quite working. After the moonsault spot, Gulak slept outside for about 5 minutes. Back in the ring, Dorado was pinned. Next, Gulak was eliminated by TJP. Nese and TJP then battled for a solid 10 minutes. TJP kicked out of a sit out tombstone piledriver. Nese started yelling “I am not losing this match”, went into a hulk-up mode, and hit TJP with another piledriver then a 450 for the pin.
With the win, Nese is now in the WWE cruiserweight tournament.
Match almost immediately left the ring and they fought all over the gym. They tossed a plastic trash can around and Drew grabbed a half full Coke bottle out of it and smashed it on Ethan’s head. Drew went for a suplex on the outside and Page reversed it. Action went back to the ring and Drew emptied the ring of chairs, another barricade, then grabbed a fan’s plastic chair. Page then went outside and grabbed a tiny ladder. He Irish whipped Galloway into the ladder, which was propped up on the ring and barricade. The ladder went flying about 10 feet almost into the crowd. Match went back into the ring and Drew hit his dirty deeds finisher onto a couple of steel chairs for the pin.
After the match, EC3 came out to celebrate with Drew. He said his open challenge was off because he already beat everyone up in the back and there was no one left. Gargano then came out and cut more WWE related promos, said something about him being “best for business” and he “knows how to play the game”. Gargano then said he didn’t want to pin EC3 so this would be a last man standing match. EC3 accepted the challenge and Drew went to the back.
– Johnny Gargano def. EC3 via KO in a Last Man Standing match
Back and forth match, good action. EC3 got mad at the ref for not counting fast enough so he knocked him out. He beat Gargano up and went to the back for another ref. The second ref counted to 9, Gargano got to his feet and EC3 whacked him with a chair. The ref started counting from 1 and EC3 told him “no that’s not 1, its 10”. The ref disagreed and EC3 then knocked that ref out as well.
Galloway came in, and then the Catch Point stable came in to help Gargano. They cleared Drew from the ring and it was left with EC3 surrounded by three men and the third ref. EC3 pleaded to the ref who just patted him on the face, EC3 then turned around to eat a bunch of superkicks. The match ended with EC3 being superkicked into the ref who gave him the Stone Cold salute, then a pretty well executed stunner. EC3 was then tossed over the top onto a table that was at ringside that didn’t break and the ref counted to 10.
At that point, the four men in the ring celebrated and the ref got a nice pop for his stunner. After the cameras were off, the ref attempted a spin-a-roonie and The Worm…which weren’t great.
Yehi won via submission after clamping on the Koji Clutch. Nese did a promo afterward saying despite his losing streak, he wants an opportunity in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and he wants it Saturday night.
– Darby Allin vs. Ethan Page
Page won after hitting a package piledriver. Earlier in the match, Page gorilla press slammed Allin over the ropes and into a support beam that was said to be a big spot.
– Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Riddle
Riddle submitted Alexander with a neck crank after hitting a fisherman’s buster.
– Evolve Tag Team Champs Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams) vs. Bravado Brothers (Harlem & Lancelot Bravado)
Champs retain after Williams pinned Lancelot after a big DDT spot. Post-match, Catch Point are cutting a promo and calling out Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher. Thatcher came out, and told the guys to get lost.
– Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero
Said to be a great match. Thatcher retained the gold by submitting Hero with a cross armbar.
Post-match, Riddle, Gulak, Williams, and Stokely Hathaway all came out to contront Thatcher. Williams wants his title shot Saturday and Thatcher agrees.
– Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III vs. Johnny Gargano & TJ Perkins (Unsanctioned Street Fight)
Wild match that spilled everywhere including on the bar inside the arena and outside the arena. Big action, table spots, you name it. Gulak came out to check on Perkins after Galloway powerbombed him through a table. This brought Hero out who hit a piledriver on Gulak and then booted Gargano and piledrove him to turn on Evolve. ECIII hit the One Percenter on Perkins for the win.
Post-match promos by Galloway and Carter reveal a fourth member of their crew: Cody Rhodes! Rhodes will debut for the promotion on August 19th in Maryland against Gargano.
**********
Evolve 63 card — Saturday from Orlando, FL:
– Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams
– WWE Cruiserweight Tournament preview: Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJP vs. Lince Dorado vs. Tony Nese elimination match. If Nese wins, he’s in the tourney.
– Anything Goes: Drew Galloway vs. Ethan Page
– ECIII open challenge to anyone on the Evolve roster
– Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee
– Fred Yehi vs. Cedric Alexander
– The Bravado Brothers vs. Jason Cade & Darby Allin
On Saturday, EVOLVE held one of the most talked about shows in Queens with two WWE Cruiserweight Classic qualifiers with TJP (aka TJ Perkins) and Drew Gulak winning their respective matches. The ramifications of this, and the relationship between WWE and WWNLive, will be interesting to keep up with in the future. In another shocking turn of events, EC3 (yes, the former TNA Champion) attacked Johnny Gargano in the main event and seemingly has joined another former TNA Champion Drew Galloway against the EVOLVE locker room, Triple H, NXT and more.
– Matt Riddle def Lio Rush with the cross armbreaker
Riddle tells Thatcher to come get the title. He tosses it over his shoulder, and Stokely Hathaway comes out and grabs it.
– The Bravado Brothers def Ethan Page and Chris Dickinson
Bravados pinned Dickinson after a double team Gory Special. They are made that Team Tremendous got the first Evolve tag title shot since they were the longest Open the United Gate champions. Dan Barry comes out and does some comedy to mock the Bravados. Match is made for the next Queens show, and the Bravados then beat Barry down for fun.
– WWE Cruiserweight Classic Qualifier #1: TJP def Fred Yehi after a 450 splash
– WWE Cruiserweight Classic Qualifier #2: Drew Gulak def Tracy Williams with the Gu-lock
– Marty Scurll def Zack Sabre Jr via tap out to the chicken wing
Scrull gets an Evolve title shot on July 16 in Queens. Stokely comes out and calls TJP the uncrowned champion.
– Johnny Gargano def Drew Galloway via DQ after EC3 runs into the ring and attacks Gargano. Long promo by EC3 as he buries NXT, Triple H, and even Bill DeMott. They lay waste to the Evolve locker room. Ethan Page makes the save.
***Next show is on June 10 with Gargano and TJP versus EC3 and Galloway, plus Ethan Page challenges Drew Gulak.
Today WWE announced qualifying matches for their Global Cruiserweight series.
Announced for the Evolve show on 5/7 in Queens, NY, with Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi vs. TJ Perkins. Gulak and Williams are the current Evolve tag team champions. The show takes place at La Boom in Queens, NY and will air on iPPV at www.WWNlive.com
Also, announced for the PROGRESS on Sunday April 24th in Camden Town, London, Zach Sabre Jr. will face Flash Morgan Webster. Jack Gallagher will go up against “Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne.
The names WWE has announced thus far for the tournament are Rich Swann, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Noam Dar, Akira Tozawa, Ho Ho Lun and Lince Dorado. Swann, Ciampa and Gargano are already under contract to WWE. Dar is an independent wrestler from the U.K., Tozawa is a star with Dragon Gate, Lun is from Hong Kong and Dorado is a Florida-based Lucha style independent wrestler.
– Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams b Drew Galloway & Johnny Gargano to win the Evolve tag titles. After the match, Galloway cut a promo and turned on Gargano. He got some good heat for that.
– Chris Hero b Fred Yehi
Note: We are almost an hour in and there’s only been two matches.
– Sami Callihan b Anthony Nese in less than 5 minutes
– Ethan Page b Darby Allin in another very short match.
– Tommy End b TJ Perkins in the USA vs Europe series.
– Matt Riddle b Zack Sabre Jr to even up the series.
The finish surprised the fans as Riddle won by submission and they were not expecting Riddle to win. Riddle will make it to WWE for sure. He has the look, the shape, the uniqueness, he shows a lot of charisma and he’s already good in the ring. I can see why they are interested. Very good match against Sabre Jr. The only reason why it was not a great match is that they kept it a tad too short, especially compared to the length of the first two matches. I would have took 5 if not 10 more minutes of this match. Liked it a lot.
– Marty Scurll b Evolve champion Timothy Thatcher in a non-title match with the chicken wing.
Good match but again too short compare to the first two matches. After the match, Callihan’s music hit and we only heard an audio of him pretty much challenging Thatcher.
– Ricochet b Will Ospreay with the Benadryller.
Freaking awesome match. Tough to say if it was better than Zayn and Nakamura because it was a different match. Crowd was ecstatic for it. And it’s an understatement. Arguably the best match of the weekend so far, probably with Zayn and Nakamura and with Sabre Jr and Ospreay from Evolve 58.
After the match, all the Europeans and Americans involved in the series came to the ring, since the series ended up 2-2, until Kora Ibushi showed up to a huge reaction to build the main-event of the Mercury Rising show presented later tonight.
One of the most exciting things about WrestleMania weekend (particularly this year!) is the buffet of non-WWE offerings taking place all weekend long. Here on the Dr. Keith Presents show, we certainly love our indy wrestling and Alan is joined this week by two indy wrestling experts in Mike Falcone and a returning guest from our early years: Travis McNeill (T-MACK to some!!!).
In a show that flies by, the lads run the gamete of everything going down in Dallas during Wrestlemania week from Lio Rush’s big title match opportunity in ROH to the Ryder Cup-esque goings on in EVOLVE at EDDIE DEEN’S RANCH, and of course, the amazing hodge podge card at WrestleCon.
The collection of talent on display over the three days is off the charts, the best in the world are converging on Dallas! All the big matches, all the storyline possibilities, it’s all covered this week on a MASSIVE 2-hour DKP!!! CHECK IT!!!!
During the match, Page would offer to shake Yehi’s hand, yet would end up being chopped. Ethan Page wins with the Package Piledriver, Page and Yehi do end up shaking hands post match before Anthony Nese comes out and attacks Page from behind with a chair.Nese says fat guys like Page don’t belong in a wrestling ring. Caleb Konley joins Nese in the ring while Page is carried out by the refs. Konley says he’s wrestling Thatcher tonight finally after a year.
TJ Perkins beat Tommaso Ciampa
“F TNA” chants to start the match as Perkins laughs. Ciampa hits the Project Ciampa, but TJP kicks out at two, Ciampa goes for a second one yet TJP escapes to put Ciampa in his Figure Four Deathlock to get the win.
Matt Riddle beat Chris Hero
Hero hit a spike piledriver, pulls off his elbow pad and strikes Riddle right in the temple yet Riddle kicks out. Hero goes for another piledriver yet Riddle counters with a triangle submission forcing Hero to tap.
– EVOLVE tag title match is supposed to be up next but Gargano comes out and tells the crowd that Galloway’s flight from Orlando has been delayed and ask for more time. Caleb Konley attacks Gargano from behind and demands for Thatcher to come out so they can have their match right now. Thatcher is on his way out but Sami Callihan cheap shots him from behind.
EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher beat Caleb Konley for The Evolve Championship
A lot of interference from Andrea during this match before Thatcher got her out of the way. The finish saw Thatcher putting Konley in a armbar to retain the title.
– Matt Riddle is out to tell Thatcher at least he didn’t have to cheat tonight. He calls Thatcher trash and wants a rematch for the title April 1st in Dallas. Thatcher agrees and Riddle says he’s not gonna cheap shot Thatcher, instead he hits him with a jumping knee and knocks Thatcher out.
Sami Callihan beat Tracy Williams
Callihan wins with the Cinderblock Forearm to the back of the neck.
Zack Sabre Jr. beat Drew Gulak
Sabre’s boot came undone so he just took it off, Gulak capitalized by body slamming Sabres ankle into the ropes 5 times. Sabre and Gulak exchange roll-ups, Sabre counters the wins with a unique submission.
– Chris Hero is out to say when he hears Best In The World he doesn’t think about Zack Sabre Jr. He thinks about Bryan Danielson, who he’s beat. He thinks about CM Punk, who he’s beat. Hero says Sabre can’t claim to be the best unless he has beaten him, which he hasn’t. Sabre says he’ll see him in Dallas. Gulak wants the mic and tells Hero that he shouldn’t be worried about Sabre he should be worried about Catchpoint.
Evolve Tag Team Champions Drew Galloway and Johnny Gargano beat Team Tremendous
Some great action here as expected, and the finish saw Galloway hitting the Future Shock DDT on Dan Berry to retain the titles in their first defense.
Gabe Sapolsky announcd Tuesday that Kota Ibushi will be part of the three WWN-related “supershows” over WrestleMania weekend in Dallas, TX.
Ibushi, a former DDT and New Japan star, will return after a neck injury in two weeks. The current free agent has talked about starting his own group in Japan, and there has been rumors he would appear on the WrestleMania weekend shows for the past week.
On Twitter, Sapolsky announced he would be at all three shows: Evolve on 4/1 and 4/2, and the WWN Super Show on 4/2.
Ibushi has already made it clear he’s interested in appearing in WWE’s summer cruiserweight tournament. Evolve, WWN, and WWE has a relationship with WWE talent doing autograph signings on Evolve shows and William Regal has already been announced as being part of two upcoming March New York shows doing interaction with talent.
Ibushi is one of the world’s most spectacular performers and had the 2015 match of the year award winner at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4 against Shinsuke Nakamura.
On Monday, the relationship between WWE, WWN, and Evolve Wrestling continued to develop as WWN announced that NXT General Manager William Regal will appear at Evolve’s next two shows in New York.
He will be available for pictures and autographs at both the March 19th event in Queens, NY, and the following night in Brooklyn. Regal will have an undisclosed role at both shows as well.
Regal first made an appearance at the Evolve 54 show in Orlando, held the same weekend as the Royal Rumble, where he helped set up the Evolve title match between Timothy Thatcher and former UFC fighter Matt Riddle, who WWE is said to be interested in. It’s fair to assume that Regal would be looking at talent for the Global Cruiserweight series scheduled to take place on the WWE Network this summer.
