EVOLVE 46
Evolve 46 (7/11/2015)- Orlando, FL
The girl (and I do mean â€"girl†because she cannot possibly be a fully-grown woman) doing the ring announcing looks like she is about thirteen years old, has hair in WAY too many different colors (and I mean blues and purples, not brown or black or red), and comes across like Rachel Dratch doing a serious impression of a ring announcer rather than an actual professional ring announcer.
FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Caleb Konley(c) (w/the Premiere Athlete Brand) vs. Andrew Everett- 6.25/10
Decent opener. Some things didn’t look quite as smooth as they could have and Konley slipping on the finish didn’t help either. What did help was SoCal Val. I wish she could manage every single heel in every promotion. â€"DON’T YOU DARE GO UP THERE, ANDREW EVERETT!†So awesome.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Caleb Konley claimed to be the best champion in the entire World Wrestling Network. Trevor Lee came out to ask for a title shot at FIP Heatstroke 2015 in August. Val said that if he wants a title shot, he’ll have to prove himself worthy by beating Anthony Nese later tonight.
There was some weirdness here where this was apparently both the end of the FIP show as well as the beginning of the Evolve show. I guess they needed something to stick on the Evolve show so that it wasn’t just four matches.
ROB NAYLOR INTERVIEWS CHRIS HERO- okay. It built up for tonight’s main event, for a third match with Trevor Lee a match with Zack Sabre Jr. The only problem with it is that rather than in the ring or by an interview set like FIP has, they did this interview just standing in the aisle, so it came across like two guys having a private conversation… except that they were standing in public and speaking into microphones. It was just a weird vibe.
IF LEE WINS, HE GETS AN FIP WOTLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE SHOT AT HEATSTROKE 2015: Trevor Lee vs. Anthony Nese (w/the Premiere Athlete Brand)- 5.5/10
Andrew Everett came out to ringside to try to cancel out the Premiere Athlete Brand. They had a fairly short match. They did this big spot where Nese locked Lee in the half-crab for a long time… and then it never mattered. That was bad.
The heels jumped Lee after the match. Everett tried to make the save but he got laid out as well.
ZACK SABRE JR. vs. TJ PERKINS- 7.5/10
Exactly what you would expect: a pure wrestling clinic.
DREW GALLOWAY vs. TRENT BARRETA (w/SoCal Val & Andrea)- 7.75/10
Before the match started, Drew cut a big babyface promo talking about losing the title (and in the background you can hear SoCal Val shout â€"YOU BLEW IT!†I laughed my ass off). Drew implores Trent to send the women to the back so that they can have a match with no shenanigans. Trent obliges.
They had a GREAT match (aside from one blown spot and one or two spots with some bad storytelling). Drew definitely seems to be developing more of an edge this weekend.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- The Premiere Athlete Brand attack Drew but he makes his own comeback and takes all of them out, even Andrea. He then corned Val and looked like he was about to hit her. A referee tried to stop him but Drew punched the ref. Drew then realized what he had done and went to the back. This is being done to set up an angle where Drew gets suspended and punching a ref is a good reason for that to happen. The fact that he was about to do something terrible to Val (and that he shoulder-tackled Andrea even though all she had really done was shove him a few times) did help the whole â€"Drew is losing it after losing the title†thing.
Considering where this was going, I was surprised that they didn’t have Barreta cheat to screw Drew out of the match to set this whole thing up, as that would both build Barreta up for a title shot (which this match was supposed to be before Drew lost the title last night), and naturally builds to a rematch between Drew and Trent whenever Drew comes back.
EVOLVE TITLE MATCH: Timothy Thatcher(c) vs. Chris Hero- 7.25/10
I think Hero might be wearing his trunks inside out because the logo is backwards. I’m really not a fan of Hero’s new â€"slow methodical strikes†style. It’s fine every once in a while, but it’s not the sort of thing that works when you do it in every match just doesn’t work.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Zack Sabre Jr. comes out and says that he will do what Hero couldn’t and win the Evolve Title at the next show.
A decent show from Evolve, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. You’ll probably enjoy it more than I did if you like Hero’s new style.
The girl (and I do mean â€"girl†because she cannot possibly be a fully-grown woman) doing the ring announcing looks like she is about thirteen years old, has hair in WAY too many different colors (and I mean blues and purples, not brown or black or red), and comes across like Rachel Dratch doing a serious impression of a ring announcer rather than an actual professional ring announcer.
FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Caleb Konley(c) (w/the Premiere Athlete Brand) vs. Andrew Everett- 6.25/10
Decent opener. Some things didn’t look quite as smooth as they could have and Konley slipping on the finish didn’t help either. What did help was SoCal Val. I wish she could manage every single heel in every promotion. â€"DON’T YOU DARE GO UP THERE, ANDREW EVERETT!†So awesome.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Caleb Konley claimed to be the best champion in the entire World Wrestling Network. Trevor Lee came out to ask for a title shot at FIP Heatstroke 2015 in August. Val said that if he wants a title shot, he’ll have to prove himself worthy by beating Anthony Nese later tonight.
There was some weirdness here where this was apparently both the end of the FIP show as well as the beginning of the Evolve show. I guess they needed something to stick on the Evolve show so that it wasn’t just four matches.
ROB NAYLOR INTERVIEWS CHRIS HERO- okay. It built up for tonight’s main event, for a third match with Trevor Lee a match with Zack Sabre Jr. The only problem with it is that rather than in the ring or by an interview set like FIP has, they did this interview just standing in the aisle, so it came across like two guys having a private conversation… except that they were standing in public and speaking into microphones. It was just a weird vibe.
IF LEE WINS, HE GETS AN FIP WOTLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE SHOT AT HEATSTROKE 2015: Trevor Lee vs. Anthony Nese (w/the Premiere Athlete Brand)- 5.5/10
Andrew Everett came out to ringside to try to cancel out the Premiere Athlete Brand. They had a fairly short match. They did this big spot where Nese locked Lee in the half-crab for a long time… and then it never mattered. That was bad.
The heels jumped Lee after the match. Everett tried to make the save but he got laid out as well.
ZACK SABRE JR. vs. TJ PERKINS- 7.5/10
Exactly what you would expect: a pure wrestling clinic.
DREW GALLOWAY vs. TRENT BARRETA (w/SoCal Val & Andrea)- 7.75/10
Before the match started, Drew cut a big babyface promo talking about losing the title (and in the background you can hear SoCal Val shout â€"YOU BLEW IT!†I laughed my ass off). Drew implores Trent to send the women to the back so that they can have a match with no shenanigans. Trent obliges.
They had a GREAT match (aside from one blown spot and one or two spots with some bad storytelling). Drew definitely seems to be developing more of an edge this weekend.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- The Premiere Athlete Brand attack Drew but he makes his own comeback and takes all of them out, even Andrea. He then corned Val and looked like he was about to hit her. A referee tried to stop him but Drew punched the ref. Drew then realized what he had done and went to the back. This is being done to set up an angle where Drew gets suspended and punching a ref is a good reason for that to happen. The fact that he was about to do something terrible to Val (and that he shoulder-tackled Andrea even though all she had really done was shove him a few times) did help the whole â€"Drew is losing it after losing the title†thing.
Considering where this was going, I was surprised that they didn’t have Barreta cheat to screw Drew out of the match to set this whole thing up, as that would both build Barreta up for a title shot (which this match was supposed to be before Drew lost the title last night), and naturally builds to a rematch between Drew and Trent whenever Drew comes back.
EVOLVE TITLE MATCH: Timothy Thatcher(c) vs. Chris Hero- 7.25/10
I think Hero might be wearing his trunks inside out because the logo is backwards. I’m really not a fan of Hero’s new â€"slow methodical strikes†style. It’s fine every once in a while, but it’s not the sort of thing that works when you do it in every match just doesn’t work.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Zack Sabre Jr. comes out and says that he will do what Hero couldn’t and win the Evolve Title at the next show.
A decent show from Evolve, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. You’ll probably enjoy it more than I did if you like Hero’s new style.