WWN Supershow Mercury Rising 2015
WWN Supershow Mercury Rising 2015 (3/28/2015)- San Jose, CA
RICH SWANN & THE PREMIER ATHLETE BRAND SEGMENT- very basic and very awesome.
Another live entrance for Swann. The crowd started a â€"we are awesome chant.†Shut up. Swann is selling his ribs and saying he is injured and can’t wrestle tonight. He also puts over the finish to his match last night, which was his team losing when it was declared that he couldn’t continue, but this happened right as Johnny Gargano made Caleb Konley tap out. Swann challenged the Premier Athlete Brand to put their DGUSA Open the United Gate Titles on the line against Swann and Gargano on one of the Evolve shows in April.
The Premier Athlete Brand came out and in perfectly awesome heel mode, SoCal Val first mocked Swann’s injury, then said â€"if he wants a title shot, I say ‘give him a title shot,’… at which point Konley attacked Swann, then Brian Cage held Swann in abdominal stretch so Konley could hit him in his injured ribs with a title belt. AWESOME. Johnny Gargano and Ethan Page came out to make the save, and Page challenged Konley to a match, right here, right now!
ETHAN PAGE vs. CALEB KONLEY (w/SoCal Val, Andrea, & Brian Cage)- 6/10
Gargano helped Swann to the back, so Page was out there on his own with the rest of the Premier Athlete Brand hanging around ringside. The interference did matter in this match, but it really mattered in the form of the Cage missing a clothesline on Page and accidentally hitting Konley instead. Page then disposed of Cage, then rolled Konley up and pulled the tights for illegal leverage on the pin, which Lenny Leonard sold as Page getting desperate, feeling that he needed to come out of his first weekend for Evolve/WWN with at least one win.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Val berated Cage for accidentally hitting Konley. Then Andrea hit Cage with a low blow, and Konley hit cage with his title belt, so Cage is now no longer part of the Premier Athlete Brand.
MIA YIM & THE KIMBER-BOMBS vs. THE CANADIAN NINJAS & ANDREA (w/SoCal Val)- 5.25/10
Nikki Storm was supposed to team with the Ninjas, but Andrea took her out before the match and everyone just went along with it. The match was decent, but nothing that would really make me want to check out either SHIMMER or SHINE.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Nikki Storm gets some revenge on Andrea, and she’ll be trying to get some more at the SHINE show in late April.
DREW GALLOWAY PROMO- I couldn’t understand a good chunk of what he said, but I think he said he wants to do the Title vs. Title match right now. Lenny Leonard later clarified, saying that Drew needs to leave to catch a flight so he could defend his title in Scotland tomorrow. Boy, won’t those fans be disappointed if he loses this match?
TITLE VS. TITLE MATCH, THERE MUST BE A WINNER: Drew Galloway(Evolve World Title) vs. Johnny Gargano(DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Champion) (w/Ethan Page)- 8.75/10
Well… those Scottish fans are lucky because Drew won here, and this match was FANTASTIC!
Lenny Leonard’s whole deal about Drew wearing the same gear he wore in the MITB match at WrestleMania XXVI to show that this match was just as him important to him as that match really didn’t work for me simply because I didn’t even remember Drew being in that match, which really makes it not seem important at all. Just say Drew said â€"yes, this is the most important match of my career and my life.â€
Page gave Gargano a rope to choke Drew out with after a ref bump, calling back to a spot they have done in Johnny’s Open the Freedom Gate Title defenses on the WrestleMania weekend shows the past two years (thanks to Lenny Leonard for bringing me up to speed on that), and Johnny considers it, but then decides not to. They also played off the finish to a recent match that Drew had lost to Roderick Strong where Roddy kicked him in the head a bunch of times and knocked him out (thanks again, Lenny!) Those two touches, plus some fantastic nearfalls helped this match hit the high level that a Title vs. Title match needs to hit.
DREW GALLOWAY PROMO- ah. The way Drew put it made a lot more sense than the way Lenny did. Great promo by Drew.
JOHNNY GARGANO PROMO- none. He doesn’t get to cut one because Ethan Page assaults him and says that he will take Johnny’s spot and end Johnny’s career. Great segment.
FOUR WAY FREESTYLE MATCH: Biff Busick vs. Tommy End vs. TJ Perkins vs. Drew Gulak- 7.25/10
A good â€"second opener†after the intermission.
PJ BLACK vs. A.R. FOX- 8.25/10
An absolutely awesome battle of the high-flyers, with a fantastic finish.
TIMOTHY THATCHER vs. CHRIS HERO- 8.25/10
The general story here was that Thatcher had the advantage on the mat while Hero had the advantage when it game to striking. Both guys were proficient at the other’s game, but each guy clearly had his are where he was superior, and tried to stick to that. Hero worked over Thatcher’s head and neck while Thatcher worked over Hero’s arm. The match was awesome overall and also had a lot of little spots to like, but the finish felt very abrupt to me, and I think that really hurt the match. They exchanged slaps after the match, but then shook hands, which sounds weird, but kind of worked.
GENERATION NEXT (Austin Aries & Roderick Strong) vs. THE NEW GENERATION (Uhaa Nation & Ricochet)- 8/10
Why are Aries and Roddy being billed as â€"Generation Nextâ€? Wasn’t the whole point of the ROH show titled Generation Now that those guys were no longer the â€"next†generation of stars but rather had become the current one? Well that showed- booked by this same booker- happened almost NINE YEARS AGO. I’m not saying I don’t like the idea of Aries and Strong reuniting. I just don’t like them using that name.
These guys had an awesome match that was just a fun display of all of these guys doing what they do.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- RODDY is the one who gives the big speech. RODDY! He thanked Aries for helping his career, and I’ve got no doubt that promos are one of the Aries that Aries helped him with because the Roddy of 2015 is MUCH more confident on the mic than the Rodd of 2004. Or even the Roddy of 2011.
HOLY SH*T RODDY JUST ASSAULTED ARIES AND UHAA!
Roddy says he’s coming for the Evolve Title. He says he beat Galloway the last time he faced him and no one will stand in his way and stop him from winning the title. Timothy Thatcher comes out uppercuts Roddy! Roddy bails, and Thatcher says that the road to the Evolve Title goes through him.
An AWESOME show from… oh, who are we kidding. Gabe can call it whatever he wants, but this was an Evolve show in an Evolve ring with all Evolve angles. But it was awesome, so go buy it!
RICH SWANN & THE PREMIER ATHLETE BRAND SEGMENT- very basic and very awesome.
Another live entrance for Swann. The crowd started a â€"we are awesome chant.†Shut up. Swann is selling his ribs and saying he is injured and can’t wrestle tonight. He also puts over the finish to his match last night, which was his team losing when it was declared that he couldn’t continue, but this happened right as Johnny Gargano made Caleb Konley tap out. Swann challenged the Premier Athlete Brand to put their DGUSA Open the United Gate Titles on the line against Swann and Gargano on one of the Evolve shows in April.
The Premier Athlete Brand came out and in perfectly awesome heel mode, SoCal Val first mocked Swann’s injury, then said â€"if he wants a title shot, I say ‘give him a title shot,’… at which point Konley attacked Swann, then Brian Cage held Swann in abdominal stretch so Konley could hit him in his injured ribs with a title belt. AWESOME. Johnny Gargano and Ethan Page came out to make the save, and Page challenged Konley to a match, right here, right now!
ETHAN PAGE vs. CALEB KONLEY (w/SoCal Val, Andrea, & Brian Cage)- 6/10
Gargano helped Swann to the back, so Page was out there on his own with the rest of the Premier Athlete Brand hanging around ringside. The interference did matter in this match, but it really mattered in the form of the Cage missing a clothesline on Page and accidentally hitting Konley instead. Page then disposed of Cage, then rolled Konley up and pulled the tights for illegal leverage on the pin, which Lenny Leonard sold as Page getting desperate, feeling that he needed to come out of his first weekend for Evolve/WWN with at least one win.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Val berated Cage for accidentally hitting Konley. Then Andrea hit Cage with a low blow, and Konley hit cage with his title belt, so Cage is now no longer part of the Premier Athlete Brand.
MIA YIM & THE KIMBER-BOMBS vs. THE CANADIAN NINJAS & ANDREA (w/SoCal Val)- 5.25/10
Nikki Storm was supposed to team with the Ninjas, but Andrea took her out before the match and everyone just went along with it. The match was decent, but nothing that would really make me want to check out either SHIMMER or SHINE.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Nikki Storm gets some revenge on Andrea, and she’ll be trying to get some more at the SHINE show in late April.
DREW GALLOWAY PROMO- I couldn’t understand a good chunk of what he said, but I think he said he wants to do the Title vs. Title match right now. Lenny Leonard later clarified, saying that Drew needs to leave to catch a flight so he could defend his title in Scotland tomorrow. Boy, won’t those fans be disappointed if he loses this match?
TITLE VS. TITLE MATCH, THERE MUST BE A WINNER: Drew Galloway(Evolve World Title) vs. Johnny Gargano(DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Champion) (w/Ethan Page)- 8.75/10
Well… those Scottish fans are lucky because Drew won here, and this match was FANTASTIC!
Lenny Leonard’s whole deal about Drew wearing the same gear he wore in the MITB match at WrestleMania XXVI to show that this match was just as him important to him as that match really didn’t work for me simply because I didn’t even remember Drew being in that match, which really makes it not seem important at all. Just say Drew said â€"yes, this is the most important match of my career and my life.â€
Page gave Gargano a rope to choke Drew out with after a ref bump, calling back to a spot they have done in Johnny’s Open the Freedom Gate Title defenses on the WrestleMania weekend shows the past two years (thanks to Lenny Leonard for bringing me up to speed on that), and Johnny considers it, but then decides not to. They also played off the finish to a recent match that Drew had lost to Roderick Strong where Roddy kicked him in the head a bunch of times and knocked him out (thanks again, Lenny!) Those two touches, plus some fantastic nearfalls helped this match hit the high level that a Title vs. Title match needs to hit.
DREW GALLOWAY PROMO- ah. The way Drew put it made a lot more sense than the way Lenny did. Great promo by Drew.
JOHNNY GARGANO PROMO- none. He doesn’t get to cut one because Ethan Page assaults him and says that he will take Johnny’s spot and end Johnny’s career. Great segment.
FOUR WAY FREESTYLE MATCH: Biff Busick vs. Tommy End vs. TJ Perkins vs. Drew Gulak- 7.25/10
A good â€"second opener†after the intermission.
PJ BLACK vs. A.R. FOX- 8.25/10
An absolutely awesome battle of the high-flyers, with a fantastic finish.
TIMOTHY THATCHER vs. CHRIS HERO- 8.25/10
The general story here was that Thatcher had the advantage on the mat while Hero had the advantage when it game to striking. Both guys were proficient at the other’s game, but each guy clearly had his are where he was superior, and tried to stick to that. Hero worked over Thatcher’s head and neck while Thatcher worked over Hero’s arm. The match was awesome overall and also had a lot of little spots to like, but the finish felt very abrupt to me, and I think that really hurt the match. They exchanged slaps after the match, but then shook hands, which sounds weird, but kind of worked.
GENERATION NEXT (Austin Aries & Roderick Strong) vs. THE NEW GENERATION (Uhaa Nation & Ricochet)- 8/10
Why are Aries and Roddy being billed as â€"Generation Nextâ€? Wasn’t the whole point of the ROH show titled Generation Now that those guys were no longer the â€"next†generation of stars but rather had become the current one? Well that showed- booked by this same booker- happened almost NINE YEARS AGO. I’m not saying I don’t like the idea of Aries and Strong reuniting. I just don’t like them using that name.
These guys had an awesome match that was just a fun display of all of these guys doing what they do.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- RODDY is the one who gives the big speech. RODDY! He thanked Aries for helping his career, and I’ve got no doubt that promos are one of the Aries that Aries helped him with because the Roddy of 2015 is MUCH more confident on the mic than the Rodd of 2004. Or even the Roddy of 2011.
HOLY SH*T RODDY JUST ASSAULTED ARIES AND UHAA!
Roddy says he’s coming for the Evolve Title. He says he beat Galloway the last time he faced him and no one will stand in his way and stop him from winning the title. Timothy Thatcher comes out uppercuts Roddy! Roddy bails, and Thatcher says that the road to the Evolve Title goes through him.
An AWESOME show from… oh, who are we kidding. Gabe can call it whatever he wants, but this was an Evolve show in an Evolve ring with all Evolve angles. But it was awesome, so go buy it!