WWN Mercury Rising 2017: EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS
OPENING SEGMENT - Great! Drew Galloway comes out and says that he has realized that it's bigger than "saving Evolve from itself." Now he understands that he needs to save the entire WWN from itself. He also brags about breaking Matt Riddle's neck at Evolve 80 on Thursday night, which he clearly didn't because Riddle wrestled Fred Yehi last night.
Riddle comes out to brawl with Drew and seems to be getting the best of him but Drew catches him with the Future Shock DDT and Riddle goes down in a heap and sells it big. Drew menaces him but Riddle's Catchpoint teammates- all of them, showing that they have put aside the strife they had heading into this weekend- to make the save.
Catchpoint left and Drew kept talking until Keith Lee came out so we got a…
DREW GALLOWAY & KEITH LEE SEGMENT - Awesome! Drew first tells Lee to go away but Lee doesn't back down so Drew starts insulting him and Lee still keeps coming… so Drew starts to back away and then starts to change his tune and puts Lee over and offers him a spot at his side in his crusade. Lee turns it down, so Drew throws a sucker-headbutt, then yells at Lee and calls him a "dumb f*cker." Lee snaps and his Drew with all of his big stuff, ending in the moonsault and Drew sold it like his ribs were broken and he could barely breath and he was coughing really loudly. Excellent selling, and not just by Drew. The referees and medical people did a great job, which one of them even shouting "watch the ribs!" so those in attendance knew what the kayfabe injury (probably) was. They even had Gabe come out along with the referees and medical people to check on Drew (we would later be told that he would be unable to compete in tonight's main event). Lee then cut a great promo saying that he was the new king of the WWN.
Timothy Thatcher was supposed to be the fourth man in this match but before the match Stokely Hathaway came out and announced that- due to his negotiating prowess- Timothy Thatcher will be in tonight's main event instead (which also saves Stokely's job as Thatcher's manager). Darby Allin came out and said that he wasn't cleared to complete but was going to anyway… but then Ethan Page took him out from behind and one of his Gatekeepers took Thatcher's place in the match. The Gatekeeper in question is the African-American one. Priscilla Kelly came out to watch this match but once again did nothing. The story of this match was that Keith Lee is a big, scary, dominant monster who will destroy anyone or anything in his path, in a completely methodical and completely legal manner. He pinned the Gatekeeper, then cut a promo on Kyle O'Reilly.
LUFISTO PROMO - Su Yung isn't here so LuFisto is making an open challenge to defend her title against anyone, so we get…
SHINE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Toni is a great babyface, but she didn't have enough fight in her to overcome LuFisto.
Trevin Adams (representing WWN) and Jim Smallman (representing PROGRESS) come out and talk. Smallman is annoying. Can we get a PROGRESS vs. EVOLVE match that has Smallman vs. Gabe. I bet Gabe could totally take him, and with ease. Smallman is such an obnoxious turd.
They brawled a lot. They probably should have been counted out multiple times over, and the ref clearly saw the Gatekeeper interfere. Page won when the Gatekeeper from the first match came out to cause a distraction.
Speaking of distractions, they can try to disguise her in a British Strong Style shirt, but I am dead sure that SoCal Val was standing in the back row on the right side of the aisle and that's also where Toni Storm came from when she came out of the crowd so I kept figuring that she must be there for a reason so I kept looking over to see what she might be doing.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT - Good. Ethan Page cut a promo saying he was going to follow through on his promise to ruin the WWN-PROGRESS relationship by destroying Jimmy Havoc and he went to do so but Darby Allin ran out with his pipe to make the save.
Where the f*ck did THAT come from?! This was AWESOME. Cooper was a great babyface in peril and Dickinson & Jaka are always great choices when you need two mean-looking guys to put a beating on someone. There was lots of drama here and some great false finishes. This has got to be the sleeper match of the weekend.
PROGRESS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Dunne comes out with the belt in his mouth like he's Morishima or something. He's not. He is pretty great in the ring, as is ACH, so they went out and had an awesome match.
EVOLVE WORLD TITLE MATCH:
A WONDERFUL wrestling match in which each man worked whatever part of the opponent's body he could get his hands on.
BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS ELIMINATION MATCH TO DETERMINE THE FIRST EVER WWN CHAMPION:
They did stuff for a while until Thatcher choked out Parrow in rather dominant fashion for the first elimination. From there the story shifted to being all about Catchpoint using teamwork, both to eliminate opponents and save themselves. Then, when it was down to just three of them, the Evolve World Tag Team Champions Yehi & Williams turned that strategy against Riddle, working over his injured neck… until Williams followed Catchpoint's philosophy of "seizing the opportunity" to roll his tag team partner up from behind to eliminate him. From there Williams and Riddle continued the story of Riddle's injured neck, with Riddle managing to fight through the pain and become the first ever WWN World Champion, bro! After the match he cut a great babyface promo vowing to take the belt all over the world and make it a real world title. Also, he called out Kyle O'Reilly. That should be rather nuts.
Final Thoughts
This was an AWESOME show from the WWN. We had some good wrestling in the beginning which then stepped up big time once the EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS stuff started, plus some excellent segments in the beginning and historic main event. You should make sure that you watch this show!
Riddle comes out to brawl with Drew and seems to be getting the best of him but Drew catches him with the Future Shock DDT and Riddle goes down in a heap and sells it big. Drew menaces him but Riddle's Catchpoint teammates- all of them, showing that they have put aside the strife they had heading into this weekend- to make the save.
Catchpoint left and Drew kept talking until Keith Lee came out so we got a…
DREW GALLOWAY & KEITH LEE SEGMENT - Awesome! Drew first tells Lee to go away but Lee doesn't back down so Drew starts insulting him and Lee still keeps coming… so Drew starts to back away and then starts to change his tune and puts Lee over and offers him a spot at his side in his crusade. Lee turns it down, so Drew throws a sucker-headbutt, then yells at Lee and calls him a "dumb f*cker." Lee snaps and his Drew with all of his big stuff, ending in the moonsault and Drew sold it like his ribs were broken and he could barely breath and he was coughing really loudly. Excellent selling, and not just by Drew. The referees and medical people did a great job, which one of them even shouting "watch the ribs!" so those in attendance knew what the kayfabe injury (probably) was. They even had Gabe come out along with the referees and medical people to check on Drew (we would later be told that he would be unable to compete in tonight's main event). Lee then cut a great promo saying that he was the new king of the WWN.
KEITH LEE vs. JASON KINCAID vs. AUSTIN THEORY vs. A GATEKEEPER - 5.75/10
Timothy Thatcher was supposed to be the fourth man in this match but before the match Stokely Hathaway came out and announced that- due to his negotiating prowess- Timothy Thatcher will be in tonight's main event instead (which also saves Stokely's job as Thatcher's manager). Darby Allin came out and said that he wasn't cleared to complete but was going to anyway… but then Ethan Page took him out from behind and one of his Gatekeepers took Thatcher's place in the match. The Gatekeeper in question is the African-American one. Priscilla Kelly came out to watch this match but once again did nothing. The story of this match was that Keith Lee is a big, scary, dominant monster who will destroy anyone or anything in his path, in a completely methodical and completely legal manner. He pinned the Gatekeeper, then cut a promo on Kyle O'Reilly.
LUFISTO PROMO - Su Yung isn't here so LuFisto is making an open challenge to defend her title against anyone, so we get…
SHINE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
LuFisto(c) vs. Toni Storm - 5.5/10
Toni is a great babyface, but she didn't have enough fight in her to overcome LuFisto.
Trevin Adams (representing WWN) and Jim Smallman (representing PROGRESS) come out and talk. Smallman is annoying. Can we get a PROGRESS vs. EVOLVE match that has Smallman vs. Gabe. I bet Gabe could totally take him, and with ease. Smallman is such an obnoxious turd.
JIMMY HAVOC vs. ETHAN PAGE (w/the other Gatekeeper) - 6.25/10
They brawled a lot. They probably should have been counted out multiple times over, and the ref clearly saw the Gatekeeper interfere. Page won when the Gatekeeper from the first match came out to cause a distraction.
Speaking of distractions, they can try to disguise her in a British Strong Style shirt, but I am dead sure that SoCal Val was standing in the back row on the right side of the aisle and that's also where Toni Storm came from when she came out of the crowd so I kept figuring that she must be there for a reason so I kept looking over to see what she might be doing.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT - Good. Ethan Page cut a promo saying he was going to follow through on his promise to ruin the WWN-PROGRESS relationship by destroying Jimmy Havoc and he went to do so but Darby Allin ran out with his pipe to make the save.
CATCHPOINT (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) vs. TK COOPER & TRAVIS BANKS (w/Dahlia Black) - 8.25/10
Where the f*ck did THAT come from?! This was AWESOME. Cooper was a great babyface in peril and Dickinson & Jaka are always great choices when you need two mean-looking guys to put a beating on someone. There was lots of drama here and some great false finishes. This has got to be the sleeper match of the weekend.
PROGRESS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Pete Dunne(c) vs. ACH - 8/10
Dunne comes out with the belt in his mouth like he's Morishima or something. He's not. He is pretty great in the ring, as is ACH, so they went out and had an awesome match.
EVOLVE WORLD TITLE MATCH:
Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Mark Haskins - 8.5/10
A WONDERFUL wrestling match in which each man worked whatever part of the opponent's body he could get his hands on.
BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS ELIMINATION MATCH TO DETERMINE THE FIRST EVER WWN CHAMPION:
Matt Riddle vs. Jon Davis vs. Fred Yehi vs. Tracy Williams vs. Parrow (w/Drennen) vs. Timothy Thatcher (w/Stokely Hathaway)- 8.75/10
They did stuff for a while until Thatcher choked out Parrow in rather dominant fashion for the first elimination. From there the story shifted to being all about Catchpoint using teamwork, both to eliminate opponents and save themselves. Then, when it was down to just three of them, the Evolve World Tag Team Champions Yehi & Williams turned that strategy against Riddle, working over his injured neck… until Williams followed Catchpoint's philosophy of "seizing the opportunity" to roll his tag team partner up from behind to eliminate him. From there Williams and Riddle continued the story of Riddle's injured neck, with Riddle managing to fight through the pain and become the first ever WWN World Champion, bro! After the match he cut a great babyface promo vowing to take the belt all over the world and make it a real world title. Also, he called out Kyle O'Reilly. That should be rather nuts.
Final Thoughts
This was an AWESOME show from the WWN. We had some good wrestling in the beginning which then stepped up big time once the EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS stuff started, plus some excellent segments in the beginning and historic main event. You should make sure that you watch this show!